Week 52

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TO HAYDEN!

1 Year Stats:
Weight - 23.2 lbs (50th percentile)
Height - 31.75" (95th percentile)
Head Circ. - 19" (75th percentile)

So he's down to "normal" for weight. All that crawling around and cruising the house with his lion walker has burned off all his fat! But he's still a tall, tall boy!

The pediatrician was impressed by his overall health and development. She said I can start re-introducing dairy back in my diet, slowly starting with yogurt every 3 days, and see if Hayden has outgrown his dairy allergy. Fingers crossed!! The formula we have to give Hayden that is for dairy-intolerant babies is very expensive and Hayden doesn't like the taste of it, so we usually do a 3:2 mix of pumped breast milk and formula. He only nurses in the morning now, so I'm pumping 2-3 times a day for his bottles/cups. Until we start introducing dairy directly to Hayden and he can have whole milk himself (hopefully around 15-18 months), I plan on continuing to pump to supplement the formula.

On Thursday last week we had our group PEPS birthday celebration for all the babies at the Seattle Children's Museum (free party for PEPS Plus Groups!). It was kind of nutty in the party room with 10 babies all trying to eat lunch, open gifts (we drew names) and have cupcakes, but then we all went out and played in the museum. Hayden loved it. Phil even took the day off work so he could join us in the fun. And I am so glad he did because it was great to have an extra set of hands and eyes to help out with all the activity.




Hayden's BIG birthday celebration was on Sunday May 18th. We really lucked out on the weather since Friday and Saturday had temps in the 90s and Monday it rained. Sunday was a perfect mid-70s day. We rented a "Block Party Wagon" from our neighborhood association that comes with folding tables, chairs canopy tent and umbrella shade. We also borrowed 2 other canopy tents from friends and set out a big party on the large lawn in front of our house. Including us, there were 27 people. ALL of Hayden's Grandmas and Grandpas came, most of his aunts and uncles, all his cousins, and even a set of great-grandparents. It was so wonderful to have such a nice celebration for Hayden's First Birthday. (And thankfully, it wasn't The Jerry Springer Show.)




Hayden was a little overwhelmed by all the festivities and people. He was very clingy to me and didn't like to be passed around much to people. We brought out his lion walker, which he loves, so that he could get around on his own and that made him happy.



He also really liked the huge mylar elmo balloon that sang Happy Birthday when you tap the balloon. (Obnoxious after about 1.5 times.) On the center of the gift table I put a bouquet of flowers mixed with a dozen photos of Hayden on sticks. Each stick had a photo on each side and represented a month of his life.



Hayden didn't really know what to make of the carrot cake cupcakes I made for him. He didn't seem to like the frosting on his fingers so that was preventing him from digging in.



He got tons of awesome presents including a portable DVD player for our trip to Michigan in July, a Ride-In Fire Engine car, lots of cute clothes, great books and toys, and a basketball hoop from Mommy & Daddy.



Just as we were opening the last gift, the sprinkler system on the lawn started going off. It was a mad scramble to get all the presents and food from getting soaked and everyone joked that it was my plan to get everyone to help clean up and leave in a hurry. Hey, the invitation did say 2 - 4pm and it was 4:30!! It was kind of infuriating at the moment, but I already look back on it with a smile. I'm sure it will be a part of Hayden's First Birthday lore forever. And my nephews Jude and Ethan thought it was all part of the fun! Oops, did I forget to put "bring a swimsuit" on the invitation?



You can view more birthday photos here. I wish I would have been able to get more photos. There isn't a single one of me, Phil and Hayden together. We also didn't get the "Happy Birthday" singing and cake on video since there was a mix-up with the record button on our camera. :( Luckily, we celebrated again on Hayden's ACTUAL birthday on May 20th, and made up for it.


Sorry this post was so late. I can't believe how busy I've been the past couple weeks. I really shouldn't have agreed to this freelance project during Hayden's First Birthday week festivities. Oh well. Live and learn.