Pad-A-Cake

(Please excuse my obnoxious mom-ness...)

Happy Halloween!

D went to "Truck or Treat" with Grandma Lisa and I guess he found some things that he likes!

D and Averi...how cute is Averi's pig costume?

Chowing  a cupcake that Grandma Cheri brought over...nothing better than a sugar high!

1 Year Line Up

 All these photos were taken at one year. So who do you think D looks more like? Mom or Dad? :)

"Whatsthat? Ball! Car!"

Everything around here lately has been about balls and cars. Every. Thing.

Chasing balls, rolling balls, tossing balls. And of course saying "ball" a hundred times over.

Cars are a hot topic too here. Tractors, trucks, cars are all the same to D. If it has wheels, it's a car. Reading books, he is sure to point out the "cars" on the page". Riding in the car, he points out the window saying "car".

Boy much? :)

I love it. And imagine how proud Dad is...

It's been so much fun to carry on conversations with Dawson lately, and I am sure that will only increase as his vocab does. Now he will interact and say things back instead of just staring at us like we are nuts (I am sure that look will come back in about 12 years or so...if not earlier, so not to worry). When reading books or playing with his toys, when we ask him where his ball is, or where his little cow is, he crawls his little booty over and sure enough, picks out that toy. Just this morning we were reading a book and I was asking him to point to the shoes, ball, cat, etc. Then we were on to the next book. There was a tractor on the page and I asked him where the "car" was. He crawled over to the other book, turned through the pages and pointed out the car. Smarty pants.

We have reached the tantrums. Oh joy. Full on, throw yourself back and yell. It's quite the scene. Too bad it's just the beginning... He also is becoming more aware of what sharing is...and how much he doesn't like to do it...Uh-oh.

In other news...
- D had his 12 month appointment last week too. He is 31.5" and 24lbs.
- Top two teeth are in.
- Off formula and solely on soy milk. We tried to get him on milk several times and it was a complete nightmare...blow outs like you wouldn't believe and up all night with a serious tummy ache. Soy milk it is! He can handle cheese and yogurt ok, just a tough time with milk. I have talked to a few others that have the same issue as adults. The lactose content in milk it obviously much higher and tougher on some people. It may last a few months or years, only time will tell.
- Bottles are a thing of the past. D isn't too attached to bottles so it wasn't really a tough transition to make thank goodness.
- Not walking, but definitely does more walking with his walker at home than he does crawling. He's a fast little man!
- Is still a great eater. Current favs? Strawberries, pears, bananas and black beans.

Here is a few current photos of the little man too...

Allen fam in Tempelton, Iowa with the Havercamp crew for the weekend.

Teething much?

D and his buddy Jackson in their Cars pjs from Grandma Peg. Couple of studs, huh?

D's new excited face. It's so funny.

Pit stop on the way to Iowa. Daddy diaper duty in the ditch...what great dads!

This photo was taken about a month ago at the apple orchard. D with his main squeezes, Averi an Veda.

D and Mom

Oh the things I've learned...

- Trust your gut...it's always right.
- Take a break. Get out. Get away. Take time for you.
- They'll let you know if something's not right.
- Colic doesn't last a lifetime (even though it sometimes feels like it).
- It never gets old watching your baby sleep.
- Relax. Let go. Breath.
- You are not alone. Don't convince yourself that you are. Don't fall to the trap...
- You're a mother first. But you're still you. Some people will understand...others wont.
- You can never have enough patience.
- Participate.
- Give it time.
- There is not much better than snuggling with your baby.
- A full nights rest. Not ever again be taken for granted.
- Time goes way, way to fast...
- Loose the fluff. Keep it simple. The pruning hurts, but it's for the better.

.....

I've found myself doing lots of reflecting as we reached the big "1" milestone. A year. 365 days.

Not going to lie, becoming a mom rocked my world. Rocked.

I am not sure why. I guess there's lots of reasons. Some big. Others small. But either way, it definitely took me off guard which I was not expecting. I've been around kids practically my whole life. Little cousins, babysitting, nannying, friend's kiddos...but my having own was totally different.

Duh, right?

