The One with the Thirteen Month Update

Yea, I'm super late on this one.  Chasing after a 13 month old is exhausting!

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Liam Michael you are

THIRTEEN MONTHS OLD!

Kid, you are a one-man comedy show, wrecking ball, and Energizer bunny all wrapped into one!

What are your stats and what does the doctor say?

We don't go back to see Dr. G. until August but I'm guessing you are around 27 pounds.  You don't seem to have gotten too much taller based on how your pants are fitting, but you are looking so much more like a toddler every day.  You have a whole head full of blond hair and Daddy keeps talking about getting you a hair cut (not happening!).

What are you eating?

You continue to be an eating machine and will shovel just about anything we give you into your mouth.  This month, Mommy gave you a few more "unhealthy" choices for foods while we were eating at some restaurants.  You had chowder and clam cakes, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, kielbasa, and hot dogs.  You also tried your first taste of donut cake at your birthday party.  Fruit continues to be your favorite thing to eat, but you do still love hummus, macaroni, meatballs, and peanut butter.  After your one-year wellness visit with Dr. G. we go the go ahead to try whole milk and we haven't looked back since.  You now get one 6-ounce bottle of whole milk in the morning when you first wake up and one 6-ounce bottle of whole milk before bed.  You have sippy or straw cups of milk with your meals and water in between.

When do you sleep and eat?

Ever since you started walking (and trying to run most days!), your sleeping habits during the day have really changed.  You are typically awake between 6:00 and 6:30 most mornings and you have your bottle with Mommy in your room.  Your breakfast is usually around 7:45-8:00, depending on what time you get up.  On most days, you are ready for a nap between 9:30 and 10:00.  This nap is now at least an hour in length (and you slept for 3 hours the other day!), but can sometimes be closer to two hours depending on how tired you are.  You have lunch around noontime and take another nap by 2:30ish on most days.  If you take a longer nap in the morning, you have been known to skip an afternoon nap...makes the early evenings before bed time suuuper fun!  We have dinner between 5:30 and 6:00 and you are still asleep by 7:30 most nights.

What size clothes and diapers are you wearing?

You are wearing 18 month and 18-24 month clothes, although a few 12-18 month clothes do still fit.  You are still in size 4 Pampers Cruisers during the day.  We switched to size 5 Huggies Overnites at night and added an extra absorbency pad inside the diaper.  You have been leak-free since then.

What are some things you love?

You love to move everywhere and have taken to running around the house whenever you can.  You absolutely LOVE being outside and got some great new toys for playing outside for your birthday.  You are obsessed with the timer on the kitchen stove and will sit and stare at it while it counts down from a minute.  You are taking more of an interest in books lately and will bring them to us to read to you.  You still love to drive Max crazy and try to "play" ball with him regularly.  Everything still goes in your mouth and you still love the top to Nana's cup, the spatulas and spoons, and the dog's toys.  You enjoy making noise of any sort - screeching, screaming, or banging being at the top of your list.  You like to dance to the music channel on TV and always love to roll around on Mommy and Daddy's bed.  You love the water and think dumping Max's water bowl out is a game.

What are some things you don't love?

There honestly isn't too much that you don't like, except when told no when there is something that you really want (case in point - the picture below).  You can get awfully wiggly and crabby on the changing table, making diaper changes a bit of a challenge lately.  You do not like time out and are starting to learn the concept of consequences.

All because Mommy told you not to eat the soap.

What can you do?

You have learned a lot of new things this month in the language department (although you are not saying actual words).  You can wave hi and bye and will share an object when we ask you to.  You can now sign "please" and will do it constantly to show us that you want something.  You are able to squat down to pick something up.  You will hold our hand and bring us to what you want (like jumping on the bed).

What are you saying?

You have started to say mama more, but we still aren't quite sure you understand the meaning behind it.  You are trying to get words out and will attempt to repeat a sound after we say it, but I wouldn't say there are any actual words yet.  You can still follow simple commands and understand a lot of what we say - especially if we mention going outside or in the stroller!

How many teeth do you have?

I think you may hold the record for the most teeth coming in at one time.  While we knew that two molars were coming in at the beginning of the month, we were shocked to find out that all four molars were coming in at once!  You handled it like a champ and now have 12 teeth!

What are some firsts from this month?

You celebrated your first birthday with a big party with all our family and friends.  You went for your first ride in your tricycle.  

What are some of your nicknames?

Swiper, Mr. Man, Liam Michael, Stinker

What are we looking forward to in the next month?

We will be celebrating Father's Day with a special weekend for Daddy.  We will also be going to Connecticut to celebrate Uncle R.J.'s graduation and you will also celebrate the 4th of July with a party at our house.  Mommy will be on summer vacation very soon and is very much looking forward to spending extra time with you.

