Happy 1st Birthday Christian

I can remember like it was yesterday. Waking up so early in the morning, freaking out because I couldn't feel this little guy moving. Drove down to the hospital to see if everything was okay and then being in labor for the rest of the morning. Driving up to the UofU and the docs telling me I was going to be having a baby shortly.

WOW! Time really does fly. I can't believe its been a year already. We are so blessed to have Christian in our family. He makes me smile and laugh every day. I still can't get over his chubby little face and those big blue eyes. There are days when all I want to do is just squeeze him and love on him!

It was Sunday so we headed off to church and then came home and let Christian take a much needed nap before his party. We started with presents. Daddy was a big help opening Christian's presents. He just had a look on his face like what is going on. He loved playing with the paper more than anything. But he was excited to see his new toys. He got a lot of new trucks and boy toys. He got his first Cougars jersey and a snugly pair of Jazz pj's. I think he was excited to because we held those up to him and his eyes popped out of his head.




What is going on around here?

Loving his new sports wear

 Next we sang Happy Birthday and had cake. Again, Christian kinda just sat there wondering what was going on. We put the cake in front of him and he kinda just sat there staring at it. Then he tasted it and it was all over. He loved it!

What am I suppose to do with this?

 

 It was such a good day and we are so thankful to all our family near and far for helping us celebrate this wonderful little boy's big day! Thanks everybody!


We headed off to the doctor on Monday for Christian's 1 year check up. He did great with his shots he had to get and only cried for a little while, which makes me happy. The doctor said he was doing great and right on target, another good thing to hear! Here are his 1st year stats:


Lenght: 28 inches 5% ( I think he was a little squirmy on the table because he only grew an inch in 3 months)
Weight: 20lbs 11oz 25% ( getting ready for the bigger car seat, Yay!)
Head Circumference: 48 cm 90% ( Is that a shocker to anyone? We can't even get his clothes over his head!)


This past year has been up and down but having Christian around is such a blessing. He adds so much to our little family. He is pretty mellow and only really gets upset about things when you won't let him do what he wants to do or you say no, or when he's tired. Definitely less drama that's for sure. He just soaks everything up like a sponge. He is actually beginning to understand and comprehend what you are saying to him. I will tell him to go get 'the ball' and he will crawl over to it and want to play catch with you. You ask him where mama or dada are and he will look over at you. He has learned how to clap and its fun to watch him. He will clap for himself when he does something good. Or if you say "yay" and clap he will join in. He has finally started to wave a little bit too. Sometimes he will just wave his whole hand back and forth but for the most part he just opens and closes his little hand.....so cute!  Its such a great time for him and I can't wait to see him continue to grow, walk and start talking.


Christian loves to dance. Whenever he hears music he starts to bop up and down. The TV show The Sing Off is his favorite. He will stop everything and stand at the TV and start to dance. He also still loves to be outside. And still gets upset when he follows you and you shut the door before he gets there. He loves to look at everthing especially the trees when they blow in the wind. When we go places and he gets out of the car he always gets a big cheesy grin on his face because he is so happy to be outside. Even when we went to live Nativity the other night, on one of the coldest nights so far, he didn't fuss or even cry. He was happy to see all the animals and just be out side.


He is certainly doing better at sleeping. He will go to bed between 6-7pm and then wake up once around 4am. We are trying not to give him a bottle every time he wakes up and if he can't cry it out and go back to sleep on his own we give him some water. Then around 7-7:30am he is up and ready for the day. He still takes 2 naps on most days and its nice because it gives me a little break from chasing him around all day. He still has a hard time just falling asleep like at church. It usually has to be dark, and quiet for him to even start to doze off while you rock him. He likes to just lay down in his own bed and stretch out. Sundays are hard for that reason. But if he is tired enough he will crash and just fall asleep on your shoulder....its rare but it has happened a few times. I miss rocking him to sleep, he won't let me do it without a fight. I guess he is growing up.


Christian has been fascinated by all the Christmas decorations and the tree especially. He hasn't pulled it over on top of him yet so we will see if that will still happen. He loves to pull on the garland and chew on it. I have to go over and slap his hand for him to stop. He loves to pull all the ornaments off he can reach as well. So at the end of the day I usually find myself putting ornaments back on the tree. Its hard to pull him away from it and especially when he crawls under neath it. He loves to just sit under it and play with the branches. Anytime you pull him away from something he likes to be doing he gets upset. He is beginning to voice his opinion.

Pulling and chewing on the garland

Loves playing with Ruldolf

He is doing better at eating but he still loves his bottle. We are trying to wean him off the bottle to a sippy cup and its going well but he likes to have his bottle. The transition from formula to milk was a good one. He's had no problems with it and LOVES his milk....yay! His favorite thing to munch and snack on are pretzels. He usually has 2 in each hand and will just crawl around and play with them in his hands. Its not that he is a picky eater because he will at least try the stuff you put in front of him, he just doesn't eat a whole lot. The doctor says that's normal...good to hear because I swear he doesn't eat anything. A funny thing he does when he eats is when he actually has food in his mouth and you present him with something else or a drink, he won't finish what's in his mouth he just spits it out. Or he will use his fingers and it looks like he is brushing it out of his mounth. It's funny to watch.


I love this little boy. I'm excited for the upcoming year to watch him grow. He is such a smiley, happy boy. He makes everyone around him happy. People still say to him, "Look at those big blue eyes." The cubbiness of his cheeks are still there and I don't want it to leave. We are so happy he is a part of our family. We love you Christian.

LIKES:
Pretzels
Milk
Being outside
Playing in the bathroom
Dancing


DISLIKES:
Being told "no"
Being rocked to sleep
Having the doors shut on him going outside or the bathroom door


Instead of paying a ton of money to have Christian's 1st year pictures done, I asked my sister, Kristy, if she would help. We did some outdoor and indoor shots and really captured Chrisitan and his many smiles. He did pull some cheesy grins and just some down right funny faces. He is such a cutie pie! It was hard not to pick all of them but here are some of my favorites.

He was shaking his head back and forth

Christian has so many great smiles and silly faces