The Big ONE!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY BLAKE!!

Blakester/Blakey/Bubba/Big Bubba/Big B/B1,

I can hardly believe it is your first birthday! We have had such a fun year together, watching you grow, learn every little thing!

We are still seeing all sorts of firsts every month and it is so special to see you discovering the world on your own too!

Here are SEVERAL pictures from your first birthday party! We had a vintage circus themed birthday. You would never know it, but your dad gave me some serious heck for putting up a fake circus tent in the house. You wouldn't know it because that next morning after we had put it up and he brought you downstairs you were in awe of his fine craftsmanship and had THE BIGGEST smile on your face. He immediately turned to me and said every bit of fuss was worth seeing you happy :) That pretty much sums up everything we do for you little man...to make YOU happy! We had several of your closest family members, even Gigi and Daddy Dave from Virginia, and friends at your party. All of these people have been around LONG before you were even a twinkle little man :) The pictures will surely show all that went on that day :)

Granted this is a few days before your actual birthday, so mommy and daddy gave you your special 1 year old presents on your actual birthday :) You LOVED them! Here are a few pics of your sweet new ride! AND you got your first big boy toddler dishes :)

Mommy has known these ladies for a long long time!

You were NOT wanting to do cake...in fact you wanted a nap :)

but the second your neighbor Cailee stuck some frosting in your mouth the rest was history :)

Even Wendybird was trying to get a lick :) You love sharing with her!

What an evil cupcake face :)

Happy Birthday little man!

I wanted to document each month... as you can see after December I got lazy and did not buy a new calendar :) Its ok though...you're still pretty cute!

My favorite!

That right there...in the distance is the circus tent Daddy HATED building :)

To top off your birthday, I could tell you weren't feeling well after your nap before the party...and well it progressively got worse. We took you to the urgent care and turns out you had a double ear infection AND pink eye in both eyes :( Had to disinfect the entire house but most importantly take care of you. Here is your aunt Jessica holding you while we waited for your prescription.

You came in after school to see your new wheels :)

Daddy Dave & Gigi got you this awesome Radio Flyer wagon :) There is a tradition in Daddy Dave's family that all the boys get one...aren't you lucky!

Just to add a couple other things from the big month 12...

You had your very first trip to the zoo!! You LOVED seeing the cheetah walk across the cage and you LOVE the fish. You are definitely wanting to walk everywhere and its getting harder and harder to have you in the little stroller :)

Some little things... 

~You LOVE your "moo moo" (cow) and drag it around with you everywhere :) 

~You LOVE bananas...they are by far your food of choice, next of course is gold fish :) You are definitely giving mommy a hard time in the kitchen finding things you really like!
~You moved up to the big boy toddler room at daycare. It is so good to see you growing up but yet so sad that just a few short months ago you were so little in our arms :)
~You LOVE the outside...every minute you get you want to go out there. In your new toddler room you get time outside...you do a great job per your teachers but you like to eat the wood chips HA!
~You say dada, ight (light), baba, and are starting to say mama. But you know several words such as Brody...baby brother, kisses, you like to blow and give open mouth kisses HA!
~You are a whopping 25lbs! WHOA boy slow down!

Hopefully this next year will be full of so many more firsts. First off is your first surgery to get tubes put in your ears and your adenoids removed. We're hoping this will keep you well and ear infection free (you've had 10 since October!)

We love you so so much little man! Happy 1st Birthday!

XOXOXO
Mamma and Dada

Way Too Close to 1 Year! ~ Blake 11 Months

Blake/Blakey/Bubba/Big B/Big Bubba/Monster/Mr. Bull,


As you can see your nicknames are getting LONGER :) The Big Bubba comes from being a BIG BROTHER now!!! Can you believe it!? Your parents sure can't :) haha! We have been so used to calling you bubba and now we ask about "bubba" and we catch ourselves saying "big or little bubba" when referring to your or your brother :) That is also where Big B comes from...as opposed to Brody who is Little B. Monster is because you are into EVERYTHING and are walking now and needless to say it is hard to keep up after a monster! Bull because when you crawl you crawl with your head down like a bull would run in a rodeo. HA You can thank Grandma and Peepaw Hall for that one!

My oh My you are getting SO big!! Unfortunately we've been to the doctor a few more times than we'd like to and so I KNOW you weigh about 24lbs! You are NOT chunky son, you are just solid and ALL boy! We think its hilarious that you weigh nearly half of the weight of your 6 year old cousin! I have a feeling you are going to be a strong boy :) Speaking of the doctor, your ears apparently do NOT like to drain and well we've been faced with our 4th ear infection in 4 months :( Poor little man! We will be seeing the ENT here in a week or so to see what they think of all of this!

You were sicky here running a 103 temp :( Poor bubba!

You have been SO much fun to watch this last month as you get bigger and bigger. You CONSTANTLY want to eat your own food...forget feeding you anything! You just recently learned how to eat the squeeze apple sauce! You thought you were pretty cool :) You have quite the appetite....you LOVE chicken..not so much hot dogs anymore... LOVE steamed veggies, you can't get enough of them! You LOVE all kinds of fruit it seems and nilla waffers!

