It won't be long now...

Gramma and Papa J gave this push cart to G-man for his birthday. He didn't need us to show him how to work it! He is getting pretty good at chasing the cat with it now too!

It's Party Time!

Monster dog dressed to party, and Gramma getting G-Man dressed and ready! He took a great almost 2-hour nap just before the festivities.

G-Man had his First Birthday Party today. It was a great day! He was feeling cuddly, yet social and played quite happily with his uncles, auntie and friends and of course, Grammas and Grandpas. I have a thing with hosting parties and am always afraid that I won't have enough food...then I end up with TONS of leftovers. Again, same thing today! At least it all freezes! So, here are some first birthday shots. Let's not forget the gratutious baby with cake shot. I made gluten free, dairy free, egg free cupcakes with gluten free, dairy free, egg free frosting. The Grammas had requested a messy dessert for him. I don't think I disappointed! Naturally, G-Man's best friend was pretty happy today too...you'll see what I mean as you scroll down.

Above, playing with friends and cousins. The push cart that G is leaning on was a birthday present from Gramma and Papa J. Without anyone helping him, G grabbed the handle, and took off walking across the living room ALL. BY. HIMSELF. He has done that a few times today. Sooo, cool!

G and Mommy and a messy cupcake all for him!

G and Daddy and what's left of the cupcake, with chocolate frosting all over his face!

"Mmmmm," that was after G let the dog lick his hand! Hehehehe!

Cleanup!

It was a spectacular day for celebrating, wishing and reflecting

Today my baby, my little boy, my Bug turned one year old. Well, technically, he doesn't turn one until 11:40pm (CST), but you get the idea. Every time I have looked at the clock today I was immediately brought back to where I was and what I was doing exactly at the moment one year ago. It wasn't until after 6:00pm that things got fuzzy and I don't have a time to attach events, feelings, progress to. It was perfect. My last day and hour being pregnant and G-Man's entry into the world was so perfect, so peaceful, so powerful and so beautiful. It was an experience that has changed me forever. And this past year has continued to change me. G-Man has not been the only one to grow and learn! To read more about this time last year, check out this blog entry.

Today we started the day with kisses and playing! G-Man *loves* his baths so when he crawled into the bathroom this morning and tried to get into the tub, I said "Sure, we can start your day with a bath!" We usually save baths for bed time, but today his HIS day, so we had a fun splashy bath! Then we played some more, napped and took off to meet Daddy for lunch at Panera. It was nice to see the Hubby in the middle of the day and I treasured that we were all able to spend that hour together for G's birthday lunch. G-man even ate some of the antibiotic-free chicken from my sandwich! From there G-Man and I hit Stride Rite to get him measured for shoes since he is starting to walk a little (furniture surfing and holding our hands and stuff). Then, off to our chiropractor, Dr. Pam who was also at my house with me while I was in labor! She was a lifesaver!!! We had quite a few good laughs that afternoon.

Finally, back home to play and play! Gramma and Papa J. came over to visit and wish G-Man happy birthday. It was a wonderful day and there is a party on the horizon!

in case you missed it...

Seriously, if you live in Minnesota how can you *not* book a photo session with Tina? These are just the sneek peek from my little boy's one year old pictures that Tina came over & took last weekend. You really need to check these out! I can't wait to see more!!!!!

an unexpected rite of passage & roots

I was kinda giggly (well, almost) tonite. See, I was making the first birthday treat for G-Man to take to daycare! I WAS MAKING A BIRTHDAY TREAT FOR MY SON! Ya, it totally took me by surprise how big of a deal this was to me. Naturally, they are gluten free cupcakes too. Unfortunately, they are not dairy or egg free (or sugar free) so poor boy gets to bring them to daycare, share them with his friends and he doesn't get any. I don't even want him playing with one. He will have a truly gluten free, dairy free, egg free one to demolish at his party this weekend though...

I was such a "mom" tonite too. I made more baby food and prepped what looks to be a great soup for dinner tomorrow. I have really been into root veggies lately and they are just so delish! Next time you are at the grocery store, treat yourself to the carrots that are not peeled and cut up. Get a bag of carrots, they way they look when they come outta the ground. Then take them home, cut off the tops and scrub them with a kitchen scrubbie. Don't peel them, just eat them! You will be amazed at how good they taste! The baby carrots that are already peeled and everything taste almost sterile in comparison. And it really is no time at all to lop off the tops and wash them. Then, pick up a bunch of beets. Ya, that's one of the foods I made for G-Man tonite too. He loves 'em! Be sure to pick up the smaller beets, they are yummier. Peel them, cut into smaller pieces, and boil until they are soft. Then enjoy! Yum!!! So, back to my root veggie thing...when I saw this in the grocery store I didn't think twice! I washed and chopped everything up tonite so it's a matter of sauteeing with some onion, oil and garlic then adding some veggie broth and simmering. Yum! Talk about an easy, wayyy healthy dinner!

