One

Ryder boy turned one today.  Despite my wishes to stop time and keep him in his little baby phase, he still went ahead and turned one.  It's hard for me to put into words what an amazing year it has been.  We have enjoyed every minute with our little man.  He is the sweetest, cutest, happiest baby boy.  I would keep having lots of babies if I was guaranteed they'd all turned out like him.

I have had fun reminiscing about this day one year ago.  Getting ready to go to the hospital and the anticipation of not only meeting our baby, but the excitement of finding out if we were going to have a boy or girl.  It was the surprise of a lifetime when Cory yelled out, "It's a BOY!"  Such a dream come true to have a perfect, healthy baby boy.

We visited the Dr. today and she said he's doing great.  He weighs 19lbs. 3oz (5th%) and 31 1/2 in. (75th%).  He's staying long and really lean, a "calorie burner" as the Dr. put it.  He eats everything in sight but I think he's just so mobile that he burns it off and he's got daddy's metabolism.  Lucky dude!

He's still standing on his own, taking 1 to 2 steps, but still really content with crawling everywhere.  I'm really content with this too.  I can only imagine how crazy it will be when he is running all over the house.  He's still nursing multiple times and doesn't show any signs of quitting.  I've introduced some whole milk but he's not really that interested.  I'm okay with this too :)  He's developing quite a vocabulary.  He likes to say dada, dog, nana (which is his universal food word, everything is nana, even nursing), ball, what's that?, bbbrrrr (for cars and trucks). He signs more, all done, doggie, milk.  We are starting a sign language class with William & Jess on Tuesday and we're really excited to learn some new signs.  

To my Ryder boy---you are such a joy and we love you more than you know.  You have brought so much fun, love, & laughter into this house in the past year.  We can't wait for all the adventures that lie ahead with you as we start this new year.