Happy Birthday Colton!

On July 8, 2012 my little boy turned one year old!  It's crazy that a year has gone by already.  He has grown up so much!

For his birthday, we had some friends over for dinner and had pasta milano, salad, and watermelon.  Colton loved the pasta!  He totally pigged out!  After dinner we opened gifts.  He got a little shopping cart, some cute new clothes, and a little ball to play with.  He also got a soft little smiley face ball and some bath toys from his Day grandparents.   So far he loves throwing his balls around and pushing his cart all over the place.  I made him a little birthday cake with whipped cream and marshmallows to decorate.  I figured he'd like cake either way and whipped cream is a little healthier than frosting, right?  Plus, what toddler doesn't like marshmallows?  It was simple and fun, and Colton loved it.  He took a couple of tester bites and then dived in face first!  It was a fun and happy day and fun to celebrate a wonderful year together as a family!

Justin and Alissa with Colton.

Not very pretty, but it tasted good!

My lovely cupcake tower.

Not sure what to think at first...

Taking a bite.

Diving in!

And he loves it!

Big birthday smiles!

Colton decided to share his cake with daddy.

Happy Birthday Colton!

Birthday presents!

He loves them.

Happy little birthday boy!

I figure Colton's first birthday is a great occasion to look back on his first year of life and update the blog with all the highlights and milestones of Colton's life so far!

Colton was a great little eater and healthy little boy from the start.  He was back to his birth weight by 4 days old.  That is generally the two week goal for babies!

At two weeks old, we took Colton to get some professional baby shots done.  He was good for most of them and even stayed awake!  We got some really cute pictures of our little baby!

We didn't know we'd be in any pictures or we might have dressed up a little...

3

Around 7-8 weeks old, Colton started smiling and that made a huge difference in parenting.  It is so wonderful when your baby starts responding to you!  He had the cutest little smile and has been smiling ever since.

August 21, 2012 we blessed Colton in the American Fork 4th Ward.  We had a dinner for our familes afterwards at the AF house.  Jon did a great job with his first baby blessing and Colton didn't cry.

Colton on his blessing day.

Rider Family, blessing day.

Grandma and Grandpa Rider with Colton.

Day Family, blessing day.

Grandma Day with Colton.

At 13 weeks, Colton started sleeping through the night.  It was an incredible change that made a huge difference in our lives.  Since then, he has been a great sleeper.  We owe that to a parenting method called babywise.  It really helped Colton to sleep faster and be a happier baby.  Today, he still sleeps around 11 hours every night and takes a couple 1-2 hour naps every day.  He doesn't need to eat to fall asleep and he doesn't cry when I put him in his crib.  He just talks and babbles to himself until he falls asleep.  It is so great!  (He always gets thrown off his sleep schedule when we are vacationing and it takes him a couple weeks to get back on, but overall he is a great sleeper!)

6 months: "Colton is now a very smiley baby.  He loves to smile and play with his parents and he has the cutest little laugh.  He can roll over both directions, although he doesn't go back to belly very often.  He is a solid little boy with chunky legs.  He loves playing peek a boo and he hates loud noises.  He cries when I turn on the blender or vacuum.  We've started feeding him rice cereal .  It seems like he hates it, but he still eats it pretty well."

February 29, 2012: "Colton is a great baby.  He is super happy and smiley.  He likes to talk and make sounds (of course his talking is just nonsensical babble but it's cute!)  He loves to play and jump around in the exersaucer and he'[s become very good at rolling, scooting backwards, and walking himself in a circle with his hands.  He just can't figure out forward locomotion and it really frustrates him.  His first tooth is also coming in.  He has not been too ornery about it yet although when I try and see or touch it he pulls away and gets ornery so I'm sure it's bothering him.  He also loves to grab my face, bit Jon's nose, and pull and chew on my hair, especially when it's in braids!  He also recently figured out how to clap.  It's pretty adorable!"

About 8 months old, Colton finally figured out crawling.  He had been close for months but couldn't seem to put it all together.  One night it just came all together and he was off!  He was so excited he could finally crawl that he laughed the whole time.

Around 11 months, Colton learned to throw a ball.  It's his new favorite thing.  He loves to throw anything and everything and can be entertained with it for long periods of time.

1 year: A week before Colton's first birthday, he finally learned to take his first steps.  He is getting better and better each day and is trying to walk anywhere he can.  I think the most steps he has taken together so far has been about thirteen.  He can go further when he is pushing his shopping cart, but 13 is his furthest unassisted.  He also learned to stack blocks about this time.

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months/ 1 year

Things about Colton:  He loves to laugh and smile.  I have honestly never seen such a smiley baby, and I'm not being biased.  He loves playing games.  His favorites are peekaboo, catch, and chase and he can play them forever!  He loves his daddy.  He can been in a completely ornery mood, and when Jon walks through the door he is full of smiles and giggles.  He loves things that aren't toys way more than actual toys: computers, ipads, ipods, cell phones, remotes, cameras, etc.  Whenever any of those things are around, he'll drop anything and everything to make a beeline toward the device.  He loves going for walks and drives.  As he gets older, he is liking the carseat less and less but for the most part he still likes a nice drive in the car.  He loves weird noises, especially the magic bullet.  He gets excited every time we make a smoothie.  He can clap and high five and understands a few words.  He says "mama" and "dada" but not on demand.  He also mimics sounds of things we say sometimes.  He has six teeth, four on top and two on bottom.  He loves climbing on things and can climb the stairs all the way to the top!

We love our little boy so much!  Here are some of our favorite pictures of him throughout the year!

First tooth!

Morning face.

Funny hair day!

He loves being naked and he loves phones, hence the huge smile!