One Year

Has it really been a year?  I can't believe that Bryken has been with us for an entire year.  I think that this was one of the quickest years of my life.

The past month has been really exciting with this little guy.  He is getting so much personality and has really been so much fun.

Bryken's hair was getting a little long, so I finally gave in and decided to take him in for a hair cut.  He looked so grown up after getting it cut.  He is a handsome little devil though if I do say so myself.

He did so good and held perfectly still during the entire process.  Such a brave boy!

It's amazing how a haircut can make a baby look like a boy!

Bryken is really getting pretty curious.  He always seems to go exactly where he is not supposed to be.  I have a basket with diapers and some of his medicine.  Every time I turn around, he is playing in the basket.  Thank goodness for child safety lids.

Bryken is just roaming everywhere.  He got trapped behind a chair and he was not too happy.

Bryken started pulling himself up this month and is taking little steps by the furniture and toys.  I don't think it will be very long before he starts to take his first steps.  He really loves his stand and play toy that Grandma and Grandpa Anderson got him for Christmas.

We finally had to lower his mattress in the crib this month.  I walked into his room one day and he thought he was pretty clever.

One of Bryken's other fascinations is with the dishwasher.  Every time the dishwasher is open, Bryken is right there to explore.  This time, he found one of Averie's old binkies that I was washing.  Pink is a pretty good color on him!

The stairs is another favorite spot in our house that makes me really nervous.  Luckily, he hasn't figured out how to get up the stairs yet.  Here he is playing with medication again.  Wow, I'm a stellar mother.





The weather is finally starting to warm up so we took the kiddos to the park.  Bryken had a blast.  His first ride down the slide.

Playing like a big boy on the equipment.

Bryken sat at the pond and watched the ducks.  He was pretty eager to crawl right into the water to get them.  Boys are crazy.  This kid has no fear whatsoever.

Averie and him had fun playing in the sandbox too.  It only took Bryken about five minutes before he had a mouthful of sand.

Bryken has been so sick for the past few months that he needed to get tubes in his ears.  He kept getting ear infection after ear infection.  We had to keep him healthy for an entire month before they would do the tubes in his ears.  The week of his surgery he broke out in a terrible rash.  At the time, we weren't sure what it was but it looked like hand foot and mouth disease.  I was so worried that they wouldn't do his surgery.

After a lot of shuffling with the hospital, they finally agreed to do his surgery.  The surgery went really well overall.  He didn't wake up very well from the anesthesia.  He was pretty ticked.  He screamed for a good hour before he finally calmed down.  Once we got him home, he did great and didn't seem to be bothered at all by the surgery.

Silly boy.  He just wanted to sit on the floor and crawl around.

This is when we were still content before the surgery.

I'm so glad that we were able to get this procedure done.  I really hope that we are finished with ear infections for good!

Bryken's birthday was great.  We originally were going to have his birthday party a week early so my parents could be there for the party.  With Bryken's surgery and the rash that he had, we decided to delay the party until his actual birthday.  The day really could have only been better had everyone been able to be there.

Bryken was pretty excited about his new car that he got from us.  I just love his silly grin.

He was loving all the decorations for his party.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Here he is ready for the cake.

Check out the cute cake my friend, Laurel, made.  She did such a great job!

Bryken wasn't sure at first.  Averie had to coax him along.

Once he finally got the hang of it, he was all about it!

Such a silly boy.  He had the frosting EVERYWHERE.  I had to stop him during the middle of it to clean it out of his eye.

He was smashing the cake so hard that frosting was hitting the wall.  It was the best cake smash I think I have ever seen.

The quickest solution to clean up?  Throw him in the tub!!

After the party, we took the kids to Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country.  The new car worked great as a stroller.  All the kids were jealous.

Bryken thought it was the greatest thing ever to see all the animals.

Bryken even got to go on his first pony ride.  He was rocking back and forward and just loved it.

The kids had such a blast.  What a great first birthday!

 Here are some more favorites of my cute birthday boy!