Introducing Baby

I had my 12-week ultrasound today. It was fun getting to see our little tyke. Everything looked good. The heartrate was 170 bpm.

Car show

We went to a car show yesterday. Stephen loved walking around with Daddy and riding on his shoulders.

I had never seen a black fire truck before, so I had to take a picture.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Thanksgiving we went to Grandma Rose's house. Stephen enjoyed eating turkey, broccoli, roll, and mashed potatoes. He also had his first tastes of pumpkin and apple pie! He had fun playing with his cousins Audrey and Morgan as well.

Playing with Uncle John and Morgan

Playing with Audrey and Morgan

Aunt Anne and Uncle John

Stephen didn't want to leave me, so I got to be in the cousins picture. :)

12 month stats

Talking on his phone

Stephen had his 12-month appointment today. He did really well. He didn't want to let the doctor look in his mouth, but he allowed everything else. He even survived 6 shots! He did cry but recovered really quickly. Here are his stats, as measured today:

• Length: 29 1/2" - 34.13%
• Weight: 18 3/4 lbs - 2.79%
• Head: 17 3/4" - 13.23%

He's definitely on the small side for his age, but I think that's partly because he is SO active. He burns all the calories he takes in. Guess he'll have to start eating more...not that he'll complain. :)

Here are a couple other things I forgot to mention about Stephen last week...

• He is my little cuddlebug. He loves cuddling and snuggling up with me, and I love it too!
• He has a phrase that sounds like "Where did Daddy go?" Daddy likes to play peek-a-boo and hide under blankets, and this is what I say. Stephen has started imitating it. He'll sometimes say something like "Where did it go?" when he drops something as well.

A Husker birthday party

I chose a Husker theme for Stephen's 1st birthday party. Megan helped me with the invitation. There is a Husker player named Will C. (No idea if he's related.) His number is 51. I had Megan change the 5 to a 0.

We ordered pizza and had veggies, chips, salsa, Goldfish (of course), cake, and cupcakes.

The food table

Close-up of the cake

Playing with Grandma Rose before the chaos ensued

Sixty-two people walked through our door for Stephen's party! A lot of people means a lot of presents! Stephen did pretty good, considering he had been up since noon. He got a little overwhelmed as the gift-opening went on, and the other kids came closer and closer to check out all the fun toys.

 Then it was time for more cake!

Yum! Sugar!

What a fun birthday party!

Birthday fun

I wanted to do something fun for Stephen's birthday, so I took him to Little Monkey Bizness. It's an indoor playground made just for little ones. Stephen loved having a place where he could crawl and climb to his little heart's content. The best part is that adults get in free! We will definitely be going back. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I have some not-so-good pictures taken with my phone - better than nothing.

After supper, we had cake and ice cream. Stephen dove right into his cake. His hands were covered with frosting. He loved both the cake and ice cream and would have eaten more if I would have let him.

My first-ever attempt at cake decorating

 

Then we opened presents. He didn't quite get the concept, but he loves the new toys he got.

1 year old!

Wow! I can't believe Stephen is 1 year old! The time has flown by. It's been so much fun watching him grow and learn about the world around him. Some things I want to remember about him at this age...

• He's starting to like listening to books more. He likes to help turn the pages. His favorite books are the "touch and feel" type.
• Stephen's sense of humor is starting to emerge. He has a scrunched-up nose face that he does when he gets hurt sometimes. He's also started doing it if Steve or I do it and giggling as he does. He also likes to wiggle his legs around when I'm trying to put on his pants. He giggles as he does this as well.
• He's starting to try to figure out how to climb on things, like the gate and chairs. Nothing is safe in this house anymore!
• Stephen is a little chatterbox sometimes. I usually have no idea what he's saying, but he'll go on and on. A couple words he does have..."sh" for shoe and "dad" for people in general (I think). He also has a word for train and one for tiger, but I'm not sure what those are.
• He LOVES to eat! 
• He is still a pretty good little boy most of the time, but he is definitely starting to throw fits. He'll arch his back, throw up his arms, and let out a good wail.
• His 1-year appointment is on Tuesday, so I'll update his stats then.

Stephen is a joy, and we are blessed to have him as our son.

Stephen Joseph - 1 year old