One year old Update!

Rhodri's 12 Month Update

My baby boy is 12 months old. I have a one year old now! I don't know where the time went but it is crazy to me that my tiny little baby is now a little boy who gets more mobile, talkative and cheeky with each day that passes! 

As I'm typing this I am listening to my little darling using his cot as a trampoline. His name is written above his cot in wooden letters, he is currently attempting to pick them off the wall. Accompanied with lots of "Oooo", "uh-oh" and "Mamamamama ha!". I have no idea what joys await me tomorrow morning but I've become accustomed to this new phase of his development I like to call "Next stop Toddler-ville". 

Here's what happened this month -

Weight: He hasn't been officially weighed, but last check he was 9.5kg which puts Rhodri's weight back on his normal weight curve and on the 50th percentile line which I'm very happy with.

Height: He's won't be measured until his 1 year check up, which is due next week.

Clothing size: Rhodri is wearing a mixture of 9-12 and 12-18 month clothes. Most 9-12 fit him well, but some things (especially trousers) tend to look better in the next size up.

Sleep: He sleeps 6.30pm - 6.30am.

This months milestones: 

• Teeth - We are still on 6 teeth. He chews on his fingers alot. This is usually a sign more are on their way, but for the time being there are no other signs that the teeth will be making an appearance anytime soon. 
• Words - We have Mamma, Dadda, Nanna, Faff (One of his Auntys), Ta, Cat, Hiya, Yes, Go and Buhbuh (we think this is bye) from previous months. He is still working on Bottle, book and come. His newest words are Out, Ow and Uh-oh
• Walking/Crawling - About a week after he turned 11 months Rhodri started to stand on his own. I thought to myself, this is it. He's going to walk before he turns one. But no, two days later he refused to stand unaided and learnt to Crawl instead!! The day after his first birthday he took his first 2/3 steps unaided, but has now reverted to scooting around the furniture.
• Social skills - Very social child. Going through a phase where in the first few minutes of being with someone he 'plays shy'. After the first few minutes pass he reverts to his smiles, laughter and usual playful behaviour.

This months special outings:

• Rhodri has been enjoying spending time with his grandmothers while Mummy & Daddy are in work.

• We still spend every Thursday with his Aunty and cousins. Rhodri loves this family time.

• Rhodri spent a week with Mummy who took the time off work for some bonding. We thoroughly enjoyed playing, cwtching and quality time together.
• Rhodri's first birthday. He spent the day with Mummy and Daddy, had lots of gifts and cards. Had some visitors and then went out for a meal with a lot of his favourite people. There were some very special people missing but he gets to catch up with them all soon and he can't wait for that :)

Baby gear love: I bought myself a new wrap and I am totally in love!! It's the Lenny Lamb Broken Twill in Strawberry Blueberry. I had it 2nd hand so it was already broken in for me. It is so comfy and much easier to wrap with than my previous wrap. I love it and so does Rhodri.

Baby's routine: 

Rhodri wakes around 6.30am. He has porridge, toast or fruit a bottle of milk and then we brush his teeth. Change of clothes before we leave the house around 7am and drop him at his grandparents. We pick him up around 4.45pm get him home and have dinner. He has a little bit of a play and explore, before taking a bath. He normally watches 'In The Night Garden' before we head up to bed. A bed time story and then in his cot. We will normally hear him play for a good 20 minutes in his cot, but once he tires himself out he lies down and goes to sleep.

On the days he doesn't stay with his grandparents at 7 am we will play with his toys downstairs. Around 9am he will go for a nap. This will last at least an hour, sometimes 2 hours. Once he wakes up he has his second bottle and playtime resumes. around 12pm he has lunch. If we are going out we tend to head out after lunch. If not we go and play in his tent in his nursery. It has some balls and bean bags so he likes to throw them about and put different toys in his tent. Around 2.30 pm he will take another 1hour nap. When he wakes he has his third and final bottle of the day. We play some more, or go out for some fresh air before reverting to the usual night time schedule of dinner, bath, story, bed.

Highlights of the month: 

• Rhodri turned 1 this month. Bitter sweet to have my baby grow up so quickly. Of course I am happy that he is growing up and developing well, but yes I do miss my tiny little baby and those cute sleepy cuddles. These have now been replaced with "Let me go" squirming and "slap" I found your face mum!
• I love all the things he's learnt. Clapping, blowing kisses, waving, pretend coughing, standing up, crawling, walking around. Simple things for us to do, but the effort he puts in to doing and learning these things makes me appreciate it all.
• Celebrating his birthday and looking back on a year with Rhodri was the main highlight this month. 

