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!!!