Look who's 11 mos. old!

My little Hunter James Paul will just not stop growing. He is not listening to me one bit about slowing down and being my baby. Quite the opposite! He wants to do everything his big brother does, and is set at 100 mph the majority of the day. Rapidly turning into a toddler.

We were at the mall recently and Jay took the boys off to walk around while I had the dreaded task of finding a new swimsuit for Florida. Let's just say I really love these boys, because they sure did a number to my body! :) Anyway, I was really impressed when he came back with two different sets of matching polos for the boys from Baby Gap. He looked kinda sheepish and said, "Well, they match shirts that I have at home." He got the right sizes and everything! Of course I couldn't wait to try them on so I layered them.

Little stinker! (Love the drool on his collar)

Stole his brother's sword

"Hi, Mommy!"

The boys have started to do well playing in the same room, if not side by side. I love scenes like this where I walk in to them both preoccupied in their own little worlds.

Had to throw in some of Holden. While I was doing Hunter's 11 mo. "photo shoot," (which Holden kindly lent me the space of his room for) he grabbed his Toy Story 3 coloring book and stickers and announced he was NOT to be "disturbed" because he was doing "very important homework."

Hunt-man is so close to walking! He is pulling himself up and walking along the furniture. He can also get up a complete flight of stairs now. Very quickly. I discovered this recently when I went to load the dishwasher and came back 2 minutes later and he was missing. Heart pounding, I found him up in the bathroom trying to climb into the (empty) tub. Thank goodness he didn't try to go back down the stairs! We now have a gate rigged up at the bottom of the stairs, not just the top. :) He can go from a squat to standing up but then plops back down. He has NO interest in us holding his fingers and walking. Holden always loved that. But Hunter is too independent and gets annoyed that we are trying to "assist" his mobility. He just plops down and darts off at lightning speed on all fours. I think part of his issue is he is top-heavy. Hoping he gets the hang of it before spring so he's not crawling around the wood chips at the park.

Typical Hunter

His love affair with food continues. Memaw had given him a faux-hawk in these pictures.

A new interest is the kitchen and everything in it. He especially loves pilfering the fridge for cool items like mustard bottles. The freezer is okay with him, too. And then there's the cool dishwasher to try to climb in.

And of course there's the coveted remote control. It starts early with men, doesn't it? And he KNOWS if you try to give him a toy remote. He wants the real thing!

His favorite new "toy" of all are his kitties. On this particular day he decided to torture Tiggy. She is very tolerant. I owe her some treats.

Hunter weighs around 25lbs and is almost as tall as is brother. (Not sure on heights until his next Dr.'s appt.) He is FINALLY sleeping awesome through the nights. Goes down about 6:30pm (yep, that early! If we really push he can make it until 7:00 but he is a crab!) and sleeps 11-12 hours. Hallelujah! He has had 3 ear infections this winter and is currently on Augmentin. Hoping these taper off as warm weather comes (soon, please!!!??) so we don't have to mess with tubes. He is recovering from a nasty cough so we have had a vaporizer in his room and it has really helped. I was worried about having it get too humid so we've kept his door open, and he is still sleeping soundly. Thank goodness for that sound machine! Despite being a bit under the weather, he has a very happy disposition for the most part and loves getting into mischief. We could get rid of all the baby toys in favor of cords, remotes, phones, cat food, pieces of paper, sunglasses, lint, and other fascinating objects. He is INTO EVERYTHING!!!! No words yet other than "Mama" and "Dada," but I do think he's been trying to say, "Kitty." Sometimes when I say, "Where's the kitty?" he will grin and say, "Dee dee!" and point his finger. I think he understands what I am saying. He will get a big grin and look all around. I can't wait to see what he calls Holden. He adores him. He has gotten a little clingier lately. Nothing like what Holden was, but taking a little longer to warm up to new people. He definitely knows my parents and Jay's and will go to them willingly. I've had a few weeks of him crying when I drop him off to the nursery at church but it tapers as soon as I'm out of sight. The funniest thing is when I get home from work. He is completely fine until he sees me. Then talk about drama, half the time he will start crying and crawl to me and hold his arms out. I think he realizes he missed me. :) Love him...can't get over the fact that he will very soon be 1!