One

I still think it's impossible.  They can't already be one.  Impossible.

We had a fun little party at a park right by our house.  The theme was 'sock monkey'.   Our loving families came to celebrate with us.  Grammy, Grampa, Erin, Dan, Abuelo, Abuela, Jenny and Pedro all made the trip to Austin!  Aunt Nancy and Uncle Manuel couldn't make it from Boston - but they were there in spirit!  Several of our friends from Austin also came out to celebrate. 

We played at the park, ate some snacks and delicious cake and opened presents.  It was just about everything you'd expect from a first birthday party  ;)

Here's a little recap of what Ana and Javi are up to at 1 year old:

Javi (aka William)  ;)  *that's for you auntie Erin
- He is a funny funny boy.  He loves to make people laugh - especially Ana. 
- He loves to eat!  People are always impressed by how he puts away his food.  He really prefers things that he can feed to himself now.  He's not so into pureed baby food.  Even when I'm feeding him baby food, he likes to have something on his tray to nibble on between bites.  I could list his favorite foods, but that would probably take a few pages.  He loves cheese, blueberries, bananas, ham, tofu, mac and cheese, peas, avocado, turkey, chicken... the list goes on.
- He's a great walker!  Just this past week he's really gained confidence while walking.  For a few weeks he would take a few steps and sit down.  Now, walking is the perferred form of transportation.

(please excuse the drool... he's working on a few more teeth)

- He is so smart.  He has a shape sorter toy that he loves to play with.  He has actually put some of the shapes in the right spots!  He also knows where the cow, pig and horse belong in the 'Little People' Barn.
- He is big.  He is at the 97th percentile for height and weight (32 inches and over 28 pounds)!
- He is so loving.  He is a great little cuddler.  He gives hugs and kisses to his stuffed animals.  He is so sweet.
- He loves to play with his friends.  When he's in a bad mood, he can always be cheered up by Reid or Sam or Stella.
- He hasn't started saying many words yet, but he does say mama, dada, and gog (dog).  He can also do the sign language signs for dog and milk.  We're going to be starting more sign language videos and classes next week, so hopefully that'll help him.  He is very interested in his hands - he likes to copy people doing hand motions.  For example, at the dr. office last week, he was copying the motions the doctor was making while rubbing hand sanitizer into her hands.  :)  She was really impressed.

Ana:
- She is a crazy fun little girl.  Her personality is so much fun.  She starts bouncing and bopping every time she hears a song.  No exceptions.  We'll be in the grocery store and she'll start dancing to whatever song is playing in the background.  It makes for some pretty interesting looks, but whatever.  She also has a "radio" on one of her fisher price toys (the door).   She hits the radio buttons over and over until her favorite songs come on.
- She is a great walker!  She walks laps around the house.  She really hardly crawls anymore.  She is so light on her feet.  She can stand up mid-room without holding onto anything.

- Her favorite foods are cheese, cheese, and cheese and she'll nibble on whatever else I give her.  She is a great eater and really isn't picky at all.  So far, the only thing she really didn't like is swiss cheese (but she looooooooves every other kind of cheese).   Do you understand her love of cheese?  :)

- She loves to squeal and laugh.  She and Javi just look at eachother and laugh and giggle and tackle eachother.  I love that they love playing with eachother.  I don't know how moms of single babies do it. haha!

- Her hair is getting really long.  Everyone says how jealous they are of her beautiful hair.  It's so long in the front that it's in her eyes if I don't pull it back.  She's starting to pull out hair clips/bows/ponytail holders, but I have to keep trying.  Lately she has gone with a Pebbles style single ponytail on top of her head.  Kinda tacky, mostly just cute.

- She loves Ringo.  She is so sweet with him - hugging on him and petting him.  She also has started throwing her food (mainly just her cheerios) off of her tray in hopes that he'll come and eat them off the floor.  Ringo is usually not allowed in the kitchen during meal time for this reason.

- She is smart!  She understands so much that you tell her.  She also says mama, dada, and knows the signs for dog and milk.  She babbles all the time and I can tell it's not going to be long before she's talking nonstop!

- She has 6 teeth - 4 on the top and two on the bottom.  The four top teeth all came in at once.  Poor baby.

Both Ana and Javi love to read, love to play outside and love eachother.  They give eachother goodnight kisses every night before bed.  It is so much fun to watch them play together.  They're never too far apart. 

The past year went by so fast.  I'm ready for time to slow down a little bit...