Party Like a Superstar!

NOTE: This is one of three new posts, scroll down after this for more updates (if you aren't too sick of us by then.)

Nobody ever told me that my child’s birthday would be more fun than any Christmas I’ve ever known?? Such a special day with so many close friends and family that love our little boy and were there to celebrate his amazing first year of life! It was a BLAST! I’m sure he won’t remember much, so this post will have lots of details for him to read later…that I will remember always!

Of course the theme was pretty simple…what he loves the most, MUSIC! He and all his baby "Superstar" friends (and some adult) had some major jam sessions.

The music room, "Superstar Only".

I think he likes it :)
BFF Lee, lovin' the snacks!
Hattie Belle strikin' a sweet pose!

Lady friends and their mamas!!

Annalee gettin' into it!

Who says it was ALL for the "kids"?

A little birthday melody.

Some more "kids". Love this.

Cake time!!

uh oh, those damn rubber bands should be illegal!

He pulls through after the hat attack...barely.

Trying to give Gramps a bite.

Sweets are terrific, thanks mom!!

Snack attacks for everyone!

Presents!! He did pretty good with this, sat with me while we opened most of the presents. I think he wanted to read/eat the cards more than anything :)

We did have to take a small "breather" to get some fresh air and swing time. I think he got a littl overwhelmed with all the love and attention (believe it or not).

And back to the races for some more fun. This might have been the biggest hit, Gramps and Gigi got him his very own CAR! In case you aren't aware...cars are only his most favorite thing right now. I'm not sure who loved it more, me or him??

Gramps even wrote his name on the door, I guess the future siblings won't get confused with who this belongs to!

I have to include some of the decor. I had almost as much fun planning/prepping for this superstar shindig as I did at the actual event.

His 'Growing with Grover' banner, every month included! (yes, it's still hanging in our living room...but I promised Chap we can take it down next week when we decorate for Christmas!)

The party favors: 'Winston's Baby Birthday Jams' with guitar ornaments and sunglasses.

My sweet superstar giving mommy some thank you hugs, this melted my heart!

Thank you to all our wonerful friends and family that helped make this FIRST YEAR very special for our family. We had a LOT of love, support, and guidance throughout these last 12 months that has made us better parents and a stronger family. This day was a wonderful celebration for the "village" that has helped make this sweet boy who he is today! We love you all and are more than lucky to have you in our lives!!

November 12th, ONE YEAR POST!!

Wow, where to begin? Leading up to this week I felt a mix of emotions when I thought about the amazing year we’ve shared with our little boy. All along people were asking me if I was sad that he was ‘growing up’. “Of course not, I’m just excited for the next phase…” I must have said at least 10 times…that was BEFORE I put together his b-day slide show. Between that, and the making of his ‘Growing With Grover’ banner, I was very quickly overwhelmed with how much love and life happen in one year??

For so long, I've often heard, “enjoy it while you can, they grow up before you know it”. I can honestly say that not a day went by this year that I did not think of those words and remember to enjoy every single second. From the sleepless nights, projectile vomits, and trips to the hospital, to the first teeth, first words, first steps and everything in between; I have constantly reminded myself that each experience will only happen once. Whether it’s good, or bad, I will never have these moments back again. I know this year has flown by, but I also know that I couldn’t have been more aware or engaged in every second I’ve spent with my little boy. For that, I am grateful.

November 12th, 2009 @ 7:47

The most amazing event of my life, meeting my little boy.

November 12, 2010 @ 7:00
Meeting my little birthday boy with balloons!
Having birthday doughnuts with my class (I took the day off to spend with a certain 1 year old).

Meeting daddy-man for lunch at Kinch's to watch the choo-choo trains!

Staying up to see my cousins on my birthday and have a quick jam session! The last few months he’s really developed into the social bug. He loves saying ‘hi’ to new people and waves his sweet little hand to everyone he sees. He thinks most everything is funny and claps at the silliest things. He has a way of looking at you that makes everything inside turn to mush. His giggle is ridiculously addictive and will make you do/say/sing/dance just about anything to get some more of it. His comedic timing is also developing, he loves making you wait for the silly-ness you’re looking for.

Favorite Activities –

Playing peek-a-boo (sometimes covering his eyes, but most of the time his ears). He thinks this is hi-larious and claps for himself most every time.

Itsy Bitsy Spider – he can do most of the motions with you, and NEVER fails to clap and give a high-five at the completion of the song. Such a good audience.

Walking – he’s pretty quick now-a-days and thinks he’s pretty slick when he does his 360’s (pivots on his foot to turn himself around). Along with this, however, comes plenty of falling. We get, on average, 2-3 new bumps/bruises a week.

Airplanes! – loves them and will call for them whenever he hears anything that remotely sounds like an airplane (lawn mower, air conditioner, refrigerator). My favorite is his airplane noise, this closely resembles a constipation groaning.

