Where do they get it?

Okay, so last night we had a window man in our home. Unfortunately he was here because of necessity. It was raining and we discovered we have 2 REALLY REALLY leaking windows. This is not good because the more this happens, the higher the likelihood of damage to the structure of the house around the windows. So, anyway...we eventually had wanted to replace a few of the windows on the front of our house for energy efficiency, but now we're doing it a little sooner than we had planned. Oh well. That is not the point of this blog. While this man was in our house, he had his stuff laid out all over the living room to show us how good his window was, etc. Then, Jack woke up from his nap and he was really excited that we had company. He was also really excited about his stuff. He started going after something he wasn't supposed to have and we politely told him no and took him away from the situation. Oh my goodness.......that's when it happened for the first time that we remember: the pouty lip! He stuck that bottom lip out so far (he wasn't crying) that no one could keep from laughing. Too bad we didn't catch it on camera. But, we were wondering where in the world do kids learn it. I don't think he's ever seen me pout. I don't think he's ever seen Chris pout. And, I know that he hasn't seen Murphy pout because Murphy doesn't stick out his bottom lip when he pouts, he just looks at you so sad. It was just funny. I guess I have to chalk it up to instinct? Or maybe he's watched his cousins, but I don't think they pout an excessive amount. I guess he's just learning how to manipulate. So, we're really in trouble now.

Jack turned 11 months old on Monday. It's unbelievable how fast this year has gone. Here are a few updates on what he is doing.

Physically: Jack has been crawling for a long time and he's been standing up and cruising furniture for a long time, but now he is starting to get brave enough to let go. No steps yet, just standing and letting go. At first, it was pretty rare but now it's getting very common.

Eating: Jack loves to feed himself finger foods. He is starting to get to the point where he would much rather feed himself than have me feed him with a spoon. But, he doesn't complain TOO much when I give him food with a spoon. His favorite right now is probably sweet potatoes.

Talking: This kid babbles ALL the time. He is constantly saying "da da da" or "na na na" or growling in a playful way or saying what sounds like "hey" or "hi-ya." He does understand that Chris is "da da," and he understands that I am "ma ma" but he will not say "mama." He has said it maybe once or twice but is not consistent.

Sleeping: Whew.......this really got thrown off on our 2 week holiday trip. But, we got home Sunday night and decided that this was going to be the week that we really started helping Jack sleep all night again and not want to nurse 2-3 times at night. So, the plan was for us to give him 15 minutes after waking up to try to put himself back to sleep. Then, Chris would go check on him and calm him down and then leave the room and let Jack try again on his own. Monday night, Jack woke up at 12:20 and was back asleep on his own by 1:15 (it was really hard to hear him cry). Then, he slept until 7:45. Tuesday night he woke up at 11:30 and put himself back to sleep in 8 minutes (Chris didn't even have to go in there). And, then he woke up again at 4:30. After 15 minutes exactly, he was back asleep without any intervention on our part. He slept until 8:00. So, hopefully, this will continue until he's not crying out in the middle of the night. But, we have gotten a little bit better sleep the past few nights which has been helpful.

This post is getting pretty long, so I'll stop especially since I don't have any pictures to post. I will get some up soon.

Hope everyone's new year is going good! Oh yeah......we have a new niece and we're so excited! She's adorable. Check out her pictures at Greg and Kim's blog.