Coming up on 1 year!

It’s hard to believe that September 12 Carter will be 1 year old! Time sure does fly…

Carter has made incredible progress and every time I think about it, it brings tears to my eyes! Although he is almost 12 months, he will be 8 months adjusted on August 30. We look at him mostly like he’s an 8 month old. Here are his highlights:

-Carter is completely off of Neocate (the formula with the proteins broken down) and only on Similac Advance (same formula Claire was on)! Hooray! 

-Carter eats 3-4 jars of baby food a day. We can start trying regular milk once he turns one. We add a little Canola Oil to his lunch to keep the fat up in his diet since the fruits/veggies don’t have any fat and low calories. 

-Carter is about 17 pounds and in 9 month clothes. Not sure of his length.

-Carter’s speech development is right where it should be. He laughs hysterically, especially at Claire, and responds appropriately to things he does/doesn’t like. Cries and yells at Claire when she takes toys away from him. : ) 

-Carter’s physical development is about that of an 8 month old! He sits on his own, rotates around to get toys, lays on his tummy and ends up in the middle of the kitchen. He gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. His physical therapist said he should be crawling in the next two weeks. I of course bawled tears of happiness when they told me that! 

-Eating is still hot & cold for Carter…some weeks are better than others. We just continue to watch his weight gain and as long as that continues to increase, we’ll take it! He is currently at the 5th percentile on the full term baby growth chart – no more preemie chart!!! Wahoo!! When he came home from the NICU he was in the 3rd percentile on the preemie growth chart. Boy has he grown!

-Carter is eligible to receive the monthly shots for RSV from October to April…so once again, we’ll be avoiding large crowds and taking him out in public often. Though his lung development has improved, if he got RSV it could be very dangerous for him. We have a nanny come to our house this school year to lower Carter’s risk of getting sick. Her name is Christina and she brings her daughter with her who is Claire’s age. We love her and got so lucky to find someone like her. 

Anyway, Carter is doing great and we couldn’t be more proud of him! I will post some pictures after his 1st birthday party (this Sunday).