Paxton is 11 Months Old

Well, yesterday, he was 11 months old. And I'm sure if we're personal friends on Facebook, if you follow Jen's Love Lessons on Facebook, or if you follow me on Instagram, then you already got a sneak peek of Paxton's 11 month photo shoot. But since you read this blog, now you get to see the rest (lucky you)!

Without further ado, here are the photos from Paxton's 11 month shoot and the general update about our favorite almost-one-year-old (eek!). 

Overall, Mr. Paxton Marshall is looking and acting more and more like a toddler these days. He's not walking yet. He's still cruising while holding onto furniture and walking while pushing other objects around. And, he can stand unassisted for a good 10 seconds (or more) We don't really know how long he can actually stand because when we stand him up, he doesn't usually fall down. Instead, he just stands for a few seconds and then slowly squats before going into a crawling motion. So, we're really not sure if he could stand for longer. Basically, I'm not sure if he's squatting because of his inability to stand or his lack of desire to stand. Whatever.

In the last month, Paxton has really begun babbling excessively. All. Day. Long. It's quite insane at times, actually. He likes to say, "dadadadadabababababamamamama" and the like. The best part is when he uses a wide variety of insanely crazy intonations, tones, and volumes while babbling. It's presh.

There's the squat. 

Pax is still a late evening-night nurser while drinking formula during the day. When he has a bottle, he drinks a solid 8 ounces almost every time. We're also planning to start introducing a little milk here and there just to get him used to the taste. He really liked it yesterday. Fingers crossed that his acceptance of milk continues.

Still no teeth, still co-sleeping, and still ridiculously easy.

Love you, Pax!

Lea's First Birthday Party

Last Saturday, on our most recent trip up to Maryland, our dear friends' second child, Lea, had her first birthday party. Iad and Brandy (Lea's parents) have a son who is six weeks younger than the twins and Lea is six week older than Paxton. So needless to say, our kids are very close. It was the most perfectly beautiful spring day on Saturday, with highs in the lower 70s. The party was mostly held outside, which all of the kids absolutely loved. But we played inside a few times, too. Here are the highlights:

Vivian and Nick (Steph & Tony's first child).

Wes (the baby whisperer) with Nick.

Me & Paxton

Lea and Brandy's mom

As is usual Brandy fashion, she had a pinata!

L to R: Steph and Nick, Mitchem, Me, Brandy and Lea

Mitchem and Bam

I also had the pleasure of doing a photo booth at the party. I think it turned out great! Here are a few of my favorite photo strips:

 And of course, Miss Lea!

Happy Birthday, Miss Lea! 

We can't wait to come to many more of your celebrations!

Jam-Packed Weekend

A couple weekends ago, we had a crazy, jam-packed few days. It all started on Friday when Wes and his mom chaperoned the twins' field trip to the animal safari! And Paxton came along for the ride.

They got home around 5:30 and I joined them to go to the Children's Museum downtown.

We then went to Chick Fil-A for dinner and some playtime after that.

Needless to say, all three kids were ridiculously tired after that whirlwind of a day.

On Saturday, we went shopping at Costco and Big Lots in the morning, had lunch outside at a local Harrisonburg landmark of sorts (a grilled cheese shack), and played in the back yard while I painted a dresser I nabbed the day before from a thrift shop (more to come about that later).

We played outside again and watched a movie on Sunday before Grandma headed back to Maryland.

He's Figuring Things Out

Paxton has really started to figure out that he is perfectly capable of getting around and doing a lot of the same things his siblings can do.

Dinner at the Park

On Tuesday, we had dinner at the park. Gavin and Vivian thought it was very cool, saying things like, "We never done this before! This is great!" and then on Wednesday, "Can we eat dinner at the park again today? PLEASE!!"

He's a Little Birdie

Just like his older brother and sister, Paxton has become a baby bird whenever anyone is eating. If he notices that someone has food, crawls over, stands up, opens his mouth, and squawks. It's actually quite precious.

Just One

This past weekend was extremely busy for us. I have a lot to blog about. But for now, I'll just post one of my fav pics of the weekend (there were a ton!).

Love our little fam.