Karen and Daniel graciously hosted us for 8 days in their beautiful home on Oahu and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with their sweet family. Karen is less than 2 months from Baby Hogue’s arrival and Daniel’s shoulder is still healing from a cycling accident, but they welcomed all three of us into their home and it was so perfect. Karen and I had plenty of time to chat and the views were simply stunning. The pics above were all taken from her house! Cooper and Max had a blast following each other around and playing “together” (more like playing next to each other…). We can’t wait to do it again after the Hogues are a family of four!

Max and I racked up nearly 10,000 miles over the past few weeks visiting friends while Ben was in Hawaii for work. We had a great time celebrating baby Maddox with Steph and Chad and seeing Angela in Los Angeles. Thank you for opening your beautiful new home (and nursery) to us, Steph! Maddox is one lucky baby to have such an awesome family waiting to meet him!

Max is a year old! He had a nice, quiet birthday at home and at the park, but I didn’t realize until the end of the day I didn’t take any pics on my phone. So here’s the best I can do until I upload the camera pics. He’s crying because I won’t let him eat a leaf.

One year is fun! He is still taking several steps here and there, but he mostly still hugs the wall to move around. He’s added “uh-oh” to his vocabulary and LOVES to stack everything! Blocks, puzzle pieces, even socks and scrambled eggs! Speaking of eggs, he’s up to 2 eggs for breakfast most mornings, and we’ve noticed a slight increase in the grocery bill. 😉

He loves playing chase and peek-a-boo, reading books, and exploring. He was generously gifted so many wonderful things for his birthday, but he did not get his little heart’s burning desire: the cap at the base of the toilet that hides the bolt. A hard lesson learned early: you can’t always get what you want…

I know nothing will be different tomorrow. That’s what Ben keeps telling me. But I feel like I’m putting my little baby to bed tonight and he’s going to wake up a toddler tomorrow morning. How did this happen? I watched him so closely and held him so hard, but this first year has already slipped away.

Helping out in the kitchen, making dough for Pizza Friday!

I’m actually grateful for our linoleum floors. Max likes to unload and reload the dishwasher for me, and the linoleum is pretty forgiving!

Max really likes watching the mixer, but I can’t get a picture of him peering inside because I need my hands free to keep his hands out of the dough!