Niko at 11 Months.

AHH! The last one until a birthday post, where does the time go??  Niko is a busy guy, and continues to be a very happy baby!  These photos are near impossible to get.  He's fascinated by the stickers.

Niko is right around 22 pounds, maybe a bit over that.  Growing well, still nursing like a champ (never nursed an 11 month old baby until yesterday, high five!).  He loves food, too, especially meat - chicken, pork, ground beef, you name it.  He is legit crawling now after spending quite some time doing this army crawl/worm thing.  He pulls up on everything and just the other day he let go and stood independently for a few seconds.  He has five teeth and it would appear he is working on his sixth right now.  I am trying really hard to get him to attach to his swaddle blankets because man, having a lovey is so handy.  At least he has his thumb!

He loves playing with anything he can get his hands on, particularly non-toys (mixing bowls, spatulas, index cards, the plastic case for my retainer, and SHOES - gross).  ECFE starts back up today, looking forward to seeing him in that environment.  Niko has such a fun personality and he usually thinks Myra is hilarious.  She doesn't realize there isn't much of a weight difference between them, so when she tries to carry (drag) him around, it doesn't always end with smiles.  Myra is a very kind and helpful big sister, always giving him his food or cup when he drops it and good about finding him a new toy when she takes the one he's playing with...

Niko nurses an average of 5, maybe 6, times a day and eats three meals a day.  If he's awake when Myra gets a snack, he gets one, too.  At this point, I'd say we're home free on breastfeeding and will definitely make it to a year.  I have no intention to stop nursing him at a year unless he initiates that, but I think I'll create some boundaries and work towards nursing twice a day at wake up and bed time.  I am getting really sick of my nursing-friendly wardrobe and would love to not need to pump while away (because I get away SO often - HA!).  We recently night weaned him (post in the works about that).  I'm grateful nursing has worked out for us, minus the epic thrush battles of 2015, and would love to keep providing the calories, nutrition, and especially immunity for a while longer.  And, bonus, nursing has some very real benefits to me as well.  While I don't see myself nursing for years to come, I feel like this is a good time to reference one of my favorite extended breastfeeding posts.  So many people think it's bizarre to nurse a toddler, but when does it stop being normal and start being "weird"? On their first birthday? The day before? The day after? Two weeks later? I used to think if a baby could pull on your shirt in an attempt to get it themselves, that was too old, but I now know that happens when they're very much so still babies because babies are wild.  Or, when a kid could ask for it, but lots of babies can sign milk very young, too.  And they "ask for it" from day one by crying, so that's silly.  Anyway, there's my rambling for the day.

Don't be alarmed, I nursed here by choice.  We were at MOA for the morning and I was changing Niko's diaper then he needed to eat.  He gets so distracted, there was no way he'd nurse at Camp Snoopy (or whatever it's called now).  I know MOA has quiet, nice lounge rooms for this, but I'm far too lazy to walk that far to feed him (which takes 5-10 minutes itself).  So, here we are!

Niko and Godfather Nick

I keep  meaning to get my hands on Trevor's baby photos, but here is one of mine:

A year ago we were so anxious to meet our baby, so nervous if baby would come when Trevor was home or not...before or after Myra's birthday?  So much has happened in the last year and I can't believe less than a month from  now he'll be a one year old!  It's been an honor to be Niko's parents and get to know him and we can't wait for more.  Gotta run, I'm sure something around here needs cleaning (myself??)!