First Birthday! - Part 1

Cason's first birthday celebration started a few weeks ago with a photoshoot.  Cason and I headed up to Plano a few weekends ago so my friend Chrissy could take some birthday boy shots.  My parents helped drag all of our props and the smash cake and Elliott was the photo assistant for the day. 

I love all the pictures but I am just posting a few here.  I didn't get around to invitations for his birthday since it was really just family but might create a first birthday announcement so I can have something to put in his baby book that doesn't really exist.  This blog includes way more stuff than I would probably ever get around to putting in a baby book.



Terry hates the cake smash pictures.  I'm not entirely sure why but its something to do with wasting a whole cake (its not wasted if you eat it- Elliott helped) and he doesn't like the naked baby thing.  I'm cracking up as I write this because Chrissy and I had an extensive text conversation about how we are going to pull off a cake smash picture for Terry's next birthday.  I'm including some but I won't include too many- they are all super cute though! Enjoy!

Such a handsome boy!

 

 

 

The best part about these pictures is that he actually got in to the cake smash.  We had two birthday parties and he didn't want any part of eating his cake and both time almost ended up crying.  I think it was the singing and attention so I'm really glad I got these pictures.,

11 Months

We have almost made it to a year! I feel like I don't even know what has happened to the past year of my life. I do know that every day he becomes more of his own little person and we love him more than ever!

A few things about 11 month old Cason:

• Most if the time we call him Casey or some other nickname we make up.
• He bites- hard. It is not limited to chew toys or people. It is everything.
• We are down to very few bottles. He takes his formula in sippy cups too.
• He likes to dance. It is pretty much bouncing but he does it when he hears music.
• He can walk with support or his push toys. He stands for a while and can bend down alone.
• His laugh never fails to make us laugh.
• Terry and Cason are in wrestling mode. Most nights they roll around on the floor before bath time.
• He loves bath time and when he sees his toothbrush he opens his mouth. No complaints.
• He usually says "dog" when he sees Cooper and almost always laughs when you bark.
• He waves. It is adorable and my favorite when he waves at whatever he thinks he sees. He says done in his highchair and will make the sign. Sometimes he starts to wave instead of signing done.
• He loves to swing and likes the wind in his face.
• The sleeping is getting better.  He goes down pretty easy and still takes 2 naps a day.

Scary baby picture.  Every time I look at this it cracks me up.

We were at my parents and Cason really wanted to go in the kitchen.  My mom sat in the doorway and tried to keep him from getting in there.  I'm pretty sure he is telling her what he thinks about that in this picture.

I was not kidding about the biting.  I have discovered teeth marks on his crib and the end table- oh and my arm!  Hopefully Grammy doesn't have to replace this table.  I love this picture though.  He doesn't quite understand he can't bite everything.  If you tell him no too much he gets the pouty lip quiver.  I wish it wasn't so hard not to laugh sometimes.

A few weeks ago Cason and I met my brother, Angie, Connor and Brooklyn for breakfast with my parents.  Brooklyn really wanted him to drink out of her sippy cup.  She tried to force it in his mouth.  She was just being sweet and trying to share. :)

More sweetness!  Brooklyn giving Cason some hugs.

The before picture.  He started with cheerios but ate some muffin, pancakes, bananas, a few bites of potato and I'm not even sure what else.  His little belly was so full. He passed out on the way home.

I love this little guy too!  Connor being cute.  I think Cason looks a lot like Connor in the picutre above this one.

He is feeling very independent with his bottle lately.  Even at night he usually wants to hold it.  This was his morning bottle.  He likes to watch a little "Cat in the Hat" while he has his snack.

He has his mouth stuffed and chewing but he was trying to sign that he was "done."  He still doesn't quite get it. :)

This is his new favorite activity.  The chair bounces and Cason climbs in and like to bounce and look out the window.

Terry and Cason wrestling.  Cason has a hold of Terry's nose.  Sometimes he fights dirty.  I'm sure at some point he bit either his nose, chin or maybe both.

And finally...Every year the hospital I work at has a rodeo party to kick off the Austin Rodeo.  We have a lot of random parties and this is another good excuse.  They had a mechanical bull and Terry and Cason rode it.  Not the best picture and it kind of looks like Cason was asleep.  I think he liked it though.

Valentines 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Lots Of Love Valentine's Card

Go with Shutterfly Christmas cards this holiday. Satisfaction guaranteed.

View the entire collection of cards.

Forgotten PIctures

We took a few pictures today for Valentine's cards to send to our family.  When I downloaded the pictures I realized we still had pictures from Halloween and our trip to the pumpkin patch.  I completely forgot about them.  Its kind of amazing to see how much he's changed since Halloween.

He wanted to eat the hay the entire time.  And I love the belly!

This was before his hair got totally crazy. :)
 

 A picture from today to see just how much he's grown.

10 Months

It has already been 10 months and I cannot believe it! Cason has 8 teeth (and more coming) and he is starting to look more like a little boy than a baby. He can say mama, dada, and uh oh. Sometimes he even says uh oh at the right time. :). He makes a noise that sounds like dog when he sees Cooper but not really sure about that one. Might be a stretch.

He laughs and shrieks and watches you very intently when you talk. I love it when he tries to move his mouth to mimic what you are doing. He always takes off his left sock. Not sure why but he's pretty consistent about it.

The ever constant bare left foot.

He is finally sleeping through the night- with the exception of this new round of teething and a virus. But we did have about 3 glorious weeks of 10-12 hour stretches. I am being optimistic that this will return shortly.

