Par-tay!

Last weekend we celebrated Brody's first birthday with family and friends! First birthday parties are an interesting phenomenon. It's the very first one, so it has to be great! However, you know that the guest of honor will never remember the party and barely knows what's going on.

That of course didn't stop us from wanting to do something special for his birthday. We invited our closest in-town family members and the couple of friends that Brody has close to his age. We tried to keep it small to stop from overwhelming him, but we're also lucky enough to have amazing friends and family & ended up with a pretty full house. At first Brody was shy, but it didn't take him long to warm up to the attention.

The party was themed around his favorite toy, a yellow and green train that signs the alphabet. He loves riding it and playing with the alphabet blocks. So I thought a train theme would be perfect for a one year old party. We found a cake decorator who did an awesome job on the cake.

Other than that, we had basic 1st birthday decorations and themed the colors around his train. We had a custom shirt made with a train on it and his name.

We had to try to plan it around his bedtime, but due to family conflicts, we had to make some sacrifices there. (That's the part you never think about until you have a 1 year old...no one wants a melt-down mid-party because the birthday boy didn't get a nap!) Luckily we got him down for an early nap that day and he was able to get a couple hours in before the guests started to arrive.Everyone was so generous and Brody got a bunch of wonderful gifts. A month after Christmas, I was a little worried he would just get more of the same toys (which are awesome - but I'm not opening a daycare here!) However, everything he got was more unique than what he already had. Big crayons to practice his art at home, puzzles, blocks, lots of books & some super cute clothes. And...his very own rocking chair!

Brody had a great time, even if he didn't really understand that it was his birthday. He loves cupcakes and loved having his friends there. He was even giving hugs by the time his friends left.

It's a little sad watching your baby grow up, but I love the little man he's become. And I can't wait for the many adventures of his second year...

Our battle with dairy

As past readers know, we've had milk issues with Brody from the beginning. First breastfeeding didn't work (due to me or him or both), then milk-based formulas caused a reaction, then soy formula didn't work, then hypoallergenic formula was the final, expensive solution.

After a month or so on hypoallergenic, we tried soy again. It worked perfectly. Then, several months of something that worked. It was great. We started baby food and just avoided anything with dairy.

Then around 10-11 months I tried yogurt. He got sick. Took some time off, we started cheese, no reaction!! Tried yogurt again, he didn't want to eat it. Tried yogurt bites (freeze dried baby food), no reaction! Tried mac & cheese - perfect!

Then the big test...whole milk. The week of Brody's birthday we mixed in 1oz of milk with his 5 oz bottle of formula. He drank about half of it and about 10 minutes later it was all over the carpet along with everything else he had eaten for the day. Ugh...

We gave him a week off and tried again. Now we started with a tablespoon of milk mixed with his formula. We're up to almost an ounce of milk after 4 days and so far so good!

It's a long process but I finally have hope that he'll be able to drink milk before he's two. In fact, he may be drinking whole milk by the time he's 13 months old!!

Happy Birthday!

Then and Now

Brody rediscovered his love for his bouncy seat over this weekend. He clearly wasn't able to enjoy it's bouncing powers a year ago.

There's a birthday coming soon

Brody's first birthday is less than a week away! Party planning has been going on for a few weeks now, but overall we're hoping to keep it simple and fun.

Based on the invite, you may have guessed that his party is going to have a train-theme. We picked this theme based on one of his favorite toys right now, "The Alphabet Train." However, when I picked this theme I didn't realize how hard it would be to find decorations that aren't Thomas the Train. So we're focusing around the toy and the color theme that goes with it.

The invites have been sent, menu has been planned, the decorations purchased and the cake ordered. And before my eyes this week, my baby will turn one year. And I am sure there will be tears.

Happy New Year

The year of 2011:

I know my baby is going to go through toddlerhood and every minute will be fantastic. We plan on our family continuing to be a family of 3 (plus two dogs). So as I look forward to the year ahead, I reflect on the one thing I can change, myself.

So here are my resolutions to make me a better mother and person:

-Organize, organize and organize. I'm always top of things, plan our schedule well and always pay our bills on time. But...my house is definitely not organized. So, I waste time finding things and doing things that should be faster. I'd rather spend that time with my favorite boys. (Yes, a house-cleaner is in our near future as well...and I refuse to feel guilty about it)

-Lose the pregnancy weight. A year later, Brody can no longer be an excuse for my poor health choices. Enough said.