Some early edits back!

Tina was back to our home on Saturday to shoot pics of G-Man for his first birthday. She is busy working on edits and posted some on Facebook. I can't wait to see the rest of them! This one is in my craft room. I picked up the white G at Michael's Crafts for $2.99. I think it makes a great prop! And, he's wearing the "1" shirt that I made for him. Love that wild hair! Heheheheh! Have a great week everyone! It's birthday week here and we are going to celebrate his first birthday like baby rock stars!

p.s. Just a cool fact, the coverlet that is behind G-Man draped across the top of the sofa belonged to my Grandmother. I think it's cool that it is in the photo with him!

What a great Saturday!

It was a fabulous day! The day started with some morning playtime at home. Then our family photographer, good friend and scrapbook (Creative Memories brand) supplier (K calls her my 'dealer') - Tina came over! She got some fun one year pictures of my G-Man! We were even her first model with one of her new props (scroll down on her blog to see it!)! I can't wait to see how the pictures turned out! Tina had blogged earlier this week about some First Birthday Props. I was motivated by the cute t-shirts, and I just happened to have some fun Sock Monkey quilting fabrics. I picked up a couple of $3 tees at Walmart and some fabric paint. It took about 20 minutes to make both shirts. G-Man wore one of them today for the pics. I think this will be a birthday tradition for as long as G-Man lets me make them for him. It will be fun to pick out the print fabric together and make the shirts with him as he grows!

This afternoon it was off to Gramma and Papa J's for some playtime while the hubby and I went on a nice long walk in the snowy woods at a county park. It was spectacular. It was unseasonably warm, at 34 degrees F and sunny. A delightful day to be outside tromping thru 12" deep snow in the woods.

The hubby indulged me with a trip to Ikea. Really, going to Ikea on the weekends is NOT for the feint of heart. It's sooo stinkin' crowded and crazy. But we did pick up a new Expedit tower for toy storage. I love these things. They can be set up horizonally or vertically. I think it turned out pretty nice!

By the way, the black horizontal stripe near the top of the shelf is a strip of chalkboard paint. We have it going all the way down the wall. I love it! We have more fun with parties here seeing the artwork and commentaries from friends and family. You can pick up green or black chalkboard paint at your local hardware or home improvement store.

Tomorrow morning it's church for G-Man and I then some playing! I have to move a ton of pics and my scrapbooking software to a different laptop too, that will probably consume my evening once he gets to bed though. Have a great start to the week everyone! It's G-Man's birthday week, so we'll be celebrating as I reminisce about where I was and how I was feeling one year ago. Sigh...

Research time...again.

So, my little guy is turning one year old next week...ONE! I can't stand how fast it's flown by! Among the millions of things that I have on my to-do list are re-researching vaccinations, his current health status, his exposure risk, and the homeopathic remedies and alternative remedies for the diseases for which we vaccinate. We have thus far, chosen not to vaccinate our little boy. It's a purposeful decision. Likely, one that you may not have made. So, if you have vaccinated your child(ren) why did you do it? Was a purposeful choice? I don't mind if you make a different choice from me, but please folks BE PURPOSEFUL! Don't vaccinate because the dr. says to.

Some of the things we take into consideration are our sons' diet. He eats whole, organic foods, nothing out of a box or jar. The food you give your body makes a huge impact on how it can respond, keep you healthy and fight illness. We also read the manufacturers research on each vaccine they make, the drug study that they did, including the ages of children in the study and the duration of the study. We also look for what other drugs were given at the same time by the manufacturer in the study. At most dr. visits your child is scheduled to get 3-6 vaccines, are any of them studied at the same time to see if there are drug interactions? So far my research says NO!

Last year one of the elementary schools in our school district had a chicken pox "outbreak." Their response was to encourage parents to re-vaccinate their kids. I found it really interesting that some of the kids who were vaccinated once and re-vaccinated in this outbreak did get chicken pox. It bothers me that there is a vaccination we are giving our kids that DOES NOT WORK. Worse yet, we know it doesn't confer a lifelong immunity. So, we will see what, in 15 years or so a HUGE outbreak of chicken pox in 20 and 30-somethings. 20 and 30-somethings who will be very, very sick with chicken pox - much more sick than they would have been as children.

So, it's off to continue research, see what else new stuff there may be for me to read...we've logged dozens and dozens of hours researching vaccines, and we're not done yet.

I wanted this to be longer...

Yum, I still love beets!

G-Man playing in "his" drawer in the kitchen (wearing his MN Wild Hockey sweats!)

