The Hendricks Handbook: July 2012

Well, the time has come. The month before my baby turns a year old. A month full of party planning, momma crying a whole lot because her baby is about to be a year old, and a month full of chasing a baby all over the place. This past month has been great! It has been fun, full of changes, and nothing too over the top bad went wrong. Here are some updates on our 11 month old and what his 10th month was all about.

I weighed him today and he weighs 17 lbs. 1 oz. So, he gained a little over a lb this past month. Still little, and he probably won't meet the 20 lbs. I was wanting him to weigh at a year but I might have shot a little high since he did come into the world at a mere 3 lbs. :)
Still wearing size 3 diapers. We might move up to 4s after this box is empty since my sister can get them for cheaper
Still in same size clothes as last month
His foot is getting bigger! We are now in size 3 shoes, still some 2s.
Last week when we got back from our over night trip he decided he was no longer interested in nursing. By no longer interested I mean he did some not so nice gestures :) and pretty much did everything out of his might to not partake. So, I am still pumping twice a day mostly due to the fact that I do not want mastitis from going to nursing 4-5 times a day to nothing, and because I still have a tiny glimmer of hope that he will become interested again within the next month. So, he gets about 2 formula bottles a day and 2 BM bottles.
He is eating 3 full meals a day and several snacks throughout the day.
We are about 50/50 on eating table food and baby food. Some big boy food we have tried and liked are pieces of bananas, whole green beans, Annie's cheese crackers (his fave), mexican rice, beans, sweet potato fries, hush puppies, biscuits, toast, blue berries and pieces of strawberries. He hates the texture of all noodles.
Drinks out of his sippy all day long. We mainly do ice water but sometimes will put some juice in it.
He is doing everything but walking. He crawls, pulls up, cruises a little bit, can go from sitting to standing without holding onto anything, and stands alone for a few seconds.
He loves the walker and travels the whole house in it. It is funny to watch and very convenient for us.
He discovered the doggy door this week. Hopes of not trying to go out of it in the near future.
He says quite a few words: mommy, dadda, baby, hi, yeah, bad, cracker, dog
He waves and is starting to point at things (has done it a few times)
One of the dogs growled at him last week and he looked at it and said "bad!".
Still likes to make all the sounds with his mouth and likes to make a game of it. If you click your tongue he will imitate you over and over again.
Still a great sleeper. Goes to bed about 7:30 and wakes up about 7, give or take 30 minutes on both.
The week after he turned 10 months he decided he no longer wanted to fight sleep or make the going to sleep process long and drawn out. So, now he gets put in his crib and he nice and quitely goes right to sleep. This was HUGE for us since he fought sleep for up to 30 minutes!
He is really starting to figure all his toys out and surprises us on a daily basis that he knows how to operate them.
Being able to entertain himself is getting longer and longer.
He is somewhat getting the sign for "more" down (it is more of a clap) and we are working really hard on "all done". I honestly feel like he will just start saying the words before he gets the signs down
Still takes two naps. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Both anywhere from 1-2 hours.
Still only 2 teeth but I feel like more will be coming in soon since the signs of teething are back.
We got over our first and hopefully only ear infections with one round of antibiotics and some ear drops from the natural dr.
Having issues with dry skin around his mouth still but luckily it hasn't spread to other parts of the body.
I believe he has a "mean" streak. He likes to pull hair, hit, and bang his head when he is mad. That's his daddy's temper :)
He is very bashful when around strangers at first. He will smile and then put his head on mine or his daddy's chest
Bath time is a favorite, but it gets his "engine" going. You put him in the water and he goes 90 to nothing!
Still a paci baby but it's mainly when he is tired or in his crib. All but one stay in his crib at all times.
He is hilarious! All the noises and talking he does cracks us up.
His hair is getting ridiculously long. He needs a hair cut but the thought of that gives me anxiety.
Biggest blessing we could ever ask for!

Baby boy it is unreal to mommy that you will be 1 year in exactly a month. The saying is true: times flies when your having fun and thats exactly what we have been doing! Your daddy and I love you more than words can describe!

Yesterday, we got up early and headed to the lake. When I say we got up early, I mean Josh set his alarm at 5:45, I set mine for 6:15, and I think we both rolled out of bed about 7. Luckily, the night before, we got everything ready to go so we had very little to do to prepare. Shaw usually wakes up about 7 on any given morning. Well, we loaded the car and boat and he still wasn't up. At 7:45 we couldn't take it any longer so I went into his nursery and there he was all snug as a bug, booty up in the air, but as soon as I walked over to the crib he popped right up! I think he knew what was in store and he was excited :). We got to the lake about 8:30 and went straight to a shady cove. The last time we went to the lake, Shaw LOVED going fast in the boat and would just giggle when we hit a wave. Completely different story this time. He wasn't so sure about it and as soon as his daddy put the throttle down he did not like it. He automatically wanted his daddy and for the rest of the day everytime the boat was moving he wanted in his lap. I think he is now more aware and maybe didn't feel safe. He knew his daddy had a little better grip on him than his momma did. We were a little worried on how he would do in the heat. It has been getting up to around 100 here everyday and I, myself, don't do good in the heat and we knew he didn't need to be exposed to it all day long. Surprisingly, there was a nice breeze and it was very tolerable. We had a great time! Shaw is definitely a water/lake baby, which makes us very happy since we plan to spend most summer weekends on the lake in the future (that is of course until he is old enough to start playing baseball).

Safe and secure