12 Month Check Up

Today we had Derek's 12 month check up and he's a growing boy:

Weight:  22 lbs, 4 oz  (41%)
Length:  30 1/2 inches  (73%)
Head:  18 1/2 inches  (68%)

For the first time ever, we didn't have the conversation about him putting on weight.  While his weight is still more than 25% difference to his height, it made significant improvement since our 9 month exam  (weight was in the 29% then).  I think that has to do mainly with how long it took him to figure out how to move around (and burn calories).  Most kids are crawling all over the place around 9/10 months and starting to walk around a year.  Derek just learned to crawl about 2 weeks ago.

His head size also grew considerably (from 43% at 9 months).  Our doctor wants us to come back.in 6 weeks to have it measured again.  There is a slight chance that rapid growth in head size could be due to fluid in his brain.  If it's still growing at that rate at our next check-up, then it's a CT scan and other tests - the concern would be that the fluid could lead to seizures. More likely though, his 12 month check-up was right after a growth spurt.  I'm surprised that this news doesn't scare me as much as I would have expected it to.  Maybe it's because I realize that there is nothing I can do to change the outcome.  However, I may just find myself measuring his head between now and the appointment for my own sanity.

On the gross motor skills development side, she was again satisfied with his progress.  Overall, it was a great appointment.  I know we have gone back and forth about whether she is the right doctor for us, but after the last few great appointments, I believe she is.  We realized that the appointments we struggle with are when she has a student with her.  We've always been asked if the student came come in first, then she comes in later but is considerably rushed due to the extra time delay.  And Derek is crabbier because he's being examined twice.  In the future, we just need to have the courage to say "no" when asked about the student first.

It's weird to think that I have a 1 year old....wow!

First Tooth Sighting

Just yesterday we had the conversation with the doctor regarding his teeth and learned that it can be up to 15 months before they start to come in.  And this morning while he was chewing on his sippy cup, I noticed a teeny tiny tooth barely sticking through his gums.  It appears his bottom right front tooth is starting to come in.  Soon this beautiful baby smile will look quite different:

Happy Birthday Derek!

Yesterday Derek turned 1 year old.  Since his birthday fell over Thanksgiving weekend, we decided to celebrate with our immediate families during our Thanksgiving visits.  In the future, I don't want to combine the two and really want him to have a birthday only celebration, but at this age, it didn't seem worth the extra effort.  I'm constantly amazed at how much he changed in the last year, but we have over 5500 pictures to prove it!!

I've heard that for a child's first birthday, you give them an entire cake to eat/smash.  And many bakeries are actually giving them away for free!  That seemed a little excessive to me to waste an entire cake on someone so little that was only going to destroy it, so I took advantage of the free birthday cake for Derek at Lund's & Byerlys but also purchased two large cupcakes for him to "smash" - one for each birthday celebration.

Derek started his birthday celebration at the Nistlers on Friday.  We didn't know what to expect other than cake flying everywhere so we stripped him down to his diaper and put up a shield in the kitchen and let him go for it.  This was his very first experience with cake or frosting:

First taste

Yum - I want more

This stuff is pretty good

Getting messy

This is fun!

Happy Birthday Derek!

After the cake & frosting fun, it was bath time:

Happy with Grandma Nistler after bath

With Grandma & Grandpa Nistler
(and the free cake we didn't smash)

After the Nistler's we headed up to Gull Lake to hang out with my family for Thanksgiving and celebrate Derek's birthday.  This celebration took place on his actual birthday after lunch.  He wasn't as hungry then but knew what to do this time so it was still a lot of fun:

With Schultz's

Uncle Chris & Aunt Katie

Katie decided to help him

Again, after he was done, we started his bath.  We did his birthday celebration in the bathroom for easy clean-up.  He LOVES baths so as soon as he heard the water running he was off to check it out, leaving a trail of frosting in his wake:

Oooohh....a bath

Messy boy - bath time!

Happy in the bath tub
(the water turned a slight red color from all the frosting)

All and all, we had a great birthday celebration with family & friends.  It was pretty low key and therefore enjoyable for everyone.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEREK!!

Home Stretch

Yesterday I started the exciting process of weaning.  I wasn't sure I was going to start so soon and wasn't really sure how to do it so I called the lactation consultant.  She returned my call surprisingly quickly and I felt much more confident after our conversation. Through talking with her, I realized just how fortunate I am that Derek isn't still nursing and I'm just pumping.  Because of this, I have complete flexibility with my approach.  It was a difficult transition to make at the time, but in hindsight, I'm glad it happened the way it did.  Here's my plan:

Now:  Pump:  5 am, 10:30 am, 3:30 pm, and before bed (around 8:30/9 pm)
Next week:  Pump 5 am, 12:30 pm, and 7ish
In two weeks:  Pump 5 am and before bed
In three weeks:  Pump 5 am
Done!!

