Oh Baby! Ezra's Turning One!

Happy August 1st! In honor of Ezra turning one today, I thought I'd do a little throwback post to his first year of life, with pictures and milestones and just about the cutest video you're likely to ever see. Just like with his baby book, he may be the only child I'll have enough time to do this with, but oh well, here goes!

August: 0 months

Ezra was born at 8:25 p.m. on August 1st, weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs. 1 oz. From the day he was born, he was alert and looking into our eyes. I had read in the baby books that newborns wouldn't be able to focus on anything more than a foot or so in front of their face, but I think this little guy had more developed eyeballs or something because he would look straight at us, even from across the room. Even the hospital photographer mentioned how much more alert he was than other babies. From day one, his searching eyes showed us a big part of his personality: curiosity. 

He was also strong; in the hospital he could already hold his head up. Nurses were amazed. His curiosity and his strength (not to mention his natural intelligence, of course :) ) made him an early roller-overer, crawler, and walker.

Big Events: being born!, coming home, meeting so many new family members, staying at Grandma Harlan's house for two weeks, moving across country and being so good on his first plane rides

Milestones: smiling

In the hospital--less than 24 hours old.

In front of his first home.

September: 1 month old

In September we found out just how talkative our little one was! From morning to night (and sometimes even in between), he seemed to coo and babble about all the things that were important to him. I think he liked connecting with us, cooing while we smiled and talked back and looked into his eyes.

Big Events: Grandma Harlan coming to visit!

Milestones: laughing

Playing with Daddy 

He looks so little to me now!

October: 2 months old

Big Events: Halloween! Ezra dressed up like a pirate.

Milestones: reaching for toys

November: 3 months old

One thing we soon realized about Ezra was how determined he is. If he wanted to do something, like roll over, he would not stop trying until he did it. Then he would do it over and over and over again. His determination helped him figure out how to roll over, army crawl, crawl, stand up, and walk early!

Big Events: Nana and Grandpa Smith coming to visit, visiting Nana and Papa Wilson in Deland

Milestones: grabbing toys, rolling over (both ways!), turning in circles on the ground

December: 4 months old

December was a big month for little Ezra. We as a family went on our first vacation since he was born! We visited Tanner's parents in Texas, where they met him for the first time. Ezra also met all his older cousins and some uncles and aunts. He was such a sport for every outing and every day. Flexibility is just one more thing we love about this baby!

Big Events: visiting the Colemans in Texas

Milestones: army crawling

January: 5 months old

Big Events: first fireworks show (He loved it!)

Milestones: faster army crawling, first solid foods

February: 6 months old

Big Events: Grandma Harlan coming to visit!

Milestones: crawling, using the couch to stand up and walk around it

Classic Ezra smile. My favorite.

Muah.

March: 7 months old

Big Events: first grocery cart ride

Milestones: saying "Mama" and "Dada"

April: 8 months old

Big Events: Visiting every member of both Mom and Dad's extended families except for Uncle Robert (including Uncle Banks, Aunt Nan, and Max, who all live in Thailand).

Milestones: first steps

May: 9 months old

Big Events: first time at Disneyland

Milestones: walking back and forth between Mom and Dad, clapping, high fives

June: 10 months old

Big Events: Grandma Harlan coming to visit again, first time holding a baby alligator, waving "bye-bye"

Milestones: walking, blowing kisses, and even whistling (kinda)!

July: 11 months old

Big Events: first Fourth of July

Milestones: hair!, running (kinda)

 

August 1: 12 Months Old

Big Events: first birthday party, first cake, first time opening presents

I could probably say a lot more in each section about his little personality, but the truth is, it hasn't changed very much since he was born. It has only increased in intensity. From the moment he was born, he has been very curious, always looking at everything and exploring it as soon as he determinedly figured out how to explore it, he has been sweet, happy, easy-going, strong, and overall, just a bundle of fun who blesses our lives like nothing else could. We love him so much and couldn't imagine loving him more.

This movie sums it all up: his whole little life in just 4 minutes. Watch it! I promise you'll be glad you did.

Gramma's Visit and More!

