Andrew's First Year Book

first page

I made Andrew a "first year book" through Costco's photo center!  I have been struggling with keeping up with the photo album (frankly, I haven't put anything in their consistently since last August), the idea of scrap booking is appealing until I consider that I have a one year old, and while my blog is an online photo album of sorts, it isn't the same as having the pictures in front of you to flip through.  I looked into the ads that promise to turn your blog into a book (which seemed like the best idea in the world), but because I compress all the pictures I put online, the photos would all have to be re-uploaded into the book software.  Shutterfly and Snapfish were too expensive, so Costco had me.

Their 30 page books start at $29.99 and I knew that I wanted the entire year to be in one book. His book ended up being 34 pages. As part of sharing photos with my mom and mother-in-law, I have been uploading 50-60 of my favorites each month to Costco. When it came to building the book, I used the photos I had already uploaded which saved a bunch of time. I forced myself to pick my favorites from those (about 6-10 per month) and only did one double page for each month. I also did a separate page for each big holiday and two for both birth and birthday.

I take thousands of pictures, so choosing was hard, but I wanted to represent his year without being repeating (sort of like we would have done in the old days with film).  I built the book in spurts and could save it and come back.   The only downside of Costco (vs the other, more expensive, companies) was that I could not change the layouts or add a lot of text (the text boxes were already part of the layouts).

 our first moments together

 month six

 pumpkin patch with Brenda's beautiful pictures

 month 7 was a "photo light" month because between school busy-ness and Andrew's new sense of movement, there weren't many good ones!

 Let's eat cake!

I've already started his next book, but I've decided that I do not need a full year to fit into one book. 

I am going to do as many double-page spreads as I want :)

Twelve Month Well Baby Check-up

Someone should have warned me that this appointment was going to be slightly traumatic for mommy.  Andrew enjoyed playing, running, and climbing all over the exam room and enjoyed Dr. Ghebriel.  He got his teeth painted (fluoride treatment) and then the pain came... he had six shots in his legs and his blood drawn.  The first two shots were okay, but by the fifth and sixth ones he was shaking with anger, bright red, and shrieking.  It took him over ten minutes to calm down.  Mommy is still not calm.  The blood draw (to check to make sure our old house isn't giving him lead poisoning) was much easier and only produced a baby cry and no tears. 

Andrew's crazy amount of food intake has finally produced some weight gain.  He's over the 23 pound mark and a "tall" boy!

Length:

• 12 Months, 30.5, 76th percentile
• 9 Months: 28.5, 71st percentile
• 6 Months: 27.5, 84th percentile
• 4 Months: 25 inches, 51st percentile
• 9 Weeks: 24 inches, 89th percentile
• 3 Weeks: 21.5 inches, 58th percentile
• Birth: 20.5 inches

Weight:

• 12 months: 23 lbs, 3.2 ounces, 50th percentile (Dr. Ghebriel's exact words, "he's tall and has a huge head, I'd expect his weight to now start catching up)
• 9 months: 20 lbs, 8 ounces, 47th percentile
• 6 Months: 18 lbs, 11.2 ounces, 71st percentile
• 4 Months: 16 lbs, 4.8 ounces, 78th percentile
• 9 Weeks: 12lbs, 3.8 ounces, 51st percentile
• 3 Weeks: 8 lbs, 14.9 ounces, 24th percentile
• Birth: 7 lbs, 5 oz

Head Circumference:

• 12 Months: 19.7 inches, 99th percentile
• 9 Months: 19.5 inches, 99th percentile (corrected number) 
• 6 Months: 18.5 inches, 99th percentile
• 4 Months: 17.75 inches, 101st percentile
• 9 Weeks: 16.73 inches, 95th percentile
• 3 Weeks: 15.5 inches, 84th percentile
• Birth: 13.5

Twelve Month Sticker Pictures

 Thank goodness this is our last set of sticker pictures because it is getting harder and harder to get him to sit still.  If we're on the bed, he stands up to JUMP onto the pillows and if we're on the chair he tried to figure out how to rock it as hard as he can.  Needless to say, my son is a mover and a shaker!

 Reflective Andrew. 

"Yes, I am One!!!"

 And we're up again...

 Fish face!

I'd also like to point out that he has the same onesie on in this picture as he has for month 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.  

