I seriously considered not doing an “official” cake smash for Gerrit’s first birthday, because he got plenty messy during his birthday party. But in the end, I was convinced that I would get better photos with a cake smash session. Plus I figured Gerrit would enjoy destroying another cake!
My cake decorating skills fell through, so I just went with blue tinted frosting and sprinkles for the smash cake. It’s the same recipe as the cake for his party, so since it was semi-healthy, we did the cake smash at breakfast time. Hey, you only turn one once, right??
Someone is excited for that cake! You can see him eyeing it up off-camera, haha!
Haha! The cake had been in the fridge, so I think the coldness surprised him.
Hmm, this blue stuff is kind of tasty!
The aftermath. ^ He didn’t get quite as into it as I was hoping, but he still had a good time smashing another cake. And I enjoyed more cute photos of my birthday boy!
I started mentally preparing for Gerrit’s first birthday party when he was about 6 months old. I think I was just so thrilled that we had survived the first half of his first year that I figured the second half of the year would be a breeze. Or something like that, haha. One of the first books that Gerrit showed interest in was Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Loving “Brown Bear” a little before he turned 3 months old
It continued to be a favorite as he approached his first birthday, so it was an easy choice for a birthday party theme. Thank goodness for Pinterest! I found a lot of cute ideas on there to use. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to use them all, because 1) I got sick just a few days before the party, and 2) I’m a procrastinator who couldn’t pull it all together because of the stupid cold bug that I caught. I’m not bitter about it at all. 😛
I’m so glad that my sister Becki was able to come to take photos of the weekend’s events. She’s done beautiful photos of my other nephews and niece, but we hadn’t been able to take advantage of her talents since Gerrit had been born. I was excited to put her to work!
I loved how the backdrop for Gerrit’s cake smash came together! I had seen the idea on Pinterest using 3 cheap plastic tablecloths, but I figured it would be even better with 6 of them. My mom and Andrew’s mom put it all together, and I couldn’t have been happier with the result. It’s so bright, colorful, and festive! My Cricut made the banner come together quickly to go above Gerrit’s high chair.
The “My First Year” mantel was one of my favorite decorations for the party. I collected various 5×7 photo frames, painted them to go with the colors in the book, and got prints of Gerrit’s monthly photos. I also scoured Amazon for animals in the appropriate colors (blue horse was a tough one…). My sister found a few other animals that she sent to me so I had extras to add to the snack table:
My mother-in-law did such a nice job arranging all the fruits and veggies in a rainbow for the snack table! There were strawberries, raspberries, and red pepper strips (red bird), mandarin oranges (gold fish), pineapple slices and yellow pepper strips (yellow duck), green grapes (green frog), blueberries (blue horse), purple grapes (purple cat), and blackberries (black sheep). We also had mozzarella cheese (for white dog), Teddy Grahams (for brown bear, of course), and Goldfish crackers (for gold fish). All kid-friendly foods that I hoped would be just as yummy for the adults.
Photo by Vander Warf Photography
We also had a “healthy” birthday cake for Gerrit which made enough batter for a half dozen cupcakes for the kids at the party. I think everyone enjoyed the cake, and I was happy that Gerrit wasn’t getting loaded up on butter and sugar.
I originally looked into some activities for 1-year-olds to do at the party, but in the end I just pulled out some of Gerrit’s favorite books and toys and put them on the shelves of the gift table. I’m so glad I decided to do that: so much less for me to do, and all the kids (from 6 months to 6 years) enjoyed the toys and books. I was pleasantly surprised!
Gerrit would have been happy with one gift, haha! He was a little annoyed with me making him put down each new toy to open a new one. Luckily, the older kids were happy to help him unwrap his presents.
Photo by Vander Warf Photography
Gerrit loved all the kids, and he’s at the age where he really doesn’t care if anyone opens his gifts for him, so I was happy to let the other kids help him out. Plus it made the process go a little faster. One-year-olds do not have a long attention span! And then we got to move on to the cake smash:
Surprisingly, Gerrit did not get upset when everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to him! He was a little uncertain about it, but he didn’t start crying (yay!). I had been singing the song to him for a few weeks beforehand, hoping it would prep him a little. I have no idea if it worked or not, but I’m glad there were no tears.
I think Gerrit had a great time at his first birthday party! He enjoyed munching on different snacks (we found out he really likes Goldfish crackers), he loved watching and playing around the other kids, and I’m pretty sure the cake made him pretty happy!
A huge thank you to my sister for the beautiful photos — you rock! I’m also so thankful to our parents for helping us prepare and pull it all together when Andrew & I were feeling so under the weather. And we really appreciate the friends who came out and spoiled our little boy with fun presents (and presence!). It was such a fun afternoon, and we had a very happy little boy!
