Sunday, March 28, 2010

Week 54

Mar 17-23
Now that I have finally finished the birthday blogging I wanted to write a blog about Jack's 1 year milestones. We had his 1 year official checkup last week with his new pediatrician. He is now 23 1/2 lbs (50th %) and 30 inches tall (50th %). A far cry from 8 lbs 14 oz and 19 inches at birth!! I can't believe how much growing happens in the first year. He's pretty lean and trim, but I feel like it is because he is CONSTANTLY busy. :) The kid gets a ton of exercise!!
Jack is now completely on whole milk. We prefer to buy the Horizon Organic Whole Milk plus DHA Omega 3 for brain development. The switch to eating organic is a process our family has been striving to achieve for a couple of years now. Jack has always eaten organic formula, yogurt, eggs, etc. We eat mostly organic meats and we buy the organic cage-free eggs. I can enjoy my scrambled eggs in the morning knowing that the chickens that hatched them were happy running around in the sunshine. :)
He eats "real" people food now. No more baby food!!! Favorites include macaroni and cheese, oatmeal, cereal, ice cream, yogurt, sandwiches, and crackers. Usually he just eats whatever we are eating. He likes grilled fish, broccoli "trees", meatloaf, and especially POTATOES!!
He has been walking for awhile now, he started the day after Christmas. He has now accomplished full fledged running and he is great at grass AND sand!
Words include mama, dada, baba (bottle), baby, lala, gaga, bye-bye, and BOO. He loves to play hide-and-seek, peek-a-boo, and "monster".
He still takes 2 naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. He goes to bed around 6:30-7:00 pm and wakes up at 7:00 am. We are in the process of weaning him off his bottle. I'm trying to find a good cup I like for his milk. I would love for him to drink his milk cold because we are warming it up like the formula. I think if it comes out of something other than his bottle he will drink it cold.
He loves to play in his new playhouse! He likes when you bring toys outside and he will take them in and out of his house. He is almost able to climb up the toy by himself and go down the slide. He likes his ride on toys. He's getting good at scooting around in them instead of just sitting there.
His best friend is still Riley. He lives down the street and is about the same age. Jack loves to play with mom and dad. He also loves to play with Rachel, his babysitter. She comes on Friday mornings and on occasion other times if we need her.
His favorite animal is a dog. He loves Hope and plays with her all the time. He LOVES the zoo! I think his favorite part is the petting zoo because he can run wild and pet all the animals.
He has SIX teeth now!! Four on the top and two on the bottom. LOVES that he can really chew food!
That pretty much sums up his activity and milestones. He still has such a laid back personality. He wakes up happy and is always smiling and talking. When he does fall or trip he usually just gets up and shakes it off. He's a great little kid and we both feel like he is growing up way too fast!!!

6 comments:

Emily said...

I cannot believe how big he is, Elizabeth! And such changes in only a year. Do i remember you saying he got teeth later in his first year? Lucy still doesn't have any (which I know is totally normal) but it seems like so many kids start teething earlier. Like I have a friend with a 7-month-old who has 6 teeth.

You've also set such a high standard with the birthday celebrations!

One of my goals with Lucy is to be able to nurse long enough to make the switch to whole milk without having to use formula, which just seems like a pain to me (we will continue to nurse for comfort as long as she wants). I definitely want to nurse her as long as possible, but in the military you never know what will happen (as you well know!) and I'm sort of nervous about this new job. Anyways, I've read a lot of conflicting information about when this is- most sources (including Dr. Sears and LLL) say no cow's milk before a year, which doesn't really make sense since formula is made from cows milk, so from an allergy perspective I don't understand it. Dr. Newman (breastfeeding expert) says that if breastmilk supply diminishes, cow's milk is fine around 7 months, as long as baby still gets what breastmilk is available and eats a variety of solids as well. What's your professional opinion?

Oh, and kudos on the switch to organic. Heck, I grew up on a dairy farm, and I won't touch non-organic milk.

Unknown said...

Thanks Emily! Enjoy the cute little moments while you can! I definitely feel like the 1 year mark ends their time as a "baby." He is such an independent little kid now. We can hold two things up and he makes a choice, he has opinions about things. It is amazing!! As far as switching to cow's milk early...I wouldn't recommend it, at least not at 7 months. You are doing a great job with the breastfeeding...you can make it to a year!! Milk is definitely harder on their stomachs. I gradually switched it....over the past 3-4 weeks and Jack still had a little bit of diarrhea. He had been taking 8 oz bottles and I started by doing 6 oz formula/2 oz milk, then 4oz formula/4 oz milk, then 2 oz formula/6 oz milk...each for a week and now starting this week he has been completely on whole milk. He seems to like it, now my only problem is that we are still warming it up and he is taking it out of a bottle. I REALLY prefer he takes it another way, but we haven't found a cup that I like yet.

You have come this far with breastfeeding, don't give up!! If you do have to resort to formula...I would recommend Similac Organic. It literally has no smell and Jack NEVER had stomach issues with it. All other formulas I feel like they stink and they pretty much make me gag if I get a whiff of them. :)

Unknown said...

I can't believe what a handsome little man Jack is. I find it heartbreaking that I've "missed out" on watching him grow up and you becoming such a wonderful mommy! Thanks for spending all your hardwork updating, posting, and managing this blog. It truly has given me a glimpse of the Storch family life and I sure do miss all of you. Thank you again for putting so much time into this- don't stop...EVER! Love you tons and can't wait to see you this summer. XOXO :)

Emily said...

Oh girl, I'm not giving up! Don't worry :-)
I'm all panicky b/c i just shipped off 250 oz of breastmilk (my freezer stash) to a mama who needed help with her baby. I only have about 50 oz in the freezer right now and it makes me nervous. Oh well, I will just pick an extra pumping session to build it back up.
Anyways, thanks for the encouragement!

And about the bottle issue...we are working on moving Lucy to a cup right now...and i don't mean a sippy. I hate seeing older kids carry around a sippy and much as I hate seeing a two-year-old with a bottle, and it's not good for jaw/bite development anyway. If newborns can drink out of a straight cup, I guarantee you Jack can with a little practice.

Becky said...

I just wanted to say
1- I bought a new pack of pampers wipes and Jack totally looks like the baby in the picture...
2- I can't believe we missed you in Sumter!!! Dang it all! Maybe next time!

Kelly and Ashley Grogan said...

i can't believe how grown up Jack is now :)