Week 48

Hayden is 11 months old today.

We don't have a well-baby doctor's visit until his 1-year appointment, so I don't know exactly how much he weighs or how tall he is, but I can tell that he has definitely grown in height but his weight gain has significantly plateaued. I have been reassured by a number of Moms that it is totally common for a baby to slim down once they become mobile and are burning more calories. The way Hayden crawls around the house, walks around all the furniture, and climbs up the entire flight of stairs (with me right behind him, of course), I amazed he isn't down to a stick! :) So I won't be surprised if he's fallen into more of a "normal" weight percentile at our next doctor's visit. I think he'll still be off the charts in height.

His hair seems to be growing more and I think it's going to be a reddish dark blonde. I love it!

I think his 1-year molars are starting to pop through. I can see tiny spots of white already through the gums. I've been giving him frozen quartered banana and grape chunks to help soothe his pain. He frequently has a finger back there and drool down his chin.

Despite the molars cutting through, this week Hayden has been sleeping SO WELL. He's been taking two good naps (almost always 2 hours each) and sleeping from about 7:30pm until 7:30am STRAIGHT. It's amazing how much better I feel after a few consecutive days of 8 uninterrupted hours of sleep.

He is down to drinking milk (nursing or a bottle of pumped breastmilk/formula blend) just 4 times a day and eats 3 solid food meals:

7:30 am - nurse
8:30 am - breakfast
11:30 am - nurse
12:30 pm - lunch
4:00 pm - nurse or bottle of 70/30 milk/formula
5:30 pm - dinner
7:00 pm - bottle of 70/30 milk/formula

For his meals, he mostly eats fruits and vegetables so for a drink I give him a milk/water mix because I think it helps to get the protein, fat, and calcium in him since he still can't have any dairy. He drinks out of a straw or directly from the glass. He actually can even drink from the glass and hold it himself without spilling unless he's in a playful mood. And I try not to laugh when he blows bubbles in his drink, but it's so cute sometimes it's hard not to. He thinks it's hilarious.

Hayden is developing a really fun sense of humor and people frequently comment on how smiley he is. It doesn't take much to get him to laugh and we have developed fun "inside jokes" and games we play with each other. He likes to mimic whatever Phil or I do and thinks that's pretty funny. Like when he's in his high chair eating, he tilts his head to the side and waits for us to do the same, then he smiles and tilts to the other side. He is starting to have favorite songs from his collection of CDs and likes to dance! And he's super ticklish!

He is so fun! I'm such a lucky Mommy!

Week 47

Hayden made tremendous progress this week with his babbling vocabulary. I am so excited for him to enter this stage of learning to talk. We have a set of Baby Einstein Alphabooks that we like to look at, so one day I "quizzed" him on which letters/sounds he could say. These are the ones that he is able to repeat back to me:

A ("Ah" and "Uh")
B ("Buh-Buh")
D ("Duh-Duh", but not Da-Da yet!)
F ("Ffff" and "Off")
G ("Guh")
H ("Heh-Heh")
J (more like "Jrrah")
L ("La-La-La")
M ("Mum-Mum")
P ("Puh-Pa")
V ("Vvah")

Here's proof:


He attentively looks at our mouth and watches us say words. Then he works hard to mimic the sound. Sometimes getting it completely and histerically wrong but the inflection in the voice is there, and other times very close! Things I frequently say, like "We're home" as we pull into the garage, he repeats, "Hummum". When he is playing with his trucks and we say, "Truck", he makes an amazing word that I don't even know how to spell (Jrrugh?!), but he clearly thinks he's saying "truck". And that's a hard word! Other words he is trying to say: "Ball", "book" (this one sometimes he can say almost recognizably!), "Brrr" (with cold wipes, and ice water), "Mama", "On", "Off" and "Uh-oh" (usually just the "Uh!" part).

We also enjoyed a Saturday afternoon at the park on a beautiful sunny 68-degree day. (Hard to believe that 2 weeks ago it snowed 2 inches here!) Hayden loved all the activity at the park and even went down a big-kid slide:




On Thursday this week we hosted PEPS at our house. It's always so great to get together with the other moms and babies and share our highs and lows with parenting. And it's getting interesting now that a lot of our babies are very mobile!

