One year old

It happened. You turned ONE YEAR OLD! I don't know where this year has gone! I want to confess something. When I put you to bed, I spend the next hour or so looking at old pictures and videos of you. I just can't get enough. My new favorite thing to do now that you've turned one is to look at pictures of you exactly a year ago to the day to see the difference. It's amazing. When I look at you, I think "I'll never forget how you look right now at this moment". But then you keep getting older and you change so quickly. I just love being your mama. Part of me is sad that this baby year is over, but you keep getting more and more fun so I have so much to look forward too. You say "Ruby (Ooey or Re-you is what it turns out to be), Light, Hot, Hello, Hi, Oh, Ooh, Wow, Woah, Dada". You clap your hands, do happy head, point. You took 2 steps, but seem to prefer crawling because you are faster at crawling. You put a cup up to your face and take a sip. I'm working on teaching you how to blow a kiss. You are just my little buddy and I can't seem to remember life without you. It feels like you've always been with us! Happy First Birthday dear Alistair Charles Woodbury. Thank you for blessing our lives.

Almost one year old!

Every day I think "I need to write down the new thing you are doing each day" because every day you are doing something different. You hold objects up to your ear and say "hello". You wave and say "Hi". I pointed to the light and said "light" and you said "light". We were calling Ruby and you said "Uby". You clap your hands. You do "happy head". You hop on Moki's back when he's sleeping and pretend to ride him like a pony. You have the best laugh in the world. You have a very loud dramatic cry. You are a great adventurer and traveler. You love to climb up and down stairs. You love being held and are a cuddle bug.

10 months old

Little monkey, you are now 10 months old. You are just so delightful and so funny. You love to have a good time and you love to laugh. You have the opposite of "stranger danger" fear. You actually reach out to be held by strangers I'm talking too. You love anything new and love meeting new people. You are the fastest crawler in the world. I had to re baby proof the house now that you can climb stairs within seconds. You learned how to put your toy ball in a hole this week. Yesterday Jan 29, you slept 6pm-6am; took a 2 hour nap in the morning, and an hour nap in the afternoon! That was the best day of sleep ever for you! You like getting into mischief. You can find all the naughty off limit dangerous things in the house, even though the house is filled with toys. You are all about eating people food now. Today you wolfed down smoked salmon pesto pasta. You don't do your ooohs as much which I really miss. You have an incredible attention span and will sit and focus on something for 30 minutes or more. You know the color blue and can pick out your animals when I ask "Which one is the lion? Which one is the monkey?" You LOVE to swim and are euphoric in the ocean and pool. You are used to being adored and carried by little girls in the neighborhood. We have weekly play dates with our English friend Elaine and her 3 year old Isabella whom you love. The neighbor girls have an "Alistair timer" so that each girl has an equal amount of time holding you. You are so loved. You are enjoying books more (you used to just want to eat them). You keep us happy and busy. I finally put together your scrap book today with your hospital bracelets, your newborn hospital hat, your dr appointment notes, your bellybutton! Yes I save everything!! I can't believe one year is right around the corner. I wish I could go back and relive every single day once again, but I also can't wait to see the little boy you will grow up to be.

I love you I love you I love you

Oh little Monkey, you are seriously the cutest little guy in the world. Everyone says you are the CUTEST baby they have ever seen. I thought it was just me, since I'm your mama and pretty biased in thinking my baby is the cutest baby in the world!
You are crawling ninja fast. I can't take my eyes off you for a second. You love finding all the danger in the room, chords, electrical outlets, rocking chairs and swings (unstable objects). You are still doing your adorable oohs and o's noises. We have all heard you "humming" a song. I think you will be musical! You understand me when I say "turn around and scoot off" the couch or bed and you smile really big when you do it because you are following a command all by yourself. You are super attached to me right now. Even if you are having a fun time with the babysitters, the moment you see me, you cry and want to be with me. You have long moments of independent play, and many moments when you just want to be held. Which is totally fine. I could hold you my entire life and I hope you always cling on to mommy. You sleep better alone in your own crib (vs co sleeping with us). Every night I sit right by your crib with my hands holding yours letting you know I am always there. The first night was hard, but tonight you only fussed for 30 seconds, then calmed down, and quietly put yourself to sleep (you popped your head up once to check if I was still here, but once you saw me, you laid your head back down and passed out to sleep!) You now sleep from 6:30pm-5am and then nurse and sleep until 6:30 or 7am!

First Christmas and 9 months old!

You are such an active little baby boy I hardly have time to sit down and write on your blog! This week you started mimicking me when I click my tongue. You think it's so funny to copy me! You have been making the cutest "oooh!'s when things excite you. We had to spend 10 days on Oahu for your operation and you did such a good job. You were our little gypsy baby traveling from hotel to hotel, staying in different places, and handling it like a champ. You loved the sights and sounds of the "city" and it was a great distraction while you were recovering. You are now 100% healed and perfect.
We went down to Kona and had dinner with Tutu, Pappy, and Great Grandma Ruth for X-mas. Today your Seattle Grandparents get into town and they are soooo excited to see you. You aren't sleeping very well lately, I'm not sure what's going on. You love playing with toys and are crawling all around. You are the light of our lives and you are just surrounded by so much love little Alistair!

8 months old

I can't believe at this same time last year, you were the size of a sweet potato and this year, you are an 8 month old big boy! You are amazing. You've discovered covering and uncovering things with a blanket, pinching your fingers to pick things up, you laugh in sheer delight when you throw a toy on the ground and watch someone pick it up, you love to knock over tower blocks that I build you, and you are getting more interested in eating food. You are going through some emotional developments and for the first time ever you cry when a stranger picks you up. You've had some new nannys come into your life this week too, so it was a hard week for you. When I come out of my music room to get water and you see me, you cry for me (you didn't used to do this). All the books say "Enjoy this now, because never in your baby's life will you appear this perfect again!" You are my little koala bear baby and you are happiest clinging to your mama. You play with your toys by yourself for 30-45 minutes at a time. You continue to love the outdoors. You climb and crawl and stand up all the time. I bet you are weeks away from taking your first steps. You used to sleep 6pm-4:30am, but lately you have been waking up several times screaming out for me and I usually take you into my bed and nurse you and we sleep together till 6:30am. All the books say not to do this, but I know it's what you want and need right now. And you are only this tiny once. So why not rock you to sleep?

First Halloween!

It's your first Halloween! You dressed up as a monkey. Luckily it was cool enough that evening to get you dressed up and take you for a walk around the block. You are such an early to bed guy we didn't do anything wild and crazy this year. Nor did we see any kids trick or treating! They all go to a different subdivision to maximize candy per house. You are probably weeks away from walking. You love to climb, crawl, and push boxes around the floor. Your favorite toys seem to be everyday household objects like a water bottle, spatula, or tupperware. You are obsessed with strings and cords, so I made you a toy of ribbons that you love. You still aren't a fan of eating foods and make very funny faces when I try to feed you, but I'll keep trying. They say at this point it's more about the experience than nutrition. You discovered strumming your lips with your finger while you talk and you make funny noises. You say blah blah blah and dadada. You were in your johnny jump up and I said "Jump!" and you started jumping. You still love being outside and going for walks. You are more into moving around than being confined to the jumperoo, swing, or play pen. You love climbing around in your crib.