My boys are Eleven Months!  We have less than a month until their 1st birthday and I can barely handle it.  This has definitely been the fast eleven months of my life and time really needs to slow down.

James
Height: approx. 30 inches (birth 18.5 in)
Weight: approx. 22lbs (birth 5lbs 9oz)

William
Height: approx. 30 inches (birth 18.5 in)
Weight: approx. 21.6lbs (birth 5lbs 13oz)

EAT
In the area of eating there isn't too much to report.  They continue to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner along with one to two snacks.  Favorite foods right now are bananas, pancakes, french toast, yogurt, chicken and eggs.

The boys continue to nurse throughout the day anywhere from 3-6 times.  They have given up night nursing and now just nurse when they wake up, before and after naps and sometimes in the afternoons.

SLEEP
This month has been a game changer when it comes to the area of sleep.  The day after they turned 10 months I decided to move the boys to their own room.  (They have been sleeping in our room in a room size nook.  I was hesitant to move them to their room since it is on the second floor and our room is on the first floor.)  The first night in their own room went pretty well with James only waking twice and I was able to lay him back down in his crib with no problem.  After that night both boys have been sleeping through the night; going to bed around 6:30-6:45 and waking up around 7:00-7:30.  It has been amazing and I am starting to feel like a real person again.  It is crazy what getting a full nights sleep can do for you.  This is the first month in over a year that I have been able to get consistent sleep through the night.  The boys have also started to nap during the day as well.  They will take two naps a day if we are home for both times.  They tend to go down for their first nap around 9:30-10:00 and will sleep any where from 1-2 hours.  their second nap is anytime between 2:00-3:00 depending on when they woke up from their first nap and how tired they get.  They will sleep for 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.  This new sleeping pattern is amazing and I'm truly grateful that the boys have decided that sleeping isn't overrated anymore!


GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT and PLAY
This month didn't have too much new development, but I feel like it was more a month of refining skills they had just been developing.

This month:
William learned to click his tongue, started using a push toy to walk, learned to give high fives and started cruising.
James started cruising and started giving mommy kisses spontaneously.

This month the boys have really taken to the book "brown bear brown bear".  They can be in different rooms and if I start reading it they will both come crawling quickly so they can look at the pictures and turn the pages.  They have also started to interact with books that have touch and feel pages.

Both boys now have four teeth!  They have their bottom center teeth and now both have their top side teeth.  James' top right tooth broke through first about two weeks later William's top right side tooth broke through and then 4 days later his left side tooth.  James top left side tooth didn't break through until a week later.  They look like they have fangs which is cute.  (And according to my mom this is exactly how my teeth came in when I was little)

This month we had a visit from the boys Auntie Lauren (one of my best friends from my childhood) we had a great time spending a week with her and the boys took to her immediately.  While she was here we took a trip to the zoo and a trip to Sequoia National Park.  The day we went to the zoo it was pretty amazing because there was barely anyone there in the afternoon we basically saw only people who worked there, it was like having the zoo all to ourselves.  We attempted the petting zoo again and it was still a bit of a fail with Will still being scared of the goats and sheep.  He would start crying if I even walked near them.

Our trip to Sequoia National Park was very fun, it only took about two hours to get there from our house to where the trees are in the park.  The boys did great on the ride to the park sleeping the whole way there and were in great spirits while we walked through the park to see the sequoia trees.  We stopped and had a picnic which the boys enjoyed.  They got to have a sandwich for the first time and throughly enjoyed it!

Will and James have started to give kisses spontaneously, which I love.  I have even seen them given each other kisses which makes my heart burst!  They love they have for each other is amazing.

Daddy has become a big deal this month.  While they have always loved their daddy, they are now really enamored with him.  The smile they get when he comes home at night is priceless and they will follow him throughout the house when he is home on the weekends.


James



My sweet James,
Oh how you have grow!  You are so sweet.  You give me the best hugs when I lay you down bed, you wrap your arms around my neck and squeeze real tight!  I love it!  This month you have started cruising and moving.  You are becoming more and more independent.  At the park you will crawl away from me off on your own exploring, you watch the bigger kids and seem interested in doing what they are doing.  You love music: mommy singing, shaking bells and maracas, playing the kazoo  and you will "dance" right along with mommy while sitting in your high chair at meal times.


William



My William Clayton,
What a big boy you are becoming!  You seem to be overcoming your shyness this month a little bit, allowing others to hold you without becoming too upset.  You are moving and shaking right along with your brother!  You have started cruising and pushing the walking toys around.  You have learned to give high fives and are pretty proud of your new trick!  This month has been a little tough for you, you got your first real boo-boo by pulling a picture frame done on your head =( and then you got sick losing your appetite for about a week.  This loss of appetite has allowed your brother to out weigh you by about half a pound this month; I don't think this will last long since your appetite has come back with a vengeance and you are devouring almost everything I put in front of you!