Julie, Brandon, and Walker babe: 1-12 months

Walker was/is such a good little guy. I of course have my moments but don't all moms?? I wont say he is the best but he is pretty close :) He was such a good newborn and a great sleeper and eater from the beginning. I was natzi from the get-go with a schedule. For those of you who know me I am a "scheduled" person ( a little OCD if you will) so of course my kid was going to be right there with me. Getting him on a schedule wasn't too bad. I did baby wise and swear by that method. He slept a lot during the day but he never went through the stage where he was confused with his days and nights. Boy am I GRATEFUL!! I need my sleep and thank goodness I never felt SO exhausted! At about three weeks he started sleeping 6 to 8 hours a night. His naps weren't totally down pat but they were getting there. He was still eating about every 3 hours... SO now that he sounds like the most perfect thing in the world here comes the stress..... BREASTFEEDING!!! haha it was hard and one of the hardest things I went through. (minus the week or two after having him..... SOOOO sore and emotional lol) When he would wake up or cry because he was hungry I would start crying :( it hurt SOOO bad... I was cracked, bleeding, raw, everything awful. I went to the lactation clinic twice and it helped a little bit. I was too stubborn and I had so much milk I didn't want it to go to waste or have him not get breast milk because it was too hard for ME. I knew I would get through it. At the time I didn't always feel that way but it turned out to be true. People told me at six months it is so easy and you don't even notice it. That was true. Then you have those girls that nursing comes so easy to them, their baby latches on great, eats great, no soreness blah blah blah :) I envy those girls. I pumped for awhile because I didn't want to lose my milk, I used cream, I did everything!!!! I finally gave into the nipple shield and that thing saved my life. Thank you whoever invented that little miracle. I gave myself a goal to make it to 4 months.... Once I started using the nipple shield I gave myself to 6 months. Walkers Dr said to atleast try to get to six months. Once six months came I can admit it was getting easier. Then my next goal was to get rid of the shield because it was kinda annoying to deal with... haha so that went away around 7 months (at this point Im still shocked I was breastfeeding) So my ultimate goal was NO LONGER than a year. To me it was kinda weird breastfeeding anyway because I had a boy hahaha.... but it was only weird if I thought about it. When i did think about it it grossed me out so I said on his 1st birthday I'm DONE!!! at this point it was way easy, he wasn't feeding as much and it wasn't painful... FINALLY!!!! So might as well go the whole time and make the hubby happy with no formula bill :) and myself..... I was not into buying formula if I had enough milk myself which I did. I did supplement a couple times if I was out and about or someone was watching him and he took to it great. I was so glad because I knew the day he turned one he was going on vitamin D milk and I heard horror stories for that transition. But, he did great with all. His birthday night was the last time I nursed :( bitter sweet. Now that its over I feel SO FREE hahaha except my boobs are the size they were in like 5th grade...so lame!!
OK enough of my breastfeeding drama TMI?? anyways I can honestly say that was my hardest part and now that its over I am grateful I stuck with it as long as I did. Another HUGE blessing while having your first, second......sixth child is having your mom! I could NOT have done it without her. The day she left was a rough one....what a hot mess I was! hahaha but really...She did everything for us but also teaching me things I still do today for Walker. She cooked, she cleaned, she did laundry, she cried, she laughed, she felt pain, and she was just THERE the whole time. I loved texting her at 3am to come sit with me while I fed him because I was bored and she came in with a smile on her face everytime! I could never thank her enough! I am a lucky girl and Walker is one lucky dude to have her as his Grammie!
Anywho..... every month I took Walkers pictures. From 1 month to 12 months. It was so fun to see him change and see how his personality was coming out. We loved it!!! We were always a little behind but whatever ;) we did it right?? I think next baby Ill be sure to do it on the day they turn a new month!
Here is each month and what he was doing at that month.......

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where we started to know he is so "expressive" and always has a concerned look on his face!

He started to get really chubby around 3 months and do cute baby giggles and BIG smiles :)

When he went from being in the pac n play next to me to his own room in his crib :( sad day for mom!


My most favorite month pictures...so many rolls I want to squeeze him! He started eating solids at 5 months. He did great! just took a couple times and he was chowin down ;)