Theodorbs is ONE!

This post definitely falls into the "better late than never" category. Theodore David turned one year old on Sunday, October 15th, and I was filled with all the emotions. I was thrilled, of course, to celebrate that our little Theo has been a part of our family for a year. I also wanted to weep, though, because Dan and I are still convinced that he completes our family, and the idea that we are done having babies is something I honestly need to mourn. (Although Conner was asking for twin siblings yesterday. Good luck with that, Con!) Here's the latest on our little pumpkin and some deets on his Lil' Pumpkin Party!{eat}

Theo still nurses frequently, and his pediatrician is encouraging me to drop the nighttime feeding, but I just can't! (See the previous paragraph about wanting to weep at the idea of the last baby.) I've found that listening to my babies cry at night gets increasingly difficult with each one. Besides, every time I think about dropping that feeding, something comes up, like Theodorbs having a double ear infection. In spite of all the milk, Theo's dabbling in solids. His favorites include Cheerios, butternut squash soup, and pizza (especially the crusts).

{sleep}

He usually wakes up around 6:30 or 7:00 AM, goes down for his morning nap at 9:30, snoozes at 1:30-ish in the afternoon, and goes to bed for the night around 7:30 AM. Would anyone else love that schedule for themselves? I'm raising my hand! The only (major) bummer is that Theo still wakes up at least once a night. If he's healthy, I nurse him once, but he has to go back to sleep on his own for the other times he wakes up crying. This is for the little ol' reason that I still need to function as a human being the following day.

{play}

Theo's doing all kinds of fun things! His favorite word to say is, "Up!", and he typically voices this when he follows me around, plops down by my feet, and stretches his arms out to me. He also says, "Mama," but he sometimes gets a little carried away and says something more along the lines of, "Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma." Theo can stand for a moment without hanging onto something, but he still likes to hang on for support when he's standing. He loves to practice walking by holding onto the fingers of both of my hands and stepping around the circular layout of our first floor. (These are some of my favorite Theo moments. He is so proud of himself that he stops, leans his head backward to look up at me, and flashes me this giant two-toothed grin, as if to say, "Look what I'm doing!" He'll take a few more steps and then do it again. Ach, the cuteness.) He is a lightning-fast crawler and has been obsessed with climbing stairs ever since he figured out how. (Brought to you by big brothers frequently forgetting to close the baby gate. OK, and sometimes Mama.) Theo waves bye-bye, but he does it in the funniest way! I'll tell him to say bye-bye to someone and model waving. He just looks back and forth between me and the other person with a bashful smile on his face. As soon as I give up and start walking away (and the other person has usually looked away), he starts bobbing his fist up and down in his own little Theo-wave. As my friend Melissa says, he just wants to be sure that I'm actually leaving before he waves.

{so loved}

Shane, Conner, and Logan adore their baby brother. It's fun now that the boys are older because they can actually appreciate how darling he is. When Shane was 3 or 4 years old, he wasn't terribly interested in his baby brother, Conner. (He didn't dislike him, but he wasn't delighted by him either.) Now, Dan and I are frequently having to ask the boys to please (a) get out of Theo's face, (b) stop carrying Theo around, (c) stop carrying Theo up the stairs, (d) stop putting Theo in his crib... You get the idea, right? They even make up songs about him! The most popular ones around here are "Theodore Today" and "The Cutest Baby." Shane enjoys taking Theo for strolls around the neighborhood while I'm getting dinner to the finish line Monday-Friday.

{one little curl + three-maybe-four teeth = heart eyes}

Another notable trait of Theo's is his baldness. Theo's older brothers all had haircuts around their first birthdays, but there's really not anything to cut in Theo's case! He does have a couple curls at the nape of his neck, which I almost asked the artist who designed Theo's silhouette to include, but I didn't want to spoil her perfectly darling artwork with my A-type tendencies. (Just a note, the wisps of hair you see on the top and back of his head in the silhouette were rendered in.) Theo has at least three teeth. He's definitely got two on top and one on the bottom. Another bottom tooth might have poked through, but every time Dan or I try to check, he clamps his mouth shut tight.

{theo's pumpkin party}

*Note: I am actually hoping to write an entire post on Theo's Pumpkin Party, but in case that doesn't happen (a very likely possibility), I thought I would write a few words here!

We celebrated Theo's birthday with a pumpkin-themed party! If your little one has an October birthday, I highly recommend the "Our Little Pumpkin is Turning ___" theme.

Decor//

Decorating was so easy because it doubled up with my fall decor! We bedecked our front porch with a pair of cornstalks, a bale of hay, and lots of bright, cheery pumpkins. Oriental Trading has some darling (and super-reasonable) pumpkin party decorations too!

Food//

We kept the food simple by ordering a tray of sandwiches from Costco. The sandwiches were yummy, but that pesto mayonnaise... Oh my goodness, I could eat that with a spoon! My mother-in-law made the cutest little pumpkins out of clementine oranges and thin slices of celery, and my mom brought a veggie tray. For drinks, we served pumpkin beer (which no one drank) and fruit-infused water.

Dessert//

We purchased a 1/8 sheet cake and pumpkin cupcakes from a local bakery. Theo's smash cake was what the bakery calls a "google," which is a cupcake decorated like a pumpkin. It was the perfect size, theme, and price (only $3!).

This is the "google," which served as Theo's smash cake! He knew just what to do with it and dug right in.

Memories//

I found some scratch-art pumpkins at Target's Dollar Spot, and we invited our guests to "scratch" Theo a message on his first birthday! Unfortunately for Dan and me, Conner got a little too into the scratch art, and there weren't any pumpkins left for us to write messages on.

Oops! My mom actually got the date of Theo's birthday wrong. She fixed it later, haha!

Eating Smash Cake Like a Boss//

If my babies were awarded prizes for how well they dug into and enjoyed their smash cakes, Theo would win it hands down. Even though we haven't given him many sweets, he knew just what to do with his little pumpkin cake and dug right in!

We picked up another smash cake for Theo's firth birthday photoshoot. He knew just what to do with this one as well!

We are so, so blessed that God put Theodore into our care. We love this little guy so much and can't wait to learn more about him as his personality continues to unfold. Happy birthday, Theodorbs!

{links}

Theo's Birth Story - Part 1

Theo's Birth Story - Part 2

How Do You Know When Your Family Is Complete?

{sources}

Theo's silhouette was created by Dapper and Darling who featured our entryway on Instagram. Follow us there at @gracecoffeeandmascara and @dapperanddarling_

Professional photos are by Picture People.

Pumpkin Party invitation

Lil' Pumpkin Birthday decor at Oriental Trading

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