fifteen months - Nathan

Nathan had his 15 month visit the other day and I've been so behind posting all of these updates but I want to share now, while everything is still fresh in my mind this time!

I guess I should start with his personality -
He's still an emotional dude.  It's nice for me because I see (and receive) so much affection from him.  He's a hugger - the kind of hugs where he just grabs you and rests his head on you and makes contented noises.  He just recently started giving kisses, which is SO adorable, but the only one I've ever actually seen him do it to so far is his sister - which may be even MORE adorable to me.  He walks up to her sometimes and just hugs her and gives her a kiss and she completely eats it up.  I have no experience with sister/brother relationships whatsoever so I have no idea what to expect but I'm hoping that they always stay close like this.
He laughs. SO much.  It's so easy to get a smile or a laugh out of him.  His new favorite thing is "this little piggy went to the market", he loves it and it's my new trick if he's pissed off while I'm changing his diaper.  Speaking of being pissed off....
It goes both ways - super happy and then super pissed.  I can see him getting frustrated because he can't express himself the way he needs to and he's literally throwing tantrums already - at 15 months.

He's super ticklish.  He loves being tickled, to the point where he'll start tickling himself on the belly and any time he's tickling himself or being tickled by someone else, he tries to mimic the "tickle tickle tickle" sound and it just comes out as this drooly, lispy, tongue roll noise.  I can't explain it, I really need to make sure I get it on video at some point because it's one of those things I'll look back on and really appreciate.

He gets into EVERYTHING.  I literally don't sit down during the day anymore.  He climbs into/onto/over/under/above anything, and he's fast.  Also, his favorite things are power cords and outlets..lovely.

He has now turned into a full blown thumb-sucker.  Justin and I both sucked our thumbs for an embarrassingly long period of time.  We were hoping to avoid that with both kids by using the pacifier.  Gwen was obsessed with it and we ended up waiting too long to take it away from her and, as a result, it caused her to stop napping when we took it away at 2.5 yrs.  Because of that, we took Nathan's pacifiers away right around 1 yr old.  It was a piece of cake because he never got really hooked on it like Gwen did.  But then he started sucking his thumb at night and just recently, a lot during the day.  It's kind of adorable because when he sucks his thumb, he also rubs his earlobe with his other hand. (not sure how adorable it will be when he's 12, though)

He's a man of very few words.  Mama, No, Me, Dog, More, Dada(sometimes).  Gwen was slow to start talking too, and now the girl doesn't stop.  So i'm not too concerned about it.  Per the Dr, 5-15 words is average at this age and she didn't seem concerned at all especially because his comprehension is very good.

His fine motor skills are very good for his age.  The Dr made sure to tell me that when she walked into the room, as he was drawing all over the exam table paper (and himself) with a pen.  The way he holds the pen in his fingers apparently is **ahem** advanced.  Again, another similarity to his sis!

15 month stats -
Weight: 21lbs 2oz 26%
Height: 30in 13%
Head Circ: 18.5in 56%

Here he is - my sweet, sensitive, energetic, happy (and sometimes pissed, but mostly happy) guy!  His eyes just pierce my heart and soul.

Happy 1st Birthday, Nathan John!

The day has come and my little guy is a year old!  Nathan is the most smiley, loving, and emotional little boy.  He shows the people in his life so much love and it's amazing to me that a one year old is capable of not only feeling it, but being able to show so much affection.

Food - This is a much easier stage because he eats what we eat now and he's able to feed himself most of the time.  We cut up most things, but he's also able to hold a sandwich and take bites of it.  Meat is his favorite, and the kid doesn't like pasta...?

Nursing - We're at 4x/day now.  We've also been giving him cow's milk every so often and although he didn't take to it right away he can't get enough of it now.

Sleeping - Naps are terrific, but we're still working on our overnight sleeping.  I've been nursing him once (on average) in the wee hours of the morning.

Moving - No walking yet.  He really just started cruising around tables and couches.  He's a little speed demon on all-fours.

