Little snippets from his first year...

Here are highlights from his first year of life:

He was born via c-section. A day after I was scheduled for one. You see, I was having contractions the morning I was scheduled for my c-seciton. So I decided to TRY to have him naturally. Fine and dandy. They got me into a room. They let me go on my own for a while. They ended up giving me pitocin. I ended up having that darn c-section 24 hours after I'd originally been scheduled for one because my cervix wouldn't dilate past 5cm. Thankfully, my OBs practice is the on-call service for the hospital I was at. So I knew the doctor that ended up delivering my little guy.

My son didn't take to breastfeeding naturally. He was one of those who'd CLAMP on real tight. WAY too tight. And he'd suck WAY too hard. There were times when he'd get on and then end up coughing. Why? Because he'd suck to hard and it didn't take much to get my milk to come down. What resulted was a couple of sore and dry and thoroughly messed up nipples. There were a few days that I ended up shirtless for a couple hours because anything on my nipples were causing them to ache. It was a BAD scene. Really bad.

He developed this habit (early on) of turning his head away from me as he was nursing. Whoa! Can you say "OW!" That twisting caused my already tender nipples to hurt. I had to quickly get him to stop this bad habit. How? I would immediately detach him. Tell him not to twist his head. Make him wait a few seconds. Then I'd reattach him. Thankfully he figured out that twisting away from my breasts was NOT the thing to do.

He knew his sister's voice from the beginning. She'd enter the room and chat with me and he'd be turning his head trying to find her. He'd kick his little legs like "I hear her! I hear her! Where is she?"

We noticed he was a flirt when he was about 4 weeks old. Yup! FOUR weeks old. He broke out into a HUGE grin when a girl at the grocery store stopped to talk to him. At 2 years old, he continues to flirt with women. He might be in a not-so-happy mood, but once he sees a lady he's all smiles. "HI!"

By his 8th week of life, I was already contemplating when I'd start him on the bottle. It was just TOO difficult for me to have a 2 1/2 year old and a baby along with the breastfeeding. I knew at that time that I'd get him started on formula when he turned 3 months old. He was transitioned for formula full time by the time he was 4 months old.

His first belly laugh was on April 3, 2003. I was changing his diaper. I softly raked his naked little tummy with my fingers. He smiled. Then he broke out in a huge laugh.

By week 17, he wanted to practice getting into the standing position. We'd have him sitting on our laps. He'd lean forward. Then he'd get into the standing position while we held under his arms. Once we figured he liked the standing position, we put him into an Exersaucer (which he thoroughly enjoyed). He liked the freedom of movement. He'd turn around and check out all the activities.

We transitioned him into a convertible carseat (Britax Roundabout) at 18 weeks. The baby carrier/carseat was WAY too snug. He was already 17.5 pounds & 27.5 inches long, so he needed more room. Of course, I had to go to my handy-dandy install guy that I first met in 2000 (when he helped me install my daughter's carseat).

At 22 weeks, my little guy learned to sit with some support. I put him on the floor with the Boppy pillow around his back. I put some toys around him. He's happy as a clam. He also figured out how to get from his tummy to his back.

By 30 weeks, he could rotate 360 degrees on his tummy. He'd blow raspberries all the time. He could transition himself from the sitting position onto his tummy. Additionally, when we placed him on his hands & knees, he was able to push himself back into the sitting position. He could also almost push himself into the standing position when he used me as a prop. Yes! Standing!

His first tooth broke through his gums at 32 weeks.

At 38 weeks, he was walking across our family room without any assistance. At his 9 month appointment, his pediatrician (who has 5 kids of her own) was shaking her head. She said "I see kids every day but it's really something to see a 9 month old really walking."

We noted his fascination with balls (baseball/basketball/football/etc) at about 9 months. I remember one time when he was sitting across the family room from me. I rolled the ball over to him and it landed next to his foot. He picked it up and put it in his mouth. I asked him to "Throw it to Mommy" and...he did!

We decided to go the sign language route with the little guy, just as we did with his sister. It takes a bit of time for the kiddos to "get" it but once it happens then everyone has an easier time. He didn't start signing back to us until he was about 10 months old.

He received his first haircut in December 2003. We were visiting my family for the holidays. My younger sister was the designated stylist. She was the one who gave the Princess her first haircut so we continued the tradition. My little guy looked so mature once those extra bits of hair were trimmed away.

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My little guy continues to be a very physical child. He loves to run. He loves to jump. He loves to run and jump over things at the same time. He does this sideways trot that's amazingly cute. He tries to keep up with his sister. He chews the inside of his left cheek. He gives nice kissy-lip kisses (no more slobbery ones). He loves to go out on errand with his Daddy. If he sees Daddy is getting ready to go out, then the little guy is on my hubby's leg like glue.

He doesn't like the taste of juice. He loves his water though. He only drinks milk if it's a little warm. He enjoys having cereal for breakfast. He finishes off his cereal breakfast with a couple servings of wheat germ. Usually after he's had about two bowls of cereal, I put wheat germ on the remaining milk. Then he'll practice spooning the wheat germ into his mouth. I usually have to give him at least 4 servings of wheat germ. Go figure!

He enjoys the concept of dogs but is skittish around dogs. He has a small stuffed dog that he'll cuddle with. He then shows me how he pets it gently. He now understands that concept. Gentle. When his sister is upset and lying on the couch, he'll come up to her and stroke her back or her hair. It's too cute.

He can hit a ball while holding a bat. He tosses the ball up with one hand and swings the bat with the other. He uses his golf clubs like hockey sticks. He has us use the other golf club to hit the golfballs to him. And he hits it as it comes to him. All we have to do now is get him on hockey skates! Ha! He can throw to us from at least 5 feet away.

He plays with his hair when he's tired. If we're holding him when he's tired, he twists OUR hair. He sleeps with 4 little stuffed animals in his crib along with two blankets. He uses the blankets as pillows. He bundles them up into a pile and stuffs them under his belly. Then he forms his body over them like a turtle.

He wears 2T in most clothes. We actually like the way 3T long sleeve shirts look on him. He's using size 5 diapers. He wears a size 7 in shoes. He loves wearing knit hats. When we go out, he'll point up to the hat/mitten basket and say "hat". He even puts it on himself.

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I just adore my little guy. He's a bit of work. Especially when he's in a grumpy mood. But it's been well worth it. I'm sure he'll be the one who is going to give me heart attacks when he gets older. He's the daredevil of the family. I'm sure he'll be the one that wants to go water-skiing. Go rock climbing. Go scuba diving. He'll be the high risk danger kid. But for now? He's my litte/big boy.