One is so fun! I mean, it's also terrifying now that Jack has figured out how to throw a good tantrum, but I'm reminding myself that tantrums aren't nearly as terrifying as having chronic postpartum pelvic pain while dealing with a colicky infant (last year), or being horrifically ill and bedridden for an entire pregnancy (two years ago). Weird how perspective and comparison can change everything. Anyway, this post is about adorable bb Jack's first birthday! 
As Jack's first birthday approached, I didn't think I'd get sad or sentimental about it. I know a lot of moms cry so hard on their baby's first birthday because "They're just growing so fast! Where is my baby going?!" I love Jack to pieces, but little newborn baby Jack put me through the wringer. If you've had a colicky baby you know that your soul kind of dies during that phase and you just survive the best you can. Having to combine his colic with the extreme pain I was in for the first 6 months of Jack's life was pretty traumatizing. A lot of the first year of Jack's life was painful, debilitatingly exhausting, and soul-crushing. None of that was Jack's fault, but I looked at his first birthday as more of a celebration of Jack getting older rather than a sadness at leaving his babyhood behind. 
That said, I'll admit I cried as I put my baby to bed the night before his first birthday. I strung up some photos from his first year of life and realized that cliche though it is, my perfect baby boy really is growing up so fast. I love his spunky little personality and the mischievous twinkle in his eyes so much. Jared and I spent a good chunk of time that night before his birthday going through old videos of tiny baby Jack.
I kept his birthday low-key. We don't have family in Wyoming, and though we've made friends, the thought of throwing a party for a one-year-old stressed me and Jared out. So we just celebrated the three of us at home, and our parents video called in for Jack to blow out his candle and open his presents. I made an extra effort to play Jack's favorite games with him during the day, and when the afternoon started to feel long, we hit up the McDonald's drive-thru for some birthday fries for Jack and a large Dr. Pepper for Mom. (Because HEY, February 25 is as much of a celebration of me doing a really hard thing as it is a celebration of Jack's birthday. Go me.) I also let Jack open a new present every time he woke up from a nap. I figured he'd appreciate his presents more if they came at him gradually throughout the day than he would if we had him open them all up in the evening right before he had to go to bed. It helped the day to be a good Jack day.
To decorate, I just strung some red and black streamers and made a photo garland of a picture from each month of Jack's life. Jared was confused about why I picked "devil colors" for Jack's birthday theme, but it was intended to be more of a lumberjack theme. If I had done more with the decorations that might have come through, but I'm too lazy haha. We put up some balloons, but I took them down after Jack saw them and burst into tears. This was during a period where Jack was terrified of all balloons and big balls. A few days after his birthday we went to a party where a bunch of older boys were playing with a beach ball. That cured him, and now balloons are a staple toy in our house.
^^Jack's favorite spot in our home. He loves to sit on the windowsill and either look outside at cars going by, or just look inward and survey his kingdom. He also loves ambushing Savvy when she's up there. Nothing is funnier to him. The tongue out is something Jack does when he's teething. At one year old, Jack had two teeth on bottom, and two teeth about to pop through on top.
Jared and I got Jack just a couple of toys from the dollar store for his birthday (bubbles, a tiny soccer ball, and a thrifted rolling duck toy). His grandparents came in clutch with all the cool presents. Jack got a rocking horse, some really cute wood toys, and so much more.
I made Jack a smash cake the day before his birthday. I don't enjoy baking, and it came out looking less grand than anything I pinned on Pinterest, but the cake itself tasted amazing so we're calling it a win. It was a devil's food cake with kind of a whipped cream frosting. I stuck some construction paper trees on top for the "lumberjack theme."
Jack's Uncle Tim was able to call home from his mission earlier that day, so we did a mini cake smash then with just a cupcake. I wish I'd taken some pictures or video of that one, because it was much funnier than his tentative poking at his actual smash cake. He was super confused about the candle on his cupcake and he ended up putting it out with his fingers. Then he tasted the cake and really went at it.
^^Talking to both of his adoring grandmas.

