18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months

I can't believe Tyler turns 18 Months today!  This was Tyler a year ago:

This is him now:

Such a little grown up!  Ok, maybe not, but such a little boy now (instead of a little baby).

I knew I wanted to blog about this milestone and try to record what life is like these days.  That's what prompted me to write 18 (yes, 18!) posts because there was just so much I wanted to share!  Stay tuned.

My Birthday

This year's birthday was pretty low-key.  A few days before, the world's largest box arrived with my present from Jason -- an ornament ball wreath!  I had tried to make one over Christmas and it did not go well at all.  So, supersweet gift from my thoughtful keeps-me-sane husband!

On my big day, I got to administer state exams and then attend an IEP meeting.  Yaaaaaay.  My guys surprised me after work with flowers, a balloon, and a card.  Tyler picked them out.  At least that's what Jason said to explain the "Who's counting?" balloon.

Another year older.  Or, as Jason put it, I'm no longer in my "thirties."  He may have gotten smacked about that one!

Birthday Party, for real this time

Six weeks after his party, and I'm just now getting around to this...

Tyler loves dinosaurs, so picking the theme for his first birthday was pretty straightforward.  Thanks to Jason for being so great taking pictures that day.  As usual, I was in my get-things-done mania, so my camera was left pretty much untouched the whole time.

The Decorations:

Oriental Trading Company had some really cute dinosaur decorations, so I bought invitations, plates, napkins, and a few balloons from them and supplemented with solids from other/cheaper locations.  As for dinosaurs, I used Tyler's toys, a few things I picked up at the Dollar Tree, and a giant bag of borrowed dinosaurs from my friend Kristen.

Jill and Jodi were nice enough to come a few hours early and help out with last-minute details.  Jill did the majority of the decorating.  She did a phenomenal job, especially since my directions were "Here's the stuff... decorate."  Yep, that was my artistic vision for the party. :)

tee hee

The Food:

The party was at 1:00 to ensure little man would get a nap beforehand, so I had a difficult time trying to figure out what food to make (lunch? snacks?).  This is what I ended up with:

Cupcakes

Meatballs

Buffalo chicken dip and tortilla chips

Potato chips

Veggie platter and dip

Fruit platter (more on this later)

Cheese and crackers

Peanuts

I got the cupcakes and Tyler's smash cake from Whole Foods, who not only make delicious (reasonably cheap) cakes, but also decorated them with dinosaurs matching Tyler's decorations!

I chose foods that could be prepared ahead of time and (aside from the buffalo dip) I had made a million and a half times.  My ONE ambitious venture into the land of Pinterest party ideas was the watermelon dinosaur:

I'm pretty proud of how he turned out.  The added bonus was if it had been a massive failure, I could have just made a bowl of fruit and no one would have been the wiser.  No risk, lot of reward!

The Birthday Boy:
Tyler was napping during most of the party prep.  When we brought him into the dining room, he kept reaching out and saying "Diiiiiiii!"  I think I did ok picking out a dinosaur theme for the party. :)

This picture makes me laugh.  What is he doing?  

Also, a word about his shirt.  I looked all around for birthday shirts and couldn't find one anywhere that I liked.  So we just bought him a new dinosaur shirt for the event.  It's a T-Rex with reaching tools (you know, for people to grab things out of their reach) and the bottom says Unstoppable Rex.  Yes, we're dorks, but you already know that, don't you?

The Cake:
We did get him a smash cake.  We tried to feed it to him at the beginning of the party, but he wasn't too excited.  I think it was all the hubbub and the fact that he hadn't had lunch.  We tried again after he had some food and he was all about it!

"ooh, what's this thing?"

munching on the candle

mmm!

"that stuff is goooooooood!"

Um, so quick story about the next picture.  A long time ago, Tyler started requesting the Map Song from Dora when he was eating.  Jason and I would sing it and sway back and forth.  Now, when he requests it, he does this...

Our lil weirdo...

A little side note:  Jason and I were horrible about capturing everyone else that was at the party (Davenports and Selfs).  I guess we were a little Tyler-centric that day (...and every day).  We are very thankful they came.  Sorry we didn't document it.