Age: 12 months on 27 October 2015 Weight: 23.04 lbs Height: 31-1/2 inches Teeth: 4 Clothing Size: 12-18 months & 18 months Diaper Size: size 3 Milestones: walking, signing “all done,” signing “milk,” following simple commands, recognizing animals and objects, helps with getting dressed and undressed (responds to “arms up,” pushes arms through sleeves, tries to take socks off), giving kisses (the big messy open mouth kind haha)
Sleeping: What a month, ha. It was pretty rough, not going to lie. Our best night was 3 night wakings, our worst was probably about 10 wakings (yeah…10), and our average was 4-5 wakings. I probably don’t have to tell you that I’ve been very tired. It’s been pretty frustrating not knowing what is waking Gerrit up and making it hard for him to settle back down to sleep. I’m sure part of it was the tail end of Leap #7 (Wonder Weeks), but he should have been done with that leap by the end of the first week in October. The worst sleep he got was when we went to the beach for a few days the week before his birthday. I don’t know if waking up in a strange room was freaking him out or what, but it was a rough few nights. I barely felt like I slept at all while we were there! Things got a little better once we got back home, but it was nothing spectacular.
Most days, Gerrit got 2 naps in. He had a couple of days where he skipped a nap, but most of the month he did well. Thankfully he was getting 2+ hours of sleep in naps each day for the most part, which made it slightly better that he was only averaging between 9-10 hours of sleep at night. I still feel like he was a little low on sleep hours, but there wasn’t much I could do to improve on that.
When it came to going to sleep, Gerrit perfected the intentional cry. As soon as I would lay him in his crib, he’d start his fake cry, which quickly moved into a real cry. It’s like he knows how to make me feel guilty! 🙂 I usually would let him whine and cry for a few minutes to get it out of his system, but I always ended up rocking and nursing him to sleep. I don’t even remember the last time he fell asleep on his own.
Eating: Eating is about the same. Gerrit continues to nurse well, and he does it frequently. Just in the daytime hours, he probably nurses about 6 times. Plus however many times he gets up at night. In terms of solids, he is still pretty hit-or-miss.
His favorite things to eat are Cheerios and fruit for breakfast and penne with spaghetti sauce and meatballs for dinner. He’s generally pretty good about eating any meat I offer him. Veggies are not a favorite lately, but he does pretty well with fruit (except for bananas).
While Andrew’s parents were here, we ate out a few times, and Gerrit did really well eating those nights! I think it was all the new things to see and hear that distracted him as he ate, haha. When we went out for sushi, Gerrit ate quite a bit of edamame, which surprised me. We didn’t give him any sushi yet, but he did well with the grilled cheese and oranges he got. 🙂
Once we went to Gerrit’s 12 month well baby appointment, I found out why he was nursing so much: he had a big growth spurt! From his 9 month appointment to his 12 month appointment he went from the 55th percentile for height to the 92nd percentile! Wow! He’s never been much higher than average for height, so I was pretty surprised. His weight gain has definitely slowed down, and I’m sure that’s because he became much more mobile in the last 3 months. His weight was at the 71st percentile in July, and it’s now only at the 53rd percentile.
Mommy Update: Tired. I’m really really tired. The lack of sleep definitely seems to bring on the depressive feelings. My motivation has been low, my general outlook is not that positive, and it’s just really tough not getting enough good rest. I still nap almost daily, and I’m sure it’s a necessity. I’m trying to get myself to be more energetic and plan some fun activities, but I feel like I constantly have other things that I need to get done.
The picture above is from our trip to the pumpkin patch! We don’t get out a lot, but it’s fun when we find something nearby to do as a family. I struggle with letting go of our nap schedule to get out and do things, but it’s always good to get out of the house. And I guess I just have to accept that there will be bad nap days.
My stress level was definitely higher with family coming into town (I love you all, but you know I like my space!) and planning Gerrit’s birthday party. I did get the house pretty well cleaned and organized for guests, but I came down with a cold just a few days before his party. That combined with terrible sleep at night had me feeling pretty miserable. I hate being sick, but having to be a mom on top of that? Ugh… Thankfully, our families were there to help out with running errands, cooking, and setting up for the party. I don’t know how we would have done it without them!
Best Moments: Watching Gerrit get the hang of walking! Right around his birthday, he really showed how confident he was getting with standing and walking on his own. We are so proud of him! And he’s pretty proud of himself too.
It was also wonderful to watch Gerrit with Andrew’s parents, who hadn’t seen him since February (when he was 3 months old). Needless to say, Gerrit had changed a lot in 8 months! He loved having so much attention and new people to entertain.
Of course, we had so much fun celebrating Gerrit’s first birthday! Although I didn’t get to do everything I wanted for his party (I’m still mad about being sick!), it came together well and was really cute. Gerrit loved the decorations for his Brown Bear themed party, and he had so much fun with the kids that came to celebrate with him. More photos and details to come!
