Boyd - 11.75 months

Some updates:

• Boyd has started climbing the stairs as of a couple weeks ago! He's fast too. Someone is always behind him acting as a spotter, since he has a tendency to slip every once in a while and lose his balance. He's still standing for just a few seconds before falling down.
• Likes watching planes fly over the house and seeing cars drive by. He will pull himself up from the changing table to look out of the window to see these things. Big smiles when he does. 
• Seems like the most effective way to get him to calm down and be less fussy is to sing, but sometimes there's no consoling him. When he's tired it's a bad scene.
• Knows his name (and his nicknames).
• Loves watching himself on video or seeing photos of himself on my phone.
• Becoming more proficient at drinking out of a sippy cup. We practice with water.
• Gestures in the direction of what he wants or where he wants to go, occasionally points with one finger.
• Sometimes will give an item back if we ask for it, but mostly likes to take things. Is also starting to place things in a container instead of always taking them out. 
• Likes to open and close doors, over and over again.
• This has been going on for months, but he loves riding around on our shoulders.
• The "I'm gonna get YOU!" game is a fun one around here. He crawls away at top speed but then looks back and either keeps crawling or collapses in a fit of giggles.
• Also pretty hilarious - the Chewbaca noise he makes when happy. I need to get this on video.
• I bought him a little green Columbia fleece jacket for winter. D has one almost exactly like it and they look pretty darn adorable together. 

I'm tired of pumping. Really tired. I've gone down to one session at work (4 ounces) instead of two since my milk production is slowing down. Boyd still gets 2 bottles during the day while I'm gone, so sometime this month (or next) we'll introduce whole milk and goat's milk. I will still nurse him in the morning and before bedtime, but hopefully soon I can phase out the pumping session at work.

In other news, my cat Little Dude has been diagnosed with diabetes. AWESOME. Now we have two older pets with diabetes that need insulin 2x per day - once in the a.m. and again in the evening. Some mornings it's a little overwhelming to manage double the feedings and insulin shots (30 minutes later), and then getting Boyd and myself ready and out the door. It's those days that I wish D left the house the same time as us.

New coat - and playing with my keys.

Care Bears unite!

Our Care Bears costumes were a hit! The weather was perfect - in the 20's - and the trails had plenty of snow. Our shuttle bus was running late so we missed the costume judging, but we made it in time for the Party Wave start. Since we were in the back the going was a little slow in the beginning, but I kind of liked not dealing with the crazy crush of skiers in the beginning. There were bottlenecks here and there, especially before a hill.

It was great to see all of the ladies (around 1,300) out skiing on Superbowl Sunday to suport domestic violence awareness. I loved watching the little kiddos on their little skis - so cute!

Here are a ton of photos from the Anchorage Daily News. And one from the race photographer at the race finish of us girls.

On the shuttle bus, heading to the course. Our 5th member got sick, so she stayed home. :-(

We worked on our costumes individually, but Susie made our red butt hearts that say Care Bears.