Happy Birthday Benjamin!

Milestones:

-He takes 1 step :)

-He says cracker and thank you

-He can ride a quad (see video)

-He has 6 teeth!

Happy birthday Benjamin! I can't believe it's finally here. One year since my life was turned upside down...in a good way. He's growing up SO fast and he definitely looks like a little boy now and not a baby. :( He is very adventurous, very stubborn and is in to absolutely everything. He has a ton of expressive faces and talks a lot. He repeats things back to us very well and I swear he has said full sentences and probably clearly repeated at least 10 different words to us. Of course he doesn't know what he's saying, but he sure is articulate. He's also a sensitive little guy. If we tell him no, he pauses, looks at us like his world just crumbled, sticks out his lower lip and gives a very hilarious fake little cry. 

I'm happy to say that we are all finally getting some sleep in this house. It only took a year! I was desperate and hate to admit it, but I did resort to "sleep training".  At a year old, I knew he did not need to be waking up multiple times to eat still. Instead of a total cry it out method, I would just lay him down in the crib and then sit on the floor next to it with my back to him. So he knew I was still there but I wasn't going to pick him up. When he woke up at 2am, I did the same thing. It only took a few nights and was way easier than I thought and now I just lay him down at night and he puts himself to sleep and he doesn't wake up in the middle of the night AT ALL. He now sleeps a minimum of 8-9 hours straight and then I feed him and he goes back down for another 3 hours. I missed sleep so much and it feels wonderful to be able to sleep again. And this is how we all feel after a good nights sleep... :)

Thanksgiving was really fun and we had a house full. We got to meet Benjamin's newest cousin and he got to play with a ton of them. He just loves being around kids and had a great time with them!

On the 15th, Benjamin had his first cupcake ever and we sang him happy birthday. We had a cupcake for Makenna too that Rob and I shared.

The party was awesome and we had quite a few people, even though it was the weekend before Christmas. The theme was sports and it all turned out really cute. Benjamin got SO spoiled and ended up with a ton of loot. It was a great day celebrating our little miracle!

Finally, I will leave you with the cutest video. My mom got Benjamin a quad for his birthday and he has just figured out how to ride by himself. Enjoy!