Twelve Months

New Developmental Milestones this Month: Almost two months after taking his first unassisted steps, Andrew is officially walking.  It took me awhile to admit this, but he is definitely walking more than he crawls now.

• Here are the new age-appropriate developmental things that he can do: waves bye-bye with both his hand and/or arm, uses pincer grasp, self-feeds small food objects, self feeds with bottle and sippy, reacts to his name, walk while carrying something, and picks up objects while standing unassisted.
• Vocabulary: Mama, Dada, Dog, Duck.  All animals are dogs (even his bunnies).  When he wants something he says, "uh uh uh" and when he's excited he says, "ooh, ooh, ooh." Aunt Melissa thinks she heard his say Aunt and bath, but he hasn't repeated it. 
• No new teeth, but he's been teething pretty much all month. We had a few days of a slight fever, weeks of clear snot...

Physical Growth this Month: Andrew has had a bit of a growth spurt this month that has affected his length.  We did have two trips to Kaiser (3/18 and 3/20) because of a cold, turned cough, turned respiratory issue, turned double ear infections.  Thankfully, because of his history the doctors were proactive and we were able to start the correct antibiotic quickly and the sickie germs only lasted a 10 days in this house!

• March 18: 21 lbs, 8 oz
• March 20: 21 lbs, 9.6 oz
• April 4 (Weight Watchers weigh-in): 21 lbs, 9 oz and 30 inches
• April 24: Official one year appointment

Things Andrew likes: Person: Aunt Melissa, Mommy, Daddy, Ms. Cindy at school, Places: outside and the bathroom!, Activities: taking a bath/shower, swinging, being thrown in the air by dad, climbing up on anything and everything, Toys: his ball popper, Little People animals, specifically the lamb, and books

Things Andrew doesn't like: he does not like being told no and stopped from doing whatever he has decided is his mission

Sleeping: We are all over the place with sleep.  At school, he has transitioned to one nap from 11:30-1:30-2ish.  He hasn't really put himself on a routine with that new nap time.  He sleeps sometimes when we come home from school, sometimes not.  He is pretty cranky starting at 6:45ish, so we're working on getting bedtime to 7ish.  He sleeps through the night.

  

Eating: Piglet eats like a madman.  His favorites are beans, cheese, fruit of any kind, and cruchies.  He also eats pretty much everything that we eat--he can polish off an entire piece of pizza! We're in the process of switching to whole milk.  We started at 2 oz of WM to 6 oz of formula and we're not up to 6 oz of WM and 2-3 oz of formula.  By next week, he'll be on all whole milk.  At school, they provide milk, breakfast, lunch, and two snacks which he greedily eats all of it (I get reports of a very healthy eater).

Diapers: Still in size 3s--we've used another 256 diapers (1921 total in size 3). He's wearing size 3 Huggies Overnights still.

Clothing: His growth spurt has finally made it possible to move to 12 month clothes (I packed up everything April 2)!! The onesies are still huge and the pants are still a bit too long, but they fit!

This is also our last monthly update!  See in at 18 months!

Five Months Old

Monthly photos postponed until Andrew feels better!

Developmental Milestones this Month: Andrew can do all of the following age-appropriate developmental things: everything from month four and roll over both ways, sit in a tripod stance (uses arms for support) for over a minute, stand holding on to someone's hands, work to get an out-of-reach toy, pass object from one hand to the other, and look for missing objects (mainly the dog).  He does not babble or talk very much, so we're working on repeating sounds over and over.
Physical Growth this Month: At the doctor's on Tuesday, Andrew weighed in at 17.48 lbs (gain of 1.2 from last month) and is measuring at 27.5 inches long (same as 4 months).

Things Andrew likes: My content baby is still pretty much "into" everything.  He loves people and has starting staring/smiling at strangers at church or restaurants if they smile at him.  The dog is increasingly becoming a favorite; he actually smiles at her now.  Loving the jumperoo, laying on the floor to move around, food, being tickled, his and other people's hands. At daycare, they say he LOVES a little girl name Mariah and he'll look at her, smile, then giggle.  Within the last two weeks, it has also become clear that Andrew likes to feel textures (like Mommy) and now "pets" things as he eats and plays.

