Drying up

Well the babe is weaned. It is official. He has not had the booby since Thursday night at bedtime. It hasn't been easy. Remarkably he has been fine with it, it is me that has the problem. I have cried more than once this weekend about the fact that he will not nurse again. I don't think my boobs are completely dried up yet but they are almost. I am scared that when the milk is gone then he will want it and I will not be able to provide him with it. At times it has been hard for me not to breastfeed him. Honestly he has done wonderful without it. We have started a new bedtime routine which he really seems to enjoy. It includes cuddling and reading bedtime stories in the rocking chair. I still manage to have lots of snuggly time with him, so we won't be missing out on our close time. He is just growing so fast, I miss my baby. I am enjoying his new found independence too and the toddler (gasp!) that he is becoming. It is all so bittersweet, this whole parenting thing.

His party was wonderful. I think he had a good time. We had a really good day leading up to the party too. We had a few errands to run in the morning, so after he woke up around 8 we got dressed and headed out. I took him to Waffle House for breakfast and everyone there just talked to us and commented on how adorable he is. This very nice older couple sat at the table next to ours and talked to us almost the whole time they were there. They asked how old he was and of course I told them that he would be 1 on Tuesday. Before they left they gave him 5 dollars. SWEET! Since we moved to his unfriendly town 3 years ago we have barely had anyone speak to us, much less have a conversation with us that ended in a gift for our child. It renewed my faith in the kindness of strangers. Maybe there is hope for us to make some friends in this town after all. After breakfast we went to the evil Wal mart to get some wrapping paper and last minute party stuff. The babe picked out some Tonka truck and Sesame street wrapping paper and some bows. We also got 2 mylar ballons while we were out. He loved them! I put them in the backseat with him and he had a ball playing with them. After we got home and he took a nap, I got his gifts wrapped and got myself ready and the car loaded.

Fast forward to party time. The house was decorated for a party and the babe loved it! He wanted his cake, which turned out to be cute after all. We had extra relatives there, which turned out to be nice. They live in Tennesse and usually only come down about 1 time a year. They have 2 little boys and the babe so enjoyed having little ones closer to his age to play with. He followed them around like he was a big boy. He spoke to them in his own little language. We need to find him some friends! When it was time for cake, I stripped his nice birthday outfit off of him and put him in the booster seat at the table. We lit his candle and sang the happy birthday song to him and I sat his little cake down in front of him. He took 2 fingers and sort of poked at the cake and he got frosting on his fingers. Well he does not like anything gooey on his fingers he started shaking his hands and trying to get it off. I got him a spoon and fed him a bite of his cake and he liked it. I was determined that he was going to play in it and get it all over his face so I stuck my finger in the frosting and swiped it on his cheek. He started GAGGING! Yeah, so that was the end of the cake part of the party. No pictures with cake all over his face. No real mess to clean up! I don't have a lot of pics yet. We took some with the real camera so I have to wait until I take up the rest of the roll and then I will post them. We did video the whole thing, so I have proof that cake on his face made him gag!

His sissy and cousins helped him open his presents and he loved them. He still does not quite get the idea of ripping open the paper. Maybe by Christmas he will have it figured out. He got some really cute clothes and a new coat. He got LOTS of toys that make LOTS of noise. He got the animal train thing from Fisher Price, I think. He also got the baby Pooh that rides on the turtle's back. Hubby's aunt got him a duck that sings "If your happy and you know it". In one part of the song the duck jumps up and down and the babe LOVES it. He thinks it is hilarious. That was the first thing he went for Saturday morning. He got too much other stuff to name, but he has played with it all and he likes all of the toys. He has another party the weekend after Thanksgiving and he will get more stuff then. We are running out of room in the house for all of his stuff!

Tomorrow is the big day. My son will be 1. We have all survived a year! I cannot belive that one year ago I had never seen his face and now my life revolves around him. Amazing...truly amazing!