He moved up in his daycare class to some bigger kids. There is one kid who is pretty big. He looks like a man child. I will call him Steve-I don't know why but that's what I think his name should be. Sometimes Steve swats at the other kids. I guess showing them he's bigger and can. Terry usually picks Cason up in the afternoon. Last Wednesday Cason was the object of Steve's affection. On Friday Terry glanced through the door to spy on Cason and saw him holding Steve down to the ground by his bib. (This could be a reason why Cason refuses to wear a bib.) Cason saw Terry, laughed, and crawled away innocently. I love that little guy!

A few random pictures from the last month.



Tormenting Cooper and trying to tear down the blinds.

Shopping at Academy with Daddy.

9 Months

I cannot believe it has been 9 months!  Cason is such a happy little guy.  He loves to babble and "sing".  Terry and I were cracking up last night because we will say something to him and he usually babbles something back.  It is funny because most of the time it actually sounds like a jumbled up version of whatever we said.  Terry thinks Cason is just making fun of us.  I'm sure at some point in every day he thinks one or both of us are probably idiots. :)  As a side note I generally have to do these posts in 3-4 sittings.  This one is kind of long and I really need to start using something other than my phone to take pictures.  Maybe that will be my resolution this year.

Horrible picture but he was singing here. :)

He is still crawling around, through and on top of everything.  He loves to go through spaces.  He pulls himself up and stands all the time now.  He can stand for a second without holding on but he hasn't really mastered that yet.  He finally figured out how to get back down without falling.  As long as he is holding on he can take steps.  He has a walking toy but he's not quite stable enough to do it himself.  He has started pointing and growls at us.  He does this thing where he bows out his chest and kind of grunts.  You would think he was just leaving a present in his diaper but it has nothing to do with it.  He does it a lot when he's strapped in so I think he just wants out.  He tends to do it while he is eating too. (he also discovered its funny to try to blow bubbles with your food).  Someday I will be able to laugh on the inside because it is not helping this situation.  Grandma D cracks us up because she just grunts back at him and makes crazy movements like him when she feeds him.  She say he reminds her of Benny Hinn (not sure about the spelling).  I've never heard of him but apparently he is a tv preacher who would hit people on the head and cure whatever ailed them.  I'm guessing like Robert Tilton but more dramatic.

This was a scary discovery for us.

He still eats everything.  The first time you give him something he will usually make the most disgusted face and then spit it out.  But, he will take it the next time you give it to him.  It usually takes about 2-3 tries feeding it to him and then he decides he like it.  Yogurt was the one exception.  He loves yogurt!  I gave him some and he screamed at me for more.  When he wants more he opens and closes his little hand.  I don't know if that actually means more or if that is something they taught him at daycare, but that is what it means in our world.  I guess I should probably be on top of my baby sign language but I'll be honest and say that might not happen.

He is actually wearing a bib but he usually rips it off.

He now has 4 teeth.  He just broke through with a top tooth.  It was a really bad one with several sleepless nights to prove it.  He has not quite got the sleeping thing down.  He will throw in a full night here and there just to let us know he is in charge and he wants to keep us on our toes.  For the most part he still wakes up at least once a night.  I keep thinking I have to get serious about this sleep thing so I can get some sleep but I admit most of the time I'm a sucker. We've also had a few bumps and bruises.  His new independence has resulted in a bump on the head at Grandma D's house.  I know this one hurt her more than him.  A bump on the check one day while I was working.  He hit the leg of the office chair and the wail almost made me cry.  And finally he discovered what hot means.  He wasn't burned but apparently the outside of our oven gets hot and he crawled faster than I could get to him.  That one was the worst for Daddy.

Cason still loves Cooper.  The 2nd picture above is him wiping away slober.  I don't think Cooper likes to admit it but he loves Cason too.  He kind of follows him around although he is learning to stay just out of reach.

He also loves his Daddy.  Terry I think is laughing at me and Cason is only laughing because Terry was laughing.  He does sometimes pose for the camera though.  He likes it when you take pictures of him.  I think its because he loves to look at pictures of himself and he knows he will see it later. ;)

First Christmas!

We were so excited for Cason's first Christmas. Since Christmas was on Tuesday we were actually in Austin and went back to Plano later in the week through New Years. We spent lots of time with family and Cason got to see his cousins several times. He's not quite big enough to play with them but I think he was taking notes for the future.

It is so nice to have all the extra helping hands! We stayed with my parents but Grandma D kept Cason two nights so we got extra rest. My parents usually woke up with him and we got to sleep in a little bit more than usual too. Some of us can't really sleep late anymore while others seem to have no problem at all. I will let you guess which is which. :)

New Year's Eve/Day Cason woke up once at about 4:45 and then went back down until 9am!! I guess we could have at least stayed up until midnight. ;).

Here are a few pictures from the festivities. I didn't get my moms pictures and she took most of them for our Christmas. We might be seeing Christmas pictures again around February.

The first pictures are from Grandma Dale's with Unca B.  Somewhere along the way we lost our pants.  He didn't really get in to the wrapping paper but he really wanted to eat the tissue paper.



 

The next two are from our Christmas.  Cason attacking Daddy and playing in his new toy from Santa.

He shopped all day the Thursday after Christmas with me, my mom, my Granny (on her 80th birthday!) and my dad.  He was almost this happy the entire time-no joke.  Grandaddy provided lots of entertainment and stroller services.

This was one of our days at home.  He starting sitting on me and watching Sesame Street.  He slowly slid down until he was like this.  He just looks so sweet.  Sesame Street is like a drug for him.  He kind of watches other cartoons but Sesame Street does it every time.