I’ve been telling myself for the last week or so that I would get back to the blog before now, but playing catch up with life after being so under the weather proved to take much more time than I could have imagined! so, here I am blogging about Brady getting older while tears are streaming down my face (not really, but sounds as dramatic as I’m feeling).. his birthday invitations are sitting on my nightstand waiting to be put in the mail and all the first birthday things have started to trickle in over the last week. I literally cannot believe he’s 11 months old today. what has happened to the time?! he’s a complete nut job and Mr. Personality.. on the move 99% of the day and the other 1% is spent sleeping. 

WHATS NEW

• I get a LOT of questions about Brady’s hair! mama uses daddy’s hair product in this man hair. I went with what I knew was ‘okay’ for boys hair and used just what Jordan loves from dollar shave club! I have been using the hair clay and like it a lot. after his most recent hair cut they put texture powder in his hair and OMG- I need it for myself! I ended up getting this texture spray made by dry bar and spray a little in his hair before I use the clay for a pretty good hold. he’s got really thick hair, so using product like this works well!
• words continue to come! Dog is basically his word for everything. he points at everything and says “doggg”. so cute!
• he has started to react to things that are said to him.  “wheres Mickey!?” or “do you hear your sisters?!” or “do you want some?”.  he looks around to search for whoever he’s been prompted to find and/or will point in that general direction.
• ..pointing is his favorite game!  he loves to point and have whoever he’s pointing to touch her finger with their point in return.
• still LOVES Mickey Mouse.  literally screams when he sees it on television and if ever he watches it on my phone, which DOES happen, he’s mauling the phone with kisses.
• loves to independently play. works quietly on stacking and knocking down, loves to put toys into buckets and bins.
• TEETH.  we have MORE teeth.. I bought him a toothbrush and have been using training toothpaste. he lets me brush those front teeth without a fight!
• climbing + cruising. he is standing independently but basically just falls into anything he wants to get to instead of taking a step. Jordan says he’ll be walking by one year, but I dont think he will be.
• he shows ZERO interest in walking or taking steps. half the time he won’t even put his legs on the ground when I’m trying to get him to stand up.. stinker.
• he fully understands the word “no” and its still absolutely hilarious.
• sleeps really well during nap (about 3 hours) and most of the time through the night! being sick this month really threw him for (another) loop when it comes to sleep.
• BLW continues to go great!  we’ve added a bunch of new foods in this month and he’s come to try most everything I offer him. he’s also started to spit things out that he doesn’t like- ha!
• we’ve started to dance a little jig this month. mostly waving his hands and shaking his head and his sisters think its so funny!
• he LOVES to play with his sisters! “chase” is a new game- the girls will crawl around the island in the kitchen and he follows quickly behind them screaming and giggling in joy.
• Brady is in size 4 diapers and wearing 9/12 and 12/18 months clothing.

EAT

were still following the same routine with the bottle as we did last month, BUT he really has lost a lot of interest in drinking them. he will hardly finish but about 4-5 ounces in a feeding and has been eating more whole foods than formula. he still wakes up really early in the morning to eat, but I have been trying my hardest to break that because at 12 months I’m ditching the bottles. he doesn’t care about it at all, so why not?  but I’m not going to be waking up at 5am to feed him breakfast like he’s been doing with the bottles to for the last several months.

I started weaning the early morning feeding this week- he’s waking around 4:30-5am and instead of offering him a bottle I go in and rock him for a bit, to which he squirms and screams at me for about 5 minutes and then finally settles and lets me rock him. when I lay him back in bed he will fuss for a bit but goes back to sleep until around to 7:30-8am. we’re getting there, I suppose. I swear he does things so much differently than his sisters- I feel like a first time mom all over again. NEW BLW foods at 11 months: not a ton of new things this month- Brady is still eating all the regular foods we offer him (listed below). add in shredded cheddar cheese, mandarin oranges, sourdough bread, soft cinnamon pretzels, hamburger, yogurt, whole milk (4-6 ounces/day), chocolate carnation instant breakfast (sips that he steals from his sisters)

other foods Brady has been eating since about 6 months of age: avocado, corn tortilla, macaroni, spaghetti, pizza, granola bars, quinoa veggie burgers, grilled cheese, English muffin + peanut butter, bananas, grilled chicken, chicken nuggets, graham crackers, waffle + almond butter, whole oats made with water and a scoop of almond butter, goldfish (crushed), pancakes, scrambled eggs, blueberries, and strawberries, string cheese, chicken meatballs, pinto beans, fish (tilapia and salmon), donuts, prunes (he LOVES them, ha!), zucchini, pears (canned in juice), roasted sweet potatoes, roasted butternut squash, beet noodles, hot dogs (quartered), grapes (quartered).

