Backyard Fun

I'm pretty sure everyone had a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe when they were growing up. I know I remember the one my brothers and I played with. Well, thanks to his grandparents, Preston has one now too.

Brian pushed him around the block and P loved every minute. Of course, he likes to go as fast as possible.

In other news, he's been signing a ton! They teach him sign language at school, and he signs please, more, eat, and milk. It's pretty cool. He has also started shaking his head "no" when we ask questions. He babbles nonstop. I think he is going to be a talker, because he communicates all the time now.

Last week, we had his one-year check up at the doctor. P is super healthy and is doing great. He keeps having ear infections, and they can't really seem to clear up, so we are thinking about tubes soon in the hopes that the ear infections will stop. We haven't decided for sure though. In fact, when Dr. Bubba looked in his ears, he said both were infected. When I asked how infected, on a scale of 1 to 10, he said 10 in both ears, and they were red and bulging. Preston didn't even have any symptoms! He is a tough kid.

Height: 29.5 in (50%)
Weight: 23 lb, 11 oz (50%)
Head: Don't remember, but it was 75%

He got his shots. It was probably the worst experience we have had with shots thus far, because I was alone with him and had to hold him down with my entire body. I know my Child Life friends would not have approved, but he got over it pretty quickly. It was the first time that he was fully aware he was getting shots and was not happy about it. Also, this is kind of strange, but at the last three visits to the doctor, when Preston sees Dr. Bubba's nurse (the one that gives the shots) he cries and clings to me. His nurse, Cheryl, says that happens a lot, because kids associate her with shots. If he hears her voice down the hall, before we've even seen anyone, he gets this freaked out look on his face. It's not even like we go to the doctor a lot. Sometimes I am amazed at how perceptive my 12-month-old is. Cheryl assures me that by the time they are two, they love her. I hope so. Nothing gets by Preston.

Well, at least we have a happy, healthy and perceptive one-year-old. :)

Preston's 1st Birthday Party

On Saturday, we had friends and family over to celebrate P's first birthday. We had about 30 people over, mostly family. Several members of the Fields family ended up missing the party at the last minute, because Brian's cousin's wife went into labor with their 3rd child at the hospital around the corner from our house. He was born about halfway through the party. Preston can't wait to meet his new "partner in crime" Quinn Fields. :)

I started prepping for P's party a little over a month ago. Of course, mentally, I had been planning it for much longer than that :). Brian and I talked about themes and knew we wanted to do a "little man" theme. At school, they call him "the man" and we have always called him Mr. P, so it was the perfect fit. I found some ideas on Pinterest and started planning.

I knew I didn't want to be too "over-the-top" because I feel like that's a little ridiculous for a first birthday party. However, I wanted it to be special and I wanted some handmade things. I think we had a nice compromise for the little man.

First up, invites! Ordered from Etsy through Dimple Prints. I found some cute navy and light blue envelopes at Archiver's to mail them.

I knew I wanted to make Preston a 12 month banner to show off his pictures from each month. It was amazing to look at them all laid out like that and see just how much he has changed.

Also at Archiver's, I found striped and houndstooth paper, because I figured that was the most "man-like." Making the banner ended up being much easier than I expected. Can't believe they go for so much on Etsy! Doing the numbers was kind of a pain, but I got through it.

Sweet cards on the mantle.

I hadn't really thought about doing treat bags, but Brian really wanted to. Plus, we had been to a few other parties and gotten some cute ones, so we thought it would be fun. Well, we ended up having the most fun with the stuff in it! Mustaches, mustache suckers, harmonicas, kazoos ($1 aisle at Target), and whoopie cushions. 

The bags were from an ADORABLE Etsy shop Cupcake Social. I ordered the bags, a tie cooker cuter, and houndstooth cupcake liners from them, and will definitely order again. Such cute party stuff. I found the little mustaches at Archivers. They are actually rub-ons, so each bag has a different mustache and they were really easy to put on. Kind of like a temporary tattoo.

