Party Numero Uno

So, I've had this one written for weeks in the draft folder, and I can't remember why I never published it. I think I was holding out to get some extra pictures and video from our parents. The few that I snapped on my phone will have to suffice for now.  Here's to a Sunday night on blogger!

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Since it has been a few weeks since Doster’s first birthday party, I thought I would take a few minutes and jot down my memories before they fade even more.  

We decided to keep the guest list to just family members this year.  Our house didn't seem big enough to have kiddos and their parents over, and the thought of having more than one tot wobbling around really freaked me out.  Next year, I vow to have the party somewhere that Doster can invite his crew.

I chose the fish theme, because it’s awesome.  Maybe every party for the rest of his life will be fish-themed, because I like it so much.  Just kidding, James has already been plotting some sort of super-hero/star-warsian masterpiece in his head for one day…

James and I made this invitation with PowerPoint—cute, right? 

After we planned out what we wanted to eat (BBQ chicken), the rest kind of took care of itself.  We ate, drank, watched a video*, and enjoyed the smash-y-est smash cake you've ever seen.

Showing off Doster's Monthly Photo Sessions

Doster LOVED soaking in all of the attention from all of the people that love him the most!

Ready for his party!

 Random food pictures, because I love how it all turned out!

 I'm a little obsessed with how cute the cupcakes and cake turned out.  We ordered them from Whole Foods because dye and fake sugar scare me a little (only for Doster, I eat anything, obviously).   James really wanted to order a variety of cupcakes, but I really wanted a unified look.  I caved and went with the variety, but tied them together with little flags that I made out of paper and tooth picks.  It seemed to be a good compromise, and I think they are totes adorbs. 

   

My brother, Uncle John, created the most beautiful video with highlights of Doster’s first year.  I started balling immediately.  Even though I knew the basics (I had seen the pictures and picked out most of the songs beforehand) I was very emotional when it all came together.   Thank you so much, John! (sorry, file is way to big for blogger, and the music is way too copyright protected for youtube-- come over and watch it sometime!)

After the video, it was time to sing the birthday song, and give Doster a try at his cake.  It only took a few minutes and he destroyed it.  It was so much fun watching him.  He WENT for it!  And then smeared it all over his hair.  After a quick birthday party bath, we were back in business.

                                                      

James and I had an amazing time with our families, and we are so thankful for the love and generosity they've shown us.  We would not have made it through this year without their incredible support.   The party was a great way to thank them and celebrate how far we've come!

Say "Cheese!"

I’m excited to show you (yes, YOU) some pictures of our cutie from his big one-year photo session.  I’m sorry it has taken nearly a month to get these up, but that’s just the way we roll!

These were taken on Doster’s actual birthday at Meadowfield Park by the awesome Anne McQuary over at Hey Baby Smile.  I was lucky enough to connect with Anne at the very last minute and I’m very happy that she was available on such short notice.  Anne is a photographer extraordinaire at our news department here at WLTX and came highly recommended by coworkers.

We had such a good time at our little photo shoot.  Doster was in a great mood, especially in the beginning.  He started getting bored with it towards the end, as if sitting in the grass and smiling for an hour isn’t super-exciting for a baby or something.  

After our session, we had a fun lunch at Cantina 76 and headed back home for an afternoon nap.  We did take Doster back to the park that evening for some actual playtime.

Without further ado, here are some of the pics.  There are countless cute photos, but the ones here are my favorites.

My Favorite

My Favorite, Too! 

My Favorite, For Reals

Even Bear-Bear Got In There!

That Little Hand-- I Can't Even Stand It!

Baby Suspenders, Yes!

Dear Doster- 12 Months

Dear Doster,

Everyone warned me how quickly time would fly once you arrived.  I hate to say it, but they were right.  Each day I find myself holding our moments together very tightly!   I’m making a real effort to stay in the moment with you, and it is very rewarding.

You are such a cool customer.  You laugh, you point, you crawl, you wobble, you amaze me!

We had an amazing birthday party for you, but I think I will do a separate post on that one later.

Here’s just a little sneak preview.

I have never seen such an amazing, decisive, smash cake performance!

