First Birthday Photo Shoot

We did a little First Birthday photo shoot with Nathan.  We filled Nathan's crib up with balloons and let him have fun.  I still can't believe this little boy is a year old!

12 Months

- Finally has a tooth!  As odd as getting his first tooth at a year old is, it's even more odd is that it is an upper lateral incisor.  We can see he his middle ones on the top are ready to come, but they have yet to make their appearance.
- Also, he put up with teething very well.  I didn't even know he had been teething when I found his tooth.  I was changing his diaper and noticed during a particularly cheesy grin that there was something funny on his gums.  When I investigated I found a tooth!

- He loves his blankie.  He loves to snuggle with it at naptime and while we read stories.
- He's taken his first steps!  Just one or two at a time.

- This kid loves the dishwasher.  He knows the sound of it opening up and he will come crawling to help.
- He pushes the chairs around.  It's so funny to see him pushing around something so much taller than him.

- We have discovered that Nathan is scared of gospel music.  He will burst into tears whenever he hears it.
- He loves to do raspberries.  All. Day. Long.

- He likes his new convertible carseat.  He enjoys sitting up higher so he can see out the back window a little more.

- This is his thinking face.  We catch him doing it every so often.
- He's figured out the sippy cup!

- Nathan has a box that one of his birthday presents came in.  He will push it over to our furniture and then stand on it to reach for things he's normally to short to grab.  I think we are going to have a hard time keeping him out of things.

- His 12 month stats are: 19 lbs (15 percentile), 27.75 inches long (12 percentile), and 17.75 inches head circumference (24 percentile.)
- He is just a happy, wonderful, giggly little boy!

Nathan's First Birthday

This little boy went to bed as an 11 month old baby. . .

. . . and woke up as a 1 year old!

We filled the day with all the things Nathan loves.  Favorite foods, favorite activities, favorite people.  We started the day of with Nathan's favorite breakfast of eggies and blueberries, followed by opening some presents.

That afternoon we had our friends come over to celebrate with a BBQ dinner and cake.  We're glad so many of our friends could make it to celebrate Nathan's birthday.

After dinner we had people play a little game.  There were 12 photos of Nathan and our guests had to put them order of how old Nathan was in them.  We had a tie for first with 9 out of 12!  Pretty good I'd say.

Nathan also got his own smash cake.  I was sure he would just dig in and get so messy.  However, at this point Nathan's refusal to take an afternoon nap was taking a toll on him and he burst out crying once we were done singing "Happy Birthday."  He did calm down a little bit and enjoyed licking the frosting.

Speaking of frosting, I used this one for those of you who asked for it.  Seriously the best frosting I've ever made. But I digress.

We're just so happy to have this little guy around.  Our friends brought their little 4 weeks old boy to Nathan's party and it was amazing to see how little he once was.  He's learned and grown so much in one year.   Now Nathan is crawling, cruising, babbling, and making all sorts of mischief.  He is the best little boy.  We love him so much! Happy Birthday Nathan!

No More Pathology Please

There is a horrible, terrible, no good class in dental school.  Pathology.  Brad studied for weeks and weeks for his cumulative final.  Which also meant no extra time to hang out with his awesome wife and son. We weren't too neglected and I blame Path, but we really, really wanted him back.

Well, during these 3 or so weeks of studying for his final there was Longwood's Spring Blooms festival.  I really was hoping Brad could go with us, but there wasn't time for him to go.  So I called a friend (who's husband was also studying for the same Path final) and we decided to leave our husbands to study uninterrupted while we would go to Longwood together.

I'm glad Rachel and Jake could come with us!  And we've both glad our husbands are done with Pathology.  Now onto the boards!

Fun in the Kitchen

Bedtime

Bedtime at our house starts with a bath.  

And then there are some jammies.

And we let Nathan do some wandering around in his room.

During which he usually tries to escape.

Oh how I love the curls at the back of his head.  

They get pretty unruly, but after the bath they are so so cute.

And then this this sweet little boy curls up on mom's lap.  Dad makes his dramatic exit (peek-a-boo at the door) and Mom reads him his stories.  And to just add a little bit more sweetness, he lays his head on mommy's shoulder as she sings to him.

And then he cuddles his favorite blankie and goes peacefully to sleep.  His bedtime is pretty simple, but it's one of the best times of the day.  We're all together as a family and that boy is so so sweet.  One day that sweet little boy won't let mommy rock him to sleep and it breaks my heart to think of him growing up.  But I try to remind myself that's he's still little and I get to cuddle him as long as I want.

Grandma's Visit

Janet came to visit us over Mother's Day weekend.  Nathan loved having all of Grandma's attention, reading books and snuggling with her.  Most of our time was just spent being together. We did manage to bring Grandma to Longwood for a visit.

Longwood has a children's garden in the conservatory.  I've been waiting and waiting for Nathan to be old enough to enjoy it.  We gave it a try while we were there, but I think that we'll have to wait a little longer for Nathan to really get into it.  Mostly he wanted to eat the ledge.  He did enjoy the water for a little bit.

It was a short trip, but we enjoyed every minute with Janet.  We hope we can see her again soon!