Elliot Is ONE

I fully recognize my lack of blogging consistency and the fact that my last post was for Elliot's 2-month milestone.  Not only is Elliot 14 months old, but 15 seems just around the corner.  I kept telling myself that I'd get caught up in chronological order, but it just hasn't happened, and I'm going to take off my stubborn hat and move on...

This year has been absolutely amazing, to say the least.  Devin and I have these amazingly wonderful roles that are redefined each day by a little man who is now marching around the house.  We have achieved new levels of patience, exhaustion, messiness, frustration, excitement, happiness, and love.

Love.  I really had no idea how profound the love of a parent for their child would be...

***

Kiddo, you embody happiness!  (Most of the time.)  Your constant motion is a reminder that life moves quickly and we all need to keep up.  You have a fun personality that draws people in, and you capture them with your toothy smile and fantastic blue eyes.  You are curious with just the right amount of caution to keep Dad and me from worrying about your every move.  You're tough but sometimes a bump still needs a hug and kiss from Momma.  You love to watch and be around other children, which makes me think you'll be a wonderful big brother.  You are flexible and adapt easily to new surroundings, which has made travel a joy and something we plan to continue forever.  You are stubborn, but you come by that honestly.

El, you have made Momma and Dad better people.  We are already so proud of the awesome little dude you are, and we can't wait to see what your future has in store.  We love love love you, Little Man.

***

Elliot's first birthday was a success thanks in large part to his Dad, his Auntie Jill, and his Grandparents, and cousins!  I sprained my foot pretty badly that morning, so I wasn't much help; just hobbled around giving orders.  ;)

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For his first birthday, I made a video for Elliot.  Truth be told, it's really for us, but he may enjoy watching it when he is a bit older.  I worked and worked and worked on it.  Going through thousands of pictures and trying to pick out the best of them is a time-consuming task.  And then there was the music.  But finally, the night before his party, I finished it!  

I wasn't able to show it at the party like I'd wanted because the movie wouldn't upload that morning.  (Of course I waited for the last minute to try do that.)  In tears, and late to the party, I gave up and left to join the festivities.  We were able to show all the grandparents the movie later that night.  I wished I'd captured their reaction at the end, but I didn't think of it in time.

If you have interest and time, here is Elliot's video!  A word of caution, it's long!  Thirty minutes long!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!  :)

Password: Elliot

Elliot's 1st Birthday from Emily Christiansen on Vimeo.

Two Months - 25 January

Two months old - where does the time go?

xoxo

Weekly pictures.

6 January - 12 January

My sleeping baby.  I know I took the picture below to capture his position - Elliot rarely slept like that and I loved it!

First real poop mess = mom fail.  He loved the bath that followed...

My first walk with both Elliot and Yeti on my own!  I was nervous about it, but, because I have the best dog in the world, it was a piece of cake.

Swoon...

Back in November I wrote about five couples (including Devin and me) who were all expecting within a month of each other - here.  One of the couples, Steph and Jarad, had a baby boy a few weeks after Elliot was born.  On January 11th we introduced the boys and walked along a rainy Embarcadero...

Elliot, meet Ben.

Ell and Ben

(This was Ben's first Muni ride!)

A visit to the Ferry Building

Coffee and Plant Cafe

*Elliot and Ben are good buddies - you'll see more of them together when I kick it in gear and get this blog caught up!!

Faux jeans...

We still love you, Rock N Play.

On January 13th Elliot became official.  He can now get a job and pay taxes.  Lucky kid.

My aunt Julie flew across the continent to visit a good friend and to meet Elliot.  (Of note, her son is Elliott, and he is awesome.  I'm happy that my Elliot will have a solid Elliott to look up to.)  Not only was it great to see Julie, but her helping hands were fantastic!  

She even babysat for a few hours so Devin and I could go out for a date!  We walked down the street to Canela and had a wonderful dinner and soaked up each other's company.

 The weeks go by quickly, don't they?

xoxo