1st birthday!

1 YEAR OLD!!!!

The day has come and gone and I didn't even cry 1 time!! I got a little choked up from time to time leading up to it, but no tears were shed by this mommy! My little angel boy is a year old! I'm no longer the mom of a newborn or an infant. Now I have a toddler!

I took the day of his birthday off to spend as much time with him as possible. It's a tradition I plan to continue for as long as he'll let me! We got up and opened his presents from Mommy and Daddy. Had a little 'pre-breakfast' and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Then sent Daddy off to work and Brock and I headed to Chick Fil A. I try and go every year on my birthday for breakfast - love those chicken minis!! While we were there, the ladies at Chick Fil A found out it was his birthday and brought him out a balloon tied to a stuffed little cow. He was so excited! He ate a little bit of his food, and then we went to play in their play area - by the way - it's PERFECT for little ones! It's only for kids 3 and under so lots of ground level fun!

We then went to Old Navy in search of outfits for our one year pics that night. He had fun checking himself out in the mirror in the dressing room! We came home to have lunch, meet up with Daddy and take a nap! We ran a few errands in the afternoon and then it was off to take his one year pictures! He was having so much fun crawling around in the grass and got his first taste of cake! Those pictures should be coming soon!

Saturday was his big birthday party! The weather was absolutely perfect and the party went wonderfully! The food was great, the park was perfect for the kiddos! They all loved the pinata! Brock got so many fun toys and gifts! We are still trying to get them all unpacked and put together! Lots of fun summer outdoor activities for him to do!

Before I go on with pictures from the party, we had his 1 year check up yesterday. He was not a fan of the shots and was pretty tired and grumpy all night after that. Everything else checked out great and here's the rundown on this big bad 1 year old!
Height: 30 1/4" (75th percentile)
Weight: 24 lbs (85th percentile)
Head circumference: 93rd percentile!
He loves to walk with assistance - a toy, along the couch or having someone hold his hands
The doctor was mostly impressed with how many words he can say. So we don't forget, here are all the words he can say (he knows what almost every one means): Mama, Dada, Dog, Oscar, Apple, No, Hi, Bye bye, Thank you, Uh Oh, Elmo, Moo, Woah, Mia, Night Night
He has some other rambles we can't understand and he also can make noises - roars, makes 'car' sounds when driving his cars on the floor, says 'ohhhhhh' at balloons and other things that float
Some of his favorite things: cars, Sesame Street (everyone on there is Elmo), bath time, making faces, walking holding someones hands, going for a walk in his new car
Feeding - he totally feeds himself finger foods and is a great eater! He'll eat pretty much anything - he doesn't like bananas but loves green beans, sweet potatoes, chicken and ice cream!

He's been an absolutely perfect little man this past year! As sad as we are that it's going by so fast, he's made it so much fun that we are excited to see what he'll do next!! Walking is definitely in our near future!

Now for the fun stuff...here are just a few pictures from this weekend...there were so many great memories it was hard to pick just a few!

This is the morning of his birthday (note the sleepy eyes)

 Before the party, checkin' out all his presents!

 Digging into his cake!

 Proud Mommy and Daddy with our 'big' gift for the birthday boy!

 All the kiddos! No chance of getting them all to look at the same time, but they are cute regardless!

Tazmanian Devil

11 months, 3 weeks, 5 days (just not ready to count his age in years yet!)

We are rapidly approaching the big day!! My sweet angel boy will be a year old in 2 days!! I can't believe it! His party is on Saturday and I am SO excited! We have been going crazy getting everything ready and getting his gifts! I got a little emotional over the weekend at Toys R Us. Before the craziness begins - I want to thank my amazing husband. He has given in to my crazy and allowed me to be a little over the top with some things for the party. He has been nothing but supportive and helpful! He's even been sucked into slave labor a couple of times!

