Declan's Second Year

Another year has passed and my wee lad is now a toddler.  Here is a look back at Declan's last year.  Enjoy.

A Year in the Life of My Little Boy

It's been one year since Declan's birth, and what a year it's been!  Certainly full of some very high highs and some tragically low lows, but we're so blessed by our little fella.

Ten months this week

One goal that I had in creating this journal was to jot my son's development.  Any regular reader of my blog can already point out that I've failed.  Thankfully, I have have failed because I've been spending so much time with my son, and not a lot of time writing about him.

Years from now, I'll struggle to remember exactly when he cut his first teeth (heck, I'm struggling to remember that now!), but I doubt that I'll regret that I chose to be with him instead of updating this blog.

To note a few milestones:

While Declan still does not crawl, he does manage to get from one place to another a few feet away with relative ease.  He does it by somewhat crawling, somewhat scooting, somewhat crab-walking.  It's fascinating to watch.  Of particular interest to him (i.e. things that he often moves toward) include the dog's water bowl, six packs of beer, and kitchen tools such as pots/pans.

Declan LOVES to stand with support.  He has even showed enough daring to let go of said support for a few seconds at a time.  Yes, we are a bit worried that he'll skip crawling all together and go straight to running.  One behavior currently holding him back from this possibility is his habit of "dancing" once in a standing position.  Declan likes to rock his body back and forth while bobbing his head.  It is dangerously cute.

He is still a champion eater and breastfeeder.  Kid eats like food is going out of style.  Particular dietary favorites include oatmeal, bananas, sweet potatoes, saltines, graham crackers, and anything on Daddy's plate.  Declan will wolf down an adult serving of oatmeal after breastfeeding, and then demand to wash it down with more fresh breast milk.  All this eating has certainly fattened him up a bit, but I confess that I'm growing tired of the "Oh, he looks healthy now" comments.  Declan did suffer from low weight, that is true.  But Declan was always healthy.  He was always alert, never suffered from "failure to thrive" and was never at risk of any significant, or permanent health problems.  Sorry for the defensiveness, but I must counter the misinformation.  Still, we love our little chunky monkey very much and have always done everything we could to care for him in the best way possible.**

Back to fun milestones.

His language cognition is amazing.  He has known his name for a long while now, but he also recognizes the words "bounce," "jump," "more," "milk," "food," "dog," and "phone."  (And those are just the ones I can recall right now.)  We are using sign language to assist his communication.  Babies usually begin signing at around 14 months or so, so Declan does not sign back yet.  But we were told to sign to him as much as possible from about 6 months onward.

Declan has a new favorite toy: his exerciser!  After a few incidents where we paid good money for an item for him only to have him reject it, we were a bit worried.  He to this day dislikes the swing, and has no love for the pack-n-play, to name a couple.  But we let him try out the toy at the store and he seemed to adore it.  He'll still in it and jump, and jump, and jump (hence the word recognition above).  He just has a ball.

Still not sleeping all the way through the night, but he does do very well.  Typically he is asleep by 10:30 and he'll sleep with occasional nursing until about 5:00 or so.  It takes anywhere from a half-hour to an hour to get him back to sleep, but then we can usually count on him to rest until at least 8:00 or 9:00.  During the day he will typically cat nap a couple of time.  Oh, how I wish he were one of those babies that sleeps in a swing or bouncer.  No, Declan will only nap if held or worn and then only for a little bit.  Today, however, is proving to be the exception.  He's asleep in my lap at the moment and has been for the last two hours and 45 minutes!  Wow!

He is still in the stranger phase--he usually does not tolerate being held by anyone other than mom, dad, and big sister.  He began this phase at about 7 months, so it certainly made our visiting relatives rather awkward last month.  In the last week, he has shown a couple signs of progress, so we are hopeful that he'll start enjoying the company of others soon.

Everyday that I look at my boy, I am so touched by how much he is becoming a little boy.  No longer the newborn that I brought home with me all those months ago.  He has such a personality, such charm, and a definite independence.  I just cannot believe that in only a couple of months, he'll be a year old!  Oh, and did I mention that he now has SIX teeth!?  *sigh*

**Just a note: We are very touched that so many of our friends were worried about our boy.  Alas, some of those friends went too far and began spreading misinformation about his health and wellbeing--even going so far as to suggest that we, his parents, were not caring for him adequately.  Let me just point out that parenting, even when it goes beautifully, is stressful.  Having to squelch rumors of bad parenting is even more stressful.  Rest assured that I am the BEST mother for Declan, and Brian is the BEST father for him, too.  And either one of us would be happy to chat one-on-one about his wellbeing should anyone really want to do so.  

Six months, three weeks

Life with a six month-old is in full swing.  We are three weeks into his tenure as such and he's proving be quite the handful.  He has hit all the typical six month milestones.  He rolls.  He chitters.  He grabs.  (He is especially grabby when breastfeeding--OUCH!)  He is learning cause and effect, i.e. he loves picking up his toys and dropping them.  But he still has the occasional GERD flare-up.

