Rhett is ONE year old!

Here are his official 12 month stats:

Weight:21 lbs 3 oz-47th percentile
Height: 31 1/2 in-96th percentile
Head circumference 18 in-38th percentile
BMI-15

Wow, it has been a whole year since we first met our baby boy. It seems like forever ago, but then no time at all. I will never forget being in labor with him on April 4th, 2012 and the pain that I felt pushing him out for 2.5 hours without a working epidural. He entered the world with a good cry and I finally got to lay eyes on my sweet little guy. And he was perfect, even with his little cone head from being in the birth canal for so long. Early on, we could tell he was going to be a feisty one. The nurses at the hospital even told us that we had a wild one on our hands. One year later, I can say that is true. He is feisty, loving, silly, happy, determined, and in constant motion. I so love watching his personality come out more and more every day. He is so cute and I love watching he and Jackson together. They are two of a kind! At ONE YEAR old:

-Rhett is just not the greatest sleeper and wants to nurse/be held throughout the night. He is doing a bit better, though and waking only 1-2 times per night. This is great because he just went through a phase where he was waking constantly due to getting several teeth. I don't know what I will do one day when I get a full nights sleep. I think my body will go into shock!

-Tooth number 7 (left lateral incisor) has just popped through.His smile is so cute with all of his little teeth showing now!

-All he wants to do is dance! He has recently gotten some new moves and he will dance every single time he hears music. It is just so funny. He loves an audience and can really boogie. I predict that he is going to do something with music one day. He has a great sense of rhythm already.

We have finally begun making some small strides with new foods. He mostly sucks/chews on things and spits them out, but sometimes he will actually eat. I just keep hoping that soon he will get more interested in it. Lately he has tried mashed potatoes, biscuits, gravy (first taste of gravy was at Virginia.s on King) cornbread, french fries, chicken,scrambled eggs, chocolate icing, grilled cheese, and meatloaf...yes meatloaf! I was at c.racker barrel with my mother in law and Rhett reached over, grabbed a big handful of meatloaf and shoved it in his mouth! I couldn't believe it. I thought he was going to spit it out, but he ate some more. Then he was fussing for my cup of water, so I gave it to him and he actually sucked water out of a straw!! We were shocked. He has sense been drinking water at restaurants out of a straw. I am surprised he figured that out so early!

He is drinking exclusively out of a sippy cup and he has only had water and breast milk. As with Jackson, I made it to my goal of never having to give him a single drop of formula. I am thinking that I am going to wean him a little earlier than Jackson, though. The goal is to wean him by 18 months, but we will see how it goes. The reason for this is that I have to be done breastfeeding for 6 months to get my breast imaging that is past due (mammogram, etc) and it has almost been 2 years since I had all of those biopsies, so I don't want too much more time before I get imaging.

He loves to point at things, wave, and clap. He also loves to blow kisses, and also gives big wet sloppy kisses with his mouth wide open. What I especially love is that he puts both hands around your neck and pulls you in to give you kisses.  He is also a good little snuggler. But at the same time, he will let you know if he is not in the mood and doesn't want you in his face.

He never really had bad stranger anxiety. Rhett is pretty social, in that he is always involved in everybody's conversation around us and staring at other people. He really gets excited when he sees other babies and also animals. What we have noticed about him is that there are certain people he will smile and interact with naturally. Others, he really makes you work for it, which I kinda love about him. He won't fake it or act entertained. He will just give them a blank look until they work for his reaction. Justin says he gets that from me. :)

We had to increase his iron, as his hematocrit was a little low at his 1 year visit. This is really common for breastfed babies. We have to go back soon to get his blood tested again to make sure it is within normal range.

Aside from dancing, Rhett also LOVES to pick out a book, bring it to you, and then sit on your lap while you read it for a few seconds. Then he gets up and finds another book and repeats this cycle over and over. He has a ball doing this!

He is really into cars and imitates Jackson zooming them around. He also loves carrying big toys around and throwing things and rocking on his rocking horse. He is great at rolling a ball back and forth.


He loves playing outside and being pushed around his his little t.ikes car. He gets really mad and cries when we have to go inside. He also really enjoys watching Jackson run around and kick the ball. Rhett tries to run after Jackson, which is really cute but he falls down alot when he does that because he gets to going too fast!

He is still saying "mama", "yaya", "googoo", etc, but his favorite word that he says all of the time is still "dada".

We had a small but fun 1st bday party for Rhett at our house the Saturday after his birthday. We did a M.ickey Mouse theme and it turned out really cute! He did well and seemed to enjoy himself.  He wasn't too keen on the cake, but he did get into the cupcake we gave him on his actual birthday. Rhett really loved playing with the balloons. Jackson enjoyed helping to get set up for the party. Here are a bunch of photos of Rhett at one year old.

Every day I think about just how blessed we are to have Rhett as part of our family. His smile lights up a room and he adds so much LOVE and JOY to all of our lives. Happy 1st  Birthday to our beautiful baby boy!!

As a reminder, here is our sweet newborn Rhett:

Here are (lots) of photos of Rhett at one year old:

Changes

I haven't had much time to update the blog lately. The reason is because I accepted a new job! Over the last several weeks, I was working around the clock to work on getting things closed out and resolved with my job at ACS so that I could feel good about leaving it in a good spot. I was not looking for a new job, but this opportunity sort of fell in my lap and I decided to pursue it. I figured that I didnt have anything to lose, but I didnt really expect anything to come of it. It was a lengthy interview process and a little intimidating, as I interviewed with some pretty high level people, but I got the offer and decided it was too good of a gig to refuse. So, It was hard, but I left the job that I loved at ACS after being there for over 5 years and took a job for which I get to use my Master's Degree a lot more. I am working for two local hospitals as a Director of Business Development and after being one week into it, I can say that I am really liking it so far. I think it is just the right career move for me and I am happy and thankful for the opportunity!

In other news, we got a new car! The Green Camry (otherwise known as the green machine, slimer, snot rod, etc) is gone and Justin found a car that I am loving so far!  It is a Lexus 250h Hybrid and it is a nice ride. We plan to have this car for at least a couple of years, and I am happy about that :)

I am slowly working on Rhett's 1 year post and hope to have it up soon. We are so amazed at some of the things that he has been doing lately and it seems he learns something new every day! We have had major steps forward in the eating departement. I hope to be able to get his one year post up this week!

Jackson is doing great and I will work on a post about him soon, but I did want to write this down so I dont forget. Tonight while I was walking out of his room after tucking him in, he called me back in for a minute. He said "Mommy I think you are so beautiful and pretty and I love you so much". Then he grabbed me and hugged me really tight and gave me a big kiss. I love and cherish these moments so much. I love that sweet boy so much!