Bowl Cake: 12 Months, One Year, Stinkpot Skunkadoo

As I sit here just beginning to type this out I have two little kids upstairs napping and one of my favorite childhood movies (Secret of NIHM) is in the dvd player and just ending, so be forewarned I am feeling a little misty in the ether. Ben turned one on Saturday, Sunday was his birthday party, and now the baby years for this family are over. Toddler years will be here for quite a while before the little boy years take over, and for that I am thankful! But for sure I will forever miss the baby years.

First, lets talk about the party. We had a crazy busy weekend (Freemason family dinner, pumpkin patch, open house at the local fire station) that was capped off with the skunk party. Okay, yeah, on second thought lets start with that other stuff.

The Pumpkin Throne.

Jumbo's is celebrating their 20th season. Hence the "Happy Birthday" which made me love this photo of my boys on Ben's birthday weekend even more!

Of course the one he wanted was this odd little gourd type thing.

The only way I could convince Sam to sit on the firetruck was to give him my phone.

Stinkin phone.

It's amazing how different my two boys are. Sam had NO interest in participating in ANYTHING. Not even a bounce house. Ben is too small to participate and the jealousy watching other kids have fun was angering him!

Now on to the party! It was a skunk theme party with the colors being black, white, and blue. Super cute, right? It was kinda a disaster, but we made it work. The balloons didn't float, the food was late coming out of the oven, and the kids (yes. mine. both of them) kept ripping down decorations and trying to pull everything off the table. Oh, and Sam is sick! Kinda fitting that a year of baby jealousy was topped off by Sam getting sick with a fever and us almost having to cancel Ben's first birthday party. But it all worked out in the end and everyone had a great time! Especially Ben, who has decided cake is the best thing ever! And Sam perked up and helped Ben unwrap and play with all his new toys!

Chocolate cake with a whipped cream core and blue whipped cream frosting! He couldn't get enough of it!

"What are you doing to me? Why am I topless?"

C.A.K.E.

Oh, lovely cake!

MINE. My Cake!

WEEEE! There's SUGAR in CAKE!

OMG, so much cake.

Must. Nap. Now.

And gifts!

And that brings us to the monthly list of what my squidlet does:

~ Cruises, turns himself around and takes a step between objects, holds on to things with one hand and cruises. Will be walking soon...

~ Loves to eat table food. Breads, muffins, bananas, cheese, carrots, cereal, crackers, etc. Pretty much anything as long as it's not too big or too pasty/thick.

~ Has 4 words. Mommy, Daddy, No, and Baby. He says baby referring to himself. As in he yells "baby" when he needs your attention or help. It's hilarious.

~ Can get up the stairs in a heartbeat with no help. Loves to sneak over to the stairs to practice. We now have a baby gate for the stairs. He stands at the gate shaking it and fussing.

~ Usually takes one nap a day. Pretty much the only time he takes two is if we are out and he falls asleep in the car or we have a playdate. He ALWAYS falls asleep at playdate. Evidence -

~ Sleeps through the night almost every night and has become much better at the self soothing since we started the short periods of cry it out. So far he hasn't woken up his brother with his crying! Yay!

~ Adores anything with wheels on it. Adores anything that Sam plays with and will imitate whatever Sam is doing. Loves music and Thomas the Train. Also seems to be a big fan of Sesame Street.

~ Loves to be outside, but I think he's like me in that the sun is not his friend and he's a little sensitive to allergens. Poor ginger.

Dr Stats:

we go tomorrow and I will update

SKUNK PICTURES! We will do the 12 month shots and then I will hog up sooooo much space and make this post waaaaaay too long by posting the first 12 months so you can see how he's grown! Love him!