The First Year

Oliver recently celebrated his first birthday and here is a letter I wrote to him to celebrate.

My Dear Oliver

Happy 1st Birthday. It is my aim to write to you every year on your birthday to tell you about our year together as a family of 3, so with that this is your 1st letter. Wow, one year old already. How did I ever think we would get by all in one piece. It was definitely a learning curve for all of us but I think we have the swing of things now and we all have a good time together (most of the time). I remember the first night you spent at home, you were 4 days old and it took us hours to get you to sleep, you finally fell asleep on my lap at about 4am. It was the same the next night.

Actually, for the first few weeks, you only liked sleeping on my lap and whenever I tried to put you in the cot, you woke up especially during your day sleeps. You were 5 months old when I decided that it was time you learnt to put yourself to sleep and you did it well and we never looked back (except to start with, you only slept for 40 minutes and then you were ready to play). Every now and again I will have to nurse you to sleep but I don’t mind too much because I get extra cuddles from you.

We moved you into your own room when we returned from your first Christmas in Australia when you were 8 months old. I think we all started to sleep better then as we didn’t disturb each other. From 10 weeks old till 17 weeks old, you slept through the night but you only seem to do that occasionally now. Every now and again you would sleep through, sometimes you would wake and I would find you standing up in your cot, then others you just needed your dummy or a pat back to sleep. Sometimes, it took me so long to get you back to sleep and through my sleep deprivation, I would take you into bed with me in the spare room. You did make a bit of a habit out of the later from about 9 months to 11 months and hopefully *cross fingers* that it doesn’t happen quite as often as it did then because it was almost every night.

You also learnt to sleep past that first sleep cycle *eventually* during the day, at night it was not really a problem. It took some time but we got there in the end. It was roughly around the 6 month mark but every now and again, you would only sleep 40 minutes but it seemed to be enough for you. Sometimes I would manage to comfort you back to sleep and you would sleep another 40 minutes. Now, at almost 12 months old, you normally have a morning sleep of 1.5 hours and another hour to an hour and half in the afternoons. But, I can’t seem to get you to go to sleep before 8 – 8.30pm so we might be cutting down to one sleep a day soon. We tend to keep pretty busy and before Christmas, we attended swimming lessons, baby college and various different mothers groups.

We still attend most of these (except baby college) where we have both met some lovely friends. You especially love swimming lessons and have had your head immersed in water several times without a problem. You enjoyed your daily swims in the sea at South West Rocks when we visited Nanny and Poppy. The sand and the waves did not bother you at all.

For the first 5 months of your life, you wouldn’t go in your pram for very long and I had no chance of getting you to sleep in it. I would always carry you around in the baby bjorn and be pushing an empty pram half the time. A lot of people thought you were my second child and I had the elder one in the pram. I think you just wanted to be close to your Mummy. At 5 months, you did have a big learning curve as you not only learnt to put yourself to sleep but you also slept in the pram. You now love going for your daily outings in the pram but soon you will be walking and won’t want to be pushed. You love looking at the buses and trucks and also seeing any animals especially dogs on our travels. You get so excited when you see a dog. You will be wanting one as a pet before we know it.

We started you on solids at 4 months which is also when I stopped breast feeding you. You took to the food really well much better then you do now at 12 months old. I often have a fight on my hands at meal times and I really dread it at the moment because you often refuse the food I offer you. You want to feed yourself but you are not yet capable to do it with a spoon and the only finger food I can get you to eat is bread and fruit. Vegetables is a no no as finger food. You now drink your water out of a sippy cup really well and still like your milk in a bottle. You have a pretty good routine for food, sleep, milk, bath times etc and it makes everyone happy. You are still on two sleeps a day, usually keeping awake for 2.5 – 3 hours but I can not get you to go to sleep before 8 o’clock very often so sometimes Mummy does get frustrated.

You have some favourite activities and toys. You particularly love your fire engine which you love to push around, you also loves your cars that you can push around while crawling. You haven’t started walking as I think you are too interested in climbing anything and everything. You climb the stairs, up on to the church pews, into your pram and even the lounge chair. We have had a great year as a family of 3. Certainly there have been up and downs but the pros are definitely outweighing the cons and I can’t wait to celebrate more and more birthdays with you. You are the light of my light, you keep me sane, you make my life worth living, I am so thrilled to be your Mummy, you make me smile and laugh and cry. I love seeing you grow and the most magical moment was the first time you smiled at me. It was magic and I will never ever forget it. I hope I have many more laughs and smiles with you for many years to come. Happy Birthday my gorgeous little boy, Mummy and Daddy love you.

Here are some of my favourite photos of you in your first year.