12 months

Dear Enzo,

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone. You are no longer my baby, you are a little boy! When you were a newborn, it felt like time was standing still. Sleep deprivation did funny things to me, and I thought it would never end. I felt like I would never be able to function normally again, getting a shower felt like an accomplishment. Leaving the house before noon seemed impossible. But a year later, it is like a whole different world.

Luckily you started sleeping really well around six months. You are still a wonderful sleeper most of the time. 11 hours straight and I am loving every minute of it. You have the occasional night when you pee through your diaper or your teeth bug you enough to wake you up, but you go back to sleep as soon as you are changed or soothed. Now if only Mama could go back to sleep that easily!

Speaking of teeth, you now have eight of them! Four on top and four on the bottom. You aren't too fond of Mama brushing them, but it is a necessity. You absolutely hate for your nails to get trimmed, but you love your bath time! Every night when Daddy starts to run the water, you run to the gate and start yelling excitedly.

That is right, I said run! In the last month you went from walking occasionally to walking the majority of the time, and running when you are excited. Combine that with all the climbing you do and you are one active little boy! You love to talk, and although I can't understand most of what you say, there are a few words Daddy and I can make out. Mama, Daddy, kitty, I love you, hi, bye, baba.

You love to sing with Daddy and laugh and giggle. You still love to eat, and are done with bottles. Milk in a sippy cup all the way! You still take a binky when you sleep, but Mama doesn't give it to you any other time. I'm sure Daddy and Grandpa let you have it whenever you want, but Mama is one tough cookie!

You threw up for the first time this week. That was interesting. You didn't seem upset by it, just confused as to what happened. You had a little case of the stomach flu that lasted a few days, but thankfully cleared up before Christmas/your birthday. It didn't matter though, you weren't interested in presents anyways. You wanted to play with your cousins and loved the cake and ice cream!

Here is to many more years of watching you grow, my sweet little boy!

Love,

Mama

One

Happy first birthday to my sweet little boy!

10 Months

Dear Enzo,

What an exciting month. Each month gets better than the last! You have turned into my little climber. You aren't walking yet(although you love to cruise along the furniture) but you love to climb on everything! You use my legs as a step to climb up on the couch. You are my little monkey!

Which is exactly what you plan to be for Halloween. You had your first trip to the pumpkin farm(grandma took all the pictures) and enjoyed it as well as you could. You were stuck in the stroller for much of the visit, as we couldn't have you crawling around in the dirt.

You sure are fast at crawling! It is a constant battle to get you to stay in one place. You are constantly on the go. Busy does not begin to describe you. Diaper changing time is quite challenging! Mama has to distract you with a book or toy in order to keep you from taking off. If we are somewhere other than our house, forget it! It takes two people to hold you down.

You have mastered the high five, although you won't give one to just anyone. Mama can always coax one out. You are still my awesome sleeper, sleeping 11-12 hours a night. You naps seem to be changing a little, but you still get 3-4 hours combined. You have started to babble like crazy and will say mama, dada, baba, yuck and shake your head no. You also have learned how to growl at Mama when I do something you don't like. Although it is funny, I hope this won't be something you do often. You have become a little mimic, parroting sounds that I make. You won't do it on demand, but whenever I say "yay", two seconds later I hear a sweet little "yay! "

You had another tooth pop through, for a total of 7. Four on top and three on the bottom. Who knows when the next one will pop through. In the mean time, we are enjoying your happy disposition. I sure do love you little boy.

Love,

Mama

9 months

Dear Enzo,

This week you turned 9 months, holy moly! Where did my little baby go? You are on the go from the time you wake up to the time you fall asleep. You are into absolutely everything, and you aren't even walking yet! This last month you perfected your crawling, started climbing, and are working on the walking thing. You can walk along the couch with the best of them, around the corners and everything. You pull up on things I would have never imagined, like the back of my pant legs. Strong is definitely the best word to describe you! Your latest nicknames are bonk and dozer. You seem to bonk your head on everything and like to bulldoze anything in your path!

Your eating habits are still awesome. You have yet to meet a food you don't like. You are working on the whole feeding yourself thing, and are getting better at it everyday. You still love to sleep as well. Mommy still really appreciates that! Music, books, and exploring are your three favorite things to do.

You are such a happy boy, even while you are teething! Daddy and I are still waiting for your next tooth to pop through to make tooth # 7. Once it does, maybe all the drooling kisses will stop. Just the drooling hopefully, not the kisses.

Like most babies, you love anything electronic. The phone, iPhones, remotes, and camera are never safe when you are around. You love to stick them in your mouth and press all the buttons.

