11 Months

Roby and Eli are 11 months today.  Hard to believe 1 year is just around the corner.  Whoohoo to the impending end of formula.  We are currently ripping through a full container every 48 hours.  That's $9/day for those of you familiar with formula.  Not cheap that stuff.  I'm still nursing them - twice a day for Roby and once for Eli.  (Eli weaned himself from the evening feed by deciding it was a good time to practice chewing.  In the mornings he is less ornery.)  However, as of this evening we are going to go with just the mornings.  Getting Roby to focus is a losing battle.

The big news this month was walking!  Roby took his first step on Easter, about 10 days ago.  Eli waited until today (conveniently right before I drafted this update!)  Neither of them have mastered it to the extent that they could actually use it as a means of transportation but the idea is definitely germinating.

They also both (as of this evening) appear to be waving goodbye.  I may be loosely interpreting a full arm bounce but I'm the mom.  I get to loosely interpret. 

While Roby has been practicing his walking, Eli has been focusing on developing his vocabulary.  He now says "mama" whenever he wants anything (smart boy.)  He also says bhuuu-ba (byebye?) and has been heard to say "Da" when Dave is in sight.  Interestingly, Roby's first word seems to be "uhoh."  Somehow I'm not surprised. 
 
As you can see from the picture above, the only way I could get the boys to sit still this morning was to wedge Sarah Jane between them.  She was a very willing helper.  The pictures below will give you a better sense for what our photo shoot really felt like.

Here I am holding the camera and Sarah Jane is trying to keep them in place.  (Anna is alternating between running around in circles naked in the background and quietly working her way through a stack of books, still naked.)

 At this point I gave the camera to Sarah Jane but had no better luck containing them than she had.

Here are some more of my favorites from this month. 

 Eli, smelling the flowers.

Roby.  Our budding reader.  This is actually totally misleading.  This kid has no interest in books other than objects to chew.  Same goes for his bro.

Roby, showing off his standing skills.

 Team work.

 Roby sleeping.  Again with the books.  Not reflective of reality.

 Bath time - Roby looking at us.  About to dive headfirst out of the tub.

 Eli standing.

Anna with two of her favorite guys.  This is right before she slathered them in shampoo and washed their hair.  No joke.  She did a good job too!

Our little men are happy, happy babies.  They cooperatively sleep through the night (for the most part), smile, giggle, love their sisters and work hard to steal whatever toy the other one has.  They love Vicky and Elizabeth and practically glow when each arrives in the morning.  They squeal with joy when their sisters appear and can't keep their eyes off the girls when they are around.  Their favorite activity is still opening and closing the doors on the play kitchen though they have graduated to doing the same in the real kitchen.  They are nearly impossible to get dressed and their favorite part of the day is bath time.  We can mostly tell them apart but sometimes they confuse us.  Eli has more hair and fewer teeth.  Both were really sick at the end of March along with both sisters and their father.  Five peeps with the stomach flu is five peeps too many.  I conveniently can't remember any details.

And now as I type I hear someone crying... over and out for now.

(Links to news in Sarah Jane's 11 month and Anna's 11 month update, just for fun)