everything that shines: 12 months

happy 12 month birthday to our...toddler! what a big boy we have. it's so hard to believe that exactly 1 year ago, we were at newton wellesley hospital with our 2 day old son. we were learning his cries, snuggling with him, and introducing him to friends and family. he was a tiny 6 lbs, 13 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. he was eating every 2-3 hours and sleeping in between.

and now here we are! 1 year later! it seems like the year has flown by and so much has changed. he's now 21 lbs, 10 oz (33rd percentile) and 31.5 inches long (93rd percentile). his head continues to be quite large at 48 cm (90th percentile) as well. he's eating 3 meals/day plus 2 snacks, and mostly finger foods. he continues to sleep about 12-13 hrs/night and takes 2 naps/day, 1.5 hrs each. the best thing about his sleeping schedule is that since he goes to sleep around 8- 8:30, he doesn't usually get up until around 9am...which mommy and daddy think is wonderful! that is definitely a very welcome change from 1 year ago!

the most exciting thing about this month is that we got the green light to s.l.o.w.l.y start introducing dairy into his diet. for the first 2 weeks he got to eat cheese and yogurt, which are easier to digest than other dairy products, and then we had to send in a stool sample to his GI doctor. kind of gross but well worth it. since that was negative for blood (yeah!) now he gets to drink a little whole milk with each meal, slowly increasing the amount of milk every few days. we repeat the test again when he's up to 3 oz / meal and if that is negative again, we're home free! hopefully that will be the case because this kid LOVES cheese, yogurt, and especially milk. and so does his mommy :).

he still prefers crawling and cruising / finger walking (now with just one hand) but he will walk a couple of steps on his own with the right motivation (mommy or daddy, a toy, or a tv remote). he loves to play with his musical instruments, balls, blocks, and walkers. he will jump and dance on command. he is getting really good at throwing stuff and loves to throw bella's ball for her. he thinks playing with her is absolutely hilarious. he also likes to feed her his food and it's a constant struggle to make sure he eats more than bella does at mealtime. he has 5 teeth and is working on another top tooth plus at least one molar. the fun of teething continues!

he now only really says "dada" (even though he used to say "mama" all the time) and thinks it's funny to say "dada" when you ask him to say "mama". little stinker! he has started signing "more", has his own sign for "all done", and can do the sign for "milk" but doesn't usually do it in the correct context. he can follow simple commands when he chooses to.

quinn continues to be just as smiley and joyful as ever. he is really ticklish on his tummy, chest, neck, and feet and falls over laughing if you tickle him. he gives sweet kisses with sound effects if you're lucky. but mostly, he just crawls and walks and plays nonstop! he's a very busy boy and keeps us on his toes. he's constantly trying to figure out how to get to bella's food and water and if he sees a clear path (when mommy and daddy forget to put the barricade back up) he moves as fast as he can to get there.

quinn is such a wonderful, loving, happy, playful little boy and we feel so blessed to have him as our son. the past 12 months have been amazing and exhausting, full of laughter and even a few tears, and just so incredible. we are thankful for him in our lives and look forward to many more birthdays!

here's our sweet boy at 12 months: