one.

My sweet Deacon-baby,

So much can happen in 365 days.

One year...that's how old you are today, punkin.  It's so hard for me to believe that we've had you for that long already -- it went by in the blink of your pretty blue eyes.  :)

This time last year we were welcoming you into our family, and what a perfect fit you are!  Today, we're celebrating the milestone of your 1st birthday and all that you've accomplished.

It has been so much fun to watch you grow and change this past year.  You have grown from a 7 lb, 2 oz cuddly newborn to a healthy, happy 20 lb + baby boy (and you're still cuddly :).  You really are such a happy boy -- you have a ready smile for anyone and everyone, and your laughs and giggles are the most precious thing.

What a joy it has been to watch you learn new things like clapping and talking (my word, you are a chatterbox!), crawling and cruising.  I could just sit and watch you for hours; you bring me so much enjoyment.  And entertainment!  You make me laugh all the time, booger!

You are such a laid-back kid, just like your Daddy.  :)  You've done well with pretty much everything that's come your way this past year -- from doctor's appts and vaccines, to new foods and all the "1sts".

You got your 1st tooth (+ 4 more!) early on.  You met so many family members for the 1st time this past year, all of whom have fallen in love with you.  :)  You experienced your 1st hurricane, Irene, which wasn't scary at all, and you've had so many 1st holidays already.  You've taken your 1st bike and boat rides.  You've gone to the beach for the 1st time (and taken more trips since then), and have been in a pool for the 1st time (of many!).  You love the water!

God blessed us so much when He chose you to be our son, and we are so thankful to Him for the opportunity to watch you grow into a godly man who is kind and generous, full of integrity and trustworthy.  This is my prayer for you, buddy.  This, and so many more things I want for you, but for now, I just want you to know that I adore you.

Happy 1st birthday, doodle.

Love,

Mama

1st haircut...

Deacon got his first haircut a couple days ago and he really did great.  I wasn't sure how, um, cooperative he would be, considering that when I just try to brush his hair after a bath, he's all over the place trying to see and get the hairbrush.  But it wasn't really that bad and with a little distraction (the boy loves Jay-Jay the Jetplane), Joanna was able to work her magic and clean my baby boy up.  :)  It took all of 10 min.

Jeff and I have had numerous discussions about his first haircut, with Jeff pushing for one and me pushing right back to WAIT.  I mean, for pete's sake, he didn't hardly have anything for me to keep!  But Joanna was so sweet to save a few wisps for me, and Deacon really looks great with his haircut.  I honestly didn't think you would be able to tell much of a difference, but his hair was apparently longer -- and more out of control -- than I thought.

He's still the same adorable kid, but much more handsome now.  :)

a visit from Grandma Sherry...

At the end of September, beginning of October, Jeff's mom, Deacon's Grandma Sherry, came to visit.  Most of Jeff's family lives up in IL (where he's originally from) so Grandpa Duane & Grandma Sherry don't get to see Deacon near as much as they'd like to.  While Grandpa Duane had to stay back and work, Grandma Sherry booked a flight and came to visit for about a week.

(I think she secretly enjoyed having Deacon all to herself. :)

I went to a scrapbook retreat in Ocean Isle Beach Sep 30-Oct 3, and Sherry arrived in Wilmington on Sep 29, staying through Oct 6.  I gave Jeff a hard time about planning when she would come, saying he was a "chicken" about being with Deacon by himself for 3 days but truthfully, it was the perfect time for her to come (and I knew Jeff would be just fine with Deacon by himself :).  I was in OIB and Jeff began a new job of sorts that Monday I was gone (working from home all the time now) so Jeff's mom was able to take care of Deacon for us (saving money on childcare is always a good thing :), which gave her some really good quality time with him.

I know she enjoyed every minute!

They took walks and bike rides together (on our new bikes!), played on the floor with Deacon's toys, sat outside and blew bubbles, enjoying the beautiful weather we had while she was here.  We had lots of sunshine and comfy temperatures while she was here and I know she was so thankful to be able to get out and enjoy it with Deacon.

She always asks us if there's anything we'd like her to make when she's visiting (or we're visiting them) so we got to munch on some of her famous apple crisp, beef stew and yummy banana bread.  We enjoyed having her just as much as Deacon did!  :)  Love you, Grandma Sherry!

1st bike ride...

For my birthday this year, Jeff got us bicycles.  A few months ago, he had suggested saving for bikes that we could get out and ride as a family once it got cooler.  I thought that was a great idea so we did start saving.  Little did I know that was just a ruse -- he had planned to get them for my birthday!

So we're actually saving for a fence.

But getting back to my story,  my birthday fell on a Wednesday and Jeff brought the bikes home from Jacksonville that Friday afterward.   His mom happened to be here during that time (another post about that coming soon) so she was able to get some photos for us of Deacon's first time riding (on the back of) a bicycle.  It was a beautiful day to ride!

The bikes are really nice -- Jeff did a good job picking them out.  They're an easy ride, cruiser style with a few gear shifts.  The seat for Deacon switches between the 2 bikes fairly easily so either one of us can carry him when we ride.  He loves being outside so we think he likes riding pretty good.  The helmet, not so much, but he doesn't whine about it.

