PARTY! PARTY! They cancelled my party.....

Sadly we had to cancel Keaton's 1st birthday party because we found out he has chicken pox not hand/foot/mouth disease like they originally thought.  Luckily it was just going to be a small party so we didn't have too many emails to send out. But it was a bummer.....so if anyone knows a little boy who wants a train party, we have lots of stuff...although not for long because we're giving it to all the kids we know!

It's also a major bummer because Keaton's cousins are in town and so far we haven't been able to see them.  Emerald has the vaccine but little Crystal doesn't and I don't think Becky wants to travel home on Wednesday with 2 infected kids...nor does anyone else on their flight!

We still got Keaton a little cake and let him dig in. At first he didn't understand that he needed to pick up the cake so he was just smashing his face into it, which made for great pics! 

The little guy seems to be doing much better and was a good sport through the whole thing. Hopefully next year's party will be better (and actually happen)!

Happy Birthday Keaton!

TJ and I spent some time last night reflecting on the day Keaton was born and this past year. So much has happened and he has brought so much joy to our life that we can't even begin to describe it in less than 1 million words!

Today at 2:47am he turned 1.  The entire family slept through his actual birthday :).  Unfortunately Keaton got a big rash for his birthday, Hand/Foot/Mouth Disease. It's my fault because I was bragging a few days ago about how he never gets sick. Hopefully some of his friends will show up for his party on Sat but if they don't we totally understand!

We had a pretty mellow day. We decided to open a few gifts this afternoon and I actually managed to get a real smile out of him.  Later on he was in pretty good mood so we broke down and gave his a birthday ding dong.  Very "UN-politically correct." in 2012. I'm starting to think most kids don't even get cake at age 1 anymore. 

Some birthday fun and presents! Keaton got a sleeping bag from Cousin Wyatt, some pretty cool cars and clothes from Nana and Grampa....and some money (his piggy bank is getting heavy)!  Keaton has been very lucky to have received so many things from others that it makes me and TJ's life so easy....we never have to buy him anything and he never needs anything!  That's probably why we keep deciding on very unnecessary and inappropriate gifts...we're taking Keaton to San Diego in March. We may try to do Sea World or the SD Zoo or just play in the pool and go to the beach.  Keaton is VERY lucky because he happens to have a great aunt who lives right by Disneyland so he'll definitely be there soon, it was hard for his parents to resist taking him there during this trip!

Manny was very excited with Keaton's new sleeping bag! Also kind of depressed because he knows it's not really for him. Keaton got a pillowy bed a few months ago from Uncle Brian and Manny has called it home for now...once Keaton is older he'll be able to get it back!

Let's hope this rash goes away so our super happy, curious, active little boy is back.  Here is how grandpa Morgan described Keaton turning one:

"Well it looks as though I was right. The only way Keaton will survive to first grade is to keep him in total Isolation. Keep a crash helmet on him at all times. Pad him up with shoulder pads wrap him up in 4-pillows duct tape everything around him and hope for the best. Put 911 on speed dial on your phone. He has no fear of anything. You have to call his grandpa Tarr to see if that comes from his side of the family. If so ask them how they dealt with it. At this rate he will have at least 2 broken legs- 2 broken arms- a few concussions and who knows what else. Love Dad"

One Minute to One Year.....

Today Keaton turned 1 years old. I am so glad I took monthly pictures of him to capture all his changes. My friend Carrie who happens to have the very same birthday as Keaton gave me the idea.  She also gave me the idea to do it with an object that doesn't change so you can see how they grow.  I choose his swing because when he was little he loved it. You can see now that he is 1 I can barely get him to stay in it!

Here is Keaton when he was one minute old and one year old!

Yay! I can finally Play!

 Now that Keaton is walking he can finally go places and play! One of the best things about being a parent is being able to share new experiences with your child and seeing their enjoyment.  Although they don't always enjoy what you think they will. Example of something that we thought would be fun but wasn't...wearing party hats:

Yesterday Keaton got to go to his second birthday party.  We kept the party hats off and he had a lot of fun. He got to jump on trampolines (and continued to try to jump like he was on one long after we left).  He was thrown into a foam pit over and over by his dad and loved it (even though I thought he was going to get seriously hurt). He was so active we couldn't get a good picture.....

Today we went down to a park by our house to play since it was so nice out.  Keaton was too young for the toys but was able to walk around which was fun for him. This was really the first time he's walked outside for any amount of time and he did so good I thought we should make him walk home but TJ was nice and let him ride in the stroller. Manny had a good time too!  West Seattle is full of parks so I'm sure before Spring is over we will know where all the good ones are.

Since it was so nice out Keaton got to drive his car around a bit too. He likes to drive standing up.  The sound is some how stuck on Spanish so while he may not be getting a lot of exercise I think he's learning a second language!

So even though walking has it's own set of challenges, this next phase is going to be a lot of fun!