10 Months Old

Size: He still seems little to me, but I do think he has grown.  He is wearing anywhere from 6 to 12 month clothing, depending on the brand.  He is still definitely smaller than Eben was...but I guess that has been true since birth (Bode was 7 lbs, Eben was 9lbs)

Sleep: I am SO sick of this sleep schedule...or lack thereof.  He was doing great on my last report, but then he got sick - a croup cough, having some troubles breathing.  So because of this, I was forced to respond to him every time he woke up while he was sick and it has reset his sleeping back to waking up way too much.  So right now he has been getting up about 3 times, crying, and I have been giving in and just feeding him so I can go back to sleep.  Then the last few nights he has been wide awake for about an hour around 4am...so it's been fun.  But the good thing is that because of this crappy sleep, he is sleeping in until around 9:30am and Eben sleeps until around 8:30am most mornings so I am at least able to sleep in a bit - although I have such little time to get ready for playdates so I usually show up a little disheveled! 
 
Development: He has now mastered regular crawling and it's so darn cute.  He is still very slow and will still sometimes plop down to the army crawl because of this.  He is pulling himself up on anything he can now too!  Although falling a lot, he doesn't cry much and tries again quickly to get back up.  He seems so happy since being able to pull up and he get so excited while standing.  Bode has 3 teeth now, two on bottom, one on top.  He is eating more and more finger food, including mac and cheese, mandarin oranges, blueberries and anything else soft I feel comfortable feeding him.  He babbles quite a bit saying mama, dada, lala, baba, etc, but we haven't figured out if he says things appropriately yet. 

Personality: He continues to be so sweet and smiley.  He is laughing more now, especially at Eben.  I do see some toddler-ness coming in though as he protests diaper and clothing changes and has been much more verbal when he wants something. 

Sibling Relationship: Lots of love and awesome moments between these two still.  In the car has become my favorite because Bode stares at Eben almost the whole time, waiting for Eben to look at him.  Eben usually laughs at Bode (because he laughs at everything, but especially Bode) and then Bode laughs at Eben.  Bode even played peek-a-boo with Eben the other day in the car!  While playing, Bode wants to be everywhere Eben is at all times.  This is frustrating to Eben because Bode ruins his toys and takes things from Eben, so Eben is often yelling at Bode (yes, I intervene).  But the funny (and annoying) thing is that if I distract Bode with another toy to get him out of Eben's hair, then Eben immediately drops what he is doing and wants to come and play with Bode...kids.  Anyway, other than those negatives, Eben is really the best big brother to Bode.

Other: I just can't believe how close Bode is to being a one-year-old!!  Tear...


***There are no pictures yet :(  As mentioned in a previous post, I am doing a collage of head shots which is something we had done for Eben when he was 10 months old.  This is something I need Dane's assistance with so weekends he has off are the only option.  This past weekend I was planning to do it, but I was riddled with a stomach bug - we actually did do it, but chose a horrible 5 minutes when Bode was cranky so I only got like 2 smiley pictures and all the rest crabby or crying pictures, which just doesn't show who he is at this age so we are going to give it another try this weekend.  I will post the final product when it's done :)

It's a Miracle...

Eben posed for pictures WITH Bode today!  Unfortunately I was not set up for great pics...no backdrop, no great background or lighting (it was terrible lighting actually), and I didn't even have my camera settings correct (and if any of you shoot in manual, you know how important settings are).  I just had my camera by me, Eben was sitting by Bode, I turned my camera on and Eben STAYED THERE...wow.  In the past, if I so much as walk towards my camera, Eben moves immediately and says, "No!!"  I tried SO hard to get pictures of them together for Christmas cards and it was the most frustrating hour of my life...and it was incredibly unsuccessful.  So getting some cute pics of the boys together has been absolutely impossible.  They are so stinkin' cute together and all I want are some pictures of them, showing how much they love each other.  All things considered, I am very happy that I got these!






Eben just loves Bode so much...he will randomly say, "I Love You, Bode,"  throughout the day, kiss him, hug him, and help him feel better when he is upset - all without prompting.  It is so fun to witness.













I had gotten these pictures of the boys the other night when I was practicing with my external flash.  I told Eben to race with Bode in the kitchen so I got some cute ones that night too :)  






This is Bode's stressed out face below...I see that a lot, haha.  ( and no, I don't dress my son like this...he is still in his pants from nap time :)

Eben with his new "Cranky Cranky" toy









Here is the race below:











And I am totally overdue for Bode's 10 month blog post - I haven't taken the pictures yet because I need Dane's help with them.  I am planning to do head shots of him of different facial expressions and make a collage like I had done for Eben when he was 10 months old - see here.

Mr. Crawler and Pully Upper!

For a couple of weeks Bode has had two new skills - he crawls on all fours (not just army crawling anymore, although that is still his preferred mode of transportation...he's much faster at it) and he pulls himself up onto smaller chairs, which he LOVES to do.  He gets so excited when he pulls himself up, making fun noises and kind of dancing...well as much as a baby can dance anyway. 

And here are some random pics of the boys having fun:

 Bode is starting to find ways to get what he wants.

 They love to play in their tunnel.

 The rock concerts happen frequently at our house these days.

Nana and Papa Visit!

My mom and dad came to visit on Christmas Eve and stayed until January 2nd and it was so wonderful having them here!  Christmas felt more like Christmas because I had part of my family with us and it was so much fun watching them interact with our boys.  Eben makes it incredibly obvious how much he loves Nana and Papa, even randomly telling them so throughout our days together.  We tried to get some good pictures of the boys with Nana and Papa, but of course, Eben was ridiculous and refused to cooperate...crying and all.  So, this is the best we did (even with bribes).

 




















One thing we did while they were here was visit University of Michigan's Natural History Museum, which Eben loved.  I think Bode liked it too, but it's still tough to tell with him!