Owen is 1!

I can’t believe that my baby, my last baby, turns 1 today! I know it’s so cliché and everyone says it, but it’s true: our babies really do grow up too quick. We had his 1st Birthday Party this past Saturday, so stay tuned for some jungle party fun, but I wanted to share some quick pics for his 1st birthday.

This is our first picture of Owen. I do regret not having someone take a pic of all 3 of us. I see tons of pics like that where mom is still on the table, but most moms having c-sections probably weren’t screaming in pain the majority of time.

Breastfeeding and Cups and Tears

On our way home from vacation, Tom and I were talking about our upcoming trip back to Myrtle Beach. This one is kid-free though. He said we need to start working with Owen on cups because at 11 months, I’m not giving him a bottle. I don’t think there’s a reason to start him on a bottle at this point. He’s had so few of them that we probably shouldn’t try to introduce one now.

Let’s just say the cup conversation led to tears. Luckily, I wasn’t driving at this point, but still… here we are on our way home from a wonderful vacation and I’m crying about giving my baby a cup. But… that’s not really what I was crying about. I’m going to be away from my baby for almost a full 5 days. For a breastfeeding mom and baby, that’s going to be really rough. I need to start building up a bit of a supply for the freezer to use while we’re gone, but at the time, that was the least of my concern.

What if Owen won’t nurse when I get home?

Owen’s on the Move

I was finally able to catch a little video of Owen walking!

For this week’s Wordless Wednesday, I wanted to share what little bit I was able to snag on video. Why is it kids never do tricks when we want them to?

And he does actually walk much better than this, but I’ll take what I can get on video!

9 Months of Breastfeeding

This post contains breastfeeding pictures and affiliate links.

Last week we hit the 9 month mark of breastfeeding! There were times in the beginning I did not think that was going to be an option at all. It was definitely a struggle during that time, but I’m so glad that we toughed it out and sought help to make sure we were successful.

I’ve been asked “how long are you going to nurse him?” and my response is “no idea”. I honestly hope that he self-weans somewhere around a year, but if not, that’s okay by me. He really only nurses about 6 or so times a day at this point and if he wants to nurse before bed after he hits that magic year mark that everyone seems to think is the end, that’s okay.

Time for Check-Ups and Havre de Grace Promenade

The boys had their well-baby visits this week: Charlie’s 3 year appointment and Owen’s 6 month appointment. Usually we don’t have to wait at all at the pediatrician’s office, but this time… it was over an hour wait. The boys behaved like angels compared to what could have happened.

Owen is 35th percentile for weight at 17 lbs and 90th percentile for height (I forgot to get his height from the nurse, I’ll get it next time). If you’ve seen any of the pictures of my boy- you know he’s not little. I can’t imagine him being chunkier, so I’m pretty okay with the fact he’s 35th percentile for weight. Charlie wouldn’t let them measure his height or stand on the scale. We went with 33 lbs (that’s what it said when he finally cooperated and let Mommy try to weigh him) and the nurse struggled to hold him against the wall to get his height of 40 inches. I think the Dr said he’s 75th for height and 50th for weight (I think, I could totally be wrong that though).

Because the Dr’s office is about 2 minutes from the Havre de Grace Promenade & Tydings Park, we decided to go for a walk and play for a bit. We haven’t been there in quite awhile and I thought Charlie would love it (he’s never been).

First Solids & Messy Monday Link-Up

I know that the old-school way of doing everything is always hard to break, but we tried this time. With Charlie, he had his first cereal the day before he turned 4 months old. Looking back, this was way too early. The boy had heart surgery at 7 weeks old and was just starting to really grow. Mommy milk was enough for him. With Owen, we decided we would wait until he was 6 months. Well, we gave him his first solids this weekend, two weeks before 6 months.

I’m pretty sure I’ve decided to skip cereal completely this time around. We barely gave Charlie cereal and since it has practically no nutritional value, we skipped right to bananas for Owen. I mixed about 1/4 of a banana with some breastmilk and mushed it all up.

I’m so glad we waited this long because not only is it better for him, but he caught on much quicker, meaning slightly less-mess!

He loved it!

 

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is definitely different since we became parents. One year my mom came over to watch Charlie so we could go to dinner, I don't remember what we did last year, and then there's this year. I was nursing the little one when the hubby came home from work. He put his stuff away and brought me a plate from one of our favorite restaurants in town. On my plate was a lobster tail, some hush puppies, asparagus, and a twice baked potato. Woohoo! Charlie was sleeping and Owen was still nursing, so this was actually more quiet and peaceful than most dinners at our house lately, so it seemed appropriate for Valentine's Day!

While Daddy was at work, we made his present.

It just took a white 8x10 canvas and some red acrylic paint. Charlie put his handprint on there first. I then painted Owen's feet and tried to put a V on there with them (it was harder than it looks to get a 3 month old to cooperate). I added the L and E once the kiddos were all cleaned up. Had I put Owen's feet a little lower, I would've been able to put the E correctly. But like I said, it wasn't easy to do this by myself and I think it adds character.