FIRST BIRTHDAY!!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Dainen! Happy Birthday to you!

I can't believe my baby boy is one year old!! His birthday was on Sunday, the 22^nd. We had a little party for him the Saturday before. My mom, my sister Allison, and my brother Mike were in town for the weekend so they were able to come. In addition, my other brother Brad and his girlfriend Mallory came, and my best friend Lesley and her family came. It was so fun! Dainen opened presents (he likes taking the tissue paper out of the bags) and played with his toys. Braeden and Chloe played with him and showed him how the cars he got went into the little garage. It was fun to watch them all play together. He got lots of cars, some blocks to stack and build towers with (I think Ryan plays with these more than Dainen does), a steering wheel that honks and makes car noises, and lots of clothes. The clothes are a little bit big, sadly, because he's still so tiny. He's still wearing 6-9 month clothes. But at least he'll be able to grow into them. He's just so little. :)

After he opened presents we sang to him and had cake and ice cream. We stripped him down to his onesie and put him on the floor with his own little cake so he could just plow into it, but he didn't really like it. Ryan mashed Dainen's hand into the cake to show him what to do and Dainen just got frustrated. He didn't like the feeling of the cake mashed into his fingers and he kept trying to wipe it off. It was pretty funny. When he had obviously had enough with the cake we washed him off and just shared our pieces with him. I think he much preferred it that way. :)

The cake I made for everyone else was way fun. I'm proud of how it turned out. :) Dainen likes to climb all over us and everything else, so we call him our little monkey boy. Plus, he makes this face sometimes that looks like a monkey. So I thought it was only fitting to make a monkey cake. YAY me! Some of you might be laughing at me, but I don't care. I didn't have a cake mold or anything, just a picture, so I think it turned out really great. (Thanks Mom and Alli for your help!)

After cake, we just let the kids play with all the new toys until it was time for bed. Dainen had had a long and fun-filled day, so he was pretty tired by the end of it. (So was his mommy to be honest.) But it really was a great day! Thank you all for your love and support! Thanks for the cards and phone calls wishing our little man a Happy Birthday. We really appreciated it.

Here is a picture of Dainen trying to get to the presents on the table. He was really excited!!

Update

I know it has been forever since I last posted, and I'm so so sorry. Things have been going really well. We had a lot of fun over the holidays. We spent Thanksgiving in Nevada City with my family and Christmas in Idaho Falls with Ryan's family. It was so fun to see everyone and to be able to spend time with them all. Dainen has had a lot of fun getting to know his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. And they all love him (who wouldn't, let's be honest).

Dainen is now 11 months old and he is walking. He took his first steps at 10 months and has spent the last month perfecting the art. He is still wobbly, but he's more confident. It is still shocking to see him walk, though, because he is so little. For those of you who haven't heard, he is in the 0% for his weight. When we took him in for his 9 month check-up, they were concerned about his weight so they told us to bring him back for a weight check in a month. So we did and he had only gained 5 oz. that whole month, bringing him up to a whopping 15 lbs. 12 oz. He's just so little. But one of the first things people say when they hold him is how solid he is. He's a strong little guy. And he's so smart. He understands what NO means, but he likes to test his limits, see how serious we are. He knows when he is in trouble, and he speed crawls to try to get away. Sometimes I can't help but laugh, even though I'm supposed to be serious so he knows I'm not playing. Kids are so fun. :) I love being a mom. I love watching him learn and experience things. I love it when he hits those milestones, or even when he just does something that he's never done before. He has started making this cheesy smile face when he thinks he's being funny, or when he thinks we're talking about him. It is the cutest thing! And he does this fake laugh with it. And it's great because it's one of the only times you can see his one little tooth. It finally came in last week, the only tooth he has. So stinkin' cute! I haven't been able to get a picture of it, but when I do, I'll post it.

So, last Thursday, I went to vacuum and Dainen was just walking around the living room. As soon as I turned on the vacuum, he froze. He didn't like it and he thought it was going to get him. So I turned it off and grabbed the camera, and this is what I got. At one point, he had the vacuum on one side of him and the door stop on the other, and he just didn't know what to do. (He really doesn't like door stops. The noise they make scares him.) Poor kid! But So cute!