Meet the Mocks: 1 year

368. That's how many days we have survived as a family of 5!

Our little guy turned one this week and I feel like it finally feels like he "acts his age" (if that makes sense!). He definitely played the "baby" card as long as he could, but he's catching up now. July 2nd was a pretty big day for everyone. It's the day C became mobile. Hallelujah!! Most parents would be hoping their kids would walk around the age 1, but nope, not us. I was just praying he would crawl before I had to take him to his 1 year check-up!! There was definitely a good 4-6 weeks of major frustration for him. He would set his sights on something, but have no way of getting to it and just get really upset. As soon as he would be set down, he would start crying. Now, we can't keep up with him. He is on the move and we have some major baby proofing to do. I think he is making up for lost time because he's starting to show signs of wanting to stand and pull-up as well. He likes to "bear crawl" or "plank" whenever he can. Any free moment he has, he immediately darts to find his way into the playroom. He has loved playing in there and exploring all of the toys.

and he's off!

much better!

I don't think it will be too much longer before he is pulling up!

We had a minor incident about a week after he started crawling. I was at home with the boys, on the phone with Microsoft customer service and next thing I know, I have one screaming kid covered in blood. He had crawled out of the living room, up on to the step where our foyer is, and then in an attempt to get in the playroom, fell off the step flat on his face. At first, I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from, but eventually found that is was coming from the gums BEHIND his bottom two teeth. I was baffled as to how this could have happened, so immediately drove him to our pediatric dentist to have him checked out. Basically, when he fell, the teeth pushed forward, and the bottom of the teeth, under the gums, pushed open the gum line. The teeth are slightly loose, but should tighten back up within two weeks is what they told me. Poor guy cried hysterically for a good 20 minutes, but all is well now (or so I hope!!).

Speaking of teeth, lil guy has five teeth that have pushed all the way through and one more that just sprouted this month. He is starting to point at things and babble as well and still sort of working on his wave (which is still just an outstretched arm with his palm out and an occasional movement of the arm back and forth). He says DaDa all of the time and MaMa a lot more now. I also think he says BaBa for bottle and sometimes more if I ask him if he wants more.

He is really still eating well, thank goodness. He is usually up for trying just about anything once and then decide if he likes it or not. We've also switched him over to whole milk in a sippy cup this week and he seems to like it just fine. Unfortunately, we are having to warm it some or else he hardly drinks any of it. Not sure what is up with our kids and their warm milk habit. It's probably that I am just a pushover.

I swear this kid is a little monkey. He loves bananas

the boy knows what he likes, that's for sure!

He really loves music or being sung to. It calms him down when he is fussy or gets him really excited when he's happy. Still loooooves to clap. The other day after I sang to him, we noticed he was trying to sing back and it was so cute. He babbles all the time and we've been noticing him trying to mimic what we say more and more. He has such a good sense of humor, I can already tell. He just laughs and giggles at anything, loves to mess with you or to be messed with - he's going to fit right in with his two older brothers. He loves his lovies, which right now just stay in his crib, but whenever he can get his hands on B's lovey, he is just obsessed with it.

I let him bring his lovey down the other day, and he carried (or drug it around with his mouth, I should say) everywhere he went

He's still pretty petite and only wearing 12 month clothes. I'll have to update his stats after his appointment next week, but I think he is still right around 21 lbs.

*Update*
Here are the stats from his appointment -
Height - 32" (95%) taller than both big brothers at this age
Weight - 21 lbs 14 oz. (33%) the most petite out of the bunch for sure
Head - 18.5" (66%)

I LOVE his hair, it's so whispy and always falls perfectly. He totally sports the swoop (if that's even still a thing). And his dimples are still adorable, basically I think he is just too cute.

He loves bathtime and it almost just as rough and crazy in the tub as his brothers

Little man loves his sleep. We have definitely been blessed with three good sleepers, so far. He sleeps about 11-11.5 hours at night and then two 1.5-2 hour naps a day (around 10:30 and 3).

love those BIG brown eyes!

Last weekend, we had some of our family over to celebrate his birthday. It was sort of last minute, so it was really small, but still a lot of fun. I think Charlie had more fun at his first birthday "party" than the other two did combined (and not because of who was there, he is just much more easy going).

His one and only decoration/party flare - his smash cake. No matter how small the birthday party, that is a must for all 1 year olds in my book!

Pre-destruction - he looks thrilled

Not too sure of us singing happy birthday to him, he was more concerned about the cake.

Ryan and Bradley were way more excited about the cake and helping him destroy it than Charlie was...

...until he started getting after it.

Then, there was no stopping him. Is this not the most perfect smash cake face, ever?!!?

My little smurf. Love how he went to scratch his ear and that's the only other place the icing made it!

Calling it a day!

Post destruction. The kitchen clean-up and kid clean-up took about 3 times as long as it did for him to make the mess. Oh well, it was definitely worth it!

the aftermath

Here are a few shots from his last monthly photoshoot. He was impossible to hold still, but I think he was the only one of the three who could actually sit still long enough in the rocker for at least a few pics.