Mile High Hamiltons: Kellan's First Birthday Day

Kellan's first birthday was a big day, yet not with the typical events one might expect. Since his birthday was on a Tuesday, it was another day of work and school for the Ham Fam. However, since it was a school day, Kellan got to have his first birthday at school with all of his friends in the Toddler classroom. He moved up about three weeks prior to his birthday. It was a bit early but he was excited to have more space to ~~rule~~ run around in. He treated his classmates to mini blueberry muffins and they were a big hit. Such a hit that each kiddo had at least two and Kellan had THREE!!

Since his birthday was on a Tuesday, he also had his One-Year check-up with Dr Mike (Brazelton). Dr Mike is like a good box of Kix cereal; kid tested and mother (and father) approved. We love Dr Mike!! Keith and I love his expertise, experience and practical side about kids. The kids love him because he is fun and probably because he resembles something out of a Dr Seuss book with his tall and lean stature, matching bow tie and converse shoes and fun curly hair. Kellan weighed in at 23.5 lbs and in the 60th percentile. He was a wiggly 30" tall and in the 59th percentile for height. His noggin is almost as consistent but still overflowing with brains in the 69th percentile.

Kellan is also doing great with all of his developmental milestones. He is extremely active, which I could have predicted from very early in pregnancy as the kid was never still, ever! There were numerous time that I would hold my belly when I was pregnant and just say "STOP" in hopes that he would calm down. He never did and that trend continues as he anxiously tries to keep up with his brother and maintain his status of Life of the Party. He crawls everywhere and pulls up on everything. We have been working on walking but he hasn't taken his brave first steps yet. He has been spotted free standing at tables when he forgets that he is suppose to hang on. He crawls up the stairs and will get to the top in no time if we are not watching. We are currently teaching him to crawl feet first down the stairs but he prefers head first. He eats everything he can get his hands on. This includes food and non-food items. Recently he was doing laps around the upstairs area when we noticed he sounded funny. It could have been the wiffle golf ball that was in his mouth, which had convenient holes for breathing. (big sigh) He has discovered the convenience of carrying items in his mouth while crawling, much like a dog. (Oliver has been asking for a dog, has he been training Kellan? Hmmm) Shortly after this event we had to rid the lower hemisphere of the house of small balls. He loves edible items too and now that he has six chompers (2 on top and 4 down below) he especially enjoys blueberries, watermelon, chicken, bread, broccoli, green beans, cheese, ham, cheerios, gold fish crackers... the list could go on and on. It may be time to start a grocery fund along with the college fund! Kellan has a love of music and can be seen clapping and bobbing along with a catchy toon. He chats up a storm and it can become quite noisy at times between him and his brother. He also likes to squeal, which drives us all a bit nuts. Then he laughs and laughs and laughs. He has a very contagious laugh which hasn't changed much since the first time I heard him laugh at his Dad when he was one week old. The only difference is we see it more often and for longer periods of time. His favorite character to laugh at/with is his big brother, Oliver. Oliver is probably his most favorite person on earth followed closely by his Mom and Dad. He is a cuddle bug that likes to hand out big hugs, open mouth kisses and most recently, he has been blowing kisses. We love Kellan to pieces and he has truly completed our Ham Fam. To me, he is like candy; completely irresistible and I just want to eat him up! (I may have been known to take a nibble hear and there)

Happy Birthday Big Guy!

After Kellan first year Dr visit, complete with FIVE (yes, FIVE) shots (WOWZA) we picked Oliver up from school early and then headed home to play with some new birthday toys.

Daddy was working late so Mommy treated the boys (and herself) to Pizza. See, Kellan putting in his order as the laptop is entering his preferences on the right.

Hey Mom, what's happening!

Kellan was amazingly happy after all five (YES, FIVE! UGH) shots in the leg. We expected some kind of side effects but he was such a trooper that the only side effect he had was 30 seconds of crying.

Finally, three days after the party the balloons came down to a decent level that Kellan could properly play with them.

"Hey, why do they keep running away?"

"Ah Ha... Gotcha!"

The generosity of our friends and family was so enormous, we had gifts to span several days. The day after Kellan's birthday we broke out another gift for Kellan (and Oliver) to explore.

Kellan was very excited about the cars in the top of the box and probably would have been happy with that for some time. However, it was killing his three-year-old engineer minded brother to not break into the box and start assembling.