Samuel turns 1! (Part 2)

Okay, another quick birthday blurb (that I started two days ago and am now trying to quickly finish!)... Seriously, this is taking forever, right? The kid's almost 13 months already!

Anyway.. we had Samuel's little birthday party on Saturday, Feb. 1. My parents were in town  and Eric was on call all week, so we didn't want to plan anything big since we weren't sure if he was going to get to be there or not. The "party" was really low-key, but still fun! I was glad it wasn't too overwhelming for S, too. And thankfully, Eric didn't get called in at all!

So around lunch time we went ahead and let Samuel open his presents. We learned at Christmas that presents just aren't that interesting yet. Tissue paper is WAY cooler. So after opening one or two, Eric and I basically took turns opening Samuel's gifts for him while he chased his balloons around (which his Pappy so graciously blew up for him that morning).

He got a lot of little things, but the "big" items were some mega-blocks from Grammy and Pappy, a tunnel and some kickballs from Eric and me (he actually opened those on his real birthday), and some race cars and a track thing from Gran-Gran and Granddaddy. So far I think the cars are the biggest hit.. he hasn't quite figured out how to put the blocks together yet and he seems a little weirded out by the tunnel. I think they'll come around in another month or two though.

For lunch, we decided there was no better kid food than HOT DOGS, a delicacy which Samuel had yet to taste. He was quite the fan. Thankfully it was a really pretty day, so we were able to grill and enjoy some (cold) sunshine while we celebrated.

Once the hot dogs were all cleaned up, the real fun began! I was able to get a (free!) smash cake from Harris Teeter, our local grocery store that I'm a little obsessed with. I also got a small cake for the adults. Despite being a "smash cake," Samuel's little dessert was pretty good-sized. You definitely could get 6-10 adult pieces of cake out of that thing (although I'm pretty sure it was 50% icing).

We sang happy birthday and then let him go to town. He didn't go quite as crazy on the cake as I thought he would. Well, let me rephrase. He went crazy on the cake, he just did it quietly. I was expecting some squeals of delight or the classic "stick your face in the cake" move. But Samuel surprised us and, after a tentative start (what would you do if some weird thing were put in front of you and everyone in your family just stared to see what you did?) just steadily ate and ate and ate and ate... It took him a minute to get into going since the cake was a little hard from being in the fridge (I had to help with a fork). Once he got it, though, he went to town, and ate a good 1/3 of it.

Unfortunately, he also threw a good portion of that back up a few minutes later. Ew. Apparently his belly wasn't quite ready for icing yet. That move made me particularly glad we didn't have a big party! I guess it's our own fault. We let him eat for a good 15 minutes, which was clearly a mistake. He had a good time though!

After we all enjoyed our own bit of cake and got the floor cleaned up, we stripped little man down and got him in the bath tub. He had icing EVERYWHERE. His few little teeth were all green and blue. He had icing in his eyes and ears and hair. He was an adorable, adorable mess. We got him cleaned up and off to nap time. Cake tasting must be pretty difficult, because he slept like a log!

I'm so glad we all got to be here for Samuel's big day! It was super chill and fun and we all had a great time! Not that he'll remember any of it... ;-)

Samuel is 1! (Part 1)

I've tried to write this a few different times, and each time have run out of time/energy. Our house has been sick and snowed in and full of visitors, so I figure the best way to do this is to just jot what I can when I can... otherwise this sweet boy's first birthday will never get documented!

At one year old, Samuel...

- is 30 1/2" tall (75th percentile)
- weighs 20 1/2 lbs (35th percentile -- he actually is probably around 22, but he'd lost quite a bit of weight from the stomach bug the week we went to the dr. I've been stuffing him full of food since then!)
- still has a teeny little 17 1/2" head (15th percentile)
- sleeps from 8-7:15/7:30 and usually takes two 1-2 hours naps, though the morning one is kind of hit and miss.
- runs around like crazy!
- says mama, dada, yes, uh-oh (I think??) and, most recently, sings e-i-e-i-o (not all of these are discriminate, mind you). He also babbles to us ALL the time! I wish I knew what he was saying!
- has 6 teeth... he's been working on one of his top ones for FOREVER. Like 2 months. One day it will surprise us and actually break through!
- goes through an average of 4-5 diapers a day (sorry, gross, but I might want to remember that for future kids!)
- loves to stack and put things in other things (i.e. blocks into a box, etc.) We never know where we are going to find things hidden! Eric's keys are probably in one of my shoes right now.
- eats 4-5 meals a day and nurses once (I finally cut out the morning feeding this week!). He loves just about anything we put in front of him and often eats almost as much as I do!!
- drinks from a sippy cup and cups with straws (though there is still some serious backwash going on there. I would not suggest sharing with him!)
- is suddenly very cuddly! Maybe it's because he's been sick or because we're not nursing much any more (he had a harder time with that than I expected!), but he is really into being in my lap right now.
-  likes going to the park: this little daredevil likes going to the BIG KIDS play area and climbing up to the top (6+ feet!) and trying to go down the slide. Yikes!
- has started watching (a limited amount of) tv the last couple of weeks - mainly just Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. He loves to dance to the music! (He also loves the intro to The Office and The Big Bang Theory :)
- really likes animals. He's gotten super into his books with baby animals in them and brings them to me constantly (when he's not bringing me The Foot Book - his REAL favorite!)
- is obsessed with the toilet. But he is a boy, so I'm not that surprised.
- brushes his teeth every night. Super cute!
- sleeps with his teddy and his pacifier (in fact, we used some of his birthday money to buy a second teddy for back up!).
- points at what he wants, though sometimes he just points for fun, so I'm not always sure about what he means.
- throws a tantrum like a two year old. This kid knows what he wants!
- can go up the stairs and is working on going down them... he can do it, but sometimes gets a little too excited and forgets to go slow!
- loves balloons and bouncy balls and taking all of his dishes out of the cabinet.

I'm sure there is a lot more I should say... but I'll just have to catch up later. :-) So thankful for my sweet, crazy, lovable little one year old!