Happy First Birthday, Eric Anthony Herman!

Dear Eric,

I feel like you have come so far in this past year.  In the beginning, life was not so kind to you.  You had a horrible case of acid reflux when you were born, which made it difficult for you to eat.  As a result, you were often pretty unhappy.  It hurt you to eat, so you would cry, but it was also uncomfortable to be so hungry, so you would cry.  I spent a lot of time feeling so sad because I couldn't help you no matter how hard I tried.  We put you on medication, I cut out all dairy from my diet, and you were still in pain.  I can't imagine what that must have felt like, and I am so sorry that you had to go through that.  Because you were in pain, you looked to me for comfort a lot, and you quickly became a Mama's boy.  That habit of needing me still continues today, and I'll admit, there is a part of me that loves it!

When you turned four months old, it was like you were a different kid.  Suddenly you were happier.  The doctor says it's because your digestive system was maturing and you were able to process food better.  Whatever the reason, I was so happy!  You liked being around Daddy more and more.  As the months went on, you got more used to being around others, and eventually, you came to love attention from others.  When you were about 10 1/2 months old, we went on vacation to Disney World, and you saw how wonderful it was to get attention from other people.  Suddenly our shy little Eric became outgoing.  From this moment on, you smiled at everyone in an effort to get them to smile back at you (they always did).  I love to see your face light up every time you see a new person, and it is fun to see how much people love you.  I can't take you anywhere without hearing what a cute little boy I have!

And smart!  At your first birthday, you had said 12 words (you are currently up to 16).  You could say hi, bye-bye, Mama, Dada, boom, oops, fish, Nemo, no-no, bird, up, and go.  You now also know poop, bubbles, puppy, and clap.  You can tell us that a kitty says meow and puppy says "aarf aarf aarf."  You let me know when you are done eating by waving your hands.  You tell me you are thirsty by pointing to a drink that I have or going to the cabinet to get out a cup.  Sometimes, you even know exactly which cup you want, and you will keep trying until you get that one.  You learned to drink from a straw immediately.  I was shocked!  I gave you the straw cup, and before I could even squeeze it up into the straw, you started to suck on it.  I couldn't believe you figured it out on your own!  Right now, you are working on figuring out how to use a fork.  You try to put the food on top of the fork and eat it, or you will wave the fork around and hope that the food gets on it (but it always ends up on the floor).  We're working on learning how to stab the food.  When I help you with this, you get so excited to use the fork to eat!

You adore your sister!  You watch everything she does, and you do your best to keep up with her.  You laugh at a lot of the things she does, and she is always happy to make you laugh again and again.  You like to watch movies together, sing, dance, and play.  Your favorite thing to do together is "chase."  She pushes her scooter and you push your walker, and the two of you do laps around the center of our house.  Adriana will yell, "we are chasing!" and you will laugh so hard.  Whenever someone says, "chase," you know what to do.  You will run to get your walker and take off!  I hope you and Adriana are always great friends, like you are right now.

This summer, I enrolled Adriana in a music/dance class.  At first, I thought I would just take Adriana and you would stay with Hermie.  One week, Hermie couldn't watch you, and it turns out that was the best thing that could have happened to you.  You absolutely LOVE this class!  You love to play with the instruments and dance along to the songs.  Your favorite song is "No, No, No."  You recently started making the sign for "no, no, no" as you say the words.  This is my cue to start singing the song.  I love seeing your adorable smile when I start to sing.  I think you ask me to sing this song about 20 times each day.

You also love to play basketball.  This is a favorite game to play with Daddy.  You like to chase after the ball, and you know how to throw or roll it to someone.  You have so much fun watching Daddy, Adriana, and me throw the basketball in the hoop.

You are also SO, SO sweet.  You will give me kisses if I ask (occasionally, I don't have to ask).  You love to give hugs.  I love it when I pick you up and you put your arms around me and lay your head on my shoulder.  You also know how to say you're sorry.  If you hurt Adriana, I will have you tell her you're sorry.  You will walk over to her and give her a kiss.  You also show affection by head-butting.  This started as a game with Daddy, but you now do it with Adriana and me, too.  When you want to be friendly, you will lean your head into someone's forehead and push.

