12 Months Old

Weight: 25 pounds. He's been the same weight for three months now. For the first 9 months, he was 95 percentile in weight. This time, he is in the 80 percentile. Now that he's up and walking all the time, I suspected as much.

Height: 31.25 inches (I guess I mismeasured the last few months of 32 inches.) 95 percentile for height still.

Comparatively, Ashton was 21 pounds and 31 inches long at 12 months.

Clothing Size: Pretty much 18-24 months in everything. Some 12 month pants still work.
 
Daily Schedule: Same as last few months for the most part. I wake him up when Ashton wakes up around 7:30/8. Then he naps from 10-11:15ish most days as he has to get up then to pick Ashton up from preschool and then again from 2:30-4/4:30. Then bedtime is around 8:30. One day, I tried to skip the morning nap due to some errands we had. He was not okay with that. Oh well... not too much longer and he'll transition to one nap.

Personality: His personality is the best! He is always a happy boy, smiling and laughing away. It doesn't take much to make him happy. We see a little more impatience coming this month and he wants to be heard at times. One happy kid!

Firsts: First Christmas and first time away from Mom for more than a few hours.

Favorites: 

Meal: Still pizza. He also loves macaroni and cheese, anything peanut butter, and bananas.

Time of day: Waking up Ashton from her nap. On days that Ashton has speech therapy, we need to wake her up and Tanner loves that.  Or playing chase/hide and seek. He likes that too.

Toy: Balls. He is typically walking around with a ball or two. He really enjoys trying to bounce them.

The day I tried to skip a morning nap. He fell asleep on the way home and refused to wake up in the house.

Big helper just like his sister

Tanner's 1st Birthday

Yikes! My boy is one already! It's been a good year. After having Ashton, I was pretty determined to be done having children. It was a rough first year. What is sad is that it wasn't Ashton at all. It was all me and my adjustment to motherhood. Then I had a change of heart and "made a deal" with God that I would have one more but if it was anything like my experience with Ashton (PPD, anxiety, etc) then that was it. Well, Tanner came along and this past year has been a night and day difference from Ashton's first year. No postpartum depression this time, which has been a huge help! I've enjoyed the baby phase this time around, partly because I know each phase only lasts for so long. I'm grateful to have Tanner and I know he will continue to be a blessing to our family.

We celebrated his birthday over two days due to some evening activities on his actual birthday. On the 16th, I took the kids to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. Tanner loves climbing around their playplace and he loves the food. We didn't get Tanner a birthday present so going to lunch helped me feel like I did something for him.

That night, we got pizza (his favorite food) and ate dinner at a park. He was more excited to play than eat. After Ashton's swim lesson, he opened presents (more like Ashton opened them) and we skyped with family.

Loved the boxes!

More balls for our ball pit.

He enjoys skyping with family. His main objective during a skype call is to knock down the webcam.

Then, on Tuesday, we had cake and ice cream. I made him a football cake because he loves balls. Joseph is convinced he will be our little linebacker one day.

Used my new cricut machine to make a 1st birthday banner.

 

New Year's Eve Party

We had a wonderful New Year's Eve party at our home. I planned ten Minute to Win it-type games for the older kids to play. Ashton still asks to play some of the games so it was a hit to her. We watched a YouTube video of the ball dropping at 7pm to celebrate the new year. Ashton enjoyed celebrating with her friends. Ashton got her first kiss from a boy as one of the boys grabbed her after the ball dropped and kissed her. It was cute.

Who could empty the tissue box the fastest.

Fruit loop stacking

Tanner had a blast too!

North Carolina Trip

My brother and his wife had a baby in November. My family all came to North Carolina to meet her and spend the days after Christmas together. I decided to fly out as well but kept the kids home. I'm glad I did as I just sat at their home imagining everything Tanner and Ashton would destroy in the nice house. It was a nice break from the mundane at home but I missed my family. Joseph took time off to be home with the kiddos and Ashton milked it for all she could!

Ashton and I had parts of the best friends necklace. She asked me to show it to her every night during our Skype call. She put hers around her stuffed dog.

Since the three of us were together, we did a childhood picture recreation.

Joseph and Ashton made this for me. They missed reading books, singing songs, yummy food, doing fun crafts and playing together.

Christmas 2016

Christmas was wonderful this year. Here's the highlights in picture form.

We went caroling at a nursing home. Afterwards, I found sweet Ashton helping a lady with a puzzle. She had a blast going!

Singing songs with Papa over skype.

On Christmas Eve, I took Ashton to see a movie at the movie theater for the first time. It was during her nap time, which was troubling. She almost fell asleep during the movie and was pretty tired afterwards. The highlight was getting popcorn. I think it will be a while before we take her to another movie... like a few years!

So happy to open Paw Patrol band-aids

Bike trailer from my grandma

This was a daily activity for most of December. Ashton would line everyone up to see baby Jesus.

Decorating a gingerbread house with her friend.

Playing together Christmas morning

I tried to get a picture of the Christmas outfits. This will do.

 

 

The manger cake we made for Jesus's birthday

Ashton's Christmas Program

Ashton had her preschool's Christmas program two weeks before Christmas. She wasn't feeling too well a few days prior and her teachers were nervous she'd be sick for the program. Apparently, Ashton is the loudest singer in her class and knows all the words to the songs. That didn't shock me at all. She didn't get sick so Ashton was there to sing. In front of the crowd, she was a little distracted. Here's the best clip of the group singing along with a few pictures

Family Pictures

Here are a few more family pictures from this fall.

Credit to Alaina Dooley Photography