Wallace is ONE!

It's unbelievable, I know. But our last baby is one and I'm not sure where the year has gone.



Ten points if you can spot the missing month in the above picture---might have had to duplicate one of the months because I totally flaked on getting a quilt shot. And yet, I'm too obsessed with the monthly comparison collage to let it go!

But please, look at this comparison of one month versus twelve months! Those legs though.


Waller McBaller is walking all around the house now, up stairs like a boss and can dance like nothing I've seen before. We say he took his first steps at 10 months, started walking at 11 months, and now at a year he's nearly jogging;)



He's JUST starting to get the hang of drinking water from a cup. He prefers an old school water bottle and nothing fancy, and is really only digging water and not milk yet. He still nurses twice per day and would probably do that for comfort many, many more times a day if we had time/I let him just stay attached to me. Feeling a little sentimental about my baby turning one, and the realization that he will probably be done nursing soon. Or maybe not, but it's definitely a different ballgame nursing this big guy compared to baby Wallace from a year ago. I'm so thankful he's a great nurser, what a way to go out! <3



Solid food is going well, but he still loves purees a lot. Maybe because he isn't drinking a ton of fluid, so he likes the watery baby food? He will also put DOWN the processed carbs and also ice cream. Fourth babies get sugar before their first birthdays, okay?





He's talking and babbling a lot more now, too. He can legit say 'dada' and looks right at Nate when he says it. He says 'shhhhh' and goes to grab his shoes and tries to put them on his feet. He tries to say 'Tru' and goes to look for Truman, but that word and also 'Cece' sounds a lot alike. Mostly he loves to sing to himself, saying 'ba ba ba ba ba' or 'oooooooo'. He can also wave 'bye bye' and says 'ba' when he does. He can shake his head 'no' when we tell him not to do something, and it's stinking cute to see his serious face when he shakes his head no.



I love that Wallace can understand some of what we are saying now. He's really such a delight and incredibly chill. I cannot stress this enough, and many people comment that wow, he's really laid back! I guess he HAS to be, as a fourth baby, but he's mostly down to hang with the big kids and loves him some mommy snuggles. There are times he only wants me, and only wants me to HOLD him. But he will also waddle over to Tony or Lois or Nate and lean into their legs like, 'Pick me up, fools!'





Sleep? Meh. He IS sleeping through the night most of the time, so that's something. But many mornings he wakes at 5-5:30am for the day. Better than starting the day at 4:30am, and better than 2 wake ups at night but still. Mama's tired. But I think that's just life now, right? I don't mind the 5 o'clock hour too much because I'll just get up and run after I feed him, if Nate can entertain Wallace for a bit before N goes to work. Naps are rarely over an hour, but we still do two naps around 9 or 10, and again around 1 or 2. I don't know, maybe he's ready for one nap but this seems SUPER early to me. Bedtime is around 7:30pm. He cries before every nap time and bedtime and sometimes even when we walk into his nursery. The kid just doesn't want to miss out on anything, I think!





Wallace is so very loved by all of his siblings. I love watching all of their relationships grow, but Truman and Wallace might have the most special bond of all. But then again, Cecelia carries Wallace around like her (big) baby doll, and Porter is so very patient with Wallace when he just destroys Porter's trains. I think we are all slightly infatuated with this baby boy and I don't see that changing anytime soon.





Teeth! Wallace got his two front teeth this month, and one other top tooth is right there. That brings the grand total to four;) Way behind the curve of his siblings with his chompers, but his mobility blows them out of the water. Because it's totally a competition, I know.



He had his one year appointment today, complete with three shots and one finger poke (no lead, which makes me feel relieved after the lead paint removal process outside). He is 21 lbs 9 oz, which is 54%, and 30.5" which is 74%. He has consistently been on these growth curves for some time now, my sweet average, tall-ish guy.



We had a huge BBQ joint birthday party for Wallace and Porter last weekend, with close to 50 people here to celebrate. I knew Ace would put a smash cake down like a boss, and he didn't disappoint.







We are gearing up for a BIG Oregon family vacation, which will be Wallace's second time on a plane. I feel like the difference between one year and 9 months is a big one, so these flights might be a little more brutal. But we can't wait to meet our first nephew and our kids' first cousin!

It's been quite the year for mister Wallace, and for the rest of us? It's been the fastest year of my life. It's making my head spin to think about our baby being a year old, but that whole thing about long days and short years? I understand it more and more as our kids age. We officially have an 8, 6, 4, and 1 year old. Amazing.