Things Andrew doesn't like: still the car seat and being ignored, but we found a new one.  He HATES and screams when I put nose drops in to help suck the boogers out.  He doesn't mind the sucker (bulb syringe).
Sleeping: The first two weeks of this morning were HARD sleep wise.  Andrew wanted to wake up 2-3 times a night to play (not eat, needing a diaper, or anything useful) and would not just go back to sleep (blog here). Thankfully as quick as it started, it stopped and we're back to normal at night time.  Bedtime is between 8-8:30.  The sad for mommy good part of bedtime is also that Andrew goes to bed without any intervention other than swaddling.  He does not want to be held to calm down.  Also, on the swaddling note, we swaddle with one arm out and don't really have plans to stop swaddling.  He does not try to roll over while sleeping.  He is not napping well at daycare still, so his nap schedule is all over the place during the week, but on the weekends, he is still takes two, 2-hour naps and a short catnap.

Eating: Andrew eats 8-9 ounces every four hours during the day and still refuses the dream feed. He gets between 32-36 oz every day (only 4 more oz a day than last month), but we've now added oatmeal and peas once a day.  Next week, I plan to make it twice a day and he'll eat "breakfast" of oatmeal at daycare.  When the sleeping issues went away, so did the eating concentration issues thankfully.  We're at 1.5 ml of Zantac for the GERD, but we have a referral to see the GI specialist about the coughing/gagging that is waking up him even with the zantac.

Playing: He is all over the place while playing and enjoys moving his arms, legs, head, etc.  He loves things that make noise and can go into his mouth; if there is anything that can do both (Sophie and his crinkly lion) it is a favorite.

Diapers: Leaving size 2s this week!  We had a few nightime blowouts and started using 3s at night last week and I decided that I wasn't going to buy another box!  We used 524 size 2s.

Clothing: Clothing wise nothing has changed from month 4.  Andrew wears 3-6 month onesies and 0-3 month shorts.  I did try on a pair of 3-6 month pants in prep for "cold" weather (wishful thinking) and they are just a bit too short to look normal.  I have a feeling that we'll be skipping pants all together in this clothing size.

Firsts for this month: Eating our first solid food (oatmeal and peas), three weeks of daycare under his belt, first cold and croupy cough (followed by first Urgent Care appointment), second cold, first football game, and first bowling trip.

Four Months Old

Developmental Milestones this Month: Andrew can do all of the following age-appropriate developmental things: lift his head 90 degrees and raise his chest with his arms while on his stomach, rolls over from tummy to back and back to side (he has rolled back to tummy twice, but he hasn't repeated the performance since  8/1), reach, grasp and shake toys, bear weight on his legs when supported, sits in Bumbo without wobbling, keep head level 50% of the time when body pulled to sitting, laugh and squeal out loud, smile at people spontaneously, follow tiny objects in 180 degree, follow Mommy and Daddy all around the room, turn the direction of Mommy's voice (especially when someone else is feeding him), razz and blow bubbles with his mouth.

Andrew spends 90% of his life like this on his side.

Physical Growth this Month: Andrew's official four month appointment isn't until next week, but unofficially he weighs 16.2 lbs (WW weigh-in) and is about 27.5 inches long (mommy measured).

Things Andrew likes: Andrew pretty much likes everything these days.  His favorite thing of all time is standing up whether it is being held or in his Jumperoo.  Anytime anyone is paying attention to him he is probably smiling back.  He laughs (totally sounds like Donald Duck) when he's tickled by his armpits.   His hands are still in his mouth constantly.  Mommy is still his favorite person, but Daddy is a close second.

Things Andrew doesn't like: not being the center of attention, being strapped into his car seat, being forced to sit and held like a baby in a cradle.

Sleeping: Andrew is a great sleeper thanks to Baby Whisperer--this month he only woke up one night, all of the other nights were averaging between 9-11 hours of sleep.  His naps have also gotten a lot more consistent.  As long as we're home and we do his routine, he sleeps 90-120 minutes in the morning and early afternoon with a 30-45 minute catnap around dinner time.  We've been working on getting an earlier bedtime in preparation for school starting.  At three months, he was going to bed about 9:30-10.  Now, we've managed to get bedtime about 8:30.  We are also working on shortening the time we shush/pat as part of our sleeping routine.