Anyway, last category,
Presents:

reading his cards

tearing off the paper

The party was pretty cut and dry -- eat some food, watch him open presents, hang out.  Jason and his folks went outside to set up Tyler's swing set, and that's about it.  That was our main gift to him.  We also got him a dinosaur sweatshirt (he picked it out on our buy-a-dino-shirt shopping trip, but it wasn't exactly weather-appropriate for August) and two books (a Peppa book and Peek a Moo, which is basically baby crack and has to be hidden from Tyler when we don't feel like reading it 20 times in a row).

Thanks for reading!

Swing

My kid now has a swingset.  We have awesome neighbors who gave it to us for free.  Score!  He loves to swing.  He also loves visiting our neighbor's chicken Sam when we're outside.

Yes, he had a birthday...

Tyler turned one.  He had a dinosaur-themed party.  There will be a blog post one day with Jason-taken-and-edited photos and with me describing in detail every gift, food item, and word said (ok, maybe not quite that detailed!)... but today's not that day (sorry!)

For now, here's a picture of the party...

It's like you were there....

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

365 days ago, our world changed forever.

A few months back, a friend of mine asked me how I liked motherhood.  My response caught her (and me!) a bit off-guard.  "Eh, it's alright."

Motherhood is hard.  You're responsible for keeping another human being alive.  You have to make all their important decisions for at least a period of their life.  How to get them to go to sleep without making them overly dependent on a specific routine.  When to switch them to solid foods while making sure they get the same nutrition that milk gave them.  What games to play and experiences to share to make sure they're growing intellectually as well as physically.  It's overwhelming sometimes!

Seconds after my shocking motherhood response, I quickly added, "But I love Tyler so much!!!!"

It's true.  Motherhood is beyond difficult, but this little guy makes every second worth it.

Well, almost every second.  Tyler, I'm going to get the snack you requested.  That snack is in the next room.  Wailing because I've left the room doesn't help me get that snack any quicker!


He is such a cool little guy.  His smile and laugh is downright infectious.

 

Monday night, Jason and Tyler were playing while I made dinner.  Jason had on a dinosaur hand puppet.  He would "eat" one of Tyler's toys and then "blaaagh!"  spit it back out.  Tyler was in stitches!  Vomit humor.  Hilarious.  Tyler kept handing him more and more and more toys (teethers, soft blocks, balls) so that the dinosaur could keep spitting them back out.

Sunday, Jason and Tyler were playing "clap clap clap your hands, claaaaaaaap your hands" and "clap clap clap your feet, claaaaaaaap your feet."  Again, he was dying laughing!  Son, never lose the ability to take joy in the simple things.

tearing paper... awesome!

The scientist/psychologist (still claiming my minor as part of my identity)/marveler at the Creator God/teacher in me loves watching him grow and develop.  I wrote this blog post about two weeks ago.  Since then, he now says bubbles (requesting his Bubbles Bubbles book) perfectly (no indistinguishable "bah" here).  He now waves both hands and says "All done!" when he's done eating (and sometimes when he's ready to get out of the bathtub).  Last night, he came home saying "bless you!" after you say it to him.  I just can't keep up with all that he knows and all he is learning about the world!

"I will praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful" 

 --Psalm 139:14

Tyler brings us so much joy.  Jason and I give each other knowing looks at least several times a day, either a "Did you see what he just did?" look or a "This guy is so cool!" look.

Ok, I could go on and on and on and on, but I'd never have enough words, so I'll sum it up:

Happy birthday, little man.  We love you so much!

12 Months

Tomorrow's the big day!!!!!!!  A while back, Jill asked me what it meant to celebrate Tyler's first birthday.

My response?  "That we survived one year."

That's even what our Sunday School classmates said when mentioned that Tyler was about to turn one.  "That's awesome, you survived a whole year!"  We survived setting our alarm for every few hours to make sure Tyler was fed and didn't waste away from starvation during the middle of the night.  We survived breastfeeding -- the discomfort, the scheduling around it, the adrenaline-rush when I heard him crying in the night, the peace as we sit together in silence and darkness during a 1am feeding.  We survived falls, bumps, and every bug daycare threw at us.  Just when we were getting the hang of thing, we survived milestone after milestone, making adjustments on the fly.

I thought this blog post from Scary Mommy summed it up pretty well.

It's hard to believe my big guy ever looked like this.  Oh, the "don't scratch yourself in the face" mittens.  And look how big that onesie looks!

Ready for a quick trip through time?

Under 1 Month:

1 Month:

2 Months:

3 Months:

4 Months:

5 Months:

6 Months:

7 Months:

8 Months:

9 Months:

10 Months:

11 Months: