12-Months-Old!

Then....



and now...




Our little Eli is 12-months-old and we are still in a daze at how quickly the past year flew by! It's truly amazing how much changes the first year. I love that we can look back at his development through the monthly photo-shoots and updates. These memories are priceless! Well, without further delay, here's what Elijah is up to these days...

*We had his 12-month check-up on the 15th and to say he has grown would be an understatement! Here are the stats:

Weight: 24lb 7oz
Height: 30.25 in

Gone are the days of us worrying about his weight! He gained a little over 5 pounds in just the last 3 months! The pediatrician showed us his growth-chart since birth and in just the last 6 months he's really taken off! Guess there's still some hope that he'll get his daddy's height and not mine!

* Eli's solidly fitting into 18-month clothes now and size 4 diapers. He can still fit in some of his 12-month clothes, but not for too much longer.

* He is eating more and more finger-foods. I'm trying to wean him off of baby-food and onto the things we eat. So far this is going pretty well. Eli has really yet to meet a finger-food he does not like. Such his father's child!

* I'm also trying to wean him off the bottle onto sippy and straw cups. This is VERY slow going, but I figure one of these days he'll just decide he's done with the bottle and move on to the cup more easily.

* We're also starting to introduce whole milk this week, so we'll have to see how that goes. I'm going to try to do it gradually.

* Sleeping is still going pretty well. He still seems to need that morning nap from 10-12. At 10:00 a.m. he'll literally watch the Sesame Street theme song and then start yawning the biggest yawns. It's pretty funny to watch. The afternoon nap seems to be the one that takes him longer to settle-down for. He tends to talk/play for a little while and then go to sleep for an hour or two. He'll often wake up and play around his crib after a nap as well. I love it when he wakes up happy!

* Lately, Eli LOVES to point at everything...people, dogs, random objects he sees. It is funny but can be kind of embarrassing too, like when you are standing in the check-out line at Trader Joe's and he's totally pointing at random people around us. He seems to love the reactions he gets from everyone...especially the ladies!

* Our son is also quite the "talker". He babbles constantly but has yet to really say anything other than "Ma-Ma" and "Da-Da." Sometimes it really sounds like he's having a conversation with himself, though!

* He's still crawling as his main mode of transportation. He'll cruise around on furniture occasionally but not much more. He did, however, take a few steps for both Mark and I separately last Thursday. We haven't really seen anything since then, so who knows when he'll try to walk again. I'm thinking it will happen in the next month or so.

* Eli has begun to have a few "fits" here and there. Usually they occur when he's getting into something he shouldn't (i.e.: the dog's water bucket, pulling off our door-stoppers, etc.). He'll start crying these big fat tears and whine, but usually gets over it in less than 30 seconds and moves on to bigger and better things.

* He's showing a lot more interest in books, which the teacher in me can't get enough of!


* During his 12th month, Eli went swinging for the first time. He absolutely loves it and we can't help but laugh watching his hair blowing around like crazy while he's doing it!

* He is obsessed with my hairdryer. If he's around when I"m getting ready, he'll crawl right up to me to get me to shoot some hot-air in his direction.

* He also discovered that he can sit in his Bumbo chair (just barely fitting) and flip out of it. If it were up to him, he'd do it for hours!

* Eli is absolutely obsessed with pictures. Everywhere we go in our home, he's always pointing at the various photos that are around. His personal favorite is this one we have of his cousin Caleb on our fridge. Pictures of himself and other babies come in at a close second.

* Recently, he also likes to do other silly things like "walking" on his knees and rolling/scooting all over our kitchen floor. I feel as though his personality is coming out more and more each day.

*One other thing Eli does now is dance. If he hears a song that he likes, he'll start bopping up and down on his knees or his butt and sometimes even wave his little hands around. He especially likes the theme song for "The Office" which entertains his father to no end! It's pretty awesome!

Eli is such a sweet little guy and we love him to pieces. His killer smile has captured our hearts and we cannot wait to experience this next stage of toddler-hood with our son. We are so blessed!


This is what I see when I go in to get him after a nap...







Crawling all over the place!




Drooling over our pizza...he did get to enjoy some crust.



Eli was sad that we wouldn't let him have a margarita...






"Woohoo, I'm one!"