ONE Year old!

Wow!  wow. 

WOW.

Well, Mr. Eli... you are a ONE year old!!  I still find it so hard to believe that a year has already flown by!  What an amazing year - you have impacted every aspect of our lives, and we LOVE it!!  We are having such a great time together - every day is full of laughter, naps, cheerios, and squeals!  :) 

You have had a fun month - we spent time in San Diego, Santa Monica, & Santa Barbara (which I wrote about some in last month's letter). You got to see several strawberry fields as we drove from LA to Santa Barbara, and... surprise... your dad decided he had to get off the highway and be nosey!  Your first taste of strawberry was from a roadside stand selling fresh berries... understandably, you loved them!  Since then, you have had LOTS of strawberries -- we even served them at your bday party!  We used your stroller a ton in California, and luckily you loved it!  I just loved being able to walk outside and immediately use the stroller... we can't do that at home!  :)  You just love watching people and seeing new things and the stroller is a great way for you to do that. 

That balloon followed us from Santa Barbara to Muskogee.

 We also had a big family party to send your uncle BJ off to Kosovo.  You haven't gotten to spend much time with your uncle BJ because he has always lived far away and as a result I think you like looking at him better than letting him hold you for right now!  I know this makes BJ sad, but I KNOW you will ADORE him in the coming years!  He will likely be gone for 1.5 years, but we are going to skype with him so that you can see each other!  There were lots of people there - mostly family - and you did really well!  You and your Pops have formed a special bond... pretty much all is right with the world when he is holding you!  It's the sweetest thing... and we're all a bit jealous!  ;)

Eli not so sure about BJ.  Isn't he handsome!

Eli with my mom's dad, Jack.

"celery?"

Love my sweet family!

Eli had had enough of the pictures!  Both sets of grandparents saying "goodbye" to BJ for a little while!

You also had a slumber party at Grandma Shelby's house so your dad and I could have a dinner with friends and actually sleep in the next morning (first time since your birth, Mr. 7:30 AM!).  ;) She loves having you stay with her and you love playing at their house!  Papa took you on a 4-wheeler ride and said that you loved it!  You guys go out and check on the cows.  Go figure.  ;)  After that, your dad decided you MUST have a haircut, so we gave you a little trim.  I have before pictures, but no "during" pictures because it absolutely took both of us to hold you still enough to trim your hair!  I have a feeling we have a "real" haircut in our future - yesterday you were trying to get your hair out of your eyes... I think that's a sign!  :)

Hair exaggerated over ears for dramatic effect.  But, yes, it was time for a trim!

You also got to see your buddy Blue again!  He came for your birthday party and stayed the night before.  You guys played so well together!  We have big plans for the two of you!  :)  You also got to see your auntie Jenn & uncle Dan.  They love you so much!

I can just see that trouble is in their future!

Sweet boys sharing bath water.  :)

You are mostly wearing 12-18 month clothes, but can still wear some 6-12 month stuff.  You weighed 21 pounds and were 30 inches long at your 1 year well baby appointment.  While you have only taken a few steps independently, your pediatrician complemented how strong of a walker you are!  I'm just pleased you actually started taking a few steps!  :)  Progress!  You are still a pretty great little eater and have started reducing the amount of formula you drink.  I haven't started weaning from the bottle yet because I like the extra calories you are getting from formula!  :)  And, I just figured out that you like to give yourself the bottle!  I thought you were weaning yourself from it, but really you just wanted to do it on your own!  We'll most likely start the transition to whole milk (which you don't seem to care for much at this point!) in the next couple of weeks.  You are still a great sleeper - sleeping 12 hours at night and taking two naps that are two hours each - usually at 9 am and then around 2 pm or so. 

Peek-A-Boo!

You have so many tricks lately, it's hard to keep up!  You started off the month blowing a LOT of kisses!  It was so sweet!  I haven't seen this one in the past week or so, but like your other tricks - clapping your hands or waving, it should resurface again soon.  You also cover your eyes and play peek-a-boo without prompting!  You cover them and wait for me to say "Peek-a-boo!" and then you uncover them.... and have the sweetest smile on your face!  It's adorable!  You also like to pat your mouth while saying "ba ba ba ba" - your grandma taught you that trick and we love it!  If we start patting your mouth, you'll start making the sound!  You still have a "cheese" face that you love to show off.  A ton of my pictures of you are of your head cocked back and face scrunched up!  I do absolutely love it, though!  You are great with your toys - you love to put the blocks back in their box, to put the egg in the slot on your barn door toy (and say "bock bock bock"), to put the phone up to your ear, etc.  It's so fun to watch you discover all the elements of the various toys!

"bock bock bock bock"

"hello?"

You also ate dirt for the first time this month (and seemed to enjoy it, surprisingly).  And, your dad tells me that you've been climbing the stairs at grandma & papa's house for the past couple of months.  You also learned last month to climb off of things backwards - beds, couches, etc.  We started teaching you that last month to hopefully avoid disaster since you like to get on and off of things so much.  So far, I am still amazed when you turn around to get off feet first!  Thank you! 

OH!  This month, you have officially fallen in love with your chair!  You pull your teddy and froggy off the chair and climb in.  If you see anyone or anything in your chair, you race over to get them/it off!  I hope that's not indicative of future sharing issues!  :)  You also just love to sit in it and read books or just chill.  It's pretty cute! 

Cheese!!

Ok, your birthday is going to have to go in a separate post... this is already bordering on novel-status!  I can't put into words how LOVED and celebrated you were on your birthday.  Most of your family was in town for the celebration, including some like-family friends.  The house was packed, the cupcakes were devoured (by everyone but yourself!  you weren't so sure about the cake!), and the house is now officially your playroom!  You had a great time and so did everyone there.  It was fabulous.  More pics to come in the birthday post!

What is this stuff??!!

Dear son, your daddy and I love you worlds beyond my humble means of communicating so... you are perfection in our eyes (even when you poop on my hand.).  You make us laugh every day and we've done our best to cherish every moment with you as you grow up.  Facing your first birthday, I was mostly excited.  There is so much ahead for us! 

We pray every day for you and for the man you will grow up to be.  Our prayer is that you will love God with all your heart and endeavor to follow His perfect will for your life.  I have no expectations beyond that.  :)

We love you, through and through,
Mom