11 Months-- BIG times!

So, James turned 11 months old on Saturday. We're pretty sure that he's gone through a major growth spurt lately. He's noticeably larger (taller, heavier) than he was 2 weeks ago. (Perhaps this was lending to the latest sleep troubles...)



To celebrate his big day, we installed the new carseat. Now, this was preceeded with much research and stress. We knew we wanted a Britax as they are top-ranked for safety and ease of use and comfort; we just couldn't decide between the Roundabout or the slightly larger Marathon. We looked at lots of studies, and both were well-ranked. Our concern was whether James would get too tall for the Roundabout before getting too heavy. The Marathon (whose name obviously appealed to me) goes 15 pounds heavier (not really a concern of ours) and a couple of inches taller. Of course, the seat is substantially larger as well. After polling other Moms, visiting seats in stores, consulting Baby Bargains and Consumer Reports, we finally settled on the Roundabout. The great thing is that I was able to save 20% with a coupon and get it for under $200! Yippee! (We got the cow pattern--very hip.)







Well, after installing the seat, Dan crafted a slide from the cardboard box. James LOVES sliding from the ottoman across the living room now!







In another 11 month-old, growth-spurt celebration, James got new jammies. He was bursting out of most of his footie-jammies, and his fleecy sleepsacks were ridiculously small--the sleeves were like 3/4 length, and he couldn't extend his legs fully (yes, we've considered that this could have contributed to the sleep difficulties). We got him two new roomy sleepsacks and some great BabyGap jammies. The jammies are two-piece sets, so he looks like a toddler instead of a baby. Even Dan got a bit verclempt! I think they'll last longer though because his feet aren't contained.







So, now we have taken some of the bigger clothes out of the closet, washed them and introduced them to the wardrobe line-up. We'll be bagging up the footed jammies and other too-small clothes, and we need to put away the infant carseat and its accompanying snap-and-go stroller. Our baby is getting big now!