Jack, 1 year

Well, it happened. We have a ONE YEAR OLD! So unbelievably crazy to me... we only snapped a few pics of Jack by himself on his birthday, because it was a busy busy day getting ready for his party. He was so excited that he couldn't take his afternoon nap.

Jack's stats from his one year check-up:

weight.... 18 lbs 10 oz.... 4th percentile

height.... 31 in .... 75-90th percentile (real shocker there, all things cosidered)

head... 48 cm.... 90th percentile (not a surprise, it's always difficult to put his t-shirts on)

Jacks's doc says he is doing very well for a kid with his diagnosis. We're trying a few of the doctors tricks to see if we can get Jack so gain some more weight. Jack had his last follow up appointment in Indy and things look GREAT. Now we will only have to see the cardiologist in Bloomington every 6 months just so they can take a listen to his ticker.

It seems like every week Jack is becoming more and more of a kid. He does the funniest things. He often makes a face where he puckers out his lips and squints his eyes shut. Some times he does it and says "OooOOoo" or "EWewEW". His facial expressions are becoming funnier and funnier. Sometimes he'll look at me, then shut his eyes really tight for a few seconds, then open them up again... Not really sure what he's trying to communicate with that one, but its cute.

Jack can say "happy", "baby", "boo" and my personal favorite "amen" which sounds something like "amy". He just says it at the end of our prayers. We didn't even teach him how, he just does it on his own. It's probably the cutest thing he's ever done, ever.

Jack likes to blow on his food. This is a trick I'm pretty sure he picked up from his Gramma.

Jack can stand on his own for a few seconds at a time. He's getting more and more confident and slowly building up the time he can stand before he sits down.

Jack claps when he hears people clapping on the tv.

He still isn't walking on his own yet. Although, he has taken one or two steps a few times unassisted, so I think he's getting close. We bought him a push walk toy that he loves and I think that's helping him gain some confidence. He practically runs with that toy he is so fast.

I think that's another reason why he hasn't started walking. He is so dang fast at crawling. A few weeks ago I was changing a poopy in the living room and I got up to throw the diaper away and wash my hands. In less than two minutes Jack managed to crawl from the living room, through our bedroom, open the sliding screen door, crawl all the away across the deck, and I found and caught him just as he was about to fall feet over head down the stairs. The kid gave me a heart attack. So anyway, why learn to walk when you are so fast at crawling, right?

Jack has completely switched over to whole milk (yay for no more stinky formula!).

Jack blows kisses.

Jack is a wiggle worm. Rarely is he ever still. On occasion he snuggles up to me for a few seconds and I just soak it all in. Then, like a flash he's off again... it takes a small miracle for me to change his diaper alone.

Jack has started the strangest habit. He hits himself in the head. He doesn't even do it when he's mad or frustrated... it's almost like he thinks it's silly... Not really sure what that's all about.

Jack loves to turn the lights on and off and to play with the strings on our blinds (with adult supervision of course).

Everything Jack picks up, he pretends its either a phone or a hair brush.

Jack likes to brush his hair and his teeth.

Jack's most recent obsession is kissing babies. It's like he gets a case of the squishies and can't help himself. Any kid that is his size or smaller is a target. He crawls over, grabs their head in both of his hands and plants a big open mouth wet on on the babies forehead. It's really cute, but I have to keep an eye on him at church because he's accidentally knocked a few babies over...

Jack's favorite foods are pickles, ice cream, pizza, chocolate, and mac and cheese.

Jack got two new teeth. So now he has four on the top and two on the bottom. It's so cute to look at him and see a mouth of teeth when he smiles...

This past year with Jack has been amazing, and difficult all at the same time. Gordy and I have done things that I never thought we could do. Jack has over come so much, and grown so much too. I am so happy to have Jack in our family. He is a good example of happiness and strength. I thank Heavenly Father every single day that we have the most amazing little boy.