My low for the week has been Hayden's refusal to take his morning nap. For 5 days straight I would do his nap routine, put him in his crib and leave the room. He would be quiet with just small rustlings for about 20 minutes and then I would hear him gradually make more babbling noises, then start hearing the mattress springs squeak as he jumps up and down in his crib and finally I go in to check on him and he has a massively poopy diaper. Like clockwork! After I change him, I try to get him back down for a nap, but he's too worked up and after another 30-45 minutes of babbling/screeching and jumping in his crib I decide to go back into his room and give up on the morning nap. The good news is that around noon, he goes down for a 2-3 hour afternoon nap. The so-called "sleep experts" say babies at this age should still be taking 2 naps, and it's not until around 13-15 months old that they drop the morning nap and just take one mid-day nap, but I'm starting to feel like Hayden has other plans. Weird thing is that today we actually got him to fall asleep after the diaper change and he slept for 2 hours, then took another 2+ hour late afternoon nap. So who knows what's going on!

My high for the week has been that my freelance clients have been very pleased with my design work. It's nice to hear positive praise and to feel like I actually do still have some creative energy in me! Even though it's been extremely challenging to work from home, it actually is kind of nice to have that professional outlet other than being 100% Mommy all the time. And it's even better to hear a "good job" (that's still not in Hayden's vocabulary!!) :)

Week 46

Sorry I'm just crazy busy with work and can't write a long post. For this week's update, here's a little 2-minute video montage of Hayden being cute.

Week 45

Guess what happened this week? Hayden said his first word! I think.

Hayden's "vocabulary" has been growing. He says "Mama/Mumumumum", "Baba", "Bla", "LaLa", "Hu", "Vvvuh", "FFF", and a host of other growls and squeals. But even though he says "Mama" I don't think he quite says "Mama" to mean "Mommy" I think he's just babbling. But this week, I believe his first real word, where he knows what he is saying, is "OFF". You see, Hayden loves to flip the light switches on and off every time we enter and leave a room. In fact, if you are holding him and you walk past a light switch, he practically leaps out of your arms to reach at the light switch. He is so good at flipping them with just his thumb and index finger. And every time he flips it, I say "ON" or "OFF". And lately, when we are playing with the light switch, he says, "OFF". Plain as day. Repeatedly. I cheer at him. Then he claps and smiles. I know he knows he is saying it. Should I write it in the Baby Book as his first word? Hmmm...

Also this week:

On Monday, Hayden had his first dentist appointment. Most people say you don't need to take your baby to the dentist until they are about 3 years old. I've read in some resources that it doesn't hurt to take them by their first birthday. Then it's not such a scary experience as they get older. And since Hayden already has 8 teeth, and dental hygiene is important, we wanted to get started early. It's more about parent education than actually doing anything at this point. The dentist office was not really what I was expecting out of a Pediatric Dentist practice. It seemed basically the same as my dentist office, except it didn't even have fish tanks, which Hayden loves. So we were disappointed. The dentist examined his mouth (not very gently, surprisingly), the hygienist used an electric polisher/brush on his teeth, which he actually didn't mind, and said we need to be sure to brush well twice a day. Usually Hayden likes to chew on the toothbrush so brushing "well" might be a challenge. They even recommended using a TINY dab of baby-safe (fluoride-free) toothpaste, which actually helps if Hayden doesn't want his teeth brushed since he likes the taste of the toothpaste. The dentist also encouraged us to try to avoid night nursing, starting to transition from a bottle to a sippy cup for milk, and weaning the pacifier.

I tried milk in a sippy cup. He drinks water from a sippy cup just fine. But milk? No. He had a disgusted look on his face, threw the cup, and put his hands up over his mouth. I tried again later. Nope! I wonder if it's that he was expecting water so it startles him? Kind of like if we expect water and get 7Up. He drank the milk from a bottle just after I tried, so I know he wanted it. Weird. This will be interesting. On a side note, he drank water from a straw for the first time at Starbucks this week. But when I try to repeat it at home, he just chews on the straw.

On to the pacifier. For the past 2 months or so, he has only used a pacifier when he sleeps. I don't even bring one with me when I go out anymore, unless I know we will be out a long time like last week when we went to Easter church service in Enumclaw. He didn't seem reliant on the pacifier, we just gave it to him as part of the routine for naps and night sleep. So we tried not giving him the pacifier. Well I guess he's more stuck to the pacifier than we thought. He fought sleep for over half an hour and when I finally gave in and gave him the pacifier, he fell asleep almost instantly. Since he hasn't been napping that great this week anyway, I decided to give up the idea of weaning the pacifier until a little later. He's only 10 months old! It's not like he's a 5 year old walking around the mall with it in his mouth!

