More smash cake photos;-)

Kayden's 1st birthday Party in Arizona

On Saturday Kayden celebrated his first birthday with his friends here in Arizona. We celebrated with a double birthday party! Tula and Kayden have known each other since October, so they have spent alot of time together this first year, we usually play with Tula 2 to 3 times a week either with our group or just the 2 of them. They were born a day apart and always seem to love eachothers company, Tula's mommy is great too and has become a great friend of mommy's. So we decided to celebrate the babies birthdays together instead of doing 2 seperate parties in one weekend. The party turned out very cute and it was so fun celebrated with his good friend. We invited our mommy group and all of his little friends from the group and some of mommy's friends. The party started at 11:30 and people started showing up at 11. Kayden and Tula were troopers and seemed to enjoy all the attention and having their friends there to play. Kayden's favorite part of the event seemed to be the balloons his grandma & grandpa sent him for the party. He was walking around holding the balloons or wrapped up in them most of the day;-) The babies had fun smashing their smash cakes that Christa and I decorated (after her mom was nice enough to teach us AND make the cakes to serve to the guests!). Neither of them seemed to actually eat much of the cake but they did destroy it and one of the best parts of the cake smashing was when we pushed their highchairs together and they looked at eachother. You could tell they were in shock at how they looked and then tried to pick icing off of eachother's hands. After the cake smashing we threw the babies in the bath together and Kayden was not happy about it and let us know through the whole bath, we redressed them and did the gift opening. 43 people came to celebrate with the 2 of them, and 16 babies were present! Such a fun way to turn ONE! It was a great party and so special for us to celebrate with his little friends that we have grown to love!

Happy Birthday!

Well I have been delaying writing your 1 year post because it is so bitter sweet to me. I remember hearing you cry when you came out of me and how upset you were, daddy brought you to me and when our cheeks touched you calmed down instantly. That was my first favorite moment with you and the first time I knew what it felt like to be a mom. I didn't sleep for the next 3 days for more than an hour or two but I wasn't tired, I was so in love with you and in awe that I didn't want to close my eyes, I didn't want to miss a moment with you. I love and adore every day I get with you and it feels like they all are passing too quickly for my liking. Each new day is my favorite day with you and each day I think you can't possibly get any cuter but yet I wake up again the next morning and some how that day I fall in love with you a million new ways and your smile gets brighter and brighter. This year you have brought to me a whole new world of meaning to words I thought I already knew, like what unconditional love is, patience, tenderness, fear, excitement and so much more. I always thought I knew how wonderful being a mommy to someone would be, but then I had you and I learned I never could have even imagined the depth of wonder it could be. I am so very blessed to have you in my life and to get to be the one you call mommy. I remember the first time you said "mama", it was actually on Valentine's day, I was busy doing something and you were in your crib while daddy got ready for the night. I heard you say "mama" and I ran from across the house to say "mama is here baby" and daddy asked "how in the world did you hear that from way over there?" I told him that a mommy always hears the first time their baby says mama! I will never get tired of hearing you say mama, it still can make me smile no matter what. Your little laugh is contagious, when you start daddy and I can't help but join you and Fifi sometimes joins in too. Thank you so much for such a wonderful year baby boy! I am so thankful to have you in my life, you have given me the best gift ever, the label of mom is now mine thanks to your precious little soul! I love you baby boy, and I'm excited to see the joys that year number 2 brings!

Happy 1st Birthday Baby!

I made this slideshow for you of your first year. I have so many photos of you and it was so hard for me to choose because in each one you are so precious and they all are so special to me. So.......the slideshow is pretty long but I feel like it shows your first year well and the great times we've had this year.
I chose this song for you because often times when we are doing something the lyrics play in my head. The song also is a great way to explain why I choose to parent you the way I do!

"I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand.
You felt so good in it; no bigger than a minute.
How it amazes me you're changin' with every blink.
Faster than a flower blooms, they grow up all too soon.

So let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give 'em hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let 'em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

I never felt so much in one little tender touch.
I live for those kisses, your prayers an' your wishes.
An' now you're teachin' me how only a child can see."

I do let you sleep in the middle baby boy, I love you every day, and I love to hear you giggle!

Tomorrow!

First taste of spaghetti sauce...not sure about it yet! Daddy wouldn't be happy mommy let him get this messy!!




At 7:03pm my baby will be 1 year old! Luckily I'm too busy today to contemplate on it too much. I need to make some sugar cookies but people have been asking for new photos of the peanut so here are a couple from yesterday and today, his last two days of being under a year, sniff, sniff!

I need this Zebra mommy!

Is One magical?

I think it is so strange that at a year you can all of a sudden give your baby cow's milk, sugar, chocolate, strawberries, citrus, and the list goes on. Is one a magical number or who decided that a baby is ready at one for cow's milk but they aren't at 11 months or 13 months? Silly actually. So we tried cow's milk with our little monkey and he hated it. Luckily for him I'm not planning on weaning him. I'm planning on following his lead and encouraging the sippy or glass but never "taking away" nursing for him. He loves to nurse, finds comfort and nutrition in it and I'm not going to subject him to crying because some one decided at one year you *can* give cow's milk. Yes, you can, but do you have to nope. Breastmilk is still the perfect food for him, as he gets older breastmilk gets more concentrated and has more fat and nutrition per ounce than it did when he was younger. It still gives him natural immunity through my antibodies so there are alot of reasons to keep nursing. I love our nursing relationship, it has created such a special bond between us and I am so thankful for the time we have had together in that special way. I hope I always keep those special cuddles in my mind's eye as the years pass and remember this short, special time. I'm sure as this new year approaches our nursing relationship will change, it will be less frequent and may even end, but I'll always have those special times in my memory bank. I'm so happy we made it to my goal of 1 year! We went through alot to get here and I'd go through it all again for my little man!