HUE – MONTHS 7 – 12

Seven Months. Hue at seven months is growing so fast that I kind of want to push the pause button. We really experienced teething when Hue’s first two bottom teeth came in. His sleep schedule was really affected and he never has really recovered. Before he was only waking up once maybe twice in the night for a bottle but since his bottom teeth came in his sleep pattern is very unpredictable and I don’t really know what kind of night we are going to have each night. Hue also had his first cold in this time period which wasn’t helping his sleep, he would wake up in the middle of the night for like three hours ready to party. I would be up with him half awake just going with the flow… With all the loss of sleep Hue also went through a huge growth spurt. He is so tall, crawling so fast, pulling himself up and standing on his own on the regular, babbling up a storm and is very aware of his surroundings. We went to Santa Barbara for his first 4th of July and met up with my sister and her family – Hue’s Aunt, Uncle + cousins. We experienced two pretty good sized earthquakes, lots of play dates with his besties on the regular, he sat in a high chair for the first time in a restaurant. He is eating pureed foods on the regular and I am mentally prepping to start making his foods more chunkier.

Eight Months. Hue is walking. I repeat, Hue is walking! At his six month checkup, his pediatrician said he was acting like an eight month old even though she knew he was six months on paper. At his eight month checkup, I said he will be walking very soon and she said, “Wow, he might be my youngest walker yet.” Needless to say, he is reaching some MAJOR milestones very early, which is awesome that he is hitting his milestones but this first year is flying by and I would like him to stay a baby just a tad bit longer. Okay Hue? Also, Hue is clapping his hands. He just started doing it one night and I was like, “OMG, he is clapping!” It is so much fun to see him grow and do new things. The biggest thing we have been working on this month is his sleep. This is one area we really needed some major help in. He has never had an early bed time. The earliest he would ever go to sleep is 10:30pm or 11pm – which was exhausting for me. He also is so much more wiggly and hard to rock to sleep so I was bringing him into bed with me but that was making Jake too nervous he was going to fall off the bed. (We have a high bed, wood floors.) So, I knew we had to sleep train him. We got two  different books, with similar ideas on how to get your baby to sleep. We are still working on putting him down awake, so far that has not been successful but we will try again. The great thing is we have a nighttime routine now (at 7:45pm to 8pm we give him a bath, we bring him to his room, turn his sound machine on, let him play, read him a few stories and sing him a few songs. Then its lights out and I feed him a bottle while I rock him to sleep, eventually we want him to learn to self-soothe himself to sleep but we tried one night and he let us know that he is not ready)and I am walking out of his room at around 9:02pm! Which is such a win for me! I am starting to plan his first birthday and the only time I have to do it is at night when he is sleeping, I am all his during the day. We are doing a ton of sensory activities with his table we got him. We have filled it with water and toys, shaving cream and paint (messy but fun) and cornmeal, which acts like sand. We got our sensory table here with the lid and love it. This is one of my new favorite stores. Hue is much more active now so we have to actually do things. I take him to the park, I am looking into baby classes at the library and a mommy and me class for us to do. Eating out – He sits in a high chair now and I feed him a little of whatever I am eating or I get him some small sides. He makes a mess but it’s so fun to eat out with him and for him to be apart of the dinner. He went to his first birthday party of one of his playdate besties, she was celebrating her first birthday and Hue had an amazing time with a balloon and the man that blew the balloons up!

Nine Months. Hue is having so many new moments this month! I really wanted to take him to a mommy + me class from like the day he was born. I was super close to paying for one which was pretty pricey because I found a great one through the library for FREE! My mom had told me about how her library offered baby story time and since she lives at least a half hour away, I looked for something a little closer to me. I found a perfect class in Burbank. I love that city, we lived in an apartment in Burbank for 15 years so I gravitate going there a lot!  He loves going to these classes. It is specifically for babies under 12 months that are not walking yet. It was the first time I was nervous to show Hue walking at such a young age for fear of getting kicked out of the class. The teacher was super cool and assured me I was in the right place. We sing songs and listen to the librarian read books and at the end they play songs and blast bubbles and all the parents schmooze. I have a hard time schmoozing because Hue won’t stay in one place for two long but I love this class and I love that it’s free and I know there are more classes like this for him as he grows.

