11 Month Miles

It's hard to think that nearly a year ago I had was still teaching, waiting for this boy to make his way out. Now, he's pretty much what my day revolves around.  Playtime, naptime, food-time; and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I'm trying to soak up these last few months of him being my baby and getting my full attention because soon his sister will storm into our lives. I can't wait to see him as a big brother, he's so patient and contemplative. I know he will thrive in the role of big brother.

 

 

 



 Miles knows how to wave, shake his head 'yes', growl like a lion, say a bunch of baby babbles including mama and dada (his favorite).  He loves to eat and isn't a picky eater.  Trevor wrinkles his nose up at Miles favorite food: peas with cottage cheese mixed in.  He's a healthy boy! He also eats fruits and proteins as well as becoming more confident with a sippy cup of water.

 

At 10 months, I started the weaning process, due to a nasty bite Miles 'gave me'.  After that whenever he would latch on, he would disturb the scab.  Without too many details, it turned him off drinking on one side. We were down to 3 nursing sessions a day because he's just too busy and uninterested. When faced with the decision to try to keep milk supply on just one side, I decided he was old enough to have formula supplement. Now he drinks two 6-ounce bottles a day and I'm a free woman! I'm enjoying having a few months off before Hazel is born and we start all over again.  I wouldn't trade our breastfeeding journey-- it was special to be able to feed and comfort him in that way, but I'm enjoying my 'normal boobs' again. 

 

 

He still has just the bottom two teeth.  His hair looks reddish in the sun and light brown inside. His eyebrows and eye-lashes are light blondish red. He's wearing 9 month clothes and size 4 diapers. He should be in size 3 according to his weight (20ish pounds) but they just aren't cutting it at night.

 

Miles enjoys standing and sitting but is still not a fan of crawling. He can roll himself around and scoot on his back. As much as Trevor and I try to encourage him to crawl, he seems blissfully unaware that some people move themselves around.

 

 

Miles you are such a happy boy. You make so many people smile on a daily basis. You are friendly and curious and we wouldn't change a thing about you!



Dear Hazel - 23 Weeks Pregnant

Dear Hazel,

Good grief, I swear you have ultrasound pictures that prove your in there, and that you are in fact a girl but here's the deal: when we picked out this laptop we chose one that didn't have a cd drive. All your ultrasound pictures are carefully stored to download someday. I'm pretty sure it's either in the car, or my purse, or the dining room.  It's not in a cd case because Dr. H ran out of them. 

You will find out soon enough that your mom is very concerned about important things (like shaping you into a respectful, kind person) and not concerned at all about non-important things (like washing baby socks). That being said I've done a horrible job at documenting this pregnancy.  Know that you make your presence known and we talk about you constantly.  You something of a wild child in my stomach and seem to sit right on the part of my pelvis that hurts when I move.

Despite my lack of keeping track, we love you dearly already and your arrive is much anticipated. Please wait until we get moved though.

Love,
Mom

The Name-- Hazel's edition

okay: disclaimer I totally typed addition instead of edition on this title and just sat and looked at it for a bit, so there are no guarantees if this post will make sense.

When Trevor and I found out we were pregnant with baby 2, he was very excited. I went through denial, shock, disbelief, and finally settled into ignoring it. That lasted about 3 days until I started throwing up. Like it or not, this babe let me know she was in there from the beginning. Throwing up turned to head-aches, head-aches turned to heartburn, and heartburn lingers now with added kicks and rolls through the day.  To say she is more active then Miles, is a gross understatement.

We had a lot of trouble discussing names this go-round because I just couldn't imagine a boy name that I liked as much as Miles. So we threw a few around but never really settled on one.  We had Hazel picked out for a girl before we found out Miles' gender.  So we didn't spend a lot of time discussing girl names this time around, figuring we both really liked it and would use it.  Even though I joked that this had to be a girl, I really didn't believe it would actually be one, you see, Howards don't make girls.

Well at our gender appointment the first thing that flashed on the screen were girl parts. Doc H asked if I wanted to know the gender and I said, well it appears to be a girl. He laughed and confirmed that he thought it was. I told him that he didn't  have to make the announcement yet, make completely sure. So he looked a few more angles and yep, an absences of boy parts and then a clear shot of the girl ones! He said 100% this is a girl. Then he started calling her Hazel :).

Hazel is Trevor's Grandma's first name.  She didn't go by it though, and from what I hear she didn't even like it. But we do, and Trevor loved his grandma. I love it because I have a few really good memories of Trevor's grandma before she passed away in 2005.  I have heard even more stories about her and admire every one of them. She loved her family fiercely, something I hope our Hazel will share. Even though she didn't love the name, I have no doubt she would love her great-granddaughter.

I also loved Hazel because it means commander. I'm a sucker for a good-strong-woman name. I can tell our little commander will be just that, she certainly has no problem making herself known right now. And with the long line of strong woman she comes from, I don't see it being a problem in her future.

Hazel also passed all the barriers we have for names: not trendy, spelled like it sounds, gender-specific, no weird nicknames, classic.

We picked Lane for the middle name for a very simple reason. It's Trevor's middle name. It was also his grandpa's middle name. I felt strongly about passing Trevor's middle name on to a girl if we had one.  My reasoning (and he agreed) that someday Hazel will get married. She won't have the last name Howard forever. I wanted her to still have some family connection in her name. I also felt strongly that we shouldn't feminize the name. Plus, Hazel Lane just sounds good.

