First Birthday Letter

Dear Conor,

Just looking back at this blog reaffirms my feeling that this past year has been full of so many firsts, an incredible amount of love, and the growth of a bond between you and I that simply can't be explained in words or measured in any way shape or form.

For nine months and 2 weeks you grew inside me.  I gave you shelter, kept you warm, and kept you safe from the world you were not ready to enter.  Now, 365 days later, I still give you shelter, keep you warm and safe.  I wrap my arms around you when you are hungry, tired, overwhelmed, or in need of reassurance.  My arms provide you the comfort you desire and act as a barrier to the sometimes overstimulating world we live in.  When my arms encircle you I feel your body relax, your tears subside, and your breathing become calm and consistent.  In that moment I feel like the most powerful woman in the world.....it is in these moments I understand a mother's undying desire to always ensure the safety and security of her children no matter how old they are.  As I hold and rock you at night I know that one day my arms will no longer encircle you and you will no longer fit in my lap.  So, on this night - more so than others I will hold you just a bit longer before putting you down to sleep.

In this last year you have taught me more about myself than I ever knew before.  You have shown me that I am strong and I am brave - but most importantly you have taught your mother what it means to love unconditionally and without hesitation.  You are my greatest accomplishment Conor - the thing in life I am most proud of.  For this I will always be grateful. 

While your Mommy has spent the last year learning about herself - you have spent the last year growing!  You entered this world at 8lbs. 10.6 oz and one year later you are weighing in at 20lbs 5oz.  You have grown roughly 8.5 inches.  You spent your first week in newborn sized clothing and you are now wearing mostly 12 months and some 12-18.  You have a size 4.5W foot that is no longer covered in cute little booties but wears Stride Rite shoes.  You were born such a little round ball of pudge but now - you are lean.  There are very few rolls left to be seen - your ankles, wrists, and knees are still undefined but the rest of you looks less and less like a baby and more and more like a toddler by the day. 

Your blue eyes have grayed but your hair remains a ruddy brown.  Many people marvel over the fact that your hair has the same highlights and lowlights that mine does and I love that we share that trait.  Some strangers consider you to have auburn hair as it appears quite red in certain lights - your eyebrows have yet to come in so your true hair color remains to be seen. 

You have your Grandma Mary's nose and at times your Grandma Janet's smile.  You hair texture comes from your Grandpa Dennis but your profile and mannerisms are 100% your Grandpa Tom (you could be his twin).  You are stubborn (like your Daddy) but smart and you are kind.  You are a perfect combination of all the members of your family and they all love you so very much. 

In one year you have learned to hold your head up, to push up on your arm, to sit, to crawl, to stand, to walk and to run.  You have learned to eat with a spoon (though you sometimes miss) and therefore you have gone from just milk to sharing meals with Mommy and Daddy (sometimes).  You drink from a straw and love water.  You are a social butterfly and love eating in restaurants.  You are not a napper and not the best sleeper but I know it won't be like this forever so for now, I cherish the extra time late at night or early in the morning that I get with you (though sometimes even I forget this when I am really tired).

You don't have a special comfort item or a favorite toy but you LOVE books.  You are an avid reader and always want to bring books every where you go.  You love your wagon and most recently your sled.  You observe the world around you so carefully I always wonder what you are thinking and can't wait for the day when your words come easily and fluidly.  When you were born you could barely utter a sound other than a strained cry and now you laugh, yell, and have an ever growing vocabulary (dad, hunter, mamma, read, book, duck, quack, moo, yes, this, up).  You are learning to sign "more" and "milk".  You communicate by pointing and waiting for us to follow you.  You still love baths.

One of the memories I will never forget from this year Conor is when you were learning to walk.  You would hold my fingers so tightly and in the other hand you would hold a tiny leaf, stick, or little treasure - as though it was helping you to keep your balance.  It reminded me so much of the moment in Dumbo when he is learning to fly and he holds tight to a feather.  Now, barely a week later you have taken flight and you have left my fingers and your "feather" behind.  But not matter how far you go you will always be that "Baby of Mine."

Happy FIRST Birthday to my Sweet Baby Boy.......thank you for choosing me to be your Mommy!



12.14.2011 - 11:47pm seconds old.

12.14.2012 - 11:42pm - Happy Birthday Conor!

 

12.15.2011 - 2:15pm (not even 24 hours old)



12.14.2012 - 10:30am  Birthday Boy!

12.14.2012 - 1 year old

He Walks!

Though he had been walking assisted for sometime and taking little steps here and there on November 19, 2012 Conor took his first walk unassisted from the bathroom doorway to 1/2 way into the living room.....we were so proud!

