John Paul is One!

Just like that, our little newborn is now a little one-year-old.

I look at these month-to-month pictures and it's hard to believe he was ever that tiny. It's true what they say: the days are long but the years are SHORT. And what a fantastic year it's been!

John Paul Fulton, you are the light of our lives! It's a joy to watch you grow and learn and explore. You're such an adventurous little boy, and a little boy through and through. You love anything with wheels, but especially trains and hotwheels cars. You also love to climb! In the past week, you've climbed up onto the couch and up into your stroller by yourself when mommy was distracted for just a minute. You must love heights, or scaring your mom half to death, or both. But it's adorable. You've also just learned to throw and kick a ball, not exactly with any aim yet, but you're figuring it out. And you eat like a champion. I'm not necessarily speaking about the variety of foods, but definitely the amount of food. Your current favorites are peanut butter sandwiches, strawberries and grapes, pickles, any sort of cracker or chip, raisins, cheese, and hummus. Oh, and how could I forget . . . pizza! You'll pretty much give anything a taste, but if it's not one of the yummy foods I'v listed, there's a good chance it'll get spit out pretty quickly, or thrown to the floor. But you love exploring foods. Baby led weaning has worked so well for you and we're excited to watch your palate continue to expand.

You also still love nursing so much. We call it milkies. While it seems our nursing journey will be coming to a close soon, mommy still loves our milky snuggles before naps and bedtime and will be sad to see it go.

You've recently become a sleep pro. Your first year had its ups and downs when it came to napping and through-the-night sleeping. You didn't like being put down for sleep and you didn't like falling asleep without a ton of help. But now you usually take two two-hour naps a day and sleep around 11 hours at night. And we're incredibly grateful!

You've even learned a few words. "Dada" was first, soon followed by "Mama." You also love to say "hiiiii" to strangers and "arp arp arp" to puppy dogs. You say "yup yup yup" and shake your head up and down when you really want something and occasionally even say "NO" or your version, "OH" when you're being funny and trying to refuse something. You've also gotten good at copying us when you're feeling up to it. I've heard you say "socks" and "hello" and "ball" and "bunny" and "froggy" . . . never on your own, but repeating after us. Your sweet little boy voice melts us every time.

And oh how you love your daddy. You especially love going out on Batman and Robin adventures with him (as daddy likes to call them). When you return home, daddy always brags about how good you were and how you flirted with everyone around you. You truly are a ham. You'll yip to get someone's attention, then curl up and act shy once they say hi or try to chat back. Heart melter. You have the whole world wrapped around your finger.

John Paul Fulton, it's a joy to be your mom. Thanks for all the love and laughter. Can't wait to see what year two holds in store. I can't imagine our hearts being any more full, but I bet you'll find ways to keep the love overflowing.

To celebrate this big boy milestone, we had a little birthday party at the clubhouse and pool at our apartment complex. John's family and a few local friends celebrated with us and made the day extra special. 

The party was originally planned for the park, but the weather was iffy and having it within a few feet of our apartment door actually turned out to be super handy.

The theme was blue and white stripes, with dark blue and light blue accents. Not the most intricate of themes, but I was trying to keep things simple. Who remembers their first birthday, anyway? :P

We ordered his favorite food: Greek food! Hummus and feta dip and pita and chicken kabobs and lamb . . . and he didn't eat a single bite because he just wanted to be playing with all his friends. It was actually pretty adorable.

"Mom, don't make me eat! How boring!"

We hid Hershey's kisses around the clubhouse for the kiddos to find. You would have thought it was
Christmas morning the way their faces lit up with each new kiss discovered.

While he wasn't interested in dinner, he did eat some cake.

And seemed to enjoy it. :)

We opened some presents!

And most importantly, enjoyed our time with family and friends!

And an unplanned dip in the pool.

Happy 1st birthday, John Paul Fulton! We love you, kiddo. Keep being you. Because you're seriously awesome. :)