But the funny thing is that things seemed like such a big deal...and then they dissolve away and you forget they were ever even an issue. I remember thinking, am I ever going to be able to sleep through the night again? And then all the sudden I had been. Is my baby always going to be a colicky? And then one day the episodes had past. How am I ever going to leave him? Overnight? Nights? And then you do...

I never could have been prepared to become a mom. No advice, book, conversation, practice, manual would have touched the learning curve. Not even close...

All that said, I've grown more in the past year than I ever could have imagined. That little brown eyed boy has changed me to my core. He makes me want to be not just better, but my best.

And I love him even more for it.

At 12 months...

Dawson...

- Has four teeth (top two and bottom two)
- Is a little chatter box! He favorite thing to say it "Whozdat?" as he points. Also among his new vocabulary is: car, ball, banana, go-go, more, some animal noises...
- Can point to his or your nose if you ask him
- With his walker goes all over the place. He is fast! When he needs to turn around, he just picks up his walker and moves it in the new direction he wants to go
- Loves to throw things through the gate downstairs (and whine until Dad goes and gets them)
- Climbs the stairs
- "Helps" unload the dishwasher and the garbage
- Is a really good eater. His favorites are: black beans, strawberries, bananas, cottage cheese, veggie straws
- Takes 3 bottles a day. Tried transitioning to milk once so far and had a tough time with it...we are going to start trying again this week...
- Takes 2 good naps still a day and sleeps 12 hours a night (7:30pm-7:30am)
- (much to mom's liking) is starting to become a bit more of a snuggler!
- Loves to watch Sesame Street. Elmo is definitely his favorite...
- Continues to enjoy reading books
- Isn't walking yet, but is standing on his own more and more each day
- Loves his long stroller walks with stops at his favorite parks with dad when mom is working - Is fairly good at entertaining himself to a certain extent. He does have moments where he just needs someone to be next to him and "supervising" his play. He already likes to have things a particular way...wonder who he gets that from? :) He doesn't do great with big groups as he gets fairly overwhelmed and turns clingy. But in a smaller group of people that he is comfortable with he is quite the entertainer (quickly, oh so quickly) crawling around and pointing and excitingly squeals "Ooooooo"!

Happy Birthday!

One. Year. Old.

Seriously? Honestly?

Oh little man, you make my world go round.

This weekend was beyond fun. It's way more fun celebrating your kid's birthday than you own (at least any birthday after 21 or so... :) Friday we spent the day running errands, cleaning the house, decorating getting ready for Dawson's birthday party. Daryn and I went a bit overboard with the decorations, but isn't that's what birthdays are for?

Saturday was completely perfect. The timing of the entire day was spot on. Our families came over at 4 for Dawson's party. His birthday was baseball themed....obviously, right?

We ate. And ate. Celebrated. And ate. Opened gifts. Celebrated. Ate more (cake).

Dawson was a bit overwhelmed and didn't have much interest in opening his gifts (good thing Veda and Averi were there for moral support :). But he did enjoy playing with the wrapping and tissue paper and the toys once we removed all the tape, cardboard, twist ties, plastic bits...(are they supposed to keep the kids out or the parents? Don't they know the longer the parents struggle to take the toys out of the box, the angrier their kid gets? Sort of a lose-lose all around...)

After we opened all of D's totally awesome gifts, we had cake and ice cream. I found a really cute idea for a baseball glove/ball cake online and went for it. It was a little more difficult than I anticipated, but I was pleased with how it turned out. It was pretty sureal making a birthday cake for my son though I must say...

Unfortunately, after all that work Dawson wanted nothing to do with his cake. Between all the commotion of the day we was completely done...but on the upside, there wasn't much of a mess to clean up! :)

 

Dawson loved all of his gifts! He already seems like a whole new kid with new toys that occupy him for more than 30 seconds at a time...can you tell that he loves them? :)

 

We spent Dawson's actual birthday visiting with Grandparents, playing with new toys and hanging out. After church we went out to dinner at Chipotle. Dawson got his own kids meal complete with all of his favorite things: cheese quesadilla, black beans, rice, chips and apple juice. He scarfed down!

This past year has been quite the journey for Daryn and I. Parenthood is all that I expected and way more than I ever could have imagined. It's a lot of hard work, but the rewards are well worth it! :) Dawson has taught us so much...patience, living in the moment, and what really matters. We love you so much little man!