A whole year old!

I can't believe it's true. Gavin is a whole YEAR old! Tom and I have been very nostalgic this past week, reminiscing about what was happening last year at this time. Everything from going to my last doctor appointment when I was one week overdue, to going out to dinner our last time as a family of two, to going to the hospital for what was to be a very long induction process, and especially the moment we first got to lay eyes on this little bundle of joy. It's just all so unreal.

This last month leading up to the big birthday has been full of lots of memories. Gavin has been crawling around all over in his own unique style, what we call the army crawl. He also loves to stand holding onto funiture and practice walking holding onto Mommy and Daddy's hands. He can also pull himself up to his knees. He really loves music, having us sing to him, pounding on the keys to our piano, and playing with his musical toys. He had some increased separation anxiety, a little cold, and teething (his pediatrician said he has 4 top teeth coming in) which caused a brief relapse into waking up in the middle of the night. But luckily, he's now back to sleeping like a champ. He goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up between 6 and 6:30am. He also takes 2 naps a day at 9am and about 1:30pm, with each lasting 1-2 hours each. As for eating, he eats 3 meals a day and an afternoon snack. I'd say his favorite foods are all types of fruits and cottage cheese (gross to me but he gobbles the stuff up). He has quite the personality too. He is extremely expressive with his facial expressions which helps us understand how he's feeling. He is also Mr. Chatty saying lots of "da da", "ma ma" and his latest phrase, "uh oh". We are just constantly telling him how cute he is. Not that we're partial, but we just love this little guy more and more every day.

Gavin also had his one year well baby check up and his stats are:
Height 30.5 inches, 75TH percentile
Weight 25 lbs and .5 ounces, 75TH percentile
Head circumference was in the 25TH percentile
Very happily, I can report Gavin is going on over 2 months since his last ear infection. This is literally the longest he's gone without one since he was 3 months old. We are very happy about this and hope it's at trend that continues. The pediatrician said Gavin is doing great, and commented on what a happy, social boy he is. We couldn't agree more, and that's just a few of the reasons we adore this little guy. This week we also started Gavin on whole milk which we're introducing gradually into his diet. So far, he seems to like it.

To ring in his 1 year birthday, we had a birthday party celebration, Hawaiian luau style and everyone was greeted with a lei as they arrived. We had lots of family and friends in attendance, and we had a wonderful time. It was a huge blessing to have so many people who love Gavin present that day. For the party itself, we had pulled pork sandwiches (to mimic pork cooked buried in the beach), lots of fruit, and some yummy punch. And we can't forget the cake! Gavin got his own personal Teddy bear cake. It was so hilarious to watch him eat it. At first he was very cautious, just touching the frosting and taking a few licks from his fingers. He soon realized the yumminess in front of him (this was his first time ever having sweets mind you) and started eating handfuls of the cake and lots of frosting. Luckily only a few pieces went flying around our kitchen, but it was definitely a memorable moment. He also ate his cake off of a birthday plate that I made him, which I hope and intend for him to be able to use for each birthday to come. Gavin also received many wonderful gifts at the party, including lots of clothes and pajamas, tons of books, and toys, toys galore! He is definitely stocked and has already enjoyed playing with all his new things. But I believe his favorite parts of the party were getting to tear up his wrapping paper (which was cute because each time he'd tear a little piece off, he'd hand it to me for safe keeping) and hitting his balloons.

For his actual birthday, on September 20th, which was on a Tuesday, Tom and I both took a day of PTO and had a day of fun all together. Gavin got to wear a shirt all day that said Birthday Boy. We also took him out to lunch and out to his first time having ice cream. He was an instant fan and stuck his face right into the ice cream cone. We also went on a walk and did lots of playing.

Wow oh wow, our baby is now a 1 year old. He'll always be my baby though, even when he's 60 :). We can't wait for all that's to come in these next months and years!