The best thing that came out of 2020 was of course our baby boy. ❤️ It’ll be Noah’s first birthday in a week! I wasn’t able to keep up with his monthly baby updates in the end, but I have really enjoyed being busy with him. Our first year together was very different from what I had imagined, but he brought so much joy into my life during a time that would have otherwise been much harder. Although he’s my second child, I still find it fascinating to follow his development. He’s such a little character now, with moods, likes and dislikes. While I still remember, I wanted to write down some milestones from the last couple of months!
9-months old:
- Noah started properly crawling and climbing up to standing when he was 8.5-months old (on October 9th). I remember Maia starting to crawl towards her own reflection in the mirror. Noah started crawling towards her, with Maia cheering him on. It was the most heartwarming sight!
- Interestingly Noah stood up on the very same day as he started to crawl! Very soon after he started cruising along the furniture and bear crawling too. I dropped his cot bottom all the way down and we finally got a stair gate to prevent him from climbing up the stairs. We never had it before because I’d always been able to watch Maia and to make sure she practiced climbing safely. But now I have two kids and it’s impossible to keep an eye on both of them at all times!
10-months old:
- One day, on November 24th to be exact, Noah stood up against his baby walker and started walking. Just like that! Very soon he was walking with speed using any form of support – his car, Maia’s toy buggy, even our dining chairs.
- Noah’s 7th and 8th teeth cut through after a few months without much grief from teething. It wasn’t too bad though but we went through a bit of sleep regression again. Thankfully it improved after a few weeks. Strangely the teething symptoms intensified after all of his front teeth had already appeared, which suggests his molars started to bother him under the gums…
- Generally Noah sleeps through from 7pm until 4/5am which is when I breastfeed him and he goes back to sleep in his cot until 6/6.30am. He still has two naps 40-60 minutes in the morning (9am) and ~1.5h in the afternoon (2pm) but he often wakes up during the afternoon nap and I need to resettle him.
11-months:
- By Christmas Noah was teething badly with molars but none had cut through. For the first time he was clearly suffering and got a teething rash on his face too. I tried lots of different creams but even the best (Aveeno) only gave temporary relief. He was still eating well and only a few nights were disturbed but naps suffered and he was quite unhappy during the day. Poor little guy, he’s always been such a happy chap! But even on the more challenging days, we had many good moments. ❤️
- Noah loves mummy and daddy and Maia – we are the only people he really knows (apart from Mimi, our housekeeper). I don’t know if it’s separation anxiety or if it’s just a result of having lived almost his entire life in lockdown, but ever since he was 8-months old he has panicked every time I or his daddy leave the room (unless it’s sleep time and we leave him in his room, he’s used to that). It’s not really a problem though because I’m always with him anyway.
- He loves to play with Maia and everything she does he finds funny or exciting. Noah loves to sit on the toy car while Maia pushes him, also likes to push Maia!
- Noah has many other likes and dislikes too. He’s favourite lovey is a little blue elephant. He loves the dishwasher and the washing machine and hates the hoover and the blender. He tolerates the hair dryer. He loves pulling the tall, full-body mirror we have hanging in our kitchen, which keeps me on edge as I worry it’ll come down one day! Overall he seems to like destroying everything he gets his hands on, and believe me when I say he is quick at getting his hands on stuff!
- Noah eats a lot (and poos a lot) and likes most things. For example he’s happy to eat green beans and salmon but is careful not to touch avocado. He doesn’t want to be spoon-fed so I mostly make finger food or foods like risotto that stick to the spoon.
- Noah drinks water and milk from Munchkin Miracle 360 trainer cup. I’m still breastfeeding a few times a day and once a night (around 4/5am) for bonding and comfort, but not so much for nutrition as he eats so much. We’ve started giving him a bit of cow’s milk in the mornings (when I sleep) from the cup.
- He calls us “mammmma” or “daddyyy” and stretches his arms out when he wants to be picked up. He has started having mini tantrums or what we call the “floor stretches”. 😃
- Noah wears nappy pants size 6 and 9-12m clothes. I haven’t had him weighed since he was a newborn but he feels solid and squishy and I haven’t had any reasons to be concerned. His hands and feet are much bigger than Maia’s were and he’s much taller than what she was at this age too. He was bigger at birth too though, 3.05kg vs. Maia’s 2.55kg.
Noah is due to have his 12-month immunisations soon, but I’m not sure how they are being dealt with in the current lockdown. Noah has a bit of a runny nose now for the first time in months so I’ll just wait for him to feel better before booking his jabs. Noah’s 8-12 month review with the health visitor was done over the phone in November. As a second time mum I feel much more confident in my ability to assess if he is growing and developing normally, and in the current circumstances I think it’s better to not take him to the GP surgery unnecessarily.
So it’ll be another lockdown birthday party for us next week. I’m not sure how we’ll celebrate Noah’s big day. It would be nice to make it special somehow, although it’s a bit tricky at the moment. I’ll have a go at baking a cake anyway. ❤️
I’m so happy that Noah’s first birthday is not overshadowed by the ending of my maternity leave, the way Maia’s was. I’m now officially on sabbatical and will continue to spend my days with the kids. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
xoxoxo,
Sini