10 months already!

Why yes, I do love cookies!

Well, really he turned 10 mths old 3 days ago. But, can you believe this little guy will be 1 in just 2 short months? It's hard to believe. I mean, just over 8 months ago, I was wondering if he would even see 2 months old. We didn't know minute to minute how he would be. The nurses and doctors all tried to keep our spirits up, while still letting us know that even though he was doing well that day, he was still very critical. And now, here I am getting ready to plan his first birthday party. We're still scouting out locations. We can't have it at our house because we are inviting many many people and our house can only hold maybe 5 families. We're having the girls party here next weekend and I am sitting here going "what were we thinking? Where will we put everyone?!" But, I am sure it will be fine because there party is rather small. They have 5 of their friends coming (it was originally 6, but someone cancelled last minute).

So, we are scouting out locations for Ben's first birthday now. If the past has told us anything, there will probably be about 50 people in all. I think that is about the amount we had at each of the girls parties. We usually do big first birthday parties. I think I mentioned that in the last post. So, we are trying to find a location that is pretty kid friendly, and will accommodate a lot of people. If you know any in the SW suburbs, please let me know. I am all ears! I'm pretty set on a Dr. Seuss theme too. I have a ton of ideas from Pinterest! :) I already bought some little gift bag favors and I have some ideas for the cake as well. We know someone that is going to be making the cake. She mad the cake for Klara's 1st birthday party too and she does great work. She can custom make it to whatever we want, so that's good. Joe was also thinking about getting some "Donate Life" balloons for the party. We are still discussing that one. As much as I am SO happy that Ben has come this far, I also don't want to make the party all about how he had a heard transplant. I want it to be more celebrating his life, and the fact that he just turned 1. Which, I guess "Donate Life" balloons could go along with that. But, at the same time, it sort of seems kind of morbid in a way. If that makes sense. I was planning on having a small heartaversary party in January. Just close friends and some family. So, maybe we could do the balloons at that party.

Anyways, so I am really excited that Benjamin has come so far! I am SO excited and having so much fun planning his first birthday party. He might even be walking at the party. Who knows? He is pulling up on furniture now and standing there for a minute or 2. He does sometimes need a little help getting up, but he is starting to do it all on his own too! He is still doing his little army crawl, we are working on the 4-point crawl now. That's what his PT wants us to work on. 4-point crawling as well as getting from laying down to a sitting position. She is not worried at all about him not attempting to walk yet and was actually amazed that the girls walked so soon (Klara at 11 mths, Abby at 10 mths), since that is not the norm. So, Ben not walking is no big deal. But, who knows? Stranger things have happened :)