Henry is ONE

Poor third child.  I think I've blogged about Henry three times in the past year.  His birth story, 8 weeks and 4 months.  I was talking to my younger sister the other day (there are three of us and I'm in the middle) and she pointed out our baby books.  Our older sister's was filled out in detail, mine a little less but still some substance and her book--apparently she filled it out herself when she was 5ish.  Poor third child. 

It's not for lack of interest in his development and milestones.  It's just that I'm a mom of three kids ages 7, 3 and ONE.  With workschoolhouseworkhomeworkdinnertimenursingbabygrownupjob and only 7 days a week to do all the things.  **Henry, if you're reading this 20 years from now please know, just because I didn't document every detail of your first year in this blog doesn't mean I love you any less than your sisters, m'kay**

Moving on...let me break it down for you.  Here is a snippet of Henry aka Buddy aka Bub aka Hank aka Hank the Tank aka Smoosh aka Little Baby Boy (that is what Molly calls him).

saying:
"mamamama" and "dadadada" but I don't think either are in context.  He babbles a lot but for the most part, he grunts.  Such a man, amiright?!

doing:
Henry loves to feed himself, dive bomb off the sofa (only when under the watchful eye of daddy), get to his hands and knees and rock, pull on the dogs fur,  pointing, playing peek-a-boo and playing copy cat (where he does something and we copy--cracks him up!).  He is almost clapping and will mimic the signs for 'more' and 'all done'.  He will also pull himself up to his knees.

not doing:
Henry is following the foot steps of his sisters and is less interested in gross motor skills.  Baby boy could feed himself the tiniest piece of food at 5 months old (fine motor) but crawling, fuhgeddaboudit!  He's done a few knee shuffles forward but he does not see that as a way to get around.  He's got a pretty impressive reach when he is trying to get something he wants.  He will also not take steps when holding our hands.  Again, the whole gross motor thing.  He has better things to do.

eating/drinking:

We feed Henry everything we are eating.  He will pretty much try anything but has his preferences.  His most favorite food ever is frozen blueberries.  They are messy, but my boy loves them!   Other favorites are cheese, yogurt, apple sauce and sliced turkey.  Notice there is no mention of vegetables.  He is not a fan.  He will eat olives and carrots occasionally.  We have made the transition from formula (started supplementing him when I went back to work) to milk.  He does still nurse.  Honestly, I'm sort of over the nursing...but he still seems to really enjoy it and want it.  Also, it's mostly in the evenings and at night time.  Molly pretty much weaned herself around 13 months.  I assumed Henry would do the same.  I'm okay nursing him for a little longer but I'm close to ready to be done.  I will probably let him nurse as much as he wants through this cold and flu season and then really work on tapering the nursing sessions down.  As it is, it's just a few times a day.
    
wearing:
He is solidly in 18 month clothes.  We have some 24 month and 2t clothes that are in rotation that aren't terribly big on him.  He is big...but I see him slimming down in the face and belly (see collage below).  He wears size 5 diapers.  I have no idea what size shoe he wears.

sleeping:
eh....what can I say about the sleeping.  It's not horrible, but it can be better.  He goes to bed between 7 and 8 in his crib.  Some nights he wakes by midnight or 1am and comes in to bed with me.  Other nights he will sleep until 5am and then come in bed with me.  Once in bed with me, he nurses off and on but mostly sleeps.  I've started offering him his paci instead of nursing and that usually keeps him content for a while.  I would say, on average, once in bed with me, he nurses 2 times before we are up for good in the morning.  He wakes up between 6 and 7 am.  If it weren't for those middle of the night nursing sessions, he would probably be weaned.  But, I'm too lazy to try to change that up right now--so he gets the all you can eat buffet at night if he wants it!  And y'all, don't come at me with, "oh, you need to stop that", "you're creating a bad habit", "you will never get him out of your bed", "he is using you as a pacifier", etc.  All that may be true...but you know what?  I don't care!  Tim and I get our alone time one way or another and it just doesn't bother me.  I'm fine with it.  I went through this exact thing with Molly...and you know what?  We survived.  So for now, I nurse and snuggle and soak up this boy because next thing I know he's gonna be big and opinionated and will want to rough house with daddy and will think girls are gross!

As for naps, I think he is working on cutting his afternoon nap.  He has started falling asleep later in the morning and in turn not being sleepy enough for his afternoon nap.  Overall, he's a good sleeper in my opinion.

teeth:
He has 5.5 teeth.  Two on the bottom and 3.5 on the top.  The half on top has been like that forever.  He seems to handle teething pretty well.  There are some days where he will be fussy and I totally blame the teeth, but for the most part, he takes teething in stride. 

I seriously can't believe he is ONE.  This past year has flown by.  I literally remember everything about the day and night leading up to his birth (holy OUCH!).  I look back on his first eight weeks of non stop crying and don't get twitchy and anxious, but instead smile that we made it through.  Our family grew in so many ways with the addition of this little man.  He is the last baby and we are moving on to life with a toddler and growing these kids up!  I get so excited at the thought of our family of 5 and what the future holds.  I don't make it secret that Henry was a BIG surprise--a very welcomed one--but a surprise nonetheless.  Every life is a gift and a blessing and we are so thankful for our Henry Arthur!

Happy birthday, sweet boy!  Mommy, daddy, Emma and Molly love you so much!!