-Spend more time living in the moment. Time flies by and I have a habit of looking into (a.k.a worrying about) the future too often. That also means getting home from work earlier more often. I realize I'm lucky to be alive and lucky to have the people that I have in my life.

And then...blog about it more often!

Every mother should post this in her house...

"I hope that my child,
Looking back on today
Will remember a mother
Who had time to play;
Because children grow up
While you’re not looking,
There are years ahead
For cleaning and cooking.
So, quiet now cobwebs,
Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby,
And babies don’t keep." - Unknown

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I know we did. It was jam packed with 5 Christmases in 2 days, but was worth it since we got to spend time with so many of our families. More details to come...

11 Months!

Yes, the countdown has begun. We're officially less than a month away from Brody's 1st Birthday! And I say it every month (and will continue to say this for the rest of my life) but he's getting so big so fast. I see it every day but every once and awhile it still catches me off guard when I realize how much he's grown in 11 months. He used to be so tiny!

Okay, I'm wiping away the tears now and onto what he's been up to...

Walking! I have to say we officially have a "walker." He's not perfectly steady on his feet, but he usually chooses to walk from one part of the room to the other. Many times (i.e. when he's not tired) even when he falls, he'll stand himself back up and keep walking. He's not as daring as I thought he would be, since he will walk towards something that he can hold onto to steady himself before walking to his end goal. However, not surprisingly, he usually falls because he's trying to walk too fast. He wants to run, but his feet won't keep up!

Honestly, I think he's been working so hard on walking and standing up on his own, that he hasn't had time for any other skills. But there are a few other small ones he's working on. Rumor has it, he can wave! I have yet to see it, so I still don't believe it, but his daycare teachers swear it's hilarious. He doesn't go for the typical baby hand flopping up and down wave. No -- he apparently swings his arms from side to side like he's drawing a rainbow. Apparently him & another boy in his daycare room do this to each other after nap time. But he's in no hurry to show his parents.

He's added "na-na" to his "baba, mama, dada" rambling. I think he's pretty sure what mama means, but he still will use it out of context. But many days he'll say, "mama" directly to me while he's coming towards me. So it's hard to say. He's also getting really good at turning pages while we read books & he loves to clap! He's also "pointing" at things, at least that what we think. He actually uses his whole hand to point instead of just a finger, it's pretty cute.

As far as personality, I do think we have a little shy guy on our hands. He adapts well to new situations in the fact that he doesn't cry or freak out in new places. Or if we leave him alone & he cries, he'll get over it very quickly. However, if we're there, he does tend to cling to us a little bit until he's sure of the situation.

More than anything, he never "shows off" in big groups. We couldn't get him to clap at his cousin's basketball game, but he loved watching the game and sat still for an hour to do so! At his Aunt's graduation party, he walked a few steps but nothing like he does when it's just us and him.

For now, I'm classifying him as an observer. He seems to love watching what other people (and kids) are doing before he jumps right in. And this is where his personality continues to take after me. I'm actually pretty shy in new situations, but eventually warm up.

Last month until we officially have a toddler on our hands! But at least there will be a fun birthday celebration!

And this last picture is his reaction to taking 11 month pictures -- I'm outta here!

Looking Back to Thanksgiving

Weeks later, I'm finally getting around to blogging about Thanksgiving. We hosted for our extended families for the 5th year in a row, however this was the first year as a family of three. Unfortunately, I didn't go as smoothly as I imagined.

Weeks prior to the holiday I was picturing Brody sitting down in his highchair next to us and eating turkey, rolls and veggies. I was very excited for him to eat his first Thankgiving meal. It's the first major family holiday that he'd be able to participate in. I could not wait.

The Friday before Thanksgiving I took a vacation day to do the grocery shopping while Brody goes to daycare. Then I spent a little time getting the house ready, but I figured I had all weekend to finish it and went to pick up Brody early. That night, he came down with the stomach flu. Fast forward to a weekend full of an unhappy, clingy baby and a lot of napping in my arms.

Honestly - what mother doesn't love lots of cuddle time? Right?

I still had a lot to do to get the house ready for our 15 Thanksgiving Day guests. And since the end of the month is my busiest time at work, what didn't get done over the weekend wasn't going to get done until Wednesday night. I'm a bit too neurotic to let things go until the last minute. Oh, and where is the husband during all this? Yep - sick with the same flu as Brody. I was on my own.

