happy birthday to me!!!

that's right - i'm officially a year old today, as of 8:51am CST. :) woohoo!!!i won't write much today because i have a lot of celebrating to do, but i wanted to post a few pictures. then later this week i'll post more pictures of me today doing birthday stuff with mommy and daddy.

so far today i've already been to the doctor and had to get some shots, but i was pretty tough (after i stopped crying). dr. booger said i'm perfect, and now i'm officially a toddler - yikes! mommy is having a hard time with this one, so that's why i cried during the shots - so that she could comfort me one last time as a little baby. :)

i'm walking all over the place now and am just as happy as can be. it's been cold here a few days so i had a few more chances to wear my cute hat. mommy couldn't help herself, so there's lot of pictures of that... enjoy! and stay tuned for more pictures from my Special Day... bye!

more christmas fun!

hello again! sorry for the late follow-up on the rest of our christmas celebrations. it's already been a busy (but good) 2009, but i wanted to share pictures of christmas with daddy's family too! of course we had a great time, and i got even more cool toys. because i got so many toys for jesus's birthday, i wonder who is going to get all the toys on my birthday? hmmm...

in any case, i will always think of my relatives when i play with these toys. here's one of my favorites now - band instruments from grandpa! he knows how much i like to bang on things, so he got me a drum - with bonus instruments inside! this one is a lot of fun and fits right in since mommy and daddy and i like music so much. ..

here i am peering in to see if maybe there's any snacks inside (sadly, no)...

although i got some drumsticks in my band set, i found my mom's cooking spoon to be fun as well. here i am testing out the acoustics on a gift waiting to be unwrapped...

and inside that big gift was a cool animal-ball-roller-coaster thing - very fun! as you can see, i didn't really like it that much, though... (kidding!)

here's grandpa playing with me...

and mimsie got me a neat activity table too (not pictured). and lots of other cool stuff... here i am chewing on a rubber longhornie (as opposed to a rubber duckie) - yum...

no comment...

here's what i look like right before sneezing...

and just a general shot of me from the side... mommy thought this one was especially cute since i resemble a chipmunk, although my cheeks are actually empty!

another close-up of a funny face...

here i am playing the recorder (which came in the drum) the other day! mommy practiced with me until i could do it myself (about 3 minutes) and now i love to make music and sometimes even dance to it at the same time! i like this instrument a lot...

thanks to everyone for all my fun gifts! i am so blessed to have a loving family and really had fun with everyone over the holidays. and now i'm pretty set for my birthday, so i'm just asking for lots and lots and lots of cake... and ice cream! :)

now that christmas is over and things are getting back to normal around here, i like to help mommy around the house. i'm really good at dusting because i give it all i've got...

i also have been walking a lot! crazy! i especially like to walk back and forth between mommy and daddy, but i still do a lot of crawling too. i'm pretty fast on the ground, so if i need to get anywhere in a hurry (like to the dishwasher before mommy closes it or to the kitchen if someone's in there having a snack) then i just crawl. i'll keep you updated on the progress i make over the next few weeks...

otherwise, mommy and me are back at it during the day, and i have loads of fun with daddy in the evenings and weekends. we saw the dwights the other day, which was fun, and i think we'll see them more this weekend! i've been working on my noises but am not speaking any official words yet, other than dada and mama (i'll just stick to typing them since that's easier). i love emptying the contents of drawers onto the floor. i like kitchen utensils a lot. books are great. i'm eating all kinds of foods - almost everything that mommy and daddy can eat! breads are my favorite but i'm still good with veggies and especially fruits.

okay, enough about me. i'll leave you with a few more pictures of me goofing around... and p.s. my shirt is red, even though it may look a little pink online. it is definitely red. :) bye!

happy 2009!

happy 2009! hope everyone had a great Christmas - i know i sure did! we got back from indiana a few days ago and i already miss everyone so much! we had such a great time and i was a really good boy at beamee and grampee's. :) we were there 6 days and did lots of neat things, so here are some pictures to tell the story...

christmas day was so much fun! we opened lots of presents and there were so many boxes and bows to play with! i was very thankful for the things i got, but i also enjoyed checking out everyone else's stash (clearly this isn't mine, since it's pink!)

playing with aunt elaina... i like her a lot, but i really had my eye on her camera!

since i wasnt' really old enough to play with that, aunt aimee let me play with her camera case instead, so i gave it a shot... here i am trying to decide between my new toys and the camera case...

the camera case won, so here are my toys looking on with feelings of neglect...

crawling over lauren to get to some paper...

riding another cool airplane, but this time at SELT's! this one is lauren and taylor's but they let me take it for a spin...

chillin' out in SELT's basement, watching aunt elaina take every down in wii darts...

here we are at great grandma suever's house - we got to go there for one day and see our relatives in michigan. that was a lot of fun because there are even more kids and big people to play with! here we are piling on aunt ginny!

this was also where i first officially WALKED! that's right, folks, i'm a walker. i had been taking a step or two, here and there, but i officially walked (many steps, a couple different times) at great grandma suever's house on december 27. very cool. and i'll write more about that in another blog! but now, back to Christmas...

here's my cousin, nolan, and i taking a nap together upstairs. minutes after this picture was taken, we were both awake and crying hysterically... sorry nolan!

it's a tradition for the kids to do a pinata every year, but i was skeptical from the start. normally they do it in the barn, but it was raining and so we promised to be careful inside (unlike the year aunt aimee dented the wall with the golf club that was being used as the stick... luckily everyone wised up before i came along! what were they thinking?!) in any case, daddy helped me out and i tried to keep an open mind...

...but i was decidedly against the pinata this year. sorry gang! maybe next year! :)

luckily a little chat with great-grandma suever calmed me right down... i sure do like her!

michigan was great, but we only got to stay one day. but then that gave us more time back at beamee and grampee's, so it all worked out. "uncle" brent came over one day (and aunts ashley and holly - yea!), and i like him a lot. he makes funny noises and funny faces. i showed him how i can making clicking noises with my tongue like he was doing!

watching daddy grill on the big green egg...

well, that's probably enough pictures for now. we played lots of games, ate lots of good food (i had cookies, jello, cake, meat, yum!) and just had so much together. i love all my relatives so much! but alas, all good things much come to an end, and so we had to head home on tuesday...

we made it to the airport a little early, so there was time to play before our flight. indianapolis has a new airport, and it was really nice! here i am standing up and eating my sock...

extreme close-up of my making "oooooo" noises, which i really love to do lately...

the one-millionth kissie from mom (that day)...

now where did that sock go?!

while searching for the sock, i ran across a snack on the floor - how convenient!

but mommy wouldn't let me eat it, so she shared just a few bites of her frappuccino instead - yum!

here's a few more shots of me under the chairs...

i was a great boy on the flight and slept most of the way in mommy's arms. once we got back in the car, i was glad to see austin again and sang a little song on the drive home...

but after such a great trip and a long week, i couldn't even make it to my bed... see you next time, indiana... thanks for the best first Christmas ever! :)