Beckett's (almost) walking!

Second title of this post: Beckett's first walking injury!

Ms. Ally caught this on her cell phone at daycare today. He's walking! It ends with a little bump to the head, but he's a tough guy. Just a little bruise on his forehead. His first walking-related injury!

Please excuse the mouthful of food. It's the only time I can get him to sit still long enough to take a decent (non-blurry) picture. The bruise is right above his right eye. See it? It's barely there.

I'm just thrilled that he's getting closer and closer to being an official walker. I'm sure I'll feel differently about this in a few weeks. Until then, go Beckett!

Crazy Hair

This kid has some awesome hair. I love it.

Before bathtime:

During bathtime:

Right after bathtime:

Now let's just hope he can keep it a little longer than his Dad :)

Beckett is ONE!

I no longer have a baby. Beckett is officially a toddler! His birthday was on Sunday the 29th, so this is a few days late. I guess I'm just not ready to accept that he's already one, but ready or not, it's happening!

We spent his birthday recovering from his party the day before. We mostly just played at home, but we did go to Stride Rite to get him a real pair of shoes. His feet are so chubby and I was having a horrible time finding shoes that fit him. We found some though, and he even got to pick them out. He made a great choice, in my opinion. That evening we went over to the Yount's house for dinner. I think he had a great first birthday!

At one year old, Beckett is even more amazing than ever. He's starting to really understand the things we say to him. He knows what it means when I say, "Let's go brush our teeth", and he gets a big grin on his face. He gives kisses on demand, and knows how to give a high-five. Sometimes he'll wave goodbye, but that one's really hit or miss.

Speaking of kisses, he now has a lady friend at daycare. Her name is Savannah, and she is a few months younger than him. He made his move on her earlier this week, showering her with hugs and kisses (I have photo evidence, but it's on my phone) and the next day she returned the love with hand holding and an arm around the back. I'm so glad he's got a buddy he can play with at daycare. Their budding baby love is so sweet, and good for a few laughs for Ally (who runs the daycare).

Here's what else he's been up to this month:

• Still not walking yet. He did take a few quick steps the day before his birthday though!!!! Then he fell right over. Two or three steps in a row has been his record until tonight, when he took probably four or five steps and stood on his own for a little bit. He's still got a ways to go until he's officially walking though. He can go up stairs now! And he'll do that any chance he gets, he loves it! He likes to crawl on things (and Cliffy), and is getting into any possible drawer/cabinet that's at Beckett height. He's busy to say the least.
• No new teeth this month. Still has the same six as last month, but now the two newest ones are all the way through. Time for more!
• We tried to transition to cow's milk a few weeks ago. Didn't go good. At all. A fussy, gassy, red-bottomed baby was the result. So we're holding off for a few more months to see if he can grow out of his intolerance. Until then, it's almond milk for Beck. He loves it, and I can't blame him. It tastes like a smoothie. He also discovered his love for hot dogs at his birthday party. He'll put one down in no time at all.
• His sleep has been kind of terrible this month. He's back to waking up at night about half the time, and it can take a while to get him back to sleep. He's also been waking up super early in the mornings. Like 5:30am. I'm ok with 6:30, but I can't accept 5:30. I'm hoping it's all just a phase, and will end soon.
• He saw his pediatrician for his one year appointment the day after his birthday. He's weighing in at 25 pounds and 10 ounces (85th percentile) and is 32 1/2 inches tall (98th percentile). I think the nurse measured a little long on his height, or he went through a major growth spurt. Either way, he's still a big boy.

Beck also got a new friend this month. Two days after his birthday, Cash Martin Macrander was born!! We're ready for the many, many playdates to come. Congratulations Kelly and Chaz!

Well that's been our month! Ready for pictures? Ok then...

I want to make something like this every year to remember all of his "favorites" as he grows up. I love this idea.

He was on TV! Everyday Channel 6 features first birthdays, and you can send in a picture and a little description of the child for them to read on the air. It was really fun to see his picture pop up on the big screen!

Drawing on my phone.

Do you see a head peeking out from behind the chair? Do you see a shirt on that head? Yeah, that's my kid.

Goof

Doors are another new favorite toy.

Action shot!

And here are a couple of our pathetic loving dogs, just for good measure:

In case you're wondering, yes, Cliffy is sitting on David's lap. He thinks he's tiny.

Celebrating Under the Big Top!

Beckett's first birthday was yesterday! Before I get to the one-year update, I'll tell you about his epic party. It was circus themed, and included hot dogs, soft pretzels, cotton candy and lots of other goodies. I had so much fun planning it, and was able to do it for a reasonable amount of money, thanks to Pinterest and all of my homemade decorations!

