Growing Up

Alex will be 1 year old 2 weeks from today. I am not quite sure what to feel. I am happy and so proud of him, but at the same time I am sad. I cannot believe it has been almost 1 whole year since he was born. It seems like just yesterday he was born and I could hold him in one arm. Now I'm lucky to squeeze in one cuddle a day. There are far too many toys to be played with and things to get into to waste time hugging Mommy. :o)

I have been spending a lot of my time planning out his 1st birthday party. On his actual birthday we are going to have a small get together with my family at my parents house and have some cake and ice cream and let Alex open some presents. Then we are having a bbq/party at the local lake/park with family and friends that live in the area about a week later. The theme will be Blues Clues. Here are some pictures of the cake and cupcakes I am going to make (wish me luck!):

Alex absolutely LOVES dogs and I think this is why he loves to watch Blue's Clues. He will just sit there and babble at the tv the whole time the show is on. Every time he sees Blue he screams "dah!" (dog). I usually put it on while I make his lunch and he gets so excited. All I have to do is ask him if he wants to watch Blue's Clues and he makes a beeline to the tv.

I'm sure I'll do a fair share of crying at his party, but I'll also have so much fun just watching him enjoy his special day. I never realized how quickly time goes by until I became a Mother. I try to live each minute to its fullest and enjoy every day I have at home with my baby boy. I know one day I will have to go back to work, but for now I am enjoying being a stay at home Mommy.

And off he goes!

Alex is officially walking now! He has been taking steps without assistance here or there since August 5th but starting Thursday he has been doing much better. This video was at Gymboree on Friday and even since then he has gotten 10x better at walking. He takes off on his own now. I can't believe how big my baby boy is getting. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting on my birthing ball at home barely getting through each contraction just waiting to go to the hospital and meet our baby boy. This year has gone by WAY TOO FAST! Alex is at such an exciting age though. He is becoming his own little person and its so funny to see his personality. I thought I was in for it with him crawling, but now that I've seen how well he walks and how quick he is getting, I realize I'm REALLY in for it now! Who knows maybe he will be a future Olympian :o)

Here we go...

Well I know quite a few people who blog and thought I would give it a try. It will be a good way to keep my family and friends who don't live near us updated. I'm sure the majority of what I write about will be about Alex. What can I say...I'm a PROUD Mommy! I think it was the best decision that Scott and I ever made for me to stay home with our little boy. Making sacrifices in other areas in order for me to stay home is well worth it. Each and every day I get to watch Alex discover new things and each day he amazes me with how smart he is. We just enrolled him in a Learn and Play class at the local Gymboree. We go for a 45 minute class every Saturday. Alex has a blast! Basically they have a teacher who sings songs and does different activities with the children and parents to help the child's motor and social skills. There are different obstacle courses, tunnels to crawl through, slides to slide down and plenty of things to play with. We thought it was important for him to get that social interaction with other babies/children his age. So far it has been a wonderful experience. Not only does Alex look forward to Gymboree..so do Mommy and Daddy :o)

Alright I am off to bed because I'm sure Alex will have me up bright and early. But I don't mind when I wake up to a smile like this: