One Year Letter

Milo love,

Well, it's official.  You're a big bad 1 year old! I can hardly believe it - sometimes I feel like you should be 10 and sometimes I feel like you're still 3 or 4 months old.  As you've been growing up time has been passing in the weirdest way, I can't explain it.

You are really starting my blossom.  Your personality is really shining through and I kind of love it! You love to rough house with your dad and you love to snuggle with your mom. Your brother loves to give you a lot of hugs and kisses, rub your head, and steal your toys.  For the most part you just let him do whatever you want, but slowly you're starting to fight back just a little bit.

You, my little boy, have made my heart increase in size at least ten fold.  You were a surprise from the day we found out we were pregnant with you, the very best kind of surprise! We didn't think I could go pregnant without medical help, but you were ready to come to our family and decided it was your time.  Ever since you were born you've been full of surprises. Some of them good and some of them scary.  But you've been a brave little trooper through all of it.

You are sleeping pretty good at night, but not napping very well during the day.  You wake up in the morning at 6:15AM on the dot.  You nap from 11-12/12:30.  I try my hardest to get you to take a second nap in the afternoon, but you're so stubborn.  You refuse to nap and then you want to go to bed at 5:30.  I try to keep you up until at least 6:30, but sometimes you make it until 7.  I've started letting you cry when you wake up during the night, because you are to old to be still needing a bottle in the middle of the night.  It breaks my heart to hear you cry, but you're getting better. 10 or 15 minutes of crying and you usually go back to sleep.

You're still not crawling or walking, but you are starting to gain more control over your body everyday.  You're starting to be able to pull yourself up to the standing position, but you use your arms to do so.  Which is pretty hard.  Hopefully soon you'll figure out to use your leg strength instead and it'll be much easier.  You are making such great progress dealing with your spina bifida that I just bean with pride when I watch you learn new things.  You're a tough one, little man.

I love you the most.

Love, Mom

Eleven Month Letter

Milo boy,

Eleven months! This is the last month as you with my baby boy.  Once you reach 1 year old I feel like you cross a line into toddler hood. You've been such a joy this last month! Everyone keeps commenting on how you're so happy lately and seem to be making big progress in your development.  I have to say - I agree with them.  I see your confidence building and you're developing likes and dislikes and figuring out how to convey them to me.

We had a major snow storm a few weeks ago and since we haven't had a lot of snow this year I thought that I should take advantage of it.  So we bundled up and went into the blizzard for a bit.  We played in the snow for a bit, but you mostly just sat there. You didn't even try to touch the snow, you just sat and watched it fall. After a few minutes you started acting cold, so I put you inside and you just watched your brother and I. The next day it was 60 degrees and the snow was gone shortly.  So, I guess it was a good thing we seized the day!

You are such a good little eater! You eat just about everything that I put in front of you - which is a nice change from your picky brother.  But the good news is, you are rubbing off on him.  He doesn't like to feel left out so sometimes he asks to try your food.  He rarely eats it, but at least he's trying more veggies and meat.  There was one day that cooper wasn't feeling good and he didn't even touch his toast during breakfast.  I left it a little too close to you and before I knew it, you had the entire slice of toast and you were just in heaven.  The first time you ever had food that wasn't broken up into bite sized pieces and it surprised me how well you did! You didn't choke or gag once, well done boy!

You poor boy, you keep getting ear infections.  It's no fun for any of us.  Every time I take you in to have your ears checked you just scream bloody murder.  You cry every time we walk into the room - it's like you know what's coming.  You sure make the saddest face.  We might go see an ENT to discuss getting tubes in your ears if you get one more infection.

Buddy, I love you to the moon.

Love -

your mama

Ten Month Letter

Milo Love,

You're almost 1! I can hardly believe that in just 2 short months I will no longer be counting how many months old you are, but I will just call you my 1 year old. We will have a 2 year old and a 1 year old in our house! Crazy, chaotic, and exciting times!

You are really starting to interact with and play with your brother more.  Cooper loves to roll all over you and give you non-stop hugs and kisses.  You grab at his face and pull his hair and just light up whenever he comes your way.  Your favorite time to play with him is right when you wake up from your nap.  Cooper loves to climb in your crib and jump around, and you just think it's the best thing ever.

Teething.  Shoot, teething is so not your friend.  But you finally let 1 little tooth poke through and you really cheered up once that happened. You smile and that 1 long tooth just sticks out and it's so adorable.  Now, when you bite my fingers or my toes it actually hurts and you just smile that singular tooth smile and I almost want to let you keep doing it.  Almost.

This month you've started to find a small motivation to move around, but you get really frustrated really quickly.  I put you in the crawling position and you rock back and forth.  It's adorable and your therapist says that it's such a good sign.  Babies that rock in that position usually start crawling soon after.  But you, instead of attempting to crawl you just rock back and forth and then when you decide you're done you calmly put your hands down go back to your belly.  You throw a fit and roll over and keep throwing a fit until I put you back in the sitting position. Someday you'll need to either crawl of learn to sit up on your own.  It's getting hard to keep putting you back up every time you fall over of purposely get on your belly to reach for a toy.

Your laugh.  Oh boy your laugh is the cutest.  However, you kind of refuse to laugh for me! You laugh for cooper and you laugh for your dad...but apparently you just don't find me amusing.  Don't worry kid, eventually you'll get my sophisticated humor!

You're so tall.  It's difficult to find pants that look good on you because you're super skinny and super tall.  Someone even called you lanky and gangly.  Those words are not usually endearing - but you and your cute self make them endearing.  Jeans are so hard to get for you, so you mostly just wear sweats.  I can't wait for the summer when hopefully I can fit you into shorts a little easier!

