Brady is ONE! I can’t believe it! we celebrated our sweet boy this week with his favorite foods: pancakes + cinnamon rolls! our usual spot, seven mile cafe, was practically empty on Tuesday morning so we took our time with breakfast and enjoyed spending our morning with our main squeeze! our day was low key, we kept up with the normal routine, pretty much like any other day! we have a big weekend ahead of us with Brady’s birthday party with family and friends on Saturday, so we left this day for spending time together as a family.   I stuck a candle in THE best cinnamon roll you will ever eat and we sang happy birthday, Brady as his sisters helped him make a wish!we visited Dr. Butler’s office this week for his 12 month well check! I was solo so the entire bunch tagged along!Brady at TWELVE months

Weight: 22 pounds  3 ounces (46th percentile)

Birth: 7 lbs 4 oz

Height:  30.7 in (83rd percentile)

Birth: 20 in

Head:  47.7cm (84th percentile)

Birth: 34.5 cmit is crazy to me that hes grown 10 inches since birth? I mean, I suppose thats probably totally normal, but looking at the numbers together like that- he’s grown so much in such a short time! Dr. B gave him the stamp of approval- ears, eyes, heart, chest, milestones all within normal limits and in “perfect” condition! long + lean, much more solid than his sisters ever were and so tall!

side note before I get into ‘whats new‘.. HOW AMAZING is this graphic?! Kate of mint coast studio (she’s also the one that designed my blog!) put this together for me and I was in tears when it hit my inbox. SO sweet and the perfect capture of our boy’s first year! I love it, I cannot express enough! I had it printed into a rather large poster for Brady’s party and its even better on paper 🙂

WHATS NEW

• I get a LOT of questions about Brady’s hair! I went with what I knew was ‘okay’ for boys hair and used just what Jordan loves from dollar shave club! I have been using the hair clay and like it a lot. after his most recent hair cut they put texture powder in his hair and OMG- I need it for myself! I ended up getting this texture spray made by drybar and spray a little in his hair before I use the clay for a good hold. he’s got pretty fine hair, but theres a lot of it so the texture spray helps to give it some depth to actually hold the hair product on the hair, so using product like this works well!
• words continue to come! he said “hi” this week and I about fell over DEAD on the spot. he holds his hand out and says ‘hiee‘ with a little flash of his pearly whites. I.LOVE.HIM.
• frightened of loud noises. Jordan has been working in the garage with tools (my honey-do’s for a first birthday party coming up..) and Brady gets really concerned when he pulls them out because he knows they will be loud!
• we discovered a love for the trash truck this week!  we stood on the porch and waved to them and they kindly waved back and beeped their horn! Brady was ecstatic!
• he continues to react to things that are said to him. “wheres Mickey!?” or “do you hear your sisters?!” or “do you want some?”.  he looks around to search for whoever he’s been prompted to find and/or will point in that general direction.
• this includes Alexa. Brady is obsessed with Alexa.
• she gives him a reason to dance- he starts shaking his head and waving his arms the moment she speaks. she doesn’t even have to be playing music!
• still LOVES Mickey Mouse.  literally screams when he sees it on television and if ever he watches it on my phone, which DOES happen, he’s mauling the phone with kisses.
• works quietly on stacking and knocking down, loves to put toys into buckets and bins.
• he also has started to put caps on bottles and mimics the use everyday items. he puts his shirt over his head and tries to put his shoes on his feet. the other day he impressed me when Jordan was fixing a chair and Brady took one of his wrenches and stuck it up to the chair because he had seen his dad do the same. so amazing to watch the wheels turn in their little heads and how quickly they pick up on things!
• TEETH.  we have MORE teeth.. I bought him a toothbrush and have been using training toothpaste. he lets me brush those front teeth without a fight!
• climbing + cruising. he is standing independently but basically just falls into anything he wants to get to instead of taking a step. he shows ZERO interest in walking or taking steps. he did accidentally take ONE step when he was fussing at me to pick him up while I was standing at the counter cooking dinner and he took one step and fell into my leg. it totally doesn’t count- ha!
• he fully understands the word “no” and its still absolutely hilarious.
• sleeps really well during nap (about 2.5-3 hours) and through the night!
• we have been working on dropping the bottle all together and changed his schedule up a bit to incorporate more table foods during the day.
• he LOVES to play with his sisters! “chase” is a new game- the girls will crawl around the island in the kitchen and he follows quickly behind them screaming and giggling in joy.
• Brady is in size 4 diapers and wearing 12/18 months clothing.

