13 months

My baby boy is totally awesome. Even after a year, I fall deeper and deeper in love with him each and every day. He's just a funny, energetic, and delightful child. He amazes me with his new skills and antics. I tease that he's "all boy" at times because of his antics.

A few weeks ago, he discovered his penis. And let me tell you that this child doesn't miss an opportunity to touch it. Naked heiny time is now one of his favorite times of the day as well as any diaper change.

Preston has been walking full time for over 4 weeks now. He's great at signing "more", "milk" (which he uses interchangeably for milk, breastmilk, and water), and "all done." We will add a few more over the next week or two. Words include "hi" (which sounds more like "eyeeee", "up", "mama" (which he doesn't use all that much), "dadda" (which he uses a lot-lol), and "oh uh." There are some other unidentifiable words that he uses as well.

With the mention of breastmilk, we are still nursing. I feel like once you pass the 12 month mark, there's some shame attached to nursing. People expect you to stop all together. However, the truth is, we both still enjoy nursing, especially in the morning. It's a relaxing way to start the day. During the day, he nurses here and there but he generally gets water or cow's milk. We've opted not to give him juice because at this point, I see no reason for it. He gets fresh fruit at every meal and I'm not sure there's anything juice can provide that fresh fruit can't.

My little guy loves to play. He especially loves water. So bathtime, washing his hands, and playing with his water table are all at the top of his list. He really enjoys cars, or using things to push around like a car. Everything turns in to a phone for him to talk in to such as remotes, tiles, books, etc. He's learning how to throw, which is both good (balls) and bad (throwing a rock at my glass).

He continues to study things to figure out their function and how it works. I find it incredibly adorable when he tries things for himself like after I cut his fingernails, he'll take the closed clipper and puts it to his nail and then moves to the next one. He loves to try to put our shoes on. When we brush our teeth in the morning, I'll make a noise like "ahhhhhhhh" as I'm brushing and he does it too.

Well enough of me going on and on. I'm not on here that much but when I am, I want to highlight where he's at in his development.

Birthday Weekend

A coworker teases that Preston is a celebrity because he is so loved and adored by so many people. God, writing that sounds so narcessistic but it's true, he's loved by so many of my friends and family. So much that my friend flew in from NY for his first birthday and another friend drove in from DC.

We decided to have his 1st birthday party at Gymboree Play and Music. He attends classes there and it's just the perfect indoor place for a 1st birthday party. They do everything. All I had to do was show up with cupcakes and bottled water. A lot of thought went in to the cupcakes. Yea, I could have bought some from the bakery but I really wanted to feel like I contributed something to this party since they do everything for you. A first I made lemon raspberry but found them way too sweet and a little harsh for little mouths and then I found a lovely chocolate cake with mocha frosting. The mocha frosting is to die for but obviously I omitted the coffee part of it. They were a hit, topped off with a fresh raspberry.

The only thing with being a baby celebrity is that my house ends up looking like Toys R Us!!! He received a lot of cool toys and books. Ideally, I'd like to put some toys away and rotate them in a few weeks but I have to find somewhere to store them. I also have to part with some of his older toys. Half of his large sized toys are geared for outdoor play which helps a lot. We are definitely going to have a fun summer.

The following day we went to our first Pittsburgh baseball game. The Pirates have a pretty bad rep but it was fun to get out in the sun. My friend's husband works for the team and gave us really nice tickets. I would definitely go again. I had no idea what was going on but it was nice to be outside and amongst fans.

And for Preston's actual birthday which was on Monday, Danielle took the day off from work and we went to The Children's Museum.

Happy Birthday

My beautiful baby turned 1 a few days ago. These past few days I've sat back and relived my pregnancy, his birth and the past year being his mother. To say that this past year has been the best ever would be an understatement. Being a first time mother and working through the challenges most experience the first year has been pretty awesome. I can say that now that we are past some of those challenges but even in the moment, I had a lot of support and knew it was par for the course. Preston is just a pleasant, sweet and incredibly funny baby. There's not a day that goes by that I don't fall more and more in love with him or a day that passes where he doesn't amaze me with one of his antics or small feats. I've said this before and I'll say it again that I truly feel incredibly lucky. Getting pregnant was a challenge and so I never and hope I'll never take him for granted.

So here's to Danielle and I for getting through the first year parenting this awesome little boy and here's to Preston for being that awesome little boy.

First Steps

At 11 months, 2 weeks and 4 days old, my little boy took his first steps.

11 1/2 months

I can't believe my last post was in February. Time to catch you up.

Job: My body is suprisingly adjusting to the odd hours. Preston and I have fallen in to a nice routine during the day where we have time to play, go out in to the community, and rest. I love spending the day with him. The weather is starting to warm up which means walks in the park and local neighborhoods and lots of playing.

Food: My sugarplum still prefers pureed food over anything else. I think because he doesn't have to put much effort in to eating it. There are a few things he enjoys munching on but he won't eat pasta for me on his own, he hates bread (did this child come frome me?) and he's finicky about picking up most things with his fingers to put in his mouth. However, if I serve it to him on a spoon, he will give it a shot. I'm not too worried about it though. He won't go to college this way.

Teeth: He has his two upper and two lower teeth. He has two more lower teeth coming in and two upper. He went so long with just two teeth and now it seems like they are all coming in at once.

Skin: He has terrible dry skin resulting in little dry patches and what looks like a red rash on his cheeks and chin. I bought Eucerin but it doesn't seem too effective. I wonder if I should try aquaphor again. Any suggestions?