I'm so grateful to have Jack in my life. He is a spunky little firecracker and we love him fiercely! He is more adorable than I ever imagined a child of mine being, and homeboy keeps us laughing (also crying) with his uncontainable curiosity and personality. Lots of the cliches that I hear other moms say about their babies don't quite fit the way that I feel about motherhood, but boy, I really do love that adorable little chunker more every day.

I'll have to do a "Jack at One Year" post with all of his measurements, likes, dislikes, etc. after he has his next checkup. He might be behind his peers in snuggliness, patience, and ability to say "mama," but he is almost certainly ahead in weight, height, mobility, mischief, manipulation, and sass. He's a clever little cuss. Nothing brings me more joy than watching him light up at the things that make him most happy (mostly his dog and his food). Happy Birthday Jack Jared Lambert! One year old looks really stinkin cute on you.
Jack's First Birthday

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Whew, close call. I almost spent Jack's entire nap cleaning and photographing our SLC basement apartment for this blog post. Then I remembered that the house we're staying in is actually listed on Zillow right now, so I was able to just go and screenshot the professional photos instead. Now I can spend part of Jack's nap making a meal plan and grocery list. Fuuuuuun.

Ok so I think I mentioned this last week, but Jared is doing a month-long pediatrics rotation at Primary Children's Hospital in SLC. There are 8 interns in Jared's residency program at Casper, and they each take turns coming here for a month. We are so happy that we ended up coming in March right after daylight savings, because there is still an hour or two of sunlight after Jared gets off of work where we can go exploring before we put Jack to bed. Also the weather isn't terrible right now in Utah! I usually drop Jared off at work at 5:45 in the morning, and we've only had to scrape ice off the windshield once. 

Jared's residency program rents out this nice basement apartment for us to stay in. It's just a one-bedroom little thing and the ceilings are SO low (like, Jared has to duck to walk under the lighting), but it's pretty modern and in a great part of town surrounded by fancy houses. And it's only a 10-minute walk to the hospital. I've been dropping Jared off in the mornings, but he walks home after work. Here's our home for the month:
^^Living area. It's got a pretty obvious U of U color palette going on.
^^Kitchen and tiny dining room. We usually eat our meals at the coffee table in the living room because Jack can stand up next to it and grab food off of it on his own.
^^Bedroom, complete with King-size bed! This feels very fancy to us. I don't have a picture of this, but Jack sleeps in the closet. It's just barely big enough that my parents' crib they lent us fits in it. He naps with the door open to the bedroom during the day, but at night after he falls asleep we close the closet door most of the way so he won't hear/see us and wake up early. We've had one or two really terrible nights on the Jack front (mostly due to teething), but otherwise it's been ok considering that he's not in his own crib in his own room. Traveling with babies can be so tough.
 ^^Bathroom looking into the laundry room we share with the family who lives in the house.
And that's it! Here's the house from the outside. Although it's easy to get really cooped up being in a basement with low ceilings (Jack's constantly reaching for the front doorknob because he wants to go outside), the living situation is better than I expected it to be. We're close to everything and in a nice neighborhood. It's also really nice to be just a 45-minute drive from my family this month, especially since Jared's work schedule is pretty terrible. He likes the work, but he's always there, and he only gets 0-1 day off each week. The 6-7 days he works, he's putting in 12-13 hours. He's had rotations this busy in Casper, but for some reason it feels harder here. It was so needed to be able to go home to Orem and have dinner with family when Jared had to work all day yesterday.

