Baby J turns 1!

It's been almost a month now since Baby J actually turned one.  I'm just getting around to posting about it but better late than never.

For his birthday we had amazing weather and were able to have a beautiful BBQ outside on our deck with friends and family.  I made Baby J a Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake however he ate a healthy muffin for his Birthday dessert instead of the unhealthy cake!  Over the years I've realised that my kids don't even eat birthday cakes so if I have lots of other people round I just use icing and food colouring because I know others are not as picky and it's a darn site easier!

 

He got so many presents from friends and family he will be set for a long while now.  The gift I am most excited about is this Tag Toys ball tracker.  I have been wanting to get one of these for the littles and when a wonderful uncle gave Baby J some b-day money we put some in ourselves and splurged. 

It was so worth it.  He got it right away and both Baby J and Sweetpea love it.  It's quite wobbly and it's recommended to bolt it to the wall.  Instead what I've done is move it behind the pull up bar so it is stable and Baby J is able to balance on the bar while bending down to get the balls.

 

As far as development Baby J is now using a spoon on his own to eat his meals and we just introduced him to a fork.  I would highly recommend watermelon as a first fork food.  He caught on to it right away and LOVED it.  I think he enjoys the amount of force he can use to "stab" the food!  He went through tons of watermelon practising his new found skill and had a fit when we finally had to call it quits.  Both littles now have a fork food with their breakfast every morning.

 



 

I don't think it will be long now before Baby J is walking.  He took three steps last night and is starting to stand on his own. 

He is still our cheeky little jokester and is full of joy.  He has been giving a grunting sign to tell us when he needs to poop for about a month now and we make it about 90% of the time.  The thing is he also thinks it's a hilarious joke to look at us and do the pretend poop grunt and then give us the cheeky grin!

 

As I mentioned Baby J got many presents that both the littles have been using and I'm working on a post about what is on our shelves.

 

Since technically Baby J is no longer a baby I am here on out going to be referring to him as Little J!  Wow does that time fly by.  What an amazing year it's been getting to know this wonderful little person!

Birthday Invitations

Last year for L's birthday I went a little crazy and spent ages on preparations, planning and decorations.  We invited L's whole Montessori class and had a marimba band come in and play.  You can read about it here and here.

This year I have to admit I'm just not as inspired.  I think it has to do with the fact that I'm working now.

Anyhow we came up with a great compromise.

Our local Aquatic center rents out the pool for private parties.  This is the perfect solution.  We can invite L's whole class and their families as well as other friends and family and there is no preparation or clean up for us! Yippee!  They even have tables we can set up in the foyer for snacks and birthday cake after so L won't feel like she's missing out.

Here are the invitations we came up with.  I wanted to keep it really simple since we have to make so many.

First L covered water color paper with a mixture of blue water color paint, water and modge podge.  She then crumpled up a plastic bag and dabbed it all over the paper to create a water effect.

Once that was finished she sprinkled sparkles all over the paper(her favourite bit!)

I cut out the invitations and L added little fish stickers.

 On some of them she also added sequin air bubbles.  Too cute!

I put the party info on the back and viola! a free set of party invitations.

Last year we asked for no gifts but a donation to the food bank instead.  This year we have still asked for no gifts but have asked that the children make their own birthday card for L so she will have a keepsake.

Birthday Memory Bags

Okay this will be the last birthday post I promise(at least for a while : )

Another tradition I wanted to start this year was creating birthday memory bags for L.  Each draw string bag is supposed to have a number on it and represent one year of L's life. 

In L's first year bag I put in the outfit she wore home from the hospital and her baby booties.  Each bag also contains a picture book of that year and a letter to L talking about what she accomplished that year, her height and weight, her favorite foods and her friends etc.

 Next year I will include a tape measure in the box and she can compare her different sizes and weights each year.

Here she is trying to put on her very first pair of shoes!

I think I saw this idea on the Internet somewhere but I really can't remember where.  All I know is I think it's a wonderful thing for L to look forward to each birthday and another way to take the emphasis off of presents.

Rainbow Birthday meal

Friday was L's third birthday.  I've been sooo busy the last couple of weeks preparing for everything and now it's finally all over.  We had a fantastic weekend and I think L totally enjoyed herself.

I was lucky enough to time our final rainbow meal for her actual birthday.

We had pesto pasta (L's favorite) for our main course and rainbow veggie and fruit platters.

L and Daddy set the table with candles for each color of the rainbow.

The poor little sausage was sooo tired from all of her birthday celebrations that she barely made it through dinner!

This whole rainbow eating adventure has been such great fun and has given us something to look forward to every Friday.

I would totally recommend tying it out with your little one!