This post is almost 2 months overdue. It’s been busy, but I’m finally playing catch up.

Here is Jack at 1 year old!
(January 26, 2013)

Here is Jack on the morning of his big day…

For Jack’s birthday, we invited many people over to our house to celebrate. We had family, adult friends and kid friends. It was fun and wild! Here are some photos.

Birthday house…

Homemade monkey cupcakes…

We invited all the friends from Mommy & Me, who started off playing in Jack’s room before moving outside…

Admittedly, having so many other kids playing in his room and with his toys seemed to really overwhelm Jack. And later, I boxed up all the toys that had been touched and washed them down to ensure no germs were lingering. Crazy mom!

We had tried to time Jack’s short party around his nap schedule, but of course the nap schedule broke down that day and so Jack was very tired by the time we got to candles and cupcakes. Here is Jack enjoying a little stressed out by his first birthday song…

Here he is tasting his first chocolate…

We think he actually liked the cupcake, but was hating the borrowed high chair and disconcerted by all the people staring and singing at him.

Two of our friends from Mommy & Me share Jack’s birthday, so we sang and celebrated Nicolas & Lucky with their own hats, cupcakes and candles…

After cupcakes, Jack headed into happy delirium and yukked it up with family…

All in all it was a fun party, but I will probably not host a kid’s birthday party that large any time again soon. I learned my lesson.

In the week leading up to Jack’s 52 week anniversary, we had a lot of fun playing with musical instruments and garden supplies…

As parents know, the first year is a challenging whirlwind, but our Jack is well worth it…

We love you, our sweet, hilarious, intensely curious boy!
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Here is Jack at 51 weeks old…
(January 17, 2013)

It got very cold for Los Angeles this week and so we spent a lot of time bundled up. Jack’s cousin Sierra made him a warm hat when he was born with his initials on it. It finally fits and helped keep his ears warm.

After just over a week of great sleep, we reverted back to night wakings. I hope it’s because he’s so excited to be turning one?

Jack is a pretty good eater. For breakfast he loves scrambled eggs and bananas. For lunch, a pouch is his favorite. I feel like he is getting bored with the limited options he gets. If any of you fellow moms would like to share your kids’ favorite foods and snacks I would be grateful, especially things that are simple to pack for daycare.

Jack now has 6 teeth. Four on the top and the two on the bottom. The fourth tooth on the top right is showing through, but hasn’t fully dropped into place yet. Jack is drooling so much that sometimes I put a bib on all day so he doesn’t go around all wet.

Jack is still practicing his walking skills with his favorite walker toy. It makes him so happy.
Baby+walker+beanie hat+hooded sweatshirt:

One more week and he’ll be a toddler.
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Here is Jack at 50 weeks old…
(January 10, 2013)

Jack’s photo this week captures the exact moment when Jack tasted toilet paper for the first time. He had a splendid time playing with the roll…

Jack is learning some fun new things. He is attempting to learn to use a spoon, which as you can see leads to yogurt landing in his hair in large dollops…

He has also learned to clap…

The funniest thing is that Jack hasn’t totally figured out that we clap as celebration, though he does know it’s a good thing because his eyes light up and he grins. It’s adorable how often he claps now. My favorite clap is the one he gives when he’d like you to give him something. Clapping is his favorite gesture.

Jack has some very clear phrases of communication, like “What’s that?” followed by a point in some direction. This phrase actually sounds like “Uht dat?” We hear this question a lot and find ourselves wandering the house answering like this: “That’s a curtain. That’s a receipt. That’s a lemon. That’s a wine aerator. That’s a napkin..” It’s actually kind of fun. We have a very, very curious boy.

We love you our almost-1-year-old…

Just 2 weeks until his big day. What!?
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Here is Jack at 49 weeks old…
(January 3, 2013)

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day was relatively quiet. Jack enjoyed getting rides to and from the park in the wagon he got for Christmas. Here he is asleep in his wagon surrounded by the cushioning of his big green frog friend…

Jack is really learning things quickly, though still not yet walking without support. He is, however, waving all the time to say hello and goodbye. He loves to wave at people and say “hi”! Sometimes he’ll greet people two and three times. He even does it to the cat. It’s very sweet.

Sadly, on New Year’s Even, Jack got a fever and so we cancelled our plan for a movie date and stayed home to nurture our little guy. He took a long nap on my chest before finally getting down for the night after a short cooling bath. I snapped this photo of him while he was snuggled into my neck…

Our wish for the New Year is to be sick less often!
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Here is Jack at 48 weeks old…
(December 27, 2012)

We had a very divine Christmas week! Here are some photo highlights of the days leading up to Christmas.

Jack’s first gift encounter…

It was a walker from his Grandparents K. He adores it and is so proud of himself when he walks around the house.

Christmas Eve morning we all went out to breakfast with one of R’s long time friends. He took the only photo of the three of us together during the holidays. Oops…

We spent Christmas Eve night at my parent’s house and woke up there on Christmas morning. Jack received a wagon from my parents and we put all his other gifts inside of it for him to discover. He was slightly overwhelmed…

I was thrilled that my brother, Robert, was visiting for the holiday and was able to spend time with Jack. Here they are together reading a book…

My brother made Jack laugh by standing over him and sniffing his head over and over. Jack found this to be confusing and hilarious. It was sweet to see them together.

Later in the day we joined R’s extended family for Christmas dinner. Jack enjoyed a green pouch for his Christmas dinner (after filling up on the cheese & cracker appetizers)…

Jack got an opportunity to chill out with another uncle who lives up North, Casey! Here they are chillin’ on the couch…

He also got to play with his cousin, Joaquin, who is 4 months younger. Joaquin kept trying to give Jack a kiss…

Everyone in our family was so generous with Jack. It was clear that everyone was thinking of him and for that we are so grateful!

Jack has continued to sleep better. Some nights he’ll sleep through until 5:30/6:00. Other nights he’ll wake one time sometime between 3:00/4:00. We ‘re not sure why that extra waking happens sometimes, but we’ve been relatively successful at weaning him from needing a bottle at that time. It’s been great!

All in all we had a beautiful holiday…

Holidays over and out…

Happy New Year!
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