Not so Little Anymore

After seeing a couple friends with their newborns, I'm reminded of how big Daniel's gotten. He was so fragile back then and now, he's a rough and tough little boy who likes being tossed up in the air and spun around. The stages change so fast it's easy to forget how it was just a few months ago having to nurse him every three hours. I have to say, I think things are easier now. I do enjoy the full nights of sleep, two long naps and three square meals a day.

Party

Daniel celebrated his 1st birthday with some friends and family yesterday. After 5 weeks of colds, viral infections, asthma, ear infections and a new tooth, he was finally feeling himself for the big day. It looked like he had a lot of fun. Of course, all of his friends and cousins at this point are girls. But there are a couple boys on their way in the near future.

He dove right in to his cake that Grandma made. He loved it and was kind enought to share some with his mommy.

New Birthday Toy

Uno!

This is mainly a photo blog and I like to let the pictures speak for themselves. But yesterday was a big day and I just realized I didn't take a single picture. Daniel turned one yesterday. It was a rough day though. He was crying most of the day, so we ended up going to the Doctor. He has his first ear infection. I baked my first cake for the big day. But after we got back from the Doctor we went to the store to get the ear meds, then off to great-grandma's 81st bday party. So the cake sits in all of it's humility, untouched in the frig. We'll celebrate properly next week when he's feeling better hopfully.
Daniel has been nursing three times daily for the past several months. We cut out the lunch time feeding a few weeks ago, then he was going without the dinner feeding the last few days. I thought the morning feeding was going to be harder to let go since that was the first thing he thought of once he was out of his crib in the mornings. But the morning of his birthday, he slept in for a couple hours and didn't seem to be asking for milk when he did awake, so that's that. He's all grown up. No more nursing. He didn't seem to miss anything today either.
And then...
We were playing our little stand-up-then-dive-at-mom game. But today when we were doing this, he stood there for a minute and then took THREE steps before diving at me. I'm so proud of the little guy. It's 3:30 and I put him down half an hour ago. He's still chatting and squealing in his room. Such a great sound to listen too.

In Concert

Daniel has decided to take up the piano as his new hobby. In the last few days of his first year of life, he's preparing for the next big thing. He took his first step two days ago. Then he decided it's more fun to just fall into mom's arms instead of moving his little feet, so it's become our new game... he stands there for a minute and then just falls forward. He's standing longer and longer by himself and one of these days he's going to decide to walk. He's just not interested yet.

Fun with Grandpa

Here's Daniel having a good time with his Grandpa during Kia and Ryan's rehersal. The wedding was beautiful and now Daniel has a new uncle.