11 months...

Oh, my word.  One month to go before my baby boy turns a year old.  I can't hardly take it...

We had to lower Deacon's crib mattress at the beginning of this month -- he started to like standing up in his crib and that was just not okay with me.  He was too much in danger of leaning too far over so we dropped the mattress down a couple levels.

We continued to try new foods like broccoli & carrots with cheese, lasagna and apples w/oatmeal (all baby food) and Deacon is not too big a fan.  About a week before he turned 11 mos, we started trying to give him some table food from our dinner -- baked spaghetti, french toast w/bacon, real sweet potatoes, baked beans and peaches...he does pretty well with it all.  My fear of him choking is fading.  :\  We've also begun to introduce whole milk as my supply of breastmilk continues to wane.  As it stands right now, this is what his feeding schedule looks like:

an 8 oz bottle first thing in the morning (whole milk, breastmilk, formula or combo of the 3)

some rice cereal and yogurt for a mid-morning snack or "breakfast"

an 8 oz bottle for lunch

some goldfish, cheerios or puffs and water for snack

dinner with "the fam" (table food from whatever we're eating)

an 8 oz bottle before bed

Since we're talking about his feeding schedule, I'll just mention here that I stopped nursing Deacon at the end of this month.  I had planned to try to nurse through his 1st year and I think we probably would've made it (I had gotten down to just nursing him first thing in the morning by this month) but I went away for a weekend retreat the end of Sept/first of Oct and rather than take the pump with me just for that one feeding, I thought it was time to just be done altogether.  He did great, of course.  He's so easy-going.  :)  I had a little trouble for about 6-7 days with pain & discomfort but within about 10 days I was done with all of that.

[if I'm working on loading or unloading the dishwasher,

he's right there, with his "Dr. Seuss hair"...]

Of course, he's crawling everywhere now.  I mentioned in my last post that he'd finally begun to pull up on everything and was crawling intermittently.  Well, he's really been doing great, getting more fluid and taking less time to get where he's going.  He will crawl right up to me or Jeff where we're standing, grab a hold of our pant legs and stand right up.  It's so endearing -- I just love it!

crawling!

Our boy is crawling!  Yes, it's been a few weeks in the making and some might say he's a little behind the curve, but I've said it before and I'll say it again: I have not been rushing Deacon into anything related to mobility, knowing that once he got the hang of it, it would be GAME ON.

Thankfully, he's still learning and exploring so he's not "gone in 2 seconds" once he starts, but he gets to where he wants to go in due time and he's just fine with that for now.  He is so cute crawling around here, pulling up on things, looking around from his new 2.5 foot perspective.  :)

I love to watch him.

You might, too:

As you can see, he's still perfecting it, but he's much improved even in the short time between when we took this video a week ago and now.  This video is a good depiction of his love affair with his pacifier, but now he'll crawl to both me and Jeff and to basically anywhere that grabs his attention (i.e., the kitchen, specifically the back door/curtains or the trash can *sigh*, the entertainment center with all the buttons to push *siiigh*, the coffee table where there are so many magazines and a flower vase to get into *siiiiiiigh*).

Our house is SO.NOT.childproof.

But I did put in the outlet covers a couple of weeks ago and I'm just playing the "move it before he can break it or hurt himself with it" game right now.  A cross between putting all MY stuff up/away for him -- something I would like to refrain from in certain capacities -- and having all of MY stuff messed up by my 10.5 month old, also something I'd like to avoid.  :\  I'm hoping to find some middle ground in there.

I hear all you mommies laughing at me.  Go ahead.  You all had to figure out what your happy medium was and so do I.  Here's to finding it before everything is destroyed or my son pokes his eye out!

[btw, he started wearing shoes this week -- SO adorable.Just like his shorts.]   [mobility = fun little forbidden places to find,like Daddy's computer desk]    

mobility 101

No, Deacon is not crawling yet and that's cool with me.  However, he is definitely getting closer and closer to figuring it all out.

He's been standing for a long, long time now -- he'll stand ALL.DAY.LONG.  Earlier this month we started standing him up at the coffee table, ottoman, edge of the couch, etc., and he likes that.  They are just his height and he'll stand there without support forever.

He will actually take a few (very slow) steps if he's standing up, you're holding his hands and he wants to move over to where you are.  That's with support, though.  Without anyone's help, just in the last few weeks or so, he has been perfecting his pilates moves.  :)  He does a mean "plank":

It's so neat to watch him -- how he rolls onto his tummy, gets his feet under him and pushes up.  Then he hangs out there for a minute, looking around.  You can almost see the wheels turning in his head..."now how do I get from here to there?"

The next thing he started doing was putting his right knee back down on the floor, kind of underneath his body, but he keeps his left leg straight so he ends up just back on his tummy again.  And he scoots or rolls to wherever he needs to go.

Just recently, because he now puts that right knee in and down on the floor, he can turn himself to a sitting position.  So he can now sit himself up from his tummy.  That was really exciting when Jeff and I saw him do that the other night for the first time. 

*sigh* He's getting to be such a big boy...