First Birthday Dinner!

On the actual day of your birthday we decided to take you out to dinner!  Really I am not sure if it was more to give you a treat or reward ourselves for making it through your first (very fussy) year!  Whatever the reason, we headed to the Olive Garden and had a lovely night!  Here are the picks from our evening:

You with Daddy before we left home

Pretending to color

Your Sweet & Goofy Dad and Brother

A rare pic of you and me!

The whole fam!

First Birthday Party!!!

Your first birthday party was definitely one to remember, Lion Cub!  Not so much for the party itself but for the circumstances surrounding it.  I had planned your party to be held at the park that is an icon of our city- the central park of our little spot on the globe, if you will.  I carefully checked the park's website before taking the time to create your adorable invitations to make sure there were no conflicting events occurring that morning and it seemed everything would play out perfectly.  Well, that is until the night before your party when I received a call from Nana at around 9:30 pm to let me know she just found out that the Pride Parade would be in town the next morning and all their festivities would be happening in, none other than, our beloved park!

Can't you just hear it someday?  Recalling the memories... "Why yes honey, we did celebrate your first birthday at the Gay Pride Parade!"

Ummmmm... I THINK NOT!

So, I went into a bit of a panic mode, calling people at horrible hours of the night and the following morning to let them know of the change of plans.  Eventually, I did manage to notify everyone but it wasn't without a fair bit of stress on my part!  Then, once we arrived at our new destination (a different park in town) there was none other than another one-year-old having a party complete with circus tent (ok- not really, but it was one of those big shade tents!), ginormous birthday banner, and balloons!

We brought cupcakes I bought at Costco.
(Which I was already having tremendous guilt over, might I add, considering the cakes I made for your brother's first two birthday parties.  The site of the rival party really spun me into "failure mom" mode!  But sheesh- this year, it was just not happening!  Sorry man!)

I also managed to get sunburned and pooped on by a bird at the party... but this isn't about me!  It's about you!  And you had a grand time!  The weather finally perked up for our first nice day of the summer and our relocated party was at a lovely park, complete with a wonderful play area for all of your friends to enjoy!

Your cool big brother, showing off his new shades!

Cousin Adin

Cake Aftermath

I heard you enjoyed your cake, although I didn't really get to witness it since I was trying to dole out cupcakes to your many eager little party goers!  The aftermath really speaks for itself though!

You were bombarded (quite literally) with gifts and received many fun shape sorters, stackers and toys that allow you to sort things in general- which are all right up your alley!

All in all, you really enjoyed yourself and LOVED being sung to!  We topped off the day with a trip to the farm and dinner at some friends house!  You were wiped by the time we got home but happy and satisfied!  Quite the day but so well worth it!

I love you to pieces and Happy First Birthday again!

You are 1!!!

I can't believe that a year ago you were so small.  

So fragile.

Such a... well... baby!

Now you are big...

and bold...

and tough! 

A toddler.

A little boy!

Walking, climbing and beating up on your big brother!

Your personality is vibrant and unstopable and your shear will and determination are qualities I know I will both cherish and loathe over the coming years!

You are precious.

And wonderful.

And there is no one quite like you!

And I am so glad to call you my son!

Happy First Birthday Lion Cub!

11 Months & 3 Weeks Old!

You are Mr. Mischief!  Here are a few examples!

Your brother- trying to get the tamari sauce back from you!  You snatch things out of the fridge pretty much any time it is open!

Diaperless... again!

Oh yeah- you'll empty that drawer in nothing flat!

And follow it up with my cupboard of tupperware and pans!

Then you want to get into the hair from your brother's haircut!

And to be totally honest, you spend a good amount of time doing this!

But ya know what?  You make up for it with absolute cuteness!

(Your brother took this one of us!  He is getting better and better with those camera skills!)

And oh, so much brotherly love (in between the whompings you two are giving each other in growing quantities)!

You are so strong and steady!  The other night watching So You Think You Can Dance you started doing these full-on moves where you would bend over from the waist, touch the ground and then come straight back up to standing- it was amazing!  I can tell I am going to have two little hip hop dancers in my home this summer!

But I will always cherish those rare moments when you actually sit down and do something quite like read a book!  You also adore sorting things into bins or bags and I can tell already that you are really going to enjoy Tiny Tot School when we start later this summer!

You are sweet, and cute, and a little handful but we are having so much fun with you that I wouldn't trade any of it for an instant!  

I love you forever and always, more than life itself!

Mama

11 Months & 2 Weeks Old!

Sadly, it was a week of few pictures!  Not to say that there wasn't a lot going on!  You got another tooth on the bottom and continue to be a destructive little beast!

On the fun side, though- you have really started loving giving kisses and giving full-on hugs that are just to die for!  We love how cuddly you are getting!