We are still going strong with our weekly bestie-play dates! Can we say Field Trip??? Yes we can and the play date group went out of Sierra Madre (where the play dates usually take place) and into the wild for the first time.  We went to a farm in Saugus, close to where we grew up, where we saw and bought a lot of pumpkins, Hue had his first petting zoo experience and he rode his first pony!!! It was awesome because we went on a Thursday and we were almost the only ones there! The owner was showing us around and ended up telling her whole story of  how she took her family’s private farm and made it public and all of her future plans she has for it – it was pretty impressive and an inspiring story. The previous weekend, as a family we had just visited Underwood Family Farms and it was CROWDED. My husband and I are not a huge fan of crowds so it wasn’t our favorite but Hue liked it and that is what matters. I had never been there before so I was curious about it.

This time last year was Hue’s baby shower. I relived it all over again and it reminds me how much time if flying by. I am giving Hue real food now. He is barely eating it but I make him breakfast and dinner right now with some snacks in between. He is not a huge eater right now but every now and then he eats more than usual. I finally sleep trained Hue. He cried for 23 minutes straight and then passed out. It was not easy doing this but I needed my evenings back!

This month was the first time I was away from Hue for over 8 hours! Plus it was Jake’s first time watching him for that long all by himself. I had a night out with my sisters, nieces and nephews at the Hollywood Bowl watching the Sound Of Music Sing Along. It was such a fun night, we picnicked before at the tables on site where we had a full spread, wine and played games. It was nice to come back home to my little family at the end of the night.

Ten Months. What have we not done this month???

• I started to really finish up Hue’s birthday invitations -which came out better than expected. I hand painted everything so it took me a couple of weeks.
• The bestie-play group went on their second field trip! We went to the LA Zoo. It had a whole unexpected Halloween maze with music when you walked in. It was Hue’s first time to the zoo! It was super hot but we had a great time.
• I guess this is the month I started to really branch out and take Hue places more often. We went to Cayton Children’s Museum, Travel Town in Griffith Park, and a Halloween show with his play-date group at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater.
• We had lots of visits with Hue’s west-coast grandparents where we picked apples in the back yard and swung in the swing my parents bought for Hue.
• We bought Hue a play kitchen. This one is a big deal. He plays with his besties pink play kitchen every single time we have a play date. I have been begging for Hue to have his own for months but the packaging all said 3 years or older. I promised Jake, after working in the children’s play/toy world for over 5 years that they have to put that stuff on for legal purposes. It is a very masculine kitchen but I will take it.
• Last but not least we celebrated Halloween!!!! Hue and a huge party with his besties, (my friend goes all out for all of the holidays, she used to be a preschool teacher plus she has her own three older kids besides being a nanny to her two nieces, so she really knows what she is doing!), she makes the day so special and stays very on theme which I love. Then we celebrated on actual Halloween day by dressing Hue up as Scrappy-Doo and visiting Jake at work for lunch. It was super cute. Then at night we dressed him up as a sloth and went to our friends house in Atwater Village where we trick-or-treated one house then ate pizza!!!

Eleven Months. October and now November just about killed me. There was so much packed into these two months. Halloween, Thanksgiving and then Hue’s first birthday were big first moments for us. Oh and on a sadder note, we also went to a funeral. I pretty much crashed after Hue’s birthday, like his birthday was Saturday afternoon and I got a stomach bug that night. Then two days later I got sick again. I can go full throttle but when I finally get the chance to rest I just fall apart. Let’s break down what we did:

• We went on another field trip with Hue’s besties to our 2nd visit to the LA Zoo. Halloween was torn down and there was a giant Christmas tree. They do a holiday light show at night during the holidays which looked like it would be pretty cool for when Hue gets a little older.
• I spent this whole month big time prepping for Hue’s first Birthday. I handmade EVERYTHING. I wanted to but it kind of did me in. A lot of late nights trying to get it done. I spaced it out really well but I was busy almost every night the month before his party doing something. I am going to do a post with all the things I made about his party soon-ish. I have a long list of things I still need to get done before I get there though…
• I visited the Skirball Museum’s interactive exhibition: Noah’s Ark. I went on a Friday afternoon at like 3:30pm and once again we almost had the place to ourselves. They had some pretty cool other exhibits too which I visited while Hue napped. Once we did the interactive Noah’s Ark Hue loved it. I want to do it again and it is actually pretty close to me so it’s something to do when I can’t decide what to do! Which is the case all day, every day.
• We had our last Mommy and Me at the library for the season. I started to hear from all my schmoozing that I needed to check out the Wednesday class at another Burbank Library. I did that week, of course the last class of the season and they wouldn’t let me in because it was too full but they invited me to do a turkey craft with Hue so we did it. And now I know to come super early to this class when the new season starts.
• We had a Friendsgiving with our Besties play date group. It was awesome. They ate turkey sandwiches that looked like turkeys while wearing feathered hats. We did a turkey craft and had fall themed sensory time with pumpkin moon dust!!!
• We went on a tour on the Warner Bros. lot to see the “Friends” couch. It was so cool. We all sat on the couch and took pictures. Plus there is so much to see there! Always a good time.
• Thanksgiving. We made the traditional turkey/mashed potatoes/stuffing meal. Hue got sick that night. Like throwing up from a stomach bug. It was going around and I wasn’t at all shocked but the timing was bad. I was in a panic that I might have to cancel his party! All that time and work! I was inwardly freaking out. The next day he hung out on the couch with Jake and slept while I proceeded to make 50 molasses cookies and 50 cupcakes. This was the stuff I planned on doing on this day because it had to be all fresh. I was up late but not too late so I felt good that I had time managed the prep for Hue’s party.
• Hue’s Birthday!!!!! It was amazing and a blur. I had so much fun, so did Hue and the whole family. I was not prepared for how sad I was going to be when the party ended. I didn’t want it too. I had a ton of people come up to me saying that party planning was my thing. I will take those compliments but as a career??? If I had a team of like 20 sure!

