luca bunny, 11 months old!

oh, luca!!

our sweet baby boy hit 11 months last week! and i really can’t believe we now have less than one month to go until he’s a whole year old. just hooow does time do that?! it never ceases to amaze me, and also break my heart a bit. given that he’s, in all likelihood, our last baby, and i know too well how quickly they grow… i’ve got a really fun range of emotions about this boy turning one!

my baby lu. i’m savoring every single bit of him. i love watching his face when he stands all by himself, then laughs because it’s so exciting. i love how much he adores his siblings and gets so excited to see them when they’ve been apart for a matter of minutes. i love his hilarious voices, his babbling, and his silly hand motions. i love his big blue eyes and his 6-tooth smile! and i really wish more of those teeth would pop out already because really, it’s time. gosh, i love the baby curls he’s getting… especially since the bigger kids have lost theirs! i love his crazy shaky head dance and his hand clapping. i love watching him look at the dogs determine that he, too, shall be a puppy… tongue out, on all fours. i love that he can go from furious back to smiling in abouuut 2 seconds. and i really love that he’s the squishiest, cuddliest thing in all creation, and ending every day with him snoozing in my arms is my absolute favorite.

he’s just literally the best little human… born almost a year ago… to a slew of built-in, adoring cheerleaders loving his every move.

now, i don’t know if it’s beens scientifically proven, but based on my studies… third babies are pretty, ridiculously magical. 🙂

also, shout out to human bunnies and actual baby bunnies! as if bunny life wasn’t already a prevailing theme around here, we spent almost two weeks this month ensuring that some backyard baby cottontails survived our dog-dominated terrain! okay, all we did was cover the nest and check on them a whole lot. but! i learned a bunch about bunny moms… they watch their nest from afar to keep from drawing attention to it. they come back in the wee hours to nurse their babies, and only need to for 5 minutes a day! they cover them back up in grass and bunny fur, so they’re cozy and hidden. and if babies go missing, they will search for them. also, ours, apparently, did not like baby carrots, because we left her some and she did not eat them! ha. then, one night, i saw bunny mama go running like crazy when i let stella out to potty. it was the first of her i’d actually witnessed, and all i saw was a fuzzy white tail flash across the yard, successfully outrunning a german shepherd! so… bunny moms are basically amazing. anyway, the next day… their nest was empty! steven said he saw some baby buns hopping along the side of the yard really early that morning. so, just like that, they were off! i was a little bit sad and a little relieved, and i think that’s basically a metaphor for motherhood. haha. so… love to you, mama bunny. you’re not a regular mom. you’re a cool mom.

♡

[all of luca growing!!!]