I'm just so unbelievably proud of my little man and to get to be his mommy! I can't believe it's been a year and at the same time, it feels like longer! It's like our lives didn't exist before him. We had a wonderful life before but it just doesn't seem possible since he wasn't there. He makes every morning better, every evening more exciting and every day happier.

We've had quite the week at the Barbosa household. Nick knocked it out of the park for my first 'official' Mother's Day. Brockie got me a sweet card and a Michael Kors clutch I'd had my eye on. Since he had completely outdone himself for my birthday, I didn't expect HIM to get me anything for Mother's Day, but of course that morning, Nick had a card and season tickets to Starlight Theater for me! I have never felt so special as I have these last few weeks! We enjoyed brunch with my mom and sister, a little down time in the afternoon, then dinner with Nick's entire family. Brock enjoyed all the food that's for sure!!

Brock has always been pretty 'wild' but it seems like it's kicked up a notch! He seems even more mobile and somehow louder all at the same time! Nick and I looked at each other at one point on Sunday and just laughed. He was totally entertaining  himself crawling all over the living room/dining room, yelling and talking along the way. At one point, he even looked up at the TV and was yelling at the people on it!

He really has started to like Sesame Street and has a few little Elmo books. He picked up saying Elmo really really quickly and would always repeat it. But on Sunday night, he picked up his Elmo book and said Elmo without any prompting!!! I was so proud of him. It's truly amazing to watch their little brains in action!

We are officially DONE with bottles. They are all put far far away and he didn't even notice! Such a rockstar! He's drinking whole milk with some meals and with snacks.

We are so close to walking it's not even funny! He wants you to walk around holding his hands constantly and gets a little upset when you stop!! He LOVES to laugh and talk. He's such a vocal little man! It won't be long before we're having full on conversations with him!

We had another event at our house this weekend. On Sunday, Nick got a crazy idea to change up our car situation. I was driving the '03 Highlander with almost 150k miles on it and he had his '08 Escape with low miles. However, I was not a fan of that car and didn't want to drive it myself. Nick had been wanting something bigger, and didn't like the idea of me driving around in the older, higher mileage car, but our original agreement was to wait until his car was paid off, then I would get a new car and he'd keep driving the Escape.

Over a month or so of randomly discussing our options, Nick had this impulsive idea that he wanted to see about selling my car and him buying an older, bigger car for himself. I would then take his car and get a new one. I had been eyeing the Ford Edge for awhile. Well, once he gets an idea in his head, he just goes after it full force and by Sunday night (the idea started Sunday morning), he found a Ford dealership that had an older Tahoe like he wanted and a 2011 Ford Edge like I wanted.

By Monday evening, we had test driven both cars, worked out most of the details for should we decide to move forward and the Edge was sitting in our driveway as I needed time to think and really get a feel for the car. Nick is very impulsive and I am not. When I really really want something, I'll know it. But that is a rare occasion. Normally it's looking at every possible place that sells whatever I'm wanting before I make a decision. And 'big' purchases completely send me into a panic. So you can imagine that I was a little maxed out on Monday. 2 'new' cars and you wanna do it like right now?!

Luckily, I listened to him and as of last night, I am the proud owner of a 2011 Ford Edge Limited. She's white and just gorgeous! The inside is a little like a spaceship. Touchscreen everything, dual AC/heat in the front, my phone like works through the car! All these features I may never fully understand, but seem great to have! The most exciting so far is the ability to change the color of the interior lights from a range of like 6 colors! We are currently on pink and it's pretty sweet! Anyway, without further ado...here she is!

My next blog will most likely be as the mother of a 1 year old!! Hopefully with a full run down of the party (if I make it out alive!!).

Breaking the seal

11 months, 3 weeks (yes, just one more week until my sweet boy is 1)

WE DID IT! Brock spent his first night away from us!! A few tears were shed by mommy as he left to go to Cynthia's for the night. But, after that, I have to say, I was totally fine. I knew he would be fine as he loves 'CC' AND he was familiar with his surroundings. As suspected, he was perfect and had so much fun! He even slept in for her - she finally had to wake him up at 8:30 because I couldn't wait to come get him the next day!