We've also been trying to get Hayden to drink some formula for the past couple weeks. We got a sample of a hypo-allergenic non-dairy kind from the pediatrician, and he hated the stuff. I have to say, I think it stinks too. But unfortunately my milk supply continues to seem low, and it would be good to have formula as a back-up or to transition to instead of Whole Milk. I've been offering him a bottle of a mix of breast milk and formula about once a day. He seems to be doing ok with a 50/50 blend, but any more than that and he refuses it. And usually I also have to turn the tv to a recording of "Super Why" or "Signing Time" so he is distracted and takes the bottle without question. So much for no tv until he's 2. ;)

He's also been picky with foods lately. He used to love just about anything we'd put in front of him, but lately he seems to prefer things he can crunch or chew. I think his 1-year molars are starting to make their way to the surface, so it probably feels better on his gums. He likes Cheerios, Teddy Puffs, Apple Wagon Wheels (a Gerber Graduates snack), Noodles, cooked carrots and green beans, and small fruit pieces of Mango or peaches. Too bad I have a freezer full of pureed fruits and vegetables! I'm just finding ways of sneaking them in, like adding noodles to the vegetables, etc. So funny that a month ago, he was gagging on anything not pureed to the smoothest texture! How quickly he grows and changes!

I hope none of this ever sounds like I'm complaining. Raising Hayden is such an exciting, amazing experience I wouldn't trade for anything. Even the challenges are the "good" kind of challenges, that help me grow as a parent and person. The thought of my life without Hayden seems empty and boring. Being a mom adds so much meaning and adventure to my life. He is absolutely the best thing that God could have ever given us.

Week 44

Hayden turned 10 months old this week, on March 20th. TEN MONTHS OLD!! How did that happen?!

We've had a good week. Finally made it to a PEPS group meeting since neither of us were a) sick, b) napping or c) working (man, I hate it when Hayden's work schedule interferes with our social calendar! ;) It was so great to see all the moms and babies again. We hadn't been together since the swimming day, and hadn't been to a regular meeting since before Hayden's 3-week bout with diarrhea. Even though we've stayed connected over email, it just hasn't been the same. I'm so blessed to have these families in my life. I can see lifelong friendships for both myself and Hayden developing.

Working as a freelance designer at home continues to be challenging for me. I feel so mentally and physically exhausted and don't get many breaks from being either Mommy or Designer. Not that I really have much to complain about with being Hayden's Mommy. He is so amazing, wonderful, and easy compared to some stories I hear. But still, being a Mom is a FULL TIME job that often requires a lot of energy, so throwing in design work on top of that has had it's ups and downs. Thankfully, my Aunt Teri came over on Good Friday and babysat Hayden for the day, just for fun. Phil had the day off too so we went to a movie. Later that night Phil's brother Jim and his wife Rachel came over to babysit while Phil and I went to my former co-worker's 30th birthday bash and had a great time. So at least Friday was a nice relaxing day off! And Hayden continues to do really well with babysitters. Yay!

On Saturday Phil and I took Hayden to the University of Washington where the cherry blossoms are in full bloom at the Quad. It was a perfect Spring day and Hayden loved the trees and watching all the people and dogs there. I hope this becomes an annual tradition for our family.




Easter was also a great day (not the weather, but the events). It would have been even better if Hayden slept better the night before. For some reason he would not fall back to sleep after his 4:45 am nursing, so around 6:00am, I finally brought him into our bed, he fell asleep instantly, but then we needed to get up and ready to be at Aunt Teri's church in Enumclaw by 8:30am! So basically, Phil and I had been up since 4:45 am. Hayden was an angel through the church service and the brunch afterward, but had a really tough time going down for his nap around noon when we got home because he was so over-tired by that point. (Unfortunately, he still doesn't sleep in the car.) After he finally fell asleep around 1:15pm, we had to wake him up around 3:15 to head over to Phil's parent's house in Kirkland for Easter Supper. It was a full day, but always nice to get all the family together. And Hayden looked SO ADORABLE in his button-down shirt, sweater vest, and brown linen pants! It was fun sharing him with all the family.

Grandma Doris and Grandpa Jim with their 4 Grandsons

Week 43

Sorry I'm a day late in posting. I've been swamped with freelance work and having to do some late nights to meet deadlines. Starting to feel like I'm in college again! Fortunately, Hayden has been sleeping GREAT! I almost hate to say anything for fear of jinxing it, but he's been sleeping from about 7:30pm to 7:30 am STRAIGHT almost every night for the past 2 weeks. Only maybe 2 nights in the past 2 weeks he woke up around 3:30am for a quick nursing and as usual went straight back to sleep.

I actually think Daylight Savings Time kind of threw him off a little and it helped him to have an "earlier" bedtime and naps a little later. He's had some great napping patterns too: two good 1.5-2 hour naps every day. He's still struggling a bit to fall asleep, since all he wants to do is stand up (and jump on the squeaky spot) in his crib. But sometimes after about 15 minutes of jumping and babbling (or his new favorite - high-pitched screeching, an old return from his pterodactyl days!) I go back in his room, make no eye-contact, lay him back down, and walk back out (a tip from Supernanny!). Then he finally falls asleep and he takes a good nap. I guess all that jumping wears him out! Sometimes I don't need to go back in his room and he falls asleep on his own.

