The BIG Day

My precious little birthday boy!!!

Brodster looked like this on the morning of his first birthday.  First shot!


I had wanted his actual day to be special.  I know that probably sounds silly since he's one, but nonetheless I did.  Greg had to work, so it was just going to be me and Brody.  Our Sunday school class has a weekly play date.  It was a splash pad day and it fell on Brody's birthday.  We decided that would be something fun and special to do. 


Eating lunch al fresco.

He really does like this...I promise! 

When we got home, Brody played with his new straw cup for awhile.  Then I experienced an epic mommy fail.  A spanking on his birthday!  Brody was being SO naught during his diaper change before his nap.  I mean seriously naughty.  He knew he was being naughty too because he kept laughing every time I told him "no".  It was no kinda good.  Little hands in poop, body flopping everywhere.  So, he got a little swat on his bottom.  The first one was too soft because he started really laughing.  So, I did it again a little bit harder.  This time...tears.  I felt like it was a total epic mommy failure, but I knew he totally understood what he was doing was wrong.  I just finished reading the book Shepherding A Child's Heart and felt a little spanking was necessary although I hate that it was on his birthday.  Something I feel like I will sadly always remember even though I know he won't.  Oh, the hard, not-so-fun times of being a mom.  I would totally recommend the book.  It's not the easy way to parent, but I do believe it's the godly way. 


 

When Brody woke up from his nap, Daddy came home and Brody opened the few presents he had from us.  He had opened all the other presents at his party, but I had wanted to save ours for the actual day.




 

 

Then I had epic mommy failure #2 of the day.  Remember I had wanted Brody's birthday to be special?  Well, I thought when Greg came home from work it would be great fun for Brody to go to a bounce place called Monkey Joe's.  I had looked at their website and asked a friend and it seemed like it should be age appropriate.  They had small bounce houses for the little ones, so Brody wasn't going to get trampled.  We were allowed to go into the bounce house with him, so I felt it would be safe.  We get there and pretty much from the moments we walked in, Brody was unsure of the place.  I didn't really notice because I was filling out the forms and Greg was holding him, but I soon realized Brody was doing a little baby freak out.  We got into the bounce house and he just clung to one of us.  He really didn't even want Greg.  He wanted his mommy.  His little fingers dug into my arm saying, "mommy, please don't put me down".  We tried our best for about 15 minutes.  We were able to put him down (finally) but he just sat there looking at us as if we had lost our ever loving minds.  He was seriously frozen.  We decided to count our six bucks as a loss and left.  Brody was so happy to be out of there.  Once we got in the car, he thoroughly enjoyed playing with my sunglasses.  Thankfully, he didn't look completely scarred for life.



 



 

When we got home, Granna came over for dinner (Grandad had a business dinner).  It made dinner a bit more special than any other Wednesday night, so that was good.  And we got a few more shots of the birthday boy on his BIG day!

 

 

Whale Of A Good Time

Brodster had his party on Saturday, August 3 at Granna & Grandad's house.  We kept it small and simple.  Sweet Nana & Poppy drove a long way for a short time to be with Little Bear.  And Aunt Sarah, Uncle Marc and the girls were also able to make it.  We wished Aunt Audra, Uncle Matt & Grayson could have made it, but they live sooo far away.  : (  It was mostly family and one close couple friend.  As it is, that was a lot of people (to me anyway...the girl who only had 100 people at her wedding) which is why we had the party at G&G's house.  Thanks, G&G!!!  They have a lot more room and it just made more sense than everyone cramming into our house which isn't that big.  I didn't do a ton of decorations, but did do a few.  I realized when going back to do this post, that I really didn't take a ton of pictures and didn't even get pics of the few decorations we did have.  Oh, well (and sorry Audra)!

The Birthday Boy playing with trucks.  Oh, and he totally pointed
and said "tuck" for the first time at his party.  And then he proceeded
to say it about 500 more times.

The cookies, cupcakes and smash cake were all homemade by yours truly with the help
of my slaves sister and mom.

 

Thanks, Uncle Marc for saving the slide show!  And on the table behind him, I had all of
Brody's weekly pictures displayed as well as the "guest book".  Pictured below.

This is seriously the cutest birthday book...like ever.  I am totally obsessed.  The guests
signed it and left notes for Brody on the pages. 

 

Nana & Poppy watching said slide show.

Handmade birthday banner.

The birthday buddies.  I will forever be in shock and awe.

 

 

Little Bear decided he wanted to stand all on his own.  He hasn't wanted to do much of this
since his party.

