Brody Turns One!!!

I cannot believe my baby is one, I want to go back and redo this past year before we move on.  I miss the baby stage so much but I also love the new little personality that Brody is developing.  Brody is a pretty calm little guy and he was super chill at his birthday party.  I think he was a little overwhelmed and didn't quite know what to think.  When we sang to him he just stood on the table and stared at everyone with a confused look on his face.  Luke and I had sung to him about twenty times that day and he would laugh and clap along with us, but this was a little different.  Brody also wasn't too interested in eating his cake.  He hadn't really eaten his dinner so I thought for sure he would dig in, but he chose to gently pick off a few little pieces and eat them.

When present time rolled around Luke was all over that part and very willing to help Brody.  We kept asking Luke to slow down and let Brody have a turn but Brody was in such a daze that Luke did most of the work.  Brody is a very blessed little boy and was given lots of wonderful toys and books from his family.  Our boys are so lucky to have supportive family that lives so close and is willing to help them celebrate!  I love my little Brody bug to pieces and can't imagine our lives without him!  I am sad this year is over but I can't wait for the next year as I get to watch Brody learn an grow!  Love you my sweet baby boy!   

Brody's Cookies and Milk Party

If there is one thing I love it's to plan a party.  I have known for a while now that I wanted to do a cookies and milk party for Brody's first birthday!  It was so much fun deciding on which cookies to bake and enjoy.  In the end we had chocolate chip, lemon sugar, s'mores, chocolate rolo, and chewy coconut oatmeal.  They all turned out delicious and were perfect with a glass of milk!  

The day of the party life was super crazy.  That weekend we had decided to try and move and buy a house in North Salt Lake...not the best weekend to decided that but oh well.  Even though I wasn't near ready for the party we had to run out to the model home and sign paper work for the new house.  Luckily, the boys took great naps on the drive!  I was very stressed, but amazed how well everything still came together.  The birthday cake was also a major stress because it wasn't coming out of the pan correctly.  At one point I was considering just running to the store and buying any cake they had available.  I'm so glad the cake finally turned out...it was perfect for the theme!

I know that Brody won't remember anything that we did that day or the party, but it was still fun!  Hopefully, he'll appreciate it someday!  

Brody's Cake Smash

When I did Luke's cake smash pictures he was all over the smashing and eating cake so I was excited to do Brody's and see how much fun he would have.  However, Brody wasn't that into the smashing and eating.  He kept wanting to go play with Luke.  My mom came over to help me and she kept breaking pieces off and giving them to Brody or putting his little hand in the frosting.  It helped, but the photo shoot only lasted a few minutes because Brody was bored and didn't care about eating.  I made sure to do the shoot during his lunch time so he would be extra hungry, but that didn't seem to motivate him to dig in and eat either.  This is my little Brody's personality to be careful and methodical about things.  He is such a blessing and I can't believe he is getting so big!  Love this little bug!

Easter Morning

Easter morning was pretty much a blur.  Luke got the entire family up pretty early and was ready for an egg hunt.  It was near impossible to get a good picture of Luke because he was running everywhere and in constant motion.  We had to keep hiding the eggs after Luke found them just so Brody would have some to find.  Brody wasn't fully awake yet and he was happy just to sit and bang the eggs together.   

After the egg hunt and digging through Easter baskets we had our traditional Easter breakfast of Eggs a la Golden Rod.  Everyone gobbled it up and was ready to eat candy!  It was a wonderful and relaxing Easter!  Luke gave his first talk in Primary today also and did an amazing job.  He spoke on the resurrection and had his entire talk memorized.  Such an amazing kid!!!  Love these boys!  Happy Easter!

Easter Eggs

When it was finally time to dye Easter eggs I told Luke to take his shirt but, but he didn't stop there.  I turned around and Luke was naked at the kitchen counter ready to dye eggs!  I finally talked him into at least putting underpants on...backwards as usual.  Luke took the egg coloring process very serious this year, and he was getting very bugged that I was letting Brody in on the fun.  

Brody thought this was the coolest thing we had done in a long time!  He wanted to touch and taste everything.  We only had one accident that was cleaned up quickly!  It was so fun to see how excited their little faces were when they saw the colorful eggs.  Luke was trying to set a new record for coloring eggs and only wanted the eggs to be in the dye for a few seconds.  It took a lot of convincing to get him to leave them in a little longer.  There were very few eggs left without cracks by the time we were done, but the boys had a blast and that's more important!      

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Our neighborhood does an egg hunt every year and each year it keeps getting bigger.  This year we had to move over to the park because we had outgrown the backyards.  This year Luke knew what the egg hunt was all about and could hardly wait.  When we got there the field was covered in eggs and candy and you think this is going to take the kids forever to find all these goodies.  Just the opposite...you say go and the hunt is over in no less than five minutes.  

I couldn't even get one pic of the boys because they were in constant motion and kids were running everywhere.  Brody didn't quite understand and was just happy finding the little pieces of candy that were scattered.  When we would show him an egg Luke would run over and snag it for Brody's basket.  He didn't understand that we wanted Brody to find them himself.  

Once the hunt was over the boys finally settled down and went through their baskets.  These were about the only pics I was able to get because after that Luke was off to play with his friends and Brody was scrounging on everybody's plates for food.  Being an awesome mom I finally just handed Brody a donut and then he was content.  After his breakfast he was happy just to sit and chew on his packaged candy.  

We love this Easter tradition and are so grateful we have fun neighbors to enjoy it with!

Twelve Months

Does his little smile get any cheesier than this?!?!  I love and hate this pic because this is totally our silly Brody but he looks so big in this picture.  Where has my baby gone?  On my babies' first birthdays I always look back at the last year and can't imagine where the time has gone.  I miss my little babies and want to start the year all over again.  Well, maybe with Brody I'll start at month three when he finally stopped crying!  That being said, I still love this stage and his little personality.  He is so much fun and I can't get enough of him.  Mr. Brody definitely has a temper on him and he knows what he wants.  He can also be quite the little charmer when he is in trouble.  If you get after Brody and tell him no he'll look at you with the sweetest little smile and bury his head on his shoulder.  It's as if he's reminding you that you're really not that mad and he can do what he wants!  I love to see how well him and Luke already play together and how much fun they have.  His favorite game to play is hide-and-go-seek with Luke.  Although, Luke finds us pretty easy because Brody just laughs the entire time we're hiding.  He is also an outside boy and had started pointing and saying outside.  Words cannot express my love for this little boy and I am so excited for the opportunity I have as his mother to continue to watch him learn and grow.  I love you Brody and you are the sweetest little baby around!

-Takes two naps a day

-Naps for 2 - 2 1/2 hours

-Sleeps 12 hours a night

-Loves his binky and can't be without it

-Says "outside"

-Loves big boy toys...whatever Luke is playing with

-Insists on feeding himself and doesn't like food cut up

-Can go up and down the stairs

-Walks and runs all over the place

-Is very cautious and nervous

-In size 4 diapers

-Wears 12-18 month clothes

-Weighs 21 pounds

-30 inches long

-Loves to cuddle