Liam's 1st Year Slideshow

Confession: I made it the entire party day without shedding a tear, until the very end of this video.

The video is below, or if that doesn't work, here is the direct link:

http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_shared?p=1079d7e7e10b640dbb82aa2&skin_id=701&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

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Liam's Wild Rumpus

 
Back story to the "Where the Wild Things Are" theme: since he was probably 5 or 6  months old, Liam has had this thing where he would take my face in his hands and "eat" my jaw.  He's also very ticklish right under his chin, and would giggle like crazy if you would pretend to take a bite of him right in that spot.  Whenever one of those things was happening, I would always say to him, "I'll eat you up, I love you so!", which of course, is a quote from the book.  And since I always love a good theme, I had decided months ago that Liam's first birthday party would be a Wild Rumpus.  (this is going to be long and picture-heavy...you've been warned.)

 The theme details (info about various items at the bottom of the post):

All signs and favor tags were FREE printables from here:  http://blog.hwtm.com/2011/03/bright-modern-wild-rumpus-birthday-party/

Cake, crown, and cookie favor table

cookie favors with tags that say, "Thanks for coming"

close up of favor tag

"Wild Thing" crowns for the kids (and some adults...and the dog...see below)

Paper lanterns above food table

Food table, complete with the inspiration quote :)

drink table

 

Gracie, embracing her inner Wild Thing:

And now, I present to you...the birthday boy!!!

Please note he was not actually consuming anything from this bottle, but the look on his face cracks me up, I had to post this pic (also, please note that the main color on the beer bottle is yellow....while Brian might have questioned my sanity at various points of planning this party, he obviously fully embraced the theme, since he came home with a case of that beer and proudly declared, "Look!  I even got some beer to match the party colors!"  It was a proud moment for me.)

Liam did so well that day, I wasn't sure how it would go over, between the heat and the fact that there would be so much going on, and so many people...but he was great!  He helped open some of his presents (with a little help from his big bro, of course!):

"Oh snap...I get presents??"

And of course, the highlight of any birthday party is always the CAKE!  Cake and smash cake made by Creative Cakes Pittsburgh.

He wasn't happy initially, because we made him put a crown on his head...

But, as soon as everyone started to sing, he immediately stopped crying and became mesmerized by the singing.  Here's a video:

Once he figured out how delicious the cake was, there was no stopping him. We literally had to put a stop to him, by taking the cake away.

I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY!

trying to share with Jake

He got him!

overeat? who, me??

The aftermath: just a naked baby, his crown, and a giant mess.

A huge thank you to the friends and family who joined us for Liam's special day...he is lucky to have such great, loving people in his life, thanks for celebrating with us!!

Party detail information:

Signs and favor tags: Featured on the Hostess with the Mostess blog
http://blog.hwtm.com/2011/03/bright-modern-wild-rumpus-birthday-party/
Crowns: PaperMart Party Supplies
Cookie favors: Giant Eagle bakery
Paper Lanterns: Dollar bins at Target (once again, this is why it's so important to always stalk the dollar bins!!)
Cake and smash cake: Creative Cakes Pittsburgh
Cup labels and drink signs: I made them, using the images from this invitation (featured on the blog linked above)
Liam's bib, birthday banner and catch mat for highchair: Dollar Tree

The menu:
Tastefully Simple Fiesta Dip
Tastefully Simple Spinach and Herb Dip
Fruit Salad
Hamburgers
Hot Dogs
Baked Beans
Halushki
Pasta Salad

Pop
Water
Lemonade
Juice Boxes
Vodka Lemonade
Sangria
Beer

Look out, it's Spider Man!

Jake's new favorite game is swinging on his belly, putting his hands out and pretending to be spiderman, swinging through the air on his web.

It's so much fun watching him be more and more imaginative in his play.  He will often just lose himself, pretending to be a superhero, or buzz lightyear, or whatever he can think of in that moment.  He's really been much more independent in his play recently.  And we've been getting a lot of use out of the swingset, too!  It's nice to be able to take the kids out there after school and let Jake get some energy out before bedtime.  He'll often play spiderman on the swings, or ride that glider next to the swing, and pretend he's on Batman's motorcycle, chasing the bad guys.  He also likes to retreat to the clubhouse part of the set, and hold "super secret meetings". I'm not usually allowed in on them, but Liam is :) 

So while the playset might be been a huge pain to set up last year for my dad and Brian, it was worth it!

Pool Party!

It was hot, hot, hot yesterday, so we decided to blow up the pool for the first time this season in the afternoon.  The boys had a blast!

