The Birthday Thread - Page 3 « Back to Group Discussions

[Autumnshades]

Eli's birthday was on Wednesday... the weather was fabulous - sunshine after weeks and weeks of rain!  What a way to celebrate :)  We had some friends over, and my aunt and her 4 kiddos.  It was wild and loud but oh so much fun.  We didn't do too much decorations wise due to a small budget.  I baked Eli a small carrot cake and made a larger carrot cake for the guests.  My aunt bought some cupcakes and there were some other snacks and drinks.

Eli's Cake - I had an elephant/blue/silver theme :)

Daddy holding his cake so mamma can snap the picture - he doesn't look at all impressed with it lol

Playing with his new toys :)

Daddy bought him a soft toy doggy :)

Not sure what to do with a whole cake ;)

... after a few minutes of confusion with the icing, he dug in ... literally - I had to slow him down, he was just gobbling it down so fast, stuffing more and more in his already full mouth :D

His cousin building him some towers, which he proceeded to knock down or throw blocks at. (My aunt is the only family from my side who lives in Canada (since I am born and raised in South Africa) and I love that we both live on the island!)   I visit her as often as we can find time, since she homeschools her 4 kids, and is super busy.

A very blurry shot of going down the slide - we took an afternoon walk to our local park after Eli's party - might be blurry but you can spot a big smile :)

walking with daddy to the slide... (it is a high piece of play equipment and was slippery from days of rain, normally he cruises along the edges of the rails of the smaller structures that are less high - one of us close by to make sure he doesn't fall)

All in all it was a wonderful afternoon.  I feel a tad sad that my darling boy is no longer a tiny squishy baby but happy at the same time - he is getting to be more and more mobile and is so much fun... 

[Jaimee]

Happy birthday to Greta, Roam and Ember, Oren, and Eli!!  The birthday parties look like so much fun!  Don't forget to update us on what your baby (or babies) are doing milestone-wise, favorites, stats, etc.!

[Autumnshades]

Oo I forgot about milestones ... :)

Eli can say:  Mamma, Daddy, Dadda, Pappa, Grampa, Dog, Doggy, See, Tea, There, This, Diaper, Hi, Bye, Bir (birdy), Boo (for book), Buu (for bus), Blo (for Block), Baa (for bath), Bruu (for brush).  He is really good at connecting words to things, so when I ask him where his blocks are he will point or bring one.  He babbles nonstop and sometimes with such a serious face, it is quite hilarious!

He crawls a lot, mostly to get to where he wants to walk ;)  He literally runs along our walls and furniture, and takes quite a few steps by himself.  He can stand up in the middle of the floor unassisted too.  

He is about 25lbs, I haven't weighed him in a while, and he is a whopping 33 inches tall! (My hubby is 6 ft 5 so it isn't really a shocker).  He wears 18-24 months, mostly for length.  Shoe size, I think 4 on the way to 5.  He is not a fussy eater and will eat anything you give him ... although I think he is getting tired of peas ;)  He still nurses and has hemp milk before his midday nap, water or chamomile tea in between.

He has 4 teeth still (and he started teething at 6 weeks, much to the midwife's surprise)... I think more are coming, he is grumpy, has rosy cheeks and a drooly rash at his mouth.

He used to sleep through the night, until his first teeth came in and it has been a downhill battle from there.  He slept better two nights last week but the rest were horrible.  He goes to bed at 11pm and usually gets up at 7:30am.  He has a 2 hour (more or less) nap from 12-2pm.

He has so many facial expressions, it is funny.  He always charms people on the bus, and the busdrivers always get waved at ;)  He used to wave on command but not so much anymore lol.  He is such a joy - we love him to bits and I love being his mamma.  It was rough in the beginning with colic and all the issues we had with nursing but I am glad I never gave up.  Hubby is talking about another babe, so maybe by the end of next year/start of the one after there will be another bouncing baby in our family.  :) 

[jill the pill]

I'm a little late (as usual)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Rhyko, Conner, Shay, Eli, Greta, Roam, Ember and KJ!  I hope I didn't forget anyone!  I have really been enjoying all the birthday celebration photos and stories.

Audrey's birthday is today and we had a really nice party for her at my parents house with our family.  I think there were about 15 people.  She was scared of the balloons and decorations so we had to take them all down.  Oh well!  The other kids had fun kicking the balloons around outside.  It was a beautiful 60 degree day up here in northern VT.

Audrey isn't walking yet but she is getting close!  She stood up in the middle of the floor the other day.  She signs "more" and "all done".  As far as words, she can say mama, dada, uh oh, tickle, ball, no, and lots of words I am still trying to figure out.    I don't know how much she weighs but she should weigh like 100 pounds with the amount of food she eats.  She will eat anything and I have to cut her off before she blows up!  She loves music and loves to dance.  She actually was rocking out so hard the other day swaying back and forth that she fell over.  I wish I had that on video!  She only has four teeth in the front but is cutting all four molars in the back.  They all popped through at once this week. 

