11 Months

At 11 months, Reed is getting into everything. He loves to open every drawer and cupboard to see what's inside. He can open plastic baggies, and takes great pride in dumping out the contents in whatever bag he's managed to open. He loves to dig in the jar of animal crackers to pick out his own. He climbs up on my window sills and takes a good look around outside. He bangs and bangs on the windows, and sometimes he's lucky enough to get a wave from a neighbor passing by.

And yes, he loves to open the toilet and play in the water. It's just GROSS!!!

But by far his favorite activity is walking. He walks everywhere.

Reed loves animals and wants to touch any animal he sees. He loves to pet dogs, and doesn't mind one bit if they lick him. He enjoyed the two county fairs we've gone to, and gets so excited to watch the bunnies, the horses and the cows.

Reed finally got his top two teeth, and besides a runny nose and a little chewing on everything he could get his hands on, did not complain about them. Reed says Mama, Dad, Royroy (Sawyer), done, Hi, baba (bottle), a-doo-doo (cock-a-doodle-do) and baaa (for a sheep).

I can't believe he's almost one!!!

Newport

We had a fabulous mini/impromptu vacation at the coast. We stayed at the Embarcadero, which had one bedroom suite, which is needed to keep your sanity when travelling anywhere with a baby! We weren't right on the ocean, but it was actually much nicer to be in the bay....no cold wind blowing on us! We behaved like good tourists, and hit all the main attractions.

We spent some time at the Aquarium, which Sawyer has always loved but Reed just adored. He couldn't get enough of the fish. He left his sweet little fingerprints all over each and every exhibit. He even tried to kiss a couple of the fish.

We hit Ripley's, The Wax Museum and the Underwater show.

We hung out on the pier and watched the seal lions.

Reed was such a good baby the whole time! He let us go out to eat, and was a dream. We did try to eat too late one night, and he just wanted to go to bed....so we got food to go, but that's what I get for trying to eat dinner at 6pm. We found our new favorite restaurant, Local Ocean Seafood. I ate chowder...but not clam chowder...fresh crab and sharp white cheddar cheese chowder...HEAVEN!!! We ate there every day.
It was a perfect vacation. I can't wait to go back again!

Swimming at the Coast

While we were at the coast, Sawyer and I went swimming in the hotel pool, while Reed slept.

The second day we decided to go swimming with the baby. And he loved it.

He actually wanted me to let go of him and tried to squirm away.

He was putting his head under the water, kicking his legs, splashing his arms and floating on his back.

It was so fun to watch him enjoying the water. Reed's going to be just like his sister...a little fish.

Officially a Bike Rider

Sawyer has now officially joined the ranks of a bike rider!!! We thought she might never make it, but today, after watching her ride her bike with the training wheels still attached, I convinced her with promise of Burger King and the new Hannah Montana movie, that she should try it without the training wheels on.

And this is what happened!!!

You'd think she'd been riding her bike with no training wheels for years!

Bathtime, Curly Hair and Girl Love

My babies are so wonderful. Sawyer has to crawl into the bath with Reed every time he takes one. She doesn't complain when there is only 4 inches of water, or when he wants to play with all her bath pens...she just lets him. And then when he gets out, she turns the water on, fills up the tub and enjoys the tub to herself.

Sawyer loves to braid her hair right before bed, so that she wakes up with curly hair. The poor child can't get a curl to stay in her hair and she'd love to have curly hair. Since I've been straightening my hair so much this summer, she keeps telling me we've traded hair and people are going to start calling her Rachel and me Sawyer.

The other day when Lauren and Sawyer were playing dress up, they decided that Reed was the handsome prince and made him dance with them, and hold hands with them wherever they went. He was such a good sport and just let the girls love on him......until he'd had enough....

Loving my Lovie!

Reed officially loves his lovie!!! He got up from his afternoon nap and was trying to reach back into his crib. I grabbed his lovie and he cuddled with it as he rested his head on my shoulder.

Then, a few minutes later, as he was walking back and forth upstairs while pushing his shopping cart, he fell and bumped his head (that boy hits everything with his head). He reached for me and then before I could pick him up, he reached for his lovie. I think he's decided it helps make everything better.

He's played hide and seek with his lovie for months....which is so cute! But today the lovies have gone from a blanket to cover up with in bed, and play games with while awake...to something that makes him happy to have around.

Walking up a Storm

Reed is obsessed with walking! He loves his walker and wants to use it all the time. And where is it that Reed needs to go??? Nowhere...he just keeps walking back and forth, from one end of the house to the other. It's been so fun to watch how intense he is about it, and yet he really doesn't care that he's not really going anywhere.

The hardest part for him is that he can't completely turn the walker around to head in the opposite direction, so one of us has to do it for him. Lucky for me, Sawyer adores her little brother and is more than happy to help him get pointed in the right direction.

Reed has been getting braver and braver about walking on his own. He's let go of furniture to walk to us, but he still likes to crawl when he wants to get anywhere.

It's been fun to watch this little baby walk though. He seems too little!