1 year ago...

Newborn...wow; where did that little baby go?!?

12 month old!!!

One year ago the most amazing little man came into our lives. He came on his own terms; on exactly the first day of my 36th week of pregnancy. He weighed just 7 pounds that day and was 19 inches long. 10 fingers and 10 toes. Absolutely perfect. I know most people would say their lives completely changed when a baby came into their life, but I really haven't felt like that at all. Oh yeah I haven't had a decent night's sleep since he was born. Oh yeah our house if filled to the gills with baby toys. Oh yeah there are the diapers and bottles and baby shampoos where there was none before. But all of these things have enhanced my life in such a profound, amazingly wonderful way that the change has not felt life altering to me. I feel like I was ready for all of these things. It was time to have these things filling up my house and taking my energy and enriching my existence.

And really, I couldn't ask for a more wonderful kid. He is so happy, smiley and inquisitive. Just a bundle of personality. I love spending my days playing with him. I love spending time snuggling, smelling and kissing him. (He has the best smell ever!) I seriously could kiss his soft, chubby cheeks all day long and not feel like I had wasted my day.

He now weighs around 24 pounds and is somewhere close to 30 inches long (I won't know the exact figures until his appointment tomorrow). He crawls like there is no tomorrow and loves to walk using the aide of anything that will help him. When he does walk holding onto our hands, he ONLY wants to hang onto 1 hand; he's no baby who needs 2 hands to hold onto! He has taken 4-5 steps on his own into the awaiting arms of his daddy, but he has yet to "really" walk. He LOVES to play outside; to explore the nature that is around him. The other night I asked our dog if he wanted to go outside and Brendan jumped up from what he was doing and made a beeline to me. He wanted to go outside!

Some nights he sleeps through the night and others he likes to get up and party a bit. OY! He takes either a long 3-3 1/2 hour nap or 2 short 1-2 hour naps a day...it's a crap shoot which he's going to pick every day. He is wearing 12, 12-18 and some 2T clothing. Size 4 diapers. Size 3 or 4 shoes. He is now sitting in a forward facing car seat (Yay!!!). He babbles dada; da-dy; mom; momma; tah; dah; ch; ssssss; ba-ba-ba-ba. I swear he tries to say "uh-oh" and "dog". He loves to look at his books, especially the ones that have things to feel on the pages. He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and claps whenever Mickey is on the TV screen.

1 year ago today we welcomed Brendan into our lives. 1 year ago today I became a mommy and have loved each and every minute. I can't believe that 1 year has passed me by as quickly as this year has.

1st Birthday Party

It's really hard to believe, but my baby's first birthday party (something that I had contemplated and envisioned in my head forever) is done and over with. It was a fantastic day, beautiful weather and we had great company. Grant and I decided to hold his birthday party at a park on West Rush Lake; Dennis Frandsen County Park. There's a brand new picnic shelter, playground and bathroom there and it's just a gorgeous place by the lake. We were quite nervous, though, that we would not be able to claim the picnic shelter as ours unless we made a move for it very early in the morning. The party started at 11 a.m., so Grant, B and I made our way out there around 8 a.m. and thankfully claimed the picnic shelter as ours for the afternoon. We grilled hot dogs, had beans, salads, chips and of course cake. B opened presents, with the help of his cousin Layney, and it was just a glorious day all around. Here are a few photos from our day at the park.

The birthday boy chowing down on watermelon and hot dogs...Yum!
Sitting like a big boy in his new lawn chair. Doesn't he look so big and grown up?! UGH!

Opening presents with Layney and Mommy.

Layeny and Brendan trying out his new toys (one from my mom and one from my sister; my sister had the train picked out and at her house for a few weeks. my mom then went out and bought the plane thinking that it looked like something B would love. we laughed so much that they picked out the same things, but look at how nice it is to have more than one!)

CAKE TIME! My sister picked up a free first birthday cake at Kowalski's Market in White Bear Lake and we let B dig in. HE LOVED it and made quite the mess enjoying his birthday cake.

More photos from Florida!

Here are a few more pictures from our Florida trip:

My little man and me in front of the Muppet fountain at Disney's Hollywood Studios. He LOVED all fountains and wanted to jump in this one right when he saw it!

The most beautiful little girl to EVER dress up as Jasmine. Audriana got fawned over all day by Disney Cast members and park guests alike. It was so awesome and so was she!! I love her lots!

Another shot from the Spectro Magic Parade.

And another one of B eating his delicious, cold Mickey Ice Cream Bar!

This one is my fav of the bunch. Check out Audriana's little face as she is dumping water down B's back...CRACKS ME UP!!!

So much fun!!!

It's hard to believe that our Florida vacation is already over. We had a BLAST with the Barcenas family and cannot wait for them to come to Minnesota in June! Here are just a few of the 600 some pictures we took. It's really hard to pick just a few favorites, but I will start here:

Our first morning at Anna and Arturo's house...Brendan and Audriana all ready to go to Chef Mickey's Character breakfast. Grant found them playing together in Audriana's room...So Cute right!!!

It was SOOOOO hot in Florida; high 90's every day. Brendan got to try out a Mickey Ice Cream bar and this was the after shot. He LOVED IT and made a great mess of himself enjoying the ice cream. This was Grandpa Jim's only request of us...Brendan HAD to have a Mickey Ice Cream Bar.

This was us at the Sci Fi Cafe eating lunch on Monday. It was Grant's birthday and we had a wonderful meal here.

Brendan with his buddies Mickey and Minnie. He was so excited when it came time for his turn with them. He made a beeline to them as soon as he could and it was so cute! He loved all the characters; but I think his he favored Mickey, Minnie and Donald :D

This picture was taken during the Spectro Magic parade. All 5 minutes he saw of it! He was clapping and reaching his arms out to the floats one minute and the next he was crying and hysterical, then he fell asleep in my arms. We laid him down in the stroller to catch our bus, slept in my arms throughout the bus ride, stayed sleeping when we put him back in the stroller to walk through the resort, pick up some snacks on our way back to our room, stayed sleeping while I changed his diaper, and finally woke up as soon as I laid him down in his bed. Silly boy! He had a bottle and then was down for the night.

So, there are just a few pics from our fabulous trip! I will hopefully get time to post a few more later, but we do have a busy next couple of days coming up....so we'll see!