Since it’s almost a year to the day that Nicole took these photos for us {& that the new mom Suz was too spent to post them}, I thought I’d belatedly share these here.
It’s wild & amazing to see how much they’ve grown & changed since that session!
My fabulous friend Nicole did it again. We loved the maternity photos she took of us. She was kind enough to gift us a newborn session when Zach & Lucy were just 1 week out of the NICU. {Just realized I never shared those! Post to come!}
We met at a local park the Sunday before their first birthday. It was one of the first hot, humid days we’ve had & while it was overcast, Lucy’s blue eyes didn’t love the sun {I was trying not to squint too}.
I love these shots of the four of us & of us each with Lucy & Zach. So hard to choose favorite photos!
Lucy & Zach wouldn’t nurse right before we left the house, so of course, they got a little cranky & hungry. Thankfully I’d brought snacks & managed to nurse Zach in the van which brought the smiles back for him.
Lucy was over it all by the time we brought out the cake. Top that with the fact that the girl doesn’t really love to get dirty, & she was a bit dramatic before we scooped her up, cleaned them both & headed home.
Thanks again Nicole for capturing their personalities so well for us to remember them at one year!
Twelve months means that I’ve known you on the outside my littlest buddy for 365 days – a whole year!
As I watch you right now on the video monitor as you put yourself to sleep in your crib {such an awesome thing you’ve started doing recently}, I can’t help but think how much you’ve grown!
You were the tiniest peanut, surprising us with only being 4lbs 2oz last May 21st. Tuesday, buddy, you reach Mommy’s much sought after milestone for you. At 16lb 9.5oz, you’re officially on the WHO growth chart for boys your age for the first time. It’s the one percentile but still! I was & am elated! You’re in the first percentile for height too at 27.5 inches. You’re the prefect size for you!
This week, you’ve let me know you wanna start wearing 9 mo Carter’s clothes as the 6 mo overalls I put on you this morning wouldn’t come close to buttoning when you stretched! Good thing Cici & I have racked up consignment sales & stores for cute summer things for you! Lots of monkeys & stripes!
You’re the best eater! You love food & aren’t picky there. Fruits {but not pineapple}, veggies, grains especially waffles, happy baby beef stew, munchkin meatballs & yogurt are just a few of your favorites. Daycare says you’ll eat anything they give you there too.
You drink 3 6 oz mixed formula/breast milk bottles at daycare. It took you a bit longer than sister to warm up to the mixing but you like it now. Actually, you’ve gotten so used to bottles in the evenings that you’ve been a little unsure of nursing with me before bed this week with Sister being sick. {You remember what to do though overnight & in the mornings.}
You’ve moved up to size 3 disposable diapers too after peeing out the top of size 2s multiple nights in a row. That happens when you sleep through the night 16 nights in a row! You had Mommy pretty spoiled for a while there only getting up once with your sister.
You love that sister of yours {especially her curly hair} but you don’t love how she always wants to play & touch you. You’re learning to push back & steal back your toys which both makes Mommy & Daddy laugh & let’s us peek at our future.
You shocked me in the best possible way by saying mama mama Mother’s Day afternoon. You continue to say & call me Mama. Dada is another faithful word in your vocabulary & we think you might be saying bye bye while waving sometimes? You discovered clicking your tongue & making la sounds. We’re trying to see if you’ll say Lucy or Lulu next.
You have & can stand unassisted, but it makes you nervous. Standing is a bug deal & if you’re busy with your hands full of toys or puffs, you’ll do bit without realizing it. You really want to stand alone from sitting & have lunged from the coffee table to me taking a step in the process. Walking/pushing toys are your favorites along with books & your ever present wubbas right now.
We can’t wait to see what this month will bring to you my toddler boy! Happy {belated} first birthday!
{Photo taken & will be to come.}
Happy 1st birthday to Zach & Lucy today! Due to a stomach bug that’s attacked Lucy, posts are delayed this week. I’m taking us back to Saturday when we had the pleasure that afternoon to gather with close friends at our house to celebrate Zach & Lucy.
