Happy First Birthday to Baby Z!

Happy first birthday to my littlest man!  

I cannot believe that a year has gone by since this little man came into our world!  And what a joyful year it has been.  Easy…no.  It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been wonderful nonetheless.

This little baby boy has brought so much laughter, smiles, and love to our little family.  We are so totally in love with him!

Eating:

Some of Baby Z’s favorite foods are fish, pears, ham, peas, corn, egg rolls, chicken, and rice.  He hates potatoes, zucchini, and cereal (what child hates cereal?!?!).

He still doesn’t do well with dairy–which makes his mama very sad because she still can’t eat any of her happy foods–and has had a couple outbreaks of hives around his mouth after eating a few different foods.  Because of our family history of serious food allergies I’ll be requesting a referral to the allergist at Baby Z’s 1 year check up this week.

I’m so excited that we are still breastfeeding!  If you’ve read my experiences with breastfeeding my two older boys you’ll understand why I’m so excited.  It hasn’t been an easy journey, but I finally feel like it is becoming second nature.

Growth:

Baby Z continues to be a skinny little man.  He eats as much as he wants whenever he wants but seems to have his mama’s crazy fast metabolism.  He’s built a lot like his older brother so at least all those “slim” pants we’ve bought for Big Brother will be used again someday.  He is currently in about the 15th percentile for weight for breastfed babies and in the 50th for height.

Sleep:

As of a couple weeks ago Baby Z now sleeps through the night more often than not–by 12 months, it’s about time, right?!  When he does wake up to nurse it is only once.  Yay for sleep! Last month we moved him into his brothers’ bedroom and he has been loving sleeping with the big boys!

Development: 

When Baby Z started crawling at 6 months and pulling up on furniture shortly thereafter we thought, “Oh, he’s gonna be an early walker”.  He’ll be walking at 9 months, just you wait.

We waited…and waited…and he stood on his own…and took a few steps…and then decided he’d prefer just to keep on crawling.  Suits me fine though.  He gets into everything now and I fear the day he starts running all over the house.

I’ve been signing with Baby Z since he was just a few months old, but he hasn’t really taken an interest in it.  Very occasionally he’ll sign “all done”, but more often he just says it.

Words: Dada, Hello, Hi, all done.

Personality:

One word, busybody! This kid is into everything…all. the. time. Phew! Anything I manage to get done during the day happens in the few seconds between the times that I am dragging him out of the pantry or my shower, or fishing some foreign object out of his mouth, or turning off the bathtub hot water that he’s turned on for the eightieth time.  I have to be very diligent about reminding my older boys to keep bathroom and pantry doors shut and their little toys off the floor.

I can also tell this boys has a bit of a sense of humor.  He’ll do things he knows will make me laugh–or do things he knows are naughty–and watch for my reaction with a wry grin on his face.

Despite his constant need to be getting into everything, Baby Z is one of the sweetest babies I’ve ever met.  He loves giving hugs and cuddles.  Whenever his mommy, daddy, or one of his brothers put one of their cheeks next to his, he immediately puts his thumb in his mouth and leans in for a cuddle.