Monday, August 4, 2014
Dear Lucas,
I thought I would be writing this on your actual birthday, but I was not yet inspired to do so. Now that you have had your party, and one year pictures taken, I am ready to reflect on the past 3 months of your life. My last letter to you was at the start of your 9th month, April 24th.
So, here you are at 9 months old, just after Easter. Easter was very late this year!
Your eating habits began changing in your 9th month. You realized that your formula was disgusting, and like most babies who are on Nutramigen, you started refusing and limiting your liquid intake. You ate a lot of cereal because this was the only way I could make sure you got enough "milk" in your diet. Thankfully, you did drink your bottles well while you were sleeping, or in a very sleepy state.
On May 6th, while inside your pack.n.play, you held on and took your first step! The very next day, you got into crawl position and took a tiny hop forward on your knees. It was so cute, and I wished you could do it again so I could catch it on video, but you never did it again. On May 15th you started "swimming" across the floor. This was especially fun to do now that mommy and daddy put in wood flooring! And on May 23rd you walked a full lap inside your pack.n.play. This was your favorite place to practice walking.
You enjoyed "swimming" so much, and equally as much, you enjoyed your walking time in your pack.n.play. You went back and forth with these for the remainder of your 9th month. Giggling with joy and pride!
10 MONTHS OLD - MAY 24, 2014
The feeding schedule I had for you in your 9th month was no longer working in your 10th month. You started refusing your formula in cereals and in bottles, and in a desperate attempt to get liquids in you at all, I bought regular soy milk. (BTW you did not care for water or juice or soy formula!) You would drink the Nutramigen and soy milk mixed half and half. Your pediatrician didn't like it, but I didn't care. I was just happy you were drinking a healthy amount again! You took a liquid vitamin called Poly-Vi-Sol with Iron to supplement the nutrients lacking in your formula intake. You were happy and so was I!
Now this 10th month was very exciting! On May 26th you had yet another 1st in your pack.n.play. While holding on to the side, you bent down, picked up a toy, stood back up, and tossed the toy out. This was so much fun, you did it many times! On June 8th you started to "cruise" along furniture. The next day, you pulled yourself up to stand and had your first attempt at a real crawl, not just "swimming". From this point on, your days have been quite busy with exploring new things.
You went on your first vacation, with a laundry lists of "firsts" to happen in just one week! We stayed at Di Di's house in Charlotte, NC and this is where you perfected your crawling skills and discovered you were able to pull to stand using anything as your guide. You went to your first tourist mall in Concord, NC. You were not impressed. But next year, I think you will enjoy some of the attractions it has to offer. You rode your first train in Spencer, NC at the Transportation Museum. Here it is ...
Oh, and I am using a DSLR camera now. Do you see the picture quality from these train pictures vs your 10th month pictures? Amazing!
Now, back to more of your adventurous firsts. You went to your first zoo, across yet another state line. It has also been your first out of state travel. Here are some pictures from your first trip to the zoo at Riverbanks Zoo.
I'm sorry you were not in very many pictures. You spent most of your time in the stroller. You had more firsts still to come, and you were able to enjoy these other firsts so much more! In Huntersville, NC, you and your brothers played for 2 hours at a children's museum called, Discovery Place Kids.
There were way too many pictures taken here to post in this blog. You had the most fun playing on the blue mat where the mirror wall was. Eli had the most fun playing on the firetruck. And Noah had the most fun with everything!
I've made this 10th month review pretty long, so I'll try to wrap this up quickly so I can tell you about your 11th and part of 12th month. Here you are with your last "first" while on vacation. First time in the pool! It was a good experience for you, and you enjoyed the pool time for a good length of time considering your baby size attention span.