You are walking just about everywhere now. You can pretty much make it from the family room to the office (probably about 20 feet) without falling down! You are still what we like to call a "drunk" baby walker though :). I'm sure you'll have it down by your first birthday! Here are some fun videos of you walking...here, here and here. As videos come up, feel free to check them out on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/user/mitchell81409.

You have 6 teeth still, although I'm pretty sure those first year molars are on their way in because you are constantly holding your mouth and your ears...although it could be those dang ear infections too! Everyone can't get enough of your big blue eyes and just how much you are a mini Dustin/Daddy.

Your biggest life event was becoming a big brother this past month!! I'm pretty sure you had an incling about a baby coming as you would feel mommy's belly when I was pregnant, but when we ask you where your baby brother is, you immediately look to Brody. It is ADORABLE! Usually you get this shy smile on your face when we ask you and either your plotting for how to beat him up later or you already love your baby brother :) You like to take his pacifier and his hats and his blankets and if you see a bottle of his, you think its yours...even though HIS formula will make your tummy sick but you dont think about that! I can't wait to see the relationship you two develop over the months/years to come... I hope you love him and look out for him like any big brother would do :)

Who's under there?!

Heartbreaker...this outfit I found on Etsy for Valentine's day and HAD to have it :) WAY too cute! All the teachers at daycare LOVED it and couldn't get over how cute you were/are!

You had your first happy meal...and go figure they gave you a princess crown :) I'm sure you will kill us one day for taking this picture :)

Aunt Jessica brought you back your VERY own Mickey Mouse ears and doll from Disney World!! You LOVE them :)

Here is mini Dustin :)

Haven't figured out how to make myself move on this thing, but I love getting on and off of it and pushing it around.

Photo booth with mommy!

Mommy and Daddy love you SO SO much! Before you know it you will have a big age of 1!!

XOXO

Brody's Nursery - Bringing Vintage Baseball Back

I have been TRYING to keep this little nursery a secret until it was totally finished...which it is still YET to be completely done (I just have a few little touchups to finish), but I LOVE the way this turned out. Dustin kept complaining how he didn't have much say in Blake's nursery so he probably wouldn't have much of a say in Brody's either. WELL I wanted this to be geared more towards Dustin's love of baseball and mine too! Besides... after having 2 little ones so close together, the last thing I wanted was a really baby baby nursery simply for the fact of having to update it later.

Hope you enjoy! Most of the elements in this room were handmade or refinished with the help of some VERY dear friends! Thank you to Joe & Charlene Johnson for painting and installing the wainescoting...Jessica B for all your help with the crib, the dresser, designing the room etc...and Jessica's family friend for making the benchseat cushion! It added JUST the extra touch to the room :)

The room looks COMPLETELY different with the wainescoting. We ended up saving a few extra dollars by not placing the flat boards behind the vertical boards. 

This crib was given, yes GIVEN, to us by a generous familiy who heard that we were having "Irish twins" and thought we could use it more. It was originally an off-white color and was very girly, but with a good coat of gray paint, it fits in perfectly!! I just love the way it turned out! I found the crib bedding on Etsy by Sweet Dreams Bedding. Kelly had made a similar set previously and that is where I found my inspiration for the vintage baseball theme.

I found the name decal on Etsy as well by Bwordy. They originally had some other stuff around the name, but they were able to customize it to what I was looking for. I LOVE it against the blue wall!

The dresser was found at the Arc thrift store. It was a heinous shiny black paint. It also came with a mirror but I let them keep it :) I wanted something that looked like a locker of some sort so Jessica and I came up with the painted numbers on the drawers. It really adds that extra touch!

The baseball mobile was an idea I found online, but they were selling for $80!! I was able to make this from 2 mini bats at Sports Authority and the balls from Party City for MAYBE $15!! LOVE the way it turned out :)

The little diaper cover and hat were handmade by another shop on Esty, Mad Hatter Knits Co., who also made Blake's newborn sock monkey outfit as well!

These book cases I found from Ikea, they are the Expedit book case. I saw an idea to lay one down the long way and put the others on top vertically. It JUST so happened that they fit PERFECTLY around the window :) Lots of storage and also room for some untouchables to put towards the top! 

I learned that Hobby Lobby is DEFINITELY the place to find vintage baseball accessories!

Window seat cushion made by a dear friend! It just warmed up the room by adding an extra place to sit, or for Blake to pound on :)

Love the red chevron print throughout the room!

Here is a mostly complete final picture of the room! The only thing I have left is to hang up some paper lantern baseballs and red pom poms in place of a mobile. I found with Blake that he just rips the thing off the crib :) 

Hopefully Brody will like his room as much as his mommy does :) Dustin is constantly saying that Blake is going to be sad he didn't as "cool" of a room when he was a baby :) Trying to keep the siblings equal, we actually spent about the same dollar amounts between remodeling both nurseries, but with Brody's it helped immensely having been given the crib of course.