Look whose's one!

Wow, it's been a year! My cute boy is growing up. He has been so easy, happy, and perfect. It's a joy to be his mother. His personality is coming out more each day. He is playful and loves music and the outdoors. I'm sure come summer time he won't want to come inside.
Grandpa and Grandma Hickman let us have the party at their house, which was so nice. They have a pool, which Carter loves. We found out it is a conditional love....based on there not being lots of others or noise. He would not stay in the pool once everyone else started getting in and it became loud. Funny, he loves when I vacuum and runs behind me trying to be louder than it. He is spoiled to be in a quiet home, with a mother that caters to him.
My family made the trip from Canada and Boise to help us celebrate! So nice of them! We love having them come visit.
We started the birthday off with ballons, which are always a hit. Lucas was trying to help Carter get the ballons, and they had fun chasing them around.

The theme was fish since it was a swim party.

This cake was not as easy at it looks. Mostly cause it was hard to ice the sides that had been cut. Carter did not get his own cake, but he did get a fin to dive into.

A little ocean jello. Note to self, Swedish fish are better outside the jello. 

Here is my sweet niece, Jessica. She is almost 11 and I remember when she was this age. I loved going to visit her. 

Here are Jim and my dad trying to convince Carter to swim...it didn't work. 

"Get me out of here, mom!" While I try to keep putting him in so I can get some pictures. Holly and Caden are in the hot tub.

Kyla teaching Carter how to doggie paddle.

Jessica, Haley, and Parker swimming. At least everyone else was enjoying themselves. I think all the kids tried to drown Jim at one point. I am glad he survived.

Drying off my little fish, as I feed him some gold fish.

Aunt Suzanne wishing Carter a happy birthday!

Uncle Rob, Grandpa Hickman, and Stacey all came to join in the celebration.

Our good friends the Robbins also came. Carter kept giving Haley the evil eye and frowny face cause I told him that she was going to babysit him someday. His reaction was surprising. He really understands so much it's amazing!

Daddy and the birthday boy!

Happy family! Can't believe our baby is ONE!

He will try to blow on food now cause we do it when his food it hot. It is funny to watch him do it.

Digging in to his fin! Mostly frosting but he is not afraid. After a while it starts to bug him that his hands are dirty, so I had to wash them off.

Frosting face!

Marshmallow face!

He liked playing with his balloons. He loved the jello and the cake. 

So fun to have my family in town.  My sister's 3 kids LOVE Carter and are so good to him. It took him a little bit to warm up to my sister and parents...well he is a Grandpa's boy. He loves being my dad's little helper. Sits with him when he is working on the computer, played with him in the snow, threw his watch in the toilet. That was Grandpa's fault in two ways. I told everyone that the only rule was close the toilet lids....which Grandpa forgot to do and it happened to be when he had given Carter his watch and the men were in charge of the kids. So I don't feel bad.
Carter loves to play outside. He had a great time with Grandpa and Jacob and Lucas in the snow.

My sister Angela playing with Carter on the drive to the Party!

A big thanks to Jim's parents for hosting and my mom and sister for helping with everything. So nice to have extra hands to get things done. It was a great weekend. We are so blessed.

 Then on Monday Carter had his 1 year appointment. He is 23 pounds, 30 inches long, and healthy. SO grateful for that! 

Happy birthday baby boy! So glad you joined our family!

Sweet Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!

He was trying to get to me while I was taking the pictures. He loves seeing the pictures I take. Makes it harder to get pictures of him though. He loved his balloon. He gives me kisses, nice big juicy ones. I taught him to kiss himself in the mirror. He cracks himself up when he does it. He is cuddly and I love my little Valentine. I love my big Valentine too!

It is so funny to see his personality come out. He will duck down then pop up, playing peek a boo. He has tried to scare us by hiding around a corner then running out and shouting. He opens the garage door and loves to push buttons. He can understand so much of what we say now. Sometimes he chooses to listen, other times, not so much. He likes to squeeze inbetween things. Most of the time it is between our two bar stools. But today it was inbetween our two dressers. I didn't think he could fit there, but he does.

Since it has been so nice we have played outside a few times and he loves being outside. We finally had snow the other day, so I dressed him  up and took him out. He loved it. He needed help walking in it, but had no problem eating it.

He loves to look at books and be read to. He laughs all the time, which cracks me up. He likes to have a bowl and spoon when he eats now and tries to do it himself. He walks to his bedroom when I say it's time for night night. And gets excited when his bottle and blanket come.
He moves things all over the house. Grabs things from the pantry, or drawer and takes it to another part of the house. I will find things days later in unexpected places.

The last couple of days he has been so good about playing by himself. Usually he takes my finger and drags me where he wants me...or pulls me down to pick him up cause he likes me to carry him some days. So days where he entertains himself is a welcome relief. I taught him to get down from the couch himself, so I made him a seat and turn on Baby Signing Time when I need to get something done and he doesn't want to play on his own. He likes his seat and he can get down when he is ready. It works.
Nothing like company coming into town to motivate me to clean like crazy. When I vacuum Carter roams around trying to be louder than the vacuum. So funny.
He also lets you know when he doesn't want to do something. He cries when he doesn't get his way, but hopefully he is getting better. He sure is fun. He is a good eater and I have been getting more daring with what I feed him. He found a candy cane the other day in the pantry and I gave him a piece. On Valentine's day he kept pulling me to where the Valentine's cookies were that my neighbors brought, letting me know he wanted another taste. Apparently he likes treats like his mom.
I gave him a quick hair cut today....not a good hair cut but I got it a little shorter in the front and around his ears. Not even and he wasn't even sitting still when I attempted to snip a few places. But it will do until we see my sister.
Tried out a bow and honestly, he would make a cute girl too. haha. I will save this picture for black mail some day. Jim thinks I am a mean mom. haha  He was trying to take the bow off, but it looks like he is posing with it on. I love it!

Love this kid and can't believe it has almost been a year.