ONE YEAR OLD

Dear Chase,

One!?!?!?!  I can hardly believe it.  The last year has gone way too fast.  This time last year we were at the hospital with you on your BIRTH day. 

The year has been spectacular! You have brought more happiness and love into our house than we ever imagined possible.  You are such a special little guy and we all love you so much.  As we prepare to celebrate with our whole family in a couple days it's so amazing to think of all the fun we've had in the past year.

In the last month you've really started to act more like a toddler and less like a baby.  It makes me so happy and so sad at the same time.  I love watching you grow, learn, and find your independence.  I also love seeing you interact and play with your brother. At the same time I am missing your snuggly cuddly baby days. 

Here are a few things you've been up to ...

You wear 12 to 18 months clothes and size three diapers although as soon as your done with this box of diapers we're moving up.

You love to dance.  LOVE it.  You will always stop what your doing and wiggle that little bum.  You can hear the music in everything.

In the last month you have only woken a couple times in the night but you've gone right back to sleep and you are sleeping a little later in the mornings, some mornings. 

You sleep from about 8pm to 6:45-8 am.

You are napping once a day, in your crib.  Usually from about 30 minutes to an hour. The past week you've had a few really long naps (2 to 3 hours).  Sometimes, if you've had a short nap, I can get you to fall asleep in my arms after. Most days we're so busy that sometimes you don't even get a nap and you snooze in the car or where ever you can catch a few minutes of shut eye.

You are all over the place and you are showing zero interest in walking.  You pull up on everything and when you're ready to move on you just plop down and crawl over to what you want.

You love opening and shutting drawers and doors.

You love your farm puzzle.

You love anything with wheels, specially brothers monster trucks.

I love to watch you crawl when you really want to get somewhere. You slap slap slap and crawl so fast.  Sometimes you even fall flat and you just laugh and laugh and laugh and then keep going.

Speaking of laughs, my goodness you have the best laugh! It's contagious. Your brother can make you laugh harder than anyone.

You are getting much better at a sippie. But, in the past couple days you started letting it pour into your mouth and then you spit it all out.

You will drink milk and juice out of a sippie.

This month we started whole milk with  you.

You had a little issue a few days after we introduced milk so I cut back on dairy but kept the milk and you've been doing well.
You started out about two weeks ago dropping your 4 o'clock nursing feed and having a couple ounces of whole milk.  You did so well with it and would even drink it from a sippie.  Then, two days ago we took away your 4 o'clock whole milk and also dropped your 12 nursing session and switched it to 5 oz  of  whole milk.  So, now you are nursing at 7:30 am and 7:30 pm and  having milk with your lunch.

 We are starting to  ween from breast feeding and mommy is sad about that.  It's been such a bonding experience and I never thought I'd make it this far but I'm proud of both of us for sticking with it.  I am going to miss it!

You finally have a third tooth.  You got it just a couple of days ago.  Its the top tooth second from the middle.   I keep thinking the top teeth (3 of them) are going to break through any second.  They are RIGHT there. You were quite a trooper getting that tooth.  You had a bit of a fever one day and I noticed you pulling at your ears but you weren't overly fussy (just a little clingy) and it didn't change your sleep habits.  Now that those three are so close to coming you've started getting a little pickier about what you eat, you've run a little fever and you are a little more clingy than normal.  I'd be fussy if I was cutting that many teeth.  I think you're doing great with it!

You are a happy happy little guy but you like people to hold you and you are a mommas boy.  If you're comfortable with mommy and someone else swoops in, you are not okay with that. 
You are slowly becoming very picky when it comes to food.  It seems like each day things drop off your menu and it's very frustrating. I'm trying so hard to introduce you to lots of yummy food.

On Mother's day you woke up with pink eye.  Boo!  It was no fun but you were a trooper about it and the medicine cleared it up real quick.  Thanks for sharing it with Mommy by the way. 

You went to your first Astros game.
You got your first haircut.

You love being in your highchair and it helps mommy out a lot. 

You LOVE popsicles.

 You wore your first pair of big boy PJs.  You looked so stinkin' cute ( and too old) and you matched your brother.

We all love you more than anything in the world.  This first year has been amazing and we know as the years pass it is only going to get better.  I am so excited to celebrate you today and at your birthday party with our family on Saturday!

Love, Mommy