Who doesn't love to brush their teeth?

Early morning play time, when we're the happiest.

So happy all the time! I love love love this face!

Every mom's fear: falling asleep before you get home. There went nap time, but he was so peaceful and sweet sleeping!

Trying out his new slippers that he picked out. He wears them for about 2 minutes, if we're lucky. He just wants to play with them.

Brushin' teeth with daddy. He LOVES to brush his teeth, he gets a huge grin when he sees his toothbrush. Too cute and funny!

 The next few videos I couldn't take all at once in order to upload them to the blog, so they seem "cut off." Sorry about that, hope you can enjoy what conversations with the little man are like! I think my favorite thing that he does right now is "all done" hand motions with dinner. It is so adorable, and can be seen in the last video.

12 month stats and life as normal

We finally had our 12 month checkup today at the peds. Here's the new stats:

Weight: 22 lbs 10 oz
Height: 31 inches

Some things that we're into lately....He is walking everywhere! Which means he is into everything as well. Childproofing has clearly not been perfected in our house, it's a work in progress. We have gotten completely off of formula and bottles, and now Steven drinks just whole milk from a sippy cup! I honestly thought that this day would never come, but I was a little sad when I was putting the bottles away. Steven is one of the funniest and happiest kids I think I know (I'm his mother, of course I'd say that :-)). He has been sleeping through the night and still taking two naps a day. He loves to play peekaboo, clap his hands, and he is starting to "hi-five"(which he thinks is pretty hilarious). He says "uh-oh" VERY clearly, and is now starting to say "thank you," mostly when you give him food. He'll say Mama sometimes, but usually only when he cries. He wakes up every morning in the best mood, playful and ready to go. He truly is a joy in our lives and  I cannot imagine life without him in it!

Steven and his cousin Lila checking out the digital picture frame. It's all pictures of Steven, and they LOVE to look at them!

Haha, Steven chasing his birthday balloons around. It was entertainment, but I'm not sure if it was more for my benefit or his.

Thanks for my sippy cup of juice, mom! I would like to note, this was the first and only time I opted to give him red juice, and the lid was not on correctly, and you know where this is going. :-(

He loves to climb into the wagon and just hang out, watch tv, or whatever. It's hilarious.

Cousin love. This was actually a very gentle touch, for once!

 Love this face!!!

Guess we should mention Gator...he is the major stressor in our lives! this is how he chooses to nap since we took the divider out of his crate.

MMMmm carrots! He was so funny eating these carrots!!

Life has been pretty normal lately. Same schedules, same old thing. Sounds pretty perfect to me!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

It has been a strange few weeks. We have been so busy traveling and preparing for the birthday party, time just seemed to slip on by once again. I sat down a few days ago to update the calendar with all of Steven's milestones, and realized that I was on the LAST PAGE of the one year calendar. I lost it. I have not had a cry like that in a long time. Why? I would love an answer. I am so happy that my son is celebrating his first birthday, and yet there is something just so sad to me about it. His babyhood is gone, replaced with this toddler (!!?!) already. I don't think that I was prepared for this, I really don't. I got this out of my system, though, and we made it through all of birthday weekend with no tears! I was proud of myself.

The small family party that I started planning turned into a little bit bigger of a celebration, but we had a wonderful time!

Steven had a blast at his party, even though it was the hottest day we've had in a long time. So many friends and family members came to celebrate with us, and we are so lucky to have a little boy who is so well loved. Our party had a jungle theme, which was a blast to plan and put together.



Not to toot my own horn, but I am pretty proud of this cake!!! It took me approximately 15+ hours, with 2 hours for each animal. It was so much fun to put this together for him, I just wish he could truly appreciate it!!!



He got so much stuff for his birthday we are holding on to some of it for later....he'll never know the difference!! So glad that we could have an awesome celebration weekend! 

Cake Building 101

I got it into my head that I had to make Steven's cake for his birthday party, but I didn't want it to just be any old cake. I found a cake on Wilton's website, fell in love, and the rest is history. I wanted to document my progress step by step, so here are a few shots of the process, which spanned approximately two weeks.

With my first cake project finally under my belt, I am thinking of taking some classes! I had a great time doing this, and am now looking for a good excuse to try another cake. :-)

Beach bums, motherhood, and milestones

 It has been waaaayyyyy too long. I miss blogging. Sometimes life just gets the better of you...and I decided if I didn't continue with my blogging now, when would I? So here we are.

