WAYLON'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

Waylon's birthday was Friday, February 23rd. Yes, our little guy is one! The big celebration was Sunday with about 40 of our friends and family. It was a fun party, and Waylon really rose to the occassion. I was sure he was going to cry when he was surrounded by so many people or have a tantrum whenever mommy and daddy were out of sight, but he seemed to enjoy all of the hulaballoo. He was distinctly underwhelmed by the birthday cake experience, sitting their stone-faced eating like a machine. I was just happy that he had only minimal spazz-out effects from all of the sugar. Sadly, we had some camera difficulties and did not get many photos, however you can check out additional pictures at my cousin's blog: www.dougmiranda.com/blog (that's where I stole the cake eating pics below).

It was really special to have so many people travel quite a ways to celebrate Aaron and I making it through our first year as parents (still no calls to 9-1-1!). Thanks you to everyone that made the trip--we really appreciate your support for Waylon's birthday, and throughout the past year!

Emma (6 years) shows Samuel and Waylon how to dig into the ice in the drink tub
DJ Holden spins some tunes
Digging in...
Waylon appears to realize that these aren't his usual organic green beans
Checking out out everyone staring while packed into our small kitchen (did I mention that it started raining just before cake time?).

Holden's Birthday Party

One of the best parts about being a new mom has been sharing the experience with my oldest friend, Jenn Fletcher. Her son, Holden, was born the day after Waylon. On Saturday, February 24 Waylon and I went down to Del Mar to help Holden celebrate his first birthday (Aaron was home sick). Jenn and I keep reminiscing (aka having nightmare flashbacks) of our first few weeks with new babies. We used to call each other all the time, wondering how to get through each day. Lets just say its A LOT better now. Anyway, we were very excited to celebrate the boys turning one, and the party was a lot of fun, including beautiful weather at a park on the beach. We had to leave before the cake because Waylon was getting tired, but we had fun seeing Jenn's mom, grandma, and friends,including the Grace family, who we love reading about on their blog (www.growingupgrace.blogspot.com).

Waylon and Holden chill on the beach, feeling cool now that they're both one.
Nana Judy, Holden, and great grandma Heard
Waylon and Charlie Grace fight over Holden's newest toy

Portraits of an Almost-One-Year-Old

About 2 weeks ago I took these pictures of Waylon. I cant believe how big he is getting and how much he is starting to look like a little boy instead of my baby. One of my clients brought her 6-month-old baby with her to our meeting today and I had one of those cliche moments where all I could say was, "it goes so fast" and "I cant believe my son was ever that small." As much as I hate to admit it, all of the cliches are true--especially the saying, "it just keeps getting better and better." I suppose it has to get better when you think back to the screaming newborn, sleepless nights. Of course the cliche, "it will all be worth it" is true as well, but that wont prevent me from telling Waylon what a challenge he was those first few weeks.

Getting Into Everything--Literally

Walon loves crawling into and on top of anything low enough to give him access. Here he is crawling into his dump truck of blocks. The best part is that once he was inside he was content to sit and play with the blocks for quite awhile. Its not often I get to see this little guy sit in one place for any length of time.

Balloons are Magic

Waylon thought the best part about hosting the playgroup Bday party (see post below) was the balloons that were left over afterward. Balloons are the cheapest, best entertainment I've seen for a baby. I couldn't even get Waylon to look at the camera because he was so busy staring at the balloons. I think we may need to buy our own helium tank to make sure that this kid is constantly entertained!

Playgroup February Birthday Party

Casa Davis was host to the February Birthday party for our playgroup. Four kids were celebrating their birthdays in February, Cole, Samuel, Sydney, and Waylon. We had a huge turnout for the Thursday playgroup, and three of the four babies actually sat through the festivities and cupcakes. Waylon was a crying mess for most of the actual birthday celebration, stuffing cupcake in his mouth while tears were rolling down his face--sadly I think he gets that from me.

LOTS of babies and moms. I was pleasantly surprised that Waylon had no problem sharing his toys with all of the other kids.
Three of the four birthday babies--Waylon, Samuel, and Sydney. Sadly, Cole got a wee bit upset when mom tried to strap him next to his birthday buddies. Notice that Samuel was the only baby willing to tolerate a birthday crown. Waylon and Sydney were a no go on the hats.
Aaron got over the shock of having fifteen moms and babies take over the house long enough to pose for this photo.
Iwasn't kidding about the face stuffing through the tears.

