November 30, 2021 by Stephanie

Walter-12 Months

One whole year. Twelve months of this little boy who has completed our family. He is the dream that I never though would come true. Today is about celebrating all that he has brought to our family and all that is yet to come for him.

Weight: 21 pounds and up to the 37 percentile. Our pediatrician is not concerned about his growth and weight anymore so that was positive to hear.

Health: He did have a double ear infection earlier this month, and we found out today that he has another one. He is cutting his two incisors, so I am sure that is contributing.

Diet: WE MADE IT TO A YEAR WITH NURSING! There were moments this month that I wasn’t sure that we would, but here we are! I decided that I would stop pumping last week and just start the weaning process through the Thanksgiving week since he does not have long nursing sessions. I only nurse him now in the morning and right before bed. I am not sure how long we will do that. Over the last week, he has either done really well nursing or he has had no interest. So we’ll see on that, but honestly it is just a relief to put the pump away. He has about 4 six oz bottles a day. My app says that we have had 108 feedings over this last month, and spent around 15 hours nursing him. I have also pumped 40 times over the month. I did not have this app the first month of his life, so I would estimate that in the last year I have nursed him close to 2300 times, and pumped close to 325 times. We are feeding him 3 “meals” a day, and he is becoming a really good eater. He is eating mostly what we eat at meals without much doctoring for him. His favorite food this month is definitely oranges.

Clothes: He is in size 6-9 month in clothes and size 4 in diapers.

Sleeping: Bedtime is around 8:30. During the week, I wake him up around 5:30 and do a quick nursing session before putting him back down. Due to school pick up times, his schedule is all over the place. He usually takes at least one nap a day if he sleeps in until around 9. But he can do two naps a day depending on when he actually wakes up. On the weekends, I don’t get him up until closer to 7am.

Likes: He still loves music, baths, and sticking his hands in Daphne’s mouth. He loves to play with with Daphne in the play kitchen, and is particularly fond of the play pots and pans. He has these little wooden balls that he likes to carry around. He likes to scrunch up cloth in his hands. He also loves to pull and play with my hair while he nurses. He loves doing penguin kisses with me.

Dislikes: He still does not like it when I leave the room. He does not like to wait on a formula bottle. He can hear when we are making them and screams until we get them to him. He apparently hates balloons, and he had a meltdown when we tried to do our birthday tradition with them in his crib. He hates oatmeal. He also is not fond of you trying to make his hands do things. We have been trying to teach him signs and clap, and he does not want you to do it for him.

Nicknames: Walt, Wally, Wally Bear, Wally Olly, Waller, Wallace, Wallaby, Butters, Sweet Bean, Stinkerdoodle, Waltie baby, Cutie baby, Sweetie baby, Baby guy, and Baby Walter. It’s really gotten out of hand…

Milestones: He is just really moving every where. He started climbing the stairs, and standing in his crib. He is drinking from a sippy cup. He is doing new sounds like “caca” and “gaga.” He also does squats and bounces a lot.He also started cruising across furniture, so I would think that walking is coming soon. He had his first Halloween (as Luigi) and Thanksgiving.

Quirks: My favorite quirk is that he hums while he eats. It is so funny to listen to him during meals. He does downward dog in his crib. He also likes to burrow his head in your lap.

We parents are: doing pretty good. My world was turned upside down at work due to some structural changes, and I am being challenged in all kinds of ways. But it has been good, I promise. I am learning a lot and being stretched in new areas of the college, so that has been exciting to learn and lean on a new team. I am not sure that there is anything else new, but we are doing good!

Big kids are: doing alright! At the start of the month, all three were sick at the same time. They both are still so in love with Wally. We had parent teacher conferences this last month, and it was so nice to hear how they are doing at school. Both received compliments about how kind they are to their classmates, which to me means so much more than anything else.

Daisy is: doing amazing. They are really warming up to each other. Within the last week, she has discovered all the food scraps that Wally drops at dinner. She also likes to burrow her head in your lap, so it is super fun when we are all on the floor when Wally and Daisy try to crawl in your lap.

In case you are curious, here is George at twelve months and Daphne at twelve months. I feel like I am going through the roller coaster of emotions with them all turning one all over again!

I think every parent has these moments where they grapple with time and how polarizing it can be. It is a bittersweet day to say goodbye to the baby days, but also I love everything that he is. He has been the perfect calm in the storm.

May 18, 2018 by Stephanie

Daphne-12 Months

This year and this girl.

She has been loving on us for a whole year. She is everything I hoped for and more.

Weight: 22lbs.

Health: This month she has been fairly healthy. I do think she has allergies because we all got hayfever with the crazy pollen. Everyone’s eyes were a little puffy for a few days. She is still working on teeth. She has a total of 7 now, with a couple more on the way. I love the little toothy grin.

