Happy 1st Birthday Joel

 On Friday my baby Joel turned 1.  Really?  Has it been that long?  I feel like he was just born but in some ways he seems so much older than 1.  He tries to do everything Colin does so he is in a sense 1 going on 4.    

We spent his birthday at the doctors apt for his 1 year check up.  He barely gained any weight and now weighs 19lbs 11oz but is now almost 31 inches.  Which is now 8% for weight and 75% for height.  Our tall skinny boy.  He has started to sign more, all done and eat which are the basic and most important things to communicate :)  he really does eat all day long :)  Wish i had that metabolism!  But after getting his shot we went and swam in a friends pool where Joel put his face in the water and blew bubbles! 

We had cupcakes for him friday night and let him, Colin open up some presents.  And then on Saturday we had some more birthday fun with my parents, Rod, Ant Ant, Jamie and Benjamin.  Brent made his homemade salsa.

Joel's favorite food right now is cucumbers with a bowl of ranch to dip in. He loves dipping his cukes in the ranch.  Its really cute to see. So he was very excited to see us dipping chips into salsa. He also loves eating with a spoon and fork.  So now we put his food in a bowl and he is pretty good at using his utencils to eat.  Smart boy!

I think that bite was a little too spicy for him :)

 The big boys were excited to help open presents.  They were very excited about Joel's gifts. At one point Benjamin squealed as he was opening the lawnmower "oh thank you!" haha it was so cute.  But don't worry Joel has had lots of playing time with his new toys.  And when Colin has been busy with Joel's toys, Joel has snuck into Colin's room to get at the toys he normally can't play with. 

"my lawnmower"  on sunday Ant Ant, Brent, Colin and Witty went down to the beach while Joel napped and when he woke up he went to all his new toys and would point to the toy and then to him.  He is willing to share but definitely knows what toys are his. 

 Its hard to believe a year ago this was Joel. 

And now he is walking, talking, running around.  He is so sweet and loves to run over to us and give hugs and big slobbery kisses.  He also starting to love books and will come snuggle into my lap and read book after book and will keep signing more when we're done.  Joel has the greatest laugh and we love to hear his big belly laughs when we tickle him.  He also loves to be chased around the house/yard and will giggle the whole time. Joel LOVES Colin and just thinks his big brother is the greatest. The other day Colin was sitting down reading a book and Joel went over and head butted him and began to wrestle Colin.  SO funny and Colin loved it.  They love each other and its so fun to watch.  We love you baby Joel. You have blessed our family so much this past year. We're excited to watch you grow and see more of your personality come out more every day.  Just slow down all this growing up stuff - stay our baby joel just a little longer for mommy ok?