One year check up

We took Hayden to the doctor for his one-year check up on Monday morning. Jay got to go with us, and he always finds good parking so I was not surprised when he found one right in front of the door. Good thing, too, since it was raining and yucky out! We only waited a few minutes before we were called back for his weight and height. Hayden is 22 lbs, 3 oz and 30.5 inches long! He has nearly tripled his birth weight and is in the 75th percentile for height but only 50th for weight. He's long and lean! Some days he definitely feels more than 22 pounds.

The doctor did some motor skills testing and checked him out. Luckily his cough is just some congestion and nothing more serious, so we got him some nose drops to alleviate the stuffiness and he has been sleeping better already! The cough seems to have subsided and we are grateful it wasn't anything more. The German doctors are definitely more laid back than American doctors, which seems to suit our family style. We asked a few questions and were out the door in a half hour. Not bad!

Because of when he got his six month shots, we actually have to wait about 2 weeks before we can get his next round of immunizations to make sure they're spaced correctly. I don't mind putting them off; they're definitely the worst part! But our little boy is developing right on track and always brings a smile to his doctor's face so we're happy.

Birthday boy!

It's so hard to believe my little boy is one already! We started the day with a little sleeping in, which was nice for everyone! I woke Hayden up singing "Happy Birthday" and he loved it! He had waffles and peaches for breakfast, played and had his birthday nap. I told him to rest up, because when he woke up it would be time to party!

I iced his cake and the cupcakes and packed up the car. We had gotten him a birthday balloon on Saturday since nothing is open on Sunday, and Oscar was not pleased with our helium friend. He was terrified of it, so it had to go in the car as soon as possible. Most of the birthday goodies were in two bags so it was quick work to get the car packed and get us ready. We got Hayden up, put on his special birthday outfit and headed to the bowling alley. About halfway there Jay realized he'd left his bowling ball, so we decided to drop me off to set up and he and Hayden would go back for the ball.

A month ago I called the bowling alley to reserve Hayden's party. So imagine my surprise when I got there to confirm it last Tuesday and they had no record of it. The big issue was the little birthday room, which was already booked. We decided instead of trying to move around our date or time (since the invitations were long sent) that we didn't really need the room, we just wanted lanes and space. We requested the last four lanes, since they were furthest from the door (for escaping kids!) and closest to the snack bar. So imagine my surprise AGAIN when I arrived yesterday and our lanes were not reserved. We took the other four lanes, and obviously our bowling was free. I refused to let anything ruin Hayden's day, and since he didn't really care where our lanes were, I started decorating.

It was quick work, since 1st birthday parties in my opinion should be all about the little ones. The pizza was ordered, the cakes were ready and now I just needed our guests and of course, the guest of honor! Everyone started arriving shortly before 2 and the bowling and pizza party began. Hayden had chicken nuggets and fries for his birthday lunch, and was so excited to see everyone! He loves his friends and Germany family, and was pretty excited about that balloon that had caused so much anguish for Oscar.

After a few rounds of bowling, we started opening the presents. Hayden was a little tired at that point, so I started out with daunting task of opening gifts while holding a squirmy one-year-old. Jay was a big help, switching opened presents for unopened presents, clearing trash and generally being awesome. Hayden was excited about everything once we got home and he was able to see it individually without the distractions of friends, food and falling pins. Then it was time for what everyone was waiting for...the cake!

I made Hayden a mini-cake, along with some cupcakes and picked up a sheet cake from the commissary. We set his chocolate-iced, dinosaur-sprinkled yellow cake in front of him with his lit candle and he was ready! We sang Happy Birthday, which he loved, blew out the candle and let him go to town. He had no problems digging right in. Jay helped him put a little on his face, which startled him but then everyone started to clap, so he followed suit clapping with his chocolate-covered hands. He ate about 3/4 of the cake and decided he was done, so Jen and I took him to the bathroom for clean up. Luckily I had brought a new outfit, towels and baby soap so the two of us made quick work of cleaning and changing him. He was glad to be clean again, and spent the rest of his party moving among the remaining guests for snuggles and testing his escape strategies.

We got all his gifts in the car, cleaned up the mess and strapped him in. He was asleep before we left the parking lot! Bless his heart, turning one is a lot of work. He napped a little when we came home, and then started testing out his presents. We only brought in a few so as not to overwhelm him, and he had a blast last night with his ball popper, cars and Vsmile toys. He also enjoyed his new "bathketball" tub toys during his bath and ate some big boy dinner with mom and dad before bedtime.

We're sad Hayden's family wasn't here to see his first birthday, but his Germany family provided tons of love and fun to help us celebrate! Today's tasks include all the cleaning and laundry that fell by the wayside in preparation for this weekend, more attempts to get Hayden to like milk and learning how to parent a one-year-old. Let the new challenges begin!

Happy Birthday Hayden!

One year ago today at this time, I hadn't even begun having contractions. I had no way of knowing that at 11:59pm, my healthy baby boy would be born. 8 lbs, 9 oz and 20.5 inches long with a head full of hair and the ability to change our lives so completely.

Happy first birthday Hayden!

Family photo...finally!

More Halloween

This is Hayden's halloween picture we had taken on post and just got back. He was definitely more interested in the backdrop and in taking of his hat than having his picture taken, but I think it came out well.

Determination

I think he really thought he was getting somewhere!

Happy Halloween!

We love Halloween in this house, and were very excited for Hayden's first celebration of the holiday. But first, we had an adults only party! On Friday night we dropped Hayden off with our good friends, the Bakers, who were all too excited to watch him for our night out. We headed to a pub on post that we'd decorated earlier in the day and set up with lots of yummy food and treats. Several other couples and some single soldiers attended as well, and we had a blast! Good food, pictures, music and costumes made for a really fun night. Hayden had a great time with the Bakers, and has a new best friend in their dog Harley.

Our late Friday night meant we got to sleep in a little on Saturday. We headed to post to take Hayden's Halloween picture and grab some lunch. I love his Hulk costume and it's so easy to get on him so we didn't mind putting it on a few times. Halloween night we met our friends to go trick or treating on post at 6 and walked around for about an hour and a half. Hayden always gets confused when he's all bundled up but he was a champ in his stroller. He's too little for candy but we trick or treated at a few places and put candy in his fun Halloween bag for us to later enjoy. We tried to get a few pics of the kids inside but Hayden wanted nothing to do with it. It's a rough life for a baby!

After trick or treating we headed to the bowling alley where games were free if you were in costume. It's so much fun feeding Hayden now that he can eat real food and really enjoys feeding himself. He has grown very anti-bottle lately, only wanting to drink a few ounces of formula here and there so we decided he was close enough to his first birthday to try some milk. Boy is this going to be fun! He doesn't care for it at all, since it's not nearly as sweet as formula. We're trying some things to get him to like it (mixing it with formula, warming it) but so far he just spits it out. It's pretty funny to watch. But he didn't like juice or water in the beginning either, so eventually we'll prevail and hopefully he'll be a milk drinker like his parents!