My baby turned one! (February 22nd)

Right after birth / On his first birthday

So I'm just going to make a quick post because I want to update the blog. Allen turned one year old on February 22nd (finally updating the blog over a month later). I can't believe how much he's grown. Our little boy had quite a first year.

Here are just a few things that went on his first year:
He was born February 22nd 2011 at 4:52 PM 8 lbs 6 oz 20in
He was born with club feet and pneumonia.
He was in the NICU for 9 days
We brought him home March 3rd
He was on home oxygen until he was two months old
He was casted for club feet at 2 weeks old and had the casts until he was 11 weeks old
He had his tenotomy procedure done at 7 weeks
He was blessed on Mother's Day, May 8th
After getting his casts off, he wore the brace full time until he was 6 months(he'll wear it at night only until he's four)
At 3 1/2 months he could scoot around by using his brace
First cereal  at 4 1/2 months
Started rolling over at 5 1/2 months
Sitting up on his own at 5 1/2 months
First words at 6 months "Dada" then "Mama"
Crawling at 7 1/2 months
First tooth at 11  months
Some growing stats...
8 lbs 6 oz 20in @ Birth
8 lbs 9 oz @ 9 days
10 lbs 10 oz @ 7weeks
14 lbs 4 oz 26 inches @ 4 months
16 lbs 11 oz 28 inches @ 6 months
18 lbs 6 oz @ 7 months
18 lbs 9 oz @ 28 1/2 inches 9 months
20 lbs 14 oz 30 inches @ 12 months
At one year old: 70th percentile height, 20th percentile weight

Sleepy baby in the NICU

One day old

Newborn...he was so tiny!

Casting

Allen's Blessing Day

Just a few things about our little Allen...
We call him "Monkey" (He does the best monkey stretches ever!)
He loves music. He dances like a gangsta.
He has the best laugh
He loves animals, especially our dog Kodi.
He doesn't sleep much...never has.
He doesn't compain much. He's been through so much in his first year, with hospitals, and uncomfortable treatments for his feet and wearing a brace...but through it all he's taught us about patience and resilience.
He's the sweetest little boy ever!

I just can't say enough how grateful I am to be Allen's mom. Having him in our lives has been the greatest blessing. We adore him more than we can ever express. I made a video to sum up his first year (makes me wanna cry) I somehow left out a clip that shows his casts, which were a big part of the beginning of his life. And I think his 7th month might not be in here. Some day I might go in and add those things...cuz I'm obsessive like that. (apparently it may be awhile before I get it added. it won't upload).

Allen's First Birthday


We got Allen got his own tractor truck for his 1st birthday present. He loves it and says "weeee" as we push him around. To celebrate his bday, we took him to lunch at IHop and then headed over to the Living Planet Aquarium. Allen has always shown an interest in animals and fish. So it wasn't much of a surprise to see his excitement when he met the little sea creatures. He loved the penguins especially and kept saying "ooooo, woahhh" as they swam around (they're social little animals and kept showing off right in front of us). We also visited the sea otters exhibit. We poked our heads in one of those things where you're essentially in the exhibit (you know what I mean?) and the otters were no where to be seen. That is until Allen poked his head in. They all came running up to us. It was pretty cool!  Allen's quite popular with the sea otters (I just realized that's what he was for his first Halloween, lol). Later in the day, we gave Allen a balloon, which was his best friend apparently (he wouldn't let go of it) and a big cupcake as his smash cake. He made a nice mess with that :)

Handsome boy with his balloon

Not a fan of birthday hats

 On February 26th, we had a family birthday party for him. My family brought him some gifts and we had some food and cake. Larry made an awesome guitar and drum set cake for him. Then we watched the video that I made of his first year. It was fun and meant a lot to me to celebrate our little boy.

Birthday party

Guitar cake made by daddy

Smiling while we sing happy birthday

On March 2nd, Allen had his one year checkup. The pediatrician said he's doing great, but she was concerned that he needed physical therapy because he doesn't have much muscle tone in his legs. It hasn't seemed to be much of an issue though. After his appointment, I took him down to the first floor where labor & delivery and the nicu are. I showed him his window and then took him in there to drop off a card. It was a cute little letter written in his words, with a then and now picture of him from the day he came home and then him at one year old. They said they'd put it in a little book where they keep the cards for first anniversarys (from going home). He actually came home March 3rd, but hey, it's a leap year so that works.

From his NICU anniversary card

It brought back a lot of memories. It seemed like he'd never get out of the NICU (aaaand he probably only went home as soon as he did due to my pestering...what? I knew he'd do better at home.) Now it had been a whole year since that time.

At one year old...
Allen says "Mom, Dad, woah, wow, and weee" lol.
He loves giving hugs and kisses
He had just four teeth, all of which came in after 11 months (he was our gummy bear for quite a while :)
He likes playing games and is always silly
He could walk with help (along the wall, holding hands, etc)...more to come on walking by himself in my next post.

I'm so proud of Allen for all he's accomplished in his first year. And I'm grateful that he's healthy and happy. We love you Allen! :)

Allen each month from newborn to 12 months