Went in for his 18 month checkup yesterday, and we actually got no shots for the first time, woo!  He will have to go in the fall for 2 boosters and a flu shot, but at least he got a checkup without one for once.  He’s up to 24.6 pounds and 31 inches tall, he’s hugging that 25% mark for both pretty well.  He’s also ahead of average for talking.  The dr said average at 18 months is 7-20 words (the parents can understand), and since he’s over 3 dozen already, he’s progressing very well there.  Guess all the babbling to him and reading is helping  J  Overall, it was a good checkup, and he’s right where he needs to be, if not ahead.  It’s nice having the dr ask all the developmental and social questions and being able to answer yes to them all  lol  Apparently “pretend play” at his age is just playing by himself for periods of time (see, I learned something!).  He can easily keep himself occupied with the myriad of toys he has for longer periods of time now, which is nice.

We have an appt end of Sept with an allergist to test and get a game plan down for his egg allergy, and hopefully to check on nuts as well.  The dr said he recommends waiting until well into his 2^nd year before trying eggs again, and waiting until 3 for nuts just because of the other allergy and family history of some food allergies, but said the allergist will be able to give us a better idea, and may have a different recommendation.  So we will see what the allergist has to say.  Hopefully the testing yields some help as well.  Other than all that, not too much else to report.  He’s been healthy, progressing well, and can throw a tantrum pretty darn well now.  He definitely has his own opinions and will tell you if yours don’t agree with his  haha  He’s gotten the stomping feet down pretty well now too    Take care everyone!

As a side note I’ve updated his baby album (some pics are pretty old, so I’ve put them all at the front of the album for now instead of sticking them chronologically so they are easy to find.

His first Christmas he wasn’t sure what was going on, wasn’t terribly interested in presents. He was more interested in walking along the furniture lol By the time his 1st birthday hit though, he was a riot. As soon as he saw the toys being unwrapped, he had to look and play with every one of them (well that he could, most stayed boxed until we got home lol). His 1st birthday was definitely a bit of a trial, as he was sick with a 103+ fever for several days before until several days after his party, and wouldn’t let me put him down at all. Even when he was sleeping, the second I put him down he woke up shrieking. So needless to say the cake didn’t turn out nearly like I had planned, but what are you going to do? I think we ended up with version 3 or 4 Luckily the Motrin had kicked in and dropped his fever for a 2 hour window around when we did presents, which helped him be in such a good mood for them. All in all it was a great day, and at some point I will get around to getting pictures posted. I also lost my hard drive, so have lost 6 months worth of dates, pics, and videos, so have had to regather his birthday pics from the people that took them (thankfully I was so busy with him that day everyone else was taking the pictures). Sadly it also means I don’t have tons of other pictures from between October and April either, but at least he’s not changing quite as quickly as he did at the beginning.

Since his birthday he’s starting walking. And running. And now climbing. He’s been able to climb onto the couch for about a month now, and over this last weekend figured out he could climb out of the pack n play (he hooked his arms over the side and held on while he walked his feet up the side and pushed himself over). I saw him just as he was doing it and caught him as he started to fall over the top (that was a heart attack). Last night he tried climbing out of the crib too. Thankfully I was in there with him so I could keep him down. Not that I’m surprised he’s a climber really, but I guess I wasn’t expecting the agility to be able to so well quite this soon.

I’m also working on a list of words Brenden knows, but I think he’s somewhere around a dozen right now. Last week he added no (oooooh joy) and byby to the list. It’s still new enough that it sounds SO cute when he says no, but I’m sure it won’t take terribly long for the cuteness to fade He also figured out how to spin himself in circles to make himself dizzy a few weeks ago, and will bounce up and down and clap to dance with the tv. He also loves books, and will bring daddy and I books, and climb up in our lap so we can read to him. The little boy also loves the water, swim classes were definitely a good call, as he isn’t afraid to be in the water and get splashed or anything.