This month you crawled up in my lap for the first time and it just melted my heart! I'm not going to be able to call you my baby for much longer. You are getting so big! I weighed you the other day and you were 19.5 lbs, not too shabby. You are still fitting into 9 months clothes, but the length is getting a little short. You are at an in between size of diapers right now. 3's seem to small, but 4's are too big. I'm sure that will change in no time, as you are growing so fast!

I love you, my little boy!

Love,

Mama

playing in the laundry basket

messy eater

This is usually what Enzo ends up looking like after eating a meal. Whether is is breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it ends up everywhere! Notice how his jammies have oatmeal on them. Enzo likes to eat his clothes as well as his food.

8 Months

Dear Enzo,

Today you are 8 months old! This month again has brought many changes for you. Last week you cut your top two teeth, which brings you to a total of four. Now if Mama could figure out how to stop you from grinding them! You also started crawling. There is no stopping you now! If you see something that interests you, you go for it. If it is something that you shouldn't have, even better! Daddy or I will call your name and you go into turbo mode. You crawl as fast as you can while giggling until you reach the item. I like to call you bulldozer as you power through everything in your way.

You are my happy little boy who loves to sleep. You sleep an average of 11 hours a night and get in 4 hours of naps throughout the day. Since you started crawling sometimes you have 5-6 hours of naps. You just wear yourself out! From the time you wake up until you go to sleep, you are go, go, go!

Mama went back to work this week after having 5 wonderful weeks off. We had tons of playdates, went to the state fair, visited with cousins on both sides, went swimming, went to a wedding with you and Mama and Daddy went to a wedding without you. You had cousin pictures taken, went to John's incredible Pizza, went to the park, took our nightly walks, tried new foods, went out to lunch many times, and had tons of Mommy/Enzo time! Mama was really glad to be able to spend so much time with you, especially when I was healthy and had enough sleep to enjoy it! Luckily Mama only has to work 3 days a week most the time, so I get plenty of time with you.

This month marks the start of many new foods to eat. We started a couple nights ago with shredded cheese which you weren't too sure about. But once again, after trying it a few times, you loved it! Next with be yogurt, chunkier foods, egg yolks, pasta, rice, meats and more. Lucky for you that you will soon be able to eat most everything Mama does. You are my little vulture, swiping whatever you can off my plate, regardless of if you have had it before. Every time I eat something, no matter what it is, you stare at me with your little puppy dog eyes, begging me to give you some. When I tell you no, you get this smile on your face, like "I'm so cute, don't you want to share with me?!" Believe me, I do want to share with you, but not everything is safe for you to eat yet, but soon it will be! You have mastered puffs and bread, and are working at getting them in your mouth all the time instead of half the time. You tried your first cheerio today.

Your hair has started to come in all the sudden and it is golden blonde. With those beautiful blue eyes, the girls are going to be in trouble! You are already such a little flirt. But no matter how much you love to flirt with the girls, you love Mama best, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Love,

Mama

Wordless wednesday

Hawk

Cousins

7 months

Dear Enzo,

You turned 7 months this last week, and oh what a month it has been! You started out with 2 photo shoots for six month pictures. You were very good for both of them, although a little distracted. Whenever you encounter a new place, you spend quite a bit of time taking it all in.

Your first teeth broke through this month! The two bottom middle ones. You did pretty well with them. You were a little fussy, but they didn't disturb your sleep. Speaking of sleep, you are still sleeping 11 hours solid, which Mama is so grateful for! All that sleep gives you lots of energy to practice crawling. You have been trying all month long to get it down, but rolling is so much easier. You can barrel roll from one side of the room to the other! You can scoot forwards and backwards and can crawl backwards, but don't do those very often.

Enzo, you have become very vocal this month! You love to have raspberry blowing contests with your Daddy. We call you our little pterodactyl because you love to squawk. Along with all the noise comes loves! You love to give Mama and Daddy hugs and squeeze real tight!

You continue to grow like a weed. You are over 18 lbs and 28 inches long. You are getting pretty close to outgrowing your size 3 diapers. You are wearing 9months clothes because you are so long, however your waist is kind of small. 9 months shorts fall off you!

Mama is taking some time off work this month to spend with you. We have been busy practically everyday since my "vacation" started. We have had many play dates, been to they state fair, spent time with family, etc. Your cousins on the Johnson side who moved back to California are going to be living 5 minutes away once their house is built. How exciting! Next week your cousins from Texas are coming to visit. They haven't seen you since you were less than a week old. They are excited to play with you!

Until next month!

Love, Mama

Overall pics

The Johnson Family has a tradition. All Johnson Grandchildren have professional pictures taken in this pair of Old Navy overalls that I bought for my nephew Jasen nine years ago. They have been passed down to Enzo and I finally had his pictures taken at the beginning of July. He sure is a cute little boy!

