Twelve Months {Happy Birthday, Rory!}

I simply cannot wrap my head around the fact that my baby boy is ONE YEAR OLD today.

One whole year. Twelve months. 52 weeks. 365 days. Wow. There were times in the very beginning when I thought we would never get here without me completely losing it. But here we are. And life is wonderful.

At one year, Rory weighs 25.4 pounds and stands about 29 inches tall. Since he’s been crawling so much lately he really hasn’t been gaining as much weight as he used to. I’ll be very curious to see where his percentages fall when we see Dr. N on Monday afternoon.

Here’s what I want to remember about this past month:

• He’s still drinking 4 bottles a day. He holds it himself most of the time, but he has started to bite the nipple. And he’s improving with a sippy cup, mostly because I have remembered to give it to him fairly regularly this month.

• His eating habits are great! He has tasted so many new foods and is doing well with most of them. He’s tried sausage, cauliflower soup, pork, black bean, kiwi, grape, cheez-it, biscuit, pancake, broccoli, blueberry, bacon, chicken, French fry, strawberry, pizza, bread, cheese, and peas.

• His nighttime sleep is the same, but his naps are somewhat of a struggle these days. His morning nap is almost always better than his afternoon nap, but he often doesn’t want to settle for either one, even though I know he’s tired. He pushes himself away from me when I try to rock him, so I often end up just putting him in bed. Sometimes he cries when I leave, sometimes he doesn’t. But he often talks to himself for awhile before finally deciding to close his eyes. Crazy fries.

• He still has four teeth. The drooling has slowed a bit but he still chews on anything and everything.

• He babbles a lot during the day. He’s been saying da, ya, and ga a lot lately, but not so much “mama” anymore.

• He has become pretty attached to me. He doesn’t like when I leave the room, whether he’s with other people or not. However, he saves some of his biggest smiles and laughs for his big brother. He loves him so much and it shows.

• He is cruising along furniture like a pro and loves taking steps holding onto a push toy or someone’s hands, but he is not walking yet. He especially loves cruising along the cabinets in the kitchen and the living room.

• He has recently started pushing toys around on the floor on his hands and knees, just like his brother used to do. He also loves remote controls and my car keys. And when you take one of those things away from him if he’s holding it, prepare for waterworks.

• He has started reaching for things he shouldn’t (my laptop, lamps, picture frames, etc.), so I’ve had to start telling him “no-no.” He mostly just looks at me and smiles, but I’m sure I’ll say it enough that he’ll get the meaning of it soon.

• He knows how to clap and how to give a high-five (most of the time). And we’re working on waving bye-bye and giving kisses.

• He loves looking at airplanes in the sky and often looks around for one when he hears its noise.

His birthday party is this Sunday, with a theme of sock monkeys. Fingers crossed that I get everything on my to-do list completed before everyone shows up, that the weather is miraculously clear, and that the little one isn’t too overwhelmed by the day. Is that too much to ask?

One year old. I can hardly believe it.

Happy Birthday, Sweetness. Daddy and I love you so very much.