11 Months

It breaks my heart to think this is the last month before my baby turns 1. But alas, that is life and it most progress.

Harlan continues to grow and make us smile every day. He currently weights a little more than 20 pounds and is officially in all 12 month clothing. His favorite foods are strawberries, avocados and peas and he loves eating outside on the back patio.

He continues to say Mama but its not quite fully directed at me yet but I'll take it. He can crawl with unhuman like speed and still has no interest in walking. He is still a great sleeper as well.

One milestone that happened this month is that he graduated classrooms at daycare. He is no longer a Duck, but now is a Frog. His next class is 10 months - 18 months. We were really sad about him moving up because we loved his teachers so much in the ducks room. Plus there were only 5 babies in that class. there are 10 in his new class.

We had a couple of fun celebrations this month.

First was Easter.

As well as my first Mother's Day which was so special!

I started planning his birthday party and that has been fun but also bitter sweet. We can't wait to celebrate our little man next month!

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

Last month we decided to take Harlan to the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Eureka Spring. It is a habitat for large a cats and some bears. It was a really neat experience and Harlan really enjoyed seeing all the animals. Surprisingly, I have lived in NWA my whole life and never been to this place.

We saw jaguars, mountain lions, tigers, ligers, lions, tigons and a grizzle bear. Some of them were really close up which was great for Harlan because he was able to see those better. We even got to see them feed eggs to some of the lose up cats.

It was a bit chilly so we didn't get to stay as long as we wanted but I have a feeling we will be going back when Harlan gets a little bit older.

10 Months

Baby Boy is 10 Months old now! He weighs around 20 pounds and continues to make us laugh every day.

He wears size 3 diapers and size 9-12 month clothes. Still only has 2 teeth but loves to chomp down on anything that goes in his mouth.

We have started giving him more "big people" food as compared to mushed stuff. He will eat strawberries, peas and carrots, scrambled eggs and he loves pancakes and waffles. I still make his pureed veggies too.

He has become a little more hesitant of big crowds and different people. If we go somewhere that has a lot of people, it takes him a few minutes to leave our arms but he eventually does. There has been occasions that somebody grabbed him and he wanted nothing to do with it. And who does he reach for, his Daddy. That hurt my ego a little but I got over it :)

Crawling and pulling up have been mastered and he can walk a few steps if he holds on to his walking toy but that has only happened a few times.

A new thing he started this month was growling at us. If he is concentrating on something or is mad at us, he will growl like a little goblin. It is really funny.

Sleeping has been great (knock on wood). I will nurse him for about 5 minutes then just lay him in his crib and he will usually fall asleep within a few minutes. He goes down around 7 p.m. and I usually have to wake him up around 7:20 to get ready for school. During the days he is at daycare he takes naps that are only 30-45 minutes long but when he is home, his naps are usually 2 hours long.

Now that I have started working from home on Fridays, we have gotten in a pretty good routine for that day:

• I let him sleep for as long as he can but he usually wakes up between 7:45 and 8
• Nurse right when he wakes up
• Eat breakfast around 8:30
• Play for about an hour
• Nap from 9:30-11/11:30
• Lunch between 11:30 and 12
• Play
• Nap from 1:30-3:30
• Nurse around 3:30
• play and snack
• Dinner around 6 with bath immediately following
• Nurse
• Asleep by 7

This month we went on our first road trip to visit our friend Tate,

 had our first Easter Egg hunt

and visited the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.

 It was a fun month and we are treasuring every day until he turns 1. I don't want that day to come!

9 Months

Harlan has hit the 9-month mark and it has been so much fun!

Harlan weighs 19 lbs and 13.5 ounces and is 28 inches long. He is 50th percentile in weight and 75th in height. His 9-month check up was great. No shots but he had to have his toe pricked for an iron test which he hated worse than the shots. We found out he is slightly anemic. The "good" range is 32-40 and he came out at 31. Nothing to worry about, just added a multivitamin with iron to his food.

This month we battled a head cold, a double ear infection and a rash but came out on the other side unscathed.

He is such a happy baby and loves to click his tongue and say mamamamama, bababababa and dadadadada. He hasn't really directed any of those to us like he is talking to us but at least he has got the sounds down. We also started clapping in excitement. He has only done it a few times but we are getting better.

Harlan can crawl at a furious pace and pull up on anything. If we are sitting on the couch and he is in the floor, he will crawl over to us, pull up on the couch and try to climb up to us.

He is still eating like a champ. This month we have tried pears, mango, greens, Greek yogurt and some pureed meats. I make pretty much everything he eats EXCEPT the meats. That just grosses me and him out so we buy that in the baby food jars and mix it in with the veggies. In fact, we have to mix pretty much everything he eats with some sort of orange veggie. He loves those and they mask the things he doesn't want to eat.

I am still nursing him in the mornings and at night. I have noticed recently that he is not as interested in it anymore and pulls away after only a few minutes, which makes me terribly sad. I planned on breastfeeding until at least one year. Even if he weans himself off, I will still pump and continue to give him the breast milk. I just hope he lets me breastfeed him for a few more months. I'm not ready to let go of that!

This month Harlan got to visit the Pettigrew family farm for the first time and he loved it. But I think his Grandpa loved it even more. This is a special place for Ryan, his brother and his dad and I know it will become special for Harlan too.

He is right on schedule in the clothes department. He wears only 9-month sizes right now and size 3 diapers. He hates having his diaper and clothes changed. He won't lay flat on his back so I have gotten pretty skilled at putting clothes and diapers on backwards.  

This has been one of the most exciting and exhausting months yet but I wouldn't change it for anything. It is so fun watching him learn new things. Words can't express how much this momma loves this little boy.

8 Months

8 Months old! Here we go....

Harlan weighs 18 lbs and 10 ounces now and is such a happy little boy. His personality is really starting to develop and we love that! He truly is a very, very easy baby. We got so lucky!

8 Months was full of firsts and a super busy (and exhausting) month for HL.

First time to really crawl (and hasn't stopped since!)

First time to eat in his high chair

Got his first cold

First time in the ducky bath

First time to pull up

First Valentine's Day

and

First tooth

We love playing with out toys and annoying the doggies, and one day we even got to play outside in the sunshine.

We continue to try new veggies and he likes most of them, except green peas. Which is funny because Ryan LOVES green peas and they are about the one thing that I won't touch!  Right now since he is teething, he isn't wanting to eat a lot of solid food but he still continues to breastfeed like a champ.

We have pretty much outgrown our 6 month clothes and are in 9 month now and still wearing size 3 diapers.

This month Harlan has discovered he can move all over the place. He is a fast little crawler and likes to follow us around from room to room. He thinks its a game. For the moment we have permanently set up the pack-n-play in our living room for the times we both have to do something and need to contain him. He doesn't seem to mind as long as he is not in there for too long. He also has a lot of strength and is pulling up. Daddy had to lower the crib this month.

Harlan has developed so much this month and we know it will only get more and more exciting. We are excited to see what next month will bring!