Happy Birthday Jacoby!

 Yay!  We did it, we made it through the first year!  Happy Birthday little buddy!  

This post is a few days late, but for good reason.  Justice had a boy scout campout on your birthday, so we sort of postponed your birthday until today.  He HAD to go on the campout or he wouldn't get to advance to the next rank so it was very important.  We figured you were none the wiser, and Justice was VERY sad that he wasn't home on your birthday.  So, we are celebrating today instead so Justice wouldn't miss your cake.  And when I say celebrating, I really mean just having your cake and a few gifts today.  No fancy party.  While I'd like to come up with a bunch of legitimate reasons why we didn't throw you a party, I'll just stick with the facts.  Justice was gone, the timing was bad, you won't remember it anyway.  Sorry dude.  If it makes you feel any better, none of the other kids had a fancy party on their first birthday either.  We will have one for you next year, don't fret. 

I did let you have a gigantic cookie on your actual birthday. You ate the entire thing all by yourself!  

And I have some GREAT NEWS TO REPORT!!!  I'm not even sure I want to write it because I don't want to jinx it, but I will throw it out there anyway.

You slept through the night the past two nights in a row!  Your very first night of being a big and official one year old, and you slept through the night.  And last night, you did it again!  What crazy timing to start that on your first birthday, huh?  

YAY FOR BABY!!!!  I am SO PROUD OF YOU!  

And I'm really happy for me, too!  Let's just make it a routine now, OK?  

You are also eating a better diet.  You LOVE milk.  This whole milk thing is new to me because all of your siblings were lactose intolerant as babies and drank milk alternatives.  But not you, you are guzzling cow's milk like nobody's business.  And eating fries and grilled cheese like a grown man.  

You aren't talking as much as you used to.  I was worried because it seems that you've regressed a little but the doctor says you go through periods of greater physical growth and during those periods it's normal for a baby to use all their energy towards that growth rather than mental growth.  Sounds legit.  You still communicate very well and are picking up new phrases often.  You enjoy playing with toys a lot more than your brothers did, and that's sort of fun to watch.  Justice was a thinker, and his favorite thing to do was draw.  To be honest, Jack really didn't do much of anything but hang around in a funk.  But neither of them enjoyed playing with typical toys.  You do!  Cars, blocks, stuffed animals, pots and pans, spoons, all of it.

You are much bigger than either of your brothers at this age.  I have had to buy you your own wardrobe because you are a little too chubby and long to fit into Jack's old clothes.  You currently wear  a size 24 months, and a size 5 or 6 shoe.

You are doing well without your pacifier.  Thank goodness.  You saw a little girl with one at church last Sunday and I'm pretty sure you wanted to tackle her for it but you contained yourself.  Actually, the pew was between you and you couldn't reach.  Otherwise I'm pretty sure you'd have tried to snatch it with a quickness.  

Sadly, you are a biter. Yes, a BITER!  That's terrible.  I've never had "a biter" before.  I always used to get so mad when I'd pick up one of your brothers or sister from daycare with a bite mark.  I mean really, nothing could get me madder than a bite mark.  Ugh.  Thank goodness you are not in daycare, because you would send kids home with bite marks, and that's BAD!   You are not biting to be mean, it's clear that your gums are bothering you so I'm hoping and praying that when your first set of molars pop through that you will find relief and stop.  

You are a singer.  You LOVE to sing.  You sing along to lots of songs.  Justice has been practicing for his spring choir concert and out of the blue we caught you singing one of the songs.  Not even a kid song, but a regular old song on the radio.  It gave us a good laugh.  None of the words were really clear, but it was obvious what you were singing and you had the beat down pat.  

You also still love the piano.  You bang right along with Justice every afternoon and follow simple instructions with what keys to press.  You also enjoy helping Brother Newman play the piano in primary. Natalie will be thrilled about that when she gets back from maternity leave.  Ha.  You also love to conduct the music during primary, and any other time a song is played.  As soon as the music starts, you start flapping your hands and arms wildly.  It took us a few weeks to figure out exactly what you were doing, but one day during primary you went up to the front of the room and started flapping your arms with the chorister and everybody just started laughing because suddenly it was obvious what you were doing.  When everybody started laughing, you started clapping.  I hope you continue to like music, it would be nice to have another musically inclined kid.

Anyway, Dad grilled hamburgers for your birthday dinner. You may not realize it quite yet, but Dad grills a mean hamburger. 

Actually, you do realize it because you ate an entire patty. 

You loved your presents.  You got a big floor cube. You really loved the one in the waiting room of the doctors office so I figured we would get you your own.

And you also got a little scooter. Fun times. 

And we had cake.  I made a big giant cupcake.  You were sort of scared at first.  

Getting a little closer.

"For me?  Really?"

"Well, all righty then.  Cool."

"YAY!"

No cake smashing for you, you don't like your hands to get messy. You gently ate the pieces of cake that weren't covered in frosting but that was it for you.  You don't like sticky fingers.  

We sure love you little guy.  It's been a tough year, but worth every second of it.  We hope and pray you continue to sleep well for your sake.  Your brain needs sleep to grow, and I need sleep to stay sane.  You are a blessing in every way and we love you "a hundred times much!"