The weekend was AMAZING! My amazing husband planned a weekend full of surprises for my 30th birthday! It started Saturday afternoon with my Dad, Pat and Mia surprisingly showing up at our house! I had a suspicion, but no definite idea that they were coming! It was awesome and I wouldn't have wanted to celebrate my big day without them! The next surprise was everyone - my parents, Nick's parents and all our siblings coming to our house to be picked up in a LIMO! The limo took us down to a bar downtown where all of our friends were waiting for us! Tracy set up these amazing centerpieces and Judy got an amazing cake! It was the absolute most perfect birthday ever!!

While I knew Brock was fine with CC, subconsciously I knew he wasn't home so mommy had a little bit of a hard time sleeping Saturday night. By Sunday morning, I just wanted my boy!! So we got up to get him and came back home. Well, he found the remnants of some of my birthday presents and went to town! Looks like tissue paper is the hottest thing in toddler toys!

My parents came over for a few more hours before having to head back to Wichita. They wore Brock out so we all got a nice long nap in that afternoon! Not before letting them hear him say 'Mia' and him saying 'apple' for the first time! One of his toys says apple and he repeated it!

He also started walking with one of his push toys this weekend! He hasn't mastered turning it, but put him in a straight line and he's off! We had some storms and tornado sirens go off Sunday evening, so we spent much of the night in the basement. After months of watching Brock go up to the bottom step (which is a little taller than all the others) and look up like he's trying to figure out how to climb up it, he finally did it! He only made it up a couple of stairs, but he did it! It was exciting to watch him finally get it because we've seen the wheels turning! However, now we are on high alert anytime stairs are near!

His menu options keep growing by the day! I made spaghetti last night and he devoured it! Couldn't get enough of it! It was so cute! It almost drove Nick crazy with how messy it was, but it was adorable! We also introduced whole milk today! We mixed a small amount with his formula in his morning bottle. He was a little weirded out, but finally drank it down. He's starting to seem bored with bottles anyway so I think at a year, we should hopefully have no problems switching over to only sippy cups!

Swim lessons are officially over and last night we were able to get him under water without much coughing! He likes to do his 'fake cough' even when he didn't swallow any water...it's pretty funny! We have the whole summer to work on it and we definitely plan on that!

Cruisin' right along

11 months, 2 weeks

Although Brock has been crawling for quite awhile now, in the last couple of weeks his speed has picked up so much! He's finally really figured out how to get going really fast if he wants to. He loves for someone to chase him. He just takes off as fast as he can go, little butt wiggling back and forth and then stops if he doesn't hear you close enough behind him. He just laughs and smiles! It's the most fun game to him right now! He also LOVES to crawl over to our vents in the house and bang on them. Ours are all on the wall, not in the floor so they are tall and perfect height for his wrath.

He's really pulling up with such ease on anything and everything now. He has also started walking down coffee tables, couches, whatever he can. As long as he can hold on to something, he's cruisin'.

We have officially eliminated the last bottle of the night! It could not have been an easier transition. Seriously, he's the easiest baby ever!! I want to eliminate ALL bottles at his 1 year birthday. He'll still get milk in sippy cups and lots of snacks, but no more bottles (is the plan for now). He seems to be losing interest in them anyway.

I think we have left the stranger anxiety phase in the dust and he's back to his happy, friendly little self. He'll pretty much go to anyone and smiles at every person we see.

He's eating like a little horse! I make sure he gets veggies at least every night for dinner to try and make that a routine in our house. I know eventually it'll be a fight, but the longer we can put it off the better!

He is still saying and repeating so much. He has mastered 'bye bye' and he waves when he says it. He is still working on blowing kisses...he knows how to do it, its just a matter of GETTING him to do it.