After all these firsts, and wonderful memories, there was one thing that stood out for me in your 10th month that I found so funny! If I was in the kitchen, and you were hungry, sometimes you would "swim" to me crying or fussing. I guess you had to see it from where I was. It really was funny. :)
11 MONTHS OLD - JUNE 24, 2014
You were not in the mood to have your pictures taken for your 11th month birthday. You slept so much on this day! And this month, you refused to drink any formula at all. Not even 1 ounce mixed with 5 ounces of soy. Complete refusal! Oh well, all soy, all the time! You continued on your liquid vitamin and stayed healthy and happy.
You climbed all the way upstairs on June 30th. I did my best to take pictures while first acting as your safety net. From this day forth, we have blocked the steps so you wouldn't get any bright ideas of sneaking away to try this on your own. Which you have tried on several occasions! You also started to practice standing without holding on to anything. You would pull yourself to stand, and then let go and see how long you could stay this way before touching the furniture again for balance. Sometimes it was a millisecond, and sometimes many seconds.
There are 3 special memories during your 11th month that stood out for me. On July 3rd you heard Curious George on TV and came crawling as fast as you could to come and watch! On July 9th, during diaper changes, you started grabbing your feet and clapping them together. That was so adorable! Lastly, you have a stuffed toy monkey that we call, George, and you must cuddle and sleep with it every with every nap, and every night. You also use him as a "chew toy" and many times a pillow too.
HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!
JULY 24, 2014
Ok, so this wasn't your actual birthday picture. This was 4 days prior for you non-smash cake smash. On your actual birthday you had your first haircut, but I was unable to get any pictures of this major event. Somehow I changed the settings in my camera and it took me days to find the error. I will be taking "2nd hair cut" pictures whenever you are due for another buzz.
Here you are for your birthday party, which was on July 26th. It breaks my heart that you were so unhappy on your birthday, and I didn't know why. I did not get many pictures of you because you were crying off and on so much, and our little home was packed full of family.
Three days later, I took you to your doctor, where I learned you still had the milk protein intolerance. The "trial and error" approach ended in error. After your very first bottle back on the soy milk, you were back to your normal happy self! I hate that you had a week or more of discomfort, but thankful I listened to my gut feeling as soon as I assumed milk was the culprit. You have been almost all smiles and giggles ever since then. :)
After your birthday party, you seemed to be a little happier once family all went their separate ways, and you had your space to yourself again.
Your cake, with the 1st Birthday Jungle theme. And balloons ...lots of balloons!
Today you are 1 year, 11 days old. And in these 11 days you have had so much fun holding mine or Daddy's hands and walking laps around the downstairs. You have also discovered how fun it can be to walk and push furniture across the room. And you are a great problem solver too. Today, you pushed the coffee table across the floor (which I had staged to block you from touching the TV), and then you crawled back over to the TV, stood up and touched it to your hearts content! You little stinker! You Mama is very impressed by your skills.
You don't have any real words yet other than mama and dada, but you are getting so close with your extensive baby babble. I think you have been working so hard on your motor skills, that you aren't too worried about finding words just yet. Daddy and I really enjoy watching you explore and show determination to move as much as possible. And some fun facts you should know; you won the "teeth race", having 8 teeth by your 1st birthday! Eli had 6 teeth, and Noah had 4 ..in case you were wondering how much you won the race by. :) You have also never been sick before. That's right! You have never had a virus, an infection, or any ailment caused by germs!
I must confess Lucas, that I had a hard time having your 1st birthday come so quickly. There were several days leading up to your big day that I just wanted to cry. You are my baby. My last baby. And I love the baby phase. I wish it could last so much longer. I cherish being able to hold you, feed you, play and watch you discover new things, and just be with you. I love, love, love our nightly routine, which has stayed the same since you were born. I hold you in my lap, in my bed for that last night bottle before I go to sleep. Then scoop you up, kiss your soft cheek and walk you to your room. And so many times, I just can't get enough and need to steel several more kisses on your cheek. I hope that you want a night bottle (or cup) for a long, long time. I'll always be here to kiss your cheek and help you to bed.
Happy birthday baby boy.
I love you always. xoxo
Mommy
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