Thursday, March 27, 2014

12 Months Old

This is about a week and a half late, but I was waiting for doctor stats.  He had an ear infection, and then our Beaver's Bend trip, so Nicholas finally had is 1 year check-up today.

Glad this was the last month because these are tough to get now!  See outtakes below.


Stats:
Weight: 17 lbs 14 oz (5%)
Length: 29.5 in (30%)
Head: 18.25 in (55%)

Language:
He sort of signs more and all done.  Milk is his most consistent, or a made up sign that best we figure means "Mommy".  He babbles and screams a lot but I don't know that we have any real words yet.  Just before the walking started he was focusing on people's speech and working very hard to mimic it.  That has decreased some, but motor skills have kicked in.

Motor Skills:
He is officially a walker.  He doesn't seem to be able to stand up without something to pull-up on, so if he falls while walking he crawls until he finds something or someone to use for pulling up.  He loves to throw balls.  Just today he was intentionally kicking a balloon as he walked.



Play:
He loves musical toys, blocks, cars, and Legos.  He is beginning to attempt building with Legos, though more just places them on top of each other rather than actually connect them.  He got a helicopter and a dump truck for his birthday and both are played with often.  He also loves push toys.  Anything that has wheels (bikes, scooters, etc), even if they are much larger than him and not meant to be a push toy, Nicholas will attempt to push them and squeal in the process.



Sleep:
He goes down consistently between 7:30 and 8 and sleeps till 5 or 6.  On the weekends, we can usually get him to go back down until 7, but during the week depending on when he wakes, he may be up.  He naps twice mid morning and after lunch.  Morning nap is typically 45 min to an hour.  Afternoon is typically 1 to 1.5 hours.

He loves to climb on people & the dog or basically any large object on the floor.  So, if ever you are at our house, chilling on the floor, be warned.

Food/Milk:
The last month of his "babyhood", I still had well over 200 oz of frozen milk, so I reduced/quit pumping at work and started using up bags.  We'd introduced formula at 9 mo just in case so he had a bottle of formula probably 3-5 times a week.  He sill gets Mama early morning and before bed, but dairy milk the rest of the time.  He will only drink it warm, though.  Stinker.  I leave for a school trip next weekend so we hope that will help end the desire for Mama.  We'll see...  We will transition completely off bottles after my trip (Daddy will use them to make the weekend of single fatherhood a little easier).

He loves applesauce and other pouches.  I plan to look at making our own pouch concoctions to sneak in some more veggies.  Sure hope his sister, The Picky One, will eat them, too.  He will try just about anything you put in front of him.  His favorites seem to be carrots, green beans, black beans, bread, chicken, pears, & bananas.  The food on Mommy, Daddy, or Mariel's plate almost always looks and tastes better.  He loves Gerber snacks on the go.




He has 5 teeth.  2 top and 2 bottom are fully in.  Another top broke through a couple weeks ago and is half in.  I think I see/feel two more bottom and another top breaking through, but it's hard to tell for sure.  He also seems to be gnawing on things in the back of his mouth, so some molars might also be trying to make their appearance.  He's been feeling poorly the past couple of days and running a low fever because of it.

He loves to climb stairs and will climb all the way up ours.  He also knows how to come down on his belly.  This is still a closely supervised activity, but he loves the chance to do it any opportunity he gets.

He and Mikaela play a lot together now.  Earlier this week Mikaela led him into her room and shut the door.  We listened to them play and laugh for a long time through the monitor.

And that's what the Little Man is doing at 1 year old.  Now for pictures:


  
Outtakes/Bloopers:










Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Beaver's Bend

For the past ten years, several families from our church have all gone out to Beaver's Bend for a weekend in March.  We didn't know about it in time the first year we were at the church and last year we have a 4-day-old baby.  Not really the best time to go camping.  So this year we decided to go and see what it was all about.  The kids enjoyed being outside and we had some nice family time.


He loved to slide.







He'll make anything a push toy.











 The next few pictures are various views from our cabin which overlooked the river.




Saturday evening rain storm

puddle jumping





kids leading Sunday morning worship

Sunday morning church

after the train ride

riding with the the Brewer boys

Sunday Morning Worship

group photo