We’ve hit some bumps along the way of course. He’s been sick quite a bit (mostly over the winter). We were hoping with summer it would clear up, but in May he started out with pneumonia, and ended with bronchiolitis. So he’s been on antibiotics, as well as steroids and an inhaler. Having the bronchiolitis means an increased chance of asthma as well. The dr. thinks it may be in part due to allergies, and the little guy is definitely stuffy a lot, and has itchy eyes a decent amount right now. With my allergies, I wouldn’t be surprised either, poor thing.

All in all, I just can’t believe how quickly he seems to be “growing up”. They always say how fast the time goes, and I expected time to go quickly, I guess I just wasn’t prepared for how soon he would progress. They really are only a true baby for a few months. I was expecting him to stay in the “baby” phase longer I guess, but he’s well into toddler now. Running, starting to talk, climbing, trying to use silverware himself. Just amazes me. I think that’s a pretty fair update. Once I can salvage pictures (and find some time to go through them when the little guy is asleep and I’m not chasing him), I will try and get the gallery up to date as well.

At the dr this week he weighed in at 19.5 pounds.  I thought he was about that 2 months ago, and he may have been.  His appetite is still lackluster after the 3 week bug we just got over, and he isn’t eating as much as he was before he was sick yet, so wouldn’t surprise me if he lost a little weight being sick.  But he has moved on to feeding himself cheerios and these little rice puffs, and at daycare yesterday ate half of a canned pear.  We’ve also started giving him some of the 3 foods which have some chunks of veggies in them, so he’s moving along.  A little slower than some perhaps, but until a week or so ago he was still gagging on cheerios enough that we figured waiting until he was good with those would be best before we start giving him more table foods.  That and being sick has put his appetite on hold a bit, so he hasn’t moved much forward lately.  He has had some of the meats mixed with fruits and veggies and doesn’t seem to mind those either.  The only thing he hasn’t really cared for so far is the 3^rd foods chicken noodle, but it did taste pretty nasty so I don’t blame him.

It feels like he has another tooth coming in (this one on the top), so that will make 3.  He’s gotten sitting and crawling down pat and has started pulling himself up on anything he can now, and loves to walk with you holding his hands, so we’re guessing Christmas or soon thereafter he will start walking (I know a far cry from the rolling around he had just started doing 2 months ago).  Still amazes me how quickly they start doing new things sometimes.  He’s also started climbing over and on me, so as we could have predicted from while I was carrying him, think he’s going to be a climber  ;)  Took our first plane ride with him out to California last month to visit Kelli (had a great time too, very relaxing and was so good to see her again..  we love you Kelli!), and he was better than we could have hoped on all the plane rides.  On the way out since it was after work and later at night, he slept all the way through both.  On the way back he slept through half the long one, so was awake about 1.5 hours.  Took both of us and half a dozen toys to keep him amused, and he still got whiny at the end since we had to sit on the tarmac awhile.  Then he slept through the short flight again though, so all in all he was great.  We had lots of compliments on how good he was on the planes.  And while we were out there, he said mama a few times, so that was awesome  :)  Hasn’t said it much since we got home though  lol  But I had lots of witnesses, so it wasn’t me hearing things  ;) 

I think I’ve hit the big things, I can never remember, so many things change it seems like and so quickly.  At some point I really do need to update pictures, he’s changed so much from the 6.5 month ones we have in the album.  Here it is almost Christmas time and I don’t even have Halloween up yet.  Ugh.  Well until next time (which will probably be his 1 year, yikes!!!  Need to get planning on that  lol), take care all and have a Merry Christmas!!

He’s gotten adept at rolling to where he wants to be, and can get across the room in a matter of seconds if he really wants to. He’s trying really hard to get those knees and hands under him at the same time, but more often than not, he will push one arm further than the other and just topples back to his back. He’s moving his hips up and down a lot, I think in the effort to get up and moving, but who knows, could just be because he can and it helps him flip around quicker too. That and he still kicks ALL the time lol This boy just LOVES standing too, has since he was a few months old, but he would rather stand than sit (which he has gotten pretty good at, when he’s not flinging himself backwards hah), so the saucer we got was definitely worth the money (and it’s a good place for him when we need to get stuff done so we can take our eyes off him for a second lol). I wouldn’t be surprised if when he does crawl it’s short lived (or he skips it altogether) and he moves quickly to pulling himself up to stand. He’s also passing things from hand to hand, and his depth perception is pretty good when you hold something in front of him to grab it. He will carefully reach out and usually he gets it the first time (so cute when he will very carefully reach and grab both ends of toys sometimes).

