Reed's 1st Birthday Party

Since Reed was turning 1 on the 1st, this was his golden birthday.  I decided to use that for his party theme.  

It turned out to be pretty hard to find gold party supplies in town.  Plenty of yellow, but no metallic gold.  I found plenty online though.  My favorite find was probably the edible gold star glitter for the cake and cupcakes.

We kept his party a little smaller, since we have so many birthdays packed into just a couple of months, and he's not big enough to make requests yet-like bowling or a bounce house.  

As usual I waited too late to clean and start decorating or anything, and ended up having to miss Cason's soccer game that morning.  :(  Of course that's the game when he decides he's a machine and scores like 9 goals.  Ha.  Veronica made some food, and Cassie came over to help me decorate while I finished getting stuff ready.  Trudi also helped me finish some food I was trying to make.  Thank goodness.

Veronica also crocheted a cute little bowtie and suspenders for the guest of honor.  

It came together well and was such a nice little party.

It was just family, and we had fun celebrating our little man.

We opened gifts.  

Like a lot of little ones, he latched onto the first thing he received and spent the next 10 minutes playing with it while the other kids opened the rest of the gifts for him.

We sang to him, and gave him his cupcake.  He wanted none of it.  He put one hand in the frosting, and we waited, and waited, and Jess gave him a little taste to get him started, and we waited....and he started looking annoyed and trying to shake the frosting off of his hand.  We finally gave up and let him out of the highchair!  I guess he prefers chocolate.

People started to head home not too long after that.  When it was down to just us and my sisters, I realized I hadn't put on Reed's favorite music during the party.  So I set it to Mr. Pitiful, his favorite Otis Redding song, and a little dancing ensued.  That will be a happy memory for me. 

Once it was just us, and for the next couple of days, he got to leisurely enjoy his giant "1" balloon and discover all the gifts he didn't realize he'd been given.  :)

I love this boy so much.  So glad he has so many people who love him.  I wish he could've realized the whole party was all for him, but I think he knows he's loved.

Happy Birthday Reed!

 Last week Reed turned one.  It always seems to go so fast, but I swear this was the fastest year yet.  I can remember so many moments from the day he was born like it was yesterday.  It was my only morning labor, and it had a totally different feel.  I remember how big and heavy he felt, but tiny at the same time.  So crazy.  He was all amazed at everything, staring up at me with his squinty, light-sensitive eyes.  I think it took him a week to fully open them.  He was the cuddliest little buddy. 

 Like all the others we are so amazed at his personality.  I don't know how we get so lucky, but he's SO sweet, and smart, and funny.  Jess says things all the time to me about how much fun he is to have around, or thanks me for making him(like he has nothing to do with how great Reed is). 

 

He's been napping in his crib for a few weeks now, most of the time, which is new for us.  Ha.  He recently discovered the bear Great Grama got him when he was born.  He'll point at him and cry or try to say "bear", until we get him off the shelf.  Then he hugs him tight and is immediately happy.

He kept fighting off his naps for a few days and kind of fussing but I wasn't sure what he wanted.  I finally realized it was his bear.  As soon as I got him, he'd cuddle him, and nurse right to sleep.  It's so cute. 

  

At a year old, Reed weights 23 lbs 5 oz, which puts him at 84.1%, and is 30.5" long, and 75.8% for height.  He seems to grow in big spurts, more so than his siblings did.

He very suddenly started saying lots of words.  I THINK I've heard a few attempts at "peekaboo", and he definitely says "ball", "tickle", "bear", "mama", "dada", "byebye", and "moi(more)".  That one is our favorite, he says it in the cutest, desperate sounding tone.  PLEADING for whatever it is he wants.  He'll draw it out, sounding all sad, and adds an "uh" to the end for emphasis.  "Mooooo-uh"  He also makes a couple of animal sounds at times, especially "woof" and "meow" if we're reading books with cats or dogs.

He is a great mix of independent and cuddly and lovey with all of us. Still the most active, and is walking almost all the time now, unless he's in a real hurry.  Even then he tries to run sometimes.  He likes to be a little naughty, and will pretend to put something in his mouth that he shouldn't, like a Lego block.  He'll fake it, then hold it out to me with a mischievous smile, then turn around and "run" for it, cracking up because he knows I'll chase him.  He has a pretty sophisticated sense of humor, if you ask me.  :)  

A similar thing he likes to do is climb up on the hearth and give me that same naughty smile.

 He's still a huge fan of Gia.

Also his siblings.  He has to be right in the middle of whatever is going on.  I was playing Paige's tea party game with the girls on our bed one day, and he kept wanting to sit right on the "picnic blanket", which is basically the game board.  The girls were pretty patient with him.

One of his favorite things is to get to play on the top bunk with Paige.  We usually let him for a minute or two at bedtime, and he's not too happy when he has to come down.

Still loves to play catch.

He LOOOOVES water.  He will beg to drink our water, and wants to chug about a gallon in a sitting.

On his birthday morning, Jess made birthday cake pancakes, so he had some with strawberries, and we gave him his little birthday balloon.  He liked it all.  :)

 

After Jess and the big kids were off to work and school, we watched a birthday episode of Yo Gabba Gabba.

 

We read some books...

 

Got dressed for the day, and played a while.  Spent a little time with the beloved blue bear...

 

...had a morning nap, since he got up early for his birthday breakfast.

 

I took them to see Jess for lunch, and then to the pet store, since Reed loves animals.  He especially liked the cats.

 

We came home to meet Paige and Cason at the bus stop.  A package of birthday party stuff I'd ordered arrived, and in it was his crown, which he liked.

 

We played outside...

 

...and picked Jess up from work.  We had dinner, and then gave him a gift.  We got him a star and moon projector nightlight, and he loved it.  So cute.

Then we sang happy birthday to him and had chocolate cupcakes.  Reed played with his for a while first, but then he liked it quite a bit.

 

We all love this boy so much.  So grateful for all that he brings to our family.  Happy birthday sweet boy.  

A Few Things I'd Like to Remember

Sometimes I get pretty sad that I'm not blogging as often as I used to, but I just can't seem to make the time right now.  I hardly ever missed a post when Paige and Cason were little and saying and doing funny things.  I worry I'm going to forget some of the hilarious things Neely does right now.  I talk about the baby stage a lot, but every stage is awesome, and kids are so funny at this age.  

She hasn't been doing it lately, but I don't think I ever blogged about this.  For a while, Neely would get upset about anything happening without her.  She called it "Wif about me" though.  She'd plead with us "Don't go wif about me!"  It was so cute.  I miss that one.

She's getting so big.  She's pretty dang sweet and funny.  She's also an emotional one lately, and gets pretty mad at her big brother and sister when things don't go her way.  She's mastered the pouty faces too.

I try and write some of their funny quotes down somewhere to blog about them eventually.  I have a few from Paige in my phone right now too.  

1-While reading about echolocation:  "Why do bats and dolphins even bother having eyes?"  Haha.  

2-  When she wanted more oj one morning and realized we all wanted refills:  "So I'm pouring EVERYBODY'S orange juice?  What a ripoff."

3-The big three were all kind of wrestling around one day, and it reached that point when some of them are starting to get frustrated for real.  Paige wasn't mad yet, but could tell Cason was, and didn't care.  So she kept doing things that were making him mad.  I gave her a raised eyebrow look and she just smiled, looked at Reed, who was in my arms, and said "Reed's going to be just like us some day.  It's just in our nature."

I have another list of funny things to blog that I can't find right now.  :(  When I find it I'll be back to post some more.