"Lai"

Max's birthday came and went, and it's weird to think that Max really isn't a baby anymore. Everyday he looks and acts more and more like a little boy than a little baby. The last 12 months went by so fast! Max seemed to have a pretty good birthday. We felt sad for the little guy though as he had this horrible cough all day that he couldn't stop until he coughed so hard he would throw up. He threw up three times on his birthday. To make things worse for him, Shayla took him to the doctor for his 1 year check-up on Friday, and they gave him four shots! The rest of the day he was so sad and would start to cry any time we moved him.

On Saturday he seemed to be feeling a lot better so we decided to go to Zion National Park.


We had a great time there. We had a picnic on the big lawn in front of the Zion Lodge. Max had fun running around and was so proud when he found....


A stick!

After our picnic we went on a short hike to the Emerald Pools.


Max loved watching the small waterfalls coming down the cliff and splashing on the rocks below. He didn't like stopping, however. If we stopped to look at something or to enjoy the beautiful view, he would get a little fussy and let us know we needed to keep moving!

At the end of our hike we let Max play in the river. Even though the water was quite cold, Max loved getting his feet wet!


In other, more exciting news, Max has officially said his first word! Now, I know what you are all thinking... "I bet his first word is Dad, because he loves his dad so much!" Well, That's pretty close, but not quite. So now you're thinking, "If it's not dad, it's got to be mom, because he loves his mom a lot too!" Again, close, but not quite. Nope, Max's first word is....


...wait for it...


....here it comes....


....just one more line to scroll past until you get to it....


...."Light"!

That's right. Max's first word is light, because he loves light most of all! Here's a short video of the astounding new word. You have to listen close, because he doesn't add the "t" on the end of this word, so it sounds more like, "Lai".

We realized this was his first word, because he has always liked looking at lights in a room. At first he would just point at the light, but just recently he started saying "Lai" everytime he points to the light. If we ask him, "Where is the light", he will look up at it, point, and say, "Lai".

He is also starting to make specific sounds for certain things. It is fun to see him learning so much about the things around him and the things he picks up on.

On another note, the lawn is looking great (many of you know it was looking pretty bad, so we re-seeded it this fall)


and we finally finished Harley's dog house! Here are a few pics.