Steven will be 11 months tomorrow. 11. I spend my days now planning his birthday. He is so much fun, but sometimes it hurts thinking about how fast the time has gone. What does life with an 11 month old (and don't forget, our crazy 5 month old puppy Gator) look like? It is chaos! Steven is walking more and more each day (he just took his first steps about two weeks ago), and can take as many as 10 at a time. Last week he started standing on his own without any assistance, and prefers to not have any help (he is a little bit stubborn!). He is really starting to eat a lot of table food, and as of now, has refused to eat baby food in the last week. He learned how to clap, so that is now his new favorite thing to do! I didn't think this kid could get much happier than he already was, but clapping at everything just makes him giggle! He is truly such a joy beyond words. Did I mention that he says "mama?" We are trying to teach him other words, but he seems to be content with this one for now. :-)

We just got back from a wonderful beach vacation with my husbands family, and despite yucky weather for part of the time, we had an awesome time. It was so great to be at the beach, but my husband and I both agreed that the best part by far was being able to share family time with the three of us, without someone being at work (like we usually live with me working on weekends). Steven had the BEST time on the beach, which was a huge relief to his parents who love the beach and wanted to spend time on the beach.

Vacation with a child is soooo much different than before we had a child. Whew, it is exhausting! I miss the days of being able to just lay on the beach, read my book, and not move or talk to anyone. Sadly, those days have ended....but wonderfully, I have this little life that I am introducing to the world and that is so much more than the life I used to lead.

First day on the beach...he is still unsure here, but quickly learned to love that sand!

A little too much of the sand. It was pretty hot, also, and that heat got to all of us pretty quickly.

Playing guitar "with" daddy is always a favorite. When the boys were hanging out, playing around, he would dance and get a kick out of it. I think he'll definitely play some sort of instrument when he's older.

He was always trying to get at the stuff on the table from underneath, it was too funny! Here he was playing with the boys again, this time cards.

Best view of the ocean is clearly from standing on a chair

Steven and his cousins (Steve's cousin's kids). The four girls didn't know what to make of this little boy!

Us with all the grandkids and great grandkids

Grandma and Grandpa in front, and just a few of the kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids that were along for the vacation.

Family portrait

Uh, mom, can you put me down? I'd rather be on the sand.

Steven's first clap that we were able to get on film. He was sooooo proud of himself!

Our amazing beach view....we will miss you!

Going to the chapel, gonna get married!

Moments happen in life that you never thought would ever happen....case in point, my mom got remarried. It was a small wedding with family and a few friends, and it turned out beautifully! I got to meet my "stepsister" for the first time (still a little weird to say that yet) and a lot of Dave's family. It was wonderful to see a lot of my family and friends that we don't get to see too often, plus getting to spend time with my mom and sisters. We had a great time at the wedding, and surprisingly, there was no drama! The baby made it almost all the way through before he passed out. No offense to my mother, but he did steal some of the show with his outfit! 

The hat says it all...priceless!

My sister Jenna and her husband, Kris

My sister Christine and her boyfriend, Cody

My Aunt Karen and cousin Chris

Sisters!

Trip to Dallas

Even though a month has passed since our trip to Dallas, it doesn't make it any less blog-worthy. We went to visit good friends of ours for a few days, and we had a blast. Our trip started out rough (first attempt our flight was cancelled and we had to start over the next day :( ) but it ended up being ok. It was Steven's first flight, and he did better than I did.
Our Dallas friends have three boys, and Steven thoroughly enjoyed playtime with the big boys! The kids were not the only ones who had fun...Steve and Charlie went to a Rangers game and Beth and I got to play Yahtzee and watercolor (which turns out to be one of my gifts). If that's not enough, we also got to enjoy great food with our wonderful company! We left wishing that we got to see them more often. 

 Garrett (left) is about a month older than Steven (right) and these boys got along famously! It was wonderful that we could let them play and they would entertain themselves!

 Steve and Charlie(kneeling) created some sort of golfing game with the twins' toddler golf gear. They eventually caught us girls spying. :-)

 Steve at the Rangers game

 Steven loves the swings!!

 So does Garrett!!

 Best pic I had of Owen and Eli...they are two and a half year old twins, and couldn't be any cuter! By the end of the week, I felt like they were actually starting to feel comfortable with us around!

 Me and my little man!

 Beth and me and all the kids...jeesh! Funny that just a little over two years ago it was just her and I.

Steven and his daddy!