Take Me Out to the... Birthday Party!

For Jack's first birthday, we had a baseball theme. Basically I was searching pinterest for birthday ideas when I saw the invitation idea, and absolutely fell in love. So I took his picture (super easy since he is SO ADORABLE!) and made this:

     We decided that we would just invite family to this little shin-dig, since our house isn't huge and we are blessed to live by so much family! Going along with the baseball theme, we had hot dogs and nachos for dinner. Super simple, another plus of the theme!

     Jack opened presents (with the help of his cousin Charlotte) and had fun playing with balloons (which we gave him earlier that day) and his cousins, and great-grandmas.

Opening presents

Jack and Great-Grandma Clawson

Jack and Great-Grandma Murray

And of course we ate cake!

 

We had a fun time celebrating Jack's first birthday!!

Jack Michael: One Year Old!

That's right, my BABY is one! I know the people (including myself) love throwing around phrases like, "I can't believe it!" and, "where did the time go?" But seriously. A WHOLE YEAR. It has been a whole year. Crazy.

Jack 1 day old

• Jack loves to walk everywhere. He just recently started wanting to get down while we are carrying him. 
• He also just started to walk backwards... I'm not sure if that is a milestone or not, but he will spend 10 minutes just walking backwards a few steps, forwards, then backwards again. 
• He loves hugs--something that I am really happy about.
• His favorite foods are anything italian or mexican. This boy loves flavorful foods. And yogurt.
• He still throws everything, and his favorite toys are balls.
• His favorite book is our animal touch and feel book. If that is our bedtime story, we have to read it three or four times before mom and dad finally say we are done.
• He goes up stairs, but can't figure out how to go down yet...
• He can however get off the couch by himself, and is VERY proud of it. Last night he kept wanting on the couch, only to get off again by himself. Over and over and over. 
• He LOVES music and likes to "dance"
• And just in the last couple of days will proudly poke one of our noses when we ask.

I know his nose is runny... but I love his face!

I'm sure there is more, but I'll stop there. We had a birthday party, but that will be another post.

Oh, and his 1 year stats: 

18 lbs 14oz (4%)

29.75 in (50%)

Monkeys, Seals, and Lynx: Oh My!

Fact: I will never get better at this whole blog thing. Fact: I will still live. Fact: Our lives are still going on, even if I don't record our adventures. Now on to the zoo!

Jack and I went to the zoo with Michael's sister Coleen and her son, Gabriel, who is about 7 months older than Jack.

We had so much fun! Jack was so incredibly small last year while the weather was nice, so we didn't get outside all that much. We've loved the warm weather over the last couple of weeks and have taken lots of walks and have tried to be outside a lot. The weather for our zoo adventure couldn't have been better.

Sitting on the elephant enjoying the sun

Jack's favorite was definitely the seals. He would have sat there forever watching them swim around if I had let him. It made me really excited for the new and improved aquarium opening this month!

Gabe and Jack watching the seal together

In the gorilla house, the gorilla was very cooperative and eating right next to the window. I though, "perfect! I'll put Jack right next to him so he can get a good look!" Bad idea. As soon as I stood Jack next to the glass, the gorilla looked up from his salad and Jack freaked. He was terrified! I'll admit, gorillas sort of freak me out too. It was sad and funny all at the same time.

Jack pretty much loved any animals that were actually moving. It's so fun to see him start to understand the world around him. The most cooperative animals were the seals, lynx, and polar bear. Some of the monkeys were being fun too.

The lynx

We tried the carousel too, but it just wasn't a hit. I think by that time he was ready for a nap though. Other than the animals, it was just fun to be with Cousin Gabe and play outside!

When we first got on he was okay

But couldn't quite figure out what he was suppose to do

And this week is Jack's first birthday! I can't believe it's been a year!

Hee Haw Farms

     I've been really horrible about blogging--I thought I would get better after having a child! Ha! Oh well. 

     This last Saturday, we went to Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove with Michael's sister and her family. It was a ton of fun! Not only did we get to play in a corn box, go on a hay ride, play with baby pigs, ride a giant slide and enjoy the beautiful fall day--we realized something about our sons character: he takes a while to warm up to things. 