I have a feeling that it wont always be this traumatic for Waylon to eat sweets.

The First Interactive Playdate

This post is out of order because I am really behind with the blog...
A few weeks ago Waylon and Sydney had a playdate, and it was the first time that Kim or I had seen our kids interact with another baby. Although I take Waylon to playgoup a lot, he is usually pretty antisocial.--probably because he's overwhelmed. However, with Sydney he was having a ball.

They started out with Sydney chasing Waylon, but as is so often the case he started chasing her (way to go, Syd!). These pictures dont begin to capture how cute they were following eachother all over the house. At one point Sydney reached back for Waylon as she was crawling up the stairs and it melted my heart.
Waylon is clearly asking his girlfriend if she wants to go for a ride on his cool "wheels"

Superbowl Sunday

Jamison came over to have a superbowl playdate with Waylon, and was nice enough to bring along his parents. It was fun to see the boys interact, which also gave the adults a few minutes to actually watch the game (at least a little bit).
Waylon and Jamison had a blast getting thrown around by Julian at halftime. The boys were getting some serious air.

Lunch with the Girls

Last Saturday (2/3) we had a great afternoon in Newport visiting several of my UCSB friends. Waylon had his first meal at Sharkeez, and was well taken care of by everyone while Aaron and I got to actually enjoy our lunch. Is there anything cuter than a toddler in a sports bar, surrounded by women on a beautiful Saturday afternoon?

Waylon enjoys the ladies... Mary, Suz, Kath, Amy, and Jo
Waylon usually takes awhile to warm up to people he doesn't know well, but he was great with Kath Kelly (thanks for helping care for our little guy)!

A Day in Waylon's Life

Waylon is really active these days, even when he eats. He gets into everything so we cant turn our backs on him for even a second.

"Can someone tell me why they call them sloppy joes?"
Waylon the wizard learns the joy of sticks while playing in the backyard
Sticks are especially good to eat
Rummaging for a midnight snack

Waylon and the Beagles

Since his sisters run away from him like the plague, Waylon figured out that he could sneak up on them in their dog bed. Here he is terrorizing Louise.
How flippin' miserable does poor Louise look?
Waylon couldn't control his love for his furry sister and kept leaning in for hugs.
Double the joy--he can attack both dogs at once!

ELEVEN MONTHS

Last Tuesday Waylon turned eleven-months-old. Its crazy to think that in less than a month he will be a year. The exciting part, for me, is that I will finally be finished nursing! I understand that the medical community highly recommends nursing if at all possible, so I have been very committed to completing a full year--for Waylon's sake. However, I am doing cartwheels that I no longer have to lug a pump every day to work, or worry about being in a quiet setting so I can nurse during the day. I estimate that on Waylon's first birthday I will have nursed or pumped at least 1,860 times! This is an extremely conservative estimate and is probably higher. I definitely understand why so many women warned me how difficult it would be. Giving birth was a piece of cake compared with all of the issues I've dealt with for the past year, especially worrying about losing my milk--that was the worst. I think Aaron will also be happy to get our freezer back since two shelves are dedicated to frozen milk right now.

Enough about me...Waylon is doing really well. He is eating like crazy, and his favorite foods are beets, chicken from El Mariachi, and cheese. He eats lots of table foods, but is primarily eating the gazillions of jars of baby food I bought when it was on sale. I actually think I have a disease that compels me to buy baby food. I think its because it is much easier to make sure he is eating healthy with store food than with the junk Aaron and I eat.

Waylon is crawling around like crazy and loves to pull up to standing on anything he finds--even the dogs. He easily crawls all the way up the stairs and through sand at the playground. He shows no interest in walking--probably because he can crawl so quickly. The crawling and extra activity have made him a better napper--usually. He seems to nap great for the nanny, but not so much for mommy. I guess I need to work on wearing him out with more playing so he'll sleep better. He still has stranger anxiety, but warms up fairly easily. He gets overwhelmed if lots of people are around, but loves to check things out (especially big kids) when we are out and about.

At eleven months old we thought Waylon was old enough to be starting pull ups...kidding.

!
Waylon shows daddy how to master the stairs...again, and again, and again...
Doing a little dusting.
Waylon loooooooooves to chew on blocks. Could someone be teething? (note the drool--worth expaning the picture)Waylon just moved into the big boy tub! Harder for us to kneel down and reach him, but much safer than the counter top version we were using, especially since Waylon has learned to stand up and enjoys trying to cannonball out of the tub.