A day in the life of an 11 month old!

One of the message boards I read was having its members do a "Day in the life" posting, and I thought it looked fun!! So if you're wondering what life is like with an 11 month old, here's a day in the life of Luke!

Our day started around 8:45, when my little man woke up! He usually sleeps all night but occasionally wakes up needing a little mommy snuggle time, which happened at 12:30 that night. A couple of minutes of rocking and he was back to bed :) When he wakes up he's all smiles!


Then it was time to get a diaper change and get dressed!


After that he nursed and then we fed the dogs and had play time! It was also time for me to eat breakfast!


After some play time, it was time for breakfast! He ate cheerios with milk, like a big kid, and loved it!


After breakfast it was time to play some more! We usually play downstairs and he roams all over! Luke loves his Stride-to-ride lion walker!


Then it was time to load up and head to the park to go running!


We made it to the park and I opened the back of the car, only to find that I had forgotten the jogging stroller! I swear it was the first time I have done this! So back home we go (luckily it is only a 5 minute drive home!). We ran around the neighborhood instead.
Here's Luke ready to go on the run!


And here's Luke after the run...


We came inside and then it was shower time for mommy and Baby Einstein watching time for Luke!

Luke loves Baby Einstein!

Then it was lunch time! Today was yogurt and bananas!


Then we played some more and attempted reading time...it's not always easy to get him to stay still long enough to look at anything! This was one of those times.


Before nap time I folded laundry and Luke wanted to help...make it more difficult that is! He likes to rearrange the baskets and undo the folding!


Next it was time for a nap! He nursed then fell asleep a couple of minutes after being laid down. We are in a transition time between 1 and 2 naps. Some days he gets 2, especially if he wakes up early. Other days it's just one. I counted the nap in the stroller as his first nap, and this was his second. He went down right at 3pm.

I love video monitors! I don't know what I would do without mine!

He slept until 5:20 and then woke up ready to play some more, so we headed outside!


He does such a funny crawl when he doesn't want his knees to touch!

After some play time, it was time for dinner, and little man was hungry! The menu for tonight was grilled cheese, his favorite! In this picture he was yelling because I was waiting for it to cool and he was hungry!!


After dinner came bath time. Sometimes bath time is fun and sometimes it's not! He doesn't always love it- in fact he hates having his hair washed! Today was a good time, he was splashing and playing and having a blast!



The next part of our bedtime routine is reading time! He loves his animal book so we always do that one, plus one or two others. I love it when Kevin reads to him because his "commentary" on the animals is funny. Plus I think Luke likes listening to him more!! Here's Luke ready to read!


And finally bedtime! After nursing, rocking, and a lullaby (I Will by the Beatles), we lay him down and say goodnight! He plays anywhere from 10-30 minutes and goes to sleep on his own. This night it was about 30 minutes :), he fell asleep by around 8:30.


And that was our day! It isn't very exciting but I love it anyway!

More recent pictures

Just wanted to put in more pictures of my favorite subject!


This is from about 3 weeks ago, at my Mom's house. Luke was exploring the flower pot and then decided to climb in, and of course eat the dirt!


Luke at the zoo, I love this picture. This is about a month ago.


Not a great picture, but it's the most recent one I have right now. He loves to rearrange the tupperware cabinet!

Working

Well I don't have a whole lot going on right now, and I consider that a good thing. I am in the midst of 3 shifts at work (which seems like a lot when you are used to working only 2!). I love my job and feel blessed to be able to work only on the weekends and spend the whole week home with Luke. I consider myself to be a full-time mom and a part time nurse! It's really the best of both worlds. The only thing is that I really miss Luke when I am at work, even though he's sound asleep while I am here! I am lucky to have people that can watch him and dote on him as much as I do, as well as a great husband who takes over my role while I am working or sleeping on the weekends.

For those that don't work nights, my schedule sounds pretty crazy! I wake up whenever my sweet little alarm clock gets up on Friday mornings, and we do our normal daily routine until I leave for work Friday nights. I work until 7am on Saturdays then I come home about the time Luke is getting up for the day. If Kevin is going to be watching him I try and be good to him and let him sleep until 9 or so before I go to bed....so I am basically up for 26 hours. Then I sleep as long as I can, then get up and have a little play time before heading back in to work on Saturday night. I work until 7am Sunday and then rush home and have about 10 minutes to get ready for church (and yes, I do shower!) and then we go to church. Recently we have been staying for class as well. We get home from church about 11 and then I go to sleep for a few hours. So all in all, I don't sleep much on the weekends! But during the week I get to make up for it! This crazy schedule is worth it to be able to stay at home all week and still earn as much (or more) as I did before.

One day I hope to become a stay at home mom, but it feels wierd to imagine not working anymore. Working allows me to feel like I am using my critical thinking skills and gives me an opportunity to get to talk to some adults for a while! When I started working I had these ideas for what I want to achieve in my nursing career, and for the most part those things havnen't changed. I just feel like the amount of time I have to do those things is shorter than originally expected. I honestly thought that staying at home would have no appeal to me when I first started working! But I do cherish every week I get to stay home and be with Luke, so I know that it's what I really want to do in the end. Just a few more years of this crazy schedule to go!

Growth and Developement

It's amazing when you think about how much children change in such a short period of time. From 2-6 months there was so much development in Luke's little life! I think one of the most exciting things was when he realized he had hands and those hands would work for him to grab things. I was at my dad's house the first time I noticed him using them. He was laying on the bed propped up on a pillow and I was laying there chatting with him (a pretty one-sided conversation!), and he reached up and grabbed the sleeve of my shirt! Once he realized he could grab things it wasn't long until he was playing with toys! Then the real fun began!





Luke started sitting up and rolling over at 4.5 months and suddenly this little thing that just laid there and looked around seemed to come to life! Before he started rolling over I remember worrying about how much "tummy time" he was getting, and I worried he wasn't doing enough! He hated it and cried every time I laid him on his little mat! Of course everything was fine though and he developed right on schedule if not early! I learned a great lesson in this: to stop worrying and just let him develop on his own!



From sitting up and rolling over, true mobility wasn't that far away. He started crawling, pulling up, and got his first tooth all in the same weekend, at 6 months old. The first week he was mobile I was exhausted! I had wanted him to be mobile so badly, and I was told "Don't wish him to be mobile, it's a lot more work!" and that is sooo true! The first time I had to get him out of the dog bowl I knew we were in trouble (he has since broken that dog bowl!)! Now it's hard to keep him out of everything! The other day he crawled under the baby gate so he could go up the stairs- our bonus for having such a small baby!



Now we are progressing towards walking, which I am actually pretty excited about- I'm not sure what other trouble he can get into but I'm sure he'll find something! Right now he can really move when holding on to his stride to ride lion, of course until he runs into the wall and then he gets mad because he can't go anymore! He can stand by himself for a few seconds and takes a few steps when we stand him up in between us. It's really more of a controlled fall than anything though.
There are so many changes that take place in the first year- just going from helpless newborn to walking toddler alone is amazing! I look at Luke now and I can't believe he is the same baby we brought home 10 months ago. What's also amazing is looking at older kids and imagining him talking and learning (as if he's not learning now!)! There is still so much ahead, but I'm trying to savor every little stage and every new thing he's learned!