Milo's Birthday

We celebrated Milo's birthday by having a party the day before at our house. It was a "Winter One-Derland" theme and I had fun going all out for it! Unfortunately, Milo woke up sick with a really bad cold that morning so we had to tell all of our guests that the party would have to be short so as not to wear him out and get everyone else sick.

A neighbor of ours made this adorable blue cake with snowflake sprinkles on it. It looked so yummy I wanted to eat it myself!

All of the food went along with the little theme, including the water pitcher, which was a melted snowman :)

I cut out about 100 snowflakes to put all over the house to make it feel like a winter wonderland since we didn't have any snow on the ground outside.

We were so happy that everyone decided to come and risk getting sick so that we could still celebrate the little man's birthday! We have such wonderful family and friends.

Despite being sick, Milo was very excited about his presents and opening them!

As you can tell by most of the pictures, Aunt Mckenzie and Uncle David's jeep present was a definite winner. Mostly because it was already out and ready to play with and, of course, it's a jeep! But he loves all of his gifts that he was given and I know that all of them will get their use out of them.

Then came the cake smash that I was so excited for! I just knew that Milo was going to dig his hands into that cake and eat as much as he could before I took it away. But, to my surprise, we all sang happy birthday to him, he put his hands in the cake, and then refused to eat it! We tried everything to get him to take just a little taste, but he would not. Instead, he pointed at his bowl of soup and wanted to eat that! So we ended getting to try his cake after all :) and it was as delicious as it looked.

Here's the little monkey on his actual day, sitting in his new birthday chair next to his All About Me poster and sucking on his tylenol syringe because he was still pretty sick :( but at least he looked chipper in the picture!

I debated all morning whether I should go through with my plan to take him to the aquarium since he was still sick, and I am so glad that we decided to go! He was in HEAVEN. There was hardly anyone at the aquarium so I was able to let him walk around at his little heart's content. I think that it made his whole day even though he was feeling crumby.

We were lucky enough to be joined by London and Megan :)

I'm so glad that he ended up being to able to have a fun first birthday despite his illness :) I can't wait to celebrate all the many more to come!

11 months old!

Only one month away from this kid becoming one year old! I can hardly believe it! I wish that I could just stop time right now, I want him to stay a baby forever. But, alas, there is not much I can do about it.

This past month has been a huge milestone for Milo. He took his first steps on Oct. 17 and has not been able to stop walking since! One night we were hanging out in our living room and Milo walked from the ottoman to the couch. Then he did it again. And again. And then he walked from the couch to the stairs! And it was like something clicked ever since and he has been on the move! Now he will just walk around the house, holding on to something (like a hammer or some tupperware or a remote), and just talk to himself, happy as a clam. It's very easy for me to see that he loves this new form of independence because he will just walk all day long.

Since he has learned how to walk, it has opened a whole new door of exploring. Now Milo really likes to get into my kitchen and bathroom cabinets.

And he runs to the refrigerator door every time I open it so that he can look at all the food inside. The whole walking thing has definitely made it so much easier for him to explore everything in the world around him!

Milo is back on schedule of sleeping through the night again! We had to switch up his routine and start putting him to bed later so that we wouldn't be waking up at the crack of dawn every morning. Then I remembered that day light savings was coming this month... and we were back waking up at the crack of dawn again :) Milo handled it like a champ, though, and was back on schedule within a couple of days.

We are so dang lucky to have this Nana of ours who is constantly helping us take care of our little guy. She is always there to watch him when we need a babysitter, even on top of the days where she watches him while I teach preschool. She truly is amazing and one of Milo's favorite people.

Oh the many adventures of Milo and Lu Lu. I love being able to watch Lu Lu a couple days a week because it gives Milo a chance to have a little buddy. I also get to have the two cutest shopping partners in town :)

We took Milo on his first camping trip this month. We looked everywhere to find a camping spot that was still open for the season. We happened upon only one spot and it was in American Fork Canyon. So we loaded the car up and headed out for the night. Milo loved walking around outside and checking everything out while Tyler set up the tent and our sleeping bags and all of our gear. The night was going very well and Milo even fell asleep in his little tent. Two hours passed, Ty and I were able to eat dinner and enjoy the fire, but then Milo woke up. We tried everything to get that kid back to sleep but he refused to settle down. So, around 11:30 p.m., we were headed back down the mountain and drove the hour and a half back home :)

This was me and Milo waiting in the car while Ty packed everything up again. Looks like we will have to try again next year!

Milo has been clapping for a little bit now, but now he likes to add on this little thing of raising both arms in the air. It is darn cute!

Just reading his book like a big boy.

Halloween festivities! He was the cutest little Frankenstein ever and even wore his Frank hat! Halloween was spent passing out candy to all the neighborhood kids, eating dinner with the Sorensons, and just playing around in his costume.

Milo has been terrified of the vacuum since the very first time he laid eyes on it. He would crawl in to the corner, crying with fear. We have slowly progressed from this, where now he will cling to my legs and walk around the entire house with me as I vacuum. It adds on an extra half hour, but at least he is getting more comfortable with it!

He has really been into sniffing his nose and making this face. It cracks me up every time!

The weather is starting to get a little more chilly so we have busted out the winter hats and fuzzy blankets! He loves to cuddle up with his soft blankets during his walks.

When I heard news of a storm coming I knew that I needed to make one more trip outside to the zoo and enjoy being out in the fall air. I have not wanted this fall to end! But I am so glad we did this random little trip because I got to hear Milo roar at every animal at the zoo and see how happy he was on the carousel.

Milo also got his first Kids Meal Jamba Juice. So. Dang. Cute.

Since Milo learned how to walk towards the beginning of the month, he has almost perfected it and is starting to run! This was my view as I was trying to get him back in the bathroom to take a bath! Our kid is going to be a runner!

I swear he just can't get any cuter!

Just look at those perfect fall leaves. Seriously, Utah is gorgeous this time of year!

Just looking at this picture shows how big my boy is getting. Watching him grow has been so much fun for us and we love him more everyday!

Fall

This has been the most amazing fall and I do not want it to end! The colors of the leaves and all the Halloween festivities are my absolute favorite. It has been even better sharing all of these experiences with my little buddy who gets to experience it all for the first time.

We took him to the pumpkin patch where he got to ride in the wheelbarrow like a big kid

We went on an amazing family hike up Millcreek Canyon. I could not get enough of all the beautiful leaves and Milo loved riding in the backpack with his dad.

This picture does not even give the colors justice, it was so gorgeous!

One of my favorite Halloween activities is going down to Gardner Village, eating a soup lunch, and then going around to find all the witches. As you can tell, Milo was socializing with all the witches :)

I love Gardner Village so much that we went twice, a second time when Owen and Elle came to visit us. Gardner Village has a new area that is just for kids where they can go through a corn maze, bounce in a bounce house, and see the animals at the petting zoo. Milo wasn't too sure about sitting in a huge amount of corn...

I wish that I was a better writer to describe how truly glorious this fall has been. And now the weather forecast is saying that we will get snow this weekend. I am dreading it. I wish these gorgeous colors and the endless supply of anything pumpkin flavored would last forever.