Elliot turns One
I can't believe my baby turned one last month! His birthday was a Friday and the Thursday before the big kids helped me to decorate the house. They were so sweet and excited to celebrate their baby brother. Elliot isn't old enough to be part of the sibling bickering and is pretty much adored by all of his siblings.
On the morning of his birthday we had a little "baby play date" to celebrate. There were several babies born in our ward in 2013 so we invited all of them, their moms, and siblings over (along with our good friend Kaylee of course. She was born just three weeks earlier than Elliot and all the big kids call her "Elliot's girlfriend"). We had a little lunch, the toddlers/preschoolers played, and the moms talked and held babies. It was a lot of fun. It's neat to have so many babies around E's age and I'm just hoping no one decides to move!
That night we had a family celebration with just the six of us. I made these little pancake puffs perfect for little hands and our sides were Elliot favorites (graham crackers, applesauce, yogurt bites, puffs). We had crawling races, played ball, and danced to music. He then opened his presents which were a new puzzle and then some more wrapped baby toys from the garage (I feel a tiny bit guilty about this, but really why buy new baby toys when we have perfectly good ones sitting in the garage?)
Saturday night we had extended family over and had pizza and E's first cake. He very much enjoyed the cake and was not shy about digging in. I think he would have ate the entire thing if we hadn't taken it away (as it is, I'm pretty sure he consumed more sugar in the 10 minutes he had the cake than he had his whole life up until that point). He opened presents from grandparents (or more accurately the big kids tried to make him open presents and opened them for him). All the excitement must have worn him out, because he was a little tired and fussy so he went to bed after presents. We all loved celebrating our little Elliot Dean and I was a little sad when the weekend was over. There is something so special about that first birthday.
Our Elliot
Favorite foods: Applesauce, any fruit you can get in those squeeze pouches, anything with red sauce (spaghetti, lasagna, enchiladas....I know totally different tasting red sauce, but if it's red he seems to eat it), oatmeal
Words: "Uh oh" and "MaMa." "Uh oh" is the only word he says consistently, but he has looked at me and said "MaMa" a couple of times. He also has said "Dada" but we've never been certain that he's talking about Mike.
Teeth: He has two, but his first one didn't break until the week after his birthday. All of our babies have gotten their teeth late, but he gets the award for latest.
Favorite things to do: Ride around on his little bike, play ball (he LOVES balls and will race across the room when he spots one), empty cupboards (especially the one with the cereal), be held my Mommy. He is a big Mama's boy and although it can be a little exhausting at times, I know that it will pass and I'm just trying to enjoy my far to quickly growing baby.
Schedule: He finally started sleeping through the night right before Christmas and has continued to do so most nights. He is an early riser. If he makes it to 7 that is sleeping in for him and sometimes he tries to get up as early as 5 or 5:30, but we are trying to put a stop to that. Depending on what time he wakes up, he will take either a morning and afternoon nap or one long nap in the middle of the day. He goes to bed around 7:00. He goes down really easy as long as he has his binky and his little blanky with a bear head which Abby has named "Sportsy."
We love our Elliot, Little E, Baby Boy, Peanut, Coco's puppy (each big kid has chosen one of the little boys to be their puppies when they play) and all the joy he brings to our family. I can't believe it's already been a year!
On the morning of his birthday we had a little "baby play date" to celebrate. There were several babies born in our ward in 2013 so we invited all of them, their moms, and siblings over (along with our good friend Kaylee of course. She was born just three weeks earlier than Elliot and all the big kids call her "Elliot's girlfriend"). We had a little lunch, the toddlers/preschoolers played, and the moms talked and held babies. It was a lot of fun. It's neat to have so many babies around E's age and I'm just hoping no one decides to move!
That night we had a family celebration with just the six of us. I made these little pancake puffs perfect for little hands and our sides were Elliot favorites (graham crackers, applesauce, yogurt bites, puffs). We had crawling races, played ball, and danced to music. He then opened his presents which were a new puzzle and then some more wrapped baby toys from the garage (I feel a tiny bit guilty about this, but really why buy new baby toys when we have perfectly good ones sitting in the garage?)
Saturday night we had extended family over and had pizza and E's first cake. He very much enjoyed the cake and was not shy about digging in. I think he would have ate the entire thing if we hadn't taken it away (as it is, I'm pretty sure he consumed more sugar in the 10 minutes he had the cake than he had his whole life up until that point). He opened presents from grandparents (or more accurately the big kids tried to make him open presents and opened them for him). All the excitement must have worn him out, because he was a little tired and fussy so he went to bed after presents. We all loved celebrating our little Elliot Dean and I was a little sad when the weekend was over. There is something so special about that first birthday.
Our Elliot
Favorite foods: Applesauce, any fruit you can get in those squeeze pouches, anything with red sauce (spaghetti, lasagna, enchiladas....I know totally different tasting red sauce, but if it's red he seems to eat it), oatmeal
Words: "Uh oh" and "MaMa." "Uh oh" is the only word he says consistently, but he has looked at me and said "MaMa" a couple of times. He also has said "Dada" but we've never been certain that he's talking about Mike.
Teeth: He has two, but his first one didn't break until the week after his birthday. All of our babies have gotten their teeth late, but he gets the award for latest.
Favorite things to do: Ride around on his little bike, play ball (he LOVES balls and will race across the room when he spots one), empty cupboards (especially the one with the cereal), be held my Mommy. He is a big Mama's boy and although it can be a little exhausting at times, I know that it will pass and I'm just trying to enjoy my far to quickly growing baby.
Schedule: He finally started sleeping through the night right before Christmas and has continued to do so most nights. He is an early riser. If he makes it to 7 that is sleeping in for him and sometimes he tries to get up as early as 5 or 5:30, but we are trying to put a stop to that. Depending on what time he wakes up, he will take either a morning and afternoon nap or one long nap in the middle of the day. He goes to bed around 7:00. He goes down really easy as long as he has his binky and his little blanky with a bear head which Abby has named "Sportsy."
We love our Elliot, Little E, Baby Boy, Peanut, Coco's puppy (each big kid has chosen one of the little boys to be their puppies when they play) and all the joy he brings to our family. I can't believe it's already been a year!
Some of the "big" kids and a couple of the babies eating lunch.
Elliot and his baby friends.
Family dinner.
Crawling races.
This kid seriously loves to play ball. Carson was the same way and is still crazy about sports. I'm curious to see if E will be the same.
Extended family party.
And, of course, the cake pictures...
Happy Birthday sweet boy! Love the picture of all the babies! That was such a fun idea.
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