ford Archives - Page 2 of 4

Ford’s 15 Month Update

October 6, 2020

gingam shirt // navy jon jon // shoes (15% off w/ code CIENTABH15) // floral dress // mules

Time flies! Ford has always been such a fun baby, but the past few months with him have been especially fun. He is now taking only one nap, so we have a lot more time during the day to be together. He is so busy, never stopping and he loves to eat. He is growing like crazy! And it seems like every day he is learning something new that he can’t wait to show us!

I am really loving this age, because William and Henry are back at school and that means I get two days a week with Ford only. It’s the best.

Height/Weight

Ford weighs almost 25 pounds and is in the 97% for height.

Sleeping

Thankfully, Ford has no trouble going down for bed or naps. He’s the easiest one to get to sleep and is still sleeping right through the night.

Personality

Ford continues to have so much personality. He is so busy and into everything. We keep saying that he is trying to keep up with his older brothers – everything they do, he attempts!

He is always walking around with his lovey “bun bun” and now a baby doll too. He is still a thumb sucker and he gets so cuddly when he’s sleepy!

He loves playing chase, still dances all the time and sings “EIEIO”, “Row Row” and now “B-I-N-G-O” It is so cute! He points at everything, loves handing something to you and saying “here” and he climbs on everything!

Schedule

The biggest change in Ford’s schedule is that he is now taking one nap a day. With that change, he normally wakes up around 8ish, nap is around 1 and bedtime around 7. On the days when he wakes up early or he seems to be tired, I’ll put him down for a morning cat nap. His schedule really just depends on the day!

Nursing/Weaning

I always take a slow, gradual weaning process. Ford is now down to just nursing in the morning and at night.

Solids

Ford is still a huge fan of eating anything and everything and not much has changed since his one year update. I know his food strike is coming, but right now he is loving food. He grew two inches in two months so he needs lots of energy for his growing body!

Travel

After much thoughtful consideration, we decided to go on our family trip to San Diego in August. We had the absolute best time. Ford was all about the sand and water and it was a huge change from our trip to San Diego when he was only 2 months old!

Milestones

Basically, running anywhere and everywhere. He’s even started to jump up and down!
Ford’s vocabulary is really taking shape. He loves to say bun bun, his brothers’ names, look, here, i love you, pumpkin, mama, dada, gigi, wow and his favorite word – “no, no”
Feeds himself with spoon and fork
Moved to a convertible car seat

Must-Have Baby Items for 15 month olds:

Sippy cups
Ford loves this baby doll
Stacking cups and blocks
Cozy hat for winter
Booster seat
Convertible car seat
Plates, cups, silverware
You can see what our must-haves are for 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months, too.

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine

Ford’s First Birthday

July 7, 2020

Ford is ONE! When I first started thinking about Ford’s first birthday, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do for it, given that we are in the middle of a pandemic. While we were sheltering in place, our neighborhood had a shaved ice truck come, where you could grab a shaved ice and keep social distance. I ran over during the boys’ nap time to grab one for the boys and it was so good! I decided that having a shaved ice truck would be the perfect way to do a fruit themed, drive-by/walk-by/ride-by party!

At the end of the day, I was so happy that we decided to have a party and to to get to celebrate Ford’s big day with family and friends! Everyone seemed to keep a safe social distance and we enjoyed seeing so many people we have missed so much! And the birthday boy had the best time of all.

Invitation/Menu

We have been following Paper & Play on Instagram for a long time! We love her beautiful watercolor invitations, stationary, etc and I reached out to see if she could help me create an invitation that coordinated with this adorable fruit outfit. Oh my gosh, they were just perfect! I wanted a very sweet invitation for Ford’s first birthday party and Shannon really just knocked it out of the park!

Shannon also created an adorable menu sign for the shaved ice truck. I love how she tied together the scallops of the shaved ice truck and the fruit print from the bubble and invitations. I highly recommend her if you need an invitation or stationary! She was great to work with!

