One

1, such a little number, but here, filled with so much.
Today, Luc is 1 year old. One year!
It's the beginning of a long life. As the years pass, One will seem insignificant. It'll seem like forever ago. It'll seem not as important as 13, 18, 21, 25, 30, etc. But right now, 1 is a big deal! It's the biggest milestone so far.

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One year ago, we celebrated Thanksgiving on November 24th, like all the other years. We sat around Aunt Alice and Uncle Bill's dining table. We joked about nonsense. We ate a lot of turkey. We covered our pumpkin pie with Cool Whip. We also took bets on when Luc would decide to arrive.
Luc was due on November 29th. My dad predicted Luc would be born Saturday, the 26th. Uncle Bill swore it would be Sunday, the 27th. I thought it wouldn't be until December 6th. We all hoped it wasn't going to be in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner.
Black Friday, Frederic and I started our morning as usual. I had my bout of morning sickness. We decided to go to a few stores later on in the day to see if there were any good deals around. I wanted to start decorating for Christmas that day because I didn't want Luc to be born and not have anything decorated. This was the first time since we got married that Frederic and I were in our own place for Christmas. The house must be decorated from bottom to top floor. The tree must be up and twinkling. The stockings must be hung.
Friday evening, Frederic and I finished decorating and putting the last ornament on the tree. We invited my brother over for dinner and to hang out and watch Elf on DVD. We then decided to invite my parents over to watch the movie as well. Everyone went home around 11pm, and we went to bed.
Around 2:40am, I got up to go to the bathroom (my usual routine). I got back into bed and barely fell asleep when I felt my water broke. I rushed to the bathroom while yelling for Frederic to wake up. It took a few yells before Frederic woke from his slumber.
The doctor on call told us to come in right away. By 3:30am we were walking into the hospital ER. My contractions started around 4am, as we walked the halls in the labor and delivery area. I wanted to try to do a natural birth, but by 5 centimeters I was asking for some medicine. With each contraction, the only word going through my mind as I clenched my jaw was a very bad curse word.
The nurse informed me I was too far along and all I could get now was an epidural, which I really did not want. She told me to think about it and page her when I had decided what to do. By the time I made up my mind and the anesthesiologist got to my room, I was already 8 centimeters.
At 10 centimeters, the strength of the epidural had to be lowered so I could feel where and how to push. I don't recall pushing for very long, and Luc was born at 2:34pm.
When you're in labor, every moment is concentrated on the pain, discomfort, and people pissing you off. When you look back on how many hours you were in labor (for me it wasn't even 12 hours), I can't recall where every minute went. I can only remember little moments, and mostly the pushing.
Luc came out crying and was placed immediately on my chest. We teared up as we counted his fingers and toes, and noticed how long his finger nails were!
Life has never been the same since.

Luc's first picture

Luc's Stats at 1 Year

Weight: 17 lbs 13 oz
Height: 29 inches
Teeth: 4 on top, 2 on bottom (3rd bottom one coming in soon)

New Vocabulary:

*Uggie = hug
*baww = ball (or almost anything else nowadays)
*UH... ... ... oh = Uh oh (sometimes without the 'oh')
Luc stopped trying to say "up" to be picked up and now just smacks his lips together like he's saying up because it made me laugh. Now that's what he does.

Mange Mange

Favorite foods: Cheerios, chicken nuggets, cheese, yogurt, peas & carrots, anything orange, bananas, pears, yogurt drops, crackers/bread

Least Favorite foods: steak, broccoli, milk

Action!

*Luc can pull shirts off over his head (once his arms are out)
*starting to run
*holds his own bottle when you feed him and even walks around the room while drinking his milk
*put things back into the 'box' they came out of
*can put together, and take apart, Fisher Price building blocks, stackable cups
*stacks rings, in order, on the Fisher Price Rock-a-Stack
*likes to pull and drag toys along
*opens and closes cabinets and doors
*claps his hands when he hears the "Happy and You Know It" song
*dances by lifting one foot up at a time and rocking back and forth
*loves to play Peek-a-Boo, hiding himself or a toy
*just laughs when you try to play Pat-a-Cake
*takes one cracker out of the box by himself instead of being handed his snack
*smells his feet/socks when he's told his/someone's feet/socks are "Peww, stinky!"
*tries to put his sock or shoe back on his foot when we take it off
*enjoys scribbling on paper with crayons
*starting to give hugs and kisses when asked
*loves to walk on the trails outside rather then spend the whole time in the stroller
*favorite game is chasing him or being chased around the kitchen table

Run free, Luc!

