Hugh - 10 Months!

As expected April was so crazy busy that the task of writing Hugh's 9 month post fell very far down the to-do list. I have six posts drafted as a matter of fact just from last month alone. We all know that the only way anyone other than me is going to read those posts is if I do some sort of daily post "challenge". So here it goes, a post a day, every day, from now until June 21st. Lord knows I have the material and I can make the time...I think.

Enough about the business of blogging and onto the adorable baby!



TEN months, oh my gosh...does it get any better?? On a daily basis I vow not to eat him whole...and just barely keep my word. This little person owns me. I love all of my children equally and unconditionally obviously but this one doesn't talk back yet and is therefore my choice for a three legged race. Hugh and I spend a lot of time together. Matt and the bigs do their thing and we do ours, which mostly involves Hugh doing everything in his power to maintain physical contact with me. He is particularly fond of sitting in my lap and scaling my body so that he may bury his face in my neck. I do not hate that last part. Our days are so so easy. That is not to say that my day is always easy, but when it comes to this baby, I really can't believe that I deserve such a blessing.

Likes: (Everything because the world is so wonderful) I feel like I should change this list, but the top five really have remained unchanged: Mommy, being held, nursing, being tickled, having a fresh diaper, paci, pulling up to stand, being naked, tomato crunchies, riding in the car, the circle of neglect, snuggles, army crawling, the TV, attention from Ben and Lily, pulling hair, baths, Ben's toys, cords, the dog water bowl, remotes and iPhones. I did not change a single thing above from two months ago but I will add, ALL FOOD!

Dislikes: Being told no, having unsafe things taken away, not being permitted to splash in the dog water bowl. Again unchanged from two months ago. I suppose I should add that while Hugh likes to pull up he is not a fan of standing on his little chicken legs, nor has he figured out how to sit back down. I know it is just a ploy to get me to pick him up...and it still works every time.

Nicknames: Youkie, Youkie-pie, Hoo, Hughtiepie

Milestones: Army crawling/crawling hybrid, five teeth total (without so much as a whimper), a million new foods, pulling up, waving bye bye (this is also accompanied by a loud "AYE" which I would almost call his first word even though he has been saying "mama" and "dada" indiscriminately for weeks), head tilting to get attention (we say awww), trying to blow kisses!



Feeding: For some reason we have had a harder time getting into a meal routine with our third bambino. Poor guy. I will totally admit that for a few weeks after he started on solids, feeding him an actual meal or two during the day was usually an afterthought. More than once on our road trip we realized late in that day that Hugh had not eaten lunch! That is not to say he wasn't pounding bottles of breast milk (special shout out to Lily for assisting with so many of those bottles in the back seat!) so I know he wasn't going hungry, but still, geez! I am happy to report that once we were settled in at home again, yet another new routine has formed.



Nursing is still going strong, and I think it is safe to say that we will glide right to the one year mark, at which point I would normally push for a little mama-led-weaning. BUT the moment I think "this might my last baby" is the same moment that I think "I'll nurse him as long as he wants". Realistically it will be somewhere in between. My sweet baby currently nurses 5 times a day. All but one of those feedings is right before he goes to sleep. I do not nurse him to sleep, but I know there is a whole lot of soothing going on as we rock gently in the dark and he fills his little tummy.

Hugh wakes up around 6 am and nurses on one side, probably about 6 ounces, and goes back to bed. At 8:30 he is up for the morning, nurses on the other side and then goes to the high chair for cereal and toast. Ready for confession number 547 of this post, we give him peanut butter! I held off as long as I could, but once he got a taste of it from Ben's toast he was hooked. So far there isn't anything he is allergic or adverse to, so he gets ALL THE FOOD. Grilled cheese, hamburger, pasta, strawberries and tomato crunchies are his current favorites...but he doesn't flat out refuse anything. We have not given him "sweets" as I do like to wait for "baby's first birthday cake", but other than that we let him at least try everything we are eating. Lunch around noon is usually a banana and a cheese stick with a few handfuls of cheerios. Dinner at 4:55pm (on the dot) veggie puree mixed with baby oat cereal, and half a grilled cheese or pasta, plus whatever we are are having for dinner...sometimes pizza!

Sleeping: Really not a lot has changed in the sleep department. Hugh still sleeps through the night, nurses sort of early, and then goes back to bed for a few hours. He goes down for a morning nap at 10. For the past few days he has stretched this to two hours! After lunch we hang out until 2 and then he nurses and goes down for a nap. This one is usually only about an hour, which isn't enough. Everyone is much happier when this nap lasts until 4, but that really only happens once or twice a week. By 7pm he is begging to nurse and then it is "night night little prince". I go in and check on him when I go to bed and almost always he pokes his head up (totally a tummy sleeper), gives a sleepy smile, and then immediately goes back to sleep.  

Odds and Ends: With such an easy going dude around it is easy to take these sweet days for granted. Confession number 958, when Hugh cries for more than just a few minutes it irrationally irritates everyone in the whole house. Isn't that terrible!? He is so good natured that WE are spoiled rotten. Like "why is he making that sound, make it stop!!" irrational. As a result he is spoiled rotten because at first squawk someone will go to him, selfishly to spare our delicate ears from the terribleness of a baby crying. Birth order man...that stuff is no joke. (More on this is an upcoming post!)

Ben has taken a new interest in his little bro. Interest isn't even the right word, adoration maybe? I'm not sure that is the right word either...maybe just love. This is what love looks like.

We have made it to allergy season here in Maine and while "the literature" (as our pediatrician put it) states that kids under five do not have seasonal allergies, I beg to differ. It seems that I have passed my allergies on to all three of my poor kids. Hugh is snotty and his left eye is weepy. I have noticed lately that when the eye really gets to weeping the upper lid swells and it droops. It is not so droopy that I think it is affecting his vision, but you had better believe I googled the crap out of it and will bring it up at Hugh's next appointment. In the mean time he and I spend a lot of time inside playing with Ben's trains.

Hugh's mobility has sort of stalled. He was competently doing the "wounded soldier" at 8 months. Two months later, although I have seen him crawl on his knees on occasion, he is still happy to just drag his legs around behind him. Pulling up is hard work and very exciting (is that true?) but he is showing zero signs of moving his legs or even balancing on them. A lot of the time he is standing precariously on his tip toes! Don't get me wrong, I am in no rush!! I just would have guessed that he would be closer to walking by now.

Lastly, confession number 3928 of this post, we all think Hugh is going through a bit of a homely phase! Haha. Don't get me wrong, homely is a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e, but it is also hilarious. His new teeth are about six times too big for his face and lately his hair looks like that of a rabid cartoon character. Ben was almost 16 months before he needed a hair cut...I don't think Youkie will make it nearly that long. Combine the frighteningly large teeth and crazy hair with the snots and the droopy eye, and our little dude takes homely to a whole new (hilarious) level!

What I am trying to say, my darling Hugh, is that we literally couldn't love you more, and we will never love you less.

Up next: Here comes summer!!