Maddox Turns ONE!!!

Where did the time go? Good grief. Our little one is a year old (August 6). Sometimes it feels like he's always been a part of our family, and other times it seems like we just brought him home from the hospital. 

On Saturday (Aug. 4th), we had friends and family over to celebrate with a popsicle party. Our friends are opening a new store (go "like" Hill Street Market and Gourmet Pops on Facebook) and made popsicles just for the occasion. Watermelon, peach, pineapple, and strawberry, and they were GREAT!

My color coordinated balloons...that floated away 30 sec. after I snapped this.
Grrr...guess I didn't tie them down well enough. My children unfortunately witnessed a mommy tantrum.

A year of Maddox (sniff)

This guy LOVES the water

Mmmm...popsicle #1

Cousins on both sides of the family, what fun!
Clockwise: Lailey (3), Sadie (4), Titus (2),  Addy (15 mos), and Maddox (1)

Popsicle #2, complete with a strawberry goatee 

After two popsicles in the pool, he was frozen and required a "thawing out" in a warm tub.

All dressed and ready to eat cake!

"Aunt" Stephanie came all the way from Ghana, Africa for the occasion (she's actually on leave from the Peace Corps and it worked out perfectly). 

Happy Birthday to Maddox! 

Let the cake eating begin.

In true Maddox fashion,  he happily ate his cake, unconcerned about all the party commotion around him.

Because I was opening presents with Maddox, I didn't get any present pictures, but he got some wonderful toys that he is thoroughly enjoying. He can now walk across the room with his push toy. It won't be long before he's on his own.

I must admit, we did birthday pancakes a day late. I thought I didn't have any pancake mix, but found it when I cleaned out our pantry. Maddox said  he won't hold it against me.

Mmmmmmmm.

 At 12 months, Maddox is crawling, pulling up, and walking with a push toy. All three of these milestones happened in the last month! He took his time to start crawling, but once he figured out he could get around, he's been doing more every day.
He is a very happy and social baby.
He weighs a bit over 19 lbs. (estimated from last appointment)
He sleeps 12-13 hrs. and still takes two naps, though occasionally he has to miss one if we're busy.
He sucks his left index finger whenever he's sleepy, which is why it's red all the time.
He adores his sister, laughs at her a lot, and likes to pull her hair.
He only gives hugs to Mommy :)
He calls me and Davey "dada," but he can repeat "mama."
He also says "nigh-nigh" (night-night), "uh-uh" (uh-oh), "da" or "da-da" which is also his "bye-bye," and repeats "heh" for hi.
He LOVES food, and doesn't eat hardly any baby food anymore.
His favorite foods are applesauce, black bean burgers and quinoa burgers (he ate about 3x what Lailey did), grilled cheese, pb & j, Cheerios, and mostly anything else I've given him.
He likes to move and dance to music.
He has two bottom teeth and one top one that just cut through this week.
He digs almond milk. We've been going through it like crazy. (We don't do a lot of dairy in our house)
He can sign "milk,""more," "please," and "all done." He's not quite consistent but getting there.
He clears all the food off his tray in a big swipe when he's finished eating.
He's down to one bottle a day and doing great with a sippy cup.
He likes to make his silly face (scrunched up nose while sniffing) and his mad face...