Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the cutest land shark around!

Happy 1st Birthday, Sweet Boy!

Sweet James,

When you wake up in the morning you will be a one year old. One whole year! The past year has hands down been the best, hardest, funnest, most rewarding year of my life! I sit here with tears in my eyes as I type this. I am overcome with many emotions thinking back on what this past year has meant to me and what a blessing it is to be your mom. Sadness because you are going so quickly and time is flying. Joy because you are so fun to watch and see the world through your eyes. Happiness at all of the great things you have brought our family. From the day I found out I was pregnant I always knew life was going to be an adventure with you. You are full of spunk, sass, energy, and love. Lots of love!


Some things about you as a big one year old....

• You are likely just moments away from running. You'll walk several steps solo at a time before falling and are determined to climb any stair, bin, or small chair in sight. Since transitioning into the toddler room your walking skills seem like they progressed over night and you are now a walking pro.
• Breastfeeding- where do I even begin with this topic? We did it. We made it to one year. ONE. And when I say "we" I mean WE. It was a team effort and you were a rock star in holding up your end of the bargain! Never in a million years did I ever think that I'd be able to nurse you for a whole year. Six months, maybe, but never a whole year. You shattered my expectations and goals and for that I'm eternally grateful. Grateful that we got to experience that bond and it is definitely an experience that I'll cherish forever. Were there days that I wanted to throw in the towel? Sure! Those first few weeks were so tough. But, I knew in the long run I would be glad I stuck it out. And I'm beyond glad that I did. You still very much want your mommy and sign for milk and I wish I could freeze time and live in those little moments forever. Sigh....
• You LOVE books and story time. Often times you want to just crawl around on the floor over to the books, grab one of your favorites, and toss it over our way to read it to you. I find the irony in when you hand me the , "Are you my mother?" book. Adorable! Some of your favorites include, Brown Bear, anything from Dr. Seuss, Goodnight Moon, I Love You Through and Through, Beekle, Iggy Peck Architect, and any book that has different touch and feel textures. Your father has found it humorous to get you addicted to the "Biscuit" dog books and he has them all memorized to recite to you in a moments notice. 
• Your development really seems to be flourishing since you have transitioned into the toddler room at school. You are babbling more, sharing toys with mom and dad, and seem to be all boy in terms of activity. With this step you have also developed your own strong willed personality. You are sensitive when I tell you "no" and at times start to have a meltdown when I deter you from something that could harm you.
• You LOVE your daddy and I love watching you two interact together. I pray that you build a bond with him like no other and that you turn out to be the man of God that he is today. I pray that you learn from him in all aspects of life and grow up to be just like him.
• You love food, in particular carbs and dairy! Definitely the "Birnbaum" genes in you. You would live on Cheerios and Babybel cheese if I let you. You like most fruits and will eat some veggies- mainly squash and carrots. You aren't too hot on eating peas anymore and will ever so politely drop them on the floor when I serve them to you. I shamefully admit that you love grilled cheese and macaroni (#momfail). A more recent like is pork chops. You will devour them in record time! You have tried eggs and don't seem to mind them, but also aren't a huge fan so we will continue to work on those. We will start trying some whole milk and peanut butter in the next few weeks. If you are anything like your mother then you and peanut butter will be BFF's.
• Your vocabulary continues to grow. You still say, "mama", "dada", "muh muh"( more), "up" (not really sure what started this one), and just random jabbering as you run wild through the house. :) The other night I had to wonder if you were telling me "no-no" as I thought I heard you rambling, "nuh-nuh". Sigh.
• Your sleep habits are still good (as I cross my fingers). Most of the time at school you will take a 2 hour nap and you're typically ready for bed around 7:00. Weekday nights you are so worn out from school and tend to crash hard. Weekends are a little different and we just kind of go with the flow. I love hearing you wake up in the mornings and jabber. You almost always announce that you are awake by saying, "up!" through the monitor.

I could go on all day and night about you and how wonderful you. I love you more than you will ever know and again am so blessed to be your mommy. I am so blessed that you are in our life, that you are happy, healthy, and continue to blossom into a busy toddler. We are looking forward to celebrating you at your party tomorrow and I hope you have has much fun being celebrated as we have had fun planning it.


Happy Birthday, sweet baby! May you have many, many more happy birthdays that we can all celebrate with you!


We love you!


Mommy and Daddy

Fall Firsts

It seems the month of October is already off to a busy start. We started the month with a much needed family day. I am off on Wednesdays and basically forced John to take a day of PTO and have some fun with us!






We started off the morning with a trip to Weston! We enjoyed a yummy lunch at the Irish Pub- O'Malley's. Great food, good beer, and even better company. The weather was awesome so we took advantage of the patio seating. James did absolutely awesome the entire time and devoured his lunch in record time.

 

Next stop- Red Barn Farm! I spent many times at this awesome orchard/farm as a kid. It was on the route to my grandparent's farm and was always a big pit stop during those fall trips to the farm. The glory of going on a Wednesday was that there were hardly any people there. Which was awesome! We didn't have to battle the crazy weekend crowd. We spent some time walking around, looking at the animals and picking out some pumpkins before heading home. James definitely had his opinions on which pumpkins he wanted and wasn't afraid to tell dad which ones to fetch. This was his first time to pick out pumpkins and he definitely had a great time.

 To end the day we make a trip to the Brookside Barber shop for James' first haircut! His hair wasn't super out of control but he had a pretty good looking mullet that he needed to have tamed. I figured with his upcoming birthday party and family pictures that it was probably time. The consensus? He was less than thrilled. I'll let the rest of the photos speak for themselves. :)

Farewell Infant Room, Hello Toddler Room

Today was a big day for our guy- his first day in the toddler room at school! We have graduated the infant room and have moved on to bigger things. James seems to be loving life, but mom isn't so sure she is ready for this next step of chaos. I'm embarrassed to admit that I shed a few tears as I read the classroom supply list over the weekend that instructed us to bring a "blanket" for the cot at naptime. Seriously? My baby can't be big enough to use a blanket, or so I thought.


All motherly-emotions aside he had a great day! He apparently loved the time on the playground, went down the slide, walked all over the place, took a 2 hour nap, ate good- he totally rocked it! We're still working on what the right amounts of milk it is going to take for him to get through the day (we had to toss about 8 oz of milk tonight), but we'll get there. I keep wanting to believe that he is still my little baby that needs tons of milk and forget he is eating table foods like a champ these days.


He made it home tonight with only one small bruise on his forehead and zero bite marks (after the teacher told me at lunch that she had to save him 3 times from getting bit by the other kids).




Oh, James. I'm so glad you did so well today but, where is time going? (Sigh....)

Pleased that he survived the day!

Tired baby.