We also had some professional pictures of you taken too; I will download them soon and put them in a separate post as well. But I’ll go ahead and say—you are just too cute for words sometimes.  I can't resist, here is a sneak peak of that too:

Size:

 21 Pounds (24^th Percentile)

28.75 Inches (19^th Percentile)

Head Circumference – 46.5 cm (55^th Percentile)

Feeding:

No real changes until we hit your actual birthday.  I’m writing this a few weeks later, and there have been many changes since you turned one, including more finger foods and whole milk—which is all a new adventure for us. 

I’m not very confident or experimental in the kitchen, but luckily, you are pretty easy on me. 

Sleeping:

Guess what? We finally found our rhythm with naps.  You take TWO 2-hour naps at home (still a work in progress at school) and sleep about 11-12 hours each night.

Development:

 You are a pull-up machine.  You are a very fast crawler, and you love being chased. You are getting very good at your sign language.  Can I take a little brag moment?  At your 12-month doctor’s visit, I was giving you yogurt melts to keep you entertained while we talked to Dr. Painter.  You kept signing “more” and it was cracking him up.  We showed him some of your others, and he said he rarely sees a 12-month-old sign as well as you.  He even called in his staff to watch you. We were very proud! 

Things you can sign:

More (your favorite)

All Done

Milk

Please (sometimes)

You babble a lot, and sometimes it really sounds like you are saying things!   A few days ago, I swear I thought I heard you say “good job.”

Words you say well:

Dada

Mama

Ba (means book, ball, or Brighton)

Papa/Papa Pat (my dad)

RAR (your growl)

Personality:

You are so curious!  You love looking around and making choices.  You are also so sweet—you've mastered giving kisses.  You are so darn lovable; I can’t even get over it.

You like: tags, phones, Brighton, dancing, baths, puffs, pancakes, balls, books (turning pages is your favorite), Bear Bear, “getting people” (growling), peek-a-boo, seeing your family

You dislike: diaper changes, having your face wiped, having your paci taken away

You are such a wonderful blessing.  Every night before bed, your dad and I actually talk about how awesome you are, and how much we love being your parents. 

Ears, Tears, And Throats

 It’s been a crazy few weeks and I thought I would take a quick second to update all of our friends and family about what’s been going on with us lately.

Health-wise, we are a fortunate family.  Despite a few virus bouts and the occasional cold, I’d say we are lucky!  The past few months, I have started to appreciate our fortune in this area more and more… especially when I see friends and family going through more serious health issues.  I say all that, to imply that I realize our “health issues” are very minor in the grand scheme of things.  Still though, when you are going through them, it feels heavy somehow.

I’ll start with James.

For years, James would occasionally feel some swelling in his throat.  We figured it was triggered by something he was eating, and would just take it easy for a few days.  The last few months, things have taken a more drastic turn.  He feels like he’s choking anytime he eats solid food and I finally forced him to go to the doctor a few months ago. 

Well, one doctor’s visit led to a gastro-specialist, which lead to a biopsy a month or so ago.  The doctor could barely get the scope down his esophagus, it was so narrow, which made getting a good biopsy sample very difficult.  The doctor was able to manually stretch his esophagus a little, and asked him to come back for a second biopsy and more stretching, which happened last week.  Now we are anxiously awaiting results.

A quick shot of James, all drugged up!

Hopefully, it’s all caused by a food allergy which we can plan around.  For months, James has lived on smoothies, yogurt and grits.  Poor guy.  It’s basically Doster’s diet (in fact, James and given in and tried baby food).  That may not seem like that bad, but really think about it.  He's hungry, low-energy and frustrated.  We are hoping for some good news soon.

So, that’s James.

Doster, like MANY kiddos, is constantly afflicted with ear infections.  After is double-ear infection in May, we decided to move forward with tubes.  By the time I scheduled his appointment, he’d already gotten another infection!  It made me feel better about our decision.

For scheduling reasons, we had the procedure done at Kershaw Health in Camden.  It was actually very quick and easy.  When the nurses took him away for anesthesia, I lost it, but other than that, it was pretty simple.

He's the brave one.

