I can't BELIEVE our sweet boy is a whole year old! In some ways it feels like he was just placed into my arms for the very first time. In other ways, it feels like that newborn phase was forever ago. It is so true that it just keeps getting better. Every month he surprises us with how much he grows and changes!
We had so much fun celebrating his 1st birthday! When I was growing up, my mom put balloons all around my bed the night before my birthday so I would wake up to a fun surprise to start the day! I decided to continue the tradition for our little one. I snuck into his room around midnight and taped balloons all around his crib. I knew this would be extra special for Benjamin, because he LOVES balloons. It was one of his first words! We'll be walking around the grocery store and he'll spot a balloon, start pointing at it, smiling, and saying "ba-ba-ba!" (His version of balloon!). :) I couldn't wait for him to wake up and see his birthday surprise. Welllllll, turns out I could've probably waited a few more hours. He woke up at 3am and was batting the balloons all around, saying "Ba! Ba! Ba!" and he wouldn't go back to sleep! Haha! I had to take the balloons out of his room and put them in the hallway until the morning. Oh well...he was still THRILLED when I carried the huge bouquet into his room when the birthday boy woke up around 7am! :)
We had a special birthday breakfast of German Pancakes that morning (another tradition passed down from my mom!). He LOVED those. We played all morning and had a visit from Grandma Judie. Then we went to Baby Gymnastics with Tia and Stella. He loves crawling all over the cushy, bouncy floor and climbing on all the fun toys at Baby Gymnastics! After that, we had a long birthday nap, followed by dinner with Daddy at Casey's, and cake at home of course. It was such a fun day!
We celebrated Benjamin's birthday with friends and family with a party at our new house. The house wasn't quite done on the inside, but the outside was ready for a party! We had a big tent that was placed right next to the garage. It ended up being a perfect set up! The theme was balloons. We had primary colors and balloons everywhere! We even had a big balloon #1 and stations leading up the driveway to the party. It was a hot and muggy day, and we had some rain, but that didn't stop our fun. About 50 people came out to celebrate Benjamin's special big "one". :) It was such a special day!
Age : 12/13 months
Weight : 24ish pounds
Clothing and Diaper Size : Benjamin is wearing a 2T in Janie and Jack, an 80 or 90 in Hanna Andersson, and 24 months in other brands!
Milestones : Our mobile boy is still a crawling machine! He is getting so fast. He is also pulling himself up on all the furniture, and "cruising" around the furniture as well. Just last week (around 13 months) he started standing all on his own in the middle of the room. He will pop up and down to stand up! It's pretty cute! We are still waiting for those first steps. I am excited because it'll be easier to let him get down and exercise when we are outside, shopping, or out and about! Benjamin is alllllllll about the stairs right now. He loves going up the stairs at Grandma and Papa's! He b-lines it for the stairs immediately when we get to their house. The trouble is that he doesn't quite know how to get down the stairs yet. He leans over the edge like he is going to go down face first - yikes! He is getting pretty good about lowering himself down off the couch or chairs by turning his body around, so maybe he'll transfer that to the stairs soon.
Benjamin is talking up a storm these days. He babbles all day long! He says quite a few more words now - hi, bye-bye, Muma, Dada, baba, ba (balloon), Gie (Maggie), uh oh, Ma (Grandma), and probably a few others that I am forgetting right now!
Benjamin also just cut one of his molars! He now has 7 teeth - 5 on top and still just 2 on the bottom. :) Overall he's been a trooper so far with the teeth.
Sleep : Benjamin is doing so much better with his sleeping! We can lay him down with no tears for both naps and nighttime sleep now. He was waking in the night a few times for about a week when he cut his molar, but now he is sleeping through the night again. :)
Eating : I am a little sad to report that we are all done nursing. We dropped one feeding at a time and switched to a bottle of whole milk after his first birthday. It took about a month to wean 100%, but overall he (and mommy) did really well! He had no problem switching over to the bottle of whole milk. We are now using 2% milk from a recommendation from our doctor. It helps prevent heart disease later in life, along with childhood obesity! Apparently there is no reason to give a baby whole milk - the 2% is just fine.
Benjamin is becoming a little more of a picky eater! He doesn't love avocado or blueberries like he used to anymore; he much prefers whatever we are eating! Some of his current favorites are corn on the cob, BBQ chicken, lasagna, mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli, carrots, spaghetti, scrambled eggs, and mac and cheese!
Favorites : Still loves Maggie's dog food and water!, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, dancing to the baby station on Pandora, his blankies, going for rides in his new bike buggy (thanks Grandma & Papa!), knocking over his stacking cups and saying, "uh oh!", crawling around on Mommy and Daddy's bed with Mommy "chasing" him:), and being free in the bath tub to crawl around/stand up/play!
Doesn't like : Hates diaper changes, and also doesn't like when Mommy takes away something that he shouldn't have! ;)
