Happy Birthday Elias.  How amazing that you are already 1!  Things have been busy around our house the last couple of months.  We found out we are going to have another little baby!  You get to be a big brother!

At 12 months you are walking really well.  You don't say a single word regularly but you have said each of the following words at least once: dog, dad, mom, hello and off.  You sign Please pretty well and are working on Thank You.  When someone says "so big" you reach up over your head.

You are so happy to finally be on "big boy" food.  You like spaghetti and meatballs, mac and cheese with tofu, yogurt, oatmeal and miso soup.  While we were in D.C., you wouldn't touch the food we brought you, so we had to get creative as to what to feed you.  While there, you had a taste of miso soup (and really liked it), kebab meat and various other more adventurous foods.  Though we had not planned on introducing you to lamb/cow or any similar meat until later, it was one of the few foods we could get you to really eat.  And so goes the story.

You are happier these days, though night time is still a struggle for us.  You wake up at sometime around 10:00, 12:00, 2:00, 5:00 and finally at around 6:30 or 7:00.  I am feeling pretty exhausted.  We have started trying to transition you into your crib full time.  You usually stay there until about 2 or 3, which is about the point where I am too exhausted to keep getting up.  We have started also trying to wean you at night but that has been very unsuccessful.

You took your first plane ride.  We went to Washington D.C. for a work conference Daddy had.  We spent 4 days as a family just exploring D.C.  We saw things like the White House, the Capital Building, Library of Congress, the Pentagon and many more things.  It was a challenge to travel with you, as you HATED the backpack carrier, as well as the metro to and from our hotel to the city.  However, you LOVED talking and smiling to all the people on the metro.  Everyone commented on what a beautiful baby you are.  We had to tell several people that you are, indeed, a boy, not a girl. One of the highlights on the trip was playing with you on the lawn of the Capital building.  We had so much fun wrestling in the grass.

On you actual birthday, I took you to the National Aquarium in D.C. You had a blast.  It was so much more fun than the zoo because you could actually see the animals moving right in front of you.

Elias, being your mother has changed my life.  I am so happy that God blessed me with you!