Right now I'm thinking about keeping the 5 am pumping the longest because that's when I produce the most milk.  Mike is trying to convince me to give that one up earlier so I can actually sleep in.  We'll see .... he makes a pretty convincing argument.

Thanksgiving with Schultz's

On Friday, we headed up to Gull Lake to be with my family & celebrate Derek's birthday.  Normally we are up at Gull Lake over Thanksgiving and through part of Black Friday.  This year our time started on Black Friday so we opted not to do the traditional Thanksgiving meal and each family planned a meal.  It was a nice change from more turkey and less work for my parents.  We did as much relaxing as you can do with a 1 year old around and enjoyed that we already had our Black Friday shopping complete (we typically do Black Friday shopping as a family).

Playing Peek-a-Boo with Mike

There is a pool on-site so this was the perfect opportunity to take Derek swimming for the first time.  Mike ran down ahead of time to see if the water was a decent temp for Derek to swim.  He deemed it acceptable and about 2 hours later we headed down.

Derek was more interested in watching the
kids play in the pool than get dressed.

Almost ready to go swimming.

We did put on his life jacket but then quickly realized that wasn't a good idea for this particular situation.  The pool was smaller and he didn't really want to be by himself so we took it off and just held him.   He was more interested in watching the other kids swim to even notice he was really in the water and this was something new.  The kids, of course, noticed his curiosity and were happy to entertain him.

In a swimming pool for the first time.

As it turned out, the water was a bit colder now so we didn't stay to long.  We put on warm jammies and headed back.  The stairs proved to be more fun than swimming and we went back to the stand-by favorites.

We also celebrated Derek's birthday with my family but I'll put that in a separate post about his 1st birthday.  

Thanksgiving with Nistler's

Every year for Thanksgiving, we are fortunate enough to get to spend Thanksgiving with both sides of our family.  This Thanksgiving was extra special for us because it was Derek's first Thanksgiving (and his last, first holiday).  We took a few minutes to reminisce about this time last year and how our celebration got cut short with Derek's arrival.  This year was a little more relaxing, but fun never-the-less.

Derek started out by taking his first taste of whole milk.  I was prepared with the camera to capture his expression as I fully expected him to react.  He drank it down like it was no big deal - no reaction at all.  All this time, I've been pumping and nursing and it turns out he likes whole milk just as much!

First taste of whole milk.

He ate a full Thanksgiving meal, complete with turkey, stuffing, and corn.  He loved it all:

First Thanksgiving Dinner

Derek & Grandpa Nistler having fun at dinner.

Smiles after eating - with Uncle Matt & cousins Sadie & Eliza.

Then the whole Nistler family came over for some food and fun games.  And of course, Derek loved being part of the festivities:

Since his birthday was so close to Thanksgiving, we also celebrated his birthday on Friday.  I'll write more about that in a separate first birthday post.

1 yr Photos: Take 2

Our photo sessions with Erin have come to an end yesterday and we took this opportunity to try out a new local photographer recommended by friend.  We met with her on Sunday, so it was back to back photo session weekend.  Since Erin had some great shots of just Derek, we asked her to focus on family photos.  Here are some of our favorites  (you'll likely see one of them on our Christmas card):

1 yr Photos

This weekend Erin came down to take the final photos from her shower gift - Derek's 1 year photos.  It's hard to believe that he's almost a year old.  This past year has just flown by.  So many big changes in our lives.  It's easy to forget those first few difficult months, especially when you see a happy little boy.  He's a lot more mobile now so it was harder to get photos but here are some of my favorites:

Thanks Erin!!

Week with Uncle Chris

Daycare was closed this week and thankfully Uncle Christopher agreed to watch Derek for us.  They had a lot of fun together and Derek learned quite a few new skills:

Learned to walk while pushing his toy table.

Learned how to crawl up a stair.

Learned how to crawl up multiple stairs
(with a little coxing from Christopher -
Mom's not to happy about this one.)

They also did many of Derek's favorite activities:

Went for walks

Raked leaves ....

And played in them.

I enjoyed coming home at the end of the day and hearing my brother tell me about their day and give me little tips on what worked well for him during the day while taking care of Derek.  Hands down, the best part of daycare being closed is that Christopher & Derek really got to know each other.  :-)