The Birthday Boy is One!

How can it be that Eli is a year old?  I constantly remind him that he promised me he'd stay little forever, and he's definitely not holding up his end of the deal.  We love this little guy, and he's made a priceless addition to our family.  I love that the boys have each other now.

Having already celebrated last week, the big day (Saturday) was not so big, but we did have a few birthday activities.  We continued our birthday breakfast tradition and sang Happy Birthday to Eli (AKA The Snoozer) when he finally got up.  He didn't care much for the candle.  It got in the way of what was important... food.  This boy doesn't miss a meal.

The beast devouring his birthday muffin.

The boys spent most of the day with Ryan while I did some Christmas shopping.  They even visited one of Ryan's coworkers whose wife just had a baby.  When I asked Clayton if the baby was a boy or a girl, he replied, "a baby sister."  That evening after dinner Eli opened a few more family gifts.  Clayton was definitely the "Big Brother in Charge" and was much more excited about the gifts than Eli.  While Eli played with all the packaging and boxes, Clayton tried out all his new things. 

At one year, Eli does still act like my baby.  He snuggles when he's tired.  He loves to sit on my lap for long periods of time.  He still refuses a sippy cup.  And he's very definitely NOT close to walking.  Why walk when Mommy can just carry you, or worst case scenario, you can crawl?  He's definitely a mama's boy and will almost always cling to me if someone, including Ryan, tries to take him from me.  He's testing out how to throw a proper fit these days, and this is new to me, as Clayton's fits are more inward and silent, while Eli's a screamer and thrasher.  He's got some fire in him.  That's for sure.  I'm definitely NOT looking forward to dealing with that.

I took Eli to the pediatrician for his one year check up on Monday.  He weighed 20lbs, 1 oz and was 29 1/4 inches long.  His head circumference had only increased slightly (thank goodness) to 19 1/4 cm (wow), so CT scan considerations are on hold once again.  I promise, big heads just run in my family.  He also had a double ear infection AGAIN, which I was not completely surprised about.  This is his fourth set this fall.  We also got the results of Clayton's follow up chest x-ray, and it looked greatly improved from the pnuemonia one 10 days earlier, an answer to prayer. 

Other than the ear infections, Eli's doing great.  He's showing more and more of his personality these days, and we love most of what we see.  Clayton is taking on more and more big brother responsibility too.  Tonight as I was loading the dishwasher and attempting to keep Eli out of it, Clayton piped up with, "Eli, you're trouble."  Yes, Clayton, and believe me, Eli's not the only trouble around here.

Dec. 5, 2008

A healthy baby boy