12 Months

My baby is not so "baby" anymore. He's turning into a real human kid...okay, a toddler...but still, he's growing!

We walked into his room yesterday morning singing "Happy Birthday" to which he promptly looked up at us with a huge grin of excitement that quickly turned into a look of confusion as to why BOTH of his parents were walking into his room in the morning (because that NEVER happens. Clearly one of us is usually still in bed trying to catch some extra zzzzzzs while the other saves the child from crib-prison). His confused look quickly turned into a desperate give-me-milk look as his little arms shot straight up and he started signing milk over and over and over again until I actually lifted him up and granted him his one and only birthday desire. (He finally picked up on the milk sign just last week and it's kind of the cutest thing ever...except for when he does it ALL DAY).

After first breakfast we came downstairs to make second breakfast (our first breakfast, his second that is). We whipped up some Whole Wheat Waffles and cream and topped them off with strawberries. (Why do people--including me apparently--always feel the need to specify when we eat something that is whole wheat or buttermilk? It's not like we ever say, "we had Bisquick Pancakes this morning" or "White Flour Pancakes." I guess it's one of those "feel good" things. Anyways, they were Whole Wheat and I feel good about it and here's the recipe just in case you want some WHOLE WHEAT waffles as well). We then threw the candle on board and it was officially a BIRTHDAY.

And that was the ONE awesomely beautiful picture that we got of Shae's birthday morning. Nice and blurry and really just spectacular overall. Oh, besides this picture below that is, which only has half of our son in it which is really too bad because he actually looks really excited in this picture...don't worry, I still love you Darin.

Now on to more exciting things...

I am LOVING this stage right now. Like I said before, he's turning into a real, normal human being (besides little things like the diapers and throwing food on the floor and what not...). He has started doing little things each day that bring out the "real" human being within the baby.

For example:

 ~He has connected "uh-oh" with dropping things. Something drops and he goes "uuu-oooooo" with the cutest little round lips on the planet. 

~He gets so excited about reading. He'll grab a book, crawl over to us, hand it to us and then push himself into our laps where we waits for us to read it to him and we wait for him to turn the pages.

~He has just recently started laying his head on us, as in sitting still for maybe ten seconds with his head leaned up against our arm or leg (Ten seconds that feels like a glorious, precious, please-never-end eternity when it happens. Darin and I just look at each other and non verbally communicate through the face we make which always says something to the effect of "preshhhhhious-tender-mercy-of-loving-son-oh-my-gosh). 

~He wants to eat with a fork. There are times when he won't eat until we put his little fork in a piece of food so that he can grab it and stuff it in his mouth.

~Basically he loves doing anything that we do. Brushing his teeth, going up and down the stairs by himself, using the light switches and doorknobs, etc.

Oops, apparently the shutter wasn't open all the way, but here he is brushing his teeth in his favorite place while I get ready for the day.

He also:

~Has seven teeth. One more on the bottom and two molars coming in. 

~Is getting a bit picky with food. One day he'll devour tomato and then next day he spits it right out. It's hard to say what he'll eat and what he won't. It seems to quite literally depend on the day of the week. 

Enjoying a pickle one day and refusing it the next.

~Last week it seemed like he was ready to be a one-a-day-napper as he kindly only took one nap a day and played in his crib for each and every afternoon nap. I however am not ready to be a one-a-day-napper-momma and was SO happy when he decided that he still needed two naps a day for a little bit longer. I have a feeling that he'll be going through a little transitional phase for a bit between the two and each day might be a little different.

~His favorite toy is currently a toy that he got for Christmas where you drop balls and watch them spin down the toy. He also finds the racquetball tube, lid and ball to be quite entertaining as he sits, puts the ball in, tries to put the lid on, takes the ball out and then starts the whole process over again for minutes on end.

And finally, the stats:

Height: 30.25" 66%ile
Weight: 23 lbs 6 oz 59%ile
Head Circumference: 18.5" 69%ile

The End...of his first year.