This year has gone by so fast and I can't wait to see what happens next!  Here are a couple photo's from our celebration today!

[CDsMom1031]

Happy birthday, Audrey!!!

[dashley111]

Happy birthday Audrey!

[seraf]

Happy birthday! Looks like a great party.

[KayPea]

Today is Oren's real birthday, so I thought I'd save the milestones for now. 

He's not walking yet, but he did take one step today, so I don't imagine it's too far away. He LOVES to climb though, and a favourite activity is to climb into a moving box, preferably full of things, and then try and climb out. And in again. He is a speedy crawler. 

His only reliable word is MORE!! which sounds like "Moah!" and often he just says Ma! Ma! He does say Dada, but not consistently, and he isn't yet saying Mama, at least not to me or about me. He signs milk, more, all done, eat and is a fantastic physical mimic - he will try and copy almost anything you do with your hands, face mouth or body. He claps, waves, blows kisses, does high-fives, loves giving zerberts, plays SO BIG, plays peekaboo with his hands, loves to do "Round and Round the Garden" to me, and loves other finger plays as well. I wish I had taught him more signs, because I imagine he'd be communicating a lot more. He did combine milk and more together the other day, his way of asking for milk. 

Lucky for me, he's no longer the huge baby he once was. Just a little on the larger side - he's about the same size as the twins, who are 2.5 months older than him. He's in 18 month close, but like DD has teeny tiny feet. A size ahead in clothes, at least a size behind in feet. I'd say that's why he's not walking yet, but DD had the same kind of feet, and she walked at 10 months. I haven't weighed him in ages, but he's slimmed down considerably, so I imagine he's under 25 lbs still. 

He likes to eat, though he is getting pickier. But he will eat the things he loves in large quantities and with great gusto. He loves bread and cheese, meat and fruit, like most toddlers. He absolutely loves eating with a spoon, and a bowl. He's pretty good, too! He is obsessed with disposable coffee cups, which just goes to show where I've been cutting corners in this crazy time of moving! He will actually get screamingly angry if you go into a coffee shop and don't get him his own cup, must have a lid. It seems like he's in a "tool" phase - he also loves sippy cups, but will just spit out whatever liquid he gets from it. He only drinks breast milk.

He is a horrible sleeper. He's the kind of kid that will wake up and not go back to sleep for 2 hours. Consistently. And he tosses and turns and nurses from 2am to wake up. Often will wake up at 5am. Only naps for an hour or LESS. I don't think he's ever had a 2-hour nap. 

But he is an absolute JOY otherwise. He is so smiley, and so curious and interested, and he has this earnest way of babbling at you, with eye-contact, hand gestures, pauses and inflection that makes us all feel that he is really communicating with us. He's snuggly and sweet, patting my back when I pick him up, giving slobbery kisses and real arms-around-the-neck hugs. He is very independent, loving to just play with things he finds interesting, though he will get absolutely devastated if that gets interrupted, by me or another kid. He HATES having to "share" a toy. He laughs when we read him books, he just loves them so much. He loves music, and will dance to any beat, or even to the coffee grinder. He loves his big sister, and she loves him. We all love him.

Dear, dear boy. 

[Abraisme]

Happy birthday Audrey and Oren!

[dashley111]

Happy birthday Oren! I'm sorry he is not a better sleepier, Kay, that is tough. But at least he is a happy guy

[Jaimee]

Happy birthday Audrey and Oren!!!  So many words and signs from your babies!

[MrsKatie]

Happy Birthday sweet babies!
 

KJ's party is not for a couple weeks still but on her actual birthday we went to the Farmer's Market and ate a bunch of raw pie :)  (photo from the market is her in the orange/navy fleece).

KJ is an absolute joy.  She signs "more," "milk," "book," "bird," "water," "food/eat," and "light."  She puts 2 signs together - they all start with "more" ("more milk," "more book" etc).  She loves making animal sounds and is crazy about owls.  There are a few words/expressions she says reliably: "uh-oh," "book," "dog," and "water."  She also says "mama" and "dada" (but mostly "dada" - she is obsessed with her dad!).

She remains an adventurous eater but nursing is still her #1 favorite activity ever.  She asks for milk a LOT.

The biggest milestone, for me, is that about a month ago she suddenly started SLEEPING.  Ooooomgggg.  At this point I feel like life couldn't really get any better.  We still have off nights (last night, for example) but she has started sleeping in 2 huge chunks and only waking once or twice.  I'm in heaven!  She still is a sporadic napper (some days she only naps 20 minutes ALL DAY, and others she takes 2 hour-long naps), but I'll take good sleeping at night over naps.