Eating: Andrew eats 7-8 ounces every four hours during the day and has been refusing the dream feed.  He gets between 28-32 oz every day (exactly the same as three months).  The past two weeks, Andrew has had a hard time concentrating on eating and sometimes takes over an hour to eat one bottle.  GERD is still in full force and I expect that at his next appointment, we'll be upping his dosage again.

Playing: He is less entertained by laying around and requires much more interaction with me and/or toys.  His favorite thing of all time is his jumperoo because he has the ability to stand up, jump, and move around its little circle playing with the different type of toys.  He'll play on his activity mat for awhile, but doesn't really want to stay there very long.  He sits in the Bumbo while I work in the kitchen.  Bath time isn't really play time at this point because he doesn't really fit happily in the sink and is too small for the bathtub.

Diapers: Happily still in size 2--so far we've used 380.

Clothing: Andrew wears 3-6 month onesies, 0-3 month shorts (skinny waist and length doesn't matter), and 12 month hats (big head!).  He can still wear some of the adorable 0-3 month clothes (I know this because I'm not willing to pack them up).

Important Events of Month Four: Second trip to Lakeside, three birthday parties (Rob's 30th, Ivy's 1st, Brendan and Sammy's 3rd), Yearbook Camp, first night away from Mommy and Daddy, time spent with Aunt Nicole and Jesse, first real tears (8/7)

Three Months Old

 Developmental Milestones this Month: Andrew  still is pretty textbook for his development. He can do the following (all age-appropriate according to What to Expect the First Year): lift his head and chest 45 and 90 degrees while on his tummy using his arms for support, roll from his tummy to back, smile in response to others' smiles and smile spontaneously, squeal in delight, bring both his hands and feet together purposefully, follow an object as small as a raisin 180 degrees, reach as short distance and grasp onto toys, hold his head steady when held upright, bear some weight on his legs when held in the standing position, turn in the direction of mommy and daddy's voice, make LOTS of sounds in all different vowel-consonant combinations.

Physical Growth this Month: These are "at home" measurements because Andrew doesn't go back to the doctors until four months.  On Wednesday at WW, Andrew weighed in at 13.9 lbs (gain of 1.5 lbs in one month that I swear is all in his face).  I tried hard to measure his length and got three different measurements, averaging out at 25.5 inches.
Things Andrew likes: Mommy, Daddy, and Aunt Melissa are his favorite people right now--although, anyone who is willing to play with him and make high pitched sounds, he'll smile at.  He still loves Mr. Octopus and his play mat, along with his crib mobile.  His hands have also become a constant toy (they are always in his mouth) and he loves playing with his tongue.  He has a lion that crinkles and he loves it in the car; from the front seat, I can hear him crinkle it for over 15 minutes as he tries to eat the lions ears.
Things Andrew doesn't like: his acid reflux/GERD makes Andrew hate spitting up, but other than that, he's a pretty laid back baby.  He gets "scared" at loud noises, but doesn't cry.  He doesn't like the process of going to sleep, nor when you take the bottle out of his mouth during a feeding.  Raspberries on his belly make him stick out his lower lip in a quiver.

I had to give you a 'melt down' picture or it wouldn't be a monthly update!

Sleeping: Andrew is a champion sleeper thanks to the Baby Whisperer (I love this woman).  During this third month of life, he slept through the night (that means 6 hours or more), 27 of the 31 days!  The nights have gotten longer and longer, averaging about 9.  Last night, he gave us 12 long sleeping hours.  During the day he takes three naps ranging from 45 minutes to 2 hours.  Usually the morning nap is shortest.  He's also proved that he can pretty much sleep anywhere.  When we went to Bakersfield to visit Great Grandma Bennett he slept well in his pack in play, he's also sleep on the floor at many places, in several beds, in the RV, in the car, and on mommy in his sling.
Eating: Andrew transitioned himself to a four hour schedule during week eleven and because of this the amount that he eats has gone up dramatically.  He now eats 6 oz (or more) in one bottle five times a day.  We needed to switch this past week to the medium flow nipples in the Playtex bottles because it was taking him almost 45 minutes to eat one bottle (with medium, he's back down to 20 minutes or so).  He was eating about 27-30 oz at the end of his second month, and now he's eating between 30-32 oz so in reality he doesn't consume all that much more.  We started him on Zantac for his GERD on June 14 and upped his dosages just this week (it's weight related).  The medication helped the pain from the reflux go away, so we no longer have a cranky baby who wants to eat, but hurts when he eats.  The spit up amount has not decreased, but at least it isn't bothering him anymore.  Mommy and Andrew both change clothes at least twice a day and average about four burp cloths a day.  Also, Andrew no longer wakes up from his naps starving.

