Evan had a great first birthday! We started the day with a fancy photo shoot (see below) and ended the day with a tiny little chocolate cake for Evan. So adorable! Seems like he's grown leaps and bounds since he turned 1 year old. He seems bigger, funnier, and more aware.

At Evan's 1- year doctor's appointment, he only weighs 18 lbs and is in the 1% of the weight class! I had no idea just how tiny he is! He is also in the 60th percentile for his height -- so, he's tall and very, very, very lean. The doctor is mildly concerned -- nothing too bad. But, she does want him to gain more weight. I tried to tell her that Evan eats more than most of the adults in the house. He certainly eats more than his cousin, and he doesn't gain weight. When talking to Mari, I found out that Evan and Norhanna weigh the same! Egads! The doctor suggested we give him whole milk (which we already do), yogurt (yup, we do that), butter with toast (uh-huh.. we do that, too) and offer him food regularly (yeah, that's a no brainer). If he doesn't gain considerable weight in the next few months, then we might do some tests to make sure he is processing his food well.

Check out these great photos from his birthday! :)

Evan eating his first piece of chocolate cake!

Birthday photo with Daddy
Birthday photo with Mama


Happy Birthday dance with the girls!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EVAN!

Today is Evan boy's first birthday! What a joy he has been this past year. When he was so little, we called him 'Happy Boy' (and Lolo Emil still calls him "Happy Boy"). Evie-cakes, cakie-boy, cake-man ... it's all because he's so sweet. Though Aunt Jenny complains that Evie gives her sloppy wet kisses, it's all because of love :)


We'll have more photos later, but we wanted to at least get a few up now. Happy Birthday, Little guy!

The eve of Evan's birthday!

The next morning - an early (very early) morning birthday picture!

Its hard to believe that Evan will be ONE YEAR OLD less than a week from now. He's now walking completely on his own - no more crawling for this little guy! Jorge calls him the "Little Monkey" because he can eat an entire banana in the morning, and he often wants just a banana for dinner. Evan now has such a big personality. He laughs so loud and even tries to make other people laugh by playing "ah-boo!"

I've really enjoyed this year with Evan, though I feel like it flew by much too quickly.

Jada just proved to me that she can read. She had a homework assignment (of which she gets quite a bit of homework!) and one of it was reading and spelling. "No way," I thought. There is no way Jada is reading at age 3. But, sure enough, when I pointed to the words, she told me exactly what they were (there were more than 20 words on the sheet) and she could spell them back to me. So, they weren't just sight words. She often does read something, and I find myself in disbelief that she is, in fact, reading. She also does most of the writing herself. She'll ask me, 'How do you spell ____?" and I'll tell her thinking she's just scribbling. But, again, sure enough, on her paper are the legible words. Amazing!

Joli is a reading fanatic. She loves to read. At age 6, Joli has read so many advanced chapter books, and she has taken a liking to reading to the family aloud. Again, I'm simply amazed by the amount of growth and maturity she shows.

The girls have been rehearsing for the Camp Sunshine talent show - yes, I know it's months away! Jada's favorite song is the "We are the World" song and Joli's is an Alicia Key's song "Broken Heart." I love listening to them sing; those kids have some talent!

We're getting ready for Evan's birthday, and I know this year we have been Blessed with such great love and joy in our family. We've had some tough times, too, and Evan's presence -- knowing that he's our last biological baby -- makes me thankful each day for my family.

Enjoy these photos! These are from my "52 Weeks" series, of which I only did about 1/2 of them. But, it is nice to see the changes in the kids!







"A Year in the Life of Evan"
What's happened this year? (not necessarily in order)
Everyone turned a year older, Evan was joined shortly by Kainoa, Uncle Pedro graduated from college, the girls went to summer camp, Jada started pre-school and Joli started 1st grade, Joli and I found out we were VHL positive, Norhanna was born, I decided to get my mastectomy, Jorge began the process of switching jobs, Jada went on her first airplane ride and vacation without parents, we got a new doggie, I decided to run a 1/2 marathon, the Flood of 2010 which made us re-think our basement .. and so much more!

Evan is almost ONE!
I know, I've said it before - I'll say it again: Where is the time going?? I can't believe our little baby boy is going to be ONE YEAR OLD! He's now saying "thank you", "apple" and "Mia" in addition to all the other words he has down!

Evan is also walking! Yes, folks, walking. He chooses to crawl (or to just sit and scream until someone picks him up!), but when he wants to get somewhere, he stands up and walks. Go, Evan! Kainoa, though, is running, so we think it's payback time for all the months that Evan would hit Kai and then speed away! Watch out, Evan! :)

Evan has been sick for the past few days, and he's been snuggling and clinging on to us. He even fell asleep on Joli the other day. But, with the nice weather, Evan is feeling a little bit better. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to come with us on the 5K that I ran on Sunday. Thankfully, the girls were there, and they thought it was fun seeing Mama RUN!

Today, Evan is spending a day with Teetah. Here is a picture she sent me of "Evan's First Painting."



This past Sunday was my first 5K on the route to my 1/2 Marathon and mastectomy.


Looking forward to Evan's first birthday soon!