12 Months

Big cheesy grin with Aunt Jenn

Height: 31.25 inches

Weight: 21.5 lb

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Food: Officially on cow's milk now. It took a few days for him to get used to it, but he does pretty good with it now. He still only likes drinking out of a sippy cup with a straw. Won't have to teach him that in the future, though. He is really interested in what the 'big people' are eating. If his food isn't the same, he notices and wants what we are eating. Good thing we try to eat the same healthy stuff so he (and we) aren't getting junk.

Sleep: Another 'cry-it-out' experience and we have an all-night sleeper again. Praise the Lord! He's such a good boy. I lay him down in his crib for nap or bedtime and he goes to sleep without a fuss all by himself. I do miss rocking him, but he's a big boy on-the-go now. Good thing I'll have another sweet one in a few months that I'll get to rock all the time. 

Temperament: We are so blessed to have such a wonderful little boy. He is so happy and LOVES people. Being anywhere with lots of people is his idea of fun. He is starting to be a bit of a Mommy's boy and wants me to hold him more than usual. That means he gets upset when I can't hold him right that second and will throw a fit. Other than that he is awesome!

Reed loves:
-Motoring around the house with his toy. Seriously the best toy we have ever bought. (and probably the only toy we have ever bought him)
-Eating big people food. Like I said above, he notices when his food is different.
-Being held by Mommy
-Playing on pillows. I'm not sure what the fascination is, but he cannot get enough of it.

New adventures:
=6 big teeth! 4 top teeth and still 2 bottom teeth. What a cute toothy grin he has!
=First taste of sugar! I was sure he would go crazy with his birthday cake, but I think he took 2 licks of icing and that was it. He just wanted to destroy it.

=Night away from Mommy and Daddy! Wow! It had been a whole year since I had been away from my baby. For our 6 year anniversary we went to the Gaylord for the evening while my mom stayed with Reed. I was nervous that he wouldn't sleep well because it was also his first night to not be nursed before bed, too, however, our little boy slept all night and was such a happy guy when we got back to him next morning. I didn't have a freak-out or even worry about him much. I was very proud of how well I did. As Wes said, 'baby steps.' Too bad we won't have this opportunity again once sister comes. I do love nursing, but it's hard to get away conveniently.
=The end of an era: Reed is officially weaned! I probably would have kept going if it hadn't been for a few small factors:
1. I was not about to tandem nurse two children. Thank you, pregnancy.
2. Those teeth are not comfortable.
3. Reed was showing signs that he was done, too. (fussing, VERY short feedings, distraction)

So I had been sort-of freaking out about weaning for a few months. How do I wean my baby who refuses all other forms of hydration? (no bottle, no sippy cup, UGH!) Well we finally discovered that he would drink from a straw and had been giving him water for about a month and a half. He started doing really well with it which was SO encouraging. I had also been slowly decreasing his nursings until for the past 2 weeks he was only getting a bedtime feeding. On his birthday (and since we were going to be away the next night and I couldn't nurse him) I decided that was it. That night was his last feeding and we are still going strong! I probably would have been a little more upset about it if I hadn't had all those issues above. Plus I get to start all over again in 4 months. I loved nursing my little guy and am so shocked I did it for a whole year. We'll see if sister gets nursed that long....

It has been one year since we were blessed with God's great promise. My heart actually aches that God would love us so much to give us this little boy. And I'm sure he'll be a great big brother.




Enjoy!

The Turners