Marci Gilbert's Blog

First birthday party

March 18, 2013 By Marci 1 Comment

Planning Logan’s first birthday party was one of the most fun and crafy activities I have done to date. I began thinking of ideas and bookmarking some ideas I liked around October, and decided on a theme/colors/venue shortly after. We had his party at the Bellaire Nature Discovery Center on a Saturday morning. We were very lucky with perfect weather, as it poured rain and was very cold the next morning.

Here are some details:

Food–we had Shipley’s donuts, chocolate and plain glazed. Also a bowl of apples, bananas and clementine oranges. We had snack bags for kids and adults that said “Have a snack with Logan” on labels I made from a Post it pack I bought a few months ago. We had a tub of small waters and apple juices, and a big jug of orange juice.

The cake and cupcakes were from Indulge Baking Co., and matched Logan’s shirt and the banners.

The shirt and matching bib were from my Dallas friend Gretchen. Hi!

Decorations–I made two banners by hand. I cut and glued and laminated all myself. It was really fun. The monthly pics banner was very long, with 13 photos. The “Logan is One” banner was a second thought after I had leftover paper and wanted another banner. It also helped bring the colors together again. Thank goodness his name isn’t longer than five letters!

Then I had another idea after I saw a similar poster on this blog post. I was mildly obsessed with figuring out how to replicate this for about a week. She used Photoshop, but I made mine in Word. I downloaded a chalkboard jpeg, then downloaded some of the free fonts and typed in white on the chalkboard. It turned out really awesome, in my opinion. Then I sent it to a local printer who printed it on foam matting and I displayed it on an easel. I love it still.

For activities at the party, we had a bunny read a story and then the kids could pet it. Her name was coincidentally Lily. We also brought some blow up sports balls and had some plastic clappers and sunglasses on the picnic tables.

For party favors, we had a minor dispute about these. I wanted to write names on water bottles with curly straws I saw at Party City, but they turned out too ugly for Jeffrey, and he recommended we do something else. He found some glass tiny milk jars that we filled with colored goldfish and came with a personalized label. They turned out very cute. And my mom added some shovels and rakes for kids to take home.

I was so happy with how it turned out, and very proud of myself for being so crafty.

Now onto planning Jeffrey’s 30th birthday in May!

One, Part 2

March 15, 2013 By Marci 1 Comment

This last month has been busy with getting ready to turn one. We have entered toddler territory, with more opinions, more interaction with people, and a lot more clingyness. Logan loves to hold onto things, whether he is supposed to have it or not. Like a phone, sunglasses, toy or trash found on the ground.

Backing up a bit…there isn’t a whole lot new. Logan still has no words, but makes a lot of sounds. He still won’t hold a cup or bottle himself and doesn’t even try. He does walk and sometimes run. He loves peek-a-boo, loves when someone pretends to chase him, and he loves when someone makes him laugh. He is starting to hand things to us when we ask, like keys, a toy, a ball, or dirt at the playground. How thoughtful. He loves holding anything shaped like a stick in his hands. A rattle, long and skinny puzzle piece, wooden drumstick, hammer, etc. He is also starting to “play” with Lily. They will wrestle over the same toy and she will try to take it from him or ask him to throw it. If only she knew he has no idea what she is asking him to do!

His eating is going fine. New this month is an interest in fruit, of which I am glad because it gives me more foods to pull from my arsenal of choices to offer. He likes strawberries, kiwi, steamed apples, mango and cantaloupe. Still won’t touch a banana or blueberries or raspberries. He had zero interest in his birthday cake and would not touch it. His loss!

Milk is a different story. All month, we have been weaning from the bottle and from formula. My goal was to be done with formula by his birthday, and hopefully onto all cups too. We have spent a lot of the month trying to teach him to use a straw cup or various sippy cups. He wants nothing to do with it and can’t figure out a straw to save his life. It also drives us crazy. He seems to like whole milk, but won’t hold his cup to get enough to fill himself up. We are constantly chasing him around holding his cup in his mouth or else he gets mad because he is hungry and thirsty. I was changing one feeding a day from formula to milk each week for a month. Does that make sense? By the end of the 12th month, no more formula. We will probably keep one bottle a day and fill it with whole milk to make sure he is drinking.

Sleeping is also going great when he is at home. He falls asleep easily at night and sleeps until about 6:30 a.m., but we leave him in bed until 7 a.m. When at home, he takes two good naps a day, at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. The afternoon one is usually awesome, from 1-3ish. When he is at school, his naps are crappy and often total one hour or less for the day. It makes for a long afternoon after I pick him up and drives me crazy.

We have been spending more time this month at parks by ourselves or with friends. Now that he is a steady walker, he can move around the playground much better and we have more options than just the swing. He also must be holding a shovel. He loves to climb up a slide or tunnel, and down as well.

Eating, sleeping, playing…that’s about it for the highlights of a one year old!

Next up–the birthday party!

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