One year old!

He's a big boy now. No longer a baby. A toddler? Well, not yet..he's not walking yet. So maybe I can still call him a baby. In any case, I can't believe how fast this year went by. He has changed so much and it's just amazing how much happiness and joy he has brought to our lives.

We had his party this past weekend and it was perfect. Family and close friends came all the way out to Drakes and we had food, cake and opened presents. Pretty much your standard one year old party I guess. He ate a little cake and got pretty messy. Even had a little ice cream, although initially I think the coldness freaked him out. He got lots of new toys and clothes and didn't seem to get too overwhelmed with it all. I think he did wonder why everyone was looking at him and singing when he was sitting in his high chair.

He's doing lots of new things now. Pulling himself up and cruising around tables, pushing toys around while walking behind them and has even stood without holding on a couple of times. I'm sure he'll be walking soonish. He waves, claps, points, makes noises with his hand over his mouth, smiles all the time to show off his 4 teeth and is overall just a happy little guy. He hasn't completely given up his army crawl yet but does spend more time on all fours when he wants to get somewhere. He still babbles a lot...mamama and his latest babble which sounds like "wee-th-el". He LOVES his little stuffed monkey aka "mookie" and got a supersized monkey from his big cousins, to which he is still trying to figure out. He is wearing mostly 12 month, some 18 month clothes and a size 4 diaper. Naps are pretty consistent (except at day care where he doesn't nap at all). He takes an hour or so in the morning and then when we are home, he sleeps 1-2 hours in the afternoon.

He still nursing 4-6 times a day and eating mostly pureed foods. Although we try to give him finger foods at most meals, he's not so much a fan unless it's a puff or a cheerio. But it took a while for him to get into solids and he eventually got it, so we'll get there. I'm looking forward to the day when he will just eat whatever we are eating.

We went to his one year appointment yesterday. He weighed in at 22 pounds 4.5 ounces, 30 1/4 inches long and his big old head is 19 centimeters (97%). Healthy and developing as he should be. He got a couple of immunizations yesterday which as usual, suck. But he recovered quickly.

i'm pretty sure this counts

Last night after his bath, I was cuddling him up in his towel and he said "mama". Twice. Counts as his first word, right? :)

11 months old

I think I've been in denial about writing this one. His last update before turning one year old. I feel sadness that my little baby is growing up but I'm so so so excited for the very same reason. He is just more and more amazing everyday and there is so much to look forward to.

This past month has been very eventful. He seems to be developing so quickly now. Everyday it seems like there is something new that he's doing. Just a few days before turning 11 months old he pulled himself up to his feet. Now that is all he does. He is so active, just moving and pulling himself up on everything. He does his own version of crawling; army combined with traditional. I think it just depends on the surface he's one and if he has clothes on or not. He seems to enjoy just hanging out in his diaper, and he is also able to do more of a traditional crawl that way. He's take a few good falls but quickly calms down and is right back to it. He's still not really sitting up on his own very often, but he seems like he can do it, just doesn't see a need for it when he could be standing up on the table or something.

He points at everything, all the time. He is making more "ma-ma-ma" and "ba-ba" and "da-da" sounds but doesn't seem to direct them at anything. He likes clapping. Oh and he's learning to make sounds by putting his hand over his mouth repeatedly. 

I keep thinking his other tooth is going to come soon, but nothing yet. His top tooth is really starting to show now, so while I don't look forward to the process of the next tooth coming in, I do look forward to him having another tooth up there to balance things out.

Sleeping continues to go pretty well. He sleeps 11-12 hours a night with a 45 minute nap in the morning and a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon.

Eating has been a little challenging. He still tends to prefer pureed foods but sometimes doesn't want to eat them. We are trying to offer him more finger foods at each meal. He seems only interested in eating puffs and cheerios, everything else, not so much. He's nursing 4-5 times a day or bottling it up when I'm at work.

I think that's it for now!

busy couple of weeks

It's been a busy and eventful few weeks for us! Danny has had a couple bad colds and was just so miserable. He had a really yucky cough and was really only content being held or sleeping off and on in his swing. After a big cough, he projectile vomited all over me, twice. Ugh. I guess I earned my mommy wings. We took him to the doctor and found out he had the early beginnings of two ear infections. After a few days of antibiotics he was feeling better, so he decided to cut a tooth! Top one! Then yesterday, he started crawling on all fours! He isn't quite there all the time, but he's getting there. Oh and he's pulling himself up on his knees. Lots of newness!

10 months old

I've been putting off writing this update for some reason. Maybe because little D has been super sick and not sleeping or maybe it's because I'm a little bit in denial that my little man is 10 months old! Holy crap batman!

He's doing lots of cool stuff now. He's doing what we still call the "advanced army crawl" where he scoots around on his belly. He is spending more and more time on all fours, rocking back and forth but when he wants to move, it's belly to the ground and boy is he quick! He's also getting much better with his fine motor skills like picking up super-tiny-invisible-to-the-adult-eye-random pieces of stuff from the floor. Just in the past couple of days he's spending more time on just his knees and pulling himself up onto things. He's still not a professional sitter yet, but is much more stable. He doesn't seem to like spending much time sitting as he normally just pushes himself forward and takes off crawling.

