First Year through Photos

It is going to take a few posts to completely celebrate Max's birthday. Here is one I've been looking forward to for some time. It is SO amazing how they change and grow in one year, this is why babies need their SLEEP! When they are sweet tiny newborns they can barely hold their head or focus their eyes on your face, they can't even coordinate their arms. By one year they are talking, laughing, opening the cupboards, feeding them self, fully mobile, even taking a few steps . . .it is simply captivating to watch. This may be why I have hundreds (thousands?) of pictures of this past year. Here are just a few, enjoy!

Fresh baby, just one minute old. 7lbs 10oz, 20" long

a few hours old, opening his eyes.

6 days old, one of his official newborn shots

5 days old, 7lbs 9oz, 20"
one of my favorite pictures, especially with the essentials on the coffee table.

one month, 11lbs 5 oz, 22"long

one month, one of the first pictures of him smiling!

2 months. 13lbs 13oz, 23.5" long

3 months

3 months again

one of the official 3 month shots

4 months in all his chubby glory. 19lbs 3oz, 25.75" long

4 month, fully body shot

5 months, grabbing his toes

6 months, sitting up! 21lbs 10oz, 26.5" long

one of his official 6 month shots

7 months, just up from a nap

8 months, King of the Wild Things!

8 months again, started crawling during this month.

one of the official 9 month shots. 23lbs 12oz, 28.5" long

9 months, love this one

10 months

10 months again, we used this for our Valentine.

11 months, splashing away after a big storm

11 months again

and ONE YEAR OLD! 23lbs 8oz and 31" long!
He's actually lost weight since his 9 month appt but has grow quite a bit in length. I thought for SURE he'd be around 26lbs, but no, he is still about 23. Isn't it CRAZY how he gained 14 whoppin' pounds in his first 6 months of life, but barely 3 pounds in his second 6 months? I can see his rolls stretching out more and more every day. I'll save some more sentimental feelings for my next post. I LOVE MY BABY!

a Few new things he's doing:
- Waving! He does this by opening and closing his fingers, he still just does it when he wants and not necessarily when people are coming and going, a couple times I've heard him say "hi" when he waves, or "ba-ba!" not sure enough to count them as first words though, we'll see.
- balancing and cruising SO well
- On Feb. 22 he took one step, then on the 23rd he took two. Then he realized, when I would hold out my arms, that this was a little game so he just started falling into them instead of stepping. Now he's back to just a couple steps and then falling into us, but it is so cute and he gets so excited.
- On Feb 27th at his family party he took 6 whole steps, but most of them were in place, but still SO exciting and everyone got to see!
- Definitely into more michief these days, when he knows he's not supposed to do something he looks back and me with this smile like "I know you're going to try to stop me, but I'm going to do it anyway!" I try to be serious and say "No", but it is hard sometimes!
- On Sunday Feb 28th he went from the floor to standing one time without holding on to anything to pull him up!

Thanks for reading this super long post!