Raising Rex – 11 Months Old

Rex is now more than 11 months and there are just 2 weeks until he becomes a 1 year old. That time seems to have gone fast, yet slow in equal measures. He really is developing a mind and character all of his own now. He is a sociable little soul as our trip to Spain proved last week!

Rex’s Character

Rex really loves to be sociable. When people say hello to him, he smiles and then goes all coy, burying his head into my shoulder or nearest part of my body if he is in a shopping trolley, for example.

He loves playing peek-a-boo and thinks it is very funny. He hides under his bobo (blanket) and when you say ‘where’s Rex?’ he pulls it off his head and grins at you. The funniest, though, is his big sister. She never fails to make him giggle and he has a real, proper, belly laugh with her. I also love how he dips his head down onto the floor when he is laughing!

 

He really does know his own mind and, because of this, he gets very frustrated when he can’t do something! He starts crying or shouting and you can tell that he is really trying hard to communicate now.

Trying to Speak

Whilst I know that he hasn’t had his first ‘proper’ word yet, he does use the word ‘mama’ a lot when he wants me or needs some comfort. He also says ‘dada’ and is clearly trying to say ‘cat’ and ‘quack’. I also think he is trying to say ‘Grace’ but it ends up as ‘Gra’. He does A LOT of baby babble and I have no doubt that he will be a chatterbox like the rest of us!

On the Move

Rex is now crawling at lightening speed and you certainly need to be quick if you want to stop him getting into anything. He is continuing to practice standing and cruising along the sofa, chairs or whatever is within his reach.  I am not sure whether he will be a walker before his first birthday, unlike his sister, but I don’t think he will be too far behind!

Favourite Foods

Rex has a few big loves when it comes to food. The first is the Vegetable Straws from Kiddylicious. He also loves omelettes (particularly cheese and ham) and Jaffa cakes (which I think I mentioned on my last update). When he was in Spain he tried lots of different fruits and he now enjoys pineapple, blueberries and melon.

Favourite Toys and Books

His cot toys remain Olly, a Fisher Price musical owl, and Mim Mim, a cuddly rabbit which was in a BritMums goody bag a few years ago. He loves his stacking cups, shape sorting eggs and we have just given him a vTech walker to start playing with to encourage him to walk.

He still loves books of any sort and will sit down and try and tell himself a story using baby babble!

His First Wedding

On the 26th May – the day Rex turned 11 months – we were guests at our friends, Luci and John, wedding. Grace was their flower girl and Ross was an Usher. I managed to do some photography but my main job was looking after Rex.

We bought him a gorgeous suit from Primark and he was so good for most of the day. It was very hot and I made sure that, during the service, I wandered around with him as it was outside (which really helped!).

There was a lot of sitting around and to-ing and fro-ing for photographs but Rex took it all in his stride and enjoyed the sociable side. He fell asleep just before the meal and woke up once we got into the dining room when everyone clapped for the bride and groom’s entrance.

He sat at dinner and loved his bread roll! We stayed until almost 10pm and made our way to my mum’s to stay for the night – where Rex crashed out! He did wake at around 2.30am and wanted a bottle and then was up at 7am with me.

His First Flight

On Monday 28th May, we headed back to Alicante to return to IVF Spain so that they could meet Rex. This meant that it would be the first time he flew – and our first time of flying with a baby! I didn’t fly anywhere with Grace until she was 4.

Flying with easyJet was far more straightforward than I thought it would be – especially given some of the stories I had read. We were able to take two extra pieces of luggage for Rex. We had pre-booked seats and priority boarding.

Rex screamed on take off both from the UK and from Spain. This was because he was so tired and needed a sleep – and isn’t used to sleeping on me anymore! Thankfully we didn’t put the passengers around us through too much pain! It didn’t take too long for him to fall asleep and it meant we all got a bit of quiet for the first hour at least After than it was just a case of trying to keep him amused for the remaining hour and a half – and I have to say that he was really good. He stood on my lap much of the time and grinned at the other passengers!

His First Holiday Abroad

Obviously, following our flight to Spain, Rex experienced his first holiday abroad. For the first two nights we stayed at the Hotel Maya – the same hotel we stayed at whilst we were having our treatment. It really helped having our travel cot which Rex has stayed in before and is familiar with.

He seemed to take the change in routine in his stride and was so good at all the mealtimes we had. On the third day we took a road trip (which was longer than expected) to see Ross’ parents and spend some time with them. It was here that we had to get Rex used to being in the pool again as he hadn’t swum since we visited Center Parcs in November last year. I am really looking forward to him starting his swimming lessons thanks to us being Konfidence ambassadors.

Meeting His Makers

I will write – and vlog – more about out trip to IVF Spain on another post but it was very emotional and totally lovely going back to see them all. To enable them to meet both Grace and Rex and help them see how much they have done for our family. Rex met Dr Alvarez, Karine and Maite amongst many others – all of whom were an immense support to us and helped bring Rex into the world.

What’s Next?

Well, of course, next on the agenda is Rex’s first birthday in two weeks time. Where on earth did that go?!