EAT

daily feeding schedule:

8:30am: WAKE

9:00am: breakfast! oatmeal + peanut butter or cheesy eggs or pb toast + 4oz organic whole milk

11:30am: lunch! chicken meatballs or black bean cakes (I make them in batches and freeze/reheat) + whole milk yogurt pouch

12pm-3pm: NAP

3pm: snack! (graham crackers or granola bar + veggie puree pouch + 4oz organic whole milk)

6pm: dinner! (protein + starch + vegetable + 4-6oz organic whole milk)

7pm: bath

7:30-8pm: bed

PLAY/DEVELOPMENT

BUSY. I cannot say it enough. I kind of really wish this boy would WALK so he actually has a place to go when he is wriggling with all his effort to get out of my arms when I’m holding him. if he doesn’t want me to hold him he will do whatever it takes to get.down. I had this experience to an extent with the girls but Brady takes it to an entirely different level.

the basics: brushing hair + teeth, talking on the phone, attempts to put on his shirts, hats, and shoes-  SO cute. pointing and waving- we are even clapping! finally. sweet boy picked it up in a day. he loves to clap with a giant grin across his face.

his communication has much improved. words are few, but the expressions of interest, dislike, or pleasure are very apparent in his face. he says ‘hi’ to everyone and is very warm to people that are warm in return.. welcomes most people with a big smile and wave. I LOVE this sweet social Brady! I have to mention, mainly so I don’t forget, that the waitress that served us at Brady’s birthday breakfast strongly resembled Susana, the amazing woman that cleans our house. Brady LOVES Susana and lunges + squeals for her any time she walks in the door. all of my kids have known Susana since they were infants, but for whatever reason Brady really loves her. the moment she came to take our drink orders Brady was losing his mind trying to climb out of the highchair wishing for her to pick him up! by the end of breakfast the lady was such a great sport and was carrying Brady around the cafe filling glasses with Brady in one arm and the water pitcher in the other. just the sweetest thing you will ever see.

other developments: he has stared to go from sit to standing unassisted, still no walking. loves to dance! he waves his arms back and forth and shakes his head when we listen to music. clapping and waving! he does this all day long! still sings/shouts to himself while he plays and in the car to make himself known and it totally catches me off guard!  communicates with outbursts of his voice, points at everything! nods his head yes and no, and slowly learning to use a spoon and LOVES the fork.  most of the time we offer him food (a sticky food like peanut butter) on a spoon or try to help him stab chicken or beans with a fork and he eats it using his right hand. Brady also likes to color- he sees his sisters use markers and crayons every day, so I feel like he’s pretty aware of how to use a crayon! which is so cool to me.

he also LOVES to play peek-a-boo in the mirror.  I’ll say “where’s Brady?!” while standing in front of a mirror and he will lean forward with a huge grin and point to himself in the mirror along with a silly giggle.  I love his silly moods!

I’ve continued to work chunky puzzles with him, read picture books, along with rolling balls or blocks to throw into a bucket, working on his motor skills! he got a big fire truck for his birthday and plays with that a lot!  loves to hear it make all the alarm and honking sounds 🙂 still LOVES the leapfrog alphabet bus and plays with it everyday along with the sit to stand alphabet train.

SLEEP

I’m loving Brady for the fact that he’s finally sleeping well through the night. we dropped the 5am bottle and he did such a great job with it! it took a solid month before he stopped waking between 5-6am for snuggles. just this week he is sleeping straight through from 7:30pm until around 8am in the morning.

Brady continues to takes one really amazing nap during the day and if we happen to be out running errands in the morning, which happens often, he will cat nap in the car between stops but then will always go down for a 2 hour nap when we get home. I’ve started to offer him lunch around the time he would normally start to wind down for his nap and we’re usually down within an hour. I have done this twice before with three other babies and somehow I always have such anxiety about mixing up their schedules after one year!

T W E L V E MONTH PHOTO D U M P    happy birthday, Brady Jordan!