My pants are too long for my legs!

Well Hey Jasper,

You are 13 months old today, WOW! On top of that, over the weekend we celebrated Cinco de Mayo- for lots of people, it’s an excuse to go out to eat nachos and drink margaritas, Coronas, & Dos Equis. But, we celebrate 5/5 as NICU Liberation Day!

May 5th was the day when you said ‘Adios’ to the NICU and went home with us to West Seattle for good. We celebrated the one-year anniversary in British Columbia.

Surprisingly, on the drive up to Canada, you got your first ever passport stamp. Hopefully, many more will come to fill up your passports, now and in the future.

Mama and Papa were both supposed to run the Vancouver [Half] Marathon, but your papa was a Race Day scratch. Mama wasn’t able to train as much as she would have loved, but she ran so fast to get back to her Jaspy. It was her first major race since the Philadelphia Marathon when she ran 26.2 miles with you in her belly!

You had so much fun in Vancouver with Cousin Noel. You enjoyed being pushed around in your BOB and pointing at everything in sight. But, we do think, your most favorite thing was the hotel room. You had so much fun showing off your “backing down” skills by lowering yourself off of the bed, and you spent minutes (trust us, that is a long time nowadays) entertaining yourself in the floor to ceiling curtains or staring outside of the windows.

Now, you’re 13 months old. And, you will be starting school next week! You’re growing into a little boy slowly gaining the courage to take a step by yourself. Your words are beginning to form for ‘kitty’, ‘ball’, ‘book’, ‘bird’, and ‘granny’.

You’re no longer our 1 Year Old; you’re now our One-and-one-twelfth-year-old! We love you so much and enjoy every day watching you grow.

April 8, 2011

Weight: 3lbs, 11.5oz
Length: 16.5 inches

April 8, 2012

Weight: 20lbs, 8oz
Length: 29 inches

527,040 minutes

8,784 hours

366 days

52 weeks

12 months

1 year

Jasper! One year. It’s so hard to believe that a year has gone by since your surprising decision to join the outside world early. Looking back the time has flown by… but at some points it has gone amazingly slow.

We have loved every second of watching you turn into a little boy. The first month in the NICU wasn’t ideal, but being there every day began our relationship as we watched you start to grow. We celebrated every little accomplishment and progress from getting off of the CPAP, to exiting the isolette, to having the NG Tube removed, to counting your growth in decagrams, to getting you home.

From there we enjoyed a fun summer, autumn, and winter enjoying every little accomplishment. Rolling over. Sitting up. Eating solids. Crawling. Pulling yourself up to stand.

We are so proud just watching you grow and exploring the world around you. We can’t imagine a day without you here with us.

We are excited to celebrate your next accomplishment and then each one after that.

Happy 1st Birthday, Jasper.  There aren’t any words to describe how much we love you.

Love, Mama & Papa

PS- Happy Easter

Number 1

]]> http://miketown.com/2012/04/08/uno/feed/ 0 http://miketown.com/2012/02/21/in-case-you-wanted-to-watch-jasper-drink/ http://miketown.com/2012/02/21/in-case-you-wanted-to-watch-jasper-drink/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:38:47 +0000 Mike http://miketown.com/?p=1603 He’s still mastering the straw. Just watch those cheeks…

You’re still enjoying eating and trying news foods. You’re now able to to pick up pieces of food from the tray and put them in your mouth. Granted, a majority of the pieces end up on the floor or on you, but it’s getting better and better as your dexterity improves.

Last weekend we went on our first trip to the Seattle Aquarium with your friends Megan, Bridget, Jon, & Lisa. We got to see the new baby sea otter and you had so much fun being close to the fishes in the tanks.

Alrighty bud, we love you so much and are so amazed that you have been with us for 5/6 of a year. The time has flown by and we have enjoyed watching you grow into your own unique being and person!

Entranced at the Aquarium.

I was able to catch this sweet moment between you & mama.

Mama & Papa are still introducing new foods to you on a somewhat regular basis. So far you’ve had apples, pears, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, zucchini, avocado, oatmeal, carrots, blueberries, bananas, and butternut squash. AND your first tooth popped through on January 1st after what seemed 4 months of teething; plus your next two are close to arriving.

It is so hard to believe that it has only been 9 months since you decided to join us. We love watching you grow into a little boy as we celebrate all of these milestones. We couldn’t imagine how our lives would be without something so small to love so much.

I don't know what this thing on my head is, but I kinda like it.

Wow Jaspy… 2/3 of a year. The time really has flown by; the past month especially. You’ve been eating more and more and solids (we just tried peas for the first time yesterday) and you’re becoming increasingly mobile as each day passes.

With Christmas and The New Year right around the corner, we sat you in front of our beautiful Noble Fir tree for your 8 month picture.

It is so much fun for mama & papa to watch you grow and progress. Every day we are able to notice the smallest advances in your little world; whether it is crawling to mama, pulling yourself up onto papa’s lap, or simply cooing in your crib keeping yourself entertained at 5:23 in the morning waiting for your parents to wake up.

As each day goes by, we love you so much more and we are excited for your first Christmas and January 1st with us as a family.