Some events last week made me realize how valuable having some of my children's milestones documented on our blog is, and it also made me realize how little I have blogged about H's first year in regards to those milestones. So before he turns a year
and a half in a week or so, here is my attempt to make up for that a bit! And I can also show off H's 1 year pictures taken by his auntie C. =)
1 month:
You are growing! You have had a hard time with sucking since day one, so we have to work a lot at feeding you. That makes for tired momma and dadda, but your sweet baby snuggles (and you love to be held and to snuggle!) are so worth it. You are are first child to take a bottle, and while odd, is kind of neat for dadda and grandmas and Mrs. L and sister to get to help. Despite tough feedings at times, you sleep very well and when you wake up at night you go right back to sleep after eating. Everyone loves to hold you and talk with you and call you Hens or Henners for nicknames. You like to be cuddled in baby carriers which makes it easy for momma and dadda to keep helping the other kiddos and still cuddle you close. You do not like being set down, and you also do not like baths. At all! You also like to watch everyone very intently and give the best concerned old man look.
2 months:
You are getting better and better with eating! And you are gaining weight! And smiling! And your whole head smiles when you really grin which is so fun to see. You are doted on by your siblings who are very gentle and good with you, and you seem to really like them and looking and watching their faces. In fact they are the ones that get the smiles out of you the quickest! You also are our first child to suck their thumb! And while momma has nightmares about getting you to stop before you are in kindergarten, you are so happy when you find that thumb and are super cute too. You fall asleep automatically when we get in the car, usually with your thumb in your mouth. You were also baptized this past month in a beautiful gown your Nana K made you.
3 months:
You have finally figured out the nursing and eating thing! And it shows by how quickly you are growing now. We worked with such a nice lady at the hospital every couple of weeks and she was so encouraging that we kept it up and now you can either nurse well or take a bottle. Good job H! You have also started being a wiggle pants! You love to lay on your back and kick your legs and wave your arms and coo and squawk! We call you Mr. Squawkers a lot now! You also have a little rocker/chair that we put you in a lot because we know that you won't get stepped on and it is easy for your brothers and sister to sit and talk with you then too. In fact, G was able to get you to giggle for the first time!
4 months:
You not only flail your arms around now, you
are grabbing things...toys, fingers, faces and ears. =) You still love
to suck your thumb and "talk" to us all the time. You will definitely
not be the silent 4th child! You are doing well to make yourself
heard. You are happy most of the time, but can scream with the best of
them too. You like to lay on your back under the "elephant" and look
and reach for toys, and imagine our surprise when we found you pivoted
180 degrees one day! Sure enough, you are starting to wiggle your way
pivoting in a circle. Our days and nights are so much easier now that
you have the eating thing figured out. Apparently easy enough that we
take our first big trip with you - 4 hours to Aahma and Boppa's farm!
You did pretty well in the car except for the last 30 minutes, and then
you let us know you wanted OUT. But you did great at Aahma and Boppa's
and had another milestone - you rolled over for the first time! From
back to front. Everyone says you are supposed to roll from front to
back first, but neither you nor your siblings ever listened to everyone.
=)
5 months:
You are now a mobile baby! You wiggle
and kick and seem to pivot and work your way across a room on the
floor. You also keep working on your rolling over and get both the back to front and the front to back. Soon you discover
that you can roll over and over to get places! You also start to really babble. It isn't just
cooing and squawking anymore, it is like you are really trying to talk
with us. You also get your first taste of spring outside! You love the
fresh air, but aren't sure what to think of the feel of grass yet. You stop sucking your thumb completely on your own, which is bittersweet, but nothing we can do about it. You don't like pacifiers either. But you do decide that you might like baths now as splashing with your brothers is sure a lot of fun!
6 months:
Right on schedule with how your sister and brothers were, you get your first two bottom teeth. And also just like your sister and brothers, you don't like getting teeth and it hurts and you let us know! You LOVE gnawing on your Sofie squeaky giraffe and my silicone kitchen spatulas, and also chewing on cold Aahma washcloths to help get through it. You stick everything you can in your mouth. You aren't much interested in sitting up yet, but you decide that you can't let your big siblings just leave you in the dust as they play - you start to crawl! At 6 1/2 months! It is mostly an inch worm crawl, but you are a very determined child. You have always been! We also get out the exersaucer for you to sit/stand in and you love it. You quickly master being able to turn yourself around so it is easy for you to keep and eye on everything and everyone. You are a big boy size-wise too, not quite as big as C, but still in the 85% on most things.
