Party Time!

We had a great day celebrating Ford's 1st birthday with our family and friends! Ford decided he wasn't going to take an afternoon nap, but he was a trooper and had a blast at his party. I had lots of help from my family preparing for the party, and I couldn't have done it without them! Since Ford loves doggies especially Cooper, we had a doggie themed party for him. It was a special day for one special little boy!

This banner turned out super cute, but it was a lot of work!

It's hard to see, but I made a banner of Ford's monthly pictures in his "Ford" chair with his lamb to track his growth from 1 week to 1 year! It's amazing how much he has changed and so fun to look back at all his different phases!

We had doggie paw crayons and a coloring table set up!

The handsome birthday boy!

Sweet Annike!

Ashley and Sommer

Sweet Jameson!

Sweet Aimee

Two of the sweetest girls I know, Maddie and Annike

Annike showing off her face painting!

Jean-Marie and Baby J

Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday To You.....

Time to open presents! Ford had two very cute helpers!!

What a sweet face!

Trying out his new bike from Grandma and Grandpa!

Loving his fire truck from Annike and Sommer!

Ford realized it was girls in the tent and thought "I'm outta here!"

Everyone loved playing in the Tonka Truck Tent! Thanks Maddie and Eli!

Ford's invites! That's a picture of Cooper when he was a puppy!

100 and One!!!

It's my 100th post celebrating Ford turning one!!!! There are truly no words that I could use to describe the joy this little boy has brought Erik and I over the past year. He has forever changed our lives and opened our hearts to love in a way we have never known. I've always know that the love a parent has for a child is unmatched, but my love for my little boy is more fierce than I could ever have imagined. Don't get me wrong, he is a handful and his strong will can push me very close to the edge, but I wouldn't have it any other way! Ford is full of life, super friendly, strong willed, stubborn, loud, super silly and smiley, flirty, wild, sweet and crazy active! Here are some facts about Ford at 1 year old!!!

*He weighs 22 1/2 oz. (65th percentile) he's 31.25 inches long (95th percentile) and head circumference 19 inches (95th percentile). Yes he was born at 19 inches long, and at one year his head matches that length!

*He crawls everywhere, pulls up on everything and has started standing without holding on!

*He is super active and into everything. He is all boy all the time!

*He still takes 2 naps a day, and we are working on him falling asleep on his own (as I am writing this he has been in his bed for almost an hour and half and is still not asleep, so I would say we are still definitely working on this!).

*He has a very sweet side to him. He loves to be held and cuddled especially before naps and bedtime!

*He loves to give kisses! He kisses Erik and I, his stuffed animals, faces in his books and he kisses himself in the mirror!

*He loves to giggle and smile. His smile can light up a room!

*He is very friendly and loves to wave and say "Hi"!

*He loves big kids especially little boys!

*He loves his tongue and loves to show it off!

*He likes to point at everything!

*He is very ticklish just like his Daddy!

*He is very silly and always wants to make sure someone is watching him when he's trying to be funny!

*He still calls all baby's "daga", and loves to play with his empty diaper box that he calls "daga"!

*He has become a Mamma's boy, but is always saying "Dada"! He acts like a Mamma's boy and sounds like a Daddy's boy!

*He loves to throw his toys especially balls and blocks.

*He knows what a doggies says, a lion says, a monkey says and what an Indian says (Erik taught him that not me:). He also makes a growling noise that we call his monster voice. He came up with that on his own!

*He loves water! Swimming, taking a bath and even the cold ocean water!

*He loves the beach and is getting better about eating sand!

*He still loves Cooper and climbs all over him!

*He has 6 teeth and the 7th is just breaking through.

*He loves music and loves to dance! He moves his arms up and down, does knee bends and nods his head to the beat!

*He loves books! He loves for me to read them to him, and he also looks at them on his own. He has learned how to turn the pages himself, and if it's upside down he turns it around!

*He is getting much better at feeding himself, but still prefers that I feed him! Such a boy!

*He loves meat, cheese, any kind of fruit, yogurt melts and Cheerios! He doesn't really like bread or vegetables.

Here is our sweet boy at 1 year old! We love you so much Ford!

Tahoe and Vegas

To start off our very busy July we went to the cabin in Tahoe for an Olson Family reunion! Ford had a blast meeting his Great Aunts, Uncles and second cousins! He also spent a lot of quality time with Grandma and Grandpa! It worked out perfect to spend some time in Tahoe before we left for Vegas so Ford could get use to be with his Grandparents. We went for bike rides, picnics, to the beach and on Grandma and Grandpa's new wave runner!!!

Brooke and Linnea Ford's second cousins. You can tell which side of the family he gets his Swedish blue eyes and blond hair!

Uncle Rob, Aunt Justine, Great Grandma June, Brooke, Linnea, Aunt Audrey and Uncle Jim

Hanging onto Dada!

He's ready for the Olympics!

At the beach with Grandpa!



After Tahoe, Erik and I headed to Vegas for a long weekend. This was the first time I had ever been away from Ford for more than a few hours, and I had a lot of anxiety leading up to it! Ford stayed with Erik's parents and he did great! We did pretty good too! The ride to the airport was tearful for me, but I was also very excited to spend the weekend with Erik and just relax. We missed Ford like crazy, but had so much fun just being we each other. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa you are the best!!!