He's still a good, and much more efficient eater. He nurses 4-5 times a day for about 10-15 minutes and is now eating 3 meals a day. About 3 oz in the morning, 2 oz for lunch and 4 oz for dinner. He's also started eating puffs now and seems to like hanging out in his high chair eating puffs.

Sleeping has continued to go well for the most part. He normally goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 and is up around the same time in the morning. Naps have been better too. Usually 2 in the morning/early afternoon and sometimes a late afternoon one, all usually in his crib.

Unfortunately I feel like he spent most of January with a runny nose or a cold. Poor guy. Just this week has been especially yucky. He got a pretty nasty cough and we caught a ear infections in both ears pretty early. Oh and I officially earned my parent wings when he projectile vomited on me twice. Like real throw up. Ick ick ick! He was so miserable. But after a few days of antibiotics he seems to be getting better finally!

We've also made a decision to transition him into a new daycare center but for the time being, Randy is taking his 6 weeks of Paid Family Leave and will be staying home with him. Love it!

We also left him for the first time overnight and we took a much needed night away. D stayed with grandma and seemed to do great! Glad we overcame that first hurdle of leaving him overnight.

That's all I can think of for now!

9 months old

So I'm a few days late writing this update but D just had his 9 month well baby visit today and I like to include all the stats on our growing little man. Today he weighed 19 lbs 11.8 oz and is 28 inches tall. I was thinking he would weigh more than that but am relieved that he's still going to fit in his infant car seat a little bit longer! I don't remember exact percentiles, but I do remember that his head is in the 98th percentile..whoa!

He has been a pretty busy guy lately and his determined and curious personality is coming through. He isn't crawling on all fours yet, but he does an advanced army crawl to get where he wants to go. Usually he is motivated to get to things like cords, strings, drawers with knobs and outlets. Needless to say, we started looking at items for baby proofing the house. We also lowered his crib and are extra sure to keep a hand on him while on the changing table since he is a rolling machine!

He's clapping and raising his arms to do "Touchdown". Although Randy thinks D can improve this skill a bit more :) He is kinda waving, but not really. He says "da-da" indiscriminately and lots of other babbling sounds. He smiles a ton and is overall a pretty happy little guy. He still just has the bottom 2 teeth but the doctor said that his gums look raised up on top so we should be getting new teeth soon I'm sure. He can sit unsupported but still isn't that stable so someone has to be there with him. He gets upset when something he wants gets taken away. He has been very grabby with the dogs too and they have been VERY patient with him. Hilo is constantly trying to lick him and Kona is constantly trying to keep her paws out of his hands :)

Eating is still going well. He nurses 5 times a day and is eating about 4 oz of breakfast (yogurt/fruit/cereal) and 4-5 oz of dinner (veggie combo). He has started "helping" us feed him by grabbing the spoon. Which of course makes it harder to feed him but I guess it's good developmentally. The doctor suggested giving him some chicken or turkey and also introducing lunch soon.

Sleeping also continues to go well. He's been sleeping for 10-12 hours straight at night! Hope that continues! The only issue that has come up there is he is so mobile now that sometimes he gets himself caught in a corner or something of his crib and gets upset. He still naps in the morning about 45 minutes and on a good day, 2 more naps later in the day.

christmas fun

I was just reading through the last entry and I can't believe how much has happened since then. He seems like such a different kid. He is very close to crawling. In the past couple of weeks he has realized he enjoys spending time on his belly and rolls and pivots across the room. A couple of times he has gotten on his toes in push up position and he's working on getting his knees under himself so I'm sure it won't be long now before he's officially mobile.

Christmas was so much fun. Busy, but fun. We spent the night out at my uncle's house and D opened up some pretty cool toys (including a big CAT dump truck he can ride at some point; he liked honking the horn). Then my mom came down and spent the week. As usual, Christmas eve was spent with family but this year we were at the new Drakes house. Then Christmas morning we opened up gifts at home before heading back over to Drakes for more fun. Danny got quite a pile of new toys and some clothes and it seems like his favorite so far is this $8 Baby Einstein music toy that he can just lay back and hold on to.  My dad came over in the afternoon with more presents (we all got the most awesome sweatshirts and they match!). Then it was back out to Randy's family's house for dinner. Whew! Danny did great. He got overwhelmed and overstimulated but seemed to really enjoy seeing all the family. He even showed off his new dance moves and did his best to crawl.

What else? Not much else new really. He is just a moblie-ish guy now moving around on the floor. His personality has really just blossomed. He smiles all the time and makes silly faces. Loves loves loves being scared. Boo! He started clapping earlier this week too. Oh and he's up to eating 3 ice cube servings of veggies at night and enjoying more grains and fruits in the morning. Okay, so I guess there is newness after all.