Happy Birthday, Braden

Today is my baby's first birthday. We threw him a little party yesterday to celebrate.

He didn't really like his little cake. He stuck one hand in the frosting and was done with it. I think he might be a clean freak like his mother.

He spent most of his party standing at the back door trying to go out and play with his cousins. He looks like a little boy to me in that bottom picture. I don't know what happened to my baby!

Here are some things that Braden is doing right now:

• He went back and forth with crawling for a little bit, but now he is a full-on walker.



• He says "uh-oh", "no", "dad", "mom", "hi". And he waves while he says "hi" which sounds more like "i".



• He loves my in-laws new cat, and he squeals every time the cat somes around.



• He likes to eat Pop Tarts for breakfast. I send Pop Tarts with Rebecca and William every morning for breakfast when they go to my sister's house. A few weeks ago he let my sister know that he wanted one too. So he sits in his high chair and eats his own Pop Tart.



• Going along with that, he's not a fan of baby food. He wants to eat everything we are eating.



• He is a thumb sucker like his big sister. We pushed the binky, but through the night he would put himself back to sleep with his thumb. And now he wants nothing to do with binkies.



• He's ticklish, and he giggles when anyone tickles his belly.



• He is a little lover, and he'll still lay on me every once in a while and drink his bottle.



• He's still not quite sleeping through the night. He will about three nights a week, but the other four nights he wakes up at 4 am for a bottle.



• His hair has lightened up, and lately he reminds me of my nephew Ryder:
  
  

• He is such a joy in our family. I couldn't have asked for a better accident.

Happy birthday, Braden! I love you, Shoobie!