You have loved playing at the park this summer.  You absolutely LOVE to slide!  You also like swinging.  You will say, "go," when you want to go down a slide or be pushed in a swing.

Nemo is, by far, your favorite character.  You recognize him whenever you see him (or any other clown fish), and you love to look at fish because of him.  Your face lights up whenever you get a glimpse of him.  I don't think I've ever seen someone your age become so attached to a character.  It's so cute to see you developing your own interests at such an early age.

I hope that as you grow, you will continue to enjoy life and care about other people.  I know that you didn't really enjoy life for the first four months, and I hope that you are able spend the rest of your life making up for that.  Anyone who meets you today would never know that you were so unhappy at the beginning of your life.  You are the most fun-loving kid!  You are a wonderful little boy, and I want you to be happy.  I hope that you find little ways to be happy and enjoy life every day, whether it's watching Nemo, chasing Adriana, or some other fun activity you find.

I also want you to be a caring boy, and someday, I want you to turn into a caring man.  You need to always show respect to other people, especially girls and/or women.  You are so caring and sweet in the way you give kisses, hugs, and even head-butts.  I hope you always stay as sweet.  I feel like men get such a bad rap because of things that a few jerks have done.  I hope that you are one of the men, like your dad, who shows women what a good man is like.

I can't tell you how proud I am to be your Mommy.  You are sweet, smart, funny, personable, and loving.  I love how much time I've been able to spend with you during the first year of your life.  It's fun to see what new things you learn each day, and I love how much you love to be around me.  It makes my day to see how important I am to you because you and Adriana are everything to me.  I feel so lucky that I have been blessed with two wonderful children!  I only hope that I will continue to raise you to be as loving and happy as you are today.

I love you, Eric Anthony Herman!

Love, Mommy

Eric Anthony is 52 Weeks (12 Months) Old!

I will be writing my one-year post for Eric momentarily (now that his pictures have come in).  But I wanted to get his weekly pictures updated first.

Eric - 49 weeks:

Eric - 50 Weeks (it's getting harder and harder to get a good picture):

Eric - 51 Weeks:

And finally...Eric - 52 Weeks:

I know I'm biased, but I think Eric is SO adorable!  I think he's always been cute, but in the past couple of months, he has become absolutely adorable!  I love this last picture!  Now...wait until you see the professional photos.

Eric Anthony is Eleven Months (48 Weeks) Old!

May 17 marked the end of Eric's 44th week.  He celebrated his cousin, Zeke's, 6th birthday that weekend.  He had a great time at his first pool party of the year!

Week 45 ended on May 24.  Eric decided to give us a scare on Memorial Day weekend.  On Saturday, the 24th, we took the kids to the park, and then came home for naptime.  When Eric woke up from his nap, he felt a little warm, but I thought it was just from being out in the sun.  He still acted really happy.  Later, Scott picked him up and asked if I thought he felt hot.  He did.  We took his temperature, and it was a little high, but nothing unusual.  We called the doctor, and the doctor said, "no more monkeys jumping on the bed."  Wait, wrong story!  The doctor said, "just give him Advil or Tylenol to keep him comfortable, but don't worry about waking him up to give it to him.  As long as he's sleeping, let him sleep and just give it to him when he wakes up."  That advice did not work for Eric.  On Monday morning, he woke up with a temperature of 103.9!  We called the doctor again, and he advised going to immediate care.  My mom said it should have been the ER.  Anyway, we took him to immediate care, and they couldn't find anything wrong with him.  They said to just keep giving him Advil and Tylenol, but to alternate them so the fever never had a chance to get that high again, and to follow up with his regular doctor on Tuesday.  I decided to also wake up every three hours on Monday night/Tuesday morning, so that Eric continued to get medicine.  I didn't want his fever to ever get that high again!  On Tuesday, his regular doctor diagnosed him with Roseola, which Adriana had.  He never did break out in a rash, but the fever went away, Adriana never got sick, and it appears that he was completely unharmed by the high fever.  Scary though!  Especially given our family history of febrile seizures (Quentin and Zeke).