His vocabulary is getting so big, he makes SO many new noises all the time. One night about a month ago he started crying in the middle of the night and he sounded just like a mountain lion. I started laughing and took him into daddy so he could hear too. Poor guy is crying for a bottle and we’re laughing because he sounds so funny. He also has a whimper, almost like a puppy, which he will normally do when he wants something, but every once in awhile he will just do while he’s smiling on the floor lol He is definitely making a lot of the typical baby squealing type noises now, and so loud, it’s great though. He’s always such a happy little guy.

Well nothing has changed in the food department, the little guy loves eating. “little”, he’s into 9 month clothes already, and I’m pretty sure we need to get him an 18 month snow suit to have a shot at making it through the winter without buying a second. He’s definitely going to need 12 month clothes for winter, and I’m sure will be close to growing out of those shortly after Christmas at the rate he’s going (he must be around 20 pounds by now). We are up to 3 times a day (don’t recall when we hit that, might have been at 6 months actually, shortly thereafter if not), and we haven’t found anything he won’t eat yet (even his greens and pineapple). He opens wide and impatiently when you are getting another spoonful ready for him. He still talks while he eats the majority of the time, but not all the time like when he started. He has started reaching for our food a lot (and his own), so last week we cut up some banana slices really thin so he could try on his own. Of course then he wouldn’t touch them, but they are pretty slippery. He did take them from me though, made the weirdest face when he got them in his mouth though, like wth IS this?? But he ate them, which I guess can often be a hurdle going from baby foods to the real ones because of the textures.

And as of a few weeks ago, we have 2 teeth! Last week we put him in a high chair when we were out for the first time (good thing we had the padded liner though, since he still tries sliding down in it). Last week he also started grabbing his bottles from me (not just to play with), and more often than not wants to feed himself his bottles now. Being a mom it has pluses and minuses, it’s great he can do it himself, especially since he always wants to eat when I’m trying to make dinner or eating, but part of me will miss the bonding time we had too. At least his last bottle of the night is usually after he’s been asleep for a few hours, so he’s mostly asleep and I still get to do that one. Usually if we get him to take the last bottle right before I go to bed, he will sleep until I’m up for work in the morning, so things have come a long way and it’s nice to actually get more than a few hours of sleep in a row. He will sometimes still wake up middle of the night, but if I need to get up at all, it’s usually just to flip him out of whatever weird position he’s gotten into that woke him up, and he’ll go right back to sleep. His new favorite sleeping position is on his tummy (far cry from the screaming he used to do when you tried putting him on his tummy), very often with his knees under him and his butt stuck up in the air.

Whew, I think I hit most the highlights (nothing like writing a book every couple months lol). We go in for a flu shot tomorrow, and just had his 8 month pictures done at the studio last weekend, so will post them when I get them. I also am woefully behind on posting new pictures at all here I know (think the last ones were at 6.5 months), so will try getting to them in the next week as well. We got him a dragon costume for Halloween, and the studio pictures we had a couple done in costume, so we will have some pictures of his costume for sure. Well, I think that’s about it (until I post, when I’m sure I’ll think of something else lol). Take care all!

Since he’s been sick, we haven’t tried any new foods lately.  We tried the bananas but he got sick the next day, so we’re not sure if it was them or not and are going to wait a little longer before we try them again.  He also wasn’t fond of the applesauce (which is weird since he gets apple juice in his cereal and got some mixed with water Monday that he liked really well).  It was also right before he got the virus, so we will try those again later as well.  He’s still young, so there’s no hurry anyway and we’re waiting until he feels himself again before we start throwing new foods at him again.  At least he’s back to eating solids again as of the last couple days. 

