My Baby is 1!

Somehow, a year has passed and my baby is a full-fledged toddler now.  We went from this:

to this:

...in the blink of an eye.

Don't get me wrong, this four kids thing has been a kick in the pants.  It hasn't been an easy year.  I still don't really feel like I have my act together.  I feel disorganized and like I'm holding on by my fingertips a lot of the time.  For some reason, some things I have always been able to manage in the past have slipped this past year.  If I told you how much money I've had to pay in library fees during the past year, it would shock you!  Things are looking up, though.  It's amazing how that happens after about a year.

Amidst all the craziness of life right now, I have my little Elijah.  He brings so much happiness into all of our lives and we feel so incredibly blessed to have him.

We love his big bright smiles:

This is his signature look while he says "ooo":

He frequently makes strangers smile or laugh while at the store.  

This time he just sat with his mouth on the tray and I didn't even notice until someone pointed it out to me:

For awhile there, he was kind of afraid of me when I'd have a towel on my head.  He wouldn't look at me and would instead just lay on my shoulder:

I didn't mind. :)

More snuggles:

He's pretty cute in the bath:

I often try to jog to take Nate to preschool and Elijah falls asleep almost every time:

Again with the smiles and "ooo"s while playing the piano:

He LOVES when his siblings push him in the swing:

I was able to catch his first tantrum on camera!

That's a nice shot of my foot, too. :)

Happy again:

Elijah's little toes are all crowded together like this:

We think it's cute.

Another moment I had to capture of how nicely he fits under my chin when he snuggles into me:

 The big birthday finally came.  It was simple of course, as he had no idea it was his birthday anyway!  He did enjoy opening his presents.  Elizabeth helped him out:

He loved this giraffe from Grandma Marsha:

"Uhh!  What's in here?"

 So excited that he fell right over:

 

 Then it was time for his birthday cupcake.  He wasn't really a fan.  He ended up dropping a lot of it on the ground.  He did eat some later when I fed it to him, though.  (No still pictures sadly)

Elijah is growing fast.  For one thing,  he is definitely our fastest walker.  He's the first one of our children to walk before he was 1.  He took his first official steps on Natalie's birthday.  He is walking everywhere now and I love watching him toddle around with his arms up high for balance.

He's not much of a talker yet but he does sign "all done" and "more" (with some confusion).  He just started folding his arms before prayers while saying "Uh" and it never fails to crack us all up.  He gives wonderfully wet kisses while saying "ahh".  He loves to wave goodbye and will happily do so before going off to bed at night.

He can be pretty stubborn.  He doesn't much like getting his diaper changed and is constantly trying to roll over while I change him.  One time he had a bad blowout so I couldn't do the leg-over-his-body trick and I just could not get him to stay down.  The girls finally had to come help me hold him down.  There would have been poop everywhere if not for them!

He loves to be tickled and will tickle himself on the tummy when he wants you to do it.  He loves being thrown up high.  He loves going outside and being on the trampoline with the big kids.  He loves anything with the big kids, really.  He adores them and loves to play with them.  Sometimes he desperately wants to be big like them.

He's kind of a picky eater.  I don't remember my other babies being this picky.  He does love oatmeal, bananas, cooked carrots, and crackers.  He especially loves yogurt and could eat it all day long.

Watch out world--"Eli's comin'!" 

(his theme song :)