And the toddler stage begins!

Well here comes a massive post because my baby turned one and I want to document all of the fun things he is doing!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKSON! This has honestly been the fastest and best year of my entire life. Since Jackson's birthday is October 26th we celebrated Halloween style. (I love Halloween and already have grand ideas for future bdays when he is older!) We had a party the Friday before his actual birthday that was super fun. We had a spider/monster theme and had yummy bread bowls with soup and salad. I didn't get too many pics of the decor, but here are some of the spider cupcakes I made.

These monsters are actually little bags made out of cardstock that my mom taught me to make.

My mom also taught me to make these cute little treats. They are peppermint patties decorated w/ cardstock. I thought they were a fun party favor.

And of course, eating the cake! Here is the before (he wasn't too sure about the singing).

The middle, trying to share:)

The after, notice the ENTIRE cupcake is gone. Despite the pieces flung on the wall and smeared on his body, I'd say he did pretty good!

And a couple of the party guests playing towards the end. Trucks and balls, what typical boys:)

Jackson's actual birthday was the next Monday and while much more low key, it was a great day. We played all day, had his favorite dinner (lasagna) and cupcakes, then had him open his presents! He loved it! He got a whole bunch of books, some clothes, blocks, Tonka trucks, and a Lightning Mcqueen car. I think the wrapping paper should qualify as a gift too since he played with that for quite some time as well:)

How old are you Jackson?

He wouldn't look up from the buttons for a picture, at least he likes the car. He loves scooting around on it, dancing to the music, and hiding things in the seat.

This kid LOVES books!

A few days after Jackson's birthday we took him in for his one year check up. He weighed in at 24lbs and was 31" tall. Still in the higher percentiles, especially for his height! He has cut 8 teeth so far, does that mean the dreaded molars are next? The doctor kept remarking on how strong he was, which I am not surprised about. I am so terrified that he is going to pull himself out of his crib one of these days. One day I caught him holding all of his weight up with his arms, half of his body above the crib rail. Yes, it is on the lowest setting, this kid just really is strong!

So while he wasn't walking by his birthday, Jackson took his first steps exactly one week later! He had been standing up for quite awhile but was scared to walk without holding onto our fingers. We were at our library's story time and Jackson was so enthralled with the women singing that I don't think he even realized he started walking towards her. It was so funny, my friends and I were all like, did he really just do that!?! Well it took about 2 more weeks for him to get really good at it, but now he is walking all over the place! We are officially in the toddler phase which is sooo cute! It is a little scary though because he is now starting to climb up on things and loves going upstairs and climbing on our desk chair to play with the blinds. I thought being able to go up and down the stairs meant no more baby gates but I think I was wrong! (PS, I tried loading a video of some of the first steps but it won't work, I will try again later!)

Jackson is also starting to talk more, I love his cute little voice! Here are all of the words he says so far: Mama, Dada, ball, uh-oh, bottle (baba), binki (ba), bubble, book, bye bye, dog, baby, banana (nana), apple, Ash, shoes, Jesus, duck, and I'm pretty sure he can say truck. He also makes animal sounds for a dog, lion, cow, monkey, and turkey. I love to hear him say gobble gobble, that is probably my favorite! We are working on body parts but the only ones he has down for sure so far are belly and mouth. He gets nose and eyes half of the time.

Jackson also loves to wave and blow kisses to everybody and give high fives and pounds. He also loves to blow raspberries on my tummy and try to tickle me. This cracks me up since he is just copying what we do to him to make him laugh:)

Did I mention that he LOVES to read books? Jackson will go pick out a book, bring it to me, then climb into my lap for me to read it to him. This pretty much melts my heart.

He also Loves to play outside. Jackson will go find his shoes and bring them to me saying shoes! and point to the front door. This is his way of asking me to go outside, I can't believe how smart he is already! So what is his favorite thing to do outside? We walk all around our driveway and house collecting rocks. He picks them up until his little hands can't hold anymore and then he looks at them all and decides which ones to drop so that he can keep picking more up. It is so funny to watch him. If he accidentally drops one he wants to keep he will go after it and somehow, in a driveway full of rocks, he knows exactly which one was his. He is so dang cute it kills me!

Lucky me he also likes to clean! Whenever I am cleaning I give Jackson a rag and he goes to town wiping down anything in his reach.

His new thing is to talk on the phone. It doesn't matter if anyone is on the line or not, heck it doesn't even matter if it is a real phone or a tube of chapstick. He always pretends to be talking on the phone. I wonder if this means I am on the phone too much?

So that is what my little man is up to these days. I am so grateful for him and feel so lucky that I get to be his mom.