My BABY is ONE waaaaaaaaaaaahhhh

On this day last year, Sam was working on making his grand entrance into the world.

TA-DAAAA!!!!

We were living in Virginia, my parents were in town, and we had eaten at the ever-lovely Olive Garden the night before.
This year, we live in Kentucky, my parents won't be in town until this weekend, and we ate at the still-lovely Olive Garden yesterday (total coincidence).

Last year, we had our apartment in Virginia set up a few weeks after we moved in.

This year, we are still scrambling to get our house "finished" so that we can comfortably host company this weekend. I know my parents and in-laws aren't expecting The Ritz here, but it sure would be nice if there were a picture or two hung on the walls and maybe a freshly scrubbed toilet.

But let's hear more about the star of this show: Mr. Sam. (Note: this IS your baby book entry, ok?)

Sam, you love eating your fake Cheerios (a special, gluten-free kind), bananas, grapes, raisins, carrot cereal, pumpkin muffins, YOGURT (which we refer to as "ice cream"- don't know how long we can keep that up), chicken, peas, sweet potatoes, cheese, corn, peaches, and random other fruits. The veggie portion of your diet is somewhat lacking. You have decided that you don't like the texture of "real" veggies. Instead, you much prefer the goop that comes out of a jar. We are currently working on remedying this. I think more teeth might help the situation tremendously. In the meantime though, we are shoveling veggie goop into your maw so you don't end up with a vitamin deficiency (because man cannot live on fake Cheerios alone).

As far as activities go, pulling thin mints and moon pies out of the pantry far outranks playing with any toy in the house.
You also enjoy standing at the front door, staring out, and attempting to climb the stairs (side note: stair-climbing doesn't usually end well for you).
Another favorite pastime of yours is noticing that someone forgot to shut the bathroom door, then crawling at warp speed and touching every square inch of the toilet while I scream and chase after you. You love being chased. If you start heading towards the bathroom and we say that we're coming after you, you giggle so hard while you race in there. It's KIND of funny, but at the same time, extremely gross, especially when you remember that I'm not real up-to-date on cleaning my toilets (see second paragraph above). So.
You love sitting in my lap while I read you stories. Note: This is the ONLY way you will sit in my lap for more than three seconds at a time (unless I'm fully stocked with the fake Cheerios). You're not a real snuggly child, Sam. But that's ok.
You started saying "dadadadadadada" again after a brief period of reverting back to saying absolutely nothing at all except the high-pitched squeals and incessant whining. I told your Daddy the other day that I can't wait until you can talk because then I will at least know what you want or need. But then I realized that you might continue the whining, just with WORDS added in, and now I'm not so sure that we should rush the communicating part of our relationship. You just take your time, ok?

You love playing with your trucks, cars, and plastic train and get especially giddy when Daddy or I make noises to accompany your toys. Also, your Daddy holds quite the conversations with whoever calls you on your plastic cell phone. A very Chatty Cathy, that Daddy of yours.
Odie is your favorite dog, and I may or may not have everything to do with that preference, although I will add that she pays the most attention to you, and you two sit at the back door and stare at each other for unbelievable amounts of time.

You are very well-behaved when we go out on walks and think it is HILARIOUS when one (or both) of the dogs are acting up and I have to get on to them. Other things you find funny: Daddy's dancing (hint: we ALL find this funny), Mama making farm animal sounds (especially the pigs, horses, and cows), yanking soap out from under the sink, Odie scratching her ears, being chased (usually into a bathroom), having Daddy or me blow on your tummy, and the gator chomp.
Of course, we do these things repeatedly because we love nothing more than hearing your squeal-y baby laughs (even though the gator chomp is technically against our college football religion).

Some random things you do: You sometimes wake up at 4am and start chatting with yourself (or the teddy bear) and laughing uncontrollably. (Lucky for me, you usually put yourself back to sleep after you finish discussing whatever is on your mind.)
You chew on the socks that I put on your feet and usually end up taking them off with your teeth.
You wave at really odd times. And not just any wave, the Miss America wave.
If you ever find my nasty pair of black flip flops on the floor, you seem to have one, and only one, option. And that is to stick them directly in your mouth.
You like to have these grunting contests with whoever will grunt back at you. And if you ever appear to be losing the grunting contest, you switch it up immediately to a who-can-squeal-the-loudest-and-highest contest. And you always win.

You are the cutest, sweetest baby boy that I have ever laid eyes on and I'm so ridiculously happy to have you as my son. Daddy and I love you SO MUCH and can't wait to see what being a big one-year-old is like for you.