Today we all were on campus enjoying the weather and so we stopped in some stores to check out some Tar Heel gear (Brianna has pretty much outgrown her original stash). I resisted the temptation of buying this lovely wig, but doesn’t she just look adorable!?! She humored me pretty well….
Brianna has recently gotten into climbing – particularly onto her chair and up the stairs. Today she made it all the way to the top with only a little help from me (gotta stop that downward slide…). Here she is as she started her climb….
And, about midway up…
She was having a great time! Occasionally, she would stop and check out the wall or the carpet, or the cat walking by. But mostly, she just climbed and climbed and climbed. She was so proud of herself when she got to the top. 
Later, she decided it was all about the hat – her hat, her Daddy’s hat, whatever hat she could get her hands on. Here she is right before the Tarheels game this afternoon…she wanted to be sure the opponent (Radford) knew the Heels meant business!
When I picked Brianna up from school the other day, her teacher (Ms. Carole) had put her hair up in this pseudo-pebbles ‘do. After some skepticism that she would sit still long enough for me to accomplish this feat, I tried it myself. No, she does not sit still. At all. But, it is still do-able! It is a favorite school hairdo now since Jason does not like sending her to school with hair bows (he is convinced either Brianna or a classmate will secretly pull the thing out of her hair and bad things will follow). Anyway, it is such a cute look on her. Even Jason agrees, and he generally does not like the “pebbles” look on babies (of course, he thinks everything Brianna does is cute…). Here are a couple more that show her at her cutest.
And finally, don’t you just love how Brianna is “feeling” the music!
Brianna is 11 months old today! I have to say, I am much more comfortable this March than I was last March…
As of this morning (according to my baby scale), Brianna weighs 19 lbs., 1 oz, so on average she has gained roughly 1 lb., 1 oz. each month since she was born. Despite her steady weight gain and her “Buddha” belly, she can still wear most of her 6 month outfits (some just barely) and all of her 9 month outfits. She has also started wearing a few 12 month outfits, although many are a little big. She is our little munchkin!
She still eats well, although she has gone backwards a bit on the finger foods. Recently she decided (for unknown reasons) that she is not interested in any finger foods except for bananas and Puffs. Before this “revelation,” she would eat carrots, squash, strawberries, and the occasional green bean. Now, she just wants her smushed food. We still offer her finger food (carrots, cheese, noodles, etc.), but right now, most of that ends up on the floor. Not the Puffs though! It is a rare Puff that misses her mouth and her bib and makes it all the way to the floor! We are also starting to add some spices to her “repertoire” — we started with cinnamon, and plan to try nutmeg and dill next (not together!). We are working on the sippy cup, and she has figured out how to use it. Generally, though, she definitely prefers her bottle to the sippy cup.
As you can see in the picture above, she has her first pair of shoes — cute little denim jobbies. They supposedly are for a 6 month old kid, but she has at least an inch to spare in the toes. She tried them out today — she didn’t seem to mind them, although I can’t say she really liked them either. They did not slow her down at all, though! She is crawling everywhere and using her chair and anything else she can reach to help her pull up to a standing position. She is actually pretty good at entertaining herself for pretty decent stretches of time (15 minutes or so). Here is one of her new favorite activities – the xylophone!
While she loves to play the “notes,” she is equally fond of just banging the mallet on the plastic edge, the floor, or anything else that might make an interesting noise. If you look closely at the second xylophone picture, you can see her top two teeth.
Brianna is a very happy baby – she regularly cracks herself up! She is also very ticklish and very chatty (I guess she does NOT take after Jason in that regard!). She loves to crawl and climb, play with her balls, rattles, and activity center, and she loves to read her books and have stories read to her. She seems very laid back (I guess she does NOT take after me in that regard!).
