BRIDGETTE JOY: 12 months | It's My Party and I Can Cry If I Want To

Holy Cow! I have a one year old. How did that even happen?? Time needs to seriously slooow down. Shep turned one on Oct. 24, and we just had to have a celebration! In the morning when Shep woke up we put balloons in his crib, which he loved! We then had a lunch date with daddy and Shep got to pick out a stuffed puppy dog at a local candy shop (the one he happened to pick was named Travis. haha. What are the odds?). And then we had a, yep, you guessed it, dog themed party with family and friends! Though Shep didn't particularly like wearing his party hat (which resulted in a lot of crying birthday pics, haha!), he did have a ton of fun eating cake, opening presents, playing with friends and family and loved all of the extra attention! Thanks everyone for coming and celebrating Shepard's birthday! We love our baby boy to a million, kajillion pieces! He truly is our bundle of joy. :)

RECENT FAVES: (1) Shep has turned into quite the little helper. He loves to try and do anything I do. He likes to help me brush his hair by grabbing the brush and brushing his hair the best he can. He likes to try and put his shoes on. He likes to try and sweep the floor even though the broom is twice his size. He likes to pick up his toys and put them away. He likes to feed himself (which turns into a huge mess usually, haha.) The other day a spaghetti noodle fell on the floor and Shep picked it up and threw it in the garbage! I guess I've trained the kid well. Haha. JK. He totally learned it on his own. I'm a proud and happy mama to have such a good helper! (2) Shep loves books. He loves to snuggle up on the rocking chair and read books. He also loves to sit by himself and flip through the pages babbling to himself. He totally thinks he can read, it's adorable. (3) Shep totally has "moves like Mick Jagger". When music is on you better believe Shep is getting down and shaking his tush and waving his arms in the air. It's seriously so cute. (4) New words shep can say: bubble, balloon, touchdown, bye-bye, car. Shep will raise both of his hands over his head and say "touchdown!" It kills me every time he does it. Whenever Shep sees people getting ready to leave he'll start waving his hand and say, "bye-bye". Shep is into cars now. Whenever we go outside and see a car he'll point and say, "Cawr. Cawr." He also loves to play with little toy cars and says, "voom. voooom." It's so cute. I love hearing Shep say his little words. (5) Shep loves animals and so I've been teaching him how to say and do things animals do. When I say, "do frog," he'll get down and start bouncing around on his hands and knees while I say, "Ribbit, Ribbit." And then when I say, "do gorilla," Shep will pound his chest with his hands and go "ahhhh." It's so fun! (Unrelated to animals) When we say, "do bubbles," Shep can blow spit bubbles on command. I have no idea how he learned to do it so well, but it's pretty impressive. haha. (6) Shep is walking!!! He is quite the little cruiser. It's hard to keep up with him sometimes! He is now learning to avoid getting his diaper changed by running away from me when he sees me pull out a diaper. Haha. He's such a little stinker pot! He thinks it's pretty funny though and just runs away giggling. (7) Shep totally gets jealous when he sees me and Trav hugging or kissing. Shep will look at us hugging and then start whining, walk up to me, make me hold him and then pushes Trav away. It is so funny. He's a total mama's boy and apparently he is the only one I am allowed to give kisses to. (8) Speaking of kisses, Shep gives the cutest kisses ever! It use to be just him putting his lips on my face, but now Shep makes the little smacking noise when he gives me a kiss. It is my absolute favorite! He gives me kisses all the time. When he wakes up, he'll give me a kiss. When I pick him up, he'll give me a kiss. When I'm just sitting there he'll come up to me and give me a kiss on the cheek. It's the best. I love his little kisses. (9) Shep is such a little jokester. He loves doing silly things to make people laugh. He loves to entertain! It's so cute. He thinks he's so funny and will laugh at himself after doing something silly and then look at you to make sure you are laughing too! (10) I am incredibly blessed to have such a fun, happy and loving one year old boy! :)