Measurements and Milestones

I already did Gideon's 1 year post so I won't totally bore you but I wanted to be sure to record his most recent stats since we saw the doctor last week.

-Length: 31 inches
-Weight: 23 pounds, 1 ounce
-Loves: anything that spins (think wheels on toy cars), peek-a-boo, being gently tossed
-Hates: when the vacuum turns off (weird, I know), diaper changes (still), taking medication (this made his recent double-ear infection even more miserable than it already was otherwise)

Gideon is a champion stair-climber and a champion babbler. He has started pointing to things of interest and has assigned sounds to certain items. His very own "words." He's becoming more interested in solid foods but he definitely still prefers nursing. He's also working on walking. See for yourself but please ignore my annoying-sounding excitement in the background. If you count the little shuffle steps at the end, I think he takes about 5 consecutive steps. Pretty cute.

And here are Gideon's obligatory Baby & Elephant photos starting with his first week and ending with his 12-month shot. May is probably my fave.

January, 2011

February, 2011

March, 2011

April, 2011

May, 2011

June, 2011

July, 2011

August, 2011

September, 2011

October, 2011

November, 2011

December, 2011

January, 2012

He's 11-Months-Old. A Month Ago, he was 10-Months-Old.

I'm behind on blogging. Sorry. But here I am ready to record Gideon's 10th and 11th month birthdays.

The past couple of months have come with a bunch of milestones for my little one. It's awesome to watch him grow. It seems like things are happening faster for him than they did for Caleb (at least motor skills-wise, the Gideon is still bald and almost toothless). People tell me that's because Gideon has Caleb to emulate. Whatever the case may be, I wish the kid would SLOW down just a little bit. He's becoming less of a baby by the day and that is bittersweet.

So during month 9 (between October 12th-November 12th) Gideon started crawling on all-fours as opposed to his favored army-crawl. He also started pulling up to standing. I walked into his room one day after his nap and there he was looking like this:

   Yes, of course I lowered the mattress after realizing he mastered this skill.

Note the proud smile.

Midnight snack? (I know he's not doing anything
special here but I thought it was cute.)

The same month marked the eruption of his first tooth and then almost immediately, his second tooth. Finally! I was beginning to think the kid might need dentures. You have to look closely but you can see them here.

Two bottom teeth.

Gideon at 10 months.

Now, month 10 through 11 (we're talking November 12th-December 12th, is this confusing anyone else but me?) was eventful too. It wasn't long (as in only several days after pulling up) before Gideon started cruising. Then those two bottom teeth were two real-deal teeth, not just little nubs. See?

He looks a BUNCH like Matt here.

Gideon celebrated his first Thanksgiving and Matt somehow convinced me to allow Gideon to have some pumpkin pie (perhaps my neurosis is waning). He was very into the pie. It was actually really cute to watch him anticipate each bite. He seemed to enjoy the turkey as well. A couple weeks later, he had his first PB & J and loved it. It was only about a quarter of a sandwich torn into small pieces but he was all about it. He's becoming more adept at eating in general and has started to eat a bit more solid food. He still much prefers what my body serves up and nurses quite a bit. That's fine by me. It's cheaper than solid food, less messy, and it's served with a side of snuggles. Not to mention the perfectly balanced nutritional content, immune system boosters, and the other countless benefits. Can't really beat that.

Gideon's temper has definitely started to show itself recently. His disdain for diaper changes continues and as he gets older and stronger, it becomes markedly more difficult to control his thrashing during said diaper changes. He's also a screamer. When he doesn't get what he wants (picture crawling baby going toward dangerous object and dangerous object being swept up before he gets to it) or when he's done being in the carseat or highchair, he lets us know. Loud and clear.

While we haven't spent nearly the amount of time signing with him as we did with Caleb, our lazy attempts have begun to pay off. He seems to have the "all done" sign down, or at least his version of it.

He babbles a lot and pays very close attention to everything his brother does. This could prove scary when Gideon is more able to imitate Caleb's behavior. He still likes playing with things that spin and roll and he enjoys being turned upside down and being tossed gently into the air. He also now lets go of things after pulling up and can stand on his own for several seconds at a time.

Here's Gideon's 11-month picture. He looks like a toddler already, doesn't he? Ah! Stop growing up so fast baby boy!

Gideon at 11 months.

And in case you're wondering how Caleb is with Gideon now that Gideon is older and more present around the house (i.e. interested in Caleb's toys and food). This picture pretty much sums up what a day in the life of Gideon is like:

Gideon's expression is priceless!

Seventeen Pounds and One Ounce of Joy

So, my "little bundle" is four months old as of yesterday and he is a heavyweight at 17 lbs ,1 oz and 26 inches tall! We grow 'em big in this household (tips hat to my abundant milk supply)! He giggles, he rolls from belly to back, reaches for things and grabs them, holds things in his hand for prolonged time periods, watches every move his brother makes, loves peek-a-boo, and the list goes on.

How's his temperament you ask? At this point, I would actually go so far as to describe this baby as "happy!" Shocker, I know. In the past two weeks, I have had two different people at two separate events ask the following question: "Is he always this happy?!" My mind immediately rewinds and I recall Gideon's first three and a half months of life and I think, "If you only knew!". So, I let each of them know that recently he's been quite happy and even "joyful" as one woman described him. But I don't fail to mention how thankful, grateful, falling-on-my-knees-in-praise I am that he's FINALLY happy because I'm pretty sure I couldn't endure his frequent unless-being-bounced-on-a-ball-that-popped crying for any longer than I did. Sharing this allows me to keep things in perspective. After all, any "bad" day I may have had in the past couple of weeks really isn't that bad if I keep in mind that four weeks ago that same "bad" day would've also included a screaming baby on my shoulder.

So, here I am on the other side of the fussy newborn baby thing. While I'm sure there is a multitude of challenges ahead, I breathe a sigh of relief every time I'm able to look at my grinning baby and hear his little chuckle. I practically do a happy dance when I'm able to do things like lie Gideon down on his play mat, make an egg and cheese bagel sandwich, and consume said sandwich while gazing upon him playing contentedly.

Little G and Months Times Three!

Our household's smallest resident turned 3 months old two days ago! I say "small' only in relative terms though because this child weighs in at a whopping 15 pounds and 4 ounces. He has more than doubled his birth weight already(breastmilk for the win)! I cannot imagine him at the 7 pound, 3 ounce package he was back in January.

Aside from the fact that he's chubbin' up, he's maturing in other ways too. He's been smiling and cooing like crazy for some time now and last week he giggled!! There is nothing like that very first baby giggle. He has great head control and he can prop himself up on his elbows during tummy time. He has found his hands and folds them together, stares at them, and sucks on his fingers. He appears to be enamored with his brother and the feeling is definitely mutual. He's super-tolerant of Caleb's kisses, pokes, and prods. I look forward to the day when the two of them can play together.

He's becoming less fussy as he gets older and he's getting into a semi-rhythm as far as napping goes during the day. So far, so good with sleeping at night. Thanks to sleep-sharing, I barely even notice when he awakens to nurse.

This new little being fits perfectly into our family. It's already difficult for me to imagine what it was like before he came about. What did I do with all that time I must have had before!? Oh wait, I lamented that I didn't have enough time for anything. Interesting how that works, isn't it?

3 months

2 months

1 month

1 week