This weekend will be our first night away from him! My 30th birthday is on Sunday and Nick has informed me we are doing 'something'. I don't know what or where or who will be there, just that SOMETHING is going on. So we have a sitter arranged for Brock (Cynthia) and he's just going to spend the night there. I was a little hesitant at first, but for his first time away from us, if he's going to be comfortable anywhere, it would be with her at her house since he's there every day.

I'll update next week how it goes!

Mini-vacation

11 months, 1 week

One of my best friends in the whole wide world, Rea, is having a baby in June. She lives in Arkansas and we don't get to see each other more than a couple of times a year. Well, being from Wichita, I was planning on attending the baby shower she had there. Unfortunately dates didn't match up, so we decided to drive down to Fayetteville for her 'couples' baby shower. Since both girls hosting the shower were pregnant, I offered up any help and we made plans to head down south!

Our original plan was to head to 'the lake' - Grove, OK where all my dad's sisters live and meet my Dad/Pat down there for the weekend. Then Nick and I would just drive over to Fayetteville for the shower. Well, my dad had some minor health issues come up last week and they decided they weren't going to be able to make the trip. Once we knew my dad was in the clear, we were still going to head down for the shower and just leave Saturday, instead of our original plan of Friday.

Well, my fabulous husband and the best daddy ever, found this awesome place in Eureka Springs, AR called Turpentine Creek (http://www.turpentinecreek.org/). They rescue wild cats (think tigers, lions, cougars, even bears) from crazy people who think they would make good pets. They have over 100 animals (sadly) that have been turned over from again, crazy people, who decide that cute little tiger cub isn't as cute when it becomes a full grown adult tiger that could eat your face off. So these wonderful people have set up a sanctuary for these animals - some are in small caged areas, but many have large caged grass areas with room to roam. So we decided we had to take Brock to see it! We re-planned our entire trip to leave Friday morning, head for the 'big cats', then stay near Fayetteville for the weekend.

Turpentine Creek, while it was cold/windy, did NOT disappoint and it's somewhere we will go again! You could get so close to these wonderful creatures! Tigers, Ligers, Lions, Bears, Cougars and other animals. While I usually hate seeing them in cages, all of these animals seemed very happy in their home!!

Friday night we went to dinner with Rea and her husband Budd. Brock absolutely loves both of them! They are going to be such amazing parents and I can't wait to meet their sweet princess in a couple of months!

Given that our trip was altered, this meant we still had time to make the hour drive over to visit my family. Randomly, it turned out a bunch of my cousins were there also, one with his baby that is just 3 months younger than Brock. It was WONDERFUL to see my family. Brock got to play with his cousin Tristan and while Brock is usually grabbing at people's faces, etc, Tristan was giving Brock a taste of his own medicine. However, Tristan was much more gentle than Brock usually is! LOL! Only a few little melt downs out of Brock due to being tired, but they seemed to love hanging out with each other!

The shower on Saturday was so fun and Brock was the life of the party. He let people hold him and play with him and finally passed out on Mommy at around 9:30. He certainly took advantage of the 'vacation schedule' with later bedtimes! Luckily, he also slept in a bit!

Overall the trip was just wonderful. Life down there is so much less complicated and slower than where we are and in the best way possible. You feel like you are able to clear your head and think of what really matters. It's just an absolutely gorgeous part of the country. There were so many times over the weekend that I just wished time could stop. Seeing Brock laugh at the 2 tiger brothers wrestling each other, taking him to my absolute favorite place as a child and introducing him to my family, seeing him watch the fish in Aunt Mollie/Uncle Delmar's pond, being with Rea and Budd and seeing how great they will be with baby Monroe.

It was a much needed break from everything for our whole family. I feel like it even helped Nick and I reconnect. Those 4 hour drives to and from really gave us time to just talk. Not about what was going on this week, or what chores need to be done, or how work went that day. Just talk, like we used to, about everything and nothing all at the same time.

