Brantley: 10 months

Your tenth month of life saw a lot of new developments! We talked with your pediatrician last month about the fact that you hadn’t started crawling yet and come to find out, both Daddy and Papa have been carrying you around. A LOT. So we started crawling bootcamp which really just consisted of putting you down on the floor and letting you fend for yourself when your toys were out of reach. Daddy still had a hard time letting you just play on your own (and between you and me, I think both of these guys still did a lot of holding and carrying). But crawling bootcamp eventually paid off and you started army crawling just a week later.

You’ve also been sleeping on your belly a lot lately which is probably also related to your recent crawling adventures. When we go in your room to wake you up, you also sometimes push yourself off your belly into a real crawling position (only to immediately fall back down again).

While we’ve had to transition you to formula bottles during the day, I still cherish our time together in the mornings and at night before bed while you’re nursing. You have started falling asleep in my arms while eating and even though I know I’m not “supposed” to let you fall asleep in my arms because it’ll create bad habits and surely you’ll need me to rock you to sleep for the next 16 years, I do it anyway. I know these moments won’t last forever and I want to enjoy every single second of your life at this precious age.

Go figure, the speech therapist’s child would have delayed speech milestones. But this month you did start babbling “bababa” so there’s hope after all!

Our biggest adventure of the month was your first plane ride for our family trip to Tampa! Daddy and I packed all of our clothes for the long weekend in a checked bag, then we packed a few outfits and all of your toys in our carry-on suitcase. We also stashed a few dry snacks in the diaper bag and bought some fresh fruit when we got to the airport. We felt a little over-prepared but when our flight was delayed over an hour, our over-packing paid off because we had a blanket for you to sit on and a stash of toys for you to play with while we waited at the gate!

You were GREAT on the plane. For the most part you just wanted to look out the window and look through the emergency plan pamphlet. We were so worried that you would be “that crying baby” but all you needed was a bottle and you fell right to sleep. The flight attendants were so sweet, they even let you sit in the pilot’s seat before leaving.

The house we rented in Tampa was amazing! It had 4 bedrooms to accommodate all of us, a big living room, open kitchen, dining room, bonus room with a pool table, and a gorgeous backyard with a pool, hot tub, outdoor kitchen, fire pit, and a dock down to the river. We LOVED being able to be all together in one house, it felt just like being at home where we could cook and eat together, sit around the living room, play cards at the dining room table, and relax by the pool all day long. I know your uncles (and aunt) loved being able to spend time with you, too!

Tampa has a great zoo, so on Sunday we spent the afternoon walking around the zoo looking at all of the animals. You didn’t seem too impressed by the animals but maybe you’ll show a little more excitement when it’s not 300 degrees outside. At one point, Daddy was holding a cup of sugar water for the birds and you reached right up to touch the bird and it bit you on the hand! You looked up at Daddy like, “What was that all about?” and acted like nothing happened. You’re such a trooper.

It was a rare occurrence to have all of us “kids” (AKA: Mommy, Daddy, Whitney, Cameron, and Knate) free at the same time for a family vacation and we can’t wait to do it again! They don’t get to see you very often and you change so much every time they do see you and they had so much fun getting to know all your little babbles and quirks.

Mommy also celebrated her second Mother’s Day in May. Last year I was certainly a “mother” but this year was even better having you here with me! We started the morning with a walk to the beach where we had a breakfast picnic on the beach… and I hope it’s a tradition we can continue year after year!

Daddy was working so we spent the afternoon with your Mimi and Nanny lounging by the pool.

I have to say, your 10th month of life has definitely been a good one.

Happy 10 months, Brantley Bug.