He's also been doing great with babysitters. No sign of separation anxiety or stranger anxiety. Phil's mom has been helping me out once week so I can get a good chunk of concentrated design work done. Hayden really loves his Grandma Doris and is always an angel for her.


He had a bit of a rough day at church on Sunday because he hadn't had his morning nap yet and just got way over-tired. It has been tough to make it to church at all. It was only his 2nd time in the nursery without one of us. Phil was scheduled on set-up crew and both of us were scheduled for Preschool teaching so we had no choice, but it was really hard on Hayden and the workers in the nursery. They had to come get me because he was crying so hard and wouldn't take his bottle and nothing would calm him down. He was SO TIRED. Phil ended up bringing him into our preschool class and holding him in his lap the whole time. He calmed down and thankfully took a long nap once we got home (as did Phil and I). I don't know how often I want to repeat that ordeal! I'm frustrated with the kids' conditions at our church as it is. Since our church meets in an elementary school, we have to set up and tear down church every week. We have the preschool kids at one end of a hallway and the babies in a little alcove area halfway down the hall. Not ideal. That's partly why I don't make more of an effort to go to church with Hayden too. I know I'm just being an over-protective first-time mom, but some of the conditions worry me. I'm just not comfortable with Hayden in the nursery, let alone that it totally messes up his naps and the entire day!

We got all our safety gates up on the stairs. Here is a video of why it was such an urgent matter:

Yup, that's right! Hayden can climb stairs! He can go up to the halfway landing in about 1 minute with no help. Of course I'm right behind him when he's doing this, because he has no concept of going DOWN the stairs safely, so the gates are essential.

He's standing SO WELL. Sometimes he even lets go of what he's holding onto for a split second.



He really loves books. He has learned to turn the pages one by one and sometimes points at things on the page and I say what they are. We read 2-3 books before every nap and about 5 other books throughout the day. He really loves a book called "If You Were My Baby" from Gramma Susan. It is not a board book so I was worried about him tearing the pages, but he is very gentle with it and listens to each page carefully.


Changing his diaper has become like wrestling an alligator. He absolutely HATES lying flat on his back now. Also, he has discovered his private parts so not only am I trying to wrestle him down, but also trying to keep his hands from touching any poop!

His favorite thing is looking out the window. He loves to watch the cars and we wave goodbye to Phil when he leaves for work in the morning.

Week 42

Hayden is officially CRAWLING! Occasionally he still reverts back to the "commando-style" but for the most part, he is on 2 hands and 2 knees, all over the house. All he wants to do is crawl and stand. It is incredible to see the progress he has made in the last week. I think that's largely due to him FINALLY feeling better! YAY! And he slept for 12 hours straight both last night and the night before. I guess all this mobility is wearing him out!

This week on Wednesday night, Phil and I attended a lecture at Seattle's Town Hall by Dr. John Gottman on "Raising and Emotionally Intelligent Child". Wow. It was a fantastic lecture and very timely since teaching children about their emotions can begin as early as Hayden's age now.

Dr. Gottman described 2 parenting styles: "Emotion-Dismissing Parents" and "Emotion-Coaching Parents". The Emotion-Dismissing Parents make up about 2/3 of parents in his research group. They don't like negative emotions such as sadness, anger, and fear. They see them as "toxins" they need to protect their child from, and prefer their child to be cheerful. Their response is to help their child "snap out of it" by distracting them, playing down the emotion, and sometimes even punish them. They see negative emotions as failures, and become impatient with a sad or angry child. While their intentions seem good, this actually teaches children that their feelings are bad, not to trust their feelings, that they are weird, alone, and that they can't talk to their parents.

Emotion-Coaching Parents on the other hand, see negative emotions as a healthy part of development, an opportunity for discussion, growth, and empathy. These kids are better at self-soothing, get along better with other peers and adults/teachers, and even their reading & math scores are higher.

According to Dr. Gottman, there are 5 steps to Emotion Coaching:
1) Noticing the emotion
2) Recognizing as an opportunity for intimacy and teaching
3) Listening and empathizing, validate their feelings
4) Providing verbal labels for the emotion
5) Setting limits, help the child problem-solve, communicate values and appropriate behaviors

I have been devouring his book and realize my parenting instincts will be challenged to think and respond in this way. Even today at the park, Hayden was getting cranky and Phil and I responded like the "emotion-dismissing parent" - tickling him, offering him Cheerios, laughing at him for being so 'cute' when he cries. I realize we can't really put all these steps into practice with a 9-month old baby, but it is very interesting to be thinking about all these ideas now.