I have a one year old!

Yes, yesterday on November 20, 2013-- my baby boy turned ONE YEAR OLD!  I seriously cannot believe it.  This past year has been a blur-- but a blur full of love and smiles and pure joy.  I am so thankful for this little man and I have loved watching him grow and learn and turn into the sweet little almost-toddler he is now.

I wanted to recreate some of his newborn picture poses but this one was the only one that I actually managed to somewhat capture lol.  It was easier when he was a week and a half old! ;)

Rotten happy boy!

So I took the day off work to spend with my little guy.  We didn't do a whole lot of exciting stuff but we did have fun :)  I recorded bits of our day though and am currently compiling it all into a sort of day in the life video that I will upload soon! ( When I get it done, I'll embed the link here)

His birthday party is on Saturday but on his *actual* birthday we had our own little mini-celebration with spaghetti for dinner and our own little cake/candle and singing :)

Happy Birthday, sweet boy!

 Here are some pics of Jackson digging into his first real bites of cake!  We found that he did NOT like the feeling of the icing on his fingers so I ended up flipping the cake upside down and then he went to town!

And I'll wrap up this post with the last of my monthly updates I'll be doing on this little dude!  (I'll still keep you in the loop with exciting goings on in the world of Jackson-- but since he's getting older not as much changes from month to month.)  Complete with our one year update videos embedded at the bottom.

Weight/Length: 22lbs 5oz, 29 inches
Clothing Size: 12 months mostly.  Can wear a few 12-18mo things.
Diaper Size:  Size 4
Feeding: He is still breastfeeding and I don't have any immediate plans to wean.  We are going to start supplementing with cow's milk and I'm going to start weaning myself from pumping while at work.  Not ready to be done nursing but I'm ready to be done pumping!  Then we will see how things go from there.  If he doesn't start slowing down by 18mo then we will start actively weaning.  Now though when he is with me he nurses in the morning, before his two naps, and before bed.  Then he still nurses 1-3 times a night (once on good sleep nights, more on bad sleep/teething nights)
Milestones: He waves bye bye, and will sign "more".  He has also started clapping this month (which he didn't really do before).  He is pulling up to standing more often (still not using furniture in the living room though).  He still just army crawls/scoots-- no traditional crawl from this baby boy!  I look for him to start cruising in the next couple months.  He's not really in a hurry to walk (which I'm sure is a blessing to me lol).  He says three words now: "Mama", "Dada", and "Duke" (referring to both of our dogs).  He also is just starting to understand SOOOO much more I've really noticed.  He has four teeth now, bottom two are all the way in and the top two are most of the way in.  I can see a top and bottom incisor getting ready to come through on his left side now though.  Fun times!
Sleep: This past month has been pretty crappy in the way of sleep.  I'm sure it's mostly due to teeth but he's only been sleeping in his crib for a couple hours and then waking more at night.  Blah.  We are still part-time cosleeping and we will most likely start trying to transition to sleeping in his crib all night when he gets back in a good-sleep groove (it seems to come in waves).  He will put himself to sleep now without fussing/crying if he doesn't nurse to sleep (so about half the time) for both naps and nighttime.  He still takes two naps usually around 10 and 2.  I think he may be starting the transition to one nap though in the next few months.  I've noticed this past week his morning nap seems to be getting shorter and his afternoon nap seems to be getting longer.  I guess we will see!
Likes/Dislikes:  He loves books, toy cars/trucks, little people toys, putting things in and out of containers, anything with buttons or knobs or switches, and music.  He has the little brain of a future engineer and loves exploring and manipulating things.  He dislikes sudden, loud noises (like the vacuum), and having things taken away from him that he can't have lol.

Here is a video of our day!



AND here are our ONE YEAR updates!  (Jackson's update, a breastfeeding update, and a postpartum update)