Holtz's First Birthday

Happy Birthday Holtz!  Holtz turned 1 on January 18th.  Most of this blog post will be about Holtz because he is doing so many new things so quickly...and I like to include his achievements so I can remember them (I love to look back).  I wish I would've started this blog when Grace was born.  It's amazing looking back at pictures of her- she was 18 months old! 

Now that Holtz is one, he is almost solely on cow milk (drunk from a sippy).  He still gets one bottle of mommy milk right before bed and will continue until I finish pumping (backing off gradually- down to two pumps a day) and then after my frozen supply is gone.  We had a hard time with the switch to whole milk because Holtz was not a fan.  We decided mixing it was the best way to introduce it so we started with 3/4 mommy milk, 1/4 cow milk and gradually increased the cow milk until whala- now he'll drink 100% cow milk! 

Here is video of Holtz looking through one of his books.  He loves books- looking through them and being read to.  We read a lot!  He especially likes books that are interactive (pop-ups, flaps, music, etc.).  It's really something because I'll be looking for Holtz and he'll be sitting behind my rocking chair by himself reading- ha ha.  I think he's going to be one smart cookie!

Evan really wanted Holtz to have a jello cake for his first birthday so that's what we did.  I made strawberry jello and covered it with Cool Whip.  Yum!  At his one year doctor's appt. he weighed in at 20 lbs. 15 oz.  He hasn't gained much since his 9 month appt. but considering he was teething at the time (didn't have much of an appetite- but now has 12 teeth) and was walking (burning more calories) the doctor wasn't worried.  His weight is in the 22nd percentile (meaning 88% of kids his age weigh more than him).  His length is another story.  Mr. Trouble is Mr. Tall!  He grew 2 1/2 inches in 3 months and is now 31 1/2 inches long.  This is in the 92nd percentile (only 8% of kids are taller than him).  I think we may have a hard time finding clothes for him...still very much long and lean!

 Holtz thought the Cool Whip was ok but wouldn't touch the strawberry jello- seems strange to me!

 Yes- I even made Grace her very own little jello cake!

 This is a ball pit we bought for Holtz from Debenhams in London.  Now, that was an expensive experience (since we had to call them 3 times to figure out where our package was).  He (and Grace) like it, so that's all that matters.  The next picture is another present (this one from Grace).  She was so proud of herself picking it out!

Oh my goodness!  My little Notre Dame fan!!  I'm getting his name embroidered on the side-  too cool!  Grace says she wants a Notre Dame hat as well for her birthday (I have the greatest kids!)  Other things Holtz is doing now is he can point his finger at things, can say thank you (gay goo), and he knows where his eyes and tongue are.

 Grace got a vanity for Christmas from Santa and she just loves making herself look fancy!  In the first picture she is curling her hair (pretend of course) and then using the flat iron to make her hair smooth and silky!  These days Grace is picking out her own outfits and is pretty good at it.  She's excellent at matching.  The only thing I need to tell her is how warm to dress. 

 And, Grace can now put her hair in a pony tail all by herself.  That's hard to do- she just amazes me!  Here she put it in a pony and then clipped it up- again...all by herself.  Beautiful!

And here is Holtz doing his own hair.  This video is amazing! Holtz now can follow simple instructions (which is very cool!). He's putting a hair brush in his bucket and then brushing his hair- by himself! Huge accomplishment! (Poor guy needs more hair- grin).

 Following are tons of pictures from Holtz's birthday party.  Hopefully you feel like you were here for his party after looking at them.  We did a train theme (to match his invites). 

 Of course I didn't make the streamers or Happy Birthday sign but I did make all of the other decorations.  I was quite proud of myself.

 I used electrical tape and made railroad tracks on the floor- so clever! 

 All of the kids that attended the party got conductor hats and red bandanas to wear for the party and take home. 

 Their gift bags included train whistles for the kids (which I strategically waited until the party was over to hand them out- geesh, I'm a smarty), and then train letters for everyone's first initial.  I thought it would be kind-of neat for every family to have their initials together.

 Here is Holtz in his little red rocking chair before his party.  He's sporting a train shirt- choo choo!

 

 He just discovered the balloons...

 Grace in her conductor gear...and the birthday boy!

 Yes, I made the cake myself!  All aboard!

 The spread-  train sugar cookies, train cake, blue punch, chocolate fountain fondue with rice crispy treats, cookies, crackers, etc. for dipping, and then finger foods for lunch.  I made most of the snacks myself too!

 Holtz getting ready to try his birthday cake.  Will he like it???

 Nope, he didn't like it one bit!

 Evan and our neighbor, Chris, cutting and serving the cake.

 It's present time...

