I'm not sure when this trend started, but lately you can't say "first birthday" without someone mentioning a smash cake. It's just a thing you do now. I doubt I even got to eat cake at my first birthday, and now little one year old's everywhere are getting their very own cake. Meticulously baked and decorated... only so the child can smash it to pieces while trying to get a bite in their mouths.
It's as cute and messy as you can imagine.
It's special that E and I get to share a birthday weekend. It's also a little crazy - there's a lot of celebrating to do in a small amount of time. The good news is, we had a nice long weekend to spread out the festivities in. Daycare was closed on Friday, which left E and I with a free day. We started the day off by going out for breakfast, and ended the day with a birthday play date.
Nick Names: Bubba, Sweetness
Height: 28.75 inches (13th percentile)
Weight: 21 pounds, 8 oz (54th percentile)
Head: 18 inches (40th percentile)
Special Outings: Panera, Market Basket
Visitors: Grandma & Grandpa, Becca & Joe, Nicole, Alice & Stephen, Aunt Joanie, Uncle Rick & Brooke
Loves: Laundry baskets, coat hangers, walking by pushing furniture
Hates: Waking up during the night, empty bottles, getting hurt
Our yard is a mess. It's not quite as bad as it was when we moved in, but that's largely due to the fact we're not currently in a drought - not anything we've done. There are large patches of dirt, and the green that is growing is weeds, not grass.
However, a lot time ago we decided it wasn't our priority. I was going to put some analogy here that my boss used on me yesterday about not tying the laces of the shoe before taking it off or something, but it made way more sense when he said it, than me trying to remember it now. Anyway the point is, our whole property needs work, and that work will only dig up the lawn more. So I've decided we'll live with a non yard for a few years while we get everything else done first.
Sometimes I feel like this past year has turned me from Caitlin into a mom, and nothing more. Don't get me wrong, being a mom is awesome, but every once in a while something happens that leaves me feeling a little funny. Someone will ask me a question I normally would know the answer to, and I realize I have no clue.
For instance, I went to a Red Sox game recently! There was a time where I'd go to 10-15 games a season, and lately I'm lucky when I average one. This was actually a pretty easy game to go to, but it still required a bit of planning. I went with my co-workers, and it was a 1:05 game. Tom worked from home so he could do daycare pickup, but I still managed to get home for bedtime.
I just posted April's video - it's funny to see how much time E spends with Maia. I can't wait to see how much their relationship grows over the years.
When I say you love sleep like your dad, I mean it. Someone could honk their horn 4 blocks away and it would wake me from a dead sleep. On the other hand, the alarm can go off, I can turn the lights on, and still sometimes I have to hit Tom to wake him up.
Usually I try to put you down for a nap when we get home from daycare. You don't sleep enough there during the day, and in my mind more sleep is always better. You usually go down when we get home at 4:30, and hopefully wake up an hour later. When you hadn't woken up by 5:45, I decided to help things along. You see, I needed you to wake up so you could eat dinner and then go back to bed. It seems stupid but if you don't wake up, you'll get angry around 10pm and demand food. If I didn't give you the nap, you'd melt down. It's a delicate balance.
I love picking E up from daycare. I love opening that door, spotting him and waiting for him to look up. That moment of recognition is the best. A grin spreads across his face, and he will book it across the room toward me. It doesn't matter what's in his way - toys, books, other babies - he'll climb right over.
The other day, though, was a bit different.
I'm not sure if it's on a commercial or TV show or the radio.. but someone has been playing "My Favorite Things" lately. And so it's been stuck in my head. Which has lead me to want to document what E's favorite things are lately. Because I'm sure they will change, and just the fact that he has favorite things are amazing now. For so long he was just a baby. Now he's developing opinions and it's just too cute.
Is time moving at warp speed lately? I've always felt like summers go by quicker than winters, but given that we still have snow in the forecast and I'm already feeling like time is slipping between my fingers, I'm a bit worried.
Take Easter for example. {How/When/What!?!?} Yeah, that pretty much describes how I feel about it. It came out of nowhere and then blew past me super fast. All of us being sick might have had something to do with it, or the fact that it was early this year, but WHERE DID EASTER GO!? Ever the practical one, I just decided that it was still here and took E's Easter pictures last weekend. Close enough, right? I'm not sure he was on board with the idea, though. Sure he humored me for a bit in the beginning, mostly because I was bribing him with puffs, but as soon as I tried to lie him on the ground he decided he was done. Oh well.
The funny thing is, last year I didn't even manage to get a post up on his birthday, yet I felt much more put together than I do this year. It's true that when you have a baby, it becomes all about them, and the parents get put on the back burner.
That doesn't mean the birthday won't be celebrated, but it does mean there won't be a cake waiting for Tom when he gets home tonight. Because baby. We'll find some time to celebrate this weekend, and we've already picked out a joint birthday present of sorts in the form of a home improvement project that will happen in the next month or so.
Recently I pointed out a few things that haven't changed, but now I want to talk about things that have. Things that are new and different around here lately!
New Tricks
Some times it seems like E doesn't change or learn anything new for a few weeks, and then there are weeks where he learns a new trick every hour. All of a sudden you're watching him and saying "Wait, since when does he know how to turn pages in a book??" And then you scoop him up and smother him with kisses because you're so proud and he's so squishable!
Recently I was looking at a post from a year ago, and I started laughing at how much it sounded exactly like our life now.
Maia checking out all the baby stuff? Check!
It's pretty funny how quickly she'll jump on something if she thinks it's for the baby. Her favorite spot is still the changing table, although she'll take just about anything she can get. And that car seat she wouldn't test out before? Officially taken over. We had a baby gate delivered the other day and before it was even out of the box, she was jumping all over it, claiming it as hers.
I've been going through a hard time at work lately. The powers that be have decided to change, well, pretty much everything about the way we work. People have gotten new jobs, teams have been split up and regrouped in different configurations, and the physical space has been transformed. Which means I've been working in a construction zone with people who aren't sure what their job description is anymore, or where they even sit. It's a bit.. chaotic.