You are so much fun, little man and we can't wait to explore and enjoy the summer with you!

The One with the First Birthday Party

We celebrated Liam's birthday on Memorial Day weekend with all of our family and friends.

The theme for the party was The Very Hungry Caterpillar, based on the book by Eric Carle.  I have always loved this children's book and I thought the bright colors would be so fun for his party.  Plus, I could sneak in my love of polka dots without making it too girly!

I worked with awesome shops on Etsy and was able to have some great items customized for the party.

The invitation was from LCDesigns615 and Lisa was very accommodating with my changes and requests.  She is doing a thank you card for us too.

I found a shop that had a whole VHC themed decor package that included signs and labels and favor tags.  This was super helpful because, while I knew I was crafty enough to put decor items together, I really didn't have the time or the ability to design all the items.

Kiyomi Designs was another awesome shop and there were both generic and personalized items that came with the package.  I didn't use them all, but here are a few pictures of the items we did use.

Treat bags filled with Skittles

Bug catchers (yay Dollar Tree!) filled with gummy worms for the kiddos

 Signs for the doors

A caterpillar using Liam's monthly photos

Close up of the beginning of the caterpillar

The banner we hung right above the food table

Liam's outfit for the day came from Tutu Kute and was so very adorable!

This is one of the only pictures I have of him where you can see most of it.  His name was underneath the caterpillar.

I also had a birthday poster made that we used for Liam's one-year pictures a few weeks ago.  We hung it up at his party, even though some of the info had changed (like his 8 teeth have now become 12 and his cruising around the furniture has turned into running around the house!).

From PhiloDesignz

I was tempted to do the foods from the VHC but with 50+ people coming to the house, it was going to be rather challenging to serve plums, salami and cherry pie (to name a few) that the caterpillar eats as opposed to good ol' fashioned hamburgers and hot dogs.

So, we did a cook out with the typical salads and sides and everyone enjoyed eating and mingling.

If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that donut cakes are a pretty serious tradition around here.  Allie's Donuts makes the most amazing cakes in the world and we have them for every celebration in this family.  Therefore, it was only fitting that they would do a caterpillar cake for Liam's birthday.  We also had a caterpillar made from cupcakes and a smash cake caterpillar head for Liam made by my very talented colleague at school.

Liam did have cake on the weekend of his birthday when we did his one-year pictures and cake smash, so he had tasted cake before.  He didn't dig right in, but with a zillion people snapping pictures and talking to him, I think he was a little stunned.  For the most part, we fed the cake to him, but he did dig around in it a bit.

We were blessed with a beautiful day and had so much fun celebrating with so many of our family and friends.  Liam is very lucky to have so many amazing people in his life!

The One with the Actual First Birthday

Considering Liam's 13 month post is coming in less than 48 hours, I thought it was appropriate to finally write about what happened on his actual birthday.

Another post tomorrow about his party once I finally download all the pictures!

I had a doctor's appointment that morning, so I was home from school and got to spend the day with the little man.

That morning, I made funfetti pancakes for Liam.  It was a really easy recipe that I adapted from several different places.  A box of funfetti cake mix, couple eggs, some oil, and a little water until I reached the right consistency.  I also added more rainbow sprinkles because duh, who doesn't want more sprinkles on your birthday?

Notice my mother keeping Liam away from fire but herself out of the picture.

Liam got to eat off of The Red Plate that I got at my baby shower.

We had matching tops from SaSeaDecor.  The owner paired with Jessica of Little Baby Garvin to create shirts and sweatshirts using one of Jessica's chalkboard designs.  They were perfect for Mr. Man's Cinco de Mayo birthday.  They say "fiesta like there's no manana" and I have been living in the sweatshirt for the last month!

Awkward selfie, messy living room.

After my doctor's appointment, I ran a few errands while Liam stayed home with my mom and picked up lunch from Panera on the way home.

Shortly after I got home, flowers were delivered to the house from Hubs to thank me for our son.  It was really sweet and they were beautiful.

When Hubs got home that afternoon, we gave Liam his birthday present (which technically we put together the day before and had been sitting in the living room all that day).  We got him a customized Radio Flyer wagon.  He loves it and we have been getting a ton of use out of it in the last few weeks.

 You think he likes it?!

We took Liam for a spin around the neighborhood in his new wheels before our Mexican-themed dinner.

Notice the convenient drink holder for Mommy's margarita?

When we got home, it was chips and salsa, margaritas, and tacos for dinner to round out our Cinco de Mayo celebration.

We had a great day and almost a month later, I still can't believe I have a one year old!