Our One Year Old

Alas, it's time to talk about THIS cute boy and all his 1 year old accomplishments.  Have you ever seen a cuter boy than this one?  I dare say nope!

Those juicy lips are soooo mmmm!  And the eyes?  He has quite a fan-base just off those eyes alone.  Mommy being one of them of course.

Our friend Joy took some amazing pictures the weekend after his big birthday.  We were hoping to actually take them the morning of his birthday but the rainy weather deterred us.  Which was good since Mommy got more time to focus on the festivities.  Have I mentioned I d.r.e.a.d. photo shoots?  Nothing against our lovely photographer by any means.  Mostly that I have to wrestle kids for smiles and it always seems they are bound and determined to grant very few...if not any of them.  Seriously, 99.9% of the time this boy is ALL smiles.  Not just average size ones....HUGE smiles!  And all you have to do is glance his way for a flirty smile.  Super easy folks.  However, the day of his photo shoot he was tired, fell asleep on our 5 min drive (notice the slight bed-head?), and seemed rather out of it during the whole shoot.  However, he still looks pretty cute just sitting there with a blank stare so we are lucky in that way at least.

Farmer Jonas.  Who doesn't love a boy in overalls?  

The probability of both kids smiling at the same time is rare.  But again, they are cute even without a smile....or a partial smile.  So glad they could humor us!

Notice the sweat beading on his forehead?  Yep, he's a Hufford and a Bell which combines into one big sweaty mess the minute the sun breaks through and sends a ray down.  It doesn't help that Mommy dressed him in thermal and overalls though eh?

Adorable.  This is where he finally got with the program.  He LOVED this chair.  He loves to bounce in any/everything and this chair made quite the little horsey ride.

This is his preferred method of eating.  Least amount of energy exerted and still produces the same results: food ends up in the mouth.  I'd like to think he inherited this trait from me since his sister has also learned to pick things up off the floor w/her foot instead of bending over.  She's learned this from years of observing me clean the house.  Boy, I have talented kids don't I?

I love his contemplative stare.  He's hardly a messy eater as  I've learned from his birthday smash cake as well.    I'm guessing this may change w/time.

This little nugget (yes, my preferred nick name of choice as of late) is SUCH a good boy.  Honestly the only time he can drive me bonkers is when he refuses to hold still.  Especially when I give him a bath.  It feels like I'm wrestling a greased up piglet.  But he can always chase away my frustrations with a smile.  Lucky him.  His smile encompasses his WHOLE face and I love it.  His eyes, his chubby cheeks, his juicy lips, his head tilt, and those little teefers poking through.

Did I just say teefers?  Yes!!  It took him 11 months but he's growing them twice as fast now.  As of my last calculation he has a total of five.  Two big ones (very far spaced) on the top and three little ones on the bottom.  Before the teeth, it was hard to imagine how his smile would look when they came in.  After teeth, I can confirm it is extremely adorable.  Even though his top two have quite a distance between them....that's even cute!  I remember vividly his sister having the same situation.  We were worried with her but I've learned that this helps tremendously to avoid over-crowding of teeth and eventually the distance is lessened as they grow up.  Thanks to his teefers he now eats about 90% of what we are eating and we all love that.  He only reverts to baby food for the convenience factor when we are either traveling or dining out.  He loves food with flavor.  I have yet to see this boy get full.  Anytime a spoonful of anything is placed in front of his mouth, he accepts it.  I finally just learned to cut him off at some point and trust his little belly has had enough.  He can usually eat just as much, if not more, than his big sister.  

Which leads me to my next fact.  In case you couldn't tell by looking...he's a BIG boy.  As in, he weighs a ton and wears my arm out just carrying him around.  Which usually results in me telling Addison to "hurry hurry, your brother is heavy" on multiple occasions just to get her through the store quicker or into the van quicker.  He's a chunky monkey.  But he has the skinniest little ankles and feet surprisingly.  He's still in a size 3 shoe which typically those are reserved for any babies younger than 1 year.  I'm guessing his girth is hidden somewhere in that long torso.  Plus, he's a Hufford....dense as an oak tree.  

Since this little guy just mastered crawling at 11 months, he's still completely content to keep this as his preferred mode of travel.  His speed has increased as has his abilities to pull and stand up and cruise around furniture.  He has very little interest in walking but has learned to stand for a few seconds here and there.  He does enjoy pushing his little walker and walking behind it.  This is a trick he perfected thanks to Daddy's efforts while Mommy was away for a weekend.  He smiles the whole time he is doing it and I'm pretty sure it's because we all get so excited and animated when he does it.  I'm guessing walking is right around the corner for this little guy.  And this Mommy is looking very forward to giving her poor arms a rest for once.

Personality-wise he is SUCH an easy going guy.  Mostly just crawls around and entertains himself with anything non-toy in the house.  He adores his sister and loves to chase her.  His giggles mostly sound like he's hyperventilating...in a cute way.  At times he can get frustrated.  Mostly this happens when he can't get a piece of food to his mouth.  He'll flex his arms and grunt and stiffen his neck.  Yes, we think it's funny too.  He has learned to give a high pitched squeal when his sister won't share a toy.  This one I don't find as humorous....it hurts our ears.  So mostly, we give him his way so we can silence the squealing.  It's a quick fix for now.

Welp, this is all I can think of to talk about for our little guy.  He is always a joy to have in our family and we can't imagine life without him.  I'm learning more and more everyday that children were meant to have siblings.  Just watching them interact and build their friendship is such a fun thing to see.  Addison and Jonas really love/adore/enjoy each other.  95% of the time they are happy together.  The few times they argue is when Addison won't share her toy but even then she'll say "No buddy, don't touch that!"  

And here are his stats as of 9/11/12:

Weight:  23 lbs  (50%)
Length: 30 1/2 inches  (75%)
**They don't measure his head anymore now that he's older but I'm sure part of it has something to do with the fact their measuring tapes can't encompass something so bulbous and large.  I'm guessing it'd be in the 99.99999% category.