It has officially been an entire year since this perfect little human I made was born…

A whoooooooole year since I gave birth, where’s that gone eh? Don’t you feel like it was just last week I posted my birth story?! The past year has been an absolute whirlwind but I wouldn’t change any of it, it’s been the best year of my entire life. I couldn’t love this little boy any more if I tried, he’s my everything. This post is going to be a mix of his 12 month update and all of his new developments as well as all of the photos we took from his one year photoshoot. I’m by no means a professional photographer (it’s impossible to be one anyway with a baby who doesn’t stay still for 2 minutes!) but I absolutely love getting creative, and we went to a gorgeous little place to do a shoot to celebrate one year of his life. I’m so happy with how the photos turned out, especially after I got a bit creative in photoshop and made them look all cute and magical. I hope you love them just as much as I do 🙂

 

NEW

I officially have a walker! Last month Reuben took his first steps and ever since then he has been constantly practicing his walking and gaining more & more confidence. His balance is forever getting better and his confidence has sky rocketed over the past couple of weeks. He went from doing a few steps at a time to wanting to constantly be on his feet in such a short space of time. He sometimes gets ahead of himself and tries to run around the room which is so cute, sometimes he manages to get quite far but other times he has a little tipple. It’s so cute seeing him toddle about everywhere, I hate having to call him a toddler but he really is one now! His walking is getting so good, if you follow me on Instagram and watch my stories then you’ve probably seen him walking about everywhere.

He still isn’t talking very much compared to other babies (I try my hardest not to compare as I know they all develop at their own pace) but he’s got a lot better at saying ‘hiya’ which was his second word. We haven’t had a third word yet as his speech isn’t very developed, but he babbles a lot. He’s constantly talking in the noise sense, we have lots of ‘bababa’ and ‘dadada’ as well as a lottttt of shouting. I love hearing him “talk” though, it’s his way of communicating and expressing himself and it’s adorable.

He’s climbing on everything these days, he uses his toys to stand on to try and climb over the bars of his playpen. He’s so cheeky. He’s such a typical boy in that sense, just wanting to constantly climb and explore! He’s also learnt to open doors… I think this has something to do with him being such a tall child, he can now reach the door handles so he’s figured out that turning them opens the door. I took him to his 9-12 month health visitor appointment the other week and he’s so high on the height chart, I really don’t know where he gets it from as I’m such a shorty at 5’2!

We’ve had a pretty big spout of teething this month, he’s had so many new teeth pop through overnight. There’s now 4 teeth on his bottom gum and 3 or 4 on the top. He looks hilarious at the moment because he’s got one fully sprouted tooth on the top right hand side and the others haven’t popped through as far yet so he’s got this one tooth on the top gum and it’s really funny! So cute though. He’s been really suffering with his teeth which is no surprise considering how many have come through all at once, it’s caused him to be very upset and clingy. He’s also been quite a fussy eater because of it and I’ve really struggled with meal times and what to feed him but I think we are over the worst of it now thankfully. I’ve mainly been feeding him rather than giving him things to feed himself, just so I can make sure he eats it and doesn’t go hungry.

Something he has recently started doing is a laugh that sounds so fake. He literally does this sound ALL the time that’s like a “ha ha” which sounds so sarcastic. It’s really hard to describe it without you being able to hear it but I will hopefully catch it on insta stories when he does it! He does it constantly and I think it’s a real laugh, just a really cheeky one. Me and my sister find it hilarious because it sounds like he’s taking the mick when he does it. If you tickle him or make him laugh, you get that real baby giggle but when he’s just walking round minding his own business he does this chuckle that sounds so fake haha, it’s adorable!

 

LOVES

One of his favourite things at the moment is candles. He is obsessed with getting every single candle of mine in the house. It’s the first thing he goes for when he’s let loose in the living room, I have no idea what the obsession is?! He just likes to sit there playing with them, I actually think he puts them to his nose to smell them as he constantly has them right in his face. I don’t blame him to be fair, my scented candles smell so good!!

He also loves anything with lids, he likes to just sit there taking lids off things and then putting them back on (even if they don’t go on it) – did I mention this before? I feel like I may have. It’s not always a good thing mind, it was just the other morning I left him with his bottle of milk at breakfast time and came back to him crying because he’d put the lid on it and couldn’t get it back off again to drink it. Silly sausage!

Something he now loves to do is read with mummy, he’s never been interested in books until recently, but we have a few of those touch and feel ones that he’s been really enjoying. I sometimes sit with him before bedtime and read to him and he enjoys looking at the pages and turning the pages. I can’t wait until he’s a bit older and I can read bedtime stories to him. We aren’t quite at that stage yet as he doesn’t understand what I’m saying so he just thinks it’s play time and I’m chatting to him haha!

A recent favourite of his is throwing anything! He likes to pick up toys and throw them over the bars of his playpen and he loves throwing his ball and playing catch. He is often naughty and when he doesn’t want food or has had enough, he’ll pick it up, stretch his arm over the side of his highchair and just drop it on the floor. I always sternly say no when he does it but he knows it’s naughty, he just thinks it’s hilarious so he keeps doing it the little monkey!!

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this last monthly update of my little Ru bear. No doubt you will see lots more of him on my social media and I’m sure I will write more parenting related posts! I will probably do an update every few months instead of every month as his development has slowed down a little now that he’s a toddler. I think the main development will be his speech as there isn’t a lot else left baby wise (boohoo.) I can’t wait for him to start talking to me, it will be the cutest! Happy first birthday Reuben <3