Playing: Andrew now stays up almost two hours after every bottle, so we have started playing together.  We spend the first 15-20 minutes after a bottle sitting upright on mommy's lap or in his rocker chair (to help with reflux/spitting up) playing with our hands and feet, singing 'this little piggy' and 'if you're happy and you know it.'  We then move on to a circuit of different activities; 1)to the play mat to practice being on our tummy, rolling over, talk to the baby in the mirror, shake Mr. Octopus, kick the elephant and whale, and scoot around, 2) in the crib to practice more tummy time and rolling over (on a super padded surface this time), talk to the mobile, or sing the nursery rhymes with the CD, 3)in the Bumbo to practice assisted sitting, or 4)in the Baby Bjorn or sling to walk around the neighborhood with Reese.  All the time Mommy is talking to Andrew (or reading Facebook out loud to him) and he has started talking back and making up his own conversation. Andrew is learning and watching all the time and strangers always comment on how alert he is when we are out and about.
Diapers: We switched to size 2 in the middle of the month because we ran out of size 1 and I didn't want to purchase another huge box from Amazon Mom (by the way, if you haven't looked into this mommas, you want to).  There were a bit big for the first two weeks and we had a few leaks, but now they are fitting fine.  In total we used 557 size 1 diapers and we have already used 92 size 2 (don't you love that I keep track for you?!?).

Clothing: Andrew is (still) wearing 0-3 month clothes. He's outgrown the sleepers, but hasn't been wearing them anyway because it is so hot at night.  His tallness is all in his legs, so the 0-3 month clothes are perfect right now.  I'm sure in the next few weeks we'll switch to 3-6 months (I've already gotten them from Tawni and Rachel and started organizing so they will be ready when we need them).  Most of the pants/shorts that we have in 0-3 (still) fall off his belly so we roll them up to fit.

Photos were hard this month because Andrew wants to MOVE and his hands are constantly in his mouth!

Important Events of Month Three: Fathers' Day, 4th of July, met Aunt Pauline and Uncle Ralph, visited Great Grandma Bennett and first road trip, and mommy's favorite, learned to SLEEP well!!

Two Months Old

Andrew is changing daily!  It is wonderful that I have the opportunity to be home with him and learn all about him as he does this changing.  My three days back at work were an okay break, but made me appreciate the next 12 weeks even more.  His personality is taking shape!

Developmental Milestones this Month: Andrew fits into the textbook category for his development.  He can do the following (all age-appropriate according to What to Expect the First Year): smile in response to your smile, startles at a bell/clapping sound, lifts his head 90 degrees and raises his chest when he's on this stomach, rolls over from his stomach to his back, holds his head (relatively) steady when sitting upright, grasps rattle/toy held to his hand, pays attention to small objects in front of him and tracks them as I move them.  He's also just starting to vocalize, but is pretty quiet. 

Things Andrew likes: anything with eyes or polka dots (which I assume he thinks are eyes)--his reaction is smiles.  He loves the octopus on this play mat and the bear and bird Grandma hung by the changing table.  He still also really enjoys his crib mobile and being talked/read to.
Things Andrew doesn't like: Being strapped into his car seat, hiccups, burping or really anything that makes the bottle come out of his mouth, and staying in the same position for too long

Sleeping: As I have gotten better at reading him and following the Baby Whisperer EASY method, we've been getting better and better at napping during the day.  He doesn't always sleep, but we are getting several good naps in per day.  It is by no way the new normal and just typing it out may jinx it, but Andrew has slept 7 hours in a row three of the last four nights! We also transitioned to the crib this past week during the day for naps and he's been in both places at night.  I'm sure he doesn't know/care about the difference between his crib and bassinet, but Mommy isn't quite ready for him to be down the hall; however, I said I'd transition him about 8 weeks and I'm stickin' to my guns.  The monitors are out and we've been using them since last Saturday.

