1 Year!

1.  I know this is WAY late but you know, life

2.  How is our sweet babe already one?!  

I know all parents say it but this was the fastest year of our lives.  

From those 6 weeks of sitting in the NICU to being home with our sweet boy to middle of the night feedings, sleep deprivation, being stuck inside ALL winter, to starting to venture out and about in the world, to watching our sweet boy grow and learn new things EVERY single day and become just the BEST thing in the world to us.  While it was the shortest, it was THE best year.

At his one year check up LM weighed in at 20lbs 6.5oz and 29.25" long.  He is still an eating machine and has fully switched to regular milk.  He recently has learned how to wave (which he does only when he feels like it), he is cruising along the furniture and can transfer back and forth between the ottoman and sofa.  Just lately he is imitating more and more sounds (again when he wants to) and very clearly said 'red' (of all things) the other day so we're counting that as his first word.  

He is discovering a love for blocks, putting things and in out of containers, 'patting' items together, going for stroller rides/runs and continuing to not let us read very many books to him.  If you want to read approximately one page of a book and then have it shut on your thumb with some force, he's your guy.

Kait and Dane so sweetly gifted LM with a zoo pass for his birthday so we've been a few times and he's a big fan of the polar bears and manatees.  And Fiona, duh.  

He still hates to be tired and will just shut it down when he is.  He grabs that thumb and any resemblance of fabric/blanket/shirt/bib and closes his eyes. 

We celebrated his birthday with a big ol bash with the theme of 'Party Animals'.   I had SO much fun planning his party and LOVED how it turned out.  

On one random trip to Target a few months before his birthday I found the cutest decorations in the dollar spot that fit the theme I had in my head to a 'T'.  And from there it all just seemed to come together pretty easily.

I did my best to keep the chaos and stress to a minimum but did craft a few things.  I found this site and ordered this set and printed them locally and had 'pin the bow tie on the bear' and 'pin the party hat on the lion'.  

I went simple for the cake and ordered a plain white cake from Costco (it was delicious) and added this guy from Etsy and a 'one' sign.  For the rest of the food we ordered Chick Fil A nuggets, pulled pork, crock pot mac n' cheese, veggie/fruit trays and animal cracker snack mix.  I had a local bakery make THE cutest animal cookies.  

 I picked up an oversized birthday cupcake for LM instead of ordering a whole smash cake and he went to town on it.  It was his first taste of sugar and he was clearly a fan.  

 LM did take a nap for about an hour in the middle...but hey, it was his party and he can nap if he wants to.

We had such a fun day with family and friends!