We have now arrived to the very last month before Simon's first birthday! I am trying my best not to be daunted (or too emotional) by this milestone and am instead attempting to get a jump-start on the party planning. The theme has been selected (which you've probably already figured out if you follow me on Pinterest - yes, I've recently become addicted), the date has been chosen, and I will be shortly setting off to tackle my list of DIY items for the event (this is a huge deal because I am not a big DIY-er) in our pursuit of saving money. On that note, I've had to give in to the realization that we will have to keep Simon's birthday party on the smaller side. While I dreamed of throwing him a monster-sized bash complete with bells and whistles and surrounded by everyone we know, a shindig of these proportions just isn't in our budget right now. We've settled on having the get-together in our little house and are keeping the festivities small. I know in my heart that it is much more important that we make Simon's first birthday special instead of expensive. While he may not remember any of it, the rest of us will, and I want our family and friends to have memories of how lovingly--not lavishly--we celebrated the momentous occasion of our darling son turning one.
baby's first omelet!
big boy with his bottle
escape artist!
Simon's diet has greatly expanded over the course of the last month. He is a regular cheese eater now (his most frequented being mozzarella string cheese), although he has had cheddar as well. Cho-Cho often shares his cottage cheese with Simon (which the boy surprisingly loves!) and has gotten to taste bites of mango and peaches along with it. Other foods now often gracing the presence of Simon's high chair tray are: Greek yogurt, spinach, cantaloupe, green beans, whole grain pasta, pear, chicken, and ham. He has also tasted rice and a bit of waffle (each only once), but I'm not so sure how I feel about him eating those foods on a regular basis just yet. There was one food I went back and forth on about whether to give it to Simon, and that was egg. Based on what I've read and with whom I've asked, the opinions about egg are varying. Some say eggs are okay around 9-10 months if baby is successful with solids and is only served the yolk; some are firm about waiting on egg until one year; others feel that if there are no family allergies to eggs, introducing them when baby is on solids is fine; one mom said she never separated the yolk from the whites and her child never had a reaction; and so on and so forth. Eric and I discussed it, and ultimately we decided that we felt comfortable letting Simon try egg yolk. And the result? It was a success! The boy willingly and excitingly gobbled up his first bites of cooked egg, and now he is a regular omelet eater with Mommy and Daddy on the weekends. We've put cheese, meat, and veggies in Simon's baby omelets and every nibble is almost always completely devoured. As we happily expected, Simon hasn't had any reactions to egg other than sheer delight when served his delicious yellow breakfast. Now all we have to worry about is that silly monkey escaping from his high chair! (Yes, I grabbed a camera before pulling him off the high chair; sometimes you just HAVE to get photographic evidence. All parents are guilty of this at some point!)
view from the backseat
growing out of his "sleepy chair"
Ergo rider
While he hasn't yet exceeded the height and weight limitations for his infant car seat, Simon is reaching the end of his time in the infant seat and will soon graduate to a convertible car seat. With the help of the Facebook group and website for Car Seats for the Littles, I began doing some research on convertible car seats and figuring out which seat would fit best for long-term rear facing in my car. After reading and looking up prices, I selected a seat that best matched our needs at a price that we can afford. During my winter break from work, I set off selling some of our unused and unneeded items online as a way to begin a car seat fund. I'm happy to report that we've surprisingly been doing a great job of getting rid of clutter and have made some decent cash! In the mean time before we are able to purchase the new seat, Eric and I are already practicing what Convertible Car Seat Life will be like by pulling Simon out of his infant seat when we get out of the car in public. The boy is getting quite heavy to carry around in the infant seat while out and about, so leaving the car seat in the car is much easier. As a result, Simon has spent a lot more time riding in shopping carts and in my Ergo carrier when we go places, the latter being an extra great workout for me. Even though I have a hard time not being emotional over Simon growing up, I am excited about his coming transition into the convertible seat; this mama LOVES getting to buy new gear for her little guy!
first Christmas presents
Christmas Eve at Pappy's
first Christmas smiles
The biggest event to occur during Simon's eleventh month of life was of course: Christmas! We started the holiday with our Christmas Eve tradition of having dinner at Lester's. It was a full house with the three of us, my dad, Lester, Benjamin, and Kristine and her three daughters. We also always bring Courage with us to play with his doggy cousin, Peanut, so the evening was quite lively with the two pups running around. Simon opened his first Christmas presents from the family and was, as expected, more interested in the wrapping and boxes that his gifts came in. We dined on a delicious ham dinner and snacked on Eric's famous fudge for dessert (baby excluded). Simon had lots of fun playing with everyone and showing off his talented moves and grooves. Eric's Aunt Sam arrived later in the evening from the airport with her boyfriend, Matt, and we were very excited to see her for Simon's first Christmas. Our family had a great time at Pappy's, and the presents--both given and received--were special and wonderful. Simon was lucky to get some pretty cool stuff from his grandpas!