Time Change

Day Light Savings in November sure did make mornings worse at the Hairson house. Luc would wake up at 4:30am, thinking it was 5:30. It was a struggle to ever get him to lay back down and fall asleep. He was up a few minutes later crying to be picked up. For awhile, we couldn't figure out why he waking up so early and what he wanted. We changed his clothes, thinking he was too cold at night. That helped a little, for a little while. But he was getting up super early still. I decided I was going to try to teach Luc some sign language. I wanted him to communicate if he was thirty, hungry, wanted milk, and wanted more food. He wasn't really catching on quickly. He understands words we say, like milk and snack. But when he's tired, he doesn't react to them to let us know that's what he wants. Luc found his own way. I learned one 4:30am morning, that when Luc wanted to be picked up, it wasn't just to be held and come into bed with me. Once he was in my arms, he extended out his arm and started pointing. Following his little index finger, out of his room, down the stairs, into the kitchen, and to the side of the counter where I keep all of his snacks, I realized he was hungry, and he let me know what snack he preferred at the moment. Now that we can communicate when he's hungry (as long as we're home), it makes me feel a little less helpless.

Toddlerhood

It seems all at once Luc turned into a "toddler". He will now shake his head No, when he does not want what you're offering him. If he really does not want it, he'll actually push it away while shaking his head No. He's gradually not wanting to lay down and drink milk out of the bottle, or any milk at all for that matter. He'd much rather hold the bottle himself and walk around the house while trying to drink at the same time. Burning calories while eating kind of defeats the purpose, but he wants to do more and more on his own.
He's also started to dip his spoon into bowls of food and lick the spoon clean instead of us feeding him spoonfuls of it. He did a pretty good job on his first attempt. I did a pretty good job not fussing about the mess he was making. It was worth it to see him so proud that he could feed himself like a big boy. He's even trying to use a fork, but we have to stab the food on their for him. He also recently decided he wants to dip his cookie into his pureed fruit for his snack one evening. I have to keep myself calm about the mess he ends up making and tell myself everything will wash off in the washer or in a good bath.

yes, he is turning into a Lefty

Luc is definitely leaning toward being left-handed. He'll eat with his left hand, take something with either, but always switch it to the left hand to use it (spoon, fork, crayon, block to stack on second block, etc). I'm excited for him to be a typical creative lefty and spend hours drawing with him at the kitchen table like I did when I was a kid (even though I'm a Righty). Frederic and I aren't too surprised he's turning into a lefty though. Bon Papa is naturally a lefty, though he was forced to become a righty at school. Grandma and Uncle Dave are left-handed, as well as some others on Grandma's side of the family.
 
Instead of being content in your arms, Luc will now dive out of our arms to be put down so he can run off and do whatever it is he wants. He in no way likes to hold anyone's hand when he's walking. He might see it as us helping him walk, but we're more concerned about his safety and him running off.

Comic Relief

Luc is more and more becoming a little clown. He's going to be that kid in the class that tries to make everyone laugh. And I know that'll get him in trouble with his teachers. But I love that about him. And that's definitely something we need in our family. Frederic and I can easily get stressed out, and it's nice to have Luc always trying to put a smile on our face or to make us, and him, laugh. A lot of times, to also get attention, Luc will make funny faces and sounds. He'll also grab something he's not supposed to have or just give us a little look so that we'll go chasing after him. Being the clown might get him in trouble sometimes, but I never want that to change in him. We just have to teach him the appropriate time and place for it. I don't know how we got so lucky having such a happy, fun kid.



It's fun to see Luc more and more independent, and I know parenting will get a tad easier when he can better communicate to us what he wants and needs. The first year of life includes the most drastic changes at the fastest rate. A year ago we had a baby in our arms, now we have a little kid we're running after. We miss our tiny, curled-up baby sleeping on our chest, but so excited to see him continue to grow and learn. We can't wait to see what Luc will do next!