My baby is ONE!

Wow, Christian is ONE YEAR OLD!!   However did that happen!?!  It's amazing and scary and emotional all at the same time.  Although Christian is one, he hasn't really taken on many of the characteristics that I associate with toddlers. He isn't walking, or even cruising and he isn't talking at all yet.   Although that is occasionally frustrating, it is also special to me because it allows me to hold onto my baby for just a little while longer.

(Update: 13 months now.  I wrote this a month ago.  See 2nd child syndrome below...)

Poor Christian.  He is a victim of 2nd child syndrome.  By the time Katie was one, there were many blog entries and posts with pictures.  In the first year of Christian's life, there have been only a few.  I have, however, endeavored to at least record in pictures what I have not recorded in words and pull out the camera regularly to document his progress and stages.  I do not want to forget the information, however, about when he started to move, how he moved, his first tooth, his hair, his smile, all those things that are uniquely his so I am going to try to document everything I can remember over the next little while.  I am writing this at 4am when I can't sleep.  That may be what it takes to get some of his babyhood recorded for posterity, but it will be time well spent.

Physical Development
Like his sister before him, Christian is a big boy!  He was nearly identical to Katie in size and length at birth, coming in at 9 lbs  2.9 oz and 22.25" long.  The doctors generally want babies to regain their birth weight (after losing some immediately after birth) by the two week visit.  Christian was an overachiever.  He had almost completely regained his birth weight by the first doctor visit at 4 days old!  We had a rough first few months with infant GERD (reflux), nursing problems, milk protein sensitivity, and being tongue-tied but every time I took him to the doctor, there was never a concern about failure to thrive.  In fact, the doctors had trouble believing that he had reflux, nursing problems, and milk protein sensitivity because he kept gaining weight.  What they didn't realize was that he was nursing every two hours during the day up until and even into 4 months.  The reflux and milk protein caused him so much pain and discomfort that he couldn't nap for longer than 30 minutes or so during the day.  So he would nap, and wake up screaming.  Then I, being a mom who loves and wants to help my child stop screaming, would think he was hungry and feed him.  Every. Two. Hours.  All day. Until he was 4 months old.  So he thrived and gained weight despite any problems we had.

Well, my computer battery is dying and that is all the time I gave myself for tonight.  I probably won't post this until the morning since I want to track down the rest of his stats to post along with it.  Good night for now!

Update: I actually wrote this a month ago but took awhile to track down the stats and then, shock of shockers, got busy again.  Better late than never!

Age	Length	Weight	Head
Birth	22.25 in (99%)	9 lbs, 3 oz (90%)	13.6 in (25%)
2 weeks	23 in (98%)	10 lbs, 11 oz (90%)	14.3 in ((27%)
2 months	24.5 in (95%)	14 lbs, 9 oz (97%)	16.25 in (81%)
4 months	27.25 in (98%)	18 lbs, 6 oz (96%)	17.25 in (88%)
6 months	28.25 in (92%)	20 lbs, 13 oz (90%)	17.7 in (81%)
9 months	30.25 in (94%)	23 lbs, 10 oz (89%)	18.25 in (77)
1 year	31.5 in (91%)	24 lbs, 7 oz (73%)	19 in (91%)

Note: I actually posted 5 days this week!  Hurray!