While it was like an inferno outside, the pool water was still pretty chilly, so I finally had to force both of them out of the pool, looking like little blue smurfs with shivering lips. (you can see in Jake's picture below how cold he is!)

He was saying, "I'm so cold, but I'm having so much fun, I still want to play!"

Take a look at the little doggy cabana area that Brian put together for Gracie...if you ever hear him saying that he doesn't like small dogs, or that Gracie is a pain, remember this picture, and know that he put this area together so that she would be comfortable in the shade.  Awwwww!!!

Once I got them out of the pool and dried off, we stayed outside to enjoy the beautiful day.  Check out the pictures of the boys sharing a chair, and tell me they don't make your heart smile.  They were even holding hands at one point. 

Liam's 1 Year Check Up

 Liam received a great report from his 1 year check up last week!  Here are the latest stats:

Height: 30.5 inches (75th percentile!)
Weight: 22.5 lbs (50th percentile)
Head circumference: 47 cm (70th percentile)

So, he's tall, average weight, and has a slightly larger than average head :)  (must be because he has a lot of brain to store)  He was right on track with everything, the doctor was pleased to hear how well he eats, and that he's crawling normally at this point.  He agreed that we could try to wean Liam off of the reflux meds at this point, and suggested that we initially stop giving him one dose and see how that goes for 10 days or so.  If all is well, then we can drop that one, too.  So we started right away!  He didn't have his evening dose for 3 days, and he was fine. Then yesterday, we forgot about giving him his medication until almost 11am.  At that point, it wasn't bothering him, so we figured we'd give it a shot to see what happened.  good news...nothing happened!  No crying, no more spit up than usual, nothing!  YAY!  I'm not getting my hopes up just yet, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  You know your kid has been on medication for a long time when the pharmacist at Target knows you and your child by name.  (sorry, Katie...we'll still keep in touch!)

We also decided to cut back on his bottles last week, and even though he was pretty angry the first day according to his teachers, he was totally fine with it by the next day.  By the end of the week, he was skipping his morning bottle and content to have a snack at that time instead.  He was still taking his 3pm bottle, so they're going to cut that out this week.  I'm still nursing him in the morning and at bedtime, so we'll see where that takes us next week once he's transitioned totally out of his daytime feedings. 

Funny daycare story; Liam wasn't at school the day of his birthday, but the next day, I sent in some mini muffins for him to share with his friends during afternoon snack to celebrate.  The teachers made him a birthday crown, sang to him, then passed out the snacks at the tiny table where all of the kids sit.  Liam ate his muffin in .02 seconds, and started looking for more. There were extras, and they figured it was his birthday, so why not?  He ate muffin #2 in record time.  After that, he committed a major party foul and had to actually be removed from his own birthday celebration...he started swiping the muffins from all of his friends who were still eating (because apparently, not every baby hoovers their food right off of the table!)  Oops.  

Happy 1st Birthday, Liam!!

Liam,

Whenever someone meets you, one of the first things they say is, "He's so smiley!" and it's true, you are always so full of smiles.  Which is funny, because for your first few months of life, I said you were one of the most serious babies I had ever met.  And you still have your serious moments where you look like you are really contemplating what is going on around you; but for those first few months, your forehead would wrinkle and you were intently concentrate on what was around you!

You are most ticklish on your sides right under your arms, and on the bottoms of your feet.  You love your bath (especially now that you get to take them with Jake), and you LOVE to eat.  The teachers at your school report to me that you often have to be separated from the other kids at meal time because you try to steal their food once you've consumed all of yours :)  You have approximately 972 baby toys but of course, your favorite toys are whatever Jake is currently playing with.  You try to keep up with him as best you can, and you do a pretty good job most of the time.

You can stand by yourself for about 10 seconds at a time, and you can make it the whole way across a room using a push toy.  You cruise along the couch, pull yourself up on just about anything you can get your hands on, and get into anything that's within your reach (why is Gracie's water bowl oh so tempting?) You are always babbling and telling us things, and you're starting to point at certain objects and say "eh?", like you want to know what it is, or if you can have it. 

While you love to be on the move, you also still let me cuddle you, which I will take advantage of for as long as I can.  Even in the middle of playing sometimes you stop, crawl into my lap, and bury your head in my chest or put it on my shoulder.  Sometimes it may only be for a few seconds, but it's enough for me...to know that you still need me, even in the middle of having so much fun. 

Thank you for all of the memories so far, we can't wait to see what the next year brings for you, Liam!

6 lbs, 13 oz  -  20.5 inches long

Happy first birthday, Liam, we love you!!