Turning 1

It was a big day for our littlest love. His 1st birthday! I still can't believe my baby is already 1. My boy is so in love with his mama that I decided the best gift I could give him was an entire day alone with me. (Our Valentine photo together).At 9:50 am, the exact moment he was born a year ago he was fast asleep, bottom up in the air, 1.5 hours in to his nap. Once he woke up & after he was finished climbing in & out of his swing that he has definitely grown out of we headed out to his doctor's appointment to find out that he is indeed light like his brothers at 19 pounds 10 ounces (10%) but taller than them at 30.5 inches (65%). Lunch & another nap & then it was time for his one year photo shoot. Can't you tell he enjoys it? Averting his eyes & then playing peek-a-boo behind the tree. We did get some cute photos to finish his one year frame so I was happy. More playing, dinner with my family & then it was time to see if he would eat cake (well actually cupcakes) on his actual birthday. We all sang Happy Birthday, watched Johnnie blow out the candle again, gave Jimmy his cupcake & then waited, hoping that he would at least take one bite & not spit it out. NOPE! He picked it up, smooshed it in his hands & threw it on the floor. Looked over his tray to check out his mess. And then happily clapped for himself! Okay so maybe next year. So then we moved on to unwrapping gifts. Thanks for your help Johnnie. I thought for sure this would at least be successful. NOPE! He went off to play with grandpa instead. At least his older brothers enjoyed it. We love you baby boy & look forward to watching you grow even more this year, but please slow down. There's no rush.

Gotta Love Grandparents (& a Cousin)

Now that I have a mostly healthy household I have been able to try & catch up on editing photos & posting them. I have always found it interesting that no matter how clingy our boys are being with us there is always time for grandpa & this week there was time for gramma, grandpa Joe & cousin Isobel. We were lucky enough to have them here to help celebrate Jimmy turning 1. But there were a lot of fun regular moments too. There was a lot of time spent trying to enjoy the nice California sun (they are from Connecticut) & the boys are always up for playing in the backyard. Joey convinced grandpa to swing with him & I was quite surprised to see that he fit rather nicely. Johnnie spent most of his time playing bubbles with gramma. It's a tradition between the two of them. They always seem to have so much fun. Blowing bubbles, Johnnie trying to catch them with his mouth & the two of them just giggling a lot. Jimmy just walked around the yard watching the activities but gramma managed to get a squeeze in & grandpa decided it was time to start teaching the little guy how to play tee ball which he seemed to really enjoy. Jimmy especially took a liking to Isobel & was constantly tackling her, hugging her & just having fun with her. She was a really good sport putting up with a house full of boys. She & Johnnie got along really great & from the moment she laughed at Spongebob I think Johnnie was in love. All week long we heard him saying "Isobel what are you doing?" "Isobel where are you?" And the first morning they were gone he walked around the house calling out for her. I would love to say there were some quiet moments too like our Valentines pancake breakfast but that would just be untrue. There were pancakes & bacon but no quiet. And on the last night before their visit ended we went out on a double date to celebrate Valentine's day a day late. We miss you guys already & can't wait for our next visit.

A Big Weekend

This weekend was packed for us. A visit from gramma, grandpa Joe & cousin Isobel. Jimmy's 1st birthday party & Valentine's Day. A ton of photos have been taken but this post is all about Jimmy's birthday party. We decided to have his party 10 days before his birthday so Rick's family could be included. It was a beautiful day. Sunny & 78 degrees. Lots of friends, family a jumper with a slide, a catered taco stand & of course a cake. It was such a nice day watching Jimmy walk around the yard smiling & laughing being passed around from friend to friend. After some time went by it was time to sing to the birthday boy. He had never had sweets up to this point so we were excited to see his reaction. Up in the high chair he went to have everyone sing to him. He seemed to enjoy the song & his two brothers were right there to sing to him. But then after Johnnie blew his little brother's candle out everything changed. Jimmy seemed disgusted when he touched the cake. I still held out hope that he might enjoy the taste of the cake but that idea was soon shattered when after the first bite he made yuck face & proceeded to spit it out. And then everthing went downhill from there. Jimmy started crying & rubbing cake all over his face. He was signing "All Done" & just wanted to get away from the cake. It was so sad but of course we had to make sure to get a picture of his messy face. Too bad it all ended up all over his face & not in his mouth. Maybe he'll eat some on his actual big day. And then after cleaning him up & changing his clothes Jimmy was back to his happy self. We really wanted a family photo but we couldn't get Johnnie or Joey out of the jumper so we made sure to get a pic with our birthday boy! Thanks to everyone who helped to make this day so special.

Nothing a Bath Can't Fix

So it's Monday morning & here I am at home with my sick baby boy. He has had a cold for what seems like months. It will start to disappear & then it rears its ugly head. And each time it seems worse. Last night it came in the form of waking up every 1.5-2 hours crying with a runny nose & coughing & then wanting me to hold him for 45 minutes-1 hour & therefore we both only slept 2 hours. So home we stayed, just Jimmy & me. Most of the day he looked like this. And occasionally the tears stopped but sad face didn't. Before I took him to his doctor's appointment I decided he needed a bath & what you can see from this next series of photos is that bath time can fix everything. He was happy. The whining & crying stopped & my baby was just happy to be splashing around. He is officially 50 weeks old. Only 2 weeks away from 1. A little under the weather but happy as long as he's being held by mommy or playing in the bathtub. Feel better soon sweetie. Love you!

Random Ten

1. We haven't had a lot going on but I wanted to share some of my favorite photos I have taken recently.

2. This series of photos was taken back on December 26th. While Jimmy was napping Johnnie & Joey were painting.3. More playing than painting for Joe.4. But his finished product came out really nice.5. And along with Johnnie's painting it now hangs in my office where I can see it every time I work on my computer.6. So a few weeks back it was pouring rain here. So I went out & bought the boys some winter boots. I was afraid that Johnnie with his many opinions would not wear his but I guess I worried for nothing. When I came in to wake him up in the morning I found that him like this. He must have put them on sometime during the night. 7. And then he came down to breakfast wearing them. And I had to beg him to take them off so we could dress him for school & he only took them off after the week of rain was over.8. I will never tire of seeing baby bottoms, especially my babies.9. Jimmy's 48 Week Photos. His I'm getting into things Face & What Me Face. 10. And 3 weeks away from 1, his 49 week photo. Getting some love before bedtime. It's seriously hard for me to resist this little face looking so sweet.