the dragon project: happy 1st bday, baby love!

happy 1st birthday to our baby love, malakai lucas (aka maki, makidoodoo, chubby cheeks, makster, fatty gum drops, godfather, 2swirls). it was such an incredible year. full of amazing memories, endless laughter and unconditional love. you've shown me places in my heart that i didn't even know existed. i now understand what is it like to "have your heart go walking around outside your body." mik and i love him so so so much!

here's an incredible video that mik put together with maki's 1st year highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIGUg0xcvcg

for his birthday, we had a small celebration in nyc the day before we moved (yes, we really moved to LA - which is why i haven't blogged in a couple of weeks!). here are some pics courtesy of mike:
https://plus.google.com/photos/116417008156035797265/albums/5849454422384736001?authkey=CNjhhbj3wL6hVA

today on his real bday, we gave him a couple of presents, papa cooked him blueberry pancakes for breakfast, took him to the park and went on the swing and slide, played with the bubble-blower gun and had a low-key dinner with the aguilar family. maki had his first ice cream cake, which he definitely enjoyed. this weekend we are having his big bday celebration at mygym in pasadena. sorry, only toddlers and their parents/siblings are invited. :( pics to come.

here are some maki updates:

he is cruising. he can walk when you hold his hands, sometimes even just one hand. he walks with a walker.
he's a great eater. he pretty much eats anything. he loves fruits esp. berries. we've accidentally given him walnuts, almonds, clams and no allergy - woohoo! he's been eating filipino food i.e. adobo, luto sa sili, nilaga, etc. he is truly our child!
he started drinking through a straw. we usually give him water with a splash of apple juice to help with constipation. he also gestures for the cup now whenever he's thirsty.
today i started mixing his formula with half organic vitamin D milk and he had no issues with it.
he babbles a lot. says "mamamama", "dadadada", "yeah", "this" and "what".
he's addicted to toy story 3 movie on his ipad mini.
took him a week or two to get adjusted to west coast time. he's finally sleeping well but the daylight savings time messed him up again. i don't have the strength to modify his schedule again!
hair is so long and gets into his eye but papa still doesn't want to cut it!
he has 2 bottom teeth, 3 top teeth, is teething again and enjoys biting papa's arm.

the move cross country went well. it took mik and his dad 4 1/2 days to complete the drive from nyc to los angeles. i survived my flights alone with maki. flight to SF wasn't bad at all with his own seat and the ipad mini and he slept the entire flight from SF to LA. we're still staying at mik's parents' house because even though the tenants moved out, it's not in a condition for us to move into. we need to renovate the kitchen, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. we also purchased all the appliances yesterday since the old tenants took everything. it has been a speed bump but we're trying to work through it. can't wait until our place is ready and we can finally get settled into our new west coast home. i haven't focused much on finding a job although i should with all the expenses that we didn't anticipate having. right now i'm enjoying my time with chubby cheeks. i've also been researching preschools. ugh what a painful process!

here are some recent pics and a super cute video of the birthday boy!