The Party

The Family converged on our house on a Sunday afternoon to celebrate the First Annual Birthday Extravaganza for The Dude. He was in particularly rare form that day - before the guests arrived he took his very first steps towards us in the living room. "Uh oh.", we said. And despite all the commotion of the kids, and the guests, and the presents, and the singing... he took even more independent steps, and this time we had witnesses! But more on that later....

Let's get to the good stuff! The Dude was definitely showered with awesome gifts for his birthday. From a super cool Radio Flyer tricycle to the best top on earth, he made out like a bandit.





So then came The Big Moment. We set him in his chair, put the cupcake in front of him with the HUGE candle, and everyone started to sing. He stared at us all, and stared at the candle... he wasn't too sure what it was...



...and being the curious monkey he is, he reached out to investigate... OUCH! We didn't blow it out in time! The poor little guy stuck his finger right in the flame!! Bad Mama and Papa! We burned our poor child on his first birthday... good grief.

Of course, he forgot about the whole traumatic experience in about 2 seconds and went on playing as usual - but he was done with the cake thing and we weren't able to get the whole photo montage of the messy cake experience. It just goes to show you that you can't "will" things to happen... you just have to show up.

Thanks to all that attended - it was a great party. And for those of you that couldn't make it, you were there in spirit and hopefully this says it all....

Happy Birthday!

Precisely one year ago, The Dude entered the world without a cry. We've replayed the events in our heads and now sit in disbelief that a whole year has gone by.

Owen, you continue to amaze us. You make us laugh, melt, and fall in love with you every day. Your determination and independence worry us at times, but we are so proud of the little person that you are becoming. This next year will bring a lot of changes for all three of us, and we are ready.
We love you, Dude.

Back Log of Photos

Hey Gang,
We have been having some issues with our computer as of late... namely our hard-drive which has ALL of our precious photos stored in one place (no, we do not have a back-up. EEEEK!). So when scrolling thru the photos on the camera, we realized that there are some really awesome pictures that we have yet to share.

Here you go, Dude fans... this will wet your whistle as we count down the days to the Numero Uno Birthday Extravaganza!

Recycle Dude

We all try to do our part in saving the environment, and The Dude is no exception.
He was so proud of himself, examining each item very closely as he removed them from the bin.
Paper...plastic...magazines...junk mail was his favorite.

Forgot to mention...

Oh! We forgot to mention that The Dude is now feeding himself with a spoon!
Forgive us for the poor quality of the video, it was taken with a cell phone. But it was the closest thing to us as he discovered how to maneuver the spoon...

Lost Lake

It didn't seem so lost to us...But you wouldn't have thought that given the road we took to get there! Thank goodness for the new Subaru! Go AWD!! (We took a goat trail of a road over the mountain that was mostly one lane and gravel... talk about amazing views!)

Once we emerged from the forest, the beautiful Lost Lake was before us. The Dude had been there before, but it was while he was still inside, about a month before he was born.

THIS time, he could enjoy all that the place had to offer - his four favorite things:

-Family (Nonna, Auntie A, Uncle S, Nora, Poppy and Gram-Manda were all in attendance)
-Dirt
-WATER!
-Rocks


We had a great day of playing in the water, snacking, and taking turns in the canoe with Captain Papa.


Before we know it, these two will be heading out on their own....

Another one down...

It seems to us, each time we post we mention something about how quickly the time goes by.... so we will spare you. But HOLY COW, does time sure fly!

The Dude is now 11 months old. According to the shipping computer at Papa's work, he is around 18.5 lbs, standing like a pro (sometimes unassisted!), eating like a horse, constantly babbling, imitating words and sounds like crazy (not always getting the right sounds, but definitely nailing the syllables), and definitely going thru a "Mama Phase".

No sure signs of walking soon, though when lead by the fingers of the lovely Gram-Manda he struts his legs like a toy soldier. He's getting the idea, and trust us - we are in no kind of hurry.

"Sleep" is still a four letter word in our house, but some nights are better than others. Chalk it up to developmental beasties, teething or separation anxiety... who knows - but we've given up obsessing about it and given in to the fact that will probably never go back to our pre-baby, well rested look. *sigh*

But the payoffs are HUGE. We have a happy, goofy, active little guy who is the light of our universe. And when he plants a sloppy, wet kiss on you, you can't help but forget about how tired you are.

Let the preparations for The Great First Birthday Extravaganza begin!