Venue

The party was in our front yard. Since it was a drive-by/walk-by/ride-by party we left it open to whether people wanted to stick around or not. We had socially distant picnic tables, single use drinks and everyone helped themselves to the shaved ice truck!

Food/Drinks

Snow Baby Ice is the shaved ice truck we booked for Ford’s party. We had been introduced to Snow Baby in early May in our neighborhood and thought it was the perfect idea for Ford’s party!

For one, Snow Baby does not use any high fructose sugar, artificial flavors or sugar additives. The shaved ice is thinly shaved ice sheets, topped with organic fruit, dark chocolate or organic cookie crumbles. You can also top with sweet milk or chocolate drizzle. They’re all so good!!

We also decided to serve “Snow Baby After Dark” which is alchohol infused shaved ice. We served Key Lime margarita and pineapple rum. Both were delicious but we especially loved the pineapple rum!

Ford and William loved the vanilla with rainbow sprinkles, Henry loved chocolate with oreo crumbles and the adults all loved the Snow Baby After Dark flavors!

It was such a fun atmopshere with the shaved ice truck and Chrissy did such a great job at the party! She was also so helpful when we were trying to figure out our menu and gave us lots of good tips!

Tip: Snow Baby also has a location in Lakewood!

Cups/Napkins

We served the Snow Baby shaved ice in these custom “Ford is One” cups along with custom napkins from Sequins and Lipstick. Tammy is so easy to work with and she always comes up with great ideas! We continued the fruit theme with these cups and napkins.

Lighting

Because the party was outdoors, we decided to go big for decorations. We used Alpha Lit for the “Ford is One” marquee sign and it was adorable!! It really made an impact outside and was the perfect backdrop for singing Happy Birthday and while Ford ate his cake- which he finally decided he loved after a little coaxing from his brothers.

Balloons

It’s incredible what you can do with balloons these days! We used Lushra to do a 10 ft “1” in front of the house. It was so cute and Ford loved it. We also used a DIY balloon garland from Lushra to drape the Alpha Lit marquee sign. It was really straightforward to put together – just be sure to watch the Youtube video first. That really helped simplify what to do! PS: You can use code BISHOPANDHOLLAND for 10% off all DIY kits!

Flowers

Something Pretty Floral really brought my vision to life. I sent them some inspiration and told them that I was looking for some colorful, summer floral arrangements with fruit in them. They turned out so cute! The flowers were so colorful and the fruit filled vases added the perfect touch.

Cake

Since we were serving shaved ice, and since we were in the middle of the Covid pandemic, we didn’t serve cake to our guests. But we still wanted Ford to have a smash cake and also cake for the family to have after the party. Our go-to for birthday cakes is pretty much always Whole Foods. The bakery did a simple cake with sprinkles for the smash cake and a triple layer white cake/white icing for the family cake. It was delicious and we feel like we can trust Whole Foods to use the best ingredients.

What the Boys Wore

As part of their Summer collection, Dondolo came out with the sweetest summertime fruit print. Dondolo has the some of the highest quality, children’s clothing with such great attention to detail. Plus they are so wearable and wash up well too. The fruit print of Ford’s bubble provided major inspiration for his first birthday and was perfect for our fruit-themed party. This is the precious bubble he wore and the older boys wore these matching short sets.

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine

Photos by: StudiOrange

One Year with Ford

June 30, 2020

baby in highchair with first birthday cake

// at his first birthday party //

Fastest year ever – I can’t believe Ford is one! He is the sweetest, most loveable baby and it has been the best year. We’ve grown so much as a family and as parents. We’ve taken him to some of our favorite places and started some new family traditions. And, we’ve spent the last 4 months (and more) close to home because of the pandemic.

Since he is our last baby, we are trying to soak up every minute. Ford turning one has me feeling a lot of different emotions!

Ford, your family is crazy over you and we love you so so much!

Height/Weight

Our appointment isn’t for a few weeks, so I’ll update then.

Sleeping

At around 11 months Ford finally started sleeping through the night consistently! I’ve never been happier (ha!). The first few nights it happened I kept waking up around 4 am because my body was so used to waking up at that time. He’s been waking up earlier in the morning now that he’s sleeping all night, usually waking up around 7:00/7:30.

