I’m happy to report that Emmett’s first birthday party (Theme: Mod Monkey) was a complete success.  There were very minimal freakouts or snafus, and I think it’s safe to say that everyone had a great time.  A huge thanks goes to my parents, Niki and James for helping out and to everyone who attended and sent gifts, cards & Happy Birthday wishes to make his day special.

The Birthday Boy in his Mod Monkey Party Hat

Balloon Boy

It goes without saying that Emmett made out big time with all his presents.  He received not one — but two – ball pits (you jealous?).  However, oddly enough, Emmett’s favorite present seemed to be a cupcake-shaped Target gift card from Uncle Shawn, Aunt Sara and cousin Ben.  It must have been that whole give-a-kid-a-present-and-he’d-rather-play-with-the-box mentality.

It took Emmett a little while to master the whole cake-eating concept, but eventually he got the hang of it.  Check out the video (though I’m warning you, it’s kind of long)…

Cake to the Face!

*Fun Fact: Emmett is sitting in the same high chair I sat in on my first birthday.

James took Emmett to his 1 year checkup on Tuesday, and the little man is doing just fine.  He’s now 22 lbs. 10.5 oz. (49th percentile) and 32 inches long (96th percentile), and he even got the go-ahead to start substituting whole milk for formula.

I still can’t believe it’s been a year, but I’ve enjoyed every single minute of it!

For more photos from Emmett’s first birthday party, check out the Birthday set on Flickr.

Age Timer: 1 year, 4 days

I have a million things to do to finish getting ready for Emmett’s party today, but I couldn’t leave his first birthday without a post on the blog, so here’s a quickie…

I’m going to be completely trite here and just say it — man, does time fly!  Exactly a year ago today I was being admitted to my hospital room at MGH in excruciating pain, waiting to welcome my little baby lump into the world (at 11:47 a.m.), and now he’s a whole year old!  Happy Birthday, Emmett!

I spent most of last weekend putting together Emmett’s baby book (yes — an actual book, with pages), which meant I spent a lot of time reviewing Emmett’s major milestones within the past year, mainly through pictures.  While I realized I have about a googolplex’s worth of photos of Emmett, James and I both agreed that the following is one of our favorites (he’s about 9 months here).  And feel free to leave some Happy Birthday wishes for Em in the comments.  It’s been an awesome year!

RARR!

Stay tuned early next week for a birthday recap.  I’m assuming there will be tons of messy cake pictures to enjoy!

Age Timer: 1 Year!

Ever since Gran Lucy took Emmett to the Boston Children’s Museum a few months ago, James and I have wanted to take him back together. Well, we finally got the chance last night, and boy was it a bargain!  Friday evenings from 5 to 9 p.m. the museum offers $1 admission (compared to the normal $12) sponsored by Target, and since admission for children under 1 year is free, we got into the museum for a grand total of $2!  Of course, we had to pay for parking, but it was totally worth it.

playing with the Brio trains in the PlaySpace

There’s not a ton for Emmett to do there yet at his age, but if we only have to pay $1 a piece, I think we’ll definitely be heading back on future Fridays.  There are a couple of sections of the museum that are specifically geared toward toddlers, like the PlaySpace and Peep’s World, where we spent most of our time.  Still, I can’t wait until Emmett is old enough to enjoy some of the cooler areas of the museum like the awesome New Balance Climb, a “3-story climbing sculpture made of brightly painted curved platforms.”  To be honest, James and I both wished we were a little younger so we could play in it ourselves.

The coolest thing about the trip was the opportunity for Emmett to interact with other kids his age, which he rarely gets to do.  James and I had a lot of fun watching him play.  Let’s put it this way — Emmett is definitely not a shy kid, and he definitely doesn’t need to know James and I are in proximity to have a good time.  Oh, and yeah — he’s a huge fan of bubbles.

hanging out in Peep's World

Find more highlights from our trip in the Boston Children’s Museum set on Flickr.

Age Timer: 11 months, 3 weeks

Emmett outgrew his “Newborn-to-Toddler” tub months ago.  It’s been practically impossible to keep the kid’s bottom half completely submerged in the thing for a while; he kind of looks like a grown man riding a tricycle with his knees uncomfortably poking him in the face.  Now I know Emmett is somewhat of a long baby, but the “to-Toddler” part of that tub is just unrealistic.

But hey, 1) why would you need your toddler confined to a small plastic tub anyway and 2) who cares?  He absolutely loves the big tub, and now he has the perfect opportunity to play with all 5oo of his bath time squirt toys.

Exhibit A.

Happy Emmett in the tub

Exhibit B. (Hey, don’t take my word for it.  Emmett will tell you all about it himself…)

Age Timer: 11 months, 3 weeks

2009 – what a year!   I became a mother and an aunt, James graduated from BU and Emmett hit some major milestones.  I think most of my immediate family members regard 2009 as one of – if not THE – best year yet, and I could not agree more.

Emmett’s first Christmas was great.  We headed up to Maine for Christmas Day with James’ family and then back down to Boston to meet my parents and sister for Christmas round two.  Needless to say, Emmett got a lot of good loot.

Emmett's first Christmas, in Maine

New Year’s Eve was pretty quiet.  I co-hosted my company’s Internet marketing podcast in the afternoon, which was a lot of fun.  Then James, Emmett and I spent a relaxing evening at home that included some yummy Thai takeout, a cozy fire, watching the ball drop and drinking champagne at midnight.

