12 Months Old!

Our sweet little guy is a 1-year old now!
I will have to get used to saying 1-year old instead of a something-month-old when people ask his age.

Currently Scott:
- Loves to walk everywhere!
- Sleeps 12 hours at night and takes 2 naps
- Understands lots of words. If you say "Scott go get the _______" he will run and get his book, ball, tambourine, lion, elephant, bunny, and many more things.
- Says the words Dada and Right There. Says Mama occasionally, mostly when he is upset. He says lots of things that sound like words in his own little language.
- Likes to play funny games likes this
- Does NOT like getting his diaper changed
- Loves going on walks
- Hates being confined at church... nursery is just 6 months away
- Loves to eat anything non-baby food - I usually smash up whatever Nate and I are having for dinner and give Scott some and he loves it!
- Loves his stuffed lion. He laughs and "mugs it" every time we give it to him.



I used to think 1-year olds were so big. I remember going to church with him for the first time and seeing a 1-year old getting his diaper changed. For a moment I honestly thought - Scott will never be that big! But now that I have a 1-year old myself, I realize they are still very much babies. He is becoming more of a toddler each day. But it's not like something suddenly changed now that he is 1, and overnight he officially became a toddler. Just like his whole life thus far, the change will be slow and gradual.

I remember when Scott was a newborn a lot of people told me "enjoy every moment, they grow up so fast". Someone even told me "all they will want to do 3 months from now is get away from you!" I know those people had good intentions, but comments like that really stressed me out as a brand-new Mom. I felt like my sweet baby was going to be taken from me faster than I would know it and in a blink of an eye his babyhood would be over. I wish I could go back and tell myself to relax. It is indeed a cliche to say that his first year of life has flown by, and in some ways it has. But we have collected so many memories along the way and I have no regrets. I feel so blessed to get to spend a lot of time with Scott. We are not overly stressed. We are not rushed. We get to treasure our time together and that is a huge luxury I know a lot of people don't have. But I am grateful for it. I don't feel sad that he is a 1-year old. I feel like he is still my Scott. I do miss things from when he was smaller, but each new stage is fun in a different way. Seeing your baby grow is exciting and wonderful! When I think about having a kid who is 6 or 13 it seems weird, but I tell myself the same thing - he will always be Scott - and Nate and I will be there every step of the way.

Happy Happy 1st Birthday Scotty!

On Saturday we celebrated Scott's 1st birthday!

We had a circus themed party that I had so much fun planning.

Thank you to all our friends who came to celebrate with us!

the menu:

popcorn and candy (like the circus of course)

fruit bruschetta on cinnamon sugar toasts

stuffed peppers (the colors matched the theme!)

mini pulled pork sliders

We played a "Who Knows Scott Best" game and made a movie with a lot of the footage from Scott's first year and had it playing during the party. We had SO many videos of Scott to sort through to make the movie.
We finally cut the movie down to 45 minutes. Hence having it playing the background.
It would have been slightly cruel to make the entire party watch an hour long movie of Scott doing things like tummy time and looking at his bird mobile for the first time.

 Cupcakes and Scott's smash cake!

My Mom used to make us little cakes like this when we were kids.

This year for Christmas she got me my own set of mini pans to make a cake for Scott!

(Me on my first birthday. True story that my ears were too big for my face until age 12.)

the birthday boy himself!

and last but not least...

the cake smash!

He loved his cake. No extreme reaction really. 

He just casually ate it like it was what was for dinner. 

 

Happy Birthday Scott!

You really are the greatest boy on earth in my book!

My Mistake = Scott's Dream

Today Scott and I went to Target to get some things for his party tomorrow. I got everything I needed and went to check out and realized I didn't have my wallet! Then I remembered Scott took it out of my purse and was playing with it earlier that morning. Forgetting my wallet and having everything at check out ready to go has happened to me once before. It's the WORST! Especially since l live kind of far from Target. Luckily I was able to call Nate and he headed over with his wallet to help. 

While Scott and I were waiting for him to get there, I let Scott walk around and roam wherever he wanted in Target.
It was totally his dream come true. 

He would look back and smile at me periodically, just to make sure I was still there.
But mostly he blazed full speed ahead!
It was so funny to see what direction he chose to take and the things he stopped to look at.

 Dada saved the day!

Now I'm worried I'll never be able to make him stay in the cart again.

It's been getting harder and harder these days.

And I'm pretty sure he had more fun than he will have at his actual birthday party.

Cupcake Toppers

Last night Emily and I were on our way to kickboxing and decided it would be a better/more awesome use of our time to make cupcake toppers for Scott's birthday party this Saturday! Emily went to cake school and had some fondant leftover from doing a friend's wedding cake. She used to work at a cake shop in South Jordan and still goes up there some weekends to help out for fun.
We decided it would be easier to make the toppers at the shop with all the equipment there. What a dream for me!

The shop owner, who happens to be Emily's good friend, was there with her assistant and they were testing cupcake recipes. 

That wanted us to taste test Mexican hot chocolate and peanut butter cream cupcakes... 

 Absolutely!

 It was so fun to be in a big professional baking kitchen.

 Emily taught me how to dye fondant and use the sheeter.

We even got to raid the day-old cupcake stash.

Emily's toppers are on the right, and required intense sculpting/artist ability.
Mine are on the left, and required the advanced use of cookie cutters.

The final products! We were there until 1:30am.
Who would have guessed how much effort it takes to make things like this.
It was so fun though. Definitely a treat for me!

Things I Love on the Day of Love

A few things I love today. On the day to celebrate love.



I love our nice warm apartment, that feels cozy when there is snow outside.

I love baking Valentine's heart sugar cookies, just like my Mom does every year.

I love that Scott loves the gym babysitting now, so I can go to classes in the morning.

I love that when I picked Scott up from the gym babysitting after my class, he came laughing and running across the room to me as fast as his little legs would carry him.

I love that Nate went to see The Vow with me last night. And that he secretly doesn't mind chick flicks.

I love being a woman. It is so much fun!

I love having a good book to read.

I love being inspired daily by the gospel, and the peace and joy it gives me.

I love working hard with Nate to achieve our dreams.

I love my family, and that I can call my Dad when I'm down and he always knows the perfect thing to say.

I love having a little 1-year old shopping buddy to share samples with at Costco.

And I actually really do love Valentine's day. Why be a hater on a day to celebrate love? Even if it is a Hallmark holiday.




Happy Valentine's Day!

Scott's Idea of a Perfect Night Out

 frozen yogurt.

being able to roam free and make new friends.

 

hanging out with dada.

 stealing a few bites.

and off again!

Nap Time

Every Mom knows nap time is precious time.
Time to do those things you can't do when they are awake.
Like mop the floors. Or load the dishwasher in my case.
Or time to do absolutely nothing.
Like watch Downton Abbey. Or read a book.

Regardless, their naps always seem to go so fast.
 But sometimes the only thing better than nap time, is being greeted by this happy face afterwards!