Not a fan of the grass.

And now pictures of the most anticlimactic one year old cake eating in the
history of the world...

The goods.

Brody loved the Tiger card from Nanny.  It sang to him and we
enjoyed it until we wore Tiger out!

Brody did pretty good opening his presents although he had a bunch of
little people hovering in case he needed any help. 

Checking out our new kicks from Aunt Sarah.




It was a great night and I think the Birthday Boy enjoyed himself even if he didn't like the cake I made.  I'm not complaining!  Hold off on the sweets as long as possible.  Anyway, the whole theme was inspired by Baby Beluga the song and book by Raffi.  Brody has always liked it and when planning a one year old party, you go with something that is cute, that they like and that they won't want as their theme when they're old enough to tell you (Trucks, Dallas Cowboys etc.).  So, there you have it. The party came and went and my little man turned one just like that. 

My Little Human

Brody is officially one year old.  It is so hard for this mama to believe, but it's true.  I am so grateful for the past year of his little life, but at the same time a bit sad that he's already one.  His life is going by so fast and I try to just enjoy each step and each phase for as long as we get it.  The past year has been such a wonderful one.  I know so many people don't like the newborn phase, but even Brody made that easy for these first timers.  I can't express what a wonderful, funny, sweet, happy and silly ALL BOY Brody is pretty much all the time.  I love being a boy mom and am so glad that it was Brody we waited for all that time.  I kinda love him.  I Kinda can't get enough. 

 

 

Schedule:  Brody's schedule really hasn't changed much, but it is a bit more flexible.  He's usually awake a bit longer between each nap.  He's also a lot more flexible at bedtime.  He doesn't get fussy tired anymore and we usually lay him down when he's still pretty happy.  He'll talk to himself in his crib for a few minutes and then fall asleep.  I'm not lying when I say we have a true angle baby.  I know, I know...it's ridiculous.  Don't worry, I'm already expecting the next one to be a little terror.  He still takes two naps a day and each are usually around 1 and 1/2 hours long.





 

 

 




Food:  I totally thought Brody just might eat purees his entire life.  Well, not really.  But anytime I gave him food, since it was usually soft, he would just "hulk Brody" it in his hands and smash it to smithereens.  Of course everything in the world went in his mouth except the food I put on his tray for him to eat.  I realized he would eat some solids if I fed it to him on a spoon, but he was still kinda picky.  However "just like that" he decided he wanted to be a big boy.  The week of his birthday, he just started eating...almost everything I put on his tray.  Chicken was devoured.  He couldn't get enough blueberries.  It was crazy.  So, we've just been trying more and more new things.  It's been so nice that he can feed himself now.  Totally messy, but so nice.  Brody LOVES his water.  Seriously loves his water and probably more importantly his prized possession...the cup.  He drinks out of a sippy cup fairly well by himself and we've been working on using the kind with a straw.  He can do it, but he usually wants to try to tip the cup back in order to get the water out.  We're still working on it, but it's only been a day or two.  I think he'll get the hang of it.  We tried regular milk and it didn't go over great.  So, we're in the process of mixing it with formula and we'll just keep doing that until hopefully he'll just drink the milk on it's own.

Water monger.

 

Fish face.

Helping with the laundry.



He ended up in the pot all on his own. 

Clothes:  Brody is still wearing mostly 12 month sizes although he's wearing some 12-18 month.  Some of his clothes I think he'll be able to wear for a little bit longer, but some are getting small.  He's still in a size four diaper.  However, he thinks Daddy's closet is more fun than his.

















 

Developments: Brody Bear is talking quite a bit.  He says, uh-oh, dada, mama and tuck for truck.  He signs milk, fish, more, all done, baby, and dog.  When he signs dog he makes his own barking sound.  So far he doesn't do this with any other animal.  He often does hulk Brody on command and will wave, give high fives and fist bump.  He still claps a lot and will often applaud himself if we say he's done a good job at something.  Brody is ALL BOY and loves balls, trucks and trains.  He will play with his toys now like a big boy and will push the trucks around on the floor and makes little noises while doing it.  It's pretty stinkin' adorable.  Brody is not walking on his own yet, but he loves to use his walker and he walks all around the furniture.  He has only stood by himself a few times.  He really likes something to help him keep his balance, so I'm not sure how long it will be before he starts walking. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



One Year Check-up: 

 

• 21 lbs. 12 oz. (32%)
• 17 and 3/4 in. for head (14%)
• 32 in. in height (95%)