Birthday Baby!

I blinked...

And my baby went from this...

and all the cuteness in between...

to this...

It seems unreal that my baby boy could really be 1 year old, but I love this age and all the fun new things he does!  

We celebrated quickly on the night of his birthday.  Nate got off work half an hour early and Brynlee had ice skating lessons.  That gave us about 1 1/2 hours.  Brynlee and Gracen were really excited about his presents and wanted to do that first.  Bridger got the hang of opening presents on Christmas, so it came pretty easy to him.  

One of the cute things he does is stomp!  Here he is in the middle of a stomp.  The action involves his whole body, not just his leg.  It's pretty cute!

Back when Gracen was a year old, I wrote a post about how I would really like to get him a monkey leash. I never could bring myself to buy it, although there were many times I wish I had one.  I thought it would make the perfect gift for this little man.  Now I don't have to wish I had one!  He liked the monkey too!

Farm cake and pig, sheep and chick cupcakes.

 No hesitation here, he dug right in!

Nate thought it was sad that he didn't have a chocolate cake.  It probably was, but I didn't have a chocolate cake mix, and my homemade chocolate cakes have all been a flop here in Colorado.  I just can't figure out high altitude baking.  I didn't want to risk it, so went with the only cake mix I had!

Although it is sad to be out of the baby stage, I love this age!  He is so much fun!  

At one year old:

 He has a major attachment to his brown polka dot blanket. (pictured with him above) He will drag that thing everywhere.  If it gets left in the crib, he will go pull it through the slats so he can have it.  It is fun to watch him with it when he's really tired he'll roll around on the floor while make a cute little ahh sound. 

Loves music.  Anytime he hears a fun tune, he starts dancing.  

Likes to crawl up stairs, but won't go down them.  I've tried to teach him, and he won't go for it!

Plays peek-a-boo in the curtains.  Any time I've tried tried to get him to play it by covering his eyes with his hands, instead, he covers his ears.

Loves it when there are deer in the backyard for him to look at.  He stands at the window and squeals and screeches and hits his hands on the window!  Often he is the one who discovers them out there.

If anyone is laying down on the ground he thinks it is a fun game.  In this game he runs over as fast as he can, while squealing, and starts patting/smacking that person over and over.

He loves other people, especially the ones that are his size!  At times his personality is a bit strong for some of his little friends, but he is starting to calm down and learning how to be more gentle!

He says 7 words: dada, hi, ello (hello), dat (that), fff (fish), booh (book), nanananano!

He loves dogs, and knows what they say, ooff!  He knows what an elephant says too and uses his arm as a trunk.

Is the worst teether ever.

His favorite food is frozen Gogurts and just about any kind of fruit.

Is a daddy's boy!  When he hears the garage door open at the end of the day he instantly says "dada"!  He knows his dad is home and he gets so excited to see him!

A new favorite game of his...when he sees my bedroom door open he runs right in and heads straight for the closet.  My shirts all hang low enough that he can reach them and he loves to pull them down.  The times that I didn't see where he went and walk down the hall calling him I can find him pretty easily because he starts to squeal and get excited.  He usually tries to push his way into the hanging clothes to hide while he is giggling!

Loves his big sister and brother!

Gives the best slobbery kisses!

Our baby boy is such a blessing to our family!  He brings us so much joy!  We are so lucky we get to have him in our family!

Love you little guy!

His sleep sack!  He needs it to stay warm at night, and can actually walk around in it!  It's pretty entertaining to watch him!