the last three weeks have been ...

ROUGH!

The night of Jack's actual first birthday, around 10 p.m., he woke up and had thrown up all over himself, his sheet, his bumper ... everything! And, since then he hasn't really been the same.

Luckily, the next morning we were headed to the doctor for his 1 year check up. At that visit we made the decision to take him off of cow's milk and try soy milk. {Let's just say the poor guy hadn't had a solid dirty diaper in way too long...}.

Jack didn't just like milk, he LOVED milk. I never did measure it, but I'm sure he went through 24-30 ounces a day. He was constantly carrying around his sippy cup. So, the switch wasn't easy.

That first day, I had him try the soy milk. And, he kind of liked it, but it didn't hold a candle to cow's milk.  So, we decided to give him a week to get off of the cow's milk and then try the soy after that. In the meantime we took a trip to Denver {Jack's first airplane flight!} {more on that later}, and with only water to drink, things started to really look up. By the time we got back home, he was drinking lots of water and the dirties were a lot more like usual.

It was time to try soy milk. This time things went a lot better than expected. That week, though, he was really snotty and just not quite himself. Lots of fussy moments when usually he was so happy and easygoing.

We were constantly having to give him benedryl and motrin/tylenol. I hated "pumping him full of meds". But, we were just trying to keep him happy...

Last week, after having a sore throat and having to miss John's great-grandmother's funeral, I tested positive for strep. Great! Even though I tried really hard to stay away from Jack, it was nearly impossible!

Now, less than a week later, Jack has tested positive for strep {apparently a very uncommon thing in such a young guy} and has started antibiotics.

And, FINALLY! after we got home from the doctor, and I gave him his first dose of Amoxicillin and some tylenol, he was so much more like himself -- laughing, screaming, running, just generally going EVERYWHERE!

I think we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel {crossing my fingers and toes} and hope that we can finally put the last few weeks behind us!

day-glo baby

So, the Friday before Jack's birthday, with all of my family in town, we went out to dinner.

As usual when we take Jack out to dinner, we got him dressed in his jammies and hit the road.

Oh, wait, I forgot the crux of the story. As I'm getting everything ready to go, I was going through the diaper bag and finally culling things that we no longer needed. I checked his extra clothes and they were all 9 months. Those wouldn't fit ... so I took them out. {dun dun dun}

We met everyone for dinner, and as the evening wore on, Jack was doing great. He started to get restless, so I took him out of the highchair and proceeded the usual pass-around. I thought I smelled a potential dirty diaper, but upon further inspection, he was fine.

I passed Jack to my brother. He held him for a few and thought he smelled something too. And, then Jack lunged for Vic ... and that's when I saw it.

Jack had had a blowout, up the back of his pajamas. And, ya know what?? I forgot to replace his extra clothes with ones that would fit.

So, before I took Jack to the bathroom to change his diaper, I quietly told John that we didn't have extra clothes announced to the whole table that Jack had a blowout and I didn't have extra clothes.

So, while I was in the bathroom, John went across the street to Fuzzy's to get him something.

I left the bathroom with a baby in only a diaper, and John came back with a day-glo orange Fuzzy's tank top. Size medium.

Poor guy!

Hilarious!

jack's baptism.

Our birthday weekend wasn't finished after Jack's birthday celebration on Saturday. Instead, we decided to really pack in everything we could and had Jack baptised on his first birthday, Sunday May 6.

We had about 30 friends and family there to witness our little ham officially become a child of God.

Of course we were running late and stressed about holding up the service. But, once we were there, Jack's precious little personality took center stage.

Jack loved getting to lean back and have water poured over his head.

He was a HAM while up in front of the whole congregation. He had everyone oohing and aahing and laughing!

Me, Jack, Deacon John Warren and John

After the service, John's parents had everyone over to their house {again!} for lunch and cake. 

Of course most of my family left that day, so it was kind of sad to go from having everyone around back to quiet. But, we had a wonderful time spending a special weekend with so many friends and family!

my {second} mother's day.

It's nuts that this is my second year to celebrate Mother's day!

Last year we brought Jack home from the hospital to a house full of grandparents and one proud uncle.

This year, we were on our way back from spending the weekend with two uncles, an aunt and cousins in Denver.

On the flight back from Denver during the 30 minutes Jack slept.

Jack was over the plane ride ... luckily he stuck it out until we made it to the airport. I would definitely say our flight to Denver was better than the one coming back. But, overall, flying with a baby wasn't as terrible as I'd imagined.

I had a great day with my two favorite boys in the airport and on Jack's second-ever plane flight.

I'm so proud to be that little boy's momma and I hope one day he understands just how much I love him and that I would do anything for him. Being a mom is tough work, but the rewards are better than anything I could have ever imagined.

Happy {belated} Mother's day to all you Moms out there. It's pretty great, right?

one i am.

Two weekends ago we had a lot of family in town to celebrate our little guy's first birthday!