Look how happy he is.  This was taken right after his nap, when he was already a little feverish.

May 31 marked the beginning of my summer vacation and the end of Eric's 46th week.  He is completely fever-free, and he is looking forward to his first vacation!  (Trivia question:  What is my favorite outfit of Eric's?  I swear these pictures were taken a week after the previous set.)

Kisses!

Eric spent his 47th week in Walt Disney World!  We left on June 3 and returned on June 10, so these pictures were taken a few days late.  I think he'll forgive me.  I was lucky enough to have an assistant for this photo shoot.

And finally, week 48.  Eric is now 11 months old!  This week's photo shoot got a little rough, but I promise no children were harmed in the process.  I can't guarantee that the same can be said for monsters.

Eric has learned to do so much this month!  He says "hi," claps, waves, and shows that he's "SO big!"  We're working on showing that he's one.  He does it sometimes, but not all of the time.  Yesterday, he said bye-bye.  He LOVES to play peek-a-boo.  Sometimes he covers his eyes, sometimes he covers his head, but it is his favorite game.  He could play for hours.  Well...minutes, but that's a long time for Eric.

Here are all of the milestones he's reaches as of right now:

• says mama and dada (but not all the time)
• claps his hands
• waves hi and bye-bye
• bangs two cubes together
• puts objects into containers and then takes them out
• cruises furniture
• walks with adult help
• interested in books
• understands some simple commands
• shares toys but wants them back
• pulls off hat and socks
• identifies self in mirror (he's so funny when he sees himself!)

We love our sweet Eric!

Eric Anthony is 10 Months (43 Weeks) Old

Oops!  I could've sworn I did Eric's 10 month post.  I figured I would do all of the posts leading up to 11 months at once, so I was waiting until he turned 11 months.  When I just sat down to do the 11-month post, I realized there was no 10-month post.  Poor Eric.  Actually, Eric himself is not at all neglected...which is why his blog often is.  I think the kid is literally attached to my hip.  And Adriana just reentered the Mommy-phase, so free time is sparse, even in the summer.

Anyway, Eric turned 10 months old on May 13.  He is the proud owner of 8 teeth now (it came through on May 5), and he is still just the happiest little guy.  He smiles ALL. THE. TIME.  It turns out his cold became a sinus infection, but he's on the mend now. 

At ten months, Eric has met the following milestones:

• gets upset if a toy is removed (Adriana likes to make sure he is developing appropriately, and tests this one out from time to time)
• transfers object from hand to hand
• stands holding onto someone
• pulls to standing
• understands "no"
• has fun opening and closing cabinet doors (and taking everything out of them)
• extends arm and leg when getting dressed

See you soon!  I'm going to write the 11-month post now.

Eric: Weeks 40, 41, and 42

On April 19, Eric was 40 weeks old.  He got his 7th tooth on April 18.  The poor kid was working on three teeth at the same time.  At least he got them over with all at once.  We enjoyed our first Easter Egg Drop on April 19.  Eric, Adriana, Zeke, Connor, and Quentin had a great time!  Eric's really looking forward to running and finding eggs with the rest of the kids next year.

Eric turned 41 weeks old on April 26, Brandon's birthday.  We celebrated Brandon's birthday, and Eric had a great time with his cousins.  He loves being held by Connor and Quentin.

Loving his toes

Trying to escape

May 3rd marked the end of Eric's 42 week.  I get a weekly email about baby's development, and when I saw "Week 42" in the subject line, I was shocked.  Eric is going to be ONE YEAR OLD in just 10 weeks!  That's crazy! 

We're still waiting on his 8th tooth, and he's fighting a pretty bad cold.  It's been a rough week for Eric, but he's still smiley.

Elmo, can I talk to you for a minute?

Sucker!

I gotcha!