Simon's first time looking at Christmas lights
walking with Daddy
in front of my favorite Charlie Brown house
After leaving Lester's, we went home for a bit to recharge our batteries (i.e., feed and change the baby and put the dog to bed because he was exhausted from so much play!) before heading out for our other Christmas Eve tradition. Just like last year, we headed over to the Pebble Creek Christmas lights in Rocklin for our 9th Christmas Eve in a row. Simon slept during the drive over, but awoke the minute we were parked and pulling the stroller out of the trunk. To avoid a cranky baby, I decided that it would be best to just carry Simon to keep him happy while kicking myself for leaving the Ergo at home. Thankfully, he did just fine being carried in my arms and gazed very curiously at all of the twinkling lights around us. This experience was very surreal for me because in nine years, this was the very first time that Eric and I weren't walking the neighborhood alone as just a couple. As we are no longer a twosome, sharing this tradition with Simon was so joyous and heartwarming. I am already looking forward to next year and am hoping that over time the little one will become more accepting about riding in the stroller; he'll be SO heavy to carry by then!
our family on Christmas morning
exploring his new treasures
Santa baby
Christmas morning was fun and exciting at our house! Promptly after waking up, Eric and I exchanged gifts with each other as Simon played with the discarded wrapping paper. We checked out some of Simon's new loot from the night before and changed into our new pajamas (Eric and I both bought them for each other and Simon got his Christmas morning pjs from Cho-Cho a few weeks back). We did some prep for breakfast and waited for everyone to make their way over. This was the first year that I requested everyone wear pajamas, so when Lester, Kristine, Sam, and Matt arrived for our traditional omelet brunch, I was happy to see them dressed accordingly! My dad baked biscuits from scratch, I baked pumpkin and Devil's food muffins, and Eric was in charge of the loaded omelet station. We also served bacon and fresh fruit, enjoyed egg nog, and sampled coffee specially brewed in my new Keurig! Baby got a delicious sampling of breakfast complete with egg yolk, ham, and veggies. After breakfast, we gathered to watch Simon open his gifts from Mommy and Daddy (plus a few more that Cho-Cho snuck over), and Eric, Simon and I also exchanged gifts with Aunt Sam. Our boy was well-loved on by our family during his first Christmas, and our laid-back, relaxing celebration was a nice way to spend the day. Our tradition of having more of the 'hoopla' on Christmas Eve at Lester's and the lazies at our house the next morning really seems to work out so lovely for everyone. Simon surely loved all of the attention he received and was in awe of his many new and shiny toys!
our little monkey
with Great Aunt Sami
3 generations
As I mentioned above, Eric's Aunt Sam was in town for Simon's first Christmas. This was her third time visiting since Simon's birth and the trip marked the end of her longest stretch since her last time here in May. In addition to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Sam joined us for an afternoon at our house to spend quality time with her two nephews and me. Simon played in his jammies while us adults ate the Chinese takeout that Sam treated us to while we visited. Sam took some pictures of Simon and we also got a few shots of them together back at Lester's (where she was staying) before she had to prepare for her flight home. It means so much to us to have Sam in Simon's life since Eric's mom isn't with us. It is important to us that Simon has a relationship with Sam and even though she lives in Las Vegas, Eric and I will make sure that Simon knows she is a member of our family. Some day I hope we will be able to take a trip to visit her, and if we are lucky, Sam will hopefully continue to visit us here to see her "favorite grand nephew."
my football fans
playtime with Bliss
just like Mommy
Time is ticking by so quickly. Our babbling, expert-crawling, cabinet-opening, door-closing, phone-and-remote-and-water bottle-stealing baby is growing up right before our eyes. While I was pouting about our infant soon becoming a toddler, Eric remarked to me: "I'm excited for Simon to get bigger; it means we will get to do so many new and cool things with him. But, I know it's different for you because you're his mommy." He was right, it is different for me. I am so not ready for my little boy to become a Big Boy. Even though I could sit around sentimentally looking through pictures and whimpering over all of his outgrown clothes (which I actually did do when we tackled our huge baby clothing organization project!), I'm finding some comfort in reminding myself that even though we're almost through his first year of life, we do have many more fabulous years with Simon to come. And above all else, not being a baby anymore won't mean that my boy won't need his mommy any less. At least, that's what I hope.