Eleven Months. My baby boy is one. One! I thought I slowed us down but after looking at my notes for this month we had a very full month.

• Some very cute things are starting to happen. Jake has taught Hue to give hugs “on demand”. I ask for hugs all day long. Never gets old. Plus, when I am trying to dress him it’s a great way to get him to come to me without me having to chase him around! He wants to help me a lot. He helped me put away a 24 pack of paper towels and was so happy and proud to do so. He is also climbing onto everything. I need to be on it like all the time. It’s exhausting when I am making us a meal or trying to clean up but he is just a baby and I remind myself of that all the time. I also know I will miss this time so much. All those snuggles and giggles – it is pure magic. I taught him some sign language. “All-done” is really the only one that has stuck. He also knows “more” but doesn’t use it as regularly. He is babbling so much. To himself, to us, to strangers out in the world. So many strangers comment on what a happy baby Hue is and that makes me so happy! He waves. He is still trying to get the hang of it but normally he will wave goodnight to Jake way after Jake has left the room… It’s all exhausting and a lot of work but it’s all so worth it and I do love it all. What did we do before Hue?
• For Hue’s actual birthday which was on a Monday we went to the Cheesecake factory with my parents and sister. They sang Happy Birthday to him. It was so cute. He was just smiling at everyone singing at him. Then my parents bought him a mini cake and we sang happy birthday to him when we got home. And one more time at home after dinner, we had some leftover cupcakes so we sang to him just the three of us. It was a very special day.
• He hearts the Wiggles so much. It is a problem solver for sure right now. He was into Sesame Street for a hot minute, but he’s got Wiggles number for right now. We like Yo Gaba Gaba too but he doesn’t love it as much as the Wiggles. He will ask for it by wiggling his arms and grunting the theme song. It is so cute!
• We went to Cayton Children’s Museum for the 2nd time but this time we brought Jake.
• We woke up super early one morning and decided to tag along with Jake to watch him surf in Malibu. We left Hue in his jammies and let him play in the sand while Jake surfed. It was like a gigantic sandbox for him. Then we ate breakfast at Vintage Grocer’s. It was a nice slow Sunday morning.
• We went on a field trip with his besties play date group to see Bob Baker Marionette Theater’s Christmas show.
• We had an epic Christmas party play date with his besties. What didn’t we do??? My friend makes these parties so special. She had sensory snow. (cotton balls!). Homemade Christmas themed red, green and white play-dough. Snowman turkey sandwiches for lunch. Hue made me a special ornament for Jake and I! He also made a snowman out of paper plates and a miniature gingerbread house.
• The Sunday before Christmas my sisters and their kids came down for a pre-Christmas celebration. We spent the whole day together. We exchanged gifts, we made crafts, we played board games, we went to the park, we made an epic Christmas dinner. It was a special day for sure because it gets harder for us to all be together as we get older.
• On Christmas Eve we went to a park and then ate pizza for dinner! The next day he opened some more presents. Between his birthday and Christmas he got SO MANY PRESENTS.  Our house is VERY full right now.
• We celebrated Noon Year’s Eve with Hue’s besties play date group. We had a full day of park, picnic, crafts and a balloon drop. Then we came home and I had a cheeseboard and some champagne and were in bed by 10:30Pm! The next day we had a sweet little afternoon in Ventura soaking up the ocean air and of course we had pizza. Happy New Year!