I am happy to report that we have made it to the year mark and you (and we) are still in one piece. The last six months were very different than the first. Let’s start with some of the firsts you have had over these last six months:

• First crawl
• First (and second) plane ride
• First solid food
• First time in the snow
• First Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas
• And of course, your first birthday

I am sure there are many more that I am forgetting, but needless to say it was an exciting times with a lot of memories.

One of the largest surprises was your sleeping, or lack thereof. You still have yet to sleep through the night, and normally wake up no less than 3 times during the night. You have pretty bad eczema which we believe is causing a lot of your discomfort and inability to sleep well. You are also not a fan of bottles meaning mom is breast feeding you around the clock. I could say you are an easy baby, but that would be a lie.

All that said, you are a happy baby! You smile and laugh, you attempt to talk and you are very active. Your hair is unreal and people constantly comment on your beautiful eyelashes. You are extremely meticulous and we find you many times taking items from one place and placing them neatly in another, only to then return them to their original location.

So let’s talk about some of your experiences. The first big one was your first trip to Chapel Hill, NC to see Uncle Matt graduate from UNC. Accompanied by mom and Mia (I had to travel for work unfortunately) you flew cross country. One thing about you is that you are a calm and, this might be an odd term but I feel is accurate, respectful baby. You were great on the plane, just looking around at people and sleeping.

You also took a trip to Palm Desert to visit Tita for the first time. Again, on the plane you were great. When we landed in Palm Springs we were stopped for about an hour on the tarmac because Air Force One was about to take off with President Obama. You watched as the secret service and the President rode onto the tarmac and he boarded the plane. We spent 4 days in PD, and even had a little early birthday party for you there with Tita, Aunt Kathi, Boppie, Papa, Charlene and mom (I had to leave to go to NYC for work, but I video-conferenced in to see everyone). Oh, and the best part, you had In-n-Out for the first time.

Christmas, you cleaned up. Never seen so many toys for a child (not that I have seen all that many Christmas’ with children). We had it in Sun Valley and got to see Mia, Nonnie, Papa and Uncle Matt. You went sledding and played in the snow.

As far as mom and dad are concerned, everything is moving along. Mom has been really busy with you, and is doing such an incredible job. You require a lot of attention because of your skin and the lack of sleep makes it extremely challenging. She is part of a moms group that does activities every week so you guys are very active. I am mainly working and traveling, but it is paying off. I go visit Google, SMG and other agencies frequently to show off our product. Any time I do have available I spend at home helping out. Our lives are very busy, but it’s fun!

I have included as much as I can recollect, but I am sure I missed plenty. Don’t worry though because every picture taken is being saved. You are a fun, shy, beautiful, skeptical, exploratory and sweet baby and we are lucky every day to have you. Cannot wait for your first steps, which should be coming any day now. I included a bunch of pictures in this post, so enjoy!

Love you more than you will ever know

-Dad