The theme was Dr. Seuss and I had so many plans for the birthday. But, the days really got away from me, and several things didn't get done. Oh well ... we were celebrating Jack's first birthday, not my party-planning skills.

the food table -- green deviled eggs, dr seuss cookies + #1 cookies, cupcakes, a smash cake, rainbow fruit and burger/hot dog fixins {there should have been tissue poms, but those never happened...}

Here's a better pic of his cookies!

Uncle Matt was the only one who really got a pic with the birthday boy! Lucky guy...

opening presents

Super cute "one i am" tee from Missy Mack Designs

cute baby Sperrys from Uncle Matt

Gramps manning the grill

the weather was really great!

Brady couldn't resist the pool

Uncle David, Jack, Kapuna, gg and Tisa

2 out of 3 great-Grandmothers (Mia & Voom)

We had a really great time celebrating Jack. He was exhausted after that party! I definitely have learned for next year -- get family pics done before everyone gets there otherwise they'll never happen!

Now, we're just enjoying our little one year old. {That's still so crazy to say!}

Jack: 12 months.

We are officially in year two! This first year with our little guy has been so much fun. We've had our tough moments, but we also have memories I never want to forget. And, most importantly, our little guy has brought more joy to our lives than I could ever put into words. Happy birthday buddy!!

In the last month, Jack has only turned more and more into a little boy. Gone is our snoozy, cuddly little baby. But, this little guy has so much personality. He's always on the move and there's never a dull moment!

Jack has been walking for a couple months and at this point, that's his preferred mode of transportation. He rarely crawls and is usually up on two feet, trying to get into anything and everything. He's really steady, but his curiosity gets the best of him too often and he'll end up running into a wall, or falling down because he wasn't watching where he was going, or was trying to run. He had a row of bruises on his forehead to prove it!

Eating is still ok. I'm beginning to feel like I haven't given him enough options, and that I need to really try to expand his horizons. But, we've been having some issues with his little tummy and diaper rash, so we're on a bland diet for a week or so while we figure it all out. But, he still loves hot dogs, grilled cheese, cheerios, toast, Gerber cereal bars, yogurt melts ... all the usuals.

We are officially bottle and formula-free! As of Wednesday, May 2, we're finished! Dropping the final bottle wasn't as tough as I expected. We went down to 2 ounces on that bottle, before dropping it for good. I think those couple of ounces were more of a teaser, making it worse on Jack than not getting a bottle at all. So, Wednesday morning, I just took him some milk and we never looked back! {It feels great to not have to wash bottles anymore!!}

Jack is such a little ham! He's constantly carrying on a conversation in German and we've been able to decipher a few new words! He says "hiiieee" {hi!} and "DA!" {Jack!} and dada and if prompted he'll say mamama. He has certain "sounds" when he wants more food on his highchair tray and when he's talking about the dogs -- I think he says "dog" but I'm not certain just yet. The funniest thing he does, though is to mimic what we do. My two favorites are when he "talks on the phone". He'll get something {his pretend phone, one of our phones, or his remote} and puts it behind his neck and jabbers away. And, the other one has only happened once, but it was hilarious! I had a bag of chips out one day and while I was holding Jack, I reached in the bag, grabbed some chips, put them in my mouth and started chewing. Right after, he mimics the exact same motions ... even down to fake chewing! Hilarious!

Right now Jack:

• is still taking two naps a day. I'm holding on to two for as long as I can!
• Has 7 teeth -- 4 on top and 3 {one JUST cut through} on the bottom
• was moved to a nap mat at daycare. They say he's doing really well with it, though they have to sit by him and rub his back. Ha!
• loves to bang everything together and shake whatever makes noise
• is really testing boundaries. We've had to say No more often and are seeing a few more "tantrums" than before.
• loves to play on the toilet {lid down...}. It's just the right height to roll his tractor or bang his blocks on.
• is off of whole milk {more on that after this week...} after a few tummy issues. We're hoping things will clear up and maybe we can reintroduce it later. He LOVES milk!
• definitely has some stranger anxiety. With family in town this weekend for the birthday, he had to do a little warming up to family he doesn't see often enough!
•Stays up a little later, going to bed between 7 and 7:30 usually. He's still up by 7 most of the time. {I think once we're down to one nap, I'll be less worried about his wake up time}

12 month stats:

•21 lbs 6 oz., 31 inches tall and 18 inch head circumference

•no bottles, no formula

•all 12 month clothes, size 4 shoe 

•size 4 diaper

birthday boy.

As of yesterday at 3:35 pm, I am the mom of a one-year-old.

Below is a pic of the boy at his birthday party! We had a great time, and you can expect a full recap sometime this week!

Good pic of his adorable birthday boy shirt, but I'm sad that this is the best pic of the two of us from that fun day. Lesson learned for next time, I guess...

Happy birthday to the sweetest and happiest little guy I know! This has been the most challenging and rewarding year ever. Bring on year 2!!