Magnus' First Birthday

We celebrated Magnus' birthday the Sunday after he turned one. We "celebrated" his actual birthday with a doctor's appointment complete with a blood draw and shots. Sorry, kid!

I made Magnus' "Magnus" banner with card stock and ribbon. I realized he needed a name banner a week or so before his birthday. 

The day before his birthday, Mags had his 1 year check up. 

He's kind of a small kid but he's growing and hitting his milestones. He started walking around 10 1/2 months. 

Back to the party...

I made this banner last year for a baby shower; I think it works for any party. 

We had Cafe Rio style sweet pork with sides. Our kitchen seems so much bigger when the table is pushed in the corner!

We decorated the backyard with lanterns, honeycombs and tissue paper pompoms. I was glad that I held on to the pompoms from last year!

Melanie made another incredible cake that tasted as good as it looked. I wasn't sure about a "theme" for the party so I just focused on colors. 

I found a few pictures that I liked and then tried to combine it into a design. To say that Melanie delivered would be an understatement, she knocked it out of the park! She made meringue clouds and coated them with luster dust. It was amazing!

Magnus opened his presents after we ate dinner. 

Magnus wasn't so sure about the candle. 

Luckily, he had help. 

The top layer was a smash cake so we let the birthday boy have at it. 

Woofie Facetimed with Hilary:

He got into it a little bit more. 

Unfortunately, he decided after a few bites to dump his entire cake on the ground. I was a little premature when I took off his outfit. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGNUS!!!!

The next day was James' birthday. I had upgraded his name banner so I swapped out the names. 

We celebrated with a strawberry rhubarb pie, as per tradition. 

I attempted to get creative with our large collection of cookie cutters. 

The crust was seriously flakey, just look at it!

We went to Home Depot and bought ceiling fans. They have been WONDERFUL!

That time I bought some baby shoes

When I was pregnant with Mina I joined a group on a website for mothers who were also expecting babies in August 2012. As time went by a portion of the group broke off and formed a group on Facebook.  Since then many more babies have been born and we have grown close as a group.  
One of the moms posted this:

Lindsay, how much could I pay you to drive to Provo on Thursday for the Freshly Picked warehouse sale??

Initially, I wasn't so sure about driving to Utah County with the kids for a crazy warehouse sale for some baby shoes.  James was working nights so he wouldn't be available to watch the kids. It just seemed like a massive hassle. Then a few other moms joined in the conversation and offered to PayPal the money for the shoes. A few text messages later and my sister agreed to babysit while I braved the sale.

 The line was pretty long when I arrived close to 6:45. The store front was really cute in an older, industrial part of town.

The line snaked around from the back of the building to the to side to the front.  I wished I had someone with me, it was kind of boring to wait! Plus, it was COLD.

 Groups of 50 were let into the sale area for "10 minutes" to shop.  It ended up being a lot longer than 10 minutes per 50 but luckily, there was plenty of stock available.

 The moccasins were divided by size and color into bins. This made shopping really easy! I had a list from three Moms in my group with their color preferences.

Magnus' shoes are on the left, the other other pairs were going to Moms in California, Washington and Virginia.

The really cute main area of their offices. Look at all those adorable shoes!

Magnus' pair, up close.

He fell asleep during Relief Society and he looked so cute, I had to take a picture. His shoes stay on his feet really well but they have scuffed quite a bit. 

Magnus is older than he was before

Some how, in the last three months, I have slacked off in regards to this blog. When Mina was a baby I made an effort to take a monthly picture next to a sign. Sorry, Magnus. 

In the time since his 6 month check up several things have happened. Luckily, most are good things. 

Early in December Magnus' first tooth made its appearance. The next tooth broke soon after so Magnus went from no teeth to two teeth almost overnight. 

Magnus celebrated his first Christmas by almost pulling an all nighter. It was exhausting. 

I tried to take a cute picture of the kids in front of the tree, post presents. I got this instead:

It was a nice, snowy first Christmas for Magnus. 

On January 2nd, Magnus started crawling. He had it mastered soon after. 

His first attempt consisted off flinging his arms and legs while propelling himself forward. I'm so glad I caught it on film. 

Magnus and Mina shared a cold which meant sleepless nights and clingy kids. I'm grateful they have been mostly healthy, it could have been a lot worse. 

Mina dragged Magnus back into his room while shouting, "Come back in, baby boy!"

She calls him a variety of names including:

Mag-gus

Baby boy

Baby brother

Babe

Mags

It's pretty adorable. 

His nine month stats:

Head circumference: 17 3/4"

Length: 27 1/4"

Weight: 18 lbs 12 oz

He wears mainly 6-12 month clothes with  some 6 month sized items. He and Mina wear size 3 diapers. 

He has two teeth with two more on the horizon. 

He has moved on from crawling to creeping as well as cruising the furniture. 

He eats anything and everything! We never had to be as careful with Mina but Magnus puts everything in his mouth!

Magnus is six months old!

Magnus' first Thanksgiving coincided with his 6 month birthday. Little did we know that we would spend the day in the same hospital where he was born. James woke up early Tuesday morning with a pain in his stomach.  The pain subsided a little over the next day but got significantly worse by Thanksgiving morning. He decided to go to a local clinic to get it checked out but it wasn't open due to the holiday.  He called my uncle, Steve, to ask for his medical opinion.  Steve came over and talked to James about his pain.  In the end he recommended going to the ER to rule out something serious. I was trying to figure out what to do with the kids, especially since Magnus nurses and doesn't take a bottle.  At all. I was feeling really flustered and Steve offered to take James up to McKay while I took Mina to my parent's house.  I was really grateful!

While James got processed at the hospital, I took Mina to my Mom and Dad's house. Brent and Melanie were headed to Bountiful for our family dinner, the same dinner we were planning on attending.  They dropped off their contribution and then drove to my parent's house to pick up me and Magnus.  By the time we got to the hospital, James was in surgery.  His white blood cell count was high enough that they opted not to do a scan and just proceed to surgery.

James sent me this before he went in for surgery

 We didn't have to wait too long before he was in recovery and then in a hospital room.  After that we waited for James to wake up and decide if he wanted to stay overnight or come home.

 I am so grateful that I have such wonderful in-laws! They stayed into the evening after I needed to leave to put the kids to bed.  James has really great parents!

 The next day Mina and I started to decorate the house for Christmas.  I couldn't reach the box for the Christmas tree so we waited to set that up until later.

 Magnus had his six month check up the following Monday.  He is healthy and doing great!
His six month stats:
Height: 26 1/4"
Weight: 17 lbs 13 oz
Head circumference: 17 1/4"

He wears size 6 month clothes and just moved in to size 3 diapers.  He and Mina wear the same size!

We have also started solids.

I don't think he is a fan.