Baby Maverick Turns One

Last week, July 25th, our baby Maverick turned 1 year old.

Birth: 7 lbs 7oz, 19 inches long

1 year later: 20lbs., 29 inches long

He is such a sweet baby and a total joy in our lives. He fits in perfectly with our family and I seriously can't get enough of his cute little face and his funny little personality that is emerging.
He lets his brothers know when he disapproves of something, but also adores all the attention they give him. They all get along so great. I am so thankful for that and love that they all three get to grow up and be close in age to each other. What fun!
Maverick isn't walking yet. He is taking his sweet time. Considering Gunnar was walking at an impressive 9 months and Ryker 10 1/2 months we are enjoying Mav taking his sweet time. He has all the precursors, he just hasn't gotten up the nerve to let go yet!
He waves "bye-bye," claps, says "Mama" and "Dada" and points to the dogs and says "Da." He points at everything. He also gives the sweetest kisses in the world, with the smacking sound and all. He usually will give you one if you ask for a kiss or a smooch. He is also a great eater. I loves just about anything. Which is good because we found out he is anemic and are working on getting him more iron friendly foods!
He was a pretty big mama's boy. But is quickly realizing that mom isn't the only cool one around. When I'm not around he thoroughly enjoys spending time with others and usually never fusses. He is one happy baby.
He decided he disliked his pacifier around 9 months. I started playing a game with him, my mistake, and he just wouldn't keep it in his mouth, so we kicked it to the curb. We would put it in and he would promptly spit it across the room. So we decided it wasn't worth it, he didn't need it, and got rid of it. Awesome! I love not having to do a nightly search for the pacifier before he goes to bed.
I was super slow with getting this kid to sleep in his own bed and self-soothe. I am becoming softer with each child. Gunnar had it rough. I found out when he was 9 months old I was pregnant and he had to grow up, no longer be the baby. Poor kid. Maverick gets to enjoy life as a baby much longer. He is now going to bed on his own and doesn't even cry when I put him down at nap time or bed time. He goes down at 8 and usually only wakes up around 6am, nurses and then goes back to sleep until 8 or 9.
He is slowly being weaned. He usually only nurses, morning, naps, and bedtime now. I am so ready to be done. I don't know how you breastfeeding mamas do this once your kiddos get teeth. Luckily for me my kids don't get teeth early. Maverick got his first right around 11 months and now has his two bottom and two on top. One of the top has just broken through. He is now biting me. Breastfeeding it about to end, promptly!!!
We had a quiet little party at home for the little guy. We celebrated with just our family and we had a great time.
As you will see in the pictures this kid wasted no time. He wanted that cupcake immediately and once he got his hands on it he knew exactly what to do with it. He doesn't mess around!

During the few days prior to Maverick's birthday, one of Kyle's co-workers, our friend Zack came up for a few days. We had fun using some inflatable kayaks to go down Priest River, which was fun, but pretty bony. We also spent time at the lake and went up to Lion Head and the natural rock water slides. We had tons of fun. Never did I imagine that I would let my kids go down the slides, but the water was perfect, everyone went down and had a great time.