11-Months Old - 25ths!

Hard to believe that we're one month away from Jack's first birthday. In some ways, it seems like yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital - a fragile 6 lbs. 6 oz. little thing with no head control, but a mighty wail. Then again, it seems as though countless days and nights have passed...changing thousands of diapers, nursing hours on end, and the ever-cruel challenge of staying awake while Jack was awake, yet unable to fully fall asleep while he slept for fear I would miss a cry, a whimper, a smile. As they say, it does get easier, though each passing month brings new challenges.

This month, it's making sure Jack doesn't hit his head. Too much anyway. He's desperate to walk, and is pulling himself up on every chair, table, bookcase, and wall. Consequently, there's also a lot of slipping and bonking of body parts. Nothing major, fortunately, but he still utilizes that mighty wail to let us know that he's fallen. It's actually quite deceiving because he becomes quiet while taking in a long, deep breath in order to scream as loudly as he can. The few seconds of quiet before the storm, I guess. With his newfound freedom comes a desire to explore and test himself. Jack has crawled over the entire house here and in Wrentham. We call it "explorer mode" where he wants to touch and look at everything. And now that he can make himself 29 inches tall, he realizes how much more he can put his hands on: DVDs, electronics, new pieces of furniture, blind cords, unassuming kitty cats... he's playing seek and destroy while Jeff and I are playing seek and recover. Occasionally tiresome, but also incredibly rewarding to watch him be so fascinated by his ever-growing world.

Speaking of expanding his universe, we're soon embarking on sleep training. Essentially moving Jack out of our bed and into his own crib in his own room. We've heard over and over that it would have been easier if we'd moved him into the nursery when he was three months old, but having him in the bed allowed me to actually sleep, since he could easily nurse. I've also heard that some babies get so worked up that they throw up before passing out from exhaustion. And Jack does seem to get quite worked up. I imagine there might be a few nights where I break down and bring him into our bed, but if he can get used to sleeping on his own, he'll only be better for it.