two four

Tomorrow is my birthday. Last year, I had a theory. 23 was going to be my year. The one where I figured it out all. The one I would look back on and remember as the year that changed me - the year it all came together. You guys! What the hell was I thinking?! Your first year as a mother isn't spent figuring it all out! It's spent guessing and failing and trying and learning and adapting. It's not the year you come together, it's the year you fall apart. It's not the year you find it all, it's the year you lose it. Now, I have very few complaints for my 23rd year. God tested my patience and my strength, yes, and this last year held some of my hardest and most challenging days as a mother, a wife, and a woman in her early twenties that doesn't really feel like she should be called a woman. But, it also held some of my very best days. My happiest, funniest, most loved, precious, you can feel it deep in your bones, truly joyous days. 23 was a good year. Maybe it wasn't "my year", but maybe I won't have just one year. Maybe each year serves it's own purpose - each year we figure something out, not all of it, but something. Maybe that's why we keep having years and birthdays and new seasons and Mondays - we are given ample opportunity to start over. To fail, and then try again. To learn and to change. To grow and adapt. I did figure that out. And 23 did change me. It molded me and shaped me and cut me down and built me back up. 23 will be a year I remember, with absolute certainty. 23 was the year I figured out, and accepted, that I will never figure it all out.

eleven.

{disclaimer: this blog post is belated, so I'm writing it from last month's perspective. this doesn't represent his current accomplishments. like walking!!}

Our little bug is 11 months old!! Every month so far it's been, "Oh my gosh, you're almost one!" and now he really is! This time, though, I'm more excited for twelve months. Yes, I'm still sad that time is flying by so fast!, but now that it's almost here?, I think I'm ready for it! {Ask me that again on his birthday}

At eleven months old Uriah is on the verge of walking! He loves walking while holding our fingers or walking along the furniture. He's getting braver about going from one piece to the other, and has, a few times, bridged the gap with a step and no hands. He has conquered crawling up stairs and over and under anything - he's so fast!

Uriah has four teeth, but is still showing a few signs that another one could be on the way soon. I thought I saw a bit of white starting to peek out, but it comes and goes. Poor babies dealing with this pain! Luckily, it doesn't seem to be bothering him too much. We're just dealing with extra amounts of drool.

Uriah is eating solids four times a day, nursing in the morning, before bed, and a few times throughout the day when he's in need of a good snuggle. We have yet to feed him something he doesn't like - the kid will eat anything and he will eat it all day! He loves to feed himself, prefers it, actually! Bread and cherries are his favorite for that reason {he is my child, after all}

He is in size four diapers, and 6/9-12 month tops and bottoms. Yes, we made the jump to twelve month bottoms! His legs are still short and chubby {just the way I like 'em!} but he must be growing!

In Alaska, Uriah was still waking up at least once a night and getting up for the day pretty early {and moving him from the hotel to the Walls didn't help at all}. We got home a few days before he turned eleven months and were able to start sleep training him again. He quickly fell into an eight pm bedtime and a seven am wake up, after a three and five waking. I am determined to get him to sleep through the night before he turns one, so we're going to keep working on it! Keeping our fingers crossed!

Uriah has always been a champ at naps - always requiring lots of them, never really being able to stay awake, happy, for more than two hours at a time. In the last couple months he weaned himself down to three naps instead of four and it went really well. It was continuing to go well and was perfect for our schedule, but about the time we got back to Boise he was starting to forgo that third nap. Now, two naps for an almost one year old is a pretty good schedule, if they last longer than an hour... He naps for an hour at nine and an hour at noon and come three o'clock when he starts to get fussy? He won't nap! I've tried everything to get him to go down, everything! Five hours is too long for this kid to be awake, but he's so dang adamant about not napping in the evening - nothing gets done in this house after three pm. Car rides and stroller walks are the only things that will do the trick {and those aren't a guarantee!}, but I don't want him to get used to that and require that in order to nap. It's a battle every day!

Uriah says "dada", "momma", and "nana" {his only recognizable words} but has been saying them less now that he's learning new sounds! His newest favorite is a "guh" sound, really deep in his throat, scratchy and gurgle-y. He uses it most often when pointing at squirrels or stuffed animals. He's got his own sound for when he's hungry or when he's happy with a toy... I love listening to his little babbles and laughs - he is always talking!

Uriah can clap {which he does at the end of every song and after almost every bite of food}, high five, kiss, hug and wave {though it's almost always after the person has gone} and he points at everything {everything!}

His favorite toys are balls - he knows the word and can sit and toss one back and forth for a good ten minutes {before something else becomes more interesting} He loves blocks, books and anything that cane be used as a drum set, too. And, of course, anything that's not a toy - outlets, cords, night lights and plastic bags, being some of his favorite.

He has a new found love for his blanket {which I love and think is the sweetest thing ever!} and loves to have it thrown over him again and again - any version of peek-a-boo is a hit with this kid! He loves to chase us around the house or be chased; he loves "airplane", "drop the baby" and anything outside!

This kid is the sweetest, I tell 'ya. He's still so snuggly and so very much my baby. Each month it just keeps getting better and better and each month I think it couldn't be possible, but here we are at almost a year and I am learning and laughing right along with him, enjoying every minute. We love you, Uriah Michael!

we're back!

We've been back in Boise for over a week now, but I actually feel back, now. Family is gone, events are over, we are unpacked, our house is clean, and Stephen started his Pediatric rotation yesterday - our lives are starting to settle back down into normalcy, and I'm quite happy about it. Being gone for 13 weeks took a toll on me. I missed our home and our town and our things and our schedule... I'm so happy for the opportunity we had to travel and spend so much time with family, but gosh it feels good to be home!

I feel as though so much has happened between my last post and now - Christmas, traveling, another Christmas, a wedding, a birthday, New Years, play dates... I had blog plans to fill you in on each and every event individually, pictures and pictures and memories and anecdotes, but just the thought of doing so is a little draining to me, now. Why rewind when the whole point of a new year is to start over?! So, let's just say this, we are blessed.