length and width: June 2009

June 2, 2008 - How things have changed...

It's so hard to believe that Taft is already a year old. This last year has flown by. It is so fun to look at photos of him at birth and see how much he has grown. We spend his first birthday here at home playing. Then he and mommy had to go out shopping for food and he got to pick out two videos. A new Blue's Clues and an Elmo video about Birthday's. When Daddy got home from work we went out to eat. Taft loves Mac-n-Cheese and the rolls. Then the poor little thing went to sleep. Such a sweet boy.

On the day after his birthday, he had to go to see Dr. Davis for his one year check up and shots. What a birthday gift! He is doing great! He is still in the 95 percentile for height at 31 inches and the 50-75 percentile for weight at 22 pounds. It seems that he will be tall and slim.

Here is a little look back at Taft over the last year and what a difference a year makes.

First doctors visit - June 4, 2008

His one year visit - June 3, 2009

Other changes:

He says hey and hi all the time, even to the cats.

He is cruising on furniture and can stand alone.

He loves pasta and watermellon.

He says "Num, num" (Yum, yum) when hungry and when you start to put his food on the tray.

He has started to recongnize and avoid strangers.

He does not like crowded places when strangers are too close.

He "talks" to other children.

He talks to his videos and the tv.

He loves Peek-a-Boo.

He knows the meaning of NO and cries when he hears it.

He loves books and balloons.

He only takes naps if he has his paci and his stuffed bunny.

Since Taft's birthday is on a Tuesday, we decided to have his Florida party the weekend prior and the Alabama party the weekend after. Our theme for the Florida party was Surf Monkeys. We thought it would be perfect with the pool. We had BBQ chicken, hot dogs, potato salad, pasta salad, chips, fruit kabobs, baked beans, and of course - cupcakes and ice cream. We also had lots of Hawaiian punch and water with umbrellas for the cups and bottles.

As we started to decorate, Shane had to remind me that it was over the top and not needed, which he said with each item that I brought out. But he still arranged the tables the way the way that I wanted, helped put the leis garland up, and the grass skirts around the tables. He was even okay with Shelby dog wearing a grass skirt and leis. She did look cute!

I made Taft's cupcakes and his little mini cake. I had never worked with fondant so it was an eye opener. There is a reason that those bakeries charge 2 dollars a cupcake. It took me about 12 hours to bake, make the icing, and make with items from the fondant. Of course I had to take breaks to feed Taft and entertain him. I love the way that they turned out and I would so do it again for him.

We ended up with about 40 or so people here and most everyone enjoyed the pool. Taft loves beach balls but they wear all to big for him to hold. When I ordered his party supplies they had a dozen 6 inch beach monkey beach balls. We had them all in the pool and the are the right size for a little boy. =)

Taft enjoyed the first half of his party swimming with Cheyenne and Miss Lauren. I was busy with party things and was so lucky to have my friend Casey here. She is a professional photographer and was able to take all his photos. Also - Lauren let us borrow all her folding tables and chairs as did Stacy and Brian. Wes was very nice to bring over a table and Dawn and Chey came early to help set up. Without them all, we would have never gotten it all done. And with out Oriental Trading we would not have been able to afford it all.

After cake (which Taft had no interest in and was not happy when I tried to get him to eat some icing) Taft was so tired. I took him in and he drank some juice and then slept for about 2 hours. He wasn't even up to give out his cute little treat boxes. When he woke up, all his guest had gone home and we were able to open gifts together. He got great gifts!