Rhodri's monthly favourites: 

• Toy - Scout - his talking dog.
• Teddy - Goodnight bear.
• Food - Banana, toast, strawberry yoghurt, raisins.
• Music - All music, pretty much anything in the UK top 40, along with the classics such as Queen, Bon Jovi etc!! 
• Activity - Crawling, cat chasing and turning lights on & off.
• Person - Mummy & Daddy of course!
• Book - The Gruffalos Child

Rhodri's monthly dislikes:

• Being told "No". 
• Having anything dangerous or breakable taken away, or put out of reach.

Thats all for this month. As always thanks for reading!! xoxo

Rhodri's 9 Month Update

9 Month Update

I now have a 9 month old! That's a pregnancy... how crazy is that?! This month has really flown by and with only two weeks left until I return to work I've been filling our days with lots of fun activities. As much as I've loved that quality fun-filled time together, it does make time fly by even more. So lets take a look at what's been going on since Rhodri turned 8 months old, up until he hit 9 months old. 

Weight: Weight wise Rhodri has fallen slightly under his growth line. We know this is because he was quite poorly for almost two weeks this month. During that time he refused solids and he dropped from three bottles a day to two on a good day. Since getting better he has returned to his eating pattern so I'm sure he will be back on track soon.

Height: The health visitor measured him at his 6-9 month check and he is now 71cm long. This puts him just shy of the 75th percentile line. So he is long/tall but not massively. 

Clothing size: 6-9 months still.

Sleep: He sleeps 7pm - 7am most nights. When he was ill Rhodri woke at 10pm, 12pm & 4am every night. As soon as he was better we reverted back to his normal sleep pattern.

This months milestones: 

• Rhodri has learnt to wave. He was very keen to show this talent off at the beginning of the month but as time has gone on he doesn't wave as often, usually only when the mood suits.
• Rhodri has learnt to pull himself to a standing position using Mummy for support.
• While sitting on the sofa Rhodri will shuffle down on to his back, roll on to his tummy and then scoot off the sofa so he is standing up and holding on to the sofa.
• Rhodri is recognising who people are. So if I say 'Where is Nanna?' he looks at his Nanna.
• Rhodri says Dadda clearly. He sometimes says Mamma but usually reserves this for when he's upset.

This months special outings:

• We took Rhodri to an indoor play centre with his cousins. He was too young for most of it, but thoroughly enjoyed the ball pit!

Baby gear love: There's nothing in particular ... calpol with a syringe I guess? Anything that makes giving medicine easy is a plus.

Baby's routine: You can read our bed time routine HERE. 

Daytime wise he wakes at 7am, has porridge for breakfast, has a bottle, plays in his door bouncer or walker. Around 9.30am he goes for a nap. This is usually for about 2 hours. He then has a little play until 12pm when he has lunch and his second bottle. We play with his more interactive toys until about 2.30pm when he goes for a second nap. This is usually an hour nap. Once he wakes up we tend to play with his sensory tent and then he goes in the door bouncer or walker for a bit as well. This takes us up until dinner time which the bedtime routine covers :)

Of course there are days this differs slightly, if we go out he tends to avoid naps as long as possible and playtime isn't so scheduled but you get the gist.

Highlights of the month: 

• It was really miserable when Rhodri was ill, but the highlight of the month was seeing him starting to smile and babble again when he was feeling better. They were the sweetest smiles I've ever seen.
• He's a lot more vocal and I love that. He's always been very babbly, but after he was over his illness this has been a lot more noticeable.

Rhodri's monthly favourites: 

• Toy - A musical yellow starfish mirror toy
• Teddy - goodnight bear and his caterpillar
• Food - Banana pancakes, lamb & winter veggies, cauliflower.
• Music - Sam Smith 'Stay With Me' 
• Activity - Standing up holding on to the coffee table and bashing the table with coasters, remotes etc.
• Person - Mummy & Daddy of course!
• Book - The Gruffalos Child.

Rhodri's monthly dislikes:

• Medicine.
• Being dressed. Particularly dislikes putting coats on.
• Being strapped in to prams/car seats.
• Afternoon naps

We are still waiting for more teeth to arrive. His first two came through just before he turned 7 months and although he's been teething this entire time, no other teeth have come through yet! It looks like more are coming, but I said that last month!!

