Nervous November

The week after Ansel's birthday, we took him to the doctor for his one year checkup.  He continues to grow and is a healthy and robust 21 pounds 6 ounces and is just shy of 32 inches long.  Our doctor (who has 5 kids of his own) has never said anything other than, "I wouldn't worry..." about whatever concern we have brought him in the 3 years of visits for both kids, so when he suggested we see a specialist at Children's Hospital, we definitely started to worry.  

Ansel has great balance and can sit on his own fine, but he isn't moving (no crawling, standing or walking), which apparently is a little abnormal for this age (called a missed developmental milestone).  Luckily for us, there was an opening this past Friday at Children's and we gladly took it.  Tom Petty is definitely right - the waiting IS the hardest part.  

Fortunately, we were blessed with good news at our visit - the doctors don't think there is anything neurological or structural that would be causing the developmental delay.  We're not entirely in the clear and we need to monitor Ansel's progress closely over the next 3 months, but for now, they have given us more ways to help encourage his movement at home, no extra doctor visits or physical therapy required.  We celebrated the fantastic news with some homemade pizza (and beer, for the legal adults!) after we returned from the hospital!

And now, some photos of some lighter moments in November.

Here's Amita with the jack-o-lantern she helped Daddy carve.

And I couldn't take a picture of Aaron with a pumpkin without flashing back to our wedding photographer... so I insisted he put the pumpkin on his head, just like we did 10 years ago!

Here's Ansel modeling a smock from Grandma.  I put it on backwards like a vest the first time!

This is Aaron opening our last bin of formula for Ansel.  Now that he's a 1-year-old, he is switching to cow's milk!

Amita loves Ansel and is always showing him affection.  He adores her hugs and kisses too!

Ansel and Daddy playing together.

This is Ansel standing on his bouncy scooter.  This is one of the devices that we will be using a lot more to encourage him to stand on his legs.

Here is a little progress... Ansel slid backwards on the floor (I'm pretty sure the slippery fleece pajamas helped a lot!) from the TV all the way to the hearth in the living room.

This is Amita showing off a headband in her hair.  She loves accessories!

Birthday Boy

It's hard to believe that another year has gone by, but already my sweet Ansel is one!  We had a small party for him to celebrate and my favorite part was the photo montage of how he has grown and changed in just one year.  Ansel's favorite part was his celebratory birthday cake and he gobbled all of it down with a little help from Daddy!  

 Here's Ansel showing us how old he is!

Both kids were very excited about the birthday balloon.  This was the ONLY picture where both of them were sitting still!

Here's what the birthday cake looked like before we cut into it.  A handsomer cake has never been seen!

Ansel and Daddy with their party hats.

And the rest of the revelers!

Opening gifts - Amita was thrilled to help Ansel.  She kept asking if she could wear the striped jammies.  I'm thinking that by next year, they will be in the same size!

Mama had to help with the unwrapping too.

In talking with all the parents we know, there is one fact that holds true for all children.  They love the packaging more than the actual toy!!  This continues to support our theory that cats and kids are surprisingly similar!