PLAY/DEVELOPMENT

this boy is ALL OVER THE PLACE.  he surprises me with the thing he picks up along the way- learning new things every day. I don’t feel like the girls were this busy in regards to getting into all the things and putting every tiny item he can find in his mouth.  half the time he doesn’t want to eat FOOD but when he finds a hair tie or bobby pin on the floor is goes directly into his mouth. WHY.

the basics: brushing hair + teeth, talking on the phone.. everything is a phone these days, attempts to wear sunglasses and tries to put them on himself which ends up over his head. Brady has even started to help me get him dressed!!  thats a game changer rather than preventing me from getting his floppy arms in those tiny holes very easily. he still screams at me, but its over with much quicker.

his communication has much improved. words are few, but the expressions of interest, dislike, or pleasure are very apparent in his face. he’s hanging with the big girls on the regular.. letting them know whose ‘boss’ when he doesn’t appreciate toys being taken away. he demolishes their play time multiple times a day and is full of drama if he’s deferred and those girls are so patient and sweet with him.

other developments: standing unassisted but still has no interest in walking at all. dancing!  he waves his arms back and forth and shakes his head when we listen to music in the evenings. sings/shouts to himself while he plays and in the car to make himself known if no one is paying attention to him at the moment.  communicates with outbursts of his voice, points at everything! nods his head yes and no, and slowly learning to use a spoon and LOVES the fork.  most of the time we offer him food (a sticky food like peanut butter) on a spoon or try to help him stab chicken or beans with a fork and he eats it using his right hand.

he also LOVES to play peek-a-boo in the mirror.  I’ll say “where’s Brady?!” while standing in front of a mirror and he will lean forward with a huge grin and point to himself in the mirror along with a silly giggle.  I love his silly moods!

I’ve continued to work chunky puzzles with him along with rolling balls or blocks to throw into a bucket, working on his motor skills! he still LOVES the leapfrog alphabet bus and plays with it everyday along with the sit to stand alphabet train.

SLEEP

sleep is not as bad as I thought it would be after coming off of having the flu this month. he’s gotten back into a routine of sleeping pretty well through the night (down around 7:30pm and waking up for the day about 7:30am) and just woke a couple times here and there after he started feeling better. like I mentioned above, I’m trying to break him of the 5am bottle, so letting him cry a bit in the early morning hours after not offering him a bottle has pushed for an earlier nap in the morning (more like 10am vs 11:30pm) but I don’t think he will be waking much longer.. at least I hope not!

Brady continues to takes one really amazing nap during the day and if we happen to be out running errands in the morning, which happens often, he will cat nap in the car between stops but then will always go down for a 2 hour nap when we get home. once he hits 12 months I’ll work on moving his nap to a little later in the morning and into the early afternoon so he can eat lunch before going down for a nap rather than giving him a bottle. right now his nap basically skips lunch, so I’ll just have to rearrange his day a little next month!

BRADY JORDAN

my little buddy.  I love you more than anything!  you have the most outgoing personality of all of any of your sisters and it doesn’t take long for you to fall in love with anyone that will laugh at your silly antics.  it is rare for you to be in a sour mood, but when you want someone to hold you, there is no letting up until you are comfortable on someones hip.  makes it a tad difficult to get through the day’s list of duties but sometimes just sitting in the floor with you to let you crawl over me or simply sitting in my lap is just enough for you to be content for a bit.

you have become quite the chatter box and will grunt and ‘talk’ and point out every little thing.  I attest to be taken back at least once a day by how quickly you pick up on various things. your big sisters are your best friends– the light up of your face is unforgettable and the sweetest when you see those big girls.  squeals and literal trembles of excitement when you see them first thing in the morning and after nap.  they LOVE you so much- miss Baker is your little shadow and will follow you wherever you might crawl in the house. half the time you squeal in fear but also go searching for her to play. you guys are literally the cutest I’ve ever seen together. ah she loves you SO MUCH and I couldn’t be more thankful for that. and not to mention.. ya’ll are basically carbon copies of one another. after snapping a couple pictures of you this month I remembered some of my favorite photos I took of your sister when she was this age (maybe a little younger) and was taken back by how closely you all resemble one another. so many similar features!I’m so thankful for the love the four of your share. seeing you all together makes my heart swell so big and its like nothing I can describe.we had your first really terrible sickness this month. you picked up the flu after Parker brought it home from church and I’ve never witnessed something so pitiful than your sad baby face feeling so bad.  you recovered pretty quickly- sooner than any of the rest of us did! so glad it was short lived.birthday party planning is in full force and we cant wait to celebrate you for this HUGE milestone!  Brady Jordan.. thank you for your contagious smiles and amazing personality.  our days are much sweeter with you apart of them.  you are just one incredible light to our life, brother.

E L E V E N MONTH PHOTO D U M P