Happy 1st Birthday Judah Benjamin

One year of life has gone by so incredibly fast. It seems like just a few months ago that we were bringing our sweet baby home. I don't think I have enough time to adequately describe his first year of life. Judah has brought so much excitement and joy into our lives. We had no idea how much God would teach us through this precious babe. This first year has been full of so many challenges. These challenges have brought our family to the feet of Jesus over and over again. I have cried out to my Father in pain and also in joy. I have stayed in a state of desperation for Him. I've needed Him to provide us with strength and guidance for everything from how to deal with reflux to how to parent Judah in the night. God has been faithful to provide for us in every way! I once heard that the best thing you can do as a parent is to stay on your knees. I know this to be true now! True struggle has only occurred when I stopped coming to my Father and decided that I could some how care for Judah on my own. Every other trying time has been filled with a joy that ONLY comes from the Lord. Despite almost 6 months of caring for a sick crying baby, the Lord gave Nathan and I so much peace and joy. Our marriage was not only protected from harm, we can actually remember being able to laugh and enjoy time together even on the roughest of nights. I can also think of so many times during this year that I looked at Judah and my eyes just filled up with tears as I thanked God for such a perfect gift. I say all of this to give testament to the goodness of Our Father. He is a loving and faithful God!

11-12 Months

- He weighs 22lbs and just started wearing some 18 MO clothes.

- He loves to point, especially at lights. He can easily be entertained by taking turns pointing at fans, lights, and lamps. He is now pointing at people, food, and many other objects. He points at an object and then we tell him what it is called.

- He spent a lot of time in the arms of daddy and the rest of the family while mommy recovered from her surgery. Two weeks of not being able to pick him up seemed like a month, but Judah handled the sharp change really well. He seems to enjoy being held by our other family members more now than ever.

- He can walk while holding onto someone's hand, but he doesn't like to go too far. Grandma was the first one to get him to do this.

- On New Year's Eve, he decided it was time to walk using his walker. I almost gave it back to our friends because I didn't think he would ever use it.

- He loves to surprise us! As with the walker, he will not do something for a month and then one day decide that he loves it. He is famous for doing this with food. He will deny a food for weeks and then suddenly gobble it up like it is his favorite dish.

- When he wakes up in the morning, he makes a soft "pa-pa" sound over and over again. It is so cute!

- He loves to talk! He will make every 2 letter sound he knows for several minutes.

- He tries to mimic the sounds we make. I love when he tries to flap his lips like a horse!

- If he gets really upset, he will hold his breath and pass out. NO JOKE! He will start by crying and then begin to hold his breath (not on purpose of course) and sometimes he can't catch his breath which causes him to pass out. I freaked out the first time he did this, but after a talk with our pediatrician, we were confident he had a breath holding spell. Google it- it's a real thing babies do at around Judah's age. Now when Judah starts to get this upset, I hold him and blow in his face to prevent it from happening.

- He likes to people watch. He is so good when I take him to stores because he just stares at all the people.

- He makes this cute gurgling sound when he gets excited.

- He prefers to be in a standing position and walks along walls and furniture to get where he wants to go. He still isn't sure about taking any unsupported steps.

- He still loves being physically close to us and we love to be close to him!