Speaking of tie cookie cutters, here are the cute tie cookies. My mom helped me with all the baked goods for the party. She makes the most amazing cookies and cupcakes so I "hired" her.

Aren't those cupcakes gorgeous? They taste even better. They are my absolute favorite. She also helped me by making Preston's smash cake. It was tiny, and perfect, and had real buttercream frosting. We found the cute argyle candle at a local party place.

In addition to baked goods, we had P's favorite fruits (Dapper Dude's Favorite Fruits), "Bowtie" pasta salad, Ham Manwiches (those awesome poppyseed and ham butter rolls), and an assortment of drinks, which we labeled "A Toast to Mr. P!" We ordered the napkins for P's baptism, and ordered a big amount, because we figured we would use them for various stuff for P. They were perfect for the party.

Family pic before the cake throw down!

I thought I might get a little teary when I heard everyone singing him Happy Birthday, but I kept my composure. 

In case you missed the post before this, please go and watch the video. Preston devoured his cake like ONLY he can. I have mentioned many times that he is an intense kid, and he really took his intensity out on this cake. It was everything we hoped it would be. I was scared he might not perform under pressure, but he outdid himself by face-planting into his cake and proceeding to shovel it into his mouth, only coming up for air every now and then. He ate the entire thing!

He had an ADD moment and realized balloons were on his high chair.

He chugged his milk after the cake. He was so proud of himself.

Santa brought Preston some mustaches in his stocking. We pulled those out and some of our guests actually played along with us! Love this one of P's neighbor friend Alex. :)

Brian seriously looked like Tom Selleck when he put the mustache on. The dimples and bushy stache resembled him a little too much.

I love this picture of Preston and me. We don't have a lot of pictures together since I am always behind the camera. The look on his face is SO like him. 

Preston's great-grandfather, dad, and grandfathers.

Preston's sweet little cousin Eva! She is just adorable. She fractured her wrist last weekend and had the cutest little purple cast. 

Best friend Robyn and me...

Oh, and his shirt is from another great Etsy seller, Pocketbaby. The shirt is really high quality, and the embroidery was great. 

Brian and I love the next picture because it was how Preston looked all day. So happy, with this wild-eye look on his face. He was running from room to room checking everyone out. 

What makes a first birthday so special is that (newsflash!) BABIES ARE HARD. And we did it. We made it through 365 days of the sleepless nights, the breastfeeding, the bottles, the middle-of-the-night diaper blowouts, reflux, colic, the ear infections, the teething, fevers, the first smile, the first laugh, the first teeth, the first steps, first words, and the first black eye. We did it. And we're better for it, and I would not trade a SINGLE second of the last year. Perspective is a beautiful thing!!!! :)

After our little man destroyed his cake, Brian and I looked at each other, hugged and kissed, and could not have been prouder because we did it together. We are truly a mommy and a daddy. 

Cake Devouring

This video justifies the purchase of the Sony video camera we bought right after Preston was born :)

We celebrated his birthday today with family and friends. I'll post some pics later, but for now, I leave you with this video of Preston face-planting into his cake. I can't wait to watch this with him when he's grown.

 

PS - The video is a big file, so to avoid skipping, let the whole thing load first.

One Heck of a Year

Preston,

You are 12 months old! One whole year we have had you in our lives.

It's been the biggest, hardest, most challenging, most wonderful, most joyful year your parents have ever had and they wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Today, the last day of January, it is sunny and 70 degrees. Very rare here in Memphis, but perfect for your first big birthday.

You grow smarter (and cuter) by the minute. Your mom and dad are always amazed at the things you do, and still, after a year, say "We can't believe he is ours." You are your parents (and grandparents) world, and life is so much brighter with you in it.

You went to school today and took cupcakes for your friends and teachers. They were all so excited and sang happy birthday to you! Mrs. Ophelia, your favorite teacher, couldn't wait to get her hands on you today.