7 months:
This is sick month. You get your first major "can't breathe through my nose at all so I can't sleep or eat or function" cold, and you also catch the chicken pox. G had them first, then 2 weeks later W&C had them, and then 2 weeks later you got them! It was a pretty mild case, though. We spent a lot of time rocking and snuggling this month, with everyone! Despite having the chicken pox, we still make a trip to Aahma and Papa B's house by the lake for a wonderful Mother's Day weekend, spending most of our time outside because it is so beautiful! You keep working on your crawling and move from inch worm crawl to army crawl, but still aren't too interested in sitting up on your own. We introduce you to solid foods, but you don't like them yet and neither does your tummy so we will wait! We are also outside a lot more and put up a swingset in the backyard. It is mostly for the big kids to play right now, but you LOVE to swing!
8 months:
Your army crawl is so quick you look like you are doing the butterfly stroke across the floor, and you start to get up on your hands and knees too. You finally get the sitting up on your own thing, and find that you are happy to sit up and play with toys! And you don't stop there, you decide that you like standing by things too. You don't pull yourself up quite yet, but love standing in laps and next to things. Your teeth continue to come in like crazy, and you take bites of more things without protest, especially liking puffies! We are pretty excited that you have started to clap now, and that you also are giving hugs (sometimes even patting us on the back like we pat you!)!
9 months:
You start eating more things now which is a lot of fun! We skipped the baby cereal which you didn't like and moved right to pureed veggies and fruits - sweet potatoes and applesauce being two of your favorites! You no longer army crawl, but full on crawl on your hands and knees and are quicker than ever. You start pulling yourself up on things too, which makes momma nervous that you will walk soon, but you know that you can get around a lot quicker by crawling. You love to play with balls and cars and other toys that are easy to grab. And after showing you signs for the past couple months, we are super excited that you sign your first word - "fan"!!! You love (and have always loved) watching the ceiling fan in the front room (which is on a lot in the summer!), and after showing you the sign for it repeatedly will sign "fan!" to us. This makes your big siblings so excited! You might be able to talk to them one day!
10 months:
You continue to get more teeth and stick
everything in your mouth. Your appetite for solid foods increases and we start giving you bites of the food we are eating at meals and you like it. You learn a few more signs like "more" and "light" and "all done", and say your first word "bye" (to dadda in the morning)! You still love the exersaucer, still love being held and snuggled and carried in the baby carriers, still love it when your big sister and brothers talk and play with you, still love watching the ceiling fan, still love being outside anytime, still love baths, still love playing with balls and anything with wheels, and still love smiling at us and being happy most of the time! You are also still a very independent and determined baby and make your way throughout the day sitting up very well and crawling all over by yourself. We realized one day that we never taught you "so big"!, so with a quick lesson you have it down.
11 months:
You start walking behind things like little chairs in the house or trikes in the grass outside. You like this new accomplishment, but still won't attempt it on your own - it just isn't a fast way to move by yourself! Your vocabulary is growing both in signs and spoken words. You say "ball", "da", "ma" (you don't know how happy this made your momma as your big siblings didn't say "ma" consistently until after they were a year old!), and you sign "ball" and learn to wave "hi". You learn to climb the stairs and love it, trying to make your way to the steps whenever you can. And when you do make it up the steps, you head straight for the bathroom because you can pull yourself up on your brother's stepstool and stand like a big kid at the sink. Oh. so. proud. of yourself.
12 months:
You can say "yeah" and "no" now pretty clearly, and also said your first phrase - "bye da!" You added the signs for "fish" and "puppy" to your list of words and are very interested in animals right now. You eat like a champ, mostly table food, which is a different from your big siblings - they did baby food for a long time. You learn to suck out of a straw which is great fun for you and nice for momma and dadda! You are getting into your brothers' and sister's toys more now and get very put out and vocal if we take something away from you. You also can't be distracted easily anymore by getting you another toy. You still have such determination and spunk. And you really are so happy yet too! You take your first steps on your first birthday. We are so excited and proud of you! You are also sick with your first stomach bug (which you shared with momma too) on your first birthday, so our big planned party is cancelled. No matter as we have a great day with you anyway!
You bring such joy and love to our family, H, and we can't wait to see how you will grow in the year to come!
Love you so much sweet boy!
