12mths - Not a baby anymore

Dear William

This month has been a little more full/busier than normal what with preparation of your birthday party and me going back to work in an office on a casual basis one day a week and paper work for Ezy Kids Parties and the odd party/function. But a lot of the busyness was the preparation for your BIG 1st birthday party; more about that latter.

This month’s first milestone was you drinking and tipping your sippy cup without assistance. While it may seem like an odd milestone to mention it’s been great as you indicate when you’re thirsty by pointing at it or if it’s in reach you’ve been helping yourself. While you have mastered the sippy style drink cups/bottles you’re a little confused by the straw style ones as to why you don’t get anything out of them when you tip and suck.

While it’s not a favourite game of yours you have started to enjoy the odd game of peek-a-boo. One particular night I threw the towel over your head while I was dressing you and you quickly pulled it down and when I said BOO, you pulled it up again and we contained this until the game became boring. It was rather cute especially when your eye lashes were still wet and you were looking all cute and clean.

As I mentioned before I went back to work in an office this month! While we have been noticing your reaction to separation it was defiantly noticed this month. First day of leaving you at home for a full day, you must have known something was up as I said good bye to you and your Dad (while you were eating breakfast) your face started to turn from a satisfied look to a look of sheer terror followed closely by many tears. Apparently the crying and tears didn’t last long as you were distracted by food. But on my return oh boy was I showered with hugs. A week and a half later (the 3rd time I left you all day) at 9:30 I received a call from your Dad reporting in that you had for the first time said MUM MUM MUM. Oh how my heart quickly sank, but I didn’t let it worry me as I knew I would soon be hearing it for myself. Sure enough not long after I arrived home that night I opened the fridge door to start preparing dinner for you; only to hear MUM MUM MUM, such music to my ears. While I’ve only worked 3 whole days so far we have found that what will be 1-2 days a week will work really well and be good for all concerned. Most times I will work Friday and either your Dad you’re his parents will look after you. Not a lot will be accomplished this day but my mind is at ease knowing that you will be well looked after and you will form special bonds with all.

The week that we decided to join you up with a talent agent (model/TV/movie roles) I took you to have your first hair cut. While your hair is slowly getting longer and thicker it was starting it look a little dishevelled especially in the mornings. So before we went into see the agent I took you for a quick little trim around the ears just to give you a cleaner look. While it wasn’t a fantastic cut (you kept moving to look at what the hairdresser was doing) it defiantly gave way to your facial features taking centre stage.

Ever since you started with the Native American noises I decided to make you a tepee that I’ve wanted to make ever since I first saw one at our friends place many years ago. This quickly turned into the idea to make it for your birthday which was fast approaching! So for one-two months I have been Googling patterns and pictures, sourcing/buying fabric, measuring, cutting and sewing. Ahhh but more about the tepee and your birthday celebrations, in the next post.

Practising doing a Native American noise

By the end of the month you have lost your appetite for almost everything other than Vita Brixs, toast/bread and fresh/dried fruit. Originally I thought it had to do with the gastro bug you picked up but as the week/month closed and 2-3 weeks latter your still not eating much of anything else I suspect it has to do more with the teeth that seem to be troubling you. With your 5th tooth cutting trough as the month rolled by and others close behind I suspect that this appetite you have will continue for a few more weeks yet.

Eatting fruit - who me? I'm not eatting anything

As much as I’ve been looking forward to taking you to the aquarium for your birthday the day came upon me with a little apprehension. We started the day off with milk in bed as you arose a little earlier than normal and somewhat grumpy (teeth I suspect). When you had finished milk and a quick little nap (1-1.5hrs latter) you sat up and then laid on top of me and gave me a hug and kiss. You may or may not have meant any of it BUT it made my morning and defiantly made me feel special and it felt like you thanked me for the past year. Once you had breakfast we joined some of our friends for coffee/breakfast (Jess, Priya, Mel, Sarah, Theresa, Eli, Andrea and Griffin) before moving onto the aquarium with Mel and Sarah. The penguins were defiantly the highlight of the visit with the big fish (sharks/stingrays), big bright fish and jelly fish a close second. The day finished with your Dad and me singing happy birthday to you at 6:11pm with tears in my eyes.

