One Year Old!

Sorry to friends and family about the lack of blog posts! April and May have been so super busy, and I'm still trying to catch up with everything I have to do. There should hopefully be more blog posts in the future, so keep watch! I know I am writing this post at almost 13 months, but just pretend I was on-the-ball and wrote this near his birthday!

Dear Andrew,
It is hard to believe that you are one year old! This has been the most amazing year, wonderful and busy at the same time. There have been so many changes in the past year, and I'm amazed at how much you have changed and grown. You started as this tiny 5 pound 11 ounce baby, and now you are a walking, babbling toddler! At your 12 month appointment you weighed 19 pounds 13.5 ounces (10%) and were 30 1/4 inches tall (50%). I'm amazed at how you've grown and all that you can do.

You are walking now; walking everywhere, and walking quickly! You are pretty steady on your feet and don't fall too often. Occasionally you try to get somewhere faster than your feet can go and you do a face plant. You're pretty resilient and hop up quickly, especially if you still have your eyes on something. You are fast and fearless, and want to go anywhere that we are. We can't leave our bedroom door open, or you'll drop what you are doing and shuffle in there. Apparently that room is fascinating to you - probably because you're rarely allowed in! You also want to go outside all the time. I can tell that we are going to spend a lot of time outside this summer because you are constantly at the front windows or the back door looking out. You will bang on the back door and shout to go outside, especially if someone went outside without you. Unfortunately for me, you seem to be a climber! One day Grandma Karen went to grab something upstairs and left the gate unlatched. Daddy was watching you, but before he noticed, you were standing on the fourth step! I'm glad I wasn't there, or I probably would have had a panic attack!

You love to get into things! Your favorite things to "play" with are the dishwasher and the dog's water bowl. It's like you have radar for these things - we'll see you rush into the kitchen and we'll all know right away that you're about to get into something. You also love to go to the pantry and get out snacks. You'll bring us a box of graham crackers or the bag of goldfish and grunt for us to open it! You still love to eat, although your diet has gotten more limited over the past month or two. You still love most meats, toast with peanut butter or jam, and all fruits, but you are now refusing most veggies. I'm having to get creative and hide them! Your favorite foods are probably chicken, pizza, toast with peanut butter, and fruit. You love pears, peaches, watermelon, avocado, and blueberries. You also love Cheerios and other snack foods like graham crackers and goldfish. I think your absolute favorite food is whatever we have - you love to steal what we are eating! We have started to order a kid's meal for you sometimes so that we don't have to give you our whole meal! You are exclusively drinking whole milk from a sippy cup during the day. I still nurse you right before bed, but we are going to work on that this summer. You also drink water very well. You love to drink water out of my water bottle. You will pull it out of my mouth and start drinking from it, then give it back to me for a second and then pull it out again!

You are so fun and full of personality! You babble all the time, and your new favorite sound is "na". I still don't think you are saying any true words, but you are understanding a lot. You follow some basic instructions. There are times when it seems that you are saying "dog" or "doggy". I am sure you are saying so many things, and are just frustrated that we don't understand! You love to play - especially with all the fun new toys you got for your birthday. You were given a couple of toys that have balls, and you love to take them out and throw them or bang them together. You were also sneaky and stuck one in your diaper champ. Luckily Grandma Karen noticed and retrieved it! Your favorite "toy" is probably the wagon that we got you. You LOVE to ride in the wagon - you can look all around and enjoy the scenery. I know we'll spend lots of time walking with the wagon this summer!

You are such a sweet boy. Recently I can sit on the floor with my arms outstretched and you will rush over to me and give me a big hug. It melts my heart each time! You are on the move much of the time, but you still love to be held. You don't really want to sit with us, but if I'm walking around, you're content to be in my arms.


Andrew, you are so loved. Your dad and I love you so much - we marvel over how lucky we are to have such an amazing, smart, adorable boy. You have changed our life over the past year in a way we could never have known or imagined. We love the little person you are becoming and look forward to all the things that we will do as a family. I can't wait for the all the amazing things to come in the next year!

Some twelve month pics: