Family Visit

I'm going to post about my family's visit over the next few posts... I have way to many pictures for just one post! I love blogging about stuff like this because it makes me feel like I'm actually doing something with all the pictures I take. I'm sure you all know by now that I'm a little obsessed with pictures =) Unfortunately, printing all my favorites would cost to much money and storing them in albums takes up too much space in the house..so I blog. Plus, I love to reminisce.. whether it was last week or last year. And I love going back and reading old posts.
So anyways, my parents and little brother flew out to stay with us for 9 days over Christmas. It sounds like a long time, but it flew by way to fast. I am glad they stayed as long as they did! We had such an awesome time. They got here Saturday afternoon. That night after dinner we went to our church's live drive-thru christmas nativity. I didn't take any pictures but we really enjoyed it.

 Lovin' on his Grandpa

Sunday was, of course, Wyatt's birthday party.
Monday was spent "out on the town"... my mom needed to do some Christmas shopping so we all went out to Target, Toys R Us, ect. We ate lunch at Panera Bread, it was SO good.. we hadn't eaten there since we moved here so it had been much to long =)

 Mom couldn't believe Wyatt can stack blocks all by himself, haha

Tuesday morning we went out to a trail that we really like...

 Chandler in the cave

 Mom had to get her crunches in!

 The Mr. testing out the new jogging/all terrain stroller 

That afternoon was Wyatt's 1 year Dr. appointment. It's a pretty good drive away so we all went to the appt. and after that we went to Garden Ridge (one of our all-time favorite stores thanks to the Mr.'s mom!). Here's Wyatt testing out some furniture ;)

For dinner we went out to eat Mexican at Chuy's. yummmm. Wyatt ate ice cream for the first time, it came with his kid's meal. Can you imagine, ice cream for the first time?! He loved it =)

So the first few days were a little bit of everything. 

Up next - The Alamo/Riverwalk and the Zoo!

1st Birthday Party

Wyatt's 1st birthday party was a blast! I think it's true that the first birthday is more for the parents than the baby... we were the ones who blew out his candle and opened all the presents! lol
We were originally going to  have the party at our house, but as the guest list grew we quickly realized we needed to have it somewhere else. We ended up using the clubhouse/community room of our apartment complex. I had already planned all the decorations out for our house before we decided to relocate it, so the room's dark red walls and decor kind of took away from the white and blue of the Winter ONEderland. I didn't do to good of a job with pictures, but here's what I got!

I had so much fun making his birthday banner...

His picture banner was hard to take a picture of, but it looked really cute! I used the pictures I took of him every month in his rocking chair and just tied them to garland with ribbon =)

The pool table got covered with snow, icicles, and snowballs =)

The cakes were on that table too... we just handmade the cake and smash cake. 

This punch was deeelicious!

I didn't even get a picture of all the food!! We did a dip party for the food and it was all in the kitchen with more snowflakes from the ceiling. The dips were: 

Guacamole 

Corn and Cheese Dip

Veggies and Dip

Queso

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Graham Crackers

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip with Chocolate Teddy Grahams

I made little labels for all the dips that matched the "icicles" and "snowballs" labels in the picture above. Totally bummed I didn't get a picture of those, lol. (The Mr. said I overdid it because even with 14 adults we had so much leftover =/ I honestly couldn't decide which dips to make so I just made them all, haha, and family brought some of them too!)

And then I made his highchair banner:

Wyatt, Grandma and Grandpa Christians and Uncle Chandler

This little guy is such a lover... he gave lots of good hugs to everyone! I wish I had gotten more pics of him hugging everyone, but here he is with Uncle Jason

It took him a little bit to get going on his cake, but once he did it literally looked smashed when he was finished =)

Singing Happy Birthday..

As for presents... he pretty much had no interest, lol. There's a couple good pictures though =)

  

We had a slideshow of pictures going on the TV behind us. For games we did a Wyatt trivia game... Aunt Ashly won, getting every question right!! (It had questions like "What was Wyatt's first food?" "When did he take his first steps?" ect. some of the questions were pretty hard so it was multiple choice) And then a "Guess How Many Cheerios are in the Jar" game that Uncle Chandler won. 

 And finally.... the video we made of Wyatt's 1st year!

(having problems uploading it =/)

We are so thankful to all of our family (everyone drove anywhere from 1-5 hours) that came to help us celebrate Wyatt's first year of life! You all helped us make it so special for him. Thank you for loving him so dearly =)

One More Look Back..