A few weeks ago, frustrated that he was still insisting on using the Supplemental Nursing System from time to time, I scheduled an appointment with our lactation consultant to see if there was anything else we could do to encourage weaning from the SNS.  I had started weaning him, but was beginning to notice a decrease in diaper output (polite way of saying he wasn't peeing as much).  This concerned me, so I was continuing to supplement him.

The lactation professional told us that, because of the decrease in diaper output, we would have to continue the SNS.  I was disappointed, to be sure, to be in a situation where we needed to continue the one thing that causes his GERD flare-ups.  But Declan's health comes before my comfort--so continue it we have.  (The good news is that Declan will likely need the SNS for only a month or so more while his need for solid foods increases.)

About a month ago, Declan's interest in solid food was at an all-time high.  He had even gotten to the point where he was pulling food off of our plates if we happened to be holding him while eating.  Because of his delicate system, I wasn't too keen on introducing him to food right at six months, but he was obviously very keen on eating.  We decided to wait a little while, but that wait only ended up lasting about another week.  He was obviously ready, so we started him on food by introducing him to avocado. (Try as I might, I could not find our video of that first experience, so here is one of his third time eating banana.)

Since that first avocado, Declan has experienced banana, carrots--a favorite, sweet potato, and teething biscuits.  We also picked up one of those net/popsicle things and offered it to him with mango in it.  He is still unsure how he feels about frozen/cold food.  

Lunch at Zephyr

All in all, he is a good eater and still breastfeeds quite a bit.  Though I confess to being so proud of him yesterday as he sat with us at one of our favorite restaurants and happily ate fresh banana.

Oh, for anyone keeping count--still no teeth.  Copious amounts of drool.  Lots of chewing.  Just no teeth yet.  Frankly, I'm somewhat relieved.  I am not at all looking forward to him biting me while he breastfeeds.  

Casting a Light

I need accountability if I'm going to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight before Declan is a toddler.  As such, I've decided to start a video blog (aka vlog) to hopefully shame myself into doing what I know that I can do but have so far been to lazy to do.

A few weeks ago, I signed up for an online "bootcamp" specific for moms.  In those past few weeks, though, I've only succeeded in half-assing it.  And it shows on my hips and on the scale.  My realization or turning point came when, on Tuesday, I was putting together a test bodice for the gown that I am making for the upcoming Queen Mary Art Deco Ball.  The bodice should have fit, but didn't.  It was close, but not quite a fit.  (Thankfully, it's just a test run.  No actual evening gown fabric was harmed.)

It made me sick to think that I should easily fit into the bodice, but couldn't and the reason was that I couldn't be bothered to eat better and exercise.  So... time to take off the gloves and put me squarely in my place.

I'll warn you now.  The first video blog entry was made this morning.  I have on no make-up (not even my eyebrows!)  My hair is a wreck.  The house is torn upside down to accommodate my sewing.  In short, it's a glaringly bright light into all the ugly cracks and crevices around my personal facade.  It is not for the faint at heart.

And here it is.

To help remove the image of me in my 8:30am glory from your mind, here is a lovely photo of a gorgeous gal in her skivvies.  Enjoy.

Ten weeks

Ten weeks ago, at almost exactly this time, I met my son face-to-face.  The last ten weeks have certainly been intense--almost as intense as his actual birth.  We've dealt with the usual newborn fun of diapers, spit-up, sleepless nights.  We certainly did not plan on also dealing with a touch of jaundice, latch issues, gastroesophageal reflux disease, thrush, weight gain troubles.  But we've faced them all and are coming out on top.

But there are wonderful milestones, too.  Declan has learned to smile.  For the past few weeks, he melts our hearts with the sweetest of grins.

YAY!

He has also begun to giggle.  No full-fledged laugh just yet, but occasional hiccup-ish noises as he smiles.  It's just too darling for words.

Since Declan was a fews old, he has tried to hold his head up.  He's become a real champ at it with only fleeting moments of bobble-head.  Also on the muscle-control front, he has begun to "regard" his hands.  He tries to grab certain items, namely my boob while he nurses, and he loves pumping his arms and legs in excitement.  He has become very strong for a newborn and even likes to "stand" quite often.

Our little man is alert and active as ever, too.  From his third day his pediatrician has constantly remarked about how vibrant and curious Declan is.  At D's last visit, the doctor had to remark on how strong he has become, too.  Despite the weight issues, we've always felt that Declan is otherwise so healthy.  Hearing it from the doctor helps, too.  His GERD has vastly improved in just the last couple of days, even.  He's keeping down the supplemental formula/breast milk so well, only a handful of spit-ups!

I am very much looking forward to his next few weeks.  I cannot wait to hear his full laugh and to watch him roll over (he almost rolled completely from back to front this morning!).  In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy his sweet disposition and his charming smile.