Likes & Dislikes: I don’t think the things Gerrit likes have changed much from last month. He still likes being busy and moving all the time. He loves his walking toys, especially his lion one that makes silly sounds. I think he likes how fast he can go with the help of his walkers! He also loves climbing the stairs. When Andrew’s parents were here, he would be happy climbing the stairs over and over again with them! You’d think burning all that energy would help him sleep…
Gerrit still really enjoys his books too. Some new favorites include Little Blue Truck, Trains Go (and others in the series), any singing type books like this one, and lift-the-flap books like Dear Zoo, which he just got. He’s gotten so many new books, I don’t think he knows which one he wants to read lately haha!
Gerrit still LOVES Lamby. Not only does Lamby have to be in his crib for him to sleep, he now needs to bring Lamby around the house too. I really don’t mind, except for when I forget to grab Lamby when it’s nap time. If I lay him in his crib half-asleep and Lamby isn’t in reach to cuddle, he’s awake and upset! I’m very glad we bought a back-up lamb, because this toy gets dirty pretty quickly.
Gerrit also likes hiding/chasing games. I know it’s probably bad of me, but I end up playing along with him when he takes off crawling or walking after his bath when I’m trying to get his pajamas on him. I’m sure it gets him a little too riled up, but we have fun! I love hearing that little giggle when he knows I’m crawling after him. 🙂
Gerrit has always liked bath time, I think, but he really enjoys it lately. He has figured out how to squeeze his squirting toys, and he finds that to be pretty amusing. He also loves splashing (of course)!
As for dislikes… Gerrit still dislikes getting his diaper changed and getting dressed. I don’t even know that he truly dislikes it, or if he just likes making me chase after him to get a diaper or clothes on him! He also still dislikes me being in the kitchen prepping food. He starts whining and clinging to my legs even if I’m just sticking something in the microwave! When I get really frustrated, I stick him in his high chair with a little snack so I can get things done. Other than those things, he’s usually pretty content.
Memorable Events: The first thing that comes to mind is going to the pumpkin patch for the first time! The day I originally wanted to go, it was really rainy, and Andrew was tired (he’s on mids right now), so we decided to go the weekend after Andrew’s parents arrived. I’m glad we saved it for when they were here — it was a fun time!
Gerrit also got to play in real sand for the first time when we went to the beach with Andrew’s parents! Despite it being October, the weather was really nice. Not quite nice enough for me to go swimming, but we all enjoyed playing in the sand and getting our toes wet. Gerrit especially loved watching all the birds!
During our beach trip, we also went to the aquarium. Gerrit loved seeing all the fish! I was a little surprised by how much he enjoyed it actually. We even sat for a little presentation about sharks, and he did great! He was either listening to the woman describing things or watching the other kids participating the whole time.
Last but not least… Gerrit turned one! The celebration began with the birthday party the Saturday before he actually turned one. He woke up from his 2nd nap about 20 minutes before people started arriving… I couldn’t have planned that better! He seemed to really enjoy all the people, the snacks, and the presents. And he got his first taste of cake!
The next day we went to a nearby park for a proper photo session for his first birthday. I was impressed by the cute photos we got, since we kept it pretty short & sweet! My sister did an amazing job, as usual. Thank you, Becki!
Photo by Vander Warf PhotographyPhoto by Vander Warf Photography
The following day, we did Gerrit’s official cake smash session. Yes, this was the never ending birthday celebration! 🙂
Photo by Vander Warf Photography
And then we had to celebrate on Gerrit’s actual birthday, of course! We didn’t do another cake, so I gave him a treat: pancakes with real maple syrup! He had had pancakes before, but not syrup. I was disappointed that he wasn’t more impressed haha.
He also had more presents to open that afternoon. Andrew’s parents saved the ones they got for him for his actual birthday, and we saved ours for that day as well.
I admittedly went overboard with gifts… I didn’t realize how much I had gotten him until I wrapped them all! Fortunately, a lot of the gifts are for when he’s a bit older. Since his birthday is only 2 months before Christmas, I wanted gifts he could grow into next spring and summer.
All in all, I think Gerrit had a great first birthday! It’s too bad he won’t remember any of it. But I think the first birthday is as much a celebration for the parents as it is for the baby. I mean, we did it! We survived the first year!
Month 12 was a crazy blur of little sleep, fun events, and a big birthday celebration for Gerrit. I can’t believe my little baby is already a year old. He’s really turning into a little person, and I’m excited to see him continue to grow and change.
You’re so funny, Momma!I’m ONE!
Happy 12 months, Gerrit! You are a whole year old already! I’m so proud of all your accomplishments, your fun personality, and how far we’ve come. You are a wonderful blessing in my life, and I’m so glad I get to be your momma. I love you, Gerrit!
On An Even Kiel 