PJ is One Year Old!

Happy Birthday PJ!  Your parents love you so so so much!

May 12, 2011 1am in the morning

Seems appropriate to show a video of PJ since sitting still is not what one year olds do, thats for babies.

This weekend we headed south to Medford, Oregon to see the G-Rents, Yipee!  We even have plans to see Uncle Troy and Aunt Sammi two days in a row, should be good times! 
The weather for PJ's birthday today was totally perfect.  We had a little party this afternoon, so this morning we lazed around, decorated PJ's birthday cake, and watched G-Ma and Amanda make a delicious lunch.
For most of the day, PJ wore his birthday suit and diaper due to the hot weather and lots of playing in water buckets and with hoses.
Todd, Dave, Rachel, Amanda, G-Rents, Uncle Troy and Aunt Sammi all cam over to the G-Rent's place to celebrate PJ's 1st birthday.  he loved the company, the gifts, and most importantly he seemed to enjoy his barnyard cake made with loving hands.
Monday I will post pictures we tookwith our real camera once we get the chance to download them to our computer.
-K

Last Bottle

Tonight we gave PJ his last bottle.  With his one year birthday being tomorrow, we have decide to go to the sippy cup.  As of right now we are not planning to give up formula, but we will let PJ make that final decision.

I am going to miss PJ lounging back with his arms behind his hand, truly relaxed in my arms. 

A Year Ago

A year ago today at 5:30am my water broke. 
 Prior to my water breaking we were living another life.  It was a good life just the two of us and our silly dog.  we hiked, we slept in, we worked late, and we even worked out!  Although we were living a good life, today my heart feels so much happier, fuller and just more right. I wouldn't say when it was just the two of us I was missing anything but now that we have PJ, I wouldn't want to live without him.  
May 11th, 2011 Ry and I walked laps around the 5th floor of Swedish hospital;  I will never forget those hours just the two of us.  Our final hours as a family of two.  We talked about how we wanted to be as parents and what we thought it was going to be like to have a child that we were responsible for.  We felt totally prepared and fully inadequate all at the same time.  What an awesome contradiction that instead of resulting in feeling fear, we felt pure hope and excitement.
Today I feel that same hope and excitement as well as a sense of accomplishment.  PJ is doing great!  He is happy, he is healthy and his parents are still happily married.  Success all around.
A year ago we had no idea what we were going to experience, that at times our marriage would be tested, at times we would test our own limits, and at even more times we would laugh like we had never laughed.  I still can't really believe that tomorrow I will have been a mom for an entire year.  That I have a son that calls me momma, and that sings dadda over and over again. 
Life is awesome and that is all I can say.  I have no beautiful words to explain the lump in my throat.  Tomorrow we celebrate PJ with family and I have a feeling that lump in my throat may create a lot of tears.  Please know in advance if you see any ugly crying pictures, they are happy tears.
We are very happy and its all very cheesy. 
-K

Airplane Sounds

Almost every night PJ gets a bath.  Ry and I take turns giving him the bath, needless to say we have different styles.  Both styles result in happy clean boy but the entertainment is entirely different.  When I bathe PJ, we sing songs, he chats about his toys and most recently I noticed he makes his airplane fly.  The first time I saw PJ put the airplane in the air and kinda move it around, I thought it was a coincidence.  Well, tonight Ry was bathing PJ and I was washing dishes and I heard Ry making airplane sounds so I sneaked into the bathroom to find ...Ry making airplane noises, flying the airplane all around PJ's head .  Then Ry handed the airplane to PJ and PJ did his best to imitate his daddy.  Heart melting...

Pickle Face

I gave PJ a pickle tonight while I finished making dinner. The pickle was a great distraction buying me some valuable time for dinner preparation.I know PJ liked it because he was eating it, but this face says otherwise...

Signing Cards

This afternoon we signed and sent off our Mother's Day cards so both of our moms could be reminded that they are loved.  We are going to see G-Ma Hammell on Mother's Day but decided it would be fun to send a card too.  Who doesn't like getting a letter in the mail?  Especially when the one and only adorbale grandson has signed the card!

PJ signing Ome's card

Beautiful Seattle Day

Today was a perfect May day in the Northwest.  We stayed in the city to go to a friend's orchestra show at the Mukilteo Community Center.  This is the nicest community center I have ever seen inside and out.  A great place for a symphony and to gather with friends afterwards.

During intermission we had a little photo shoot with PJ.  Check out the great pictures we got of him.

 Ry also got some great pictures of PJ walking towards the camera and away from the camera. Selecting PICASA will take you to all the photos we took.

Real Shoes

Today PJ got his first pair of real shoes. Now that he is walking real shoes are needed. The first pair he tried on were a little too big but fun for us to watch PJ feel real shoes for the first time. The video below reminds us of the time we put booties on Lily dog to prevent ice from cutting her paws when we snowshoed.

 

-K

 

 

Applesauce

I haven't posted any eating pictures in awhile because all has been pretty normal for the last few months.  PJ can pick up and eat finger food quite successfully, and he is still a little birdie for me to scoop non finger foods into his mouth.  But things at the dinner table are changing, now that we have to improve PJ's utensil wielding skills in order for him to move onto the Toddler room at daycare. 
Tonight was the first night for that learning experience.  The highlights of the meal were that PJ properly held the spoon as seen in the picture below, and no applesauce was flung during this production.  Unfortunately also seen in the picture, PJ used his left hand for a majority of actual applesauce consumption. 
 

Doesn't everyone eat applesauce with their hands?  The spoon is just an ironic accessory.

A cute video of our little man in action.

11.5 Month Videos

Last night PJ accomplished two new milestones and we got both on video.  The first video shows PJ walking, like its no big deal. In fact he went from tentatively taking one to three steps and then falling on his bum, to last night, full blown walking.  He can now pivot, change direction, bob his head hilariously while walking, and stay upright even when he loses his balance a little a little.  We caught most of this on video but I am sure a few more will follow.  Right now he is looking a little zombie like with his movements so we will post another when walking looks more natural.  The second video shows PJ feeding his Momma.  He wasn't into eating much last night and instead wanted a hug. So while I was holding him, I continued to eat my dinner.  Dinner included some raw snap peas that PJ likes to hold and munch on but not actually eat.  So he got a kick out of watching me eat them.  He thought it was even more fun to take it out of my hand and put it in my mouth.  He figured it out so quickly.  Once he started it, it was hard to stop.  Enjoy the videos.