Kindermusic – we are both enjoying the heck out of this! I highly recommend it. I wasn’t sure how much we’d get out of it, but each week I see new things he’s learning and I LOVE it! I think my favorite part is that he’s learning ‘patience’. The first time we went to the class I realized how quick I am to give him objects he wants. Well, guess what. That’s not life. While he doesn’t love learning patience, music and singing have helped us develop this skill J

Ball – loves rolling, chewing, kicking a ball. Him and Brodey have had a few showdowns when it’s come to outside ball time. Not my favorite.

Exploring – will walk around pointing and talking to new objects for hours.

Opening and Closing – this he does with any door, cabinet, basically anything with a hinge. He thinks it’s great when you say ‘open/close’ really fast while he’s doing it (until his finger gets slammed, of course).

Baths – LOVES a bath, he’s getting a little adventurous though, which I do not love. I must say “sit on your bottom” at least 10 times each bathing session.

Brushing his teeth – if you say it, he’s pointing to it and saying ‘tee, tee, tee’ (teeth). He sits with his head back and mouth open the entire time. I love it.

Books – he’s getting pretty decent about pointing and saying the objects while we read (mainly ‘Goodnight Moon’ since we read it nightly).

SWINGING – kid LOVES to swing. Can’t get enough of it. He laughs sooo hard when you swing with him in the porch swing and bump his feet. Haven’t really figured out why that’s so funny.

Cars – I must hear ‘car, car, car’ at least 50 times a day. It’s really funny because now when I put my shoes on he thinks it’s trip time.

Favorite Food –
Hot dogs, cheerios, green beans, fish sticks, sweet potatoes, apples, cheesy noodles, peaches, pears, waffles, and blueberry pancakes.

Favorite Words –
Juice, trees, car, apple, toys, ball, swing (but sounds like “sing”), mama, dada, Gigi, birds (and can make a bird sound ‘ka ka, ka ka), he can’t say “cow” yet, but when you say it he makes the ‘moooo’ sound, bites, plane (sounds like “pane”), cat, shoes (but this sounds very similar to ‘juice’ so we get them confused sometimes), Chap (sounds like “chp”…which pleases Chap none, but I think it’s too funny and might or might not be advocating it).

Milestones –
NO MORE FORMULA/LIQUID GOLD (and this, my friends, has given us a hefty pay increase) He’s really enjoying the milk I think, even though his hiney isn’t fully convinced. We’re now trying ‘Lactaid’ via recommendation from pediatrician in hopes to jump start his systems ability to handle whole milk.

NO MORE ACID REFLUX MEDICINE (again, feels like a mild promotion)

Got his 2nd haircut already (this one was a little short though, so I think it should last a while.)

Has had 2 baby colds now and no ear infections to follow (I say this while knocking on wood). This is a big deal for us, we were on a pretty good roll there for a while.

Opinion/Sass – though rare, it has been evident for him to grunt/growl or perform tantrum-like symptoms when he’s not totally pleased with something. We’re hoping to keep this to a minimum, but understand the reality of toddler-hood and how it effects our chances.

Growing with Grover - ONE YEAR OLD!

(you might wonder why he's not laying down with grover as done in previous months, please refer to the last listed 'milestone' for answer).

Stats:

weight: 19lbs, 10 oz (15th %)...and this is WITH me leaving the soaking wet diaper

height: 30 1/2 in. (75th %)

head: 18 1/2 in. (75th %)

Little Winn, we love you with every single bit of our hearts and couldn’t be more proud of the little boy you’ve become. You not only light up the room with your sweet smile and spirit, but you light up our hearts with every thought of you. We can’t measure the joy you’ve brought into our lives this year and the countless memories to go with it. We love you and look forward to loving/growing with you year #2!

Love, Mommy & Daddy

The Halloween Post (though it's almost Thanksgiving)

Such a fun FIRST Halloween for my sweet lil’ lion! We had so much fun dressing him up and showing him off. Even though this had to have been the hottest/tightest little costume ever (we actually had to cut the hole in the head bigger just to get it on his head...)he sure did look super cute in it!

ROAR!!

We went to our friend's house, Taylor (a.k.a cutest cow ever) to hang out and let the kiddos play. Such a good time!
Hayride with mommy

and friends!

Thanks for being such a good sport and not freaking out when all the fuzz got in your mouth, lion! We could have squeezed the fur right off of you in your costume!

Happily Ever Married!

A few weeks ago I got to participate in a beautiful weekend filled with LOTS of love, beautiful moments, loads of laughs, precious family, and a union of two people that are truly made for each other.

I’m not sure I was prepared for the emotions I would feel when my brother got married. We’ve always been very close, and I’ve known for a long time that Amanda is his “lobster”, it all seemed very natural from the beginning. But, actually watching this amazing girl and seeing how much she cares and loves not only my brother, but my entire family, fills my heart with more JOY than I can explain.