Due to {unrelated to us} sicknesses & life’s busyness, our small party was smaller than expected, but Lucy & Zach didn’t mind. They loved the cuddles, attention, decorations & friends.
I went with a monkey theme & kept things fairly simple. Invites, cupcake decorations & food tents were ordered off etsy & printed by Walmart & by my Dad. We found monkey boy & girl balloons at Party City & monkey paper goods at Walmart.
For food, I had help last weekend with my parents & Friday night from my aunt & friend Kelly. Mom & I baked mini banana bread loaves for adult goodie bags {kids also received monkey stickers & bubbles}.
Kelly & I made ‘monkey tails’ aka pretzel rods dipped in milk chocolate & green sprinkles. Sue used my mom’s idea of ‘monkey caps’ – toothpick sized kabobs of tomato, basil & mozzarella which I drizzled with balsamic glaze minutes before guests arrived. Friday night, we also created a mix of kiddo puffs, melts & Cheerios for the littles.
I made my favorite banana pudding in cups for easy serving & enjoying. I picked up a tropical trail mix at Walmart. I sat out ‘monkey crunches’ {chips, carrots & tomatoes with ranch dip} too. And we had my {& now Zach’s beloved} Gigi’s cupcakes for dessert. I ordered mini cupcakes for us & two regular ones for Lucy & Zach.
So I expected Lucy to love her cupcake because she loves fruit & sweet pouches. I wasn’t sure about Zach. Y’all! They drove in before we even had time to sing or think of putting in the ‘1’ candle. Zach made a mess! It was awesome. Lucy took a little encouragement from me but she ended up liking it too.
After cleaning up Lucy & giving Zach a quick bath & outfit changes, it was time to bring out their gift from us {a coupe that their friend Reagan also enjoyed}.
Then we opened gifts from our sweet friends. Lucy & Zach received wiggly giggly balls, birthday books & boon snack/bowls. The books are our current favorites on rotation!
Two babies means cause for two celebrations! Up this weekend is the family birthday/baptism beach weekend party!
We were at the mall Saturday looking for a few things for Jason before his CA work trip. The babies & I passed by Stride Rite on our way to get me a CFA lemonade & I walked in when I saw the buy one get one 50% off sneaker sale sign. A lady measured Zach & Lucy saying L should be a 3 & Z a 2.5.
I met up with Jason at Belk {where he didn’t find polos for the deals he’d hoped} & we went back to Stride Rite.
We found a couple pairs for each we liked. And they were out of those. But they agreed to count the girl sandal sneakers as sneakers for L.
The sales lady brought out size 3 khaki shoes for Z {they didn’t have the blue/red sale ones we liked, but I think these will match more}. They don’t make cruiser shoes any smaller because ‘most size 2s aren’t walking’. They hadn’t met our strong, kick ass preemie! Luckily the size 3s aren’t that big & if his feet are anything like the rest of him, he’ll grow into/out of them quick. Y’all he looks so cute in shoes. Like a big boy. He didn’t try to take them off. Instead he cruised & crawled around the store & kept them on until it was bedtime.
They brought out white sneakers in 3W for Lucy as they didn’t have 3s. And they seemed to fit well. But I had us try regular 3s in sneaker sandals. And yep, big baby girl has ‘chubby’ topped feet. The sweet chub poked out of regular 3 sandals. So we found rediculously cute pink, orange & blue flowered shoes & Lucy stood in them! First time we’ve seen her stand. She wore them out of the store. And as seen in all three photos below, she played with & chewed on them all afternoon. Girl loves to mess with her toes!
We’ve gone 11 months almost the whole time in socks alone. But for my cruiser/almost walkers who will soon be playing outside more & more, yesterday was perfect time for their first shoes! I’m happy with them & 50% one & signing up for emails got us 20% off the total made the bottom line a figure J & I were both pleased about! Another milestone, checked off the list!