My 11 Month Old Son

Today is Jeremiah's final "month" birthday. One month from today my precious baby boy will be one year old. I remember when he was a newborn (probably the week that Louis went back to work and I was all by myself!) I was thinking "gosh this parenting thing is SO hard; I can't wait for Jeremiah to be a year old and more independent- or at least at the point where I can put him down to go to the bathroom!" Gone are the days where my baby wants to be in Mommy's arms all day long. Sure, he loves knowing that I am nearby, but this very independent little fella loves spending his days roaming our house on his own, stretching his independence. He's been taking a few steps here and there as well- on Thursday he took the most steps EVER! Usually it's one step and he falls flat on his tumm. Now he's up to a good two or three steps at a time (when he wants to. Crawling is still his preferred mode of transportation).

Jeremiah is at the point where he is starting to be able to mimick things that we teach him how to do. For example- placing his little balls in the ball toy at Grandma's, or in his formula can at home. Clapping. Giving "high five's." Saying "lalala" back to me. Pressing the right button on his Leapfrog Baby gym to play the "itsy bitsy spider" song and instantly looking to me to make sure I do the hand motions for the song- then as soon as it's over, pressing it again. And again. And looking back up at me, again and again. What a smart little boy.

I'm beginning to get a tad worried about his eating habits. I was fully prepared for him to have a decline in the amount of bottles that he drinks a day (two in the morning, MAYBE two more in the afternoon, usually closer to one), but not in his mealtime habits. He eats breakfast like a champ (usually Yo-Baby Organic Yogurt and cereal and/or fruit), lunch pretty well (I try to give him a stage 2 fruit or veggie, followed by some sort of bread- pita or whole grain), but his favorite lunch is turkey slices and string cheese. Dinner? Well for the past week I'm lucky if I get two bites out of him for his stage 3 dinners. All this little boy wants is turkey and cheese or some sort of bread. NOT HEALTHY!!!! He needs veggies... and even if I present him with what he wants (sometimes he'll enjoy a baked chicken tenderloin rather than the turkey) it's no guaruntee that he will even finish THAT! The last thing I want is a picky eater... like his daddy who won't touch a veggie unless it's corn, or iceburg lettuce drenched in thousand island dressing... Anyway, as his mother of course I think Jeremiah is way too skinny. I know he's quite tall for his age, and probably inherited my leanness (I was always ALWAYS struggling to put weight ON until I got pregnant, and then my doctor told me to only lose half of my pregnancy weight), but I still think he needs to put some more meat on his lil bones. Especially when he's next to other chunky babies.

Speaking of babies... yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Sydney Anne. My cousin Paul and Rayna's BEAUTIFUL little girl, born on Halloween night. Her stats were almost identical to Jeremiah's- 7 pounds 11 oz (versus his 7-12), 21 inches (vs. his 20 1/2). Holding her, breathing in her "fresh baby" scent, and her little breath brought me back in time 11 months. My baby boy has NONE of that baby-ness left to him. It was such a sweet time, but one that made me want another little baby. Right. Now. We'll see what God has in store... I'm sure I'm not the first mother who held an 18 hour old baby and wanted another one on the spot...

Anyway, today we started printing out Jeremiah's birthday invitations. One of Louis's best friends designed our invitations for us, pro graphic designer that he is. They are out of this world. This party is turning into something way bigger than I was anticipating- once I counted up the people on our guest list that were obligatory invites (family and close friends) we were rounding the 80's. I don't anticipate everybody coming but that's still QUITE a bit of people. His party is on November 29th, three days before his actual birthday (which, by the way, on the actual day we are taking him to Disneyland for the first time. I'm way excited about that- and for going with my best friend, just the two of us, in two weeks!!). I don't want to give all the details of the party away, but as of right now I can say that we are having a Sesame Street themed party, complete with a puppet show (and a Taquero. Basically we are having a catered lunch with all you can eat soft tacos, made to order, rice, beans, salsa, the works. Jeremiah isn't half Mexican for nothing!!! A friend of Louis's owns one of those businesses and will be serving our lunch. You don't want to know how much this is costing us... but as Louis said, Jer only turns one once, and it would probably even out if we were to do sandwiches for that crowd.) I'm starting to get a tad overwhelmed right now. At least we're not having it at our house... although I don't know what I'm going to do if the park we want it at is not available. I didn't have the foresight to check in advance if we need to reserve the park before the invitations were designed. My bad. Looks like I'll be making a few calls tomorrow...

Well, as always, my cue to stop blogging has arrived- my wonderful husband has emerged from his "cave" (aka our garage) and we're going to spend some time together before we go to sleep. Thanks for reading!