The reality that Caleb is turning 1 in a month has definitely set in. We have sent out birthday invitations, and we are getting things together for his big day! But just this past month, I swear this boy has changed a ton, and he is learning and growing so much!
Baby Stats
So a few weeks ago, this poor boy was very sick with a stomach virus and had lost 12 ounces since he weighed 19.1 pounds. I know that he has definitely gained it back because he just keeps eating and eating and eating. So I am assuming he is anywhere between 19 and 20 pounds. We will find out for sure in a month about how much he is gaining.
Hanging out with Mommy when he was sick. Oh this face gets me!
He is drinking 20-24 ounces of formula each day. This is exclusively given during the day. He is now off any nighttime feedings! Woohoo for Mommy! More sleep! This is definitely less than he had been drinking last month. Since at around a year, we pretty much eliminate formula completely, so we will have to ensure his food sources come from solids. And we have been practicing with the sippy cup, and he is doing better than he had. We found a better transitional sippy cup for him to use, and it seems to be working.
Caleb continues to eat a lot of table food and baby solids. He is pretty much telling us that he is no longer a fan of baby food (pureed stuff). So we are taking him away from that. He has 8 teeth for goodness sake. This boy can chew stuff pretty well! His favorite foods are applesauce (I know that it isn't chunky, but he loves the stuff), bananas (he will eat directly from the banana), and crackers! He also loves pasta, and whatever Mommy and Daddy are eating. We went to a restaurant fairly recently, and we ordered him food (mac and cheese, and some zucchini). His food tasted good to us, but he wanted whatever we had. So I gave him several bites of my Jambalaya and he loved it! Spice doesn't seem to bother this kid! He is all about it! So if we are eating it, he would rather eat that. And you can't eat something without him wanting to eat it, even if he just ate. He is a growing boy, and I am learning quite a bit about how much this boy loves to eat!
Sleep has been an issue because of him continously getting sick. When he is congested, I like to use the swing to prop him up, but then when he is all better, he doesn't want to be in his crib so much. Sooo....we tried propping up the bed with some blankets underneath it, and that didn't work. We tried making it a little cushier (we thought maybe he thought the bed was too hard), well that didn't work. And he can't sleep in his swing forever. He will have to be in his bed, so we attempted sleep training. And it works! It really does! It's hard to hear them cry, but it really only took him about 20 minutes before he settled down and slept like a champ! Unfortunately, he is sick again (congested with a runny nose), and so we had to resort to propping him up (if he has asthma like his Daddy did, we don't want it getting into his chest) again. But, since I know the sleep training works, I am not worried about whether he will sleep in his own bed again. Because he will. We just need a longer break between illnesses! I realize that babies in their first year or so get sick (especially with colds) between 8-12 times, but UGH. It sucks!
I mentioned above - He has 8 teeth! Two more showed up this past month! This kid has been teething since 4 months old! And he is still going. These next teeth, which have caused a lot more pain and lack of sleep, are his first molars! Ugh! Poor boy!
Caleb in the past week, has been attempting more walking on his own. Just last night, he walked about 6 or so steps before he falls on his bottom. But then he gets back up and tries again! So he is definitely walking more. I expect full blown walking will occur in the next few weeks. He is also walking along the walls...but he has gotten really fast at it! Plus, he is only holding one hand of ours versus two hands. I think that has inspired him to try walking on his own. He is building up confidence for sure.
He is a super fast crawler, and he plays games with me. He has this look he does before he crawls and he looks at me like he wants me to chase him. And then he takes off. So then I go and "chase" him, and he squeals and laughs as he crawls away from me. Cracks me up.
He loves to play Peek-A-Boo with me on his own. If I am sitting on the floor, he will come behind me and stand up, and smile. He wants me to say "Where's Caleb?" and then he peeks his head around and I say "Peek-A-Boo" and he laughs hysterically! I love that he loves to play games with us!
When he gets excited, he almost does this panting-like squeal and jumps up and down! Doesn't take too much to excite this boy, whether it is food or playing with a toy truck and driving it up to him and saying "Beep! Beep!" He cracks us up all the time now. He is just so much fun to be around and loves to play and explore! I love his curiosity!
He has been "talking" a lot more this month too! Most of what he says is jabbering that I don't understand, but I love to listen to him. He really sounds like he is having a conversation with me! But a week ago or so, I was in the kitchen and I dropped something on the floor. I said "Uh-Oh" without even thinking about it. I hear Caleb crawling/walking along the walls over to me and he says "Uh-Oh!" and then laughs! It was soo cute. He imitated me! I also believe he is trying to say bottle. We try to talk to him with the correct language (and not baby language) so that he knows what things are all the time. And so when I am feeding him a bottle, I always say the word to him. Well this past week, I believe I heard him say "Ba Ba-Ul." That's what it sounded like to me. He says Mamama and Dada a lot, but I am not sure yet if he is talking about us yet or not. He also says NumNum for food. See - he loves his food! LOL! And while he doesn't say No, I believe he is learning that No means not to touch or do something. A few days ago, I told him No to something, and he started crying. I think he is learning what it means for sure!
This past month, he has really loved playing with doors. He loves to open and close doors all the time! He loves little doors, big doors, doesn't matter. He is all about opening and closing and opening and closing. This has definitely led to a few pinched fingers, but he is learning from it.
Already closing the door to his room to keep me out ;) LOL!
On Easter Sunday, Caleb played in a swing for the first time! He LOVED it! He smiled and smiled and laughed! It was so fun to see him love that! He also loves to get out on the grass and walk with us. He loves the feel of grass! It's the little things!
Easter Sunday - looking so cute!
Easter Sunday - Playing in a swing for the first time!
Sadly, this boy keeps getting sick. I have read and heard from many mothers that this is common the first year. Sigh. He wasn't sick, except for Hand Foot and Mouth during the first 6 months of his life, but these past 5 months, he has gotten sick pretty much every month. :( But I am hoping that this just means that he will be golden once he goes to school! I just keep praying that for his birthday, he isn't sick!
Other than the fun experiences above, not much has been happening with us (thankfully!). Todd and I got the same stomach bug Caleb had a few weeks ago, but we didn't have it very long. Caleb had it for a week, which was very rough! Todd has been told that he will need a 5th surgery...yes I said number 5! But this is more to repair the muscle tendon near his elbow that is preventing him from moving his arm in a certain way, and will hopefully help with pain. Plus, while they are in there, they will remove the metal in his arm (which is likely the culprit of his infections). So that will be happening the week after Mother's Day! Coming up soon! But here's hoping this is the LAST ONE! :)
I can't believe the next time I post about Caleb's development, he will be ONE! My baby is becoming a toddler...ugh! Time has flown! But I plan on enjoying this month thoroughly!
Again thank you for the prayers and love, and I look forward to sharing more fun stories next month! I leave you with this adorable shot of my baby boy!
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