So that's it, why our July girl will be Hazel Lane Howard.

9 month doctor's visit

In my true nature, Miles' 9 month doctor's appointment happened around two weeks late.  In my defense, it was scheduled on time.  A bit of snow and his first ear infection caused it to be  moved. This was by far my favorite doctor visit because there were no shots!

* Confession, the actual shots don't really bother me but the recovery from them is horrid. Call me heartless if you want.

 

Here's Miles in the office. He had to put his shirt back on while waiting for the doctor; it was freezing in there.  (That's what they tell me, I'm hot, ah pregnancy,...all the time.)

 

I scheduled this appointment in the afternoon when Trevor could come with us. It was his first appointment to attend since Miles was 1 week old.  He does a good job of being 'busy' when Miles has to get shots.

Our 'big' boy weighed 19lbs 7 oz.  He is a little over 28 inches tall. His head is still a whopper at 47.5 cm.

Pay no attention to his hair in this photo, you see we had a rough time that morning. He woke up in his nap covered in poop.  You know the kind of poop that is dried to his skin? And since he's had a bit of diaper rash (antibiotic induced) I stuck him in the bath. 

When he got out I was drying him off, putting on his new diaper, and his bottom cream.  In this process he poops again. So now I'm a mess and he's a mess again. So back to the bathroom we go to get cleaned off. This was more for my benefit than his. All that to say, I never slicked his hair down after his bath, and if it dries, well it stays exactly how it dries.

Just another day with Miles, messy hair and all.

9 months//16 weeks

Miles turned 9 months on the 23rd. Here's what our boy is up to:

* He loves reading, he touches all the pages and is generally gentle with books.
* He sits like a champ, and will play with what's in front of him for long periods of time
* His favorite toys are plastic rings, stacking set, and the remote control
* He can stand and take 'steps' when someone holds on to his arms
* He has zero interest in moving himself, that includes crawling
* He can go from a seated position to on his stomach
* He sleeps 12-13 hours generally with 1 wake up; still takes 2 naps a day
* He babbles and can say mama and dada, though not when we prompt him
* He laughs and squeal, and has recently learned to throw 'fits'
* He is wearing size 6-9 and 9 month clothing
* We think he weighs around 18.5-19 lbs
* He can wave
* He can put his own binky back in his mouth


This week is week 16 for my pregnancy. Here's what our baby is up to
* Morning sickness is pretty much gone
* Headaches have started
* I'm starting to look pregnant, not just chubby
* I've felt the baby fluttering in the last week

Baby H2

I'm really torn blogging these days trying to track my pregnancy and Miles' awesome development. I've already accepted full on that this baby will probably not have their own blog posts often. Such is the life of the 2nd  child, right?  So here are the first glimpses we've seen of #2.

Here's numba 2 at 11 weeks. This was really our 2nd ultrasound, but it was the first one where you could actually see that the speck resembled a human. You can see it's head, one hand and a little leg. I think it looks precious here.

This is the 14 week ultrasound, my blob has turned from precious to kinda alien looking, in my opinion.  I do think it already has a cute little nose like Miles'. I think it's cool you can see the spine really clearly.  The little stinker wouldn't quit moving, so all the 3-D pictures are massive blurs. Too bad little baby.

 

As for me, I look the same as I did before I was pregnant, well except I've lost 6 pounds, between morning sickness and breastfeed Miles my calories are in high demand. I don't see myself looking pregnant for at least another month.  I started out this pregnancy 15 pounds heavier than I was when I got pregnant the first time. Such is life. 

 

Pregnancy #2 (14 weeks)

Call me old-fashioned, or a worry-wart, but I'm one of those people who likes to make sure, double-sure, triple-sure that everything is good in a pregnancy before I announce it from the hilltops. 

We've known are pregnant again since the beginning of November. (Trevor would claim he knew before I took the test, which I put off quite a while.) I told myself, I only have a 6 month old, my body is confused because I'm breastfeeding. I'm probably just tired...so on and so on, until he literally came home with a test. In my usual fashion, it was positive before any time went by. I still left it in the bathroom for him and Miles to go check on. This was Miles' reaction to the news.

 

It was nice to be able to tell our families at Thanksgiving, and then gradually tell more people as we got around to it. We told our grandparents/extended families over Christmas. We had our first ultrasound in the beginning of Dec, our 2nd one on Dec. 23, and our third one yesterday. So far everything looks really good with the baby.

 

I, on the other hand, have been a mess! I don't know if I'm carrying a girl or what, but this pregnancy has rocked my world. Horrible all-day sickness, headaches, crying at dumb things, greasy hair, and those are just the ones I'm typing for you to read! I joked that my favorite Christmas gift was my Zofran. It let me enjoy the holidays.

 

So far the reactions have been split, half the people we tell are shocked, and the other half expected it. We always wanted our kids close together, so we weren't exactly preventing a pregnancy and on the other hand we weren't actively trying to get pregnant. We are excited for our 2nd baby, who will be born when our first baby is 15 months old. We hope this will set them up for being not only siblings but good friends. Just a fun fact: Trevor and I are  15 months apart....but we won't talk about who's older :).

 

Here's to a happy, healthy, hopefully less rocky 2nd trimester!