Taste Testing

This past weekend the Bolden clan enjoyed a nice slow weekend.  Max and I played and played and played.  I think he is my favorite play date!  Sat afternoon the 3 of us headed out to the Avenue in Murfreesboro for A Taste of Stones River.  For this event you bought 50cent tickets and walked around and got to sample yummy treats from 1- 5 tickets.  We had a great time and got to sample some good things for a great price.  A person could get a full meal for under $10.  Max is a big fan of smoothie king now ;)  It was a tad hot so we hit the air conditioned stores before heading home.

1 year Dr Appointment

366 days ago we brought Max to see Dr. B for the first time.  He was 6 days old.  Today he is 1 year and 7 days.  He has gone from 6lbs 8oz to 20lbs 1oz.  14lbs sure makes a big difference!  Max also measured in at 29 inches long today.  He is still 10-25th percentile for weight and a solid 25th percentile for height.  Scott thinks he is going to be a midget...lol!  Dr. B and me went over milestones and Max passed with flying colors.  Things on the checklist include pulling up, walking along furniture, clapping, playing patty cake or peak-a-boo, waving, saying a 2-4 words, feeding himself, and drinking out of a cup.  The only thing listed he hasn't done yet was taking a couple steps independently.  Dr. B said he doesn't really expect a baby to start walking till they are about 15mo so Max is definitely not behind.  Max wasn't so sure about the Dr examining him this time, we had to distract him to keep him from fussing.  Dr. B is very happy with Max's circumcision, and said for all the trouble we had he is glad we don't have to get it redone.  My poor baby got 4 shots today...and apparently the 1year shots are rough.  Nurse Jackie warned me that all 4 of these burned...and boy did poor Max scream!

Reading about his shots...little did he know..

A few things Max has recently started doing is barking(he got a dog for his birthday that barks and the next thing we knew Max was barking), saying VROOOMMM when he pushes a car, he brings books to me so I can read them to him, and occasionally letting go when standing up for a few seconds.  We are also working on "OK" and "moo".  His moo sounds more like a growl, but he is trying.

Max has also started with a little separation anxiety. Some days he is ok, but others he clings to us and crys when we leave him.  This is a bit upsetting but I know the crying doesn't last long and it is normal for his age.

We have also decided to keep Max facing backwards in the car for now.  The law currently states 1yr and 20lbs and you can face them forward, so we could turn him...but the new recommendations say to stay facing backwards until age 2.  We haven't had any problems with him facing backwards and he still seems happy so until we have issues Max will continue to see where we have been, not where we are going.

Crazy Birthday Week

I am currently working on a few blogs for Max's birthday.  This one will focus on all the craziness leading up to Max's bday celebrations.

On Monday my mom and brother drove in from Michigan to spend the week with us.  This was great becaseu I put them both to work doing odds and ends for the party.  Mom even babysat Max a couple days because I still have to work.  Monday night when I got home from work Max was fussy and warm(100.8) temp.  He had his 6th tooth about to pop through so I chalked it up to that.  After tylenol and 2 hours his temp was now 102.8.  This was the highest it has even been.  Of course we had no motrin, so Kroger's at 10:30pm  in my pajama's(lounge capri pants and tshirt) was done.  I automatically thought his ears even though he has never had an ear infection.  I got out my otoscope and looked- they were fine, his throat was a little red but that was all. After a unrestful night I got up went into work and left at lunch to come home and get Max to take him to the Dr.  This was the day before his birthday.  The Dr agreed that the only thing that looked wrong was a slightly red throat, and he felt it was a virus.  Tuesday night Max's temp got up to 103.3 and I was up with him from 1-3:30am.  During this time we read, watched tv, went for a long car ride through the neighborhood, and even had a cool bath.  My poor brother was trying to sleep on a blow up mattress in the living room(our upstairs AC unit went out right before they came).  On Max's actual bday he was still sick but did better during the day, he just got the fever again at night.  He did mostly sleep through the night...good for mommy!

Friday I ran a million errons and acted like a mad woman trying to do most of the finishing touches for the party.  Max was back to himself.  We also fit in Max's 1year pictures with Kate Crafton. She also did his newborn and 4mo pics(she was on maternity leave for his 8mo pics).  I am amazed by her pictures!!  To view sweet baby Max's pics click here, the password is Lacey.  She really captured his personality!  Oh and ignore the sweat dripping down my forehead...

Sat was THE PARTY!!!  Well and Sunday was a day of rest...and cleaning.....

Max's 1st Birthday Party- Monster style!

Well the time has officially arrived....Today is Max's first birthday party.  If you haven't read any of my previous posts, the birthday parties theme was MONSTERS!!!  Of course it poured down rain just before the party started so our plans for it to be indoor/outdoor party were thwarted.  My mom and brother came down from MI a week before the party so they were both great in helping with getting things together, especially the day of the party.  My aunt and cousin also were able to make it in from SC so of course I put them to work also.  The morning of the party we all met at cracker barrel for breakfast , then back to the house to decorate and get the food together.  I had to go get the birthday cake and whoooo that was stressful.  I was given strict instructions from the bakery to come in a SUV with the AC on full blast(even if I had to wear a parka) that had nonslip flooring in the back.  Once we successfully loaded the cake I drove about 20-40miles hr home, even down the interstate.  I won't keep this blog too long because I am adding a ton of pics to it!  We had a great time!  Thanks everyone for coming and for all of your support over the last year!  We love all of you!!

Monster Birthday Party Prep Part 2- The Food

Now everyone loves some food at a party and we are no different.  We came up with a few heavy appetizers and then came up with monster related names. Chicken Tenders were Monster Fingers, Pigs in a Blanket were Monster Toes, Meatballs were Monster Eye's, Veggie Tray was Monster Bones, and then we had Wally the Fruit Monster.  I saw several variations of him on a few different blogs.  My mom has a bit of experience with kitchen things and prep work, so this was her task. We decided to go with Green Monster Juice punch and water(with colorful lemons and limes).

Another cool idea I saw on a blog was chocolate covered marshmallows.  I saved Styrofoam from work and put it in a tray and we bought Easter grass when it was on sale after Easter.  After dipping the marshmallow we rolled it in sprinkles.  A few even got monster candy eyes that I found at the craft store. They looked and tasted great!  The only down side was they slid down the sticks as they cooled in the fridge.  I was told by my aunt a way to hopefully prevent that would be to dip the stick in chocolate and then put on the marshmallow.  The chocolate on the stick would help act as glue.  Last minute thought was to also do chocolate covered pretzels.  I also tried to make them look like monsters.

We set up a candy display for a little decor but also so all of our guests, including the "big kids", could take home a goodie bag.  Also included was colored Goldfish for our smaller guests.

Now the cake.  A very important factor in a birthday party.  We were lucky enough to be given a gift certificate to a local bakery, Julia's, and with that plus $20 we were able to get the cake we wanted.  They also include a smash cake.

For those of you who have not had a Phoebe Cookies(you can find her on facebook) you are missing out.  These cookies have been a staple at all of our birthdays and special events(my husband even had her cookies instead of a grooms cake at our wedding).  As always she did not disappoint.  Not only do they look wonderful, they taste even better!

Too bad this is not scratch and sniff