Perhaps the coolest development of the past couple of weeks, however, was the fact that Emmett took his first steps (literally fewer than 24 hours after my parents went back to New Jersey after Christmas)!  In fact, in less than a week, he’s become a real pro.  Check out a video of some of his first few steps below …

Now that the hustle and bustle of the holidays are over, I have to focus on my next big project — Emmett’s first birthday party!  Considering it’s only 2 weeks away and I still have a lot to do to prepare, I should keep myself pretty busy.  I’m getting excited though; I just bought some pretty awesome themed decorations online

Check out the various Baby Lump photo albums on 2009 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/littlebabylump/sets and videos at http://www.youtube.com/pamelump.

Cheers to 2010 and to more milestones, happiness and love for Baby Lump, and thanks for reading along in ‘09!

Happy New Year from LittleBabyLump.com!

Well, the holidays are officially underway, and as always, I’m super behind on my Christmas shopping.  We have, however, managed to get the stockings hung, the tree (delivered by James’ parents from Maine) up and decorated and our holiday cards safely to their destinations.  Although I wish I could send a card to everyone I know, it’s simply not possible, so here’s a peak for everyone to see:

Yes, Emmett has a full-out Santa suit.  Yes, this was the best picture I could get of him in it, even after two photo shoots on separate occasions.  Now I understand why people take their kids to professional photographers.  It was literally impossible to get a quality picture of Emmett smiling that also showed off the Santa suit.

Santa Baby

In developmental milestone news, Emmett is officially only a month away from his first birthday.  He now has six teeth — four on the top and two on the bottom in the front — and as of earlier this week, he weighs 21 lbs, 11 oz.

He’s getting more adventurous about his standing, too.  If you let go of him he can stand without help for a few seconds, and if you hold one of his hands, he’ll walk around with you.   He can also now climb onto the chair in our living room by himself, which means he now garners a lot more attention from me.  Can I say the cliche thing?  He’s seriously growing up so fast!  After much hesitation, I even gave him his first (very) overdue haircut tonight – just a little off the sides.

For more pictures from Emmett’s Santa Baby photo shoots, check out the Flickr set here.

Age Timer: 11 months

* UPDATE:  I won!  Thanks to everyone who voted.  Tune into http://HubSpot.TV on Thursday, 12/31 at 4 p.m. EST. *

Hi Little Baby Lump readers!  Now, I seldom – or never – usually use this blog as a soapbox to promote my own personal endeavors, but I could really use your help (and I apologize if you’re disappointed).

I’m in the running to co-host my company’s weekly marketing podcast, HubSpot TV on New Years Eve day with Karen Rubin, and in order to secure my spot, I need your vote!  So, if you would all be so kind, would you mind heading over to http://bit.ly/votepam and clicking the up arrow next to my name before 3 p.m. EST today?

I’d greatly appreciate it.  Also, play no attention to the vote count on the site.  The voting interface is screwy and it doesn’t indicate the actual vote count, but I was told last night that I’m in second place, so I could really use your help pushing me to the top!

The winner will be announced on today’s live episode of HubSpot TV at 4 p.m. EST.  If you’re even slightly interested in marketing news, I’d actually encourage you to watch it anyway at http://hubspot.tv.

Again, you can cast your vote at http://bit.ly/votepam.

For those of you who came to the site expecting an update and cute photos of Emmett, here’s one to tide you over

the baby at the end of the tunnel

Thanks for your help!

Age Timer: 10 months, 3 weeks

Well, maybe just Emmett.  He’s learned to clap in the past week, and honestly, it’s all the kid wants to do, whether the timing is appropriate or not.  Whatever – it’s darn cute…

Emmett was learning to clap while we were visiting my family in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving last week.  It was the first time my family was all together since Emmett and Gus were born, and the first time my extended family met Gus, so it was a lot of fun.  Gus is a lot more interactive than the last time I visited with him, so it was interesting to see the two babies get along.  Although most of the interactions between them involved Emmett sitting on and poking at Gus’ face, it was great to have them both in the same room.

Some highlights in pictures:

Emmett attempts a game of Patty Cake with Gus

Gus tells a very engaging story to Emmett, Aunt Lulu & Gran-D

Gran-D jumpstarts Emmett's gambling problem

Nana causes Gus to make odd facial expressions

Emmett practices his clapping

The babies’ first Thanksgiving was a big success in my opinion.  And if Emmett were still in my belly, he would’ve been about the size of a 20 lb. turkey   Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving!

To view more pictures from Thanksgiving, check out my Thanksgiving ‘09 set on Flickr.

Age Timer: 10 months, 2 weeks

I can’t believe it’s already been 10 months since Emmett was born, yet it still seems like so long ago.  This past Sunday, James, Emmett and I went to Shawn and Sara’s to babysit one-month old Ben while they went out for a lunch date, and it seemed like such a flash back.

I also realized how much easier it is to look after a one-month old than it is a 10-month old.  My gosh!  It’s crazy to think about how our lives have evolved in 10 months.

Checking out his cuz

Sleepy Ben

James pacifying Ben

Oh, what Shawn and Sara are in for in 9 months …

Age Timer: 10 months

About a couple of months ago, I started getting ready for the weening-off-the-bottle-to-sippy-cup phase.  I bought some transitional sippy cups from Munchkin (which have a soft spout made of a silicon material similar to Emmett’s bottle’s nipples) and even the real things, planning to be fully prepared.  When I first gave Emmett the transitional sippy, his reaction was basically, “What the heck is this thing?” which then of course resulted in frustration and the cup bouncing off the floor.  I decided to put it away and try it again another day.

Well, “another day” turned out to be today, and I’m happy to report some mild success!  Watch as Emmett investigates and tests his sippy.

Investigating the Sippy

So far, they seem to be working out great!  No leaking, easy-to-grip.  I definitely recommend them if you’re looking for a training cup.  Check ‘em out here.

Age Timer: 10 months