It's My Party

I'll get straight to the good stuff. On this, week 51, in the life of one Master Jackson Wayne Bennett (see below), a great celebration was held in honor of his 1st birthday.


It was a great party, a great afternoon, and as Granddad put it "a perfect day". The celebration started at 11:00am. The theme was dinosaurs and the party was held at Blackbutt Reserve (the place with the kangaroos and koalas). There were 18 adults and 4 kiddos in attendance. The guest list included:
Mommy, Daddy and Jackson
Big Brother Jonathan and his girlfriend Chloe
Granddad and Marie
Auntie Allison and Cousin Callum
Jon, Bianca and Julian
Nino (David's drummer friend) and his wife Kellie and their daughter Sienna (age 4) and son Reid (age 6 months)
Kris (David's guitar friend)
Mel (Jackson's babysitter) and her boyfriend Nathan
Jamie and Steph (another one of Jackson's babysitters)
Andrew (my colleague and friend from the University)

We socialized and played and grilled out sausages and had cake and opened presents. Lots of pictures were taken. I did not upload them all to this blog, but you can see my complete collection by clicking HERE. Auntie Allison was the family paparazzi so once I get her pictures I'll post some more.

I'll touch on a few of the highlights.
First off, I made Jackson's cake. I couldn't have asked for it to turn out better.

I'm glad I took pictures of it before, though, because after sitting outside for 2 hours under a food protector it started to smudge and by the time we got around to cake time, the parsley trees had wilted and "Happy 1st Birthday Jackson!" read "Happy 1st Birthday Jickjon!". Still... it was a big hit and Jackson seems to enjoy his first taste of real sugar (and lots of it).

He did get a sugar rush and started acting all crazy. Adding to the craziness was the fact that his normal afternoon nap was not happening and he was TIRED. He never complained once though. He was such a good natured little birthday boy!

Next highlight of the day... remember the guest list... 4 year old Sienna? Well, Jackson LOVES her. I am talking about Love with a capital L. He flirted with her...smiled...and wouldn't stop hugging her!

But though he might love her, he isn't too sure about kisses from girls (who aren't his mommy, of course).



We had a really great time celebrating Jackson's first year of life. Of course, I wish my family could have been there (but we'll celebrate again in June). They would have LOVED it.

By mid-afternoon, we were all exhausted and everyone headed home. Jackson was out before we left the parking lot. He slept through his diaper change when we got home and for another two hours after that. It's hard work turning 1!




In other news this week, we pretty much did the normal thing. I started teaching again so time is once again cut short in the evenings. I am enjoying my students this term though!

We went to swimming lessons. This time daddy came with us and took some pictures:


Going to bed is getting a lot better. "Crying It Out" is pretty much non-existent. The most he cries is 15 minutes and most nights it's less than 3. AND he is still sleeping through the night. An additional benefit is that Jackson is now able to fall asleep anywhere whenever he is tired. For example, during our daily walk in the stroller...

Before, he would just cry unable to get to sleep. Now, sleep. It's actually a big relief for us. Hated going through it, but love the outcome. And I think he is doing better for it, too.

Our bedtime routine has changed slightly as well. We now do bath, play, nurse, book, and bed. We read two bedtime stories. The first one varies every night. The second one is always The Going To Bed Book. There is always one page that when I get to it, Jackson just smiles from ear to ear. He loves that page for some reason. What page is it? This one...



Jackson is getting there with the walking. He can take nearly 5 steps before falling over. Crawling is still more efficient for him though. Here is Jackson practicing walking with Daddy and then taking about 3 steps to me before falling into me:



Jackson is also starting to understand and follow simple commands. The most noticable one is "Go get a book". And he will crawl over to his book corner and pick out a book for bedtime. So clever!


Another favorite activity is riding on Daddy's shoulders:



New foods this week: sausage and cake (at the party). He is eating a lot more nowadays. He will drink a sippy cup of water and a sippy cup of apple juice every day. And that's in addition to nursing 5 times a day! Thirsty boy!

We go for our 1 year checkup on Wednesday. I am curious to see how much he has grown.

In one and a bit days my baby turns 1. I can't believe how quickly it's gone. But I love my little family.