Dane is 10 months!

I knew time would speed up now that we are in the holiday season but this just seems out of control! I can't believe Dane is 10 months old already.He is changing and learning and growing so fast that it is hard to keep up. I'm trying to really enjoy every moment with him because it really is apparent that my baby is turning into a toddler!

Here are Dane's 10 month stats:

Weight- 22.5 lbs 45%
Height- 31 inches 97%
Wearing 18month clothing & size 4 shoes
Size 4 diapers during the day and 5 at night

 

(Baby long legs?)

Dane is taking a bottle! Can I get a hallelujah?! It was like a light switch was turned on all of a sudden and he was willing to take a bottle. I tried all sorts of things to have him take it. It finally took using one of the playtex vent air bottles and putting warm whole milk in it. I know, I know, it's too early to give him milk. The thing is he just refused formula and I really needed him to get the hang of a bottle since my milk production was reducing. It only took about a week of milk and then I was able to start giving him formula. So by the end of his 10th month he was down to just nursing once in the middle of the night.

At 10 months he has 4 words that he says regularly. "Mama", "Num-Num" (for food), "Uh-Oh" for something he isn't supposed to do, and "Oh Wow!" for something that he likes.  We love the "Oh wow" one. So sweet! I have videos of him saying these things on my phone. I'll try to get them uploaded.

Dane has a lot of hair (see above) now and it is a golden blond. I think it is still getting lighter which would make sense since Aaron and I both had really light hair as toddlers. His eyes are still blue with a hint of gray. People still comment on his eyes.

  

 (Thanks Barlows for the cute Thanksgiving outfit!)

Dane celebrated his first Thanksgiving at Grampa and Nana's house. He enjoyed all the food especially the mashed potatoes. He loves seeing his older cousins running around and they like making him laugh by jumping around him.

 

Dane is a pro crawler now and is really good at cruising from furniture to furniture. He took some unassisted steps in the middle of his 10th month but still would rather crawl. He can also climb up the stairs and he is getting better at getting off the couch but will still go head first.

 

I look at him sleeping in his crib and just can't believe how big he is now. 

Dane got the stomach flu for the first time this month. It was the worst thing ever. But his energy level stayed up and we just had to deal with the useless diapers.

Dane throws EVERYTHING. I'm not exaggerating. He is also going through the hitting phase. We are working with him to figure out that is is "owiee" when he hits but the progress is slow. I apologize for anyone that has been smacked in the face lately.

15-20 weeks baby #2

They say every pregnancy is different and now that I'm on my second one I can really confirm that. This pregnancy has been completely different. That should give some of you hope that are scared to get pregnant again ;-) If I had to guess what I was having based on my symptoms I would have said a girl because it feels so different.

First off I should say how sad I am that I missed my 15 week post and picture. Bummer. But life was a little too crazy and I was a little too sick. Oh well, here is the recap...

I started feeling him move for sure at 15.5 weeks. {About the same time as Dane.} I think that I actually felt him move first at about 13 weeks but everyone tells me that isn't possible.

Morning sickness lasted till about 16 weeks this time but it was way different than with Dane. Instead of feeling nauseous and then vomiting and then feeling better for a little while I just felt nauseous ALL. THE. TIME.  I vomited a total of 2 times this pregnancy! Not including the stomach flu that I got at 17 weeks that had me down for the longest 3 days of my life.

My back started hurting at 18 weeks. Mostly just on my left side like normal. However, I seem to remember that my hips were killing me when I would sleep with Dane by this point. They aren't hurting this time. Guess they did all the adjusting they needed to last time.

I started showing much earlier with this one and feel like I am just generally larger. But I haven't gained any weight yet (at 19 weeks)! {I'm sure having the stomach flu didn't help} I'm pretty sure that at my next appointment I will have gained a couple of pounds and that I will have some make up weight gain the next few weeks.


Speaking of what everyone keeps telling me, everyone keeps telling me that this little boy is going to be a wild child. Mostly because Dane is "so well behaved". Everyone keeps telling me that the second child is always completely different and usually a handful. The first couple of times someone told me that I just laughed but now it is a little out of control. I'm getting scared!

We found out at 18.5 weeks that we are having another boy! We are so excited. It is just what we wanted and think/hope they will be best of friends. We have also decided that his name will be Michael Paul Christensen. It is a very traditional name but special to us. Michael is a name that we decided on our first year of marriage for a son and Paul is a family name on my side of the family. We love it. And it is really nice having the name decided so early so that we don't have to think about it.

{PS. I find the fact that I am going to be in a house with all boys kind of ironic. Growing up in a home of all girls I definitely have a learning curve}

Baby Michael was really active during the ultrasound. It was so fun to see! { Dane would always hold perfectly still during the ultrasounds.} We saw his profile, hands, feet, boy parts, spine, and everything looked great. He has a nice strong heartbeat and the heart looked good too.

It has been really hard continuing nursing throughout this pregnancy. It mostly was just wearing me out for the first trimester and then it started to hurt (really bad) during my second. My milk production started to decrease so I started to really work on having Dane take a bottle and supplementing. At about 19 weeks pregnant I got down to just nursing once during the night time and by 20 weeks we have stopped all together. {Dane was 10.5 months old} It was a little emotional on my part just because I had plans to nurse till a year at least. Oh well. Dane didn't even seem to notice when we stopped all together:-)
 

HURRAY FOR BEING HALF WAY THERE!  GO TEAM BLUE!