Eating:  We're now at 4.5 ounces every three hours during the day with a "tank up" feeding at 8 pm, and a "dream feed" at 10:30.  He is eating about 30 ounces per day.  Everyone is a lot happier now that we aren't messing with breastfeeding.

Diapers: Still in size 1--it amazes me how many diapers we have used! We're at 410 size ones!

Clothing: Andrew is wearing 0-3 month clothes.  Because he is still long and skinny, most of the pants/shorts that we have in 0-3 fall off his belly, but the newborns are too short.

And a rundown of the last two weeks so that I don't forget anything important:
May 22: Visited San Diego for the first time.  He slept in the car all the way there and home!
May 23: Took all day to adjust back to normal from San Diego trip, super fussy
May 25: Upped formula to 4 ounces from 3.5.  Made mommy and daddy happy with a six hour stretch at night (starting about 7 pm) followed by a four hour stretch.
May 26: Completely transitioned to 0-3 month clothes and packed up all the newborn stuff to give back to Tawni and Rachel.  He is still skinny enough to fit into newborn, but way too long.  Mommy cried.  Dinner with Keys Family
May 28: Attended his second car show in the Baby Bjorn and slept most of the time. Lots and lots of smiles for Daddy!
May 29: First birthday party for Caleb
May 30: First Memorial Day Picnic with Grandma and Grandpa; lots of smiles at Grandpa. Slept for SIX HOURS starting at 5:30 pm. 
May 31: Napped in his crib and stayed asleep!  During tummy time, Andrew really started holding up his head for extended periods and sort of rolls over when his arms are put under him by Mommy
June 1-3: Mommy back to work and Grandma babysitting--Grandma says we have an Angel baby on our hands
June 1: Figures out how to roll over completely with Grandma
June 4: Start sleep routine using the EASY method.  First night: down at 8:45, up at 1, 4, and 7.  Went down immediately at 1, but needed encouragement at 4.  Up for the morning at 7.
June 5, 7-8: Slept 7 hours straight starting at 9 pm (this is good sleep time for mommy and daddy!)

"Stop taking about me mom," says Andrew.

One Month Old

It still seems a bit unreal that he is here and mine, let alone that he is a month old already. I catch myself staring at him wondering what God was thinking when he blessed us with such a beautiful baby.As a month old newborn, he officially becomes an "infant" today.

Milestones this Week: Two trips to Arlington, Lunch with Mrs. Rachel at CBU, first doctor's visit, Wienerfest, and Mothers' Day.

Things he appears to really like: singing (or people around him doing it), tummy time, cuddling, his car seat

Things he appears not to like: burping, getting his clothes changed

• 
  
  Sleeping: Andrew's biggest accomplishment this week has been adding a 4-5 hour sleeping stretch to the nighttime! Usually he goes down sometime between 9-10 pm and sleeps until 1-2ish. On Thursday night, he slept 5.5 hours straight. We have been working on following the EASY method of sleep during the day and it is going really well; nighttime sleep after our long stretch has been the only major issue time, he doesn't want to go back to bed...


• 
  
  Eating: Piglet is still a piglet (although my dad says I'm going to give him a complex with that nickname). Last week he went through a growth spurt and added at least one full feeding to each day, but that appears to have slowed down now. We're fully back to Similac and have purchased our first Costco size container.


• 
  
  Breastfeeding: We're still chugging ahead. Friday, he ate enough during BF that he fell asleep and stayed asleep for 3 hours, but then followed it by Saturday and Sunday refusing to BF by screaming at the top of his lungs. Today we're back on track with the help of the SNS system. Still taking the goat's rue and other stuff to see if it makes a difference--so far, no change.


• 
  
  Diapers: He's officially fitting into size 1 diapers without issues and blowing through them just as fast. The child pees constantly...


• 
  
  Clothing: He is still wearing newborn clothes and most of the newborn onesies are still too big around, but are becoming too short. Most of the sleepers are already too short and pull at his neck. I keep trying on the 0-3 months clothes (because I have a ton and they are CUTE), but we are so not there yet.

How's Mommy? Better, but not great. This week I've actually been able to "forget" about the birthing process and healing some of the time, but the pain comes back when I forget too much and do something over eager...