One year!!

We were able to celebrate Jack's birthday at the beach with all the Cannons. It was a perfect setting. I thought twice about planning a big party for a one year old because Sadie was so cranky at her first birthday party. It was the same for Jack. I made a cake for everyone and a little bundt cake for Jack. After being at the beach all day with only a few cat naps, by the time we finished dinner and rolled out the cake, Jack was completely spent. He was annoyed with the ridiculous hat I made him wear and wanted nothing to do with his cake. We are 0 for 2 as far as kids eating their birthday cake goes. Sadie wouldn't eat hers either. Even after Sadie stuck some frosting in his mouth with her finger, he was still unconvinced. Chase whisked him off to bed and the rest of us ate the cake.

Besides ending in tears, his day was quite a splendid one. He woke up next to us in his pack n'play and we immediately sang to him. He spent the day playing with the sand, swimming in his baby pool, taking naps in our arms and wrapped up the day hanging out in the hot tub. I thought it was kind of cool that we spent the day at the beach for Sadie's first birthday (because we lived in San Diego) and Jack was able to experience that as well.



Jack continues to explore whatever possible. He has always loved the dish washer but now has learned to climb up on the drawer while banging all the plates within. He takes all the spoons out and throws them below the bottom tray. It's a little annoying but I love watching him try everything and anything. That is, when it doesn't include exploring the toilet which he would do in a heart beat. Sadie often forgets to flush and I found him in her bathroom with his fingers splashing around in her urine filled toilet bowl. Good times!!

I've never been a diaper genie kind of person. The idea of having human feces just hanging out in a baby's room has always grossed me out. Instead we just throw a dirty diaper down the stairs and take it outside to the garbage can once we leave the house. These flying diapers happen to be Jack's favorite toy. If he sees a diaper sitting by the front door, be will speed crawl,banging his little knees on the ground to get to the diaper before Mom takes it away. He puts a piece of diaper in his mouth and carries it around like a dog. Totally gross!! We have remedied the problem by wrapping a days worth of diapers in a tightly tied grocery bag. That eliminates the smell as well.

My favorite Jackism will always be his snuggles. He loves to snuggle and always gives the best hugs!! I have to be careful sometimes because he likes to give head butts and will often butt a little too hard. He loves sticking his fingers in my mouth and usually giggles a little when I pretend to bite them. I love putting him to bed because he immediately rests his head on my shoulder and nuzzles up to me. About every 30 seconds, he'll look up at me, give me a head butt and another snuggle. It's absolutely dreamy and the favorite part of my day!!

For such a sweet and mellow little guy he gets REALLY angry when you take something away from him(like a dirty diaper) or stop feeding him to answer the phone or keep Sadie from falling off her chair. He demands quite a bit of attention and now that he's close to walking he'll hang onto my pant leg wherever I am standing.

He gets a big grin on his face whenever we see a puppy and LOVES Sadie's stuffed dog Clifford (which is a BIG problem because Clifford sleeps with Sadie every night and she's extremely attached). Sadie has been pretty good at letting him cuddle with Clifford every once in a while, but once she takes him away, Jack screams and has sometimes been known to slap and hit her until she gives him back. He usually grabs the dog, puts him on the ground and buries his head into his matted fur with a sigh. It's even cuter that when he does this he ALWAYS taps his right foot on the ground. Poor Sadie has learned that sometimes it's better to just let him have Clifford than hear the screams and be slapped.

Probably his biggest accomplishment was being over 20 lbs so we could face him forward in his car seat. When weighed at the doctor's office he was just over 20 lbs and 30 inches in length. He's 80% for height and 20% for weight. Tall and skinny just like Grandpa!! His little legs actually remind me of my Dad's. He seems to enjoy the car much more now that the air conditioner can reach him. It was great timing seeing that we took a 6 hour drive down to the Outerbanks. I love looking in the back seat to see my two little kids smiling (sometimes screaming)faces. I still can't get over the fact that I am a mother of two.

He still needs to be entertained while he eats. His toys usually consist of either a band aid box (taking the bandages out and putting them back in), mom's wallet, and his water bottle straw that goes up and down. While playing with these strange objects we slyly sneak his baby food into his mouth. He LOVES Veggie booty, Ritz crackers, gold fish, and Ice cream. When we were at Costco the other day Jack was getting fussy and I had forgotten to bring any snacks. I ended up giving him anything that they were sampling that day. This included ice cream, veggie straws, pizza, and chocolate Cheerios. He's getting a WAY earlier introduction to treats than Sadie.

I've caught him standing a couple of times. He's on his way to walking but speed crawls as his main mode of transportation. He has recently learned to turn around when coming back down the stairs. This is HUGE because I no longer worry about him hurting himself. He's never been one to lunge himself down the stairs. He's actually never tried going down face first so the gates aren't always necessary. He continues to snort and breath VERY loudly when we chase him up the stairs or while he chases a ball. I can't hear that little snort enough. He scrunches his little nose, bares his vampire fangs and snorts loudly like a grown pig.

With his new front teeth coming in (finally) he's been pretty sleepy. The other day we put him down at 7 and he slept until 10:30 the next morning. When this happens he usually just gets one nap that day. He's a little in between the one nap two nap schedule. I'm looking forward to the one 1:00 nap so we can actually leave the house every once in a while. He's not the kind of kid to scream when I put him down. He just lays down and if he decides not to sleep he just sings in his crib for a while. What a delightful child. I am so glad I've had this year of getting to know another one of our heavenly father's precious spirits. I like to think he's one of God's favorites;-)