Charlie’s First Birthday Party

I was so excited for Charlie’s birthday party! Normally this sort of thing would give me anxiety (I was stressed for weeks about his blessing day!). Don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of work, but I was at peace with the event and more excited than stressed. Once we decided on Mutual Dell and the reservation was successful, I couldn’t wait to share that day with family!

Jason and I are both from Utah...so we have lots and lots of family who live close by. We wanted to serve a BBQ dinner, and as much as we wanted to have everyone there...there was no way we could feed all our Utah relatives...and there was no way we could even start thinking about inviting our friends. We had to keep it more simple. We invited our immediate family and Utah grandparents (and the families that lived with them). That brought us to 25 people right there!

Cute party invitations I made using Pixingo! Check it out!

Luckily, we were offered so much help! Family members took care of the side dishes, tended Charlie while we prepared up the canyon, helped set up, helped BBQ the chicken, and helped clean up after the event. We couldn’t have done it without them!

George and Jason - grilling 60 chicken thighs! They were miracle workers!

The spread included BBQ chicken thighs, baked beans, watermelon, green salad, and chips.

These two love each other SO MUCH!

Me, Charlie, Aunt Erin, Darnel, and Uncle Fa'a

Kim, Camry, Aryana, Grandpa Arbon, Grandma Arbon, Dylan, Bryan, and Tyson 

(George and Darnel in the back)

Alese, Jason, Elsa, April, Karl, and David

Uncle Lloyd, Mya, Nancy, Alex, Grandma Gruber, and Aunt Jean

(Again, George and Dylan in the back...talking football I believe?)

The party was on Saturday, June 22nd, and it was such a success! It was so much fun and the weather was great! The food was awesome, just as we hoped it would be! Jason and I had spent a few days prior preparing 50+ cupcakes and Charlie’s smash cake. It was quite a task but I’m so thrilled with how they turned out. Everyone enjoyed the cupcakes, and Charlie REALLY enjoyed the smash cake. He especially loved massaging his fingers through the cake and frosting.

The cake in progress.

A double layer yellow cake, with a vanilla cream filling and vanilla frosting.

...some encouragement...

proud parents

The destruction

...and this is how it all went down...

Charlie was seriously spoiled with gifts! It was ridiculous! Charlie definitely needed an upgrade in the toy department and the family did not disappoint! Thank you everyone!

Plenty of present-opening helpers!

Yes, I know it is Charlie's toy...

Charlie, we love you and we can’t believe you are ONE!

Charlie’s Twelfth Month

(written previously)

Charlie has really turned into a mover! He LOVES to walk with you...anywhere! He will hold onto your fingers and that is all of the support he needs. He is obsessed...once you start, he will cry if you stop. He is so much more temperamental, more demanding, and knows what he wants. I have learned to only start walking with him when I have the time to walk with him for awhile. Since he loves pulling himself up and walking along edges, he is getting a lot more bumps and bruises, especially on his head and face. Luckily, he is a tough little guy.

We have a top tooth! His left top tooth cut through. It is so funny to see him with two crooked bottom teeth and one big top tooth. And because of that top tooth, he has started grinding his teeth! Oh my gosh, such a terrible sound! It gives me the shivers and I can’t stand it. Hopefully this is just a phase and he is just experimenting with his new teeth.

Check out that upper tooth

Charlie loves things with wheels and pushing things around. He especially loves pushing chairs, his high chair, cars, and baskets. He loves to get into drawers and pull things out.

So, crazy story. One night, Jason was as sick as a dog! He was throwing up so hard...more sick than he has ever been. He was sick all through the next day. That night, Charlie started crying in the middle of the night...which is unusual. I got up, and started preparing a bottle for him. By the time I walked up the stairs, his crying stopped so I didn’t go in his room. In the morning, he started whining around his usual time, signaling that it was time to get up. I went in there, and he was his usual chipper self...excited to see me and jabbering away. I was talking to him through the crib for a bit, until finally something caught my eye in his crib. I looked at his sheet to the left of him and there were big red spots everywhere! I started freaking out, thinking Charlie was bleeding and seriously hurt. I started searching him over, looking for any wounds or scratches. I couldn’t find anything. There wasn’t anything on his pajamas either! I was so confused. My next (ridiculous) thought was since he isn’t hurt and isn’t bleeding, he must have killed a mouse, and that was mouse blood on the sheets. It’s possible right? Charlie rolling around and smothering a mouse until its guts came out? I was heavily ridiculed for that thought...shouldn’t have shared it with Jason. I took a closer look at the red spots, and realized they were bits of strawberries! Charlie had thrown up in the night, and had been fed strawberries for dinner! Poor guy was sick in the night and I had no idea! Apparently, he felt much better in the morning, but still it is such a sad thought of him being sick all alone in there. It was projectile vomit, too...because I could see streaks of his throw up smeared across a mirror that was a foot or two away. So glad he wasn’t hurt, and so glad he was feeling better.

Charlie is really hard to feed now. he doesn’t want to eat as much food anymore. He is still drinking a lot of formula, maybe even more, but he doesn’t want to take the time to sit in the high chair and eat his food. So frustrating. He only likes a few things: rice cereal, yogurt, cottage cheese, applesauce (sometimes), eggs, chicken, and beans. Ever since his strawberry throw up incident...he will pretty much refuse anything red or green. Or anything dark, for that matter. He refuses to eat blueberries or grapes (which he used to really like). Charlie, I just want to feed you, man! I want to make sure you are getting the nourishment you need and you are not hungry! Just eat your dang food!

Don't let the sweet, yogurt smile fool you!

He still sleeps with his favorite white blanket...every nap and bedtime! He still cries when he is being changed...every time! He still won’t clap. He doesn’t wave...he has maybe waved back three times in his whole life. He still can’t feed himself a bottle sitting up yet (laying down he can do it pretty well).

I think he can say the word “baby”. He says it when he sees pictures of babies. He can understand the word “Eeyore”. He has a stuffed Eeyore from Uncle Karl that sleeps with him in his crib. When I go to get him after his naps, I ask him where Eeyore is and he either looks at him in the crib or goes to get him. I think he also understands the word kisses. He will sometimes go to kiss Eeyore or me when I say “kisses”. He is starting to shake his head “no”. He definitely understands that word. Whenever he is near the top of the stairs, I say “no-no” and shake my head. I have caught him shaking his head at the top of the stairs before I even say it. So funny! He loves to mimic dog sounds! Ruff ruff! But it sounds more like “eh, eh, eh”. He will do it when he sees one or even a picture of one (or any animal for that matter).

He loves to play hide and seek! I will crawl behind the edge of the couch or bed, and he will come crawling after me until he finds me. He squeals with glee every time he finds me! He thinks it is hilarious! Once he finds me, he turns around and darts to the other edge so he can hide and I can find him. So cute!

Pictures from the month:

Uncle Karl figured out that Charlie LOVES the old Muppet Movie!

Play date with neighbors

Chubby, chubby cheeks

What's up dude?

Even more chunk!

Finally, his first birthday!

We ate at Pizza Factory to celebrate

One year photo shoot with Amy Stallings:

One year old, baby!

  

Special chair from Uncle Alan

Love you Charlie man!