What's The Story - post 1

It was Harry's first birthday, just 2 months ago. I had this lovely garden party planned for a Saturday afternoon. Lots of room for him and his little friends to run around.
I spent the whole morning in the kitchen. Instead of spending the Friday night baking his very first birthday cake as I planned, I decided to head off to Greenwich Park with him, daddy and aunt A. who was visiting. We met up with his aunt R. and uncle S,. for some lovely Pie n Mash then headed over to the park for some running around. After a whole day out I was exhausted and knew no baking would be done that evening.
We had it all thought out and my sister was over to help, only the weather forecast was inconclusive and I waited until the last minute to know if we could be outdoors. Half an hour before the guests were due to arrive the rain came down, that meant setting up the party indoors and prepare to have a small flat packed with about 7 toddlers and over 20 adults.
In the end everything worked out, unfortunately with the rush happy birthday was sang over our computer desk with a hideous looking calendar on the background so that isn't an image I will treasure. I do, however, like this shot because it gives you a big time after party feeling, also with the rush of moving our plans from been an outdoors party with plenty of room to an indoors one where everyone became rather close, the cake was the only bit of decoration I actually managed to do as planned.

This post is linked up to What's The Story Linky hosted by the lovely Charly from PODcast

1 year of milestones

if you look carefully you will see Harry's first tooth.

So since Harry's birthday I have been super busy taking my brother and sister sightseeing around London and ended up not having much time to stop by and write a little first year update.

Harry turned one weighting a whole 10 kilos - that is 22 pounds. He is 75cm tall - 2 feet 5¹⁷⁄₃₂ inches.

12 months MILESTONES

 
Have one to eight teeth - hurrah! His first TWO teeth cut trough 5 days before his 1st birthday.

Stands by his or herself - yes - and put on a very proud smile every time.
Sit down without help - if intentionally falling on his bum counts as sit down then yes, he does that well.

Bang two blocks together - and laugh and laugh

Turn through the pages of a book by flipping many pages at a time - he loves doing that and is a great way to keep him happy on long journeys

Picks up a small object using the tip of the thumb and index finger - and since he learnt that I'm no longer allowed to feed him his food unless we are talking yogurt or porridge.

Sleep 8 - 10 hours a night and take one to two naps - I wish. He does go down from 12 hours but will feed 2 to 3 times during that period. Although at the moment he is feeding all night as teething won;t let him sleep. He still takes 2 naps a day and whenever he skip the afternoon nap bedtime can become a battlefield.

Follows a fast moving object - and people, animals and aliens.

Can say momma, papa, and at least one or two other words - oooohhh yes!!! he has been saying Dada for a while but on the day of his birthday party he started saying monn monn monn and that melts my heart.

Understands simple commands - in both English and Portuguese

Understands that objects continue to exist, even when they are not seen (object constancy) - that is so well sorted in his head that he makes it a challenge to hide away something that he get hold of and shouldn't be playing with

Points to objects with index finger - aaaaaaaaalllllll the time.

Experiences separation anxiety and may cling to parents - I get a feeling that my over cuddly behaviour had something to do with him overcoming that stage very early. These days there are, of course, times when he will not want to be away from D. and I; mainly if he is hungry, tired or needs changing. On his birthday party he hardly saw his dad and I during the day, he was happy playing with his uncle and aunt and friends of the family but you could see his little eye light up whenever he realised D. and I were still around.

Flashback Friday - one year ago today

According to our dating scan, Harry's due date was the 18th of June, 2012. Even though both D. and I had the feeling he would arrive a bit earlier, we still booked the week before his due date to be the week we would get all the last minute things done.

We moved into our flat in the beginning of May 2012. We left all baby furniture to be purchased after we were in the new place; cot, changing unit, chest of drawers the lot. I was heavily pregnant and in no condition to  help much with the move. Because of the mess we didn't have much time to put things together but since D. took some time off work from the 11th June we thought that would give us plenty of time to get things done.

An year ago today I was 38 weeks pregnant, shopping online for moises bedding, completely oblivious that the pain I was getting  when walking was in fact my first contractions.

This post if linked to the Flashback Friday bloghop, click on the image and read more.

Happy 4 months Harry, you are a big boy today!!!

Little guy is 4 months today, hard to believe. Time has flown by. Funny how it feels like it was just yesterday that I first heard him crying and held him in my arms for the first time, still it is as if he has always been in our lives

Harry is now 6.66 kg and 68 cm or 14 lb 7 oz and 26.5 inches. He is also this big smiley boy full of personality who loves a cuddle but also enjoys daddy's funny games of bouncing up and down on the sofa.
He is a curious little thing who during day time will rather look around than spend a whole 10 minutes feeding - that of course is tricky for mummy but we are getting used to it and feeding as much as possible when he is half asleep; the only time he will be calm enough to feed for a bit longer.

He still likes his big red balloon but not enough that it can be his baby sitter anymore. He can hold a toy on each hand and seems to tense his whole body on the attempt to grab something he dropped a bit further than his hands can reach.

Harry has also gone from sleeping 12 hours a night waking up once to feed to sleeping 10 hours and waking up whenever...yap, keeping mummy on her toes!

MILESTONES AT 4 MONTHS

• Holds head up steadily - CHECK
• Can bear weight on legs - CHECK ALTHOUGH IT ISN'T HIS FAVORITE SPORT
• Coos when you talk to him - OOOHH CHECK

• Can grasp a toy - AND MUMMY'S HAIR AND HIS CLOTHES AND ANYTHING ELSE HE CAN LAY HIS HANDS ON
• Reaches out for objects - OR TRY AND GET FRUSTRATED WHEN THEY ARE JUST TOO FAR
• Can roll over - NOT THERE YET BUT HE IS TRYING

• Imitates speech sounds - baba, dada - NOT THOSE SOUNDS, HE DOES IMITATE SOME STUFF BUT THERE'S A LOT OF JIBBER JABBER GOING ON
• May cut first tooth - NOT YET BUT THERE CERTAINLY IS ONE IN THE MAKING