Two weeks ago, my mom came to visit!  I love my mom so much. She is just the best ever, and when she comes on vacation here to visit us and Ezra it is like a vacation to me because she is so helpful.

She got in late on Saturday night, so we went to Johnny Rockets, a huge treat for us because we almost never eat out, then came home and went to bed early. (My mom was really tired since she flies standby and didn’t make her flight on Friday night so she ended up staying the night in the airport and flying out Saturday.)

Church was wonderful the next day, especially in Young Women’s, my favorite part of each Sunday. And on Monday, I took my mom to the Fruit and Spice Park. It is so fun having her come out so often, because little by little, I feel like she is experiencing so much of Miami. We had a great time there, but we left early because it started downpouring. Since we were in the agricultural part of Miami, we stopped at a couple fruitstands on our way home and bought some big, beautiful, Florida avocados, pink guava, white guava, and passionfruit.

Our tourguide told us that if we put our ears up against the tree, we could hear the water inside it! I could actually hear it! It was really cool.

All the mango trees down in Homestead looked just like this. Full of ripe, heavy fruit.

My mom made us a Thai dinner that night, which of course was absolutely. The next morning, she and I took a walk on the beach, stopped at Target because she wanted to buy Ezra some cute new clothes, and were off to the airport. I was so glad she could come. We had such a good time and it was hard for me to let her go!

We loved that Tanner didn't have to go to school on the Fourth. We went swimming, went to the bishop's house again for the next Brazil game, and watched fireworks on the bridge over the Intercoastal. At the bishop's house, Ezra made another Brazilian friend--Tatiana Alder. She used to be in our ward but is now in the branch since the ward split. She is a lot of fun and it was good to see her. She loves babies, and Ezra loved her.

One fun thing we did last Saturday was chaperone the youth at the temple for baptisms. I've been a Young Women's leader forever, but it was my first time doing it. Can I just say one time more how much I love my Young Women? They are all so sweet and so good and my life couldn't be more enriched or more blessed in any other calling than it is by working with them.

The next day, Ezra looked really charming in his Sunday clothes, especially in his sweet bowtie that my friend Kendra made. I couldn't help but take a bunch of pictures.

This week was Ezra's good friend Naz's last week at church before he moves back to New Jersey to be with his mom.

Church is very exhausting for some of us.

 This week has been so much fun. I haven't taken many pictures, but on Monday, my friend Donna, her neice, Ezra, and I went to the beach and then pool with some of our friends. Ezra ingested about half a cup of sand. We all had a great time. On Tuesday, we went to a birthday pool party, and yesterday, we went to the splashpad with Star and Brock, but as soon as we got there, they kicked everyone out because the weather started looking stormy. It was literally as soon as we all sat down and got wet. Ezra did like his 15 seconds at the splashpad much better this time though so things are looking up. Because we got kicked out, we headed back to Star's apartment and planned the boys' double birthday party (coming up in two weeks--can you believe it? Neither could we!) We've decided to have it at this big sprawling park called Greynold's that I pretty much love. Anyways, while we were planning, the boys played. Ezra loved Brock's blocks and became an expert little tower builder.

Well, it’s official: I’m finally caught up! And I’ve made a goal to do a bi-monthly blog. Once a week is just too much for me. It’s just too hard to keep up, and let’s face it—sometimes a week will go by without being all that entertaining. But once a month seems like too little. My whole purpose in keeping this blog is to keep family up-to-date on their little grandson/great-grandson/nephew/etc., and twelve posts a year is just not enough for that. I know for a fact that certain grandparents have a built-in need to see that charming little face much more often than once a month. So I think that meeting in the middle and posting every two weeks should be just about right.

My next goal is to post around the 15^th and 30^th of every month. I was talking to my very good friend Sheri today, and she told me how much having a set date to post has helped her keep up. It’s worked for Jocelyn as well, so I have high hopes that marking a date will keep me on track. It will ensure that the timing of my posts is predictable, that the content of each post is about the same length, and most importantly, that I don’t feel like such a spaz each time I post. Let’s just say I like organization.

See you at the end of the month!