Month 11 - Wells

Month 11: Baby!

Age: 11 months

Weight: Still hanging out in the 19-20 lb. range

Major calendar events: Valentine's Day

Milestones: Saying dada, will put his hands over his head if you ask him how big he is, has started using the potty before bath time (and has even pooped on his little potty between 5-10 times woo woo!), nursed for the last time :(

Sleep: Great! Napping and sleeping at nighttime in his crib and going down (usually) awake and with minimal crying. Although, sometimes we will still nap together :).

Likes: Dancing! Playing with toys, playing with his sister, saying "aaaaaa" at the same time as someone else, playing with our little toy kitchen set

Dislikes: When mealtime is over, being strapped into his high chair (honestly, I NEVER had to strap Heidi into anything. I just recently used the high chair straps for the very first time because I turned around and Wells was standing up in the high chair! Sorry buddy.)

Best moment: He's so happy all of the time it's hard to really say one moment has been better than any of the others. He loves to laugh and smile!

Worst moment: Probably being tackled or smashed by his sister. She loves to love him hard!

Eating: Eating SO much food and is now completely weaned. I decided to wean Wells a few weeks "early". I say early because my personal goal is always to breastfeed for 1 year, but once I found out I was pregnant I became even more anxious to wean him. (Breastfeeding hormones tend to make me feel very depressed and down about 6-8 months in, so I had already been feeling pretty anxious to wean. I was still going to stick it out until he was 1, but once I found out I was pregnant that was enough to tip the scale. Pregnancy hormones started to make my nipples much more sensitive so nursing became pretty uncomfortable. I was ready to stop, but I also knew that he was ready too. He loves food so much and I knew that he probably wouldn't even really notice if he stopped getting the boob. The process was much easier and simpler than when I weaned Heidi (I put a lot more thought into it then and it was a little bit more of a process). With Wells, I just kind of stopped. It took him a little while to get used to cold cow's milk but he's fine with it now. I never even mixed breast and cows milk together - something I did gradually with Heidi over the course of a week. (Here is more info on my weaning process with Heidi!) All of this being said, and as smoothly as it went, I still feel a lot of guilt when I think about weaning him at 11 months instead of 12 (haha). Of course, it makes me sad simply that I can't say "I nursed him until he was 1" but also because I still want to make sure he is getting everything that he needs nutritionally. If he does need to be "supplimented" it should be coming from me. A part of me feels selfish for weaning him for my own personal reasons. Now I realize that there are plenty of people out there that don't nurse for a year (or at all) and who have no issues with that. And that's okay. But that's not okay for me. That's just not what I want for myself and my babies. (Again, not saying that's not okay for others.) Anyway, this guy eats SO much food and lots of fruits and veggies and I know he's getting plenty of nutrition. I can't imagine that a couple of extra weeks of nursing would make that much of difference in his life. Weaning is always SOOO bittersweet. I am SOOO happy to be FREE, feel more like myself and not have to wear nursing bras and nursing friendly clothing, but I ALWAYS cry my eyes out when I nurse my babies for the final time. It's SUCH a blessing to be able to provide that for them and I value that time we spend together SO much. I have loved nursing my baby boy and am grateful that it's because of him that I truly fell in love with breastfeeding. 

Things I want to remember: Spending alone time with Wells while Heidi is at MDO and he is still the baby

She loves him. The feeling is mutual despite his efforts to escape her grasps!

The face he gave me while drinking his first bottle of cold cow's milk. He looked
so confused and I cried my eyes out but he still drank almost the whole thing. He's such a good boy.

Our last nursing session :( :( :(.

He loves his daddy!

"SOOOOO big!"

Silly happy man. Love this guy.