‘Tis true – as of May 21, 2010 our baby boy, whom most of you have not even met, is already a big one-year-old. Well, I use the term “big” loosely. He went for his one-year check-up and measured slightly below average, but still healthy, on all accounts. He’s such a sweet thing. He loves to smile, wave, clap, crawl, and he has recently been pulling himself up to standing. I’m so proud of him for all that he has been through and is still a smiling, happy baby.
List of really cool things Mark has done within his first year:
* Become a citizen of two countries
* Lived in the mountains of Peru
* Traveled to the coast and the jungle
* Traveled by plane multiple times
* Traveled by bus (8-hour rides) multiple times
* Rode in a moto-taxi
* Moved twice (technically 3 times if you count once within one city)
* Seen Colca Canyon (the deepest Canyon in the world) twice
* Been to the zoo
* Visited remote Quechua villages
* Been in very stinky open-air markets with freshly butchered meat
* Found out that he will soon be a big brother
He has not, however, become used to riding in a car seat (although he has done it a few times), although we travel by car almost daily here. He has never been to the US. His babyhood is definitely very different from most – but this only serves to make him unique, and we love him so much!
It certainly felt different for us having had two large birthday parties for Rachel’s first birthday, and then having a small cake and singing with just the four of us for Mark’s first birthday. It almost felt like we were slighting him. We were just as excited and celebrated with as much zeal – it was just with about 50 less people (total – keep in mind Rachel had a party with her friends, and then one with her family – she was spoiled). We missed having more people around to help celebrate our boy’s first birthday.
So to top off this post, I am attaching photos from our fiesta with the four of us. If you’re lucky, soon I’ll be able to post a link to the video in which we all sing him “Happy Birthday” in 3 languages (and an additional fun family verse).
Rachel was thrilled to celebrate Mark's birthday
Mark liked the icing, but not the cake
Our big one-year-old!!