Normie is, without a doubt, the most selfless person I know. He puts everyone else before himself (unless it’s time for dinner), and genuinely cares about how people are feeling. He’s been an amazing source of support for everyone in our family for too many years now. I’m so happy that he’s found someone that he can truly enjoy this new adventure with. I am confident that he will put the same time, effort, love, and care into his new family that he’s put into ours for so many years. He deserves every single ounce of happiness this world has to offer, and I can’t think of a more perfect person for him to share this with than Amanda!! Their personalities are addictive, and their love for each other just makes me smile. I couldn’t have picked a better wife for my brother, daughter for my parents, sister for myself, and aunt for my little boy.


Here are a few, of the zillions, pics taken that weekend (and we haven't even seen the photographer's yet...) I'm telling you, I think every person there wanted to capture a piece of this heaven to take with them. Can you blame them??

Welcome to the family, Amanda! It was WAY fun to see my long lost "Berky Brothers" again, and of course, our dear Tutu! I L-O-V-E our family!

I still tear up every time I look at this picture. So happy!!

So sweet. Love was everywhere!!

THIS little boy partied his little tux pants off! Dancin' King was up way past his curfew in this picture. I'm kind of a weirdo about his schedule, so I was pleasantly surprised when he didn't shed a tear being out so late (even when I peeled him out of his tux at the end of the night).

Chap sang Normie and Amanda's first dance (don't have a pic of this yet, I was too busy smiling from ear to ear to touch my camera), but this song was too precious not to post. This is Amanda's little sister, Maggie, singing "God Blessed the Broken Road" while Normie played.

They had "Sister", by Dave Mathews played for our dance, loved it!

This was the last dance of the evening. What started out as a joke turned into a very sweet moment of all the guests circled around them holding hands and singing. It couldn't have been written any better!

Thank you, Normie & Amanda, for letting us all be a part of your amazingly special/perfect day. It reminded me of how wonderful love and family truly are! We love you both more than you know and wish you nothing but love, laughter, and LOTS of baby cousins for Winston!! Ha!

Please Pause

Dear Life,

I am going to need you to slow down just a little bit. This past week, my baby boy started walking AND got his first little man hair cut. I am doing my very best to enjoy each and every moment, but sometimes feel like I can't soak it in fast enough. If you could do me a huge favor and just slow down? Or even pause for a little bit?? My heart would greatly appreciate it.

Love,

A Very Busy Mom of a Very Busy Boy

Gettin' his locks trimmed

October 4th

DonnaCole's with Ms. Nichole

(I know, I tried to hold out tilll the almighty "one year" mark, but with Uncle Norm's wedding next weekend...we figured pictures without a baby mullet might be a nice wedding gift.)

Not positive that we're fully in love with this idea...

But I'll probably smile and laugh regardless. Soooo much better!

And then, for the walking...
Mind you, the walking comes only TWO short weeks after the crawling initiated. I'm not 100% sure that was enough time for mommy to transition to "full mobility".

Ready or not, Mommy, here I go!!!

First steps: October 3, 2010

Walking to his mommy :)

It's a Bird...It's a PLANE!!

In case you're not aware, PLANES are a pretty big deal in my family. My grandfather, the original 'Norman WINSTON Gourley' was a fighter pilot in the Marine Corps, and later a Major General, dedicating over 35 years of his life to aviation and our country...needless to say, our family likes airplanes just a little bit.

I've been waiting for Winn to show interest in real, LIVE, flying, airplanes for a while now ...making sure I point out each one. Till this week, he didn't so much lift his eyes up to the sky in the direction of my finger pointing. I was wondering if he'd EVER understand planes!!

Finally, a few nights ago, we were walking to get the mail and he heard a plane (on his own) and started searching the sky. I looked up and saw a very low flying plane, pointed, and said "Airplane!!" He smiled REALLY big and pointed his little baby finger at the airplane and said "ppppp" (English = plane)

I immediately thanked my grandfather for the very special moment I had just shared with my little boy.

Today on our walk, he got to see more planes. I had to get my phone out to capture a few of the moments...the entire walk consisted of him and his pursuit for planes (and I didn't plan the outfit either, in case you were wondering).

Stop the stroller, mom, I think I hear something. Wait for it...wait for it...

Yep! There's the ppppp

This is the picture that hangs in Winn's room of his great grandfather, Sho Sho (meaning 'to fly') in his jet. My wonderful Auntie Anne had the picture blown up, restored, matted, and framed as a baby gift for Winston.
This is the quote at the bottom of the frame. It hangs over the rocking chair, so we're reminded of it every night when we do our bedtime routine.
This was my grandfather's airplane. My grandmother gave it to him many, many years ago. She then gave it to her great grandson as a 'welcome home' gift when he was born (adding to the excitement that W was born at exactly 7:47 a.m.). Both gifts mean the world to me and will be cherished by me, and my son always!

Little Winn, keep looking for the planes. We can't wait to teach you about your GREAT grandfather!

Itty Bitty Baby Steps!!