(Jaiden Photography)

One Year Later....

(Allison G. Lewis Photography)

What a difference a year makes!!

Happy ONE YEAR!

Wyatt...

 (we didn't get his hair cut, we just trimmed his bangs because they were in his eyes =) )

• Wears size 4 diapers
• Weighs 21.5 lbs. and is 30.75 inches tall
• Wears some 12 month clothes but mostly 18 month 
• Has 8 teeth
• Has started being a little pickier for meals.. he'll love something one day and then refuse to eat it the next. I read this is normal for toddlerhood though, so I guess we have officially arrived! 
• Shakes his head "yes" and "no"
• Points to his head and tummy for "Where's your head?" and "Where's your tummy?"
• Does the sign for "All Done" when he is finished eating
• Pats/rubs your back when he is getting rocked
• Loves playing with cups in the bathtub... filling them up with water and dumping it out
• Loves playing with spatulas and pots and pans. If I am in the kitchen cooking he is only happy if he is on the floor next to me with a spatula and a pot.

• Started imitating us... so when I sweep, he acts like he is wiping the floor. I got him a little broom to "help" me. When I dust I give him a washcloth and he "helps" me wipe =) 

• Attempts to climb up and on every.thing. We are in trouble when he starts being successful at his climbing attempts!
• Stacks blocks all by himself
• Fed himself with a spoon for the first time at our Christmas Day dinner! He scooped up some mashed potatoes and put it straight in his mouth and ate it =) He mostly just puts food on his spoon then picks it up again off his spoon and eats it, lol
• Says his first animal sound! "What does a bee say?" and he says "bzzzzz" (Taught by his Grandma and Grandpa Christians) =)
• Is such a cuddler.. he gives hugs all day long and loves to just sit on my lap. I know that won't last so I am loving it =)
• And for the best news of all...... He totally weaned himself from the bottle!!!!!!!! I had him down to just 3 bottles a day. While my family was here for Christmas, he was slowly taking less and less of his bottle (formula) until right when they left a couple days ago, he basically wouldn't even drink out of it. He's gone to bed 2 nights in a row now without one. I don't plan on using them again! I wasn't looking forward to that process so I am ecstatic he basically did it on his own! WooHoo! He drinks water and soy milk now out of sippy cups =) 

We cannot even put in to words how fast Wyatt's first year flew by. We can truly understand now when other parents and grandparents say that it goes by in the blink of an eye. We have so many wonderful memories from the past year and our lives are just so full with the happiness that Wyatt brings to our home. (We've probably never been so tired, but so happy!) =) 

More new posts coming soon from the birthday party and Christmas!

I love looking back through Wyatt's monthly posts.. It is amazing how quickly you forget things that seem so big when you are going through them! For his 2nd year, I plan on doing updates every 3 months... so 15, 18, 21, and 24 months. 

Advent - "Coming"

We are in the advent season, awaiting the "coming" of the Christ. Things have been pretty quiet around here since Thanksgiving. We did make a trip to San Angelo and had a wonderful weekend just spending time with family and friends, staying inside since it actually felt like "winter"! But other than that, the Mr. is on Christmas break from classes and we are just spending our days together, sticking to our routine, relishing in these days before our little one turns ONE, and counting down until Christmas.

We are doing the Jesse Tree advent devotional book countdown by Ann Voskamp, an amazing author. We do them after dinner, before the bedtime routine, and Wyatt is usually running around with spatulas in both hands, squealing, so we read and pray while giggling but it makes for good memories! Of course, he doesn't understand the meaning behind our countdown or even why there is a tree in the living room and lights all over the windows, but we "teach" him the reason for the season anyways =)

"How Many Kings" is a song that I listen to over and over during the Christmas season, and sometimes throughout the year too. It is truly amazing that the Creator of the universe would reach out to us, individually and personally, by sending His Son in the most unlikely way... as an infant, in a stable, among farm animals.. literally becoming the least to love, serve, and save all people.

The chorus says, "How many kings step down from their thrones? How many lords have abandoned their homes? How many greats have become the least for me? .... Only one did that for me."

What a story it is!

So the blog is quiet in December as we countdown to His birth day... we are also preparing for the Mrs.'s family coming from Georgia to spend the entire week of Christmas with us! And finishing up the details for Wyatt's 1st birthday party.
Merry Christmas! I'm sure we will have lots of pictures to post at the end of the month! =)