 Poor Holtz was sick for his birthday and birthday party so he was a bit fussy- except when we opened presents!  He was very happy on Daddy's lap.

 The older kids had more fun with his ball popper than him!

 You have got to watch this video!  It is so cute.  Holtz has been walking awhile now and loves to walk with his push toy noise maker (which is out front).  He's still learning to walk with his pull behind toys- he wants to pick them up rather than keep them on the ground.  In this video, he's walking with Grace's hula hoop around him- holding it out front.  You don't have to look hard to see how proud he is of himself!

 Grandpa and Grandma got Grace two games for Christmas (Guess Who and Connect 4).  They say 6 and up but Grammie played with Grace lots after Holtz's party and now Grace is pretty good.  We play games a lot these days (try to play at least one game every night).  I don't know if it's because of Guess Who but Grace is now noticing how people are different.  The other day Grace looked at Evan and said out of nowhere, "Daddy, you're fat."  Yikes!  Really hurt Evan's feelings but he realizes she didn't say it to be mean, she was just making an observation.  Hard to be mad at such an observant little girl.  (by the way, Evan, I think you are one hot poppa).

Here's one more video of Holtz playing peek a boo behind our chair.  He does just great until he notices the plug and then loses interest.  Lastly, there are several more milestones Holtz has mastered.  He is almost running now (watch out world), he can play pat-a-cake and 'If you're happy and you know it clap your hands", he loves to bang two things together, can wave bye-bye, loves music, and is beginning to cooperate a little in getting dressed by sticking up his foot when it's time to put on a sock or helping me push his legs through his pants.  Today we took away his pacifier too (several months back we started to only give it to him during naps and bedtime) and so far a little crying but it is going better than expected.  One day down...pretty cool and ever changing.

That's all for now.  The next post won't be far behind b/c tomorrow we celebrate Evan's 42nd birthday!

Thanksgiving through New Years (and Holtz is walking!!)

It's official! Holtz is walking! He took his first steps on December 8th (only 10 1/2 months old). Since then he's been walking but mostly crawling until last weekend. Now, he prefers walking- watch out world!  He also likes anything that makes noise (the noisier the better) and anything with wheels (cars, trains, etc.)  He's very ticklish too- you should see him when we change his clothes!

Two adorable kids below- both sweaters made by Mimi (Evan's mom).  I took the photos of Grace and Holtz together and the picture of Holtz.  I'm so proud of myself when I get good...no great photos of the kids.  The picture of Grace is her school picture.  It's hard to believe how much times have changed.  I remember my school picture being a head shot in front of a blue background- right?

One of Grace's favorite things to do is dress up.  She got this blue dress from Unkle Mike and Aunt Angie (from Mexico).  Oh, and notice the backpack on Holtz?  Yes, she likes to dress him up too!

 Grace and I made sugar cookies- yum!

 Holtz loves crawling through his tunnel- what fun!  He is getting to be such a smart cookie too.  When I ask him, he already knows where his eyes, mouth and tongue are.  Really neat to watch him learn new things.  Baths are the thing Holtz loves best.  Evan generally does the baths and he really should wear a smock b/c he's always soaking wet when bathtime is over.  Such a riot!

 The first snowfall of the year.  Grace woke up and just had to go outside.  So yes, she is still in her pjs.  She put a dress over top and said she was ready to play! 

 Decorating the Christmas tree.  Yes, Grace even got on a ladder to put some ornaments up high!  It's Christmas and Grace is already talking about her birthday (April 16th- still a ways away).  She said the other day, "On my birthday, when I turn 5, I want to give out these eggs with confetti in them as party poopers."  Ha ha, she meant to say party favors but isn't that just priceless!  She also was playing with Holtz's sock monkey and said, "Do you know why they call this a sock monkey?  Because people like to put socks on them."  No kidding...and of couse she was putting some of Holtz's socks on the sock monkey while she was saying this.  Clever gal.

 Grace and Evan went on two 'hot dates' around Christmas to see the Nutcracker.  Yes, they saw it twice (two different productions- one much better than the other). 

 I took Grace to the roller skating rink here in town.  Her friend Megan goes frequently and they invited us to join.  What fun!  Grace got her skates last Christmas from her Great Grandmother and Grandad Beauchamp and although she's used them frequently in the house and several times outside, this was her first time at a rink.  Grandmother and Grandad would be proud!

 Grace before her Christmas play.  Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of her during the play.  For some reason, there was a tall girl with a HUGE bow on top of her head right in front of Grace so we didn't really see her.  We did order the dvd so we'll see if they were able to 'capture the moment.'

 Holtz is now eating solid foods.  His favorites are pasta and bread (carb loader).  He likes to eat some fruit and veggies too but no meat.  My little vegetarian- yikes!  He's drinking from a bottle in the morning and night still but the rest of the day he drinks from a sippy.  He's also figured out how to drop things from the high chair to see what happens- some would say cute...I say grrrrr.