Although you don't actually say words yet, you have the most interesting vocabulary of sounds!  You are a big grunter and say "uhhhhhh" all the time!  Sometimes I feel like I am living in the baby version of Tim Allen's Tool Time (hoo har har- come on all you Home Improvement fans!)!  You also "sing" to yourself when you are tired or riding in the car.  Really its more of one long "awwwwwwwwwwwwwww"- honestly I don't know how you have such sustained breath control!  You enjoy asking questions by saying either "eh?" or "yeesh?" and you even put your little hand out, kind of like you are shrugging your shoulders!

We continue to work on your potty skills and you are doing really well!  You aren't anywhere near telling us when you need to go, but when I put you on the potty you do try to go, and if you actually do go you start to clap for yourself!  It is the cutest thing ever!

We love you Lion Cub and look forward to celebrating your birthday soon!

11 months & 1 Week Old!

Man- you are cruisin' now!!  You walk so fast you are practically running and you continue to set your sights higher as far as climbing goes!  Check out this perilous position you got yourself into!  You weren't worried, but I was!!

I always think that I have put things up so that you can't get to them but you seem to always find a way to overcome the obstacles we set in front of you!  You have been known to tip over chairs so that you could climb onto them and get whatever has caught your attention!  

We went to the park with Nana and Papa and you loved trying out your skills outside!  At first you were pretty leery of the grass but you seem to be doing much better with it now.  I still look at you and marvel at how big and old you are!  My baby is no more- you are officially a toddler!

Here you are with Papa.

And soakin' up some love from Nana.

Just checkin' things out!

We spent a lot of time with our good friend's, Erik & Christa and their boys, this week.  While the older boys were playing basketball, you kept yourself busy putting the baseball on the tee!  It kept you occupied for quite a while!

We also started taking our summer walks!  Last year we didn't take any with you cause mama was still recovering from your labor and then time must have just gotten away from us.  We did a lot of walking trying to get you out but not so much afterward!!  You had so much fun riding in the little red car and we look forward to many more walks this summer!

The weather has just been so lovely- we have all been soaking it up and it is so fun to see you experiencing the outdoors for the first time!  I love to see your wonder and your adventurous spirit.  

Your sweet personality continues to bubble forth and we are smitten with you!  I love your little fake laugh and how funny you think your big brother is!  I find your "nursing gymnastics" amusing and frustrating all at the same time!  I love your big open mouth kisses and your pension for cuddles!  I love how you have started playing along with your brother and me in "the scaring game" and totally crack up at my big, exaggerated reactions when you loudly say "Uhhh!"  You are so funny and a total ham- truly one of us!  We love you to pieces Lion Cub!

Hugs and Kisses,

Mama

11 months old!!

You have had an extremely eventful couple of weeks!  You are really taking off now with your walking!  You can go all the way across a room and even turn a corner!  Yesterday you were sitting on my lap and stood straight up (without holding onto anything) and just walked off!  This evening you even bent down to pick something up (kind of squatted) and stood right back up without loosing your balance!  Before we know it you are going to be running!  I just can't get over how old and grown up you are!

Last week I forgot to mention that you have started using the big potty!  I have been putting you on it every once in a while for about a month, but something happened last week where for some reason it just clicked for you- I could see it on your face.  You looked at me and tried to pee!  And pee you did- 6 times on the potty that first day!  Since that day you have continued to be pretty consistent about going when I put you on the toilet and have even gone poo (much to my excitement!)!  You are by no means potty trained but it is a definite step in the right direction!

You continue to be quite the talker!  You have taken to leaning forward and nodding your head when you are being very intense about what you have to say.  It is hysterical!!  You are very expressive with your hands as well (I have NO idea who you get that from :-D)!  Now, if only you could start using actual words!  Until that time we will continue to be amused by your baby dialogue though!

Your climbing skills get more and more advanced each week as well.  This past week you figured out how to put Mater next to the recliner and climb up and also how to crawl onto the front window seat all by yourself (scary!!).  Here you can see a picture of one of those precarious times that Mama forgot to buckle you into your table seat- yes, in .02 seconds you were on the table helping yourself to some Kix!

You had your first big boy hair cut this week!  You have had many hair cuts already, but this was the first time that mama broke out the electric clippers just for you!  You weren't particularly thrilled but I decided it was much less dangerous than attempting to wield the scissors next to your screaming and squirming head!  In the end you were fine and your hair looks much better, in my opinion!

Before

After

Mischief should have been your middle name!  Along with all the other ways you are finding to be destructive lately, a favorite has become removing you diaper!  Eek!

My first Mother's Day with you was a great one!  You sat so nicely all through dinner, snacking on our meals and flirting with the women at the table behind us!  They were equally as enamored with you as you were with them!  But really, how could they not be?!  (I'm not bias!  I swear!)

You sure do give us a run for our money but we couldn't love you more!!