...but I am tired! I am processing a blog about G-Man's up coming first birthday and his one year well-baby dr. appt, and vaccines...or not vaccines...it's not an easy decision to make, at least it shouldn't be an easy decision for any parent to make regardless of the side they come down on. So, enjoy a picture or two and I'll gather my thoughts, get some sleep and post it later this weekend. Have a great weekend!!

(this was taken by my mom last week while he was playing at her house)

We are having sooo much fun!

I cannot believe how many things my little boy learns to do in a week! It is just mind boggling! I kinda expected this:

I just didn't expect it so soon! Last night G-Man had been "practicing" with finger food. He pushes it all over the table really well! So far it has yet to make it to his mouth, but he is having some wonderful tactile experiences so I really don't care if he isn't self-feeding yet. Anyway, Monster Dog has figured out that G-Man drops food and drools food and spits food and it all lands in the general vicinity around G-Man. So where does Monster hang out? Ya, right under G. G loves this and is getting a little distracted by Dog. Dog had finished cleaning up the immediate mess under G-Man and was walking away when G screeched and said "da" and reached out for him. Needless to say, Monster Dog smelled food on that sweet toddler little hand and was more than willing to lick it clean. This elicited squeals, real squeals of happiness from my little boy and howls of laughter from me. Needless to say my camera was not nearby. Fortunately for me, they figured it all out again today and at least my camera-phone was close!

I figured since we were playing with our food we may as well try different modes of eating it. Today was the first time G-Man took a bite from a banana. Of course, when it got set down in front of him he proceeded to poke it to death. Like I said, tactile learning!

And lets not forget to do our indoor gardening this winter, ok? We have 2 live plants in our house, that's almost 2 too many for me. Thankfully they are snake plants and they can survive even me! I have high hopes for more plants if G-Man keeps up with his gardening skills! Who can be upset with a baby playing in the dirt? Certainly not me!

He started splashing with deliberate action this week in the tub too, both arms, both legs totally going! And of course, we were both laughing pretty hard. I thought it was cute enough to get his Daddy (which is pretty much a constant) so I yelled, "Hey, K!" I had barley finished when a little wet parrot echoed clearly, "haaayyy ki!" as loud as he could! My head snapped around and I said, "It's Daddy to you little man!" I mentioned that to our daycare provider and she said that he echoed her when she said "hey hey hey" to some of the kids earlier that day too! Also in his verbal repertoire, Mama, da (dad), daa (dog) and caa (cat). He uses all 4 of those words appropriately and without prompting. Quite often when the cat walks past him he will look at her and say "caa" all by himself. It's just incredible!

A great find for baby wearing mommas (& daddy's too)

I love my Mothering magazine. I read it cover to cover when it arrives and get so much great info and resources from it. It's a more natural alternative to Parenting and those kinds of main stream mags. There are no ads for formula or disposable diapers. Instead there are ads for cloth diapers, natural supplements and vitamins. It's FULL of homebirth stories, breastfeeding support and research, non and delayed vaccinating information, baby wearing and other naturally focused things. This month' issue has a product review that completely caught my eye! This is something that I cannot wait to purchase. I think it may, in fact, be the present I buy myself for my birthday. I wear G-Man alot! We have a new Ergo baby carrier and we use it so much! Even at home, when G is having a tough time and needs to be snuggled, I put him in, he snuggles close and we are both happy! Baby wearing is wonderful for so many reasons, but it gets bulky in the wintertime. This rocks! You can check this great vest out here. It comes in lots of great colors too! Oh, and they make a softshell jacket too...hmmm.

And, it's completely reversible (front to back) so you can wear it with a back babycarrier too!

Gramma's Coffee Pots

Gramma Nancy loves old things-and they love her! She says they follow her home from flea markets, garage sales and stuff like that. Little G-Man just loves her collection of old coffee pots! These generally sit on the hearth surrounding the wood burning stove, but since there was a fire in the stove we relocated the coffee pots. G loves taking the lids off, making music with them, and reassembling them. Gramma is making it even more of an adventure by putting "stuff" in them for him to discover...clothes pins, snow globes...things like that. They had great fun playing coffee on Saturday afternoon!

winter fun!

Today, little G and I went to visit his Great Gramma in the nursing home. It was cold when we left the house at 9:45, even by a lifelong Minnesotans perspective, it was cold...a brisk -19 degrees F! Yes, that is MINUS 19 and that was without the windchill. So, needless to say these pics were NOT taken today! You can get frostbite in less than 15 minutes on exposed skin on a day like today. We got a great big snowfall the day before Christmas so after playing inside for a few hours that morning, G-Man and I donned our snowwear (right over our jammies) and we went out to play! The little sled he is in has a nice back and a belt to secure him into it. He loved it! We stayed outside for 20+ minutes and had a great time!