Walking 10.23.2012

Dear Conor,

You are a walking machine!  You love to push your walking toy around the house so we decided it was time to take it to the great outdoors!  You don't drive real straight just yet but you enjoyed yourself anyways!

xoxo
Mommy

Nine Months

Dear Conor,

Mommy is having a hard time with your monthly post this month as you are 9 months old.  You have now been a little part of this giant world for as long as you were a tiny person-to-be inside Mommy's tummy.  I have done my best to protect you, shelter you, and gain your trust in these last 9 months so that you know now and will know forever how much you are loved.  I have worked hard to comfort you and anticipate your every need so that you never felt abandoned or neglected. I've tried to introduce you to the world in ways that encourage you to participate in it and not just observe; to be cautious but not afraid of all it has to offer.  I have made you my focus in order to show you that I would always give you all of me whenever you required it and at those times that you don't.  I promise you that no matter what else Mommy has on her plate YOU are the most important and will always come FIRST.

Nine months little man - you are wearing 9 and 12 month clothing.  You are growing leaner and therefore clothes are fitting you for longer periods of time (our wallets appreciate this!).  The pants are always still too long on you but since you are not walking yet that is ok as it helps keep your legs covered when you are in the backpack.

You have started to accept food a tad bit more regularly though not each day.  I have stared only offering it to you every few days in order to not pressure you.  Since you are so inconsistent with eating I have stopped making your food by hand as I don't feel it stays fresh long enough so you are eating "Happy Baby" brand as well a few other all organic pouches.  You tend to like to suck the food from the pouch instead of using a spoon and that is ok by me (for now).  You also really like puffs.

 

You are now officially unstoppable!  You are crawling everywhere and over everything!  You can crawl over humps and under bridges and its been real fun to watch you go (and also trying to always keep one step ahead of you).  You also pull up on everything and you have started holding onto things with only 1 hand - you aren't supporting yourself unassisted at this time but I'm sure in one month I will be writing about you doing just that.  You have started becoming more vocal and both Daddy and I LOVE your little voice and all its octaves!

 

You have such a a great personality.  You are truly a very happy baby.  You are typically all smiles all day unless you are hungry or have an unmet need (which isn't often).  You have started getting upset when things you want are taken away from you or someone you want leaves the room (usually mommy when I am trying to get a drink before sitting down to nurse you).  You have a little bit of stranger anxiety (mostly towards men) but you easily come around when/if the man is able to spend a little time making you feel comfortable.

You are also fearful of animals.  You get very nervous when they come into the room or come near you on the street.  You want to be as far away from them as possible and you shriek very loudly and start crying if you are not picked up or the animal moved away.  Your Daddy and I want you to love animals but as your Mommy used to be fearful of them when she was a little girl she understands that we need to support your fear until you are ready to explore them further.  So for now we make sure that Grandma and Grandpa Jakan's dogs are not around and that anyone else we know who has animals is able to put them away when we visit (and for the most part they are).

 

 

You are still not a fabulous sleeper.  You tend to go to sleep between 7 and 8:15 and you will sleep until 11pm or so.  At that time you nurse for about 10 minutes until you fall back asleep.  You wake up next around 3:15am and at that point you nurse for a little bit longer.  Some nights I struggle to get you to go back to bed at this time and so you are up for a good hour - but this is not every night.  You are usually up for the day around 6:30am unless I nurse you a little bit more before I go to work -then you will sleep for Daddy until 7:30am or if I get to sleep in and pull you into bed with me you will often sleep until 7:30am.  Your Daddy and I talked about sleep training but we feel you simply aren't ready yet so we will be talking to your pediatrician about our concerns and if you need to be eating so much at night (so far what Mommy reads says that you do because you are not eating a lot during the day - mostly at night and you aren't eating much solids).

 

 

You are moving further and further away from being my baby and closer and closer to being my 'big boy' and while Mommy is sad she is loving every minute she gets to watch you grow and learn new things.  I love you so much little man and I can't WAIT to continue to watch you grow.

 

Until next month little man -

 

xoxo

Mommy

 

PS.  My how you have Grown........

 

 

SEVEN MONTHS & Doctor Check-up

Dear Conor,

I truly can't believe it - seven months!  You are now closer to being ONE than being a newborn!  Mommy has some great ideas for your first birthday and since the days are now flying by I better get started on the planning!