Reaction to seeing the penguins

Below are some things we got up to this month.
• 49 weeks – Drinking from a sippy cup by yourself and play peek-a-boo.
• 49.5 weeks – Cut 3rd Tooth
• 50.5 weeks – Family trip to the footy
• 51 weeks – Cut 4th Tooth , 1st hair cut and signed up to a model/film etc agent.
1st time I left you for a whole day
• 12mths – Started saying Mum and cut 5th tooth.
We made it my sweet little boy! Your now one and not a baby any more, oh but don’t worry you will always be my baby boy no matter how old you are. Love you more today than yesterday and I promise to love you more and more each and every day.

Last photos as a 11mth old

Last photos as a 11mth old - chasing me while I'm trying to take photos

Last photos as a 11mth old

As you are now past the ‘baby’ months this will be my last monthly post. Posts will now move onto something less or more frequent as we enjoy special moments or I have something that I would like to share with you (that I hope one day you will read).

Happy Birthday William may the year ahead be filled much more joy and happiness than you have already given me.

7mths - Mummmmmmm mmm mummmmmmm.

Dear William

While the focus this month was Christmas and the New Year you still stole the spotlight. Even our ecard had you plastered all over it.

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Christmas day at Gran and Grandpa’s (your Dad’s parents) was all about how well you could sit as you had just mastered it 2 days prior. Boxing day at Nan and Pa’s (my parents) was all about you blowing raspberries, a new trick that you all of a sudden learnt and insisted on doing while I was feeding you. Oh how everyone thought it was funny (they weren’t the ones being covered in food), a few days later I managed to stop you doing this by gently squeezing your noise when you did it at meal times. In the New Year we caught up with Simon (Dad’s old work mate, who’s now living in England), while I was feeding you dinner, your dad and Simon were talking however you decided that Simon wasn’t taking enough notice of you and started yelling. You stopped as soon as he showed you some attention.

For Christmas we brought a new camera mainly as the old one was slow and every time I took a photo you had stopped smiling or looked away etc. Not only is the new camera faster but the photo quality is soooo much better. So much so I couldn’t wait to set up a little photo shoot session. So a few days after we returned from Nan and Pa’s, before I packed away the Christmas tree etc, we had a little play. These photos are some of my new favourites.

In the first week of the New Year I had a little time out and your father had some quality time with you. My first outing was with Auntie Lucy at a day spa for a little TLC while you started at Gran and Grandpa’s with Dad. You were a good little boy and showed your grandparents your winning smile all morning and early afternoon. My second outing was with your grandparents to see Mary Poppins. Oh it was such a lovely theatre show, so much joy and colour it made you want to sing (actually I did quietly a few times). Dad looked after you at home this time, it was always going to be a little harder as you were suppose to have a sleep a feed of milk and dinner before I returned. Dad hasn’t managed to get you to sleep when your suppose to and you haven’t taken the bottle from anyone since about 4mths. Needles to say I returned to you having your early afternoon nap at 4pm (40mins instead of 1.5-2hrs) and your 3pm milk replaced with a meal. However your Dad did manage to get you back on track by giving you dinner at 5pm, I returned at about 6 for milk, bath and bed. Your Dad was glad to have me home.

For a long time I’ve been trying to get you to sleep unwrapped knowing that once you started rolling it was going to be more difficult and not overly safe. However I didn’t have much luck until the first week if the New Year. I managed to get you to fall asleep one afternoon unwrapped, the sleep was short lived but as the days followed I managed to get you to sleep more and more often without being wrapped. I found that the nights were easiest to start with and as you became comfortable with that, the days followed. I now only have to wrap your arms if your over tired and fighting sleep.