This was the view from our room!!! The Bellagio fountains go off almost every half hour so we caught several of the shows!

At the Wynn headed to see Le Reve!

My favorite part of the trip lounging by the pool!

On Saturday, one of the most exciting parts of our trip was the run through the warehouse!!! This picture gives you an idea of what a production this was! Cheerleaders, a DJ, balloons, referees it was crazy!! I took this picture from the bleachers where about 80+ people sat and watched all the teams run.

 

Erik and I were the 3rd team out of 42 to go see we didn't have to wait around in anticipation. We had 60 seconds to fill four carts with as much stuff as we could. They gave us 20 minutes to scope out the aisles and make a game plan! Once the clock started it was a total blur from there, but somehow we made it out with 21 items. Here's a few of the big items we won! Weber grill, 40" flat screen TV, iPad, iPod touch, Kitchen Aid mixer, Dyson vacuum, a electric four wheeler for Ford and a bunch of other stuff! It was a blast and a total adrenaline rush!

It was a great trip, but the best part of all was coming home to our sweet boy! We live such a great life that coming home from vacation is just as good as leaving for it!!!

Sand Monster!

It is so much fun now that Ford is old enough to enjoy going to the beach as much as Erik and I do! It is a lot more work and we stay for a shorter time than we use to, but it's totally worth it!  The only problem is that Erik and I have basically lost all control at the beach when it comes to sand and Ford. Like most kids, Ford loves to put the sand in his mouth and it totally grosses me out! He doesn't like it either, but yet he continues to do it! He makes a terrible face, and then shovels some more sand in!! The sand is not only in his mouth, but in his ears, up his nose and pretty much in every crevice! Luckily we have an outdoor shower at our house, and we just strip him down and hose him off!! We do our best to regulate his sand consumption with the hope that one day he will learn that sand doesn't really taste that good!

We let Cooper dig a huge hole and then we stick him in it! It's like a sand play pen!

Such a stinker!

Bottoms up!

Oh how he loves Coop!!!

I think we left shortly after this :)

I am 11 months old! Let the countdown begin!

Wow! 11 months let the countdown to 1 year begin!!! The tenth month was a rough one in our house, but we managed to survive :) Ford got 4 new teeth (yes 4 in a matter of weeks), and took a lot of falls mostly his head colliding with something solid! Poor guy had a hard month, but the teeth are through the gums and he is becoming much more cautious about falling. A lot of tears were shed this month from a baby who rarely ever cries, but most of the time the tears were warranted. All that being sad there was still a lot of smiling, giggling, hugging, wet kissing, joyful screaming and lots of proud moments for our sweet boy! Here are some facts about Ford at 11 months!

* He went from crawling to speed crawling in only a few weeks, and is into EVERYTHING!

* He is pulling up on just about anything he can get his hands on. I really can't leave him alone or take my eyes off of him!

* He loves to play in his room and most of the time it looks like a bomb went off. Erik and I think he tries to see how fast he can dump everything out!

* He is still very wild and very loud!

* He knows what he wants and what he doesn't want and lets you know about! I am not ready for this much attitude and this young of an age, but oh my is it here!!!

* Currently his favorite toy is an empty diaper box with a picture of a little boy on it that he calls "Daga"! Most pictures of little kids he calls "Daga"!

*He loves the beach crawling all in the sad getting into every crevice and sometimes taking a handful to the mouth!

*He loves music and loves to dance!

*He LOVES Cooper and anything with a dog on it!

*He loves books and currently his favorite is one about 101 Dalmatians not a big surprise!

*When we ask his what a doggy says he makes a panting noise with his tongue out! He knows what a lion says, a monkey, and and Indian (Erik taught him that not me :), but he gets them confused a lot! He always gets the doggy sound right though!

*He now has 6 teeth and I am hoping we get a few weeks break from any new ones!

*I still rock him to sleep and he loves to snuggle with me while he drifts off. It is pure bliss for me!

* He is finally sleeping on his own without any sort of swaddle and loves to sleep on his tummy!

*He still takes 2 naps a day for about 1 1/2 hours each.

*He sleeps from 7pm-6am and I wished I could train him to sleep later!

*He has so much personality and is a super friendly little boy! He loves to hand out smiles!

*He loves to give kisses to Erik and I and to his stuffed animals! His lambie is his favorite!

Here is our sweet boy at 11 months!

Finally!

Finally after months of failed attempts (I tried every month since he was 5 months old!) Ford is sleeping without a swaddle, double swaddle, inside swaddle band wrapped in an outside swaddle, sleepsak with sewn up arm holes, sleepsak with one arm out and one arm in, and the final step sleepsak with arm holes open, but arms inside untiil he wiggled them out in his sleep! I am sure you can tell by my sarcasim that this has been a challenge, but at 10 1/2 months he is sleeping on his own. I had to get very creative to accomidate my growing baby who couldn't sleep with his arms out, but after much stress I can say we were successful! In hindsight I think I was caught up in "doing what you are supposed to do" mentality, and listening to people say "you are still swaddling your baby" when really I should have just let him go at his own pace, and saved myself a lot of anxiety. Ford now loves to sleep on his tummy and is taking great naps and sleeping great at night. Here are some pics of my sweet sleeping boy!