They let him play with the gas mask beforehand so he wouldn't be afraid of it.  Good move.

The actual procedure only lasted about 10 minutes.  By the time I made his bottle (he wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything before) the doctor was telling us that it was a success. They let one parent go to the recovery room immediately, and I was ready to see my baby!  He was pretty inconsolable, as they warned me he would be.  They assured me that he wasn’t in pain, just disoriented.  After about 15 minutes, we were able to reunite with James in the second recovery room.

My loves.

He fell asleep on the way home, had a bottle and some banana when we got home, then took a two hour nap.  He woke up in the BEST mood!  He was laughing and babbling as if to say: let me tell you about this crazy dream I just had, Mom!

So those are a few little issues that have been happening in our world.  Again, I realize that our little health blips are tiny, so I hope this does not come across as a rant or complaint post.  We are a very blessed family and appreciate all that we have!

Dear Doster - 11 Months

Another month is over, so hard to believe!  This was month was amazing yet we had some more challenges. 

 A strange virus was floating around your school, and poor thing, you had a fever every single day last week.  It particularly challenged our family at night.  You didn’t feel well, and you were HOT.  You wanted to be held constantly at night time.  It was almost like the newborn days all over again (which was a reminder to me and Gigs about how far we’ve come!).  For  a week straight you had trouble sleeping, lost your appetite, winced in pain, and were overall just pretty miserable.  We could tell you wanted to be better.  It broke my heart.  Luckily, we’ve turned a corner and you are back to being your pleasant baby-self. I missed my happy guy!

Aside from the sickness, our month was wonderful.  We had fun at birthday parties, and celebrated my very first Mother’s Day!

Your buds at Avery's 2nd Birthday Party!

Trying cake for the first time.  You were pretty indifferent.

You and your dad kicked off Mother’s Day with some beautiful flowers and a banner for me in the kitchen (Dad even took the early morning shift!). After your nap, we headed out for brunch with GranD and Pop at the Good Life Café, a raw food restaurant that GranD picked.   We stopped by Uncle Patrick’s to visit Grammy quickly before your next nap, then ran some errands and spent some quality time at home.  It was the first day that you were really feeling well again, and I was just thrilled to hang out with my good-mood man!

Size:

A few weeks ago at a Doctor’s appointment you clocked in at 20lbs 12 ounces. You are mostly in 12 month clothes and you are still rocking size 4 diapers.  I just love your pudgy baby legs and arms!

Feeding:

With the "fever virus" you weren’t really your usual hungry-man-self, but luckily, you seem to be getting back to your old ways.  We still do 4 bottles a day, and 3 “meals” per day.  

Your new favorite thing is “lil crunchies”.   You also really liked pancakes, peaches, and grits with a tiny bit of parmesan cheese.  I tried giving you a little bit of deli meat, but it was hard for you to pick up and “chew” since it was so thin.  We’ll keep experimenting!

Sleeping:

Other than our week of newborn-again-ness, you continue to be my good sleeper!  You sleep about 11-12 hours each night and nap a few times each day (though not on a regular schedule).

Development:

This was the month that you fell in love with “pulling up”.  You love to pull up on anything and everything (especially in your crib at night when we want you to sleep!). You are also signing more often, though it is not always perfect.  Last night, I think you were trying any hand motion that would lead to a “lil crunchy”.  You are also slowing learning how to drink your bottle by yourself, though you definitely prefer when we do it.  You can repeat sounds and motions that we make, and you say MAMA and DADA regularly (good boy!). 

Personality:

What a cutie and a comedian.  You love to laugh and to make us laugh.  We invented a game a few nights ago: I pretend to look around the room for you with my head facing another direction and say, “Where’s Doster? Doster???”

You eventually crawl over and grab me and you laugh and laugh.

You like:  tags, phones, crawling after Brighton, music, blocks, baths, lil crunchies, necklaces, your family, clapping

You dislike: diaper changes, nose cleaning, having your temperature taken, when the doctor looks in your ears!

You continue to be my little beam of light.  Each second that I spend with you is so treasured.  I am so blessed to have such a fun, happy, healthy baby.  Thank you for being so wonderful!