Your still eating well but it’s only fruit that you’re willing to eat without fuss. When it comes to vegetables and meat I need to sweeten the deal by making them nicer by mixing in fruit or juice. You will only eat watermelon if you can hold it and eating a banana now is far too messy as you get so excited that it’s flat and all over the place before it hits the mouth. I will have to get the little mesh bag/feeding thing out and see if this works better for you. You have gone off avocado for some reason but you have been very willing to try some new foods such as;
• Lamb Shank
• Salmon (with mango and cucumber salad)
• Sheppard’s pie (which was more like bubble and squeak pie)
• Sweet Potatoes
• Blue & black berries and , raspberries
• Passion fruit (with yogurt)
• Peach
• Chicken, basil and cheese (I gave you a little filling from my sandwich one day)
• Apricots
• Watermelon
• Pasta with tomato sauce (again a little bit of my lunch)
• Feta cheese
• Sausage
• Vegetable Risotto

Eatting Sausage

Enjoying Watermelon

A week after your 6mth health check (where you weighed 8.685kgs) I took you to see Dr Fan for a check up. Finally she said your liver is normal and no longer need blood tests. After she looked over you and made sure everything was as it should be she popped you on the scale. Much to my amazement (and hers’) you had put on over 400gms in a week bringing your weight up to just over 9kgs. She asked how often I was feeding you and after a quick discussion she said that when you wake in the middle of the night I’m not too feed you as it’s more of a habit than you actually being hungry. I tried that night but ended up feeding you, but like a light switch had just been turned on you started sleeping though the night again after not sleeping though the night for about a month. However due to Christmas and going up to Nan and Pa’s that only lasted a week. Once we returned and got you back into a routine you've slept though a few times but I’m still getting up to you more often than I would like (normally around 3am). Nevertheless it has some advantages as most times your now missing the 5-6am feed and going straight through to 7ish when I give you breakfast.

Your now rolling all over the place and doing 360’s on your tummy. While in the beginning (of rolling) you weren’t able to be left alone long, your now more than happy to play on your own as I get on and do other things around you. You sometimes attempt to crawl but get agitated that you can’t, so I give you a little help. While you’re still a little way off I have put the gate up in front of the stairs just encase you turn the crawling on like you turned sitting on (overnight).

Just like you turned sitting on you have also just turned waving, high fiving and saying Mum on. Mum started when you woke up after an afternoon sleep crying. You just had your 6mth immunisation needles so I was prepared for you to be upset, but wasn’t prepared for your cry to be full of Mummmmmmm mmm mummmmmmm. You followed up with Mum separate to a cry, funnily enough yesterday, the day you turned 7mth. Yesterday you also started waving and high fiving. While you wave around the right time that your suppose to wave, sometimes it’s a little early and other times it after the fact, but nevertheless it is cute. High fiving did occur once when I videotaped you sitting, however you have only managed to do it repeatedly yesterday.

I also managed to find a little time make a palm tree growth chart in keeping to the jungle theme. I love the idea so much I’m making a few extra (different designs) for your little friends. I'm also hoping that I might get some custom made orders.

Below are some things we got up to this month.
• 6mths – can’t stop rolling, started to raise your arms to be lifted, started to push your arms through your sleeves and have a habit of watching your hand open and close. You’ve also started to play with your penis at nappy change.
• 27 weeks – can sit for longer than a couple of minutes (timed twice at 2.5min and 6.5mins on the 23rd Dec), began to blow raspberries.
• 28 weeks – you start to put your feet in mouth and you found your squeaky voice.
• 30 weeks – sleeping unwrapped most of the time and you will now raise your arms over your head when I take off your tops
• 31 weeks – had your first ride in a shopping trolley sitting up, and we welcomed other little playmate into the world (Eli Benjamin' Jarred)

• 7mths – Started saying Mum, waving and high fiving. And saddly it was time to say goodbye to size 00. The bigger you get the harder it is to part with each size.

Classic sleeping road trip photo

Loving Christmas presents

Watching boats on the Hume Weir

Happy 7mth Birthday, you light up my life more and more each day.