john and julie plus 3: 12 months old: part 1

we cannot believe we have been parents for a whole year. while it sometimes seems like the time has flown by, it also feels like it's been an eternity - we actually have a hard time remembering what we used to do in our now non-existent free time. while i can safely say that i've never been more tired in my life, i've also had an unbelievable amount of fun this year. i'm sure every parent feels this way, but i feel like we won the baby lottery (twice) - these monsters are amazing!

i left the pediatrician's office yesterday with a big smile knowing they are developmentally right on track and as healthy as can be. jacks is in the 60th percentile for both height and weight (29.5in and 23lbs 8oz) and has a head in the 80th percentile. livi, our future supermodel, is slightly taller at 30in and slightly thinner at 22lbs 2oz (85th and 70th percentiles, respectively). oh and how could i forget, her head is in the 93rd percentile. our next appointment is in three months and they should have a minimum of 3 words by then so we'll be listening carefully.

their new favorite activity is to sit on the bottom stair in our living room, stand up on their own and walk over to where we are sitting - jacks chuckles the entire way and ends up falling forward in excitement. livi is much steadier, takes her time and then always plops down on her butt when she's had enough...she's definitely the more cautious of the two. they then crawl back and repeat over and over and over.

one of the biggest transitions at 1 year is moving away from the bottle and switching to whole milk. some do this gradually, reducing one bottle at a time - not this family, we prefer doing these transitions cold turkey. thankfully, they weren't fazed at all and had no issues adjusting to milk in a straw cup. i'm sure john and leanne would agree that we definitely do NOT miss mixing formula or cleaning bottles - especially because there is so much space in our dishwasher now!