Raisin' Bran and Amelia: February 2017

Happy First Birthday Bran!

Brannock Alan Lude turned 1 year old on February 1, 2017. Our baby is now officially a toddler. This marked a big milestone for Mommy, the conclusion of Bran's first year weekly photo project. Although I am sure I will continue to take way too many pictures of my favorite little guy, it will be nice to take a break from posing a toddler with blocks once a week.

After Bran's birthday party we finally got around to having a (playful) one year old photo shoot with his party balloons.

Height: 30 inches (51st percentile)

Weight: 25 lbs. 3 oz. (79th percentile)

Mommy is also going to get more relaxed about blogging. Even though my posts may not be monthly or so "formatted", I would like to continue to use this as a little family keepsake with fun memories and pictures. So the blog will evolve with us as life gets busy chasing a toddler around.

This past month Bran started walking! So he has officially hit the last of the big baby milestones. It really happened quite quickly over a matter of a couple weeks. It was a very funny process to watch. Initially he was only taking a step or two. Then he got braver and started picking out a target (Mommy, Daddy, couch, dogs, and the dog bed were some of the favorites) and just barreled as fast as he could at it. This allowed for more subsequent successful steps but lots of crashes. Eventually Bran figured out if he slowed down a little bit it was much easier. Magically one day he was walking from room to room, stopping, going, and turning. Crawling is now used at a minimum since walking has become his favorite way to get around. I just love watching him walk around. His little baby waddle is just so adorable.

Bran stopped bottles this month. Mommy and Daddy thought taking away the nighttime bottle, the last one we had left, would be difficult but it didn't even phase Bran. So we are all sippy cups now.
He also switched to whole milk which he absolutely loves. Bran also eats from a plate now without throwing it on the floor (at least most of the time, haha). It allows us to serve him his whole meal on a plate which had made sitting down to eat together much more enjoyable.

Spaghetti & Meatballs is one of Bran's favorites. But it sure is messy.

Grandma Lude and Aunt Sarah had lunch with us for Bran's birthday. We went to the Cheesecake Factory at Easton. Bran loved when all of the waiters sang happy birthday to him. He kept looking around for his new friends after they walked away. The ice cream sundae on the other hand took some convincing. But after a few bites he finally liked it.

We celebrated Bran's "Wild One" birthday on February 4, 2017. We had 42 adults and 22 kids (most 3 and under) over our house for the wild rumpus. Bran you are one loved little boy. Sadly (Mom fail), I was way too busy to take pictures and didn't get my camera to anyone else except for during the cake smash. Luckily some friends have shared pics of the fun day!