As your looks and personality develop, you are looking more and more like your daddy. Your hair, your cheeks, your smile... you look so much like him. Even your profiles look similar. Mommy thinks that is great, because both of you are extremely handsome. Your dad always dreamed of having a little boy, and says all the time that everything about you is exactly what he has always wanted.

As far as personality goes, you are all mommy. While you have many redeeming qualities, you get easily frustrated when you can't figure something out quickly. You go at things full force, with energy and excitement. There is nothing calm or patient about you. Not yet at least. You are super independent and never want help learning things. You won't even let your mom and dad hold your hand to help you walk, not that you need it. You love to figure things out on your own, and when you do, you get a look of sheer and genuine joy on your face. You play hard, almost like you are doing work. It is very funny to watch. You are so busy, and always moving. Your mind is constantly going and thinking, and you have a very expressive little face. Your teachers at school say that you have a very big personality, and command a room when you are in it. There is an intensity in you that your parents adore, but are also a little afraid of.   ;)

You are clearly determining favorite things. Your mom's friend from college, Bev, gave you a beautiful blue blanket with your name on it. You sleep with it every night, and snuggle with it. You take naps with it when you are at home. You have three favorite books: Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt (you can do the action on every page!), Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs by Sandra Boynton (this is your #1 go-to), and DOG by Matthew Van Fleet (you LOVE to read this right before bed). You drag these books around and want us to read them to you over and over. You love to turn the pages, and smile and clap while we read them to you. For toys, you are especially loving dinosaurs and monster trucks. You also really like it when daddy stacks blocks up high, and then you run and knock them down. You laugh so hard your cheeks turn red!

Developmentally, you are walking and running like a pro. You eat like a champ, anything and everything. You transitioned to whole milk easily. You are still a good sleeper, although you might be moving from two naps to one nap pretty soon. You do so many things, it's hard to even list them all. You are beginning to copy your parents and teachers more, mostly in actions and sounds. Verbally, you are still working on it. You say a few things like "mama", "dada", "dog", and lots of different sounds, inflections, and tones. They just don't make any sense yet. You will pick up a book or talk on a cell phone, and jabber with inflection like you are actually having a conversation. It's hilarious! Your parents can't wait until real words start flowing. You pick up a cell phone and talk on it, and you pick up your hair brush and pretend to brush your hair. It's really amazing how you catch on so quickly.

Your mom and dad are throwing a party for you this weekend to celebrate your big birthday. They can hardly wait! Your big gift this year was a Radio Flyer red wagon.

You are everything, Preston. Your parents have never been closer because of you. Their lives have never been more full. Preston, you made us a family and we will love you always. :) Happy 1st Birthday, Mr. P!

New Tricks

Preston shows off some his new tricks, like high-fiving and doing the Indian.

 

Some Favorites

Life is so full these days. As we get closer to Preston's first birthday, we are constantly amazed at how big he looks and acts. He's getting over eye and ear infections, and is finally sleeping well again.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures recently. I so love taking pictures of our little family. It really is probably my favorite thing to do!

Preston and his friend Woods playing with a jack in the box.

The child LOVES his mama.

Stud.

He dropped my car keys into daddy's cowboy boots. Good thing Brian wore his shoes that day, or we would be looking everywhere for my car keys.

This picture is so Preston to me. He is so independent, working through his agenda. So funny.

His new favorite thing is to erase the chalkboard. I drew a cute picture for his birthday, and he has loved erasing it.

Last weekend, I was a great wife and surprised Brian with a date! I had reservations at Tsunami for us, and then we headed to Alchemy for a drink afterwards. It was such a fun night, and I think Alchemy might be our new favorite place. We were in bed by 11, so it wasn't too crazy of a night. :)

I am nervous that Preston might be nearing his first haircut. His hair is falling into his eyes, and it is really getting long. There is a part of me that wants his hair to grow longer, but then I don't want him looking ratty. We'll see what happens.

I can't believe our baby will be one on Tuesday. So hard to believe. Just thinking of singing happy birthday to him makes me want to cry! He is such a sweet boy. What a year!