Ashton is 11 months old!

I have started getting RSVP's for Ashton's party. Insert sobbing here. How has this happened? I have made a good conscious effort to enjoy the baby parts of Ashton because I knew that it would go by all too fast...But already? Insert more tears here.

Deep breath. Moving on...Ashton is 11 months old and so much fun! He is such a delight. Everyone that meets him just adores him. He is smiley, chatty, playful, silly and LOVES to eat!

He has started holding things up to his ear to "talk" on the phone. It is precious. Here he is using his monkey to "talk on the phone". I told you it was cute!

Ashton loves playing copy-cat games with anyone that is wiling. His favorite thing to do (other than eat) is to play chase. He doesn't mind whether you are chasing him or he is chasing you...He enjoys it just the same either way. It is so cute because the entire time you are being chased he is just cracking up.
Oh, and his laugh! It is the cutest sweetest sound in the entire world! I wish I could bottle it up and keep it forever.
Ashton is still not walking but in the past week or so has done a little bit of independent standing. He is such a stinker...if he is holding on to something in each hand and not paying attention he will stand alone for the longest time. Until he realizes that he is standing, then he quickly sits down.
For record keeping sake, Ashton still gets 4 bottles a day. Three of them are basically at meal times and then one little one at bedtime. We are in the process of getting rid of the bedtime bottle so that we can then move on to cutting out the bottle all together. I want to start that project early after what happened with Emerson!

Ashy is totally off baby food and will eat whatever the rest of us are eating for dinner.

He still only has his two bottom teeth.

He is wearing 9-12mo clothes and size 3 diapers.

I am absolutely head over heels in love with him and can't believe that he is almost one. I don't know if it is just the infamous mother/son bond thing, but if I am having this hard a time with his first birthday coming up...what am I going to do when he goes off to college? Or (gasp) gets married?
Speaking of growing up too fast...Seriously, how grown up does Emerson look in this picture? She is changing so fast too! That deserves a post of its own though:)

Emerson Before and After

For several months Emerson has been telling me that she wanted "short hair like mommy's" for summer. So, we have been planning to get a big haircut after her dance recital was over. In my mind, I have been super excited about the change but a little worried with how Emerson would react to not having her long blonde locks anymore. Afterall, she did constantly twirl and play with her hair in addition to looking in the mirror and saying that she loved her long hair like rapunzels.

Anyways, we went to the hair place on Thursday and when the girl was finished cutting her hair, Emy looked in the mirror and said, "I LOVE my short hair, mommy!". I was so thankful that it was a success and not traumatizing. Every day since her hair cut, she has told us several times that she loves her short hair. She also tells all her friends that they need to get haircuts like hers. It is pretty cute.

Before
After!

And her "official" dance picture from this year:)

Ashton is 8 months old

Well, he actually turned 8 months a week ago. Oops.

Anyways, at 8 months he has added clapping to his list of accomplishments. If you start clapping and saying, "Yay Ashton" he will start smiling and clapping and look at you with wide eyes as if thinking, "I don't know what I did but this is fun!". It is so cute.

He really, really wants to crawl. He will get onto all fours and just rock. If he sees toys far off he will go from sitting to all fours and then the will reach out with one arm for it. I would not be surprised if we are only days away from mobility. I am not ready for that.

Still no teeth.

He loves to eat. As long as their is food in front of him, he will not stop. The other evening he had his bottle and his serving of baby food. Then we left him in the high chair while we ate dinner and cleaned up. In the same sitting he polished off a ton of "puffs", a quarter of an avacado and half a sippy of water. I seriously thought he would throw up. Emerson did too. She kept saying, "Ashy stop eating. You are gonna frow up."

We are pretty much in a daily routine now. He takes two naps. One around 9am and it is usually a little over an hour. Then there is another nap around 1pm and its length fluctuates. Good days it is 1.5 to 2 hours. Bad days it is 30 minutes. The short naps make for long evenings!

And just because this post is entirely about Ashton, here is his reaction to playing in the baby pool for the first time.
Think he liked it? As sad as his reaction was, it was also pretty funny. Don't worry, we didn't leave him in there. I ended up holding him while Emerson played in it with her babies.

Emerson at 3

The birthday has passed, the birthday party post has been written, now I just want to jot down a few things about Emerson at this age for record keeping sake.

It is very evident that Emerson has my personality. Exactly my personality. My stubborn, silly, passionate, eager and impatient personality. I love this and hate it all the same. It is fun to watch her in many situations but when we butt heads...it.is.ugly. Seriously ugly. Our stubborn and passionate nature's just battle each other. Of course, mommy always wins, but the method to my win is not always ideal. Currently this happens on a daily basis. "This too shall pass" chants through my head on a daily basis.

Emerson is spunky, bubbly and loves to chatter. She is so talkative at home and with her closest friends. She loves to give compliments to others and almost always says "bless you". She also loves to pray at all her meals, naptime and bedtime.

Emy is a big time rule follower- that is, for everyone except mommy. In fact, she also tells others what to do when they don't follow the rules or do something the right way.

Emerson loves school and her dance class. She comes home from both telling me and showing me the things they learned. I love hearing the excitement in her voice about things, "Mommy, yellow and red make orange!" Precious.

Speaking of dance, Emerson loves to dance and sing. She is constantly dancing around the house and singing various songs. She has all these silly dance moves that she has made up or combined with "real" moves from her school. She sings songs that she knows as well as makes up songs to familiar tunes. I love that she makes up songs because I remember doing that as a kid too and they are just funny to listen too.

She LOVES surprises and "adventures". Steve and I can make anything into a "surprise" or about "going on an adventure" and she is hooked. She also loves to surprise others. I really love this quality about her. She already realizes that giving is better than receiving.

Emerson loves to help. It is easy to engage her in most anything by asking her to help. This has been truly wonderful with Ashton's arrival. She is always helping with diapers, bathtime, laundry, all of it.

One thing I have really noticed about Emerson lately is that her mannerisms are so adult-like. The way she crosses her legs, covers her mouth when she coughs (most of the time), turns the page of a book, folds her napkin at the table, etc...all these things just give me a glimpse of what she will look like years from now.

Emy loves daddy. They have a special bond that I am totally left out of and that is okay with me. They are really fun to watch together. Steve treats her like a big kid and gives her more freedom than I do. They have special things that are just for them and it warms my heart to see their special relationship.

Emerson is so fun at this age. She is learning so fast and really loves to get to try new things. I cannot believe she is three already and fast approaching kindergarten. My baby girl is growing up so fast!