While physically you haven't grown that much in the last month developmentally you have blossomed.  You have become so much more mobile.  You use your arms to reach for things to grab and then you pull yourself towards those items.  When you can't reach something you use your toes to push off the floor or any object behind you to give you some momentum.  You are also pulling yourself up onto your hands and knees and rocking back and forth.  You also now LOVE to stand and walk!  Taking you to see Erika the Chiropractor has really made a difference in your gait and stability.  You are walking much straighter now and you are using both legs equally.  While you right step is still shorter than your left we are very happy with your progress.

You love to observe things.  You take them into your hands and you turn them around and around or you drop them and pick them back up.  You explore your toys in this manner - sometimes shaking them so much that we watch you bop yourself in the head!

You are very aware of your surroundings.  You look for us when we come down the stairs if you hear the creaking of the steps.  You cry/whine when someone you want to play with leaves the room, you turn to the voice of both Daddy and I when you hear us somewhere in the house call your name.  You are such a smart little boy already!

We took you for your 6 month check-up (which was really at 7 months) and here are your stats:  weight 18obs 14oz (58%); height 26 inches (20%); head 45cm (72%). You were such a good boy at the doctor's office until the final shot.  Once it was in your leg you gave a swift kick and the needle tracked down your thigh.  The nurse felt terrible because she wounded you.  I felt terrible because I hadn't held you tightly enough and Daddy felt bad because the nurse felt bad.  We all laughed and said next time we were going to put you in a straight jacket but on your legs!

While we waited for the doctor you had a great time ripping up the paper on the exam table!

Of course, as soon as we got home I had to check and see how your stats compared to your old ones - here they are (in order):

As you can see, your weight gain has slowed down and instead of gaining 2lbs a month you are gained 2 pounds in almost 3 months.  Your head circumference is back up which is a good thing because it means you will not be evaluated for further treatment on your flat spot (more on that later).  You are still a little shorty but you have plenty of time to grow so no one is worried since you are still growing.  They would only be worried if you had stopped!

I don't know what else to say Conor except you are wonderful in every way!

Happy 7 month birthday!

xoxo
Mom

PS.  Look how you have grown!  As each month passes its getting harder and harder to remember you as the little red faced baby in the first picture!

Wiggle Worm & Construction

Dear Avacado,

You have become quite the wiggle worm!  I feel you moving around quite a bit during the mornings and later at night.  Yesterday we were at Court (such a serious place) and while the Judge was talking you decided to start moving all around.  You were moving so much that it was almost like a tickle and I wanted to laugh out loud so you and I should probably work on your Court Room Etiquette. :)

At night you start to move a lot when its bedtime and I am laying in bed trying to get to sleep!  I think you may have your days and nights mixed up at the moment OR you are trying to get me used to being awake later at night.

This week is also a big week because work is being done on your room.  I stripped your closet on Sunday and patched all the holes in the walls.  Tonight I intend on sanding it and seeing if it needs another coat of putty.  If it doesn't - then the plan is to paint it tonight and apply the second coat tomorrow before I head to Boston.  We are also removing trim and painting your room this weekend in preparation for the contractor to come and add the bead board next week.  Your room will be painted a nice shade of gray/blue on the two tall walls and we are not certain just yet if we will do the short walls in the same color or go up the color card one shade to make it a little lighter.  Either way - the bead board will be white as will your nursery furniture so I think your room will look fantastic!

I finally picked the bedding for your crib and it has a whale motif.  It's from Pottery Barn Kids and I love how it has so many shades of blue in it but also uses different patterns and textures for the little fish and the whale fins.  I picked up the lamp shade last week and everyone who has seen it agrees that it is adorable.

This is a picture of the bedding - its not the best picture but you can see the quilt and the skirt and the little pillow well enough.  The little pillow will be going on the guest bed to help tie everything in together as your room will still be the guest room for a little while (or until I  move my office to a new location or we get a new house!).

That's it for this week -

xoxo
Erin

Movement

Dear Avacado,

Last night while driving back home from a whirlwind 48 hours I felt you move for the first time.  Many people have told me that your movements will feel like little flutters but that it was hard to describe what a flutter really was.  Well, last night on Route 1 in Saugus I stopped to get a burrito from Chipolte (I love this place!) and about 30 minutes later I felt two strong "beats" in my lower abdomen about where my seatbelt was.  So, being curious I placed my hand there any applied some pressure and you kicked again - another steady "kick kick".  I was pretty excited because that's the first time I knew for certain that I had felt you move.

I called Great Grammie Craft since she had been asking me whether I had ever felt you move and she was so excited!  It was truly a weird feeling but a nice one because I know that you were doing ok in there.

But, now I wonder - do your kicks mean that you like or don't like mexican food??

xoxo
Erin