Brock wasn't a fan of being in the carseat that long, but overall he was wonderful! People at the shower kept asking if he's 'always that good' and while we do see his 'naughty' side more than others, we were so proud and thankful to be able to say 'yeah, pretty much!'.

Rea and Budd taught him how to say 'bye bye' and wave! He had been doing the waving, but they really helped him put the 2 together! We are now saying 'mama', 'dada', 'dog', 'oscar' (sometimes and it's still a work in progress), 'uh oh', 'bye bye', 'no' and many other things he randomly repeats after us! He LOVES to clap! If you start cheering 'yeah', he'll start clapping! He also started mimicking our faces this weekend. He's just so much fun!!!

Pull up man

11 months!

Sorry I missed a post last week. Easter was crazy and so fun!! Brock got totally spoiled with lots of Easter baskets and toys. We debated on the Easter bunny situation for a bit, but when Nick mentioned our little shopping center by our house was having a free one, we figured we'd give it a shot. Who would have known, but Brock LOVED him...thought he was hilarious!!

 On Saturday, we colored eggs (he just wanted to smash them), then Sunday went to church and had a nice lunch at our house. And in true Brock form, he just wanted the food. The kid LOVES ham...it's maybe his new fave. He also looked like a total stud in his Easter best. Here are a few fun pics from Easter morning.

Believe it or not, this is his 'funny' face. He crinkles his nose and squints his eyes when he laughs now. LOVE!

 My handsome Easter man!

 Our happy little family after church!

Brock is starting now to pull up on just about EVERYTHING! He went from just doing it sometimes to quickly pulling up on anything and everything he can!

He has also started wanting to walk while we hold on to his hands. I'm thinking we aren't too far away! Right now, Mommy is in the party planning trenches getting ready for the big bash for his 1st birthday! They only turn one once and being the party planning addict that I am, I'm going a little overboard.

We are heading to Arkansas this weekend to see my friend Rea for her baby shower! She hasn't seen Brock  for a long time so she'll really get to see how fast they grow! We are hoping to take him to a 'big cat' - ie: Tiger, Lion, Cougar and even some bears - rescue on Friday afternoon. He just loves animals and you can (safely) get pretty close to see them!

Tonight, it's girls and baby night! Brock gets to see all his ladies (Madison and Marlee) and hopefully meet his newest buddy Charlie!

Our little fish

10 months, 2 weeks

We had our first swim lesson on Monday! I'm terrible about putting pictures up so forgive me, but I promise I'll get some up eventually! Anyway, he LOVED IT! There was one poor little girl that just screamed through the whole thing, but Brock was in Heaven! He laughed and chased after toys in the pool, he totally chilled when Daddy had him on his back, kept creeping on the older lady in the next lane doing her laps. He was just taking it all in! I can't wait for next Monday when I can get in with him!!

This Sunday is Easter and I'm so excited! We are having my mom and sister, Nick's parents and brothers (and Erin), and Nick's grandpa over for lunch at our house! We are going to make Easter cookies, cake and dye eggs tomorrow! I know he's probably too young to get into it, but hopefully he'll at least be entertained!

We have also bit the bullet and hired a cleaning lady. I was really struggling with the 'deep cleaning' in our tiny house (so embarrassing). But, working full time leaves little time with the munchkin and the time we do have, I certainly don't want to be cleaning. I have to say, it was some of the best money I have ever spent. She got that house cleaner than I ever could have and in probably half the time. It was such a huge weight off of my shoulders. I hate things being dirty so it was driving me crazy, but I just couldn't find the time/energy to do it myself.

Brock is now repeating words like crazy. He usually only does it a few times right after you say something, but so far, here's what he's got down: Hello, Woah, No No No, Oscar, Babe (yes, hilarious!), What...I think that's about it.

Meme and Poppy were in town last weekend and had a total blast playing with him. He was all smiles and a lot of fun! The mommy phase has slightly improved this week so he's letting other people hold him more!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope the Easter bunny brings you all lots of goodies!