I picked my two favorite pictures from every month of Beck's life so far and strung them together to hang on the wall.

Cotton candy! It was a huge hit - with the adults!

Family portrait after he (I) opened all of his presents. He got lots of great clothes, toys, books and even a rocking horse! We went out the next day and bought him some fancy new shoes with some birthday money he got too.

This look is trouble.

He absolutely loved the cake and would have easily eaten the whole thing if I hadn't taken it away from him.

This kid was loving life right here. He was actually a lot neater than I thought he would be! No frosting in his hair at all.

We all had a great time at his party, I'd call it a success! Now to start searching Pinterest for ideas for his 2nd birthday party!

What's going on here?

About a week ago, we started transitioning Beckett over to whole cow's milk. So I've been adding an ounce or two of milk in with his formula at each feeding. A few days into this, I noticed he was getting bad diaper rashes, even if I changed him right after he went and applied ointment. Then he started waking up several times at night, crying and wimpering, even when we would hold and rock him. He's also really gassy at night when we would rock him.

So now I'm wondering if it's connected to starting on cow's milk. Does he have a milk allergy? Lactose intolerant? We've stopped the cow's milk and are back on just formula to see if his problems resolve and he goes back to sleeping through the night.

Or is it teething? Is he getting his one year molars? He just sprouted two new teeth a couple weeks ago that are slowly making their way in.

Poor guy.

Oh, and he also had a small bout of Croup this weekend. He still has a little cough that also wakes him up at night. The boy just can't catch a break.

Beckett is 11 Months Old!

Only one month until I have a toddler. A toddler. Whoa. Beckett's starting to act like a toddler, that's for sure. His personality and attitude is growing daily. He cracks me up all the time, and he loves to make me laugh. He will try to "sneak up" on me and "attack" me, all while I act like it's terrifying, and he just laughs and laughs. He'll hand me one of his toys, and I'll play with it for a second, do something silly with it and hand it back. He'll act like he's playing with it, do something silly also, and then hand it back to me and laugh. This game can go on for a very loooong time if I let it. We can just sit and play for hours, and I get so caught up in Beckett world. It's so much fun having a baby this age. Here's what he's doing this month:

• Not walking yet. He's still just pulling up on anything and everything that he can grab onto and cruising around. He's getting more gutsy though, and I can see him trying stand alone here pretty soon. Not sure if he'll be walking by his first birthday, but he's surprised me before!
• He now has six teeth. The two new ones are just popping through, and they're the next two on the top to come in.
• We're about to start introducing whole cow's milk. I'm going to transition very slowly and hopefully he'll be fully on cow's milk by his first birthday or shortly after. We'll see how he does with it. We try new foods all the time, and there's really no food that he doesn't like. He especially loves pasta and yogurt melts.
• He's still sleeping good! Not much else to say here, except that I hope it continues.

He's still obsessed with the dog food bowls. I pull dog food out of his mouth almost daily. It's not as if I just let him crawl over and grab the food, he finds this stuff out of nowhere. It can't really taste good, can it? You would think that one taste would've been enough to deter him.

Now for some pictures:

The kid loves cheerios.

Yes, he dumped the whole bag out, and continued to shake the bag until all the pieces were out. Good news though, he helped the dogs clean it up. Such a sweet boy he is.

Busted pulling the toilet paper off the roll.

This kid is so much fun I can hardly stand it. How did I get so lucky?

Merry Christmas!

Beckett's first Christmas was a success! We started off the festivities on Christmas Eve. I wanted to start the tradition of him opening up his Christmas pajamas the night before, so that's what we did.

Christmas morning we woke up and attempted to let Beck open his gifts from us and Santa. He couldn't care less about them. He would push the presents out of his way to get to his other toys. So I ended up unwrapping everything that I had just wrapped a couple days earlier. Then he was interested in the toys.

The aftermath. The puppies got bones in their stockings, too.

After presents at home, we packed up and headed down to Plattsmouth to go to church with my parents and David's mom. Then we went over to my parents' house for brunch and more presents. Again, Beckett had no interest in opening the presents, but once they were opened for him, he loved to play with his new toys.

Then we went home to spend the rest of the afternoon with our little family. David's mom came over later in the day to bring Beckett a couple presents.

All in all, it was a great day. We celebrate Christmas with my sister and her family this weekend, and with David's brother and his family a couple weeks from now. My brother called from Afghanistan while we were at my parents' house, so it was great that we got to talk to him on Christmas day! We are missing him this holiday season and can't wait for him to be back for good soon! Happy Holidays, everyone!