Diet: I BREASTFED HER FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR!!! Whoop whoop! I really honestly cannot believe that we actually made it this long. I will start weaning her off over the next month. The only time she is actually interested is the first feeding of the day, so that will be the last one I cut out. During the week, I nursed her in the morning and before bed. She only had two bottles during the day while I was at work. One of those was typically a formula bottle. Depending on how well she nurses at night, she may get a 2-4 oz formula bottle before bed as well. On the weekends, for the most part we avoided the formula and nursed the whole time. She is eating three full meals, and generally eats what we eat. I hope that we can keep up the good eating habits. I mean she ate salad greens this month!

Clothes: She is in 6-9 month and 9 month clothes. She is in a size 4 diaper, and size 2 shoe still.

Sleeping: We have been putting her to bed around 7:30/8. She generally stays asleep most of the night. She hardly sleeps past 7am. She still has two naps a day, and she is really sticking to two hour naps. It will be interesting to see how real milk will change her patterns.

Likes: I am fairly positive that she would live upside down if she could. She loves to be dipped. She is really into stacking things. She is loving the “That Not My” book series from Usborne. She loves George. He can always make her laugh, and she is starting to follow him wherever he goes. She is going to be into music; with whatever is playing, she is dancing. She loves playing with plastic bottles. She beelines it for outside whenever the door opens. She likes George’s trucks.

Dislikes: She does not like to be done eating. You better have food on her tray. She still has a general disdain for most people. (Her party could be interesting tomorrow…) She does not like the word no. She is not a fan of when the dogs are barreling through the door. She is pretty much done with the day at 5. She can be kind of grumpy if she isn’t eating at this time.

Milestones: She has taken a few unassisted steps! She won’t do more than 3 steps, but she does them! She still crawls so fast, so she seems uninterested on going any further.

Nicknames: Daphers, Daphie, and Daphie Girl. The two most common are still Daph and Sister.

Quirks: She likes to pass things to people. She loves sharing her pacy with people. She also likes to use anything as a walker: books, chairs, buckets… She likes to pull things off the shelves or out of containers, but then tries to put them all back.

We parents are: still tired. It’s been a crazy month with various things in our world. We are building a playground for the kids, and by we I mean Tom. It looks amazing so far. I had my 33rd birthday, and we got to see Lion King live! So good! I also had two people (grown people that I work with) ask me if I was expecting again, so there is that…I had lots of feelings about it at first, but I am really trying to not let it get me down like the time I cried after my niece said something similar when George was 9 months old. (Not my best moment…) I am proud of what my body is doing. A HUMAN SURVIVED OFF MY BODY FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS. It’s ok if there is still some extra to love around me!

George is: such a ham. He will have really good days, and then some really bad not listening ones. And he has been really into screaming lately because he has “loud in his mouth.” He also has been commandeering Sister’s pacies and hiding them in his room or hiding himself while he “gets it wet” for Daphne. He said he has to test it out for her. We are in trouble with this one. He LOVES that we are outside almost every day. That has helped with some cabin fever. He is getting really good at writing his letters. He makes up his own songs. I am so proud of how much he has learned!

The dogs are: ridiculous. They are pretty much barking at everything these days. Crosby wants to be outside all day. They are a mess, but we love them anyway.

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collage 3-5

collage 6-8

collage 9-12

I thought George grew fast, but this time was such a whirlwind. While it was tough, I feel like we enjoyed the process more and were much less stressed this time around. Daphie has been a fairly easy baby, so that helps. She is such a dream. Even though these little baby features may fade, I am excited to see her personality continue to develop.

Daphie Girl, you are such a light in our days. I am honored to be your mom.

Here is George at 12 months.

August 26, 2015 by Stephanie

George-12 Months

I had no idea what was in store when I became a mother a year ago.

I still remember all the emotions leading up to the day-the shock, the excitement, the fear, the love. George has been an unpredictable surprise in our life since we found out about him. And his entrance into the world was anything but normal. It seems like it was just yesterday the doctor was telling me we were having this baby today, and here we are a year later with a little boy that you would never know was a month early and spent some time in the NICU.

I just can’t believe how fast it went.

But here we are, on his first birthday.

I feel so lucky to be his mom and to guide him as he grows. (As daunting as it may seem some days…) We have all changed so much in the last 12 months.

His sweet face just makes my heart explode every day.

Weight: He is somewhere around 24 lbs. (I will update his height and weight next week when he has his 1 year check up.)

Health: His teeth fully broke through this month, so we have 6 teeth (four on top and two on bottom). He has had a runny nose for the last week and has been all over the place with sleep, so I wonder if another is coming. He had a weird rash one night too that we think was due to teething. Little man also got his first black eye this month thanks to trying to stand in the bath tub. It was awful. Honestly though, I am surprised that he doesn’t have more bruises with the amount of falling that is occurring. He wants to go every where and climb everything but still doesn’t have the stability to do so. So there have been some bumps and tears.

