Friday, September 21, 2007

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, BRAEDEN!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Braeden!! How much you've grown and developed over the past year, how many times you've melted my heart. He's off the bottle now (loves his straw cups) - I'll miss it more than he will. Brae had his first whole milk this morning and loved it, but we'll continue using Enfamil Next Step for a couple of months, and will gradually make the milk switch.

Today we're baking cupcakes for Brae's birthday party tomorrow. He loves to watch me working in the kitchen, and I know he'll be fascinated with all this baking. He's on the verge of walking, and it'd be awesome if he took that plunge today. But he'll walk when he's ready, and his timing works for me. Tonight DH and I will have our private celebration of Braeden's first birthday, a cupcake with a candle. We've got the camera and video camera batteries charged and ready to go.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we're having a little party to celebrate, with just a few close friends. We were hoping for the back yard, but with a rain storm forecast for later today and tomorrow, it looks like we'll be inside. That works. Early in the morning I'll pick up his helium-filled balloons and his cake, while DH will pick up the food. My MIL ordered and paid for the food for us, which was sweet of her. Sadly my ILs are leaving this morning on a trip, so won't be here for any of the birthday celebrations. My FIL's health is deteriorating, and this will probably be their last trip.

So Happy 1st birthday Mr. Braeden. You're no longer a baby, but you'll always be my baby!!

Friday, September 07, 2007

Two Weeks To 1st Birthday

Wow, hard to believe Braeden will be a year old in only 2 weeks. We're planning a small party for him here at the house, a few close friends. Like others have written, it'll be bittersweet - so exciting that he'll be a year old, yet already missing the little guy we brought home nearly a year ago. I'll miss my baby bunting, but my little boy is such a sweetheart.

Braeden's got 6 teeth now - 4 uppers and 2 lowers. I've started weaning him from his bottles, and am not having any problem so far. He loves his cups, especially the ones with the straws. We've got a couple of sippy cups, but I save those for water. He drinks his formula much better with the straws. We've got quite a variety of different brands, but his favorite is the Nuby straw cup. He drinks his formula while sitting in his high chair - it's easier for him to grasp the handles, and when he decides to stick his finger in the straw and fling formula all over the place, at least we're in the kitchen..hehe.

I'm also weaning him from his infant formula to Enfamil Next Step. That's going well too. We thought of going right to whole milk, but decided to give him a couple more months of DHA and ARA that Next Step has before we make that switch. He's eating Graduates veggie and fruit dices, and meat sticks I cut up for him, and any table food around at his meal times. So far there's nothing he doesn't like. That makes life easier. He's still eating some stage 2 and 3 foods, mainly to finish up what we bought earlier.

DH got Braeden a pre-birthday gift - a Tonka riding dump truck. He absolutely loves it. It's supposed to be good for him until he's 3, but when he sits on it, he's already flat footing it, so I think he'll outgrow it before then, but it'll still last him a long time. You can take the seat off and snap it on the back, so he has something for support as he walks along behind it. It's great for picking up blocks off the floor and carpet too - run over one and the truck scoops it up and deposits it in a storage area for later retrieval.

No, he's not quite walking yet, although he stands alone frequently and takes 2-3 steps on his own before he sits down, so walking isn't far off now. His new favorite thing is going outside in the afternoon with the neighborhood kids. They're all over 4 years old, and the older kids sit on our lawn in a circle, Braeden in the middle, and he giggles as they pass him around, rolling on the grass.

This morning I started taking Brae and DP (dear puppy) for walks together. DP has gained weight in the past year and after checking out a dog walking service, they're way too expensive for our budget. When I tried walking DP and Brae at the same time earlier, it wasn't a pretty sight, but today DP walked calmly next to the stroller, totally enjoying a nice long walk, and of course Braeden had the best time - he always loves going for a walk.

So we're gearing up for Braeden's big day. Have a great weekend.