KJ loves to share, DANCE, feed me her food, give kisses (especially to her BFF, Dylan! She also loves his mama, her very favorite Auntie J!), and be held.  She has decided she doesn't like sitting in a high chair more than 90 seconds or so, so she usually eats on my lap/while I'm holding her.  She has an incredible sense of humor and loves making goofy sounds and laughing.  She has become very vocal and demanding, too!  She knows what she wants and she doesn't like to wait for it.  She is crawling so fast and pulling herself up on anything in sight.

  She is pure sweetness and delight and I absolutely could not be happier.

I've included photos of me at 40 weeks, KJ at an hour or so old, and 3 of KJ now.  I'll post pics too after her party.  Enjoy!

[Becky Wheeler]

*sigh* Levi will be one at exactly 10:50 tomorrow morning. I remember having light contractions every 7-10 minutes at about this time last year and updating on here, wondering if "this was it". I'd stopped trying to encourage contractions, as I didn't want to be exhausted if it was labor, but I was unable to sleep for another hour and a half. How has it been a year already?

[Abraisme]

Happy birthday Katie and Levi!  I know right, how has it been a year already??!

[dashley111]

Happy birthday Katie and Levi!

[Becky Wheeler]

Thank you ladies! I don't think we're gonna do anything today. We might wait until right after Thanksgiving.

[TalkToMeNow]

Happy birthday, KJ and Levi!

I need to post pics from Jasper's birthday and update on his milestones. :)

[TalkToMeNow]

Here are some pictures from Jasper’s birthday. We didn’t have a party for him, just hung out at home. I made him mac and cheese because he loves it. Junk food birthday treat! He got a kitchen, some play food, a nice picture book, some mittens, and a cool bath toy set. He didn’t really like the cake too much.

For milestones/ update: he is walking a lot. His favorite thing is practicing walking. He can even stand himself up without using a wall or table! He stands up, takes a few steps, falls, gets back up, repeat. Yesterday, the girls counted him taking 33 steps in a row. Yes, they counted to 33. LOL. He likes to put small things into other things. Tupperware, blocks, toys, etc. He can put his stacking rings back on the peg. He loves to build block towers. His record is four blocks high. He also loves to play catch. He likes being read to and sung to. He loves to laugh and play games, especially peek-a-boo. He also love, love, loves going for stroller rides. They are rare, so he gets really excited.

He loves his daddy and says “Da-da-da-da” a lot. However, he is not talking or signing yet. He knows how to say dada, mama, and no and what they mean, but he doesn’t do it very often. When the doctor and nurses were handling him for his surgery, there was a constant stream of “no no no no!” When I try to teach him a word (example, “more” at every meal) he just looks at me and smiles like, “More! Yes, that’s exactly what I want. Thanks for saying it for me!” He doesn’t attempt to make any other sounds, but he knows what things are. If I say ball, he will look at his ball. Dog, look at the dog. Etc.

Dh puts him to sleep these days. He goes to bed at 8. It only takes 10 min or so of being held by daddy, and Jasper is out. He sleeps alone usually until 11-12, then I go to bed. He still wakes up several times a night to nurse. He is still cosleeping full time. If he doesn’t have to go to daycare, he will sleep until 8.

I think that is it. He is such a joy. So sweet and happy. Dh and I love him so much it is unbelievable. His sisters adore him. It has been a great first year. 

[Jaimee]

Happy birthday Levi!  I really doesn't seem like a whole year ago, Becky, that you were posting about all your concerns about the birth with you mom, your dh, that AP lady, etc. etc.  and then posting about laboring at home and all the aftermath.  Cute pics, Amanda and Katie!  And Katie, remembering a year ago when you were so worried about missing the cut off for the birthing center and then pushing her out just in time.  This time, last year, my MIL was arriving for her two week stay.  And thus began my long wait for labor to begin before she left.  It's funny, because while I'm immensely glad I'm not going through that emotional and physical trial again, I'm also totally nostalgic about it and still get that little twinge of excitement when I think about anticipating a birth.  Sigh...

Edited by Jaimee - 11/19/12 at 9:46am

[Becky Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Jaimee 

Happy birthday Levi!  I really doesn't seem like a whole year ago, Becky, that you were posting about all your concerns about the birth with you mom, your dh, that AP lady, etc. etc.  and then posting about laboring at home and all the aftermath.  Cute pics, Amanda and Katie!  And Katie, remembering a year ago when you were so worried about missing the cut off for the birthing center and then pushing him out just in time.  This time, last year, my MIL was arriving for her two week stay.  And thus began my long wait for labor to begin before she left.  It's funny, because while I'm immensely glad I'm not going through that emotional and physical trial again, I'm also totally nostalgic about it and still get that little twinge of excitement when I think about anticipating a birth.  Sigh...

It seems like a few short months ago. It makes me sad that my youngest, and most likely my very last baby isn't exactly a baby anymore.