Diet: He still has a love affair with his food, so much so that he tries to rub it into his belly like it is lotion. He only has two 6oz formula bottles a day (morning and right before bed). At his one year check up, we will talk over how to do that transition away from formula because he still seems like he needs it. He has three traditional meals a day, and several snacks throughout. His favorite foods are blueberries, bananas, beans, pasta, and oatmeal. Anything covered in cheese or tomato sauce is a win. We do have to be strategic on the order of food we give him. If we give him carbs before fruits or veggies, he won’t eat anything else. Also if he sees us with carbs and he still only has fruit, he will just protest and refuse to eat. So he usually starts eating his fruits while we are cooking dinner to avoid it. I have started trying to teach him how to scoop and spear food, but he always tries to turn the spoon like a baton which makes the food fall off on the floor. He doesn’t spit up as much, but we still have some days where his whole bottle comes back up. Now that he has more teeth we have been giving him different textures and things that need more chewing to see how he does. Some things are still off limits because of the choking hazard, but for the most part he eats what we eat.

Clothes: He is wearing 9 month clothes and some 9-12 month. We have gotten a lot of comments lately about him being huge, but he still can’t wear 12 month clothes consistently, so he must be average if not smaller.

Sleeping: For the most part, he is sleeping from 7:30/8pm until 5am, give or take some minutes. We have had some glorious days where he has slept until 6:30. And we have also had some not so hot days where he thinks 4am is an appropriate time to get up. When George sleeps, he is a roamer. He never stays in the same place when he sleeps; he rolls over every inch of that crib. He does go down pretty easy. If he doesn’t fall asleep right when I put him down, usually he just talks himself to sleep within a few minutes. He still is taking two naps a day. Until we see a big affect on his night time sleep, we will keep this up!

Likes: Food is still the closest to his heart. He loves to be moving. He does not like to be sitting anymore. He will work himself into a standing position if he can. He loves to carry things around. He mostly carries books around, but there are some toys he likes to carry. He also loves carrying his food tray around the kitchen. He will pull it off his high chair and carry it around like it is a briefcase. He loves books. His favorites are the “That’s Not My” collection from Usborne. These are a great touch and feel book. I also like that they are board books, so really they are only destroyed when he tries to eat them. We are going to double his collection for his birthday. They are the greatest books for his age! And they fit perfectly in our diaper bag so we always have one. He is really fond of remotes and knows how to turn things on. I think it is more he knows which buttons light up, then knowing that it turns on the telly. If you saw my Instagram, you will notice that George loves the Macarena. I don’t know why I started doing this a few weeks ago; I think we were just playing one day and in my awkward baby talking moments it just came out of my head. It is one of his favorite things now, so we just roll with it. He laughs so ridiculously hard when we do it, and I laugh because a baby doing the Macarena is the best. He also loves drumming on the toilet seat. It is his thing before he gets in the bathtub to bang on the seat and try to flush the toilet. Whatever floats your boat bud. He also loves to try to sneak the dog food into his mouth. He has almost gotten away with it a couple times. I have had to dig out dog food out of his mouth. He is quick! He also love to try to eat the acorns off the deck. He is going to be really good at “I Spy.” He loves his cousin Ava. Watching her be silly is one of his favorite things.

Dislikes: (Apparently Dad’s finger puppet shows…) He is not liking hearing “no.” He still is not fond of the car. Hopefully our 5 hour drive to Iowa on Friday goes smoothly…He does not like it when we take things like remotes and tennis shoes from him. He HATES getting dressed and diaper changes. It is a wrestling match. It may take me awhile, but I always win.

Milestones: His walking is getting really good. You can tell he is trying to run too, because he does this weird hop step when he is trying to walk to fast. He has started pointing. I am not sure he is purposely pointing at a specific thing but he does point his finger. It is so cute! He went to the zoo and the lake for the first time. He seemed uninterested in the animals, so maybe next summer we will see more from him. He also was NOT a fan of the lake water, and was super happy to just stay on the boat. We are going to try a pool for the first time this weekend, so hopefully it is not all bodies of water that he hates.

Quirks: He is oh so sassy. He is Mr. Independent and loves to explore despite what may be safe. He is fitting “Curious George” to a T. He has this grunt that makes him sound like a gurgling goat. He pretty much needs to be holding something at all times, whether that is a toy or my glasses, whatever he can get those little chunky fingers around with his death grip.

We parents are: doing well. We have been busy with house stuff. School started up this week, and Tom is officially on the road by himself so it has been busy work wise as well. Tom has been on days this month so it has been really nice to be on the same schedule for once. We are getting some great family time in. We also finally got our living room furniture so we can actually hang out comfortably which is life changing. Also we are constantly being tested because George is in this discovery stage and wants to push his limits. He also doesn’t really understand no, so our patience is being pushed.

The dogs are: doing great. They are loving their yard. We are also able to leave them in the basement while we are gone, which is such a godsend. They have windows and a sofa and lots of space to circle around, and I don’t have to worry about them getting into any of our nice stuff upstairs. They are also loving on George a lot. George feeds them regularly so they obviously love that. (He tries to find them when we are at restaurants, and will bend over in his chair trying to find Crosby’s head.) George loves to crawl over them too. I have caught him snuggling up on them when he is super tired too.

George, we just love you so much. You have changed our lives in ways we just couldn’t comprehend, and we just love you for it. You have a tremendously large personality that we can’t wait to see you develop even more in the upcoming year.