11 Months

How can I capture this moment in a bottle and keep it forever?  Sigh.  The first year goes so fast and I can't get enough of my baby.  I keep trying to freeze Emmett in time but Spencer keeps reminding me that I don't actually want a baby forever and although I maybe do a little bit, I think he's probably right.  So, I will try to capture him in a blog post.

He had the cutest little snaggle-tooth for nearly a month-I mean, as cute as a snaggle-tooth can be.

Emmett started crawling at 6 1/2 months and walking at 10 1/2 months.  I keep saying I feel like I got cheated on babyhood because he turned into a toddler too soon, but I actually love a walking baby.  I love the way he toddles over to me with the tipsy steps of someone with a very large head and short legs.  I love how he reaches his arms up when he gets to me and when I pick him up he burrows his head on my shoulder for a hug before pushing away and squirming down to get back to exploring.  I love how he always wants to be where the action is, whether it's with me in the kitchen or following around his crazy older siblings.  He wants to be so much bigger than he is.  He cries like his heart is broken every time someone opens the door and doesn't let him go outside.  He loves to sword fight with his brother (I seriously don't understand how he picked that skill up so fast).  He loves to play catch, and is nearly as adept at throwing a ball as Liam was at this age.  He laughs and runs faster when I say "I'm gonna getchya".  He says "nom, nom" anytime anyone is eating food that he also wants.  He loves to eat (surprise, surprise).  He mostly sleeps through the night but usually once or twice as week I'm up with him, but he always goes right back to sleep.  He loves his routine and mama putting him to bed, but he is quite flexible with dad or a babysitter doing it too (this is amazingly helpful).  He is the squirmiest, wiggliest, hardest to entertain baby in church. He says: head, this, hat, dada, muh (more), done, down, out.  Noticeably absent from this list is "mom" (not that I'm bitter or anything).  He drops everything and races to greet Dad when he gets home from work.  When he's sad he only wants mom (and his blankie).  He loves his blankie and giggles and snuggles it whenever he finds it.  His brown eyes are gorgeous (can I say that about my son?).  He still has that soft, sweet, baby smell and now it's not combined with spit up.  His skin is still amazingly soft.  He is fearless and has no sense of his physical limitations-I'm pretty sure he's going to be the first of my kids to end up needing stitches or breaking a bone.  He wants me to hold him all the time-unless we are somewhere where I need to hold him, then he is impossible to hold.

He is the third child, which means I don't feel like I give him nearly as much undivided attention as I would like and that I haven't keep track of his milestones nearly as diligently.  Despite the poor record, I hope that I will always remember how special his babyhood has been to me.

  I love these handsome fellas.