Noah at 1

Dear Noah,
Thank you so much for coming into our lives a year ago. We are so blessed that you are happy and healthy! You have made all of us (even JM) happy.

At one year, you were 19 lb 15 oz, a whopping 10th percentile for weight and 30.5 in long, 75th percentile for height. Yes, you are long and lean. It seems like all you do is snack, so I'm surprised. Dr. T said he wasn't worried and looking around at the H reunion last weekend, I'm not either. There are lots of tall, skinny people in our family! Anyway, you do like to eat, but you are way pickier than your brother. You are still nursing in the morning and at night, but just recently we've cut out the two other feedings. You seem happy to nurse and I'm happy to nurse you, so yeah, we're still nursing.

You still only have your four teeth! When are those other teeth going to come in? Dr. T said the top canines are right there and you've been very grumpy and drooly lately, so I hope soon!

You are quite a talker. You say: mama, dada, bubba, book, ball, duck and cheese. That is a lot of words for a 2nd baby.

You are crawling, cruising and can now stand on your own in the middle of the room. You have started pushing things around to practice walking, but no walking yet. Last night at Nana's, they said you walked a few steps to Uncle Peter, but since Mama and Dada didn't witness it, it was not official.

You are obsessed with books. You love Pat the Bunny and other tactile books that you can interact with. Sometimes, you will be nursing at night before bed, which used to get you all relaxed and sleepy, but now you will stop and look at your bookshelf and say "book!" like you're ready to stop eating and read, already!

It's so much fun to witness your personality. You are so independent and will happily play by yourself. You are so expressive with your feelings. One minute you will be happy as a clam and the next minute, you are screaming at the top of your lungs, if you don't get what you want. You are going through a "mama" and a "dada" phase, meaning if you see us, you want us to be holding you. If Mama is holding you and Dada comes in, you want dada and vice versa. If someone else is holding you and you see us, you start crying, but are happy if you don't see us (stinker). I think it's cute that you want Dada, too. Sometimes babies only want their mamas. I'm not sure if it's all the nursing, but you are a little cuddle bug. The other morning at cousin Shirley's, you woke up at 6am (ehem) and were happy to just lay next to me, snuggled up in our bed for a while. If we had to be up at 6am, at least you were snuggly, my sweet!

You are still sleeping great. Still two naps. Still sleeping about 12 hours at night. God bless you for that, little one! We like sleep around here.

We can't imagine our lives without you, Noah and are so excited to see what you start doing next! Happy 1st birthday!

Love,
Mama