The Squirt: 1 year stats

I guess he's officially a one year old since we had the 12 month well baby visit today.

At two weeks old he weighed in a little over 9 pounds and was 21 inches long.

Today at the doctor he tipped the scales at 25.13 pounds and almost 31 inches in length (30 and 3/4 inches).

I guess it's safe to say that over the last year, the boy has grown.  He is however, still on the chart sitting nicely at the 90th percentile overall.

At the appointment, our wonderful pediatrician asked all kinds of questions about Chickie's development.

How long has he been walking?  about 6 weeks.

Does he say a few words?  Yes.  He regularly says: mama, dad, Elliott, ball, duck, quack.

Can he put small objects in a container?  Yes, if dumping out the barrel of monkeys and putting all the monkeys back in the barrel counts.  He's been doing that for months.

There was more, but I cannot remember.

We have concerns about sleep (the fact that he doesn't ever sleep) and about a potential milk allergy (the pediatrician suggested that we get a prescription for an eppi pen just in case) but otherwise, this chubby chickie is perfect.

If only he'd stop getting into the bathroom drawers.

Your "glee" moment

Obsessed?

Maybe.

I'm in no way a fan of Les Miserables. For me, it is, well, miserable. I went once to see it with my cousins and I fell asleep and missed the whole middle. The high school I taught at did the abbreviated version. It was okay.

I have however, always loved the song "I dreamed a dream." It's beautiful when sung well. This week on Glee, it was sung very well.

Enjoy!

The Griswalds AZ tour

We'd decided a few weeks ago to make a trip to Arizona to catch-up with Ross' family.  We hadn't been in over a year, lots of people had never met the Chick in person and Ross' brother had just opened his new dental office.

Plans were made, visits were scheduled and we were ready to go.  And, as luck would have it, within an hour of needed to leave the oldest of my klutz's tripped and fell outside managing to cut open his top and bottom lips in the process.  He was screaming and bleeding everywhere.  His screaming caused the other one to start screaming and when our dad walked through the door we had a whole big mess of boogers and blood and tears going on.

Good thing I had not yet put on my travel clothes.

We managed to get both boys calmed down and ironically, to sleep, 15 minutes before we needed to head to the airport.

The flight was (thank heavens) uneventful.  The boys were angels.  Yeah boys!

Our quick weekend was also uneventful - which is pretty unusual for us when we travel.  Minus leaving bottles in the fridge in the room we'd just checked out of and having to return once we'd realized we'd left them behind, everything was okay.

We got to see great grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins galore.  The boys had a blast playing with everyone and Ross and I had a great time catching up.

Thank you family for humoring us on our visit.

My baby girl!

I knew, the minute I went out of town last week (more on that later) that my very pregnant sister would have her baby.

She did. 24 hours after I left the state.

It's okay though.

I had to wait a couple of days to see her, but last night I got to hold my baby girl.

Oh, I love her! She is absolutely the cutest thing in the world and has beautiful skin and hair and was wearing an adorable green bow in her hair.

My boys just went "ga ga" over her. Elliott held her and kissed her head and Wyatt tried to eat her. It was precious.  And, my husband held her - doesn't he look good holding a baby girl?  On the drive home last night I asked him if i could have one - a baby girl - he told me no, not right now.  Rats!

 Before we left, hoping there was a chance, I asked my niece if she wanted to come home with me.  My mom was there and she laughed - she and my sister had apparently been talking just before I got there about the fact that I would want to take Miss Molly home with me.

My sister told me no.  But that I could come and visit.

Before I left though, my girl and I had a quiet talk.  I told her that I love her and she smiled.  Two days old and she knows what's up.

Or...she was mocking me.  Just like everyone else in the family. 

The Squirt:: ONE YEAR!

Hi Baby Boy.

Today, at 1:39 pm you turn one year old.

You are the best boy and I love you so much.  I love your energy and your enthusiasm. I love that you are tentative about new people and new places.  I love that you are sneaky and quiet and surprise me.  I love that you cuddle with me all day long and that you like to be around me.

I love how you dance, your sense of humor, and watching you walk all over the house.  You have the widest baby stance I've ever seen.

I love that you love your brother, yell "Elliott" all day long and that your favorite thing to do is play with your brother - on the bed, outside, in the stroller.  He is your best friend.  That's awesome.

I love that you say "ball" and that when we say "pass" you know what to do.  I love that when we went to Wheeler Farm in less than 10 minutes you figured out that the animals making all the noise were ducks, you started to say duck and then you started quacking.  You've been quacking every since...even if you think the stuffed chicken is a duck.



I love to watch you climb and figure things out.  That brain of yours is a machine.  You are so busy during the day that I can only imagine what you think about at night - I bet you have the most vivid dreams.  In the last week you figured out how to blow a whistle - it's pretty amazing and you know just how cool you are to be able to do it.

It doesn't happen often, but I really am at a loss of words.  The last year has flown by.  Really.  JUST FLOWN BY.  Thanks for being the cool, kick back little buddy that you are.  I've said it over and over again this past year but you are the calm in our storm.

We love you lots and lots.

(now, watch the giant video with pictures from the last year that I was too frustrated to resize.)