Personality

Ford is full of fun and laughter and playfulness. He loves music and when he hears it he starts dancing immediately. His giggle is infectious and he thinks he is as big as his brothers, constantly trying to do what they are doing. He loves to eat, cuddle when he’s sleepy and loves to be chased all day long.

The biggest change from my last update is that he is officially walking! He just walks all over the house all day – usually with a toy or two in his hand. William and Henry have been his biggest cheerleaders while he’s been learning to walk and it’s been so sweet to watch.

Of my three, Ford is my easiest going baby. Most likely because I’m so much more relaxed with baby number three!

Schedule

Ford’s schedule hasn’t changed much since his last update. The only change is that now that he’s sleeping through the night, he is usually awake by 7:00/7:30. His morning nap is around 10 and afternoon nap around 2 and bed around 7:30. We don’t have a set schedule, I just base it off of when he wakes up in the morning and adjust based on wake times.

Nursing/Weaning

Ford is slowly starting to wean and I’ve noticed a big change in the last few months. He is nursing around 4 times a day – when he wakes up, after each nap and before bed.

As far as weaning goes, I tend to let the boys wean themselves. Around 10 months Ford was not interested in nursing before his naps so I dropped those feedings one at a time. Gradually we will drop the nursing session after naps and replace with a snack. I usually drop the morning feeding last.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how to introduce cow’s milk – William had a dairy sensitivity when I introduced it to him, so we have always just done almond milk. Ford gets a lot of calcium in his diet so I will most likely not introduce cow’s milk and just try another dairy-free milk.

Solids

He loves food. I can’t get his meals in front of him fast enough! He will pretty much eat anything/everything I put in front of him. He eats three meals and usually two snacks a day.

Some of his favorite foods are: almond butter toast, eggs, any type of fruit, cheese, fish and pasta.

I have gotten a lot of questions about what finger foods we started with. I started with avocado, peas, corn, roasted sweet potatoes, yogis, puffs, bananas, etc. Soft foods that he could mash with his gums or teeth. He quickly picked up eating and was interested in food so we moved from soft foods to mixing in a few “harder” foods ie. toast with almond butter, bites of chicken or fish, grilled cheese, etc.

Travel

No travel for for Ford in the past few months since we’ve been in quarantine because of COVID. We are hoping one day soon we will be able to travel again. A year ago we booked a trip to San Diego for the end of the summer, so we will just play it by ear based on the state of COVID. Really hoping we’ll be able to make that trip!

Milestones

Our biggest milestone – walking! So, so proud of Ford. Love watching him walk/toddle around
He’s started climbing up stairs and looks back to make sure someone is going to chase him!
He has so many teeth- he just cut his one-year molars making it 12 teeth already
Sleeping through the night has been so nice for me- and for him!
He is starting to talk more. He’s saying mama, dada, vroom, tree, mmm, uh oh and saying “row row” so we start singing the beginning of Row Row Your Boat

Must-Have Baby Items for One-Year Olds

These and these are two of our favorite brands of shoes and they are great for walkers. Plus, they stay on!
Ford got this ride-on car while we’ve been quarantined. We’re outside a lot and he was getting so tired of being in his stroller. This makes him feel more like a big kid and it will grow with him!
I’ve used the Ergo baby more in the past few months than I ever did when he was smaller. It’s great for walks and when we take the boys golfing.
Ford loves sitting in a booster seat at the bar with his brothers. We have been using this booster seat for years and still love it.
We have been spending a lot of time in the pool and this pool float has built-in shade.
These shoes are a favorite for summer because they are waterproof!
Toys: Ford loves anything musical. He just got this musical table for his birthday and he loves it! He also loves the Little People Farm and this Thomas the Train Tent to play in with his brothers. This car driving table top toy has been fun for him and he loves any toys that his brothers are playing with!
You can see what our must-haves are for 3 months, 6 months and 9 months, too.