Some stats from his 12 month visit:
Weight: 19lbs 5oz - 19%
Height: 29in - 20%
Head Circ: 18.5in - 77%

For comparison, here are his Newborn stats:
Weight: 7lbs 10oz - 59%
Height: 21in - 97%
I don't have his newborn head circumference measurement.

Nathan - eight months

Although it's mainly in the backwards direction, he's mobile!  Set Nathan on the floor and he's on the move.  He'll usually lunge forward to grab a toy, rock on his hands and knees for a bit but then ends up on his belly and gets pissed.  He can spin himself around, but most of the time just moves backwards until he gets stuck under the couch.  In addition, he seems like he'll be ready to pull himself up soon.  He does it with little help from us while holding onto our fingers and he'll remain standing if he has something to hold on to.

Separation anxiety.  This is something that we really didn't deal with when Gwen was a baby.  I could pretty much walk out of her sight at any point, anywhere and she would be perfectly fine.  This time around, things are a bit different.  In the past week or two, I set him down and the lip pout starts.  If I walk away, forget it.  It's like I've abandoned him forever and I'm the meanest Mom on the planet.  He's even throwing a fit if I take a toy away from him these days, and with a big sister who is newly very territorial over her toys (no doubt because baby bro is more mobile, and grabbing at them), I feel like I'm always just trying to keep the peace.

Regardless, I still feel like this is the happiest little guy I've ever known.  His smile can light up my whole day.

Nathan - six to seven months

(I'm combining 2 months because I've been 'gasp' falling behind on my posts)

Half a year has flown by with our sweet guy.  One of the biggest things that stands out to us with his personality now really developing is just how emotional he is! (Sorry, older Nathan if you're reading this 15 years+ from now! hehe). There's really not much you need to do to get a smile and belly laugh out of him and he "flirts" with just about anyone who glances his way.  On the other end, he also seems to be effected negatively by things pretty easily too (i.e. Mommy walking away from him God forbid).  He's a TOTAL Momma's boy (again, sorry Nathan. But for me it's the best feeling in the world)!  

This is such a fun age with him sitting and interacting a lot more, and even starting to make some word sounds.  I have an adorable video of him saying "Dada"!  He's obsessed with studying Gwen, and she's just infatuated with him.

OK, here are some updates:

Sleeping

This has been a challenge from the start.  I've been much more willing to bring him into bed with us than I was with Gwen.  I'm not sure if willing is the right word.  The sheer exhaustion of having a toddler and a newborn made it so that I didn't have much of a choice.  I would basically just fall asleep nursing him and any time I tried to stay awake to put him back in the crib after that first middle of the night feeding, he would just cry so I'd end up just bringing him back in anyway.  With Gwen, we had a bit of trouble getting her to fall asleep initially but once she was asleep, she was out.  It has been the opposite with Nathan.  He falls asleep almost immediately (yay for my sanity), but then he wakes himself up throughout the night.  He just moves around so much, kicks his legs and scratches his head (to the point where it breaks skin) and wakes himself up.  Thankfully now I'm starting to see a change in that and I think we're heading in a good direction here.  At seven months now, he's starting to just wake up once at night.  And now, tonight I'm not expecting to get much sleep because I just typed that out loud.

Nursing

I don't think I've posted about this since he was born.  Let me tell you, nursing the second is a WORLD of difference from the first.  The pain wasn't even close to as bad.  Plus, I was totally SHOCKED at how often I needed to nurse Gwen in the beginning but it was much easier the second time around knowing what to expect.  Nathan latched very easily from the beginning and he's much quicker than Gwen was so each feeding isn't taking as long as it did the first time.  I'm also not keeping track of each feeding on my phone so I think it has put less pressure on me and I've just been nursing him whenever I think he seems hungry.  At this point I think we're down to 5 or 6 feedings per 24hrs.  We're at that annoying stage though where he gets distracted by everything so keeping discreet while we're out just isn't possible.