 A different pasta dinner...it's just so funny!

 Holtz opening his very first present...ever!  It's from our most favorite neighbors Dana, Chris and Savannah.  We didn't even make him wait until Christmas!  Thanks guys-

 Thanksgiving this year was unexpected.  We were planning on travelling to Wabash to have Thanksgiving dinner with Evan's entire family and then to head to my Dad's to have Thanksgiving with my family.   Unfortunately the kids were sick and since there were two newborn babies in the family we decided to stay home.  Evan's folks came down the day after Thanskgiving to see us and then we all headed to my Dad's that weekend.  It was so nice to have Thanksgiving at my Dad's with both my family and Evan's parents.  I hope Grace will remember how special it was.  And, I don't know how, but I didn't get any photos from Thanksgiving. 
Christmas this year (and every year since we moved to Lexington) was at our house.  Bob and Sharon, my mom and my little brother, Mike, came to visit.  Here's an exciting game of Chutes and Ladders- one of Grace's favorites!

Grace got two wonderful pairs of clip on earrings!  Check her out...FANCY!

 My photos are a little out of order (sorry).  The next four photos were taken at The Honeywell Center in Wabash.  Since we weren't able to make it home for Thanksgiving, we did make a trip up the beginning of December.  We had a nice meal with the family at Bob and Sharon's house and then got to see Parker and Katie (in the first picture) at breakfast at The Honeywell.  They actually welcomed their baby boy earlier tonight-  Henry was born at 8:36pm and weighed 8.8 lbs! Best birthday present for Holtz- both born on the same day!

 OK, back to our house- this is Christmas morning.  Poppy took these photos (thanks Photo Bob).

 Uncle Mikey, the new airline pilot- woo hoo, with Holtz!  It's really wonderful b/c we get to see Mike every couple of weeks now.  Now that he's been hired by the airlines (ASA- Atlantic Southeast Airlines- Delta Connection- yes I'm a proud sister) he gets to fly anywhere on any airline for free.  Glad he comes here to visit- the kids love it!

 Grace has made several accomplishments since the last blog update.  Monkey Joe's is a place here in town with an entire room filled with inflatables.  Inflatable slides, inflatable bouncers, inflatable things to crawl in, under, on, etc).  Grace has never been a fan of Monkey Joe's because it's full of crazy kids and it is loud.  Every time she has cried and we have to kind-of force her to play.  Not this time, 3rd times a charm.  We went by ourselves and she did everything by herself...we didn't even have to nudge.  She even made a little friend there!  She also has learned to stick up for herself when somebody is mean to her- big change in my little introvert!  When she gets upset with me she always says, "I'm yelling because I'm angry with you."  Spoken like an adult- ha ha. 

 

 Holtz eyeing the candy counter...  Holtz still loves peek-a-boo and likes to clap to 'pat a cake pat a cake' and 'if you're happy and you know it clap your hands (really need to get it on camera).  He also has started saying thank you (dat doo).  He is now interacting with Ralph (laughs every time he sees him- hilarious) and tries to pet him.  Thankfully Ralph is great with kids.  Poor Ralph! 

 On December 7th, my friend's Katie and Craig VanTornhout had a baby girl (Chesney Rose).  Now, if you remember, they had a baby girl named Callie several weeks before Holtz was born (December 24th, 2009) who 5 weeks later passed away from pertussus (whooping cough).  Chesney was a surprise pregnancy and definitely a miracle baby.  Believe it or not, her due date was December 25th- one day after Callie was born.  Anyways, she is here and is perfect!  Evan and I went up to see Katie and meet Miss Chesney and I just couldn't put her down.  She is now 6 weeks old!

 I enrolled Grace in a pottery class and we've attended two classes so far.  The first class we made this snowman sculpture and the second class (below) Grace painted it.  Now it's being glazed and fired again and we will be able to bring it home next week. 

 This is Kate and Grace in their tent watching a movie New Year's Eve.  They both stayed up until the ball dropped!  Big girls!

Jen, Jeremy, Kate and Ryder came over New Year's morning for breakfast!

Today is Holtz's birthday so I want to wish my little man a very happy 1st birthday!  I have to brag a little bit before ending the post.  I made a goal for myself (never really thinking that I would achieve it) but am proud to say that I nursed Holtz for an entire year.  He's never been given any other supplement- all mommy milk. Now, let's hope the studies are right and that he'll have a bumped up IQ (grin).  I'll post birthday pictures after his party this weekend!  Don't forget if you want to enlarge any of the pictures, you just have to click on them.  Until next time...