Swimming, Splash Park, and Sabino in May

Remember the hiking and swimming I mentioned being busy with here? Well, there is photographic evidence of these things, and I am finally sharing it with you all!

BB's first swim ever was in his Auntie's pool. He splashed and even let me glide him through the water away from my body while I chanted "Kick kick kick!"

Here we are, pre-swim

Entering the pool


Swimming!
He was a good little kicker.

For even more watery fun, J and I took BB to a splash park at a public park.

BB approached this giant archway right as it erupted water from it's entire perimeter and, shocked by the cold water, BB burst into tears. He was pretty done with the splash park after that.




Now, I'm generally what Jim Gaffigan refers to as "indoorsy". Actually, I like being outside quite a bit, I just don't have to do it in the great outdoors. And actually, I like outdoorsy things like camping and rock climbing, I just don't really like hiking. And in order to get somewhere to do outdoorsy activities, one usually has to hike. When I hear "hiking" I don't think "fun!", I think "sweat...dirt...what-on-earth-should-I-wear?" Lounging poolside or going to a park usually quenches my thirst for fresh air just fine, no hiking necessary. BUT one stir-crazy day I was desperate to get out of the house and share some life with BB and so I spontaneously packed us into the car and drove to Sabino Canyon, bought a year-long pass, and we went hiking. On a paved path. Which is really just walking. But then we off-roaded a little because I wanted to see some water and the on-road water was much farther than I was willing to hike. BB napped a little and Mommy got over her cabin fever and got some good exercise.

No Such Thing as a Free Toothbrush

Okay, so yes, BB had 2 teeth. In fact, now he even has a third tooth growing in on top that's about halfway in. So when we went in for BB's 1 year checkup and BB's pediatrician asked if I was brushing his teeth, I was embarrassed to tell him that no, I didn't know when I was supposed to, or what kind of toothbrush to use, and I kept meaning to look it up and then forgetting, and I'm sure I'm supposed to be reading books about how to care for this baby, but what with all the mothering and wifeing and working and lifeing, I do no such thing, and so here BB is, still a toothbrush virgin.

I was ashamed.

Dr. Bean said twice a day, and when I asked what kind of toothbrush to use, he bounded out of the room and returned with a little pack with a toothbrush (turns out you just give them the normal kind) and a cool dinosaur brush cover and some sample pediatric toothpaste. All it cost was my dignity.

First, we tried it this way.

Then we tried this. Initially, BB wasn't so sure about about his feelings towards the dignity-robbing toothbrush.

But then he realized, Hey! I can chew on this!

One (Hundred Posts) - Let's Celebrate!

Welcome to the One (Hundredth Post) Celebration!

I can't believe this post is my 100th post. One hundred published entries of my journey as a mama and BB's life milestones are posted here. As a reward for following along on all 100 blog posts (I mean, you've all read every post, right?... :) ), here are the details about BB's 1st Birthday Party!

Remember when I said I was going to turn this:

into the best first birthday party BB's ever had? Well, here's what J and I came up with.

invitations
We had settled on a Dr. Seuss theme for the party, and I had a vision for the invitation right off the bat. We took a trip to our local used bookstore to scour some Dr. Seuss tales for even more inspiration. Together huddling over a kiddie table at Bookman's J and I wrote a rhyme for the invite, and then we went to Michael's and found the exact paper and color combo I had in mind. I was thrilled (I may or may not have said that this was a sign of divine approval of our Dr. Seuss theme) and we actually got to put the invitations together that night.

On his birthday day Barking Baby turns ONE!
We will celebrate! It will be funner than fun!

So join the Whos, the Lorax, the Zelf on the shelf,
The Cat in the Hat, and of course Yourself!
Together for cupcakes, a song, and some play
To celebrate BB's first Day of all Days!

(Dr. Seuss actually has a Happy Birthday To You book, which refers to birthdays as the Day of all Days, so we definitely had to include that.)

food

Green eggs and ham, red fish blue fish crackers, Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes, and BB's very own Cat in the Hat's Hat cake

decor


Homemade Happy Birthday and Welcome To Seussville banners, Cat in the Hat striped tablecloths, bowls of red fish blue fish crackers, green plastic eggs, and Dr. Seuss books for all to enjoy

The gift table with BB's going-home-from-the-hospital outfit, pregnancy journal, baby book, along with Dr. Seuss' Happy Birthday To You book, and a display of a photo of BB with the Lorax at a book reading

outfits

I made BB a Thing 1 shirt to celebrate him being 1 year old! And since J's birthday was just two days before, he got a Thing 31 shirt as a surprise birthday present.


activities

Fall Into the Balls - BB had his own ballpit to play in!

The Part with Art - fingerpainting!
Splishy with the Fishies - swimming!

cake

BB's first birthday cake was three layers of homemade sweetness - one layer of chocolate cake (using a recipe from Deceptively Delicious with avocado) sandwiched by two layers of banana cake. We used store-bought frosting to ice the cake (we already had it on hand for the cupcakes).

BB started by tasting the frosting - he slowly kept scooping more frosting on his finger and licking it methodically. Finally, Mama helped him dig out a chunk of cake to taste.



Here we are the night before the party, baking and frosting away!

guests
BB had many birthday guests - here are just a few!

BB's Aunties and Uncle, Great-Grandma, cousins, GG, and Great-Uncle were just some of our fun party guests! BB even had his very own party crasher - that's right, our party was that good.

gifts

BB's gift table was pouring over with fun!

This slide was a birthday gift from GG - BB daily sees the slide through the sliding glass door and throws himself at it. He LOVES his slide.
BB's other favorite gifts include a drum and instrument set and a toy cell phone.


Well, those are all the party details!

Thanks for journeying into Seussville with us to celebrate BB's First Birthday!

Here's to another great year and 100 more blog posts!