One night last week, Jack woke up screaming at midnight. We kept giving him milk and trying to soothe him and put him back down, but he'd just end up screaming again minutes later. This went on for 2 HOURS before everyone started having a mental breakdown (especially Jared, who has to wake up at 5:00 to get ready for work) (also me, because I was so worried that the family upstairs wouldn't be able to sleep through Jack's screaming). At this point it was pretty clear that Jack thought he was up for the day. I gave him tylenol just in case the issue was teething pain (it was--he had a new tooth the next morning), and then Jared went out and slept on the couch while I entertained Jack for 2 more hours in the bedroom as though it was the middle of the afternoon. Woof. Finally he started rubbing his eyes at 4:00 a.m. and I was able to put him down and he slept until 9:00. It was a lifesaver to be close to family the next day so I could drive Jack home to get help and sleep over at my parents to let Jared get a full night's sleep the next night.

Whelp, I really should get to that grocery list now. At the end of our month here I'll do a post on our SLC explorations. We love Utah and have spent plenty of time here, but mostly we've just explored Utah Valley. I'm glad we have this excuse to live in SLC for a month (at no cost to us! Thanks Casper residency!) and see what we can discover. We are pretty bland, suburb-loving peeps, so so far our favorite "adventure" has been just grabbing some Chik-fil-a and walking around Daybreak for an afternoon haha. We're just not city people, so although we're happy to explore for a month, we wouldn't want to be here much longer than that. If Jared ends up finding a job in the Salt Lake Valley someday, we for sure will end up with a house in Daybreak.
Our SLC Home Away From Home

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We are currently in Utah! Jared is doing a month-long rotation at Primary Children's Hospital to get some specialized pediatrics exposure that just isn't available in Casper. Next week I'll do a post about our home for the month and how we're liking it in Salt Lake City. I'd do it this week, but I'm actually on a time crunch and can't take pictures of our basement apartment right now because my camera is being held hostage in the closet where Jack is currently napping.

So for now I'll post a million very-similar pictures of cute 7-month-old bb Jack taking a sink bath and do a short "life updates" thing.
Jared:
1. Just took his USMLE Step III board exam and felt great about it. No more board exams until he finishes residency in 2 years!
2. Would love to move to Utah Valley immediately and stay 4evr.
3. Is working at the U of U and has enjoyed talking to several family medicine doctors in Utah Valley to pick their brains and get advice. Utah is a great place to practice family medicine, but not a great place to make enough money to pay off your med student loans. We'll probably end up hustling our buns in some rural nowhereness for a few years after residency before we make it back to UT.
Laura:
1. Is weaving more kool stuff. I'm finally starting do develop my own unique style, which is a big step for any artist. Also I guess I am calling myself an artist now?
2. Got a haircut. Went for the big chop. Feels like I lost 10 pounds in the process. Prolly did.
3. Is liking our month in Utah, but after just one day and night in this basement apartment I'm realizing that I will never be able to go back to apartment living. The space itself is really nice, but it is v stressful having to share walls when you have a baby. Also, our upstairs neighbors have two kids and you can hear every step. On the one hand it makes me feel less bad about our crying baby, but on the other hand, it's pretty annoying.
 Jack:
1. Took his first steps last week! He can take 10+ steps on his own, but he'll only do it if you give him a "job" (like throwing his socks in the trash can) and start him out by holding under his arms for the first few steps.
2. Has 3.5 teefs. Most of his developmental milestones have happened sooner than other babies his age, but he hasn't cut any teeth until just this last month. They are taking their sweet time, which is fine by me. They've come in right as he's started to self-ween from nursing. Dodged a bullet there. He's down to one feeding a day, and I'm not sure that one will last much longer. It's bittersweet.
3. Is cuter than ever. I find myself telling everyone that it's like a switch flipped when he turned one. He's still a baby and can be very difficult, but he is SO fun. I love watching Jack come into his own funny personality. One year has been much more fun than zero years.
Savvy:
1. Isn't getting enough exercise this winter.
2. Is taking it out on everyone by waking up several times during the night EVERY night to either scratch to go outside and hang, or to scratch on Jack's door and wake everyone in the house up in the process.
3. Loves running around the beautiful Utah mountains whenever she's lucky enough to get a chance.
Sink Bath Bubs

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