He’s not quite sitting up on his own yet, but he’s getting really close.  He’s started flipping over to his tummy a lot this week too, but then gets cranky when he’s there  lol  Last night he almost looked like he was going to get on his knees, but I think it was a fluke position he got into when he rolled over, but I’m sure it won’t be long before he starts getting up on those hands and knees, since he’s so close to sitting on his own.  Then before you know we’ll really have to watch him  lol  He still LOVES those feet and is getting close to getting them into his mouth (along with everything else he can get his hands on).  And he seems fascinated with hair right now.  When he was little he would grab it when it brushed his hands, but now he reaches for it and grabs on purpose.  When he’s on the changing table he will stare at it and reach up to touch and just has a look of “what IS this” on his face, and most any time I’m carrying him he will grab onto it as well.  Tying it back doesn’t help any, as he’s very adept at grabbing the roots, so it hurts less if it’s not pulled back to begin with.

Well it’s only been a couple weeks since I posted last, so there’s not a lot new to post, but since he’s turning 6 months old today I figured I should post something.  Now if only he and I weren’t sick it might even be more fun  ;)  But who am I kidding, he’s mostly in a good mood even when he’s sick (now that his tummy isn’t ready to explode and his head isn’t a furnace).  And it’s worth noting the horrible new noise he had just learned last time I posted only lasted about a week and I haven’t actually heard him make it in over a week now.  He definitely is getting a vocabulary on him now, if only we knew what his “words” meant  hah  Soon enough I’m sure.  Oh, I have also posted some of the scanned in pictures we got, so take a look.

His current fixation is trying to sit up (I attribute that to that little girlfriend of his at daycare hah).  And his most recent discovery is his feet.  He’ll roll all over the place trying to keep a hold of those little toes of his.  He’s a strong little guy and has gotten very good at holding himself upright; I don’t think it will be long before he’s sitting up all on his own (he’s good at playing airplane).  After that it probably won’t be too long until he’s crawling around either.  My bet is he’ll be after the dog like a shot when he can move around, since he gets the biggest smiles when she walks by him and he’ll twist all over trying to keep watching her as she’s walking around the room.  He lights up whenever he sees daddy too (you can tell he knows daddy means play and tickle time), but still prefers mommy when he needs comforting (which mommy doesn’t mind in the least).

Let’s see what else.  He’s been eating cereal for about a month now (mixed with formula and apple juice), and has gotten really good at it (that’s not just a proud parent saying it either, the lady at daycare was remarking he was really good at it as well, especially since it’s a learned rather than instinctual skill).  He barely gets any pushed back out of his mouth while he’s chewing and swallowing anymore.  Last week we tried squash, but he wasn’t real big on that, so we tried pears this week and he seems to enjoy those a lot.  You could tell those brain cells were working trying to figure out that texture the first time he had them haha  Maybe next we’ll try bananas since they seem to mix those with a lot of other fruits, so that will give us even more options early on. 

Last night we had our first portrait session for pictures and it was a lot of fun.  They made sure at daycare that he had a bottle about 30 minutes before I picked him up so he was nice and full.  He seems to have decided most days he’s only going to nap about 2.5 hours instead of his previous 4+, so he hadn’t napped in awhile, but he was very good at the studio.  You could tell by the end he was getting tired though, rubbing his eyes and just getting really fidgety, but we got a lot of cute shots.  At least we got them before those teeth come in so we have some really cute toothless baby pictures  ^^  After a few minutes of crying when we were done, he settled down for a nap so I was luckily able to go through and get the order done up without feeling rushed, and we get them in 2 weeks.  It was hard getting shots without that hand in his mouth though.  Since he’s starting to teethe (you can feel hard ridges, but nothing has popped yet and I’ve been told it can take a couple days or months even after you feel that for them to pop out), he always is chewing on something, very often his hand.  There were a couple times parts of the set at the studio made their way into his mouth as well 

I think that should pretty well catch us up to date.  I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted new pictures too, but we’ve been battling some skin issues and lots and lots of scratching the past few weeks, so I haven’t taken as many as normal.  We finally seem to have most of the irritation under control and his scratches have healed up and he isn’t making constant new ones, so expect more pictures again soon.  I will also see if I can get the studio pictures scanned in when they come in and post at least a couple of those as well.  Take care all!