Jackson's Little Man Party

Jackson had a wonderful birthday party on Saturday! I am very appreciative to family for all of the help getting things set up and to all who could come celebrate his first year with us. It was a great day!

The party theme was a "Little Man Mustache Bash." Once I decided on this theme, I thoroughly scanned Etsy for party decorations and invitations. I purchased a digital package from Sour Punch Studio and focused on a color scheme of turquoise, orange, and green. I was able to edit a few of the items in the package to personalize them for Jackson. I then made some of the other signs online at picmonkey.com for free. Other DIY projects include a welcome wreath, picture frame to display his monthly photos, table decor, and Jackson's cake smash outfit. I will post pictures, resources, and more detailed instructions on how I made these items later. We set up a photo booth with props for the guests to take some fun themed photos. Jackson's mustache "1" onesie was also purchased on Etsy from Better Than Bows. Overall, it was a lot of fun planning this mustache bash - there was a lot of cutting, tying, taping, sewing, baking, and cooking - but all fun!

I designed the chalkboard style sign myself. I've seen several of these signs on Etsy but didn't want to pay $10-15 for one so I got creative and made one myself! 

The drink station consisted of "Little Man Lemonade." "Top Hat Tea," sangria, beer, and water. Check out the adorable water bottle labels below. 

We set up a photo booth area equipped with bowties, mustaches, and glasses props! Keep scrolling and you will find the pics. 

Here are pictures of the cake table and thank you table. The sign reads "Thanks for combing to my mustache bash!" Party favors included homemade neck tie and mustache sugar cookies and chocolate mustache lollipops! They were a bit time consuming but a lot of fun to decorate and oh so cute!! 

The menu consisted of "Manwiches," bowtie pasta salad, "Couch potatoes" (chips and french onion dip), veggies, and fruit. I made table centerpieces and other decor (vase below) by cutting out extra bowties and mustaches that were intended for the photo props and putting them a variety of vases. I also made the banner on the cake table above from the same props. This was pretty simple and added cute little touches throughout the house.

I made Jackson's highchair banner with scraps of fabric and ribbon that I already had. My inspiration was a picture that I saw on pinterest and I thought that it was worth trying to make myself. These things sell for around $30 on Etsy!! (Excuse my crooked hanging job). 

I made the cupcakes myself with some help from my mom with icing and putting the wrappers on/toppers in. I wanted the flavors to match the manly theme and landed on banana cake with peanut butter filling and chocolate frosting for one and chocolate bacon cake with maple frosting for the second. Yum! After baking four dozen cupcakes, making 3 dozen chocolate mustaches, and making/decorating a few more dozen cookies, I opted to purchase Jackson's cake from local bakery. It turned out super adorable and matched his decor perfectly! 

Some of our lovely party guests!

Jacks digging into his cake. YUMMY!! He went straight to the bath after he was finished playing. :) His little tie and matching diaper cover were made by yours truly! 

Uncle Drew (a good friend from dental school) brought the MVP - Most Valuable Present. The first thing Jackson opened was this giant, soft, cuddley, St. Bernard puppy and it was love at first sight! He is pretty obsessed with that dog. Good job Drew! I can honestly say though that he has been enjoying ALL of his gifts this week. He has played with each and every one (and I'm not just saying this to be nice). haha

Here are the pics from the "Photo Booth." We attached a piece of burlap to the wall with a few other decorations. Guests were able to use the photo props that I made or the mustache glasses and adhesive mustaches. Sweet little Graham probably wore that stache around for 30 minutes! 

Precious little Peyton had enough - she was such a trooper and sacrificed her nap to attend the party. 

We really had the most fabulous day! I put a lot of time into planning and organizing the party from researching themes, decor, food, DIY projects, etct. and it was so much fun to watch it all come together. I know that Jackson isn't going to remember his first party, but I sure did have fun and hope everyone else did too. Thanks again to all of those who celebrated our precious boy with us and those that checked in with us throughout the weekend to wish J a happy birthday! 

As if I didn't post enough already, but for anyone interested, I have uploaded all of the party pictures to shutterfly and would be happy to share. 

Thank you for checking out the long post/pictures. Now, I mustache. :) (Had to squeeze in one more cheesy mustache joke)! 

12 Months = 1 Year Old!!!!!

How did this happen? I know that I've been saying it each month as we approached the one year mark, but I really cannot believe that we have a ONE YEAR OLD!!! This pretty much means that we no longer have a little baby but now a toddler....wow! We are sad to see him grow so quickly and I'm afraid that we will blink again and he will be starting school, driving, graduating, etc. With that said, we are also really enjoying the age/stage that Jackson is in right now. He is so much fun and full of personality! He continues to learn new things each day and we love watching him do something new for the first time. He also really loves interacting with us and others and is a ton of fun to play with. He remains the happiest little boy - we even get comments on just how happy he is all of the time!

