Landon is 12 Months Old!

Dear Landon,

I cannot believe you are 1 year old today! I feel like I just gave birth to you, but that was a whole year ago and you're such a little boy now. I don't know where the times goes and part of me is sad you're growing up so fast.

You came into our lives at 10:05am on June 3, 2011 and we were so excited to meet you. We had no idea just how much we were going to love you or how much you would change our lives for the better the instant you were born. You have been such an amazing baby and taught me everything about being a mother and unconditional love. You've taught me how to slow down, let go of my strict schedule, and just roll with the punches.Your dad and I cannot imagine our lives without you and the time before you were here seems like a distant memory.

You are such a fun, happy boy! You babble all the time and are making more and more sounds. You call your dad and I by the correct names sometimes, and you try to repeat some words I say, but you're not quite there yet. Sometimes you yell "yea yea yea!" when you're happy and it's adorable!

You're playing "peek a boo" with us by covering your face with a piece of fabric and sometimes you use your hands to cover your eyes. You are using your nesting cups properly too. You don't necessarily nest the cups in order, but you realize the smaller ones fit into the bigger ones. When you see a camera, you do this totally forced, cheesy smile and it's the funniest thing ever!

You are able to respond to several commands including giving us a ball, shaking things, and waving when asked. The waving is really interesting because you've seen me wave "hi" or "bye bye" to Mickey Mouse at the end of his show, or at the end of some books, so now you do it unprompted. You are absorbing everything around you and trying to do it too. It's awesome to see how observant you are. If we ask you to blow kisses, you make a kissy noise. You do point, but you stick your whole hand out to "point" instead of just your index finger. You decided to show us all that you can clap at your birthday party! It was adorable and I'm so glad you finally did it! We're working on teaching you to lift your arms over your head when we say "touchdown!"

You are so mobile now and it's only a matter of time until you're walking. You crawl on all fours like a champ, pull up on everything, and cruise all day long. You're really fast! You're also taking a risk and letting go of furniture to stand on your own for a few seconds. Your favorite thing to do right now is climb up our flight of 14 stairs. You can go up pretty fast, but you don't know how to go down and get mad when I try to show you. You're into EVERYTHING and we've had to move a lot of things out of your reach and lock up several cabinets.

We have been taking you outside to do more things. You love to swing and you were OK playing with water. We got you a water table for your birthday, so you will get more comfortable with water this summer. You HATE the grass though! I imagine you don't like the texture, and whenever we put you in it, you cry and life your legs up so they don't touch the grass.

I introduced cow's milk to you a few weeks ago so that we can begin a gradual weaning process. You've dropped a feeding and take the cow's milk instead. You needed it mixed with breastmilk at first, but now you take it alone just fine. What's funny is you will only take it out of a Nuby sippy cup. I've given you Playtex sippys for water and breastmilk, and on a whim got the Nuby since you weren't doing so well with the cow's milk out of the other ones. It worked, I have no idea why, but I am going with it. You know what you want :) You are a great eater and have a huge appetite. We have to order you your own meal off the kid's menu at restaurants now because having some of ours isn't enough. You like everything but green beans and cottage cheese. You will eat a couple raspberries, but they're not your favorites. You LOVE blackberries, cheese, and hummus among other things.

You had your first fever (102.4) 5 days before your birthday. The Dr. said it was something viral and luckily not your ears or anything like that. You handled it like a champ, extra snuggles and Advil made you feel better, and the fever went away for good within 3 days. You're also cutting 2 more top teeth (you now have 8 teeth total), but you're still your happy self in spite of that.

I will do a whole separate post on your first birthday party. About 50 people came to celebrate you yesterday and we had a lot of fun! You really enjoyed your cake!

Stats:

Height: 31 inches (81st percentile)
Weight: 28 lbs (97th percentile)
You are in 18-24 month clothing
You are in size 4 diapers
You are waking up 1-2 times/night
You are nursing 3-4 times in a 24 hour period.

A few months ago I found a quote that I really love: "A family is a little world created by love." Your dad and I were a family once we got married, but you being born truly made us our own little family unit. I've always wanted children, and you have been such a joy. We are so proud of all you accomplished this first year of your life and look forward to seeing what else you do. We feel so very blessed that you have come into our lives and we love you more than you will ever know. Happy Birthday, sweet boy! You have a lot of people who love you so much!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy