Holt: 10 Months

     

Double. Digits.

Y'ALL. My mama heart is really struggling with the fact that we are 60 days away from turning ONE. How can that be? It's true what they say---"the days are long, but the years are short."

This month has FLOWN. I can't believe it's already June and we are halfway through 2015!

BIG NEWS----I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!!! Drumroll please………

HOLT CAN HAVE DAIRY!!! I am somewhat in shock and can barely believe it, but it's true. I decided to test him out with the Plum Organics "mighty 4" pouch that contains fruits, veggies, grains, and greek yogurt. I gave that to him Friday (june 5) morning so Daniel would be home to help me in case he started hurting and was really fussy. He ate it for breakfast, and I continued to watch him throughout the day---no gas pain (even though he was releasing quite a bit of gas ;p), no upset tummy, no slimy poop (sorry, TMI). So far, so good. I decided on Saturday morning to try a new formula sample that contains milk and see how he handled that. He didn't really like the taste of it, but he got down about 2.5 oz first thing---again, he released quite a bit of gas, but acted completely normal and not like his tummy was upset at all! For his other bottle feedings, I mixed the Nutramigen formula with the EnfaGrow formula in hopes of starting to wean him off the Nutramigen (praise the Lord). This is SUCH an answer to prayer! Now that he can have dairy, it opens up so many more food possibilities----cheese, yogurt, pancakes, muffins…..oh my goodness!

*My cousin, Katie Jo, graduated from high school this month so we went down to Conway to celebrate with her. We are so proud of her and loved getting to see her and show her our support!

*Memorial Day weekend Daniel and I got to go out of town and celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. We went up to Branson and got to see "Jonah" (which was fabulous) and "the Revollusionists" (a great illusion show) and other than that we just went shopping and ate dinner and saw a movie and it was SO NICE to just have alone time with my spouse. My parents kept Holt for us while we were gone (THANK YOU). They had a wonderful time the first day and a half and then he got really sick----103 fever, lethargic, a rash, and just didn't feel good. It was incredibly hard for me to not be with him knowing he was so sick, but I knew he was taken care of and that they were doing everything I would've done. When we got back, he was still pretty sick so we took him to an urgent care clinic and found out he had an ear infection and a virus. They put him on an antibiotic (cefdinir) and 2 days later he was fever free and back to his old self!

*I am so glad summer is upon us! Bring on the sunny days, pool parties, beach vacations, popsicles, and fun! Holt has LOVED playing and splashing in the water---it makes me excited for our beach vacation! We are thankful for sweet friends to play with us too :)

*He loves to make music on pianos. My parents have a tiny, kid-sized one that I used to play as a baby and that is his absolute favorite. Cute little baby Mozart!

*Holt started whistling this month. Does anyone else's kid do that? It is the CUTEST thing ever! He just forms his mouth in a little 'o' and you can hear a faint whistling. He thinks it's hilarious!

*He started a new "leap" about 2 weeks ago. A new leap is basically a new brain development---he is starting to recognize sequences---for example, a lid goes on top of a container or the door opens to let the dog outside. This is characterized by less sleep, mood swings, and more clingy-ness. Check, Check, and Check. When he goes through these little phases, it sure makes me appreciate how he normally is! It has been a rough 2 weeks!

*We have officially joined the swagger-wagon club! Daniel and I bought a minivan---a white Chrysler Town & Country. I'm a little embarrassed at how obsessed I am with this car. I am convinced that anyone with young kids should drive one of these! I felt super cool at Walmart the other day with my cart full of groceries and a busy 10-month old, and I just clicked my key-remote to open the back and the side door. EPIC.

Weight: 19 lbs. **complete guess** (25th percentile)
Height: 28 ¼ inches (20th percentile)

Favorites: *remotes---of any kind. *phones, iPads, anything electronic (even though we don't let him play with them) *dogs *walking----he is SO close to walking by himself *being outside *splashing in water *figuring out how things work *other kids

Milestones: *free stand for a few seconds at a time *his second tooth came through on 05.15.15 *can say "dada", "mama", and "up" *he started whistling *he waves (every now and then) *we graduated to sippy cups *he can have dairy!!

Sleep: Amazingly enough he has continued to sleep well, even when being sick. He still goes to bed at 6:30pm, but the past week and a half or so has woken up between 5:30 and 6:00 AM (killing. me.). I am attributing it to the fact he is going through one of the "leaps" they talk about in the "Wonder Weeks" app. When a baby starts a new leap, one of the "symptoms" so to speak is less sleep. He also was taking MUCH shorter naps there for a while. He still takes 2 naps a day.

Feeding: Obviously, the big news is Holt can now have dairy. SO exciting! He has decreased his amount of formula from 24 oz down to 16 oz a day. And we are officially done with bottles and completely on sippy cups! He still gets formula 3 times a day---first thing in the morning (about 6 oz.), after his afternoon nap (about 4 oz.), and bedtime (about 6 oz.). He eats 3 meals a day---for breakfast he usually has a frozen waffle with applesauce or peanut butter on top and half a banana; for lunch he has some kind of protein baby food (turkey usually), some veggies and fruit; for dinner he has the same as lunch. He also has multiple snacks a day---cheerios/puffs, banana, pouch, etc. I'm excited to see how his food choices will develop this next month since we can add dairy products now!

Holt-man,

Goodness you light up our world. You are so smart and fun. You are very social--you love other kids and babies especially, and you love to observe and study people when we are out and about. You are a big explorer, always ready to take on the next adventure and see new things. You love to make drum noises and you have started mimicking your daddy---clapping and sitting with your knees under you and making different screeching noises. We love you son, more than you will ever know.