Alex is one!

I can't believe today is Alex's 1st birthday! It seems like especially the past 5 or 6 months have gone really fast. That first little while when they're little babies is so hard and seems to take forever at times but then it starts really speeding up. He's so much fun now, though, and our family would be so different without him.

I just barely switched him last week from his rear-facing carseat to a big kid, forward facing seat and he was so cute how happy he was. He loves being able to look out the window and look over at his sisters and I think he feels so big and cool like them. Usually there are lots of times he screams when I try to put him in the car but now he almost always seems happy and even excited to go somewhere. He looks over at his sisters with big old smiles and kicks his legs excitedly. I think he's still relishing in the fact that he CAN kick his legs and move them freely while he's in the car! I'm actually surprised I held out so long with switching him over. With both the girls it seems like I couldn't handle seeing their scrunched up legs pushing against the backseat of the car at around 10 months--maybe he's shorter than they were. Or maybe I waited because I didn't want to give up being able to sit next to him in the backseat and nurse him while we were driving (I really try to cover up for the sake of passing motorists, I promise!). We just go on so many road trips and stuff and it makes it SO much easier to keep peace in the car when I'm right there to shut him up when I have to and not to stop for feedings all the time. Now we have a whole seat full of kids and I know it's not going to be much longer before we have to give in and trade our sedan for a minivan or something bigger. I'm not looking forward to that. I like how close the kids are in our Taurus plus I love our huge trunk...I'm going to miss that.

This is what my backseat is looking like these days:

Alex fell right to sleep in his new carseat on the first night!