     We've always noticed it, to a degree. Michael says he is just like him, but for about the first hour, maybe hour and a half, Jack was so serious. We could not get him to smile for anything. He just watched everything that was going on, studying it. Then, about an hour and a half into the adventure (half an hour before we were about to go) he loosened up and began playing, jabbering and laughing. Silly boy. 

     Anyway, enjoy the pictures! (Oh yeah! Jack is also apparently allergic to what we think must be hay. His eyes were watering and he broke out in a rash on his face--you'll notice in the pictures.)

Jack with his cousin Gabriel

Six Months!

     That's right! My beautiful baby boy is six months old! I can hardly believe it. We went to visit a friend who had a baby last week and as I reached out to hold her little newborn, I suddenly realized I had no idea how you hold a newborn! He was so little and fragile! Then I looked over and Jack was sitting there happily playing with toys all by himself. It's amazing to me how quickly he's grown--and how much he can do independently now.
     He sits, has one tooth and one coming in, passes toys from hand to hand (a developmental thing I just recently learned about!), he eats fruits and vegetables (when I remember to give them to him), and loves peek-a-boo. He's my joy!
     We had his six month wellness checkup yesterday, and he is 26 1/2 in. long (56%) and 15.7 lbs. (19%). I know, you look at his pictures and wonder how in the world can that delicious face be in the 19%?! But that is pretty much all his chub--his adorable, kissable face.
     I planned on going up the canyon and taking a ton of really great pictures, but our Saturday became more full than we expected. Maybe we'll get that done this weekend. Luckily Michael's grandma has the perfect picture yard and we were able to snap a few between running around like crazies.

Jack is not a huge fan of grass, it turns out. This is the face he made the entire time he was on it directly.

This is his new: "I have teeth smile"

Jack Michael

     I'm a mom! My beautiful, perfect son was born March 7, 2013 at 8:11pm. He weighed 6lbs. 2oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. Here's a run down and then some cute pictures:
     I woke up around 3am on Thursday morning with pretty strong contractions. They were coming about every 15 minutes, so I had a feeling it was the beginning of the real thing, but it wasn't time to go to the hospital or anything. When our alarm went off at 6am, I hadn't gotten much sleep, but my contractions were still about 10 minutes apart, so Michael and I decided that he would go to work, and we would wait until they were about 5 minutes apart before going into the hospital.
     I also decided to go to work, sort of last minute, but couldn't imagine staying home with nothing to do but count minutes and obsess. Pretty much everyone from Michael, to my older sister, to the girl taking over my classes for me thought I was insane, but I was able to sit at my desk and finish grading and entering grades into the computer. Much better to keep my mind busy. I decided it was time to leave when my contractions were about 6-7 minutes apart.
     By this time I was in quite a bit of pain, and I was ready to get into the hospital and get an epidural. I called Michael and told him it was time to come home. It was about 1pm by the time we got to the hospital. They hooked me up to monitors and told me that as long as there was a change when they checked on me in an hour, I would be admitted. There was a change, so I was admitted and right away they hooked my IV up and called the anesthesiologist so I could get my epidural.
     First, epidurals are awesome. Second, I got my epidural around 3:30 or 4pm and he was born at 8:11. It went really fast. Way faster than they expected. They started me on a pitocin drip after I had my epidural, but the contractions were coming so fast and strong that it made his heart rate drop too low and in a flurry of activity they stopped the drip, broke my water and stuck a monitor to his head. In an hour I had gone from a 4cm to 9cm. Pretty quick, huh?
     When they realized how quickly I was progressing (amazingly without any pain--and thinking about the pain I went through getting from 2cm-4cm I'm extremely grateful for the miracle of modern medicine.) They called the on call doctor to come and deliver my baby. I pushed through 6 or 7 contractions (with a small break in between the first 3 and the last 3 to check his heart rate) and my tiny son was born!
     My first words were "He's so small!" Like I mentioned earlier, he only weighed 6lbs 2oz. But he's perfect! He's strong and healthy and calm and sweet. I know I'm saying this because I'm his mom, but he is honestly the most perfect, beautiful baby I have ever seen. I loved him from the second I found out I was pregnant, and the moment I saw him that love was justified and grew 10 fold. I had no idea I would feel such an amazingly strong love for him so immediately.
Here's the pictures!