A letter to Enzo

Dear Enzo,

Last week you turned 6 months old. I cannot believe how fast time has gone. It seems that we just brought you home from the hospital! This month you really started moving. Every time I lay you down on your back, you immediately roll onto you stomach and check things out. You will lay on your belly for long stretches of time while playing. You love to kick your legs and wave your arms while laying on your belly. It looks like you are swimming! I know someday soon you will get those little legs up underneath you and take off! You have also gotten so much stronger. You can sit unassisted for short periods of time, propping yourself up with your hands while you play.

This last month you went swimming for the first time and hated it. The water was much too cold for your liking. You much prefer the warm water of a bath. Speaking of baths, you love taking a bath every night before bed. You kick and splash like crazy, soaking Daddy in the process. Music is another thing you love. You really enjoy when Daddy plays the guitar, and always smile when Mommy sings to you. You also love books. Before, you would just listen to Mommy's voice, and not really pay attention to the pages, but now you look at the pictures and try to grab the book.
Eating is another activity you enjoy. Avocados are currently your favorite food. You can't seem to eat them fast enough! You also enjoy pears, sweet potatoes, yams, and rice cereal. You tolerate bananas and apples mixed with rice cereal, but will not eat them plain. All this new food has caused you to grow quite a bit. At your Dr. appointment you weighed in at 17lbs, 10.6oz(52nd percentile,) length was 27 3/8in(80th percentile,) and your head circumference was 17 3/4 in(83rd percentile.) This means you are a long boy with a head to match, and your weight is just right. You don't have any teeth yet, but are occasionally fussy because of the pain they give you while they are trying to come in. Luckily the pain of teething hasn't really affected your sleeping habits. Most nights you sleep 11-12 hours straight. Mommy is really enjoying getting more sleep! We haven't transitioned you to your own room yet. Mommy and Daddy are planning to do that this week after we lower the crib mattress.

Enzo, you have definitely found your voice this month. You love to "talk" and scream and grunt. You enjoy talking to other babies and kids. Speaking of kids, two of your cousins have moved back to California. It is great to have them close and be able to grow up together. I enjoyed playing with my cousins growing up and am glad you will get to do that as well.

I look forward to watching you grow, and helping you learn, little boy. Mommy can't imagine her life without you!

Love,

Mama

Enzo attempts crawling

5 years

Jeremy and I celebrated 5 years of marriage last friday.

We have gone from this

to having our first home built

to adopting these two adorable kitties

to expecting our first child

to celebrating his birth

to a happy little family.

Here's to many more happy years together!

5 months

My little boy is 5 months. He has changed a lot this past month. At his 4 month appointment the Dr. said we could start feeding him rice cereal and solids. After 3 weeks of rice cereal, and Enzo trying to eat everything off our plates, we decided to start real food. Sweet potatoes were first, and he loved them! We have since moved on to bananas. Next will be avocados.

Enzo is still sleeping well. This will be his last month before we transition him to his own room. I am kind of sad about this, as I love having him close, however I don't want him in our room forever! Enzo can roll from back to front and front to back with ease. He now sleeps on his side with his back arched, it is so adorable. Enzo enjoys his tummy time. He like to grab the blanket and pull himself forward. He doesn't stay in one place for long. Enzo loves to grab everything in sight, especially Mommy's hair.

Enzo is still in 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. His hair is really starting to come in.

Likes: reading books with Mommy

tummy time

jumping in his jumper

sticking everything in his mouth

watching the kitties

eating

sleeping

having his diaper changed

Dislikes: teething

nursing

Enzo has always had an issue nursing. First he wouldn't latch, then he was impatient and would only nurse at night. Now he flat out refuses to do it. The morning after starting rice cereal he stopped. I continue to pump, but am getting pretty tired of it. My plan is to pump until 6 months, then cut out one pumping session a week. It will make my life so much less stressful. I won't have to plan my day around my pumping schedule and will have more than 5 minutes to eat my lunch at work.

2 weeks ago I finished taking the last of my iron supplements. By 3 months, I was feeling back to normal, not anemic. However, since stopping the iron supplements, I feel light headed at times. I'm hoping that an iron rich diet will remedy this, however if it doesn't, I will have to go to the doctor. On the bright side, I have been able to fit into all me pre-pregnancy pants since the first week of May. My stomach could use some toning, but I'm not stressing about it.

And now for some pictures.

What, you want me to smile?

I'm too busy staring at Otis.

Mmm, this rattle tastes good!

Cheese!

Hi!

Happy Mother's Day!

from our family to yours