Wednesday, January 23, 2013

1 year old!

Dawson is officially no longer a baby :(  I am now the mommy of a ONE year old!  Crazy!!  I have been blessed to spend a whole year with this little man and pray for many more years to come :)

As always, here are some pictures from Dawson's monthly photo shoot!

"I am sooo excited that it is my birthday today!"


Now comes a whole series of Dawson hitting his head!  This has become a new thing that he LOVES to do...don't ask me why!


I have a crazy child!

"Touchdown"

Just saying a little prayer :)

Trying to escape!

Here are some up the things Dawson was up to this last month:
- Learning how to blow kisses...soooo adorable!
- He is always jabbering
- We had to call poison control for the first time..little man ate fireplace ashes.  Yuck!
- He is taking more and more steps on his own, but still is a little too timid to take off walking :) 
- Dawson has said a few more words like "hot", "ball", and "hi"
- Starting to figure out how to feed himself with a spoon!  He mostly likes to play with it, but sometimes surprises me with how well he can feed himself!
- Loves to throw things like balls and especially food (we are working on this one!)
- Has discovered his nose holes and likes to stick his finger it them!
- Enjoys making silly noises with his mouth by moving his finger up and down
- He has really started imitating a lot!
- LOVES to wave at people
- Has started climbing on things
- Working on getting 4 of his top teeth
- Visited the ER for the first time. I was hoping to make it at least past his first birthday before having to go there...I pray we won't have too many more ER visits in the future!

We had Dawson's one year appointment today!  He is 30 inches tall (58th percentile) and 20.5 lbs. (14th percentile), so he is about average height and kind of skinny I guess :)  Dawson did well at his appointment, but the poor little guy screams whenever the doctor touches him :(  Plus he got a lot of shots today and wasn't too happy about that.  

Here are some picture showing off Dawson's cuteness from this past month!

Eating an apple...he was soo happy to do it by himself! 
The apple was actually a really good teether!  He had four top ones coming in at this time :(

Dinner at Little Grill with the neighbors :)

We got to go with Brandon on a company Christmas trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in KC!  We had a blast :)  Here are some pictures from story time!


I love my family!


Great Wolf Lodge had a pretty cool arcade.  Here is Dawson testing out the race car...

...and the gun...

...and the guitar!

Just hanging out with a bear.

Just chilling with mommy!


"Ahhh!  Not the woods!"  
We had a really great time at Great Wolf Lodge.  Dawson LOVED every thing about it, but especially loved all the water activities!  However, since it was super wet inside the water park area, we didn't get any pictures of that part of the trip :(

Mr. Serious :)

I could look at this little face all day long!

Opening a gift on his actual birthday morning :)

"Why does this food have no taste?"

Dawson got to be the ring bearer for his grandpa's wedding



Our little guy is really growing up...I can't believe it!  I am excited to continue watching him learn and grow!  Dawson has brought so much joy into our lives over this past year!  I love being this little guys mommy :)

Monday, January 21, 2013

Our Very Hungry Caterpillar's Birthday Party!

We are officially parents of a ONE year old!  Today is little man's birthday!!  Saturday is when we had Dawson's actual birthday party.  It was a blast...he LOVED it!  The theme of the party came from one of my favorite children's books The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

Before the party could begin, I HAD to get everything decorated :)  Here are pics of some of the decor!

The caterpillar cupcake cake that I made :)  It was really easy and fun to make!  Thanks to my mom and sister who helped!

 The birthday banner I made to go over the gifts :) 

Our balloon caterpillar!

"I am 1!" banner for Dawson's highchair.  I just new that he was going to pull this off right away, but he actually left it on!

The food...before the burgers, hotdogs, and veggie tray were out

Caterpillar grape skewers!!


The signs I made for some of the food :)


Now for the FUN pictures with little man!

Not really digging the hat...

Dinner Time!!  He LOVED the ketchup and hotdogs!  He seriously ate the ketchup by itself, so since it was his birthday I just kept giving him more :)  Also, he hadn't had hotdogs before and he devoured a whole hotdog in probably 2 minutes!


Present time!! It looks like he is clapping for them in this pic :)




He LOVES his new wheels :)

Mommy tries to take Dawson out so that he can finish opening presents.  He throws a big fit....

....so back in the car he goes!  (Somebody already knows how to get his way!)

Dawson while we sang him "Happy Birthday"!  He LOVED this part of the night! (He isn't wearing clothes because I stripped him down before hand to avoid ruining his shirt!)

Tearing into the cake!

"I love frosting, I love frosting, I love frosting!"

"Can life get any better?  I don't think so!"

While eating the cake, Dawson would sometimes clap his hands...I think that was a sign that he approved of this meal!

Here is a video of the cake eating!!  Sorry it is soo long, but it is soo sweet :)

Testing out some toys with Aunt Ashlyn :)


Dawson adores his new wagon!!!
It has been a fun day with my little man today, reminiscing about what was going on a year ago today when God allowed our precious baby to come into this world and thinking about all the wonderful memories that we created this year.  We are truly blessed and beyond grateful for the privilege of being this little guys parents!  We love you Dawson...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

On a side note, Dawson has his 1 year check up on Wednesday, so I will post more of what he was up to this last month after that appointment.  Just wanted to give an update of his birthday party before then!