Mr. Independent

Hayden is just 2 months shy of his first birthday.  Looking back, I cannot believe it has gone so quickly, and yet there are times I feel every day of those 10 months and wonder how we made it.  As far as babies go, Hayden has been pretty good to us.

The first month was a little rough.  We had an alarmist nurse in the hospital who was so afraid he was spitting up all of his medicine (he was on AZT for the first 6 weeks as a prophylactic measure) and having them tell us to only give Hayden a half ounce of food at a time and then only one-two times a day.... sooooo for the first day and a half we were basically starving him.  Rob stayed up with him one night and fed him as much as he'd eat.  Hayden pretty much puked most of it back up but he also puked up the mucus in his stomach that was making him sick to begin with.

Hayden did great for a few days, but after we got him home and started giving him bottles, he started spitting up a lot again.  This went on for about two weeks until I realized that we were using the nipples that came with our relatively cheap bottles and he was getting too much at once.  We got slower rate nipples, and again he was fine. As soon as we threw out the baby books and trusted our instinct and a little trial and error things were golden.  

He started sleeping through the night at 2 months (6 hrs at first and now he sleeps 9-11 hrs at night). 
I was away on a business trip one weekend when Hayden was around 4 1/2 months and Rob stopped giving Hayden a pacifier to soothe his crying.  By the end of the weekend Hayden didn't even want a pacifier.  We still keep them in his toy baskets so he has access to them.  He'll sometimes pull one out and put it in his mouth (usually upside down or hanging out the side of his mouth) but it's more of a teething toy now, than a pacifier. 

He's a great kid, but so very busy.  He is very curious about everything around him and acts like he doesn't have time to sit in one place when there are so many places to go and explore.  Cuddling is almost completely out of the question.  He's always glad to see you after a nap though!

Last month he took his first couple of steps.  Now, he'll take Rob and I on walks through out the house.  He doesn't like to hold both of your hands though, he only wants to hold one.  Sometimes he'd rather not hold any and will shake you off so he can go walk on his own.  

We're so proud of our little guy and try to encourage him every step of the way.  Rob and I really wanted to raise a child that was independent and wasn't afraid to adventure, but I never thought that it'd start so soon!