Food

We started solids a little after 5 months and we're up to 3 times a day now.  I've made some of the food but I'm doing mostly store bought organic which I did with Gwen too.  He's had a variety of fruits and veggies (sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, carrots, green beans, spinach, avocado, apples, bananas, peaches, prunes - ahem, Lord knows we've needed them!, apricot, pears, blueberries, and I'm sure there are others I've forgotten.  No meat or dairy as of yet).  He seems to like everything pretty equally with no real obvious favorite but he does prefer the thicker purees.  He usually makes a disgusted face after the first taste of just about everything, but then once he gets used to the taste he'll gobble it all right up.  He wasn't a fan of the homemade peas or avacado but I'm thinking that's because I wasn't able to get it pureed as smoothly as the rest.  

6 Month Photos & Stats:

Weight: 16lbs 5oz 40th %

Height: 26.25in 58th %

Head: 17.25in 62nd %

7 Month Photos

3

She's giving us a run for our money these days with quite the little personality :)  Sometimes having a three year old is not too far off from what I'd imagine having Bipolar Disorder would feel like.  It's amazing how one minute my heart could be bursting with such pride, happiness and love.  And the next, I want to run, screaming out the front door.  Gwen tells me that she loves me and gives me a kiss on the nose, especially when she sees that I'm not feeling well or if I'm upset.  I'm not sure how a three year old has the ability to be as compassionate as she is.  On the other hand, we have days where she fights me on every single thing we do - getting dressed, brushing teeth, going potty, getting into the car seat without a karate chop to fold her stiff as a board body at the waist.  It's maddening!!! Then I remind myself that there's a reason why three year olds are like this, it's all part of learning and development.  I love this girl more than life itself and I remind myself how lucky I am to spend my days watching her grow up and form an amazing and independent little personality.

3 year stats:

Weight: 30 lbs

Height: 36 in

For comparison, below are her yearly stats:

2 years:
Weight: 26 lbs 4 oz - 45%
Height: 33.2 in - 34%

1 year:
Weight: 19lbs 6oz - 22%
Height: 30.5in - 89%

Newborn:
Weight: 7lbs 3oz - 39%
Height: 20in - 72%

Birth Day

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

Nathan - five months

Nathan - four months

Our sweet pea is 4 months old!  This is one seriously smiley baby and we are totally eating it up!  Just about any time we address him in any way, he smiles and [a newer development] laughs!  I could just listen to his silly baby laughs all day long.

Earlier this month (10/6) Nathan started rolling over from belly to back.  I'm pretty sure he'll be quite the mover once he really gets going.  He's also grabbing at and holding on to items and a couple of times he successfully got his pacifier into his mouth by himself!  However, it's quite possible he'll be a thumb sucker.  Even though we're trying to discourage it because he's the product of two embarrassingly long thumb suckers, it's hard because there's nothing more adorable than a baby finding and learning to awkwardly suck his little thumb <3 

He still spits up a lot, but recently turned on the drooling as well - big time.  So I took the opportunity to buy some super cute bandana style bibs on Etsy.  Seriously, how adorable is this? And they're very absorbent too with bamboo fleece on the back so his clothes haven't been getting wet underneath.

I remember getting to a point with Gwen where it was clear to me that she knew I was her mom and I would find her just staring at me with a big smile on her face.  Nathan's there now, and I had almost forgotten how amazing it is.  There's no way to really describe what it feels like when someone is so dependant on you and looks at you like you're their whole world.  I've been so lucky to experience these tiny little moments with both Gwen and Nathan and I know I'll always hold on to them.

So I just looked back at Gwen's 4 month post and it's the one I wrote about her watching me eat a string cheese and smiling haha!  I still actually think about that and I love that I'm seeing Nathan do the same now.

Here are the stats from his 4 month checkup:

At birth, Nathan was 7lbs 10oz, 21in and today she is 14lbs 2oz (48th %), and 25.5in (71 %)