For Drew’s first birthday, we threw him a Lumberjack-themed party. I never thought about this before, but having a baby in the fall / winter months does not make for a good party, especially in Seattle. You’re basically forced to do something indoors. Note to self, try to aim for spring / summer babies. 😉

Anyway, I scoured the internet (mainly Pinterest) to pick the perfect theme for our little guy and the Lumberjack theme seemed to fit. Not only was it a great indoors theme but it also went well with the Carpenter last name. The party was fun but as hosts, you never really get to enjoy it. The turn out and food were the best parts (big thanks to my mom for picking up all the Vietnamese food!). My decorations were kind of a fail. The venue was just too big and my vision for the theme was more of an afterthought. I’m just going to say this…I can’t live up to Pinterest standards. I always thought I was “crafty” but turns out, I’m better off buying this stuff than making it myself. Ha!

Here are photos from the birthday party – be prepared for some plaid overload!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

My baby is twelve months old!

You always hear the phrase “it goes by so fast” and think “I know…I know…” but it isn’t until it’s come and gone you realize that it really did go by fast!  Keith and I did our best to enjoy the past year – good and bad. We savored every moment we could from the cuddles to the middle of the night wake ups, the smiles to the screams, the laughter to the tears. We made it through our first year as parents and survived! It sure was a whirlwind and if you ask me how it went, I can honestly say I don’t remember a lot of the bad times (and there were plenty of those) but I do remember all the good times we had. Drew may not be a baby anymore but he’s still a baby in our eyes and we can’t wait to see what he does in his next twelve months!

Drew had a fairly good twelve month appointment with Dr. Jackson. He’s dropped a bit on the charts with his weight and height at the 1-4% but the doctor was not concerned as he’s still growing. Of course his head circumference is still on the high-end at 85%! Hope that big noggin will be put into good use in the future. 🙂

Twelve month stats:
– Weight:  19 lbs 2 ounces
– Height:  28.5 inches

Highlights:
– Even now, his favorite time of day continues to be bath time with daddy – they always have so much fun in there!
– Teased us by taking a few steps on his own. Not quite ready but getting there.
– The kid will not sit still. He’s constantly on the move via crawling. As you can tell from the photos below, I could barely get him sitting down to show the month on his shirt!
– Loves to point at things. When we open his closet to grab clothes, he points at the top shelf where all his stuffed animals live.
– When we read at night, he wants to be the one to flip through the pages. He also likes to point at things on the page.
– Last month he learned how to put the colored rings on the base of his Fisher Price Rock-a-Stack toy but now he’s starting to realize that there is an order to them. If places them in the wrong order, he takes the rings off and tries again.

But isn’t very happy about getting older! 😉

Fun fact: 4 out of 5 members of my immediate family have worked at Nordstrom. Being a native of Seattle, it makes sense that it’s one of my favorite stores but I credit a lot of that to my parents. I still remember going to Alderwood Mall almost every weekend or every other weekend just to hit up Nordies. We didn’t always buy anything but we sure loved to look. Unlike today where I have a new order from Nordstrom.com arrive every week, which I end up returning about 1/2 of it. 🙂

So it’s no surprise that Drew got fitted for one of his first pair of shoes at Nordstrom. Andy and I took him to get shoes for daycare. We walked away with not one but two pair of shoes! Drew even got a free stuffed animal in the shape of a shoe horn, Nordstrom’s mascot!

It’s the final countdown until Drew’s first birthday and his big party! I still can’t believe how fast this year has gone by!

At eleven months, Drew continues to be a ham. He’s standing on his own with little to no assistance which can only mean he’ll be walking soon right?!? We’re trying to enjoy the last weeks (or months) of having a crawler in the house before he’s up and walking / running.  We should probably start baby proofing the house more. 😉

Drew is having a good time at daycare these days but I sure do miss being able to see him more. I guess it just makes the time with him in the mornings, evenings and weekends that much more special.

Highlights:
– Learned how to put the colored rings on the base of his Fisher Price Rock-a-Stack toy
– Got his first black eye…he won the fight with the chair
– Loves to play with and feed his best friend, Pearl. He even hands her toys!
– Favorite book (at least we think) is Hello Ninja
– Laughs a ton when he gets daddy tickles
– Seems to enjoy PB&J sandwiches like daddy

It seemed like just yesterday I was posting Drew’s nine month post. Maybe because it was yesterday…actually more like a week ago. 😉

Our big boy hit the double digits this month turning 10 months. The biggest highlight or change for him (and us) is that he started full-time at La Escuelita, a bilingual daycare a couple blocks away from our house. His nanny, Daniela, had to give immediate notice due to health reasons so we had to enroll him a month early. This meant that we had to wrap up with my aunt and mom early as well, which is probably the saddest part for me (more about this topic in another post).

Overall, he’s handled the transition pretty well. He had two transition days (1/2 days) which seemed to go good, along with his first full-day. No tears for Drew or me which I consider a success. However, on his second full-day, he did shed some tears when we left him with the teachers. I think he finally understood we were leaving him there all day and he’s also been under the weather so that didn’t help. The teachers have said that Drew is adjusting well, eating great and exploring a lot. They say his favorite part of the day is when they go outside or go on walks. Towards the end of the day though, he does ask to be held which Angie (another teacher for a different room) does not mind at all. Apparently, she loves him so much she initiates the holding! Haha.

Highlights:
– Learned how to wave goodbye and blow kisses/besos
– Loves to climb up the stairs…now he just needs to learn how to go down them
– Sits in a chair at a table with his fellow classmates for snacks and meals – it’s the cutest thing ever
– Is constantly on the move
– Enjoys drinking out of his sippy cup with a straw
– Loves Pearl so much, he’s started feeding her his food

Maddie and Brian hosted a BBQ at their house over Labor Day weekend. As always, it was a blast getting together with our PEPS friends! The babies all had a great time in the fun play pen that Maddie set up.

Not Pictured:
– Brian teaching the guys how to brew beer – it reminded me of chemistry class or an episode of Breaking Bad! Complicated process but very cool!
– Pearl and Stella who were having too much fun chasing each other around the yard!

This past summer, we enrolled Drew in swim lessons with his PEPS friends. He loves bath time so we knew he would love being in the pool. He had a blast each week with his buddies  and it was a great way for all the families to catch up!

Below are some moments we were able to capture throughout the 10 week session. We tried getting a group shot of the babies on their last day of class but as you can tell, it’s hard to get a photo of them all looking at the camera.

P.S. We really lucked out with our PEPS group! ❤