Little milo boy, I love you so much.

Love, your mamma

9 Month Check Up

9 Month Appointment - 1/2/15

17 Pounds 12 Ounces - 9%

29.6 Inches - 86% 

Nine Month Letter

Milo man,

You are the sweetest little boy and I am just having a ball watching you learn and discover new things everyday.  You have really started to become more aware of your surroundings and anxious to touch and play with everything you can get your hands on.

You are sitting like a champ these days, I can put you on the floor with your toys and you'll happily play for roughly 10 minute stretches.  But, jumping in your bouncer is still your all-time favorite thing to do.  It doesn't matter what time of day it is or if you're sick or healthy.  That bouncer is your best friend!

I swear that you're teething and everyday I expect to see a little tooth in your mouth, but no such luck.  You are just so fussy so often that I can't really imagine it being anything different.  Although, it could be the recurring ear infections you seem to be getting. That's no fun for anyone - cut it out, ok?

You started clapping this month and it's just about the cutest thing ever.  You clap when you're happy and you clap when you're watching TV.  You clap in your bouncer and you clap when I clap.  You love it and I love watching you do it.

Crawling....oh boy.  That's something that is not even on your radar.  You have absolutely no desire to be mobile, you're totally content to just sit.  And for now, I'm totally co
ntent with that too.  Eventually though, I hope to see you cruising around this joint and causing all sorts of trouble!

You are such a great eater! You've started eating little pieces of table food whenever we have meals and you are handling them so well! You're not nearly as picky as your brother and it's so nice to have a child that will actually eat food instead of putting it in his mouth and spitting it out.  In the eating department - you're definitely my favorite child!

I can't believe that you've been with us just as long as I was pregnant with you. You're growing up so fast little one.  And I'm loving having your in our family.

Love you bunches little boy!

Love, Mom

Eight Month Letter

Milo boy,

Eight months old and you are finally sitting! I can't leave you alone because you only sit for 20-30 seconds at a time, but you're sitting! We are all so excited about it, and you are so proud of yourself.  You do pretty good until something catches your attention and you look to the side or behind you, then you just topple over.  Sometimes cooper thinks it's funny to push you over and you don't think it's all that funny. Pretty soon you'll just push him back, don't worry.

You're starting to sleep better at night! Sometimes you still wake up once during the night and want a bottle, but you eat it and then go right back to sleep without a peep.  And then sometimes you just sleep all night long until 6 or 6:30.  I really love those nights best.  But, what I would really love is if you'd sleep in just a little longer.  Maybe 7 or so? If you did that then your nap would line up with your brother's and I would get a little break during the day.  Just consider it, OK?

So you starting snacking this month.  I've given you little puffs and bits of yogurt bits and you love both of them.  It's the cutest thing to see you just chomping away on those snacks, it sure makes you look old!  You haven't quite figured out how to pick them up and put them in your mouth though.  So right now I'm feeding them to you, but you'll get a hang of it eventually!

You are rolling and inching your way across the floor to go anywhere you want these days.  It's not crawling, it's more of a "bridge".  You lay on your back and arch your back, you put all your weight on your head and push as you dig your heels into the ground.  Sound complicated? Yes, that's because you're making it much harder then it needs to be.  But, it gets you around the room little by little. So I guess it works out.  I can't leave you alone for more than a few minutes before you can literally move from one side of the room to the other in 2 minutes.

Now that you're sitting you're able to play with your brother a little more and I love to watch that.  It's more like cooper piles his toys on and around you and then takes them all out of your hands as soon as you reach for one.  But, it's interaction and I love it!

My sweet Milo, I love you.

Love, Mom

Seven month letter

Milo Bug,

I can't believe seven months have already come and gone.  You sure are turning into a joy.  Everyday you seem to get a little happier and more interactive! Everywhere we go people tell me how adorable you are.  My favorite thing you do right now is be shy and bashful.  Every time someone looks at you and smiles or talk to you, you always smile back and then get shy and put your head down or bury it into my shoulder if I'm holding you.  It doesn't matter who it is or how many times they talk to you, you do it overtime.  And every time my heart skips a beat.  You're a sweet one.

You are still eating solid foods really well and enjoying more and more flavors.  You eat a mixture of homemade baby food and store bought baby food.  You refuse to eat home made carrots, but you gobble up store bought carrots.  You're weird like that.  Your current favorite food is a banana avocado combo that I make for you.  You would eat that for every meal if I let you.  But, if I give you straight avocado then you start gagging you hate it so much.

Still no sitting and you haven't really made much progress lately.  Sometimes I worry that you really may never sit.  Maybe you'll be on your back for an entire year until you start walking.  I guess we'll see, but it'd be really nice if you would just bend your knees and sit.  I think you'd really like it.

Another thing I think you'd like is your stroller, if you gave it a shot.  You are in that thing for two minutes before you start throwing a fit.  Your brother usually throws a fit first because he wants to get out and cause mischief and you just follow suit.

You love when dad comes home from work and plays with you.  You don't really laugh yet, but you do squeal.  And you save your best squeals for dad.  I try to get you to laugh all day long and all I get is smiles, but when dad gets home it's a non-stop squealing fest.  I'm actually ok with it, I love to watch the bond that you two have.

You love to be in your jumper more than any baby I've ever met. It's the cutest thing how happy it makes you.

I'm starting to realize that you're quickly outgrowing my newborn baby stage and I'm kind of sad about it but I'm more excited to see the toddler you're going to become and to watch you start to play with your brother.  I have a feeling we have some fun years ahead of us.

Love you to the moon and back.

Love, Mom