Here are some of the things that I am just loving about this stage:

Jackson, I love how you take several play breaks a day to crawl over to me and just "love" on me! You put your head into me and just squeeze me and it melts me heart every time! A month ago you used to bite when you did this - I called them love bites - but now it is a much less painful love. :)

I love how you make a humming noise each time I run the blender to make a smoothie (or the coffee grinder or vacuum) and that how when I am done making my smoothie you want to share it with me. I let you taste a little on the edge of the cup and you make a little slurping noise each time.

I love how you are trying to feed yourself with a spoon now and how you end up with much more on your hands than in your mouth.

I love how you are giving me full on hugs now too! You wrap those little arms around me, squeeze and then pat my back. Too sweet.

Of course I love it all, but those are just a few particular things that stand out.

This month has been a little more low key than the last few. We pretty much stayed home for the most part, which was really nice after all of the traveling the past few months. We were able to get in a lot of play time and get adjusted back to our normal routine. Mommy also spent a lot of time working on the birthday plans. :)

We continue to hold a pretty similar schedule to that of the last few months. You are sleeping approximately 11 hours at night and are taking two naps still. Your naps were much shorter when we first got home from Switzerland, but you are now taking two pretty decent naps a day again. The main change over the last week or so is that we cut a nursing session. You are currently only nursing twice a day and have transitioned to whole milk in your bottle before bed. We slowly made the transition between a bottle of breastmilk and whole milk and you've done very well with it. We will probably replace another nursing session with the milk soon. We also added a small snack in the afternoon. For the most part, you seem to love all the extra food! If someone had asked us how you ate just a week ago, we told them you ate anything and everything and that you just thoroughly enjoyed food. Like the flip of a switch, you started refusing some of your favorite foods and refused to eat meat for about a week. The last couple days have been back to normal so my fingers are crossed that this little picky phase has passed. (Although, I'm sure there will be more). You remain a very active little fella - you are starting to climb more on objects and wake up jumping in your crib first thing in the morning and after every nap. Even though you wear me out, I wouldn't have you any other way!

You are still a happy, healthy, energetic, fearless, curious, loving little boy. So many things change about you each month, but we hope that as you grow that your awesome personality remains the same.

Speaking of changes, here are some of the milestones reached at 12 months:

• Talking - you continue to try and copy more and more words and sounds. Your most used word (and truthfully probably your first real word) is "meow." As soon as we got back from our trip to started crawling around behind the cats saying "mow mow." You still do this and also say it anytime you see a real cat or a picture of a cat. You also say mama, dada, cooper, kitty, and a few other animal noises at times. Every now and then it seems you may be trying other words but we aren't for certain. You also make a lot more noises - for example, when pushing a truck around you make a "vrmm" noise. 
• Standing - you started standing on your own shortly after you turned 11 months (7/30), right after we returned from our trip. It started out for only a couple of seconds at a time but within a week you had it down. 
• Walking with a toy - you began walking with a push toy on 8/11. You had no interest before that day and then all of a sudden walked with the toy all over the house! 
• Walking - you've taken a few steps on your own! You started a few days before your birthday (8/18) and usually only take a couple before dropping but have taken as many as six! It definitely won't be long...
• Eating - for the most part you are still eating very well. We had a few days of pickiness but you seem to have returned to your normal eating habits. Fingers crossed that you continue to be a good eater! Goal for this next month is to complete the weaning process and have you drinking whole 3-4 times a day in addition to your 3 meals a day.
• Sleeping - again, your sleeping and napping schedule remains the same. 
• Teeth - you have 8 teeth now and look like such a big boy with that toothy smile! 
• Growing - you were 21 pounds and 32 inches at your 12 month appt. This means that you've grown 10 inches and gained 11 pounds in the past year! Crazy! You are currently wearing 18 months in most clothes now, although you do need smaller shorts. I have a feeling we are going to have a hard time dressing your long, skinny body come fall/winter! 
• Favorites - as for toys, you love balls and carry one around a lot of the time. However, you do play with a lot of things and just move from one toy/object to the next. You also enjoy playing in the tupperware cabinet, with diapers, in the bath, and of course chasing the cats! 

And here are some photos from the past month. I apologize in advance for all of the blurry pics - it is hard to take photos of this busy guy on my iphone:

Our little Swiss boy. :)

Big Boy!

Doesn't everyone get parmesan boogers?

Oh stop Mom, you are too funny! 

Too cool for school. 

The month wouldn't be complete.....Max is thinking this is a little too close for comfort. 

Bouncing around in a pile of diapers...

Looks like this boy had a fun play session. 

Mommy's boy! 

Just reading a few books...

And this is what his room looks like when he is done "reading." This happens several times a day. Not sure why I even bother to pick the books up. 

Playing in his room!

Opening a present on his birthday!

12 months old!!

Jackson, you are turning into such a big boy and changing like crazy! We love seeing you so happy and having so much fun. We know that we won't always be able to do everything you want all of the time and that there are times you may get upset, but we hope that you ultimately know that we are doing our best to raise a little boy who knows right from wrong, who is respectful and caring, and who knows the love of his Heavenly Father. I'm thankful we all survived this first year together and look forward to many more great years with our sweet boy! Happy 12  months baby boy!