That's all for this month. As always thanks for reading! xoxo

Rhodri's 8 Month Update

8 month update

Rhodri playing in Nannas

So Rhodri is 8 months old now. It's crazy how time has flown, that the cheeky, funny and very bossy little man has been in our lives for 8 months already. Yet I also feel like he's always been a part of our lives.

One of my biggest blogger regrets is that I didn't come back to blogging sooner, that I missed an opportunity to keep all my pregnancy milestones and memories here, and until I wrote Rhodri wrote Baby R's First Blog Post I haven't done the best job at marking his milestones either. 

So new year, time to turn over a new bloggers leaf and get those memories typed up. Starting with his 8 month update! 

Weight/Height: He's gaining weight exactly on the trend he should be. Our Health Visitor has joked that he must have had a copy of the baby book and read it before he was born!

Height wise, he's only ever been measured once when he was was about 13 weeks old and never since so I don't know. He definitely seems longer but that's not very accurate of me!

Clothing size: 6-9 month.

Sleep: He sleeps 7pm - 7am most nights. 

This months milestones: 

• Rhodri got his first two teeth just before turning 7 months, and it's looking like some more will come through now he's 8 months. Slowly but surely!
• He's been able to sit with very little assistance for a while but around the 7 month mark he got his balance and can now sit unassisted for quite some time while playing without falling.
• He learnt to clap new years eve.
• He has also learnt to fake a cough. He finds this highly amusing.
• Hand eye co-ordination is definitely improving, he can now close the pop up section of toys deliberately and has a vague idea of how to make them pop back up.
• He can stand up for a short time when holding on to toys/tables.
• He does walk forward if you hold his hands and point him in the direction of a toy or person he wants.

This months special outings:

• We took Rhodri to visit his new baby cousin just before Christmas
• We also took Rhodri to his grandparents to spend time with his Auntie, Uncle & cousins who came to visit for Christmas. They live far away so that was quite special for him.
• Rhodri met his new twin besties. He was intrigued by the two small people, and very much liked their soft blankets.
• Rhodri went to his cousins 3rd Birthday Party. He didn't really understand what was going on, and I suspect he thought all the attention and fuss was for him. Either way he enjoyed.

Baby gear love: I would say my love this month would be the Summer Nasal Aspirator. I can't quite remember how it came to be in my possession, I remember thinking how gross it was and chucking it in a draw somewhere. Cue the cold he had over Christmas... love it now don't I!?

Baby's routine: You can read our bed time routine HERE. 

Daytime wise he wakes at 7am, has porridge for breakfast, has a bottle, plays in his door bouncer or walker. Around 10am he goes for a nap. This is usually for about 1 and a half hours. He then has a little play until 12pm when he has lunch and his second bottle. We play with his more interactive toys until about 2.30pm when he goes for a second nap. This is usually an hour nap. Once he wakes up we tend to play with his sensory tent and then he goes in the door bouncer or walker for a bit as well. This takes us up until dinner time which the bedtime routine covers :)

Of course there are days this differs slightly, if we go out he tends to avoid naps as long as possible and playtime isn't so scheduled but you get the gist.

Highlights of the month: 

• Rhodri has started to give proper cwtches, not just I'm being held and cwtched by you. But the proper arms around my neck, head nestled into my shoulder kind of cwtches. A cwtch is a cuddle by the way, Welsh term.
• He also gives kisses. If you say "kiss please" and he's in the right mood he puts his open mouth on my check, so that counts as a kiss right? The affection is certainly one of my highlights. 
• It was Rhodri's first Christmas shortly after he turned 7 months. That was a huge highlight. Loved seeing him with all his family.

Rhodri's monthly favourites: 

• Toy - door bouncer closely followed by his walker/activity centre
• Teddy - goodnight bear closely followed by scout the talking dog
• Food - Pork & Apple Casserole
• Music - Sam Smith 'Stay With Me' - I can't explain he just loves it.
• Activity - pretending to cough or sticking items like remotes in his mouth.
• Person - Mummy & Daddy of course!
• Book - One Ted falls out of bed.

Rhodri's monthly dislikes:

• Day time naps, especially if we aren't at home.
• Being dressed. Particularly dislikes putting coats on.
• Toys with pop up bits. You know where an animal pops up when you push a button? Yeah he doesn't like that. He shouts at the toys and slams the pop up bit shut! Weird but true.

That's all for this month. As always thanks for reading! xoxo