Sleep: Cue angels singing! My baby is FINALLY sleeping through the night. It happened when I started my new job. Figures right? I guess he realized he didn't have a boob to wake up to. The other nice thing is that instead of crying when he wakes up, he just chats out loud and waits for us to come get him.

Breastfeeding: This kid is a boob addict. Sometimes I realize he nurses to comfort himself. Other times he really wants to nurse and sometimes I think he nurses out of boredom. He always wants to nurse when he sees me and before I leave for work. I think it's his way of saying hello and goodbye. The only issue I've had is that if he's napping with me and wants nurse, he uses me as a pacifier afterwards which is really annoying. I imagine weening is going to be a challenge. Earlier this week we started to give him organic milk before bedtime. It wasn't planned. I had a 6oz bottle of pumped milk that fell over and leaked out 4oz. I didn't have enough time to pump so we made the decision to give him some regular milk. He seemed to do well with it so we just continued for the rest of the week. I'm actually thrilled with this change. I HATE, let me repeat, HATE pumping. I did it for 11.5 months because it was important to me to give Preston breast milk but man, I won't miss that pump. I think with baby #2, I'll be better at managing my milk stash so that in the later months he can get frozen and I won't have to pump as much. However, I was horrible at rotating my freezer stash and ended up throwing away close to 250oz of milk bc it expired.

Walking: Preston isn't walking on his own yet but will walk with the assistance of someone's hand. For some reason walking cracks him up as he laughs hysterically when you walk him around the house.

Cute things: He loves to wave hello and goodbye very enthusiastically, I might add. He loves to take the remote control and prestend it's a phone by putting it to his ear and talking. He signs the word "more" but refuses to sign the word "milk" and instead just pulls my shirt down (yes, it's embarrassing in public). He says "uh-oh" when he drops things both accidentally and on purpose. He was saying mama and mom-mom the week of Valentine's but then stopped (sigh). He claps at anything that brings him joy. He gives the wettest open mouth kisses with his tounge sticking out. Climbing up the stairs is funny to him and he makes it up there pretty fast when you're not looking. He thinks playing tug-of-war with Gracie is hilarious and this seems to entertain him for a while until Gracie gets fed up and takes her toy away.

Upcoming events: My son is going to be 1 in 2 weeks. It's so hard to believe that the time has gone by so quickly. It's been an incredible year. I never knew a love like this. It's absolutely amazing.

Changes

Gosh, lots of changes are going on around here. I received a promotion at work that allows me to be home with Preston during the day. I'll be working late evenings in to the early morning. The hours aren't glamourous by any means but as I mentioned, it allows me to spend lots of time with Preston during the day. It also means that I don't have to send him to daycare. However, with that said, we decided that we're going to send him once a week anyway just so that he can continue to have that connection and I can do errands baby-free.

It's going to be a fun challenge being a "stay at home mom." Tomorrow starts day 1.

ETA: Everyone's number one question is "when are you going to sleep?" It's a good question and something that I'm going to have to work out as I go along. Right now, Preston sleeps in until 8:30am when not disturbed for daycare. So I'll sleep when I get in until then. Then he takes a 3 hour nap from around 11am-2pm (today it was 11:45am-2:45pm) so I'll have an opportunity to sleep then as well as long as I remind myself to avoid using that time to do laundry, clean, etc. Then Danielle gets home at 2:45pm so I also have an opportunity to sleep anywhere from 3pm until I leave around 6pm. I'll get sleep but it will be broken which at this point in my life isn't that much different than when I worked 9a-5:30p. It will just happen at different times throughout the day. I know, I told you, the hours aren't glamourous but I really enjoyed spending time with Preston today and the increase in salary isn't bad as well. All I can envision is the spring/summer and spending time in the park, taking long walks, picnics, and the spray park.

9 months

At 9 months of age Preston weighs 26 pounds and is 30 inches tall. He's between sizes 18-24 months and a 2T. A 3T if buying pajamas. I've noticed this month that he's losing his baby face and naturally you can tell he's getting older.

This has been a challenging month. Sleep continues to be our main issue. Being alone is another. I continue to work by trail and error only to have success for a day or two before regressing. I constantly remind myself that this has to be a phase (someone please assure me it's a phase). Because like everything else I remind myself that what was today's issue only becomes a distant memory.

Some milestones this month include adding ba ba to his vocabulary. I'm still dying to hear him say ma ma. He's incredibly adorable when it comes to practicing mama. He watches our lips with deep concentration and moves his own lips in an effort to say it but no sound comes out.

He's also become very aware of what you're feeding him and will peer in to the bowl and decide if he's going to open up his mouth for the next bite. Finger foods are just becoming fun, especially if it's fruit. Halved blueberries are a must have. Mangoes are good but a little slippery to pick up. He has no use for toast or bread though. Texturally, he hates having to chew. He would rather have his food very smooth.

Our boy loves to play. Especially with Gracie who is very gentle with him but at other times has no use for him and will take her toy and run. He loves to climb and "walk" if you hold his hands or he uses his walker. However, one if his favorite pastimes is people watching. Some call his nosey or nebby which is a Pittsburgh word. I say his is exploring his environment. Whatever it is, the kid is just freaken adorable and continues to light up my life.

Weight: 26 pounds
Length: 31 3/4 inches

I brought in a bowl of snow the other day after dinner. Here are a few pics. Clearly, he had no idea what to do with it at first.










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