Twelve Months.

This post is going up a little late, but better late than never I guess. Eliott turned a year old on the 16th and we have had a fun time celebrating him. We went out to lunch and build-a-bear on his birthday. He has an obsession with stuffed animals, or anything else soft and fuzzy really. He can never resist diving his face into a pile of fluffy pillows, blankets, or stuffed animals, so we thought build-a-bear would be a good way to celebrate. We also kept it really simple with a little cousin party for him this past Saturday. There were six crazy kiddos in our little house and we loved it.

+ Size four diapers

+ About 23 pounds and 30 inches long

+ Added the word "food" to his short list of words

+ Will climb almost anything, but waits at the top and screams for help instead of climbing back down

+ Self weaned (I planned to keep nursing for a bit, but he gave it up by choice this month)

+ Will break into dance absolutely anywhere, anytime there is a song playing

+ Still taking two naps a day most days & sleeping about 12 hours at night

+ Pointing to things that he wants

And of course I had to put all of these monthly photos together into a collage.

Gosh, I wish I had thought to do this with Logan...

I love seeing his growth and all of his sweet smiles.

This may seem a bit off topic, but stick with me here. Has anyone heard Nichole Nordeman's song "slow down"? It has me in tears every. single. time. Well, a couple weeks ago my mom, sister, and I had some front row seats to an amazing women's conference (*thanks mom*). She was one of the speakers/ singers at the conference. I had completely forgotten that she wrote the song that a whole bunch of my mom friends have been sharing all over social media. It is the sweetest song about watching our babies grow up so fast. Toward the end of the weekend, she started singing and playing this song, the slideshow started, and I bit my lip (hard) to keep myself from becoming a sobbing mess of a mom in the very front row. I could not even watch the slideshow because I knew I would be ugly crying. So I decided it was the perfect song to put some clips of Eliott's first year to, and I know I will look back at this and cry one day. This boy has changed our lives, and I am forever grateful to God for the blessing that he is to our family.