  #2 vs. #1

After comparing the pictures I actually look about the same size, ha?

Dane is 9 months!

 

9 months in, 9 months out! Time is flying. Dane is developing into such a fun little boy. And boy oh boy is he all boy! I grew up in a family of all girls and helped raise my little sister so this is a new experience for me. I love it. It seems that every day now he is amazing me with something new (and with his amount of energy).  He is silly, strong, fast, sweet, mischievous, smart, and just so much fun.

Here are Dane's 9 month stats:

Weight- 22.5 lbs 75%
Height- 30.5 inches 96%

This month brought a big change for Dane (and for Aaron and me). Dane's best friend, Roan, moved away. These two boys have seen each other every single day of their entire lives. Roan was here to greet Dane when he came home from the hospital, they shared a bath, went to the park together, shared a crib during nap time, laughed together, cried together, and just had so much fun together. It was a hard adjustment for everyone involved. I probably cried the most. And now, I am seeing the difference in Dane. He has become much more dependent on me for attention during the day. Before Dane had a playmate and now all he has is me and sometimes I really think he gets a little bored with me:-) He is thrilled whenever we have guests or go places where there are other children. I asked around to see if there is a playgroup nearby but can't find one so I guess I'll have to start one or start setting up a lot of play dates. Good thing Dane has a little brother or sister on the way.

Dane is vary active. He stands and lets go and then just stays there for a long time. He doesn't seem interested in taking steps while balancing but I'm sure he is getting there. He has perfected his crawling and is really fast! All sorts of gates have been put up in our home. As well as the pack and play being set up for temporary holding:-)

 

Dane is vary vocal and has lots of baby talk. He is now saying Mama when he needs me and it is adorable. He is getting really good at his "Dadadadada" and I'm sure Dada is not far behind. He also know/says "num, num" for food and will recognize the hand sign for milk.

Eating is getting fun. He is eating a lot more variety and also finger foods now. He likes to talk a lot while he eats and sometimes blows bubbles. Fun.

Dane is getting better at sleeping through the night. He has had several night where he will only wake up once and sleep of a stretch of 7 hrs. Unfortunately it isn't all the time and will still wake up 2 times some times.

Blanket training is going really well. I don't think I have mentioned it before on here. I have a special blanket and a special bag of toys reserved for blanket time. When he is on the blanket he will sit and play with those toys and stay on the blanket. When he goes to crawl off I just put him back on and remind him to stay. We try to practice once a day for about 15 min. He is very active and wants to crawl off but I can actually see him learning. When I put the blanket down he seems to calm down and focus on his toys. If it works as it should as he gets older he will learn some self control and boundaries and it will be like a portable playpen. It's an experiment:-) We'll see. I have to admit I'm a little nervous about having 2 babies so close in age and I'm hoping that this will help when we need to go do visits or in church. (If you are wondering, there is no hitting or spanking involved in this:).

Dane has started dancing. It is adorable. He shakes his head back and forth like he is saying "no" but he does it to music. He will also bounce his knees:-) So if you see him and he starts to shake his head no at you he is just trying to be cute.

Dane has 6 teeth. 4 on top and 2 on the bottom. We had some teething this past month that was rough. I guess my son gets a fever when he is teething. So scary but he is fine the next day.

I am so looking forward to the next few months and having a little boy to share the holidays with.

Starting with Halloween!

10 Weeks baby #2

I'm actually 13 weeks now but for the sake of my belly pictures I'm labeling this 10 weeks.  Time is flying with this pregnancy. I feel like when I was pregnant with Dane it took FOREVER to get to my second trimester and with this one I just realized that my second trimester is already here! I kind of feel like I keep forgetting that I'm pregnant. Well, except for the feeling like a zombie part.

This pregnancy is feeling really different. With Dane I would vomit at least once a day. This time I have only vomited twice! However, I feel nauseated 24/7 with no relief. I started feeling that way at about 5 1/2 weeks pregnant. Which is a little earlier than with Dane. It isn't bad enough for me to want to take something for it but it is bad enough to make me feel miserable.  Also, I am still nursing Dane so my exhaustion is out of control. But other than being super tired and nauseated all the time I feel okay ;-)

One obvious difference with this pregnancy is that I started showing much earlier and much bigger. As you will see in my ten week picture. I have lost a few pounds so far. Probably because I just can't keep up with the amount of calories needed to be pregnant, nurse, and survive. The nausea doesn't help.

I wasn't this big last time till about 18 weeks. 

Dane wanted in on the picture taking

We got to see our baby at my 13 week appointment to verify my due date. There was a typo in my chart saying I was actually due in March not April. I knew it was wrong but wanted to see the baby so we did an ultrasound. It was amazing! The baby was wiggling around and we got to see a profile, toes & fingers. They did a gender check and said it looked like a boy but at this age it is pretty much impossible to really know. We would be happy with either a girl or a boy:-)

 

At 10 weeks:

-I have popped out.
-I feel super tired
-I feel like vomiting all the time but don't
-Have only actually vomited 2 times
-Heard and saw the heard beat
-Am soooo excited to be having another little one!