1 year stats

We had Josh's 1 year checkup this week and he is 22 lbs 7oz and 30.25in tall! That puts him in the 65th percentile for height and weight. He is growing and developing well :-) He had to get his first round of the MMR vaccine at the appointment. While I'm a scientist and I certainly know better, all of the hullabalu around that vaccine still made me nervous to give it to him. But we both bucked up and he got his shot. We have to take him to get blood drawn to test for lead and something else I can't remember. We are also going to do a blood allergy test for some of the members of the legume family. Hopefully all will go smoothly.

Josh did not want to cooperate to take our traditional "Mommy holding Josh and sitting in Dr. Kulp's chair" picture, but we still got some cute ones.

Happy First Birthday!!!!

We can't believe our baby is one!! It has been such an exciting year and it has just flown by. Josh's one year checkup is not until next week, so we won't have any stats until then. He certainly has been learning and developing a lot this month! Josh has gotten much more sophisticated in his playing with toys. He can put pegs into holes, and really likes putting small toys into boxes or baskets. He also started walking some on his own! He is still much faster at crawling, so still uses that as his primary mode of transportation. But he stands on his own for long periods of time to play with toys and will walk between two things that he wants to play with.

Since Josh's birthday party is not for another week, we wanted to do something to celebrate his birthday yesterday. We got pizza and fries from continental pizza (seemed like a good tradition to start) and I made him some zucchini bread as muffins instead of cake (we wanted his first cake + icing experience to be at his party). My parents and Heather came over to wish him a happy birthday and have some dessert.  

Enjoy some cute pictures of our one year old!

mmmm old bay

pizza!

I'm a pro at opening presents!

Thank you Angela and Matt for my awesome new clothes!

Thanks Aunt Joann for my awesome new toy!

Sadly, Josh wanted to grab the candle instead of take a cute photo

mmmmmmm :-)

Josh's Birth Story - Julian's point of view

I started this post when Josh was a few months old but I never finished it.  Now that he is almost a year old it seems like a good time to post it. [Margaret also posted her birth story here]

Here is a recap from last year at this time. (Click link below to view)

Josh's Birth Story - Margaret's point of view

Julian and I both wrote our own versions of Josh's birth story shortly after his birth. We weren't really ready to post them, but decided that on the one year anniversary of me going into labor we should post them :-)

Josh's Birth Story, Margaret's point of view (Click link below to view)

One small step for Josh...

Josh has been looking ready to take some steps for a while, but has had no desire...until last week! I thought he would be walking by new years, but he decided to wait a few extra days. He has done a couple of "long walks" like in the video with 7-8 steps, but mostly takes a few steps between toys that he is interested in. Over the last few days he has tried taking steps far more frequently than he did just a week ago. He is still much faster at crawling than walking, so it will be interesting to see him transition but it has been fun to watch :)

Williamsburg

Since our trip to Curacao was canceled, my family decided to take a mini trip to Williamsburg, VA. We visited Busch Gardens Christmas town, Colonial Williamsburg and enjoyed some relaxing family time. For New Years eve, my parents watched Josh at the condo we were staying at so that Ellie, Mark, Julian and I could have a night out on the town. Julian and I were both recovering from being under the weather, but overall it was a very nice trip. Josh will have to find another chance to use his passport :-)

Enjoy some pictures from our trip:

All bundled up

Ready for Christmas Town

Penguins!

Oooo lights :-)

Colonial Williamsburg

Out to lunch

Oooo giant iPhone!

Christmas Morning

This year for Christmas we stayed the night at my Dad's house.  My Dad and his girlfriend Nancy celebrate Christmas and we wanted Josh to get the Christmas morning experience. Since we were planning to go to Curacao the day after Christmas with Margaret's family we didn't get a Christmas tree and neither did her parents. When her Grandmother passed away, we canceled our trip so that we could attend the funeral but still wanted to celebrate Christmas. We had dinner Christmas eve at their house and stayed the night.  Staying at my Dad's house gave us time to spend with the family after Josh had gone to bed. Margaret and I often feel like we can't fully participate in conversations when we are also taking care of Josh, so it is nice to get some time while he is sleeping to spend with family or friends.

In the morning, Josh proved that he is Jewish after all and he slept until 8:15 am!!  Margaret has never once slept that late on Christmas morning and says that she is "pre-programmed" to wake up to see if Santa has come.  Josh got lots of new toys from "Santa" including a giant giraffe (now named Geraldine) and his new favorite toy a plush screwdriver.

My Dad and Nancy generously invited Margaret's parents over for brunch on Christmas morning, so it was nice to be able to celebrate together.

Thanks to everyone who sent or gave Josh gifts for Christmas! We are keeping some of them away for now, to give him over the next few weeks.