My Baby's Growing Up

I've been avoiding writing this post.  For some reason it's hard for me to really accept that my baby is already a year old.  I'm getting all teary eyed just thinking about it right now.  What's wrong with me?  I didn't used to be this way.  I didn't cry when Brady turned 1.  I might have when the girls turned 1, more from sheer exhaustion and triumph that we'd made it that far than actual sadness though.  I think I was even excited when Tyler turned 1.  I don't remember dreading it like I did with Isaac.  Weird, I know.  The more kids I have, the faster my babies grow up.  The faster my babies grow up, the more I want another baby.  It's this never-ending cycle.  (Except, it will probably end at some point.  I don't plan on having my own reality show with 19 kids.)  As my older kids get older and mouthy and awnry, the more I appreciate my babies.  Anyway, enough with the sappy.  Let's talk about Isaac. 

He's having fun crawling around and getting into whatever he can.  He's not walking yet, and I'm not encouraging it either.  Brady was 16 months when he walked, and that was just fine with me.  I think he'll be walking before that though.

He loves it when his brothers and sisters share their candy with him.  He's figuring out that people food is much better than baby food.  One night he ate an entire sloppy joe all by himself, which was more than all of his siblings combined.

In the morning, I always change his diaper and get him dressed before I get him out of bed.  (I've never had a changing table.  I always thought they were a waste of space.)  He is usually sitting up when I come in, so as I reach in to lay him down, he'll just fall back.  It's really cute.  When he's sitting on the floor and he wants to turn around, he walks himself around with his feet and turns around.  It's also super cute.  He doesn't sleep through the night yet.  He's only done that 3 nights, once when he was 10 days old, and twice right before he got the worst cold of his life.  I've even done some "sleep training" with him.  (That's just code for letting him cry.  I hate every minute of it, but he has a pacifier and a blanket that he likes, so I have to keep telling myself he's ok.  Plus, when I put him down for naps and bedtime, he goes to sleep on his own with no problem.)  Usually, he's happy to see his bed and blanket.  He's very smiley and almost laughs when he gets to take a nap.  He's mauled very loved by his big sister.  She loves to hold him and carry him all over the place.  He's not always so fond of all of the attention, but she sure loves him. 

He's had two haircuts already.

The first I had someone else do, but I didn't like the way she cut the front. 

So the second I cut myself.  I cut Brady and Tyler's hair.  Isaac was a little harder.  He moved a lot, but I think it turned out better than the other lady.  The second was a bit more traumatic than the first.  He didn't really like holding still for mom.

He's been my happiest, calmest, most content baby, which has been nice since when you're the fifth, you have to wait your turn.

He's definitely more of a momma's boy.  For a while, I was a little surprised he even recognized Lance.  He was gone a lot, to say the least.  He's been able to be around a lot more lately, especially on the weekends.  In fact, for the first time last week, Isaac actually crawled to Lance and wanted him to pick him up.  He may have been closer to food that Isaac wanted, but I think that still counts.

He loved his cupcake.  

He had no problem stuffing his face with that.

On a side note, I've had that high chair for over 10 years.  My mom got it at a garage sale when Brady was born.  Last summer I made a new seat cover for it.  I was quite pleased with myself.  It used to look like this.  It was all cracked and gross.  

So I used some oilcloth-like fabric (it's got a plasticy feel to it so it's wipeable.  I've never quite understood the point of a regular fabric seat.  You'd have to wash it after every meal.  What's the point in that?) that I bought on clearance a long time ago and made a new one.  I used the old seat as a pattern and even reused the foam stuff from the inside. 

And, it's reversible.

Is that cool or what? Mostly I did it that way because I didn't have enough fabric of one to do both sides, but I really like it.  I really like the high chair because the tray snugs right up to their belly.  All of the other high chairs I've looked at have a gap there and it drives me nuts.  (Or they are way up high on a shelf at the store, so you can't get a good look at them, which makes me crazy.)  That's kind of the whole point of the tray, right?

I'm sure there's more stuff that I'll remember throughout the day.  I wish I could plug my brain into a computer at night.  I write really good blog posts when I'm trying to go to sleep.  Then I sit down at the computer during the day and it's all gone. 

I've been coming to terms with the fact that he's one.  When my oldest brother graduated high school, we took some pictures at my Granny's house.  I was talking to her and she said, "Once they graduate, they leave and they're never really yours anymore.  Well, maybe it's before that.  Maybe it's when they start walking.  No, I think it happens when you give birth.  They come out, and they're never yours all of the time anymore."  For some reason that has always stuck with me.  The older my kids get, the more I think it's true.  Some days I'm ok with that, but some days I wish they could just be my babies a little bit longer.