So I repeated to myself, "It's okay if the house isn't perfect", "my family will love me anyways". And when that didn't work, I called my sister & brother and begged them to come over and help. (Which they usually do anyways)

And was the house perfect? No.

And for the most part, it went unnoticed.

All in all it was a great day of family celebration. Brody was still a little unhappy but was mostly starving after a week of being sick. And his grand Thankgiving meal? He ate Cheerios while we ate Turkey. But at least he was there with us.

I was too busy being a part of the fun, that I forgot to snap pictures during the day. But here are some from Thanksgiving morning. Luckily his Aunt Nicole brought him a new toy to play with! It seemed to make getting over the flu much easier!

Proud Daddy

I've heard other women say how much their husband impressed them when they had their first child and how they love him so much more watching him turn from husband to loving parent. Honestly, it wasn't the same with us...

The thing is, I knew Jason was a wonderful father long before we had children. I knew he'd be a natural and I knew he'd love our son more than anything in the world. There was really no surprise there! He has two nephews who he cares so much about. When one of Jason's best friends had her little girl, he naturally loved playing with her. He was born to be a father.

However, every once and awhile he still catches me off guard with something he says or does.

You see, Jason is a fairly practical parent, where I tend to be more doting. However, he's also a bit competitive, wanting his son to be the best. So when he tells me last night that Brody drew the best picture at daycare that day, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Really?!? Our 10 month old is artistic? I personally think his art looks like scribbles, or blobs of paint. Somehow though, Jason sees through all that and brags about how his chalk art was much better than the rest of the class. How he used "shading" to make it more artsy.

This morning I checked out the masterpiece. I really think it looks like he smeared chalk all over paper -- but I guess that's just me.

First Haircut

After dragging my feet for at least a month, I finally booked a hair appointment for Brody. Jason has been bugging me for awhile as Brody's hair got longer and longer. I knew once he no longer had his baby hair then I'd really have to realize that he's growing up!

We booked an appointment with a kids salon, knowing that we'd want someone with experience cutting the hair of a 10 month old. He barely understands the word no, so telling him to hold his head still was out of the question. Obviously, I was a little nervous -- not just about losing his baby hair - but throwing a temper-tantrum in the salon.

The hair place had cars instead of chairs. You could pick anything from a pink Jeep to a blue mini-cooper-type car. We went for the blue one that was open. Each station had it's own TV with a kid movie playing. I imagine this works well for kids that are a little older, but Brody has very little interest in TV, so it didn't help much.

Overall - Brody was a trooper. He didn't get cranky once and he held still very well. Every once and awhile he's turn his head quickly to see something else going on around him. He loves to watch everyone around him, which worked well until they started vacuuming out a seat behind him and he quickly turned his head around mid-cut. In the end though, he hair looks great and it's no longer in his eyes.

But he does look more like a little boy than my baby...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Steady Feet

Brody is getting so close to walking! Tonight he pulled himself up using the cabinet handle so that he could walk over to the other cabinet -- no hands!

So of course we tried for a repeat performance...but this is the best I could get on video.

A Day in the Life

In order to get to know Brody better, his new teachers asked me what a typical day was like at home. I wasn't exactly sure how to answer...I mean, I don't know? We hang out...

Then I thought about it more and here's really what it's like at our house. There are naps, meals, snacks and errands. But in between here's what we do:

Pull Brody away from the dangerous things he likes to play with

Crawl into laundry baskets & then ride around in them like a play-car.

Hangout in toy bins.

Carry tupperware lids around the house.

And probably our most normal activity? Learning to play basketball!

Talking

Brody can say "mama" and "dada" and "baba" and "lalalalala." However, none of those things actually seem to mean anything to him, except that they are fun sounds he can make with his mouth. Until now...

I'm now convinced that Brody thinks "Mama" = "More food now!" We hear it the most when he's in his high chair waiting for food. And when he's especially hungry he starts saying it more frequently and more urgently. "MAMAMAMA!"

Then it stops when I walk over to him with his food. Therefore Mama = Food.

Jason tried reassuring me the other night by reminding me that when Brody wants out of his crib, he will occasionally say "mama" as well. So he's convinced that Brody just knows who will give him what he wants.

I can't complain though...there aren't a lot of "dadas" flying out of his mouth. :)