One Year Old!

Can you believe it Ian is a year old! I can't even believe it. I ended up taking the day off work on Friday and Ian and I played all day. We even were able to take a nice long nap it was great! Then it was Party Time (thanks to Emily Buckley for the layout idea)!

We had a small party with family and friends which might as well be considered family.

Top Left: Thompson's: watch Ian during the week. Ian was constantly running over to them. Jeppesen's: also watch Ian during the week. Grandpa Bruce, Jimmer, Amy: Thanks Amy for taking pictures!!! Bottom Left: McKeon's love playing with Ian, he of course loves it too, G.G. Diamond, Grandma Cindy, G.G. Foster.

We spent most of the day unwrapping a few presents here and there. Ian took a while at first because he had to make sure all of the paper was off. Even when it was off the present he would rip it again -silly boy! Thanks Hartzheim's for sending those gifts Ian has been hammering away!

Everyone arrived at 5:30 and we had Ian's favorite dinner spaghetti. It was a gorgeous day all day but of course once we got everything outside to have dinner the wind began to blow. Dinner went well -Ian loves spaghetti and is becoming a pro at eating with a fork. Then we came back in and all gathered downstairs in the basement for presents and cake.

When I saw everyone in the basement I was a little worried Ian might be overwhelmed. The moment we brought him down he went into hyper mode. He was running all over the place from one person to the next just giggling and loving every minute of it -and this was before the cake!

He loved everything everyone so generously gave him. If there were a stronger word than love I would use it. We spent the next hour opening present and laughing at Ian as he played with everyone. We had to hid each present from him in order to get him to open the next one. Then we even had to hid to start hiding the cards. He was sooooooo happy and excited. Picture do not do it justice he was amazing I was so impressed. He even said thank you.

Uncle Andrew and Ian putting on new shoes Grandma gave us -much needed!
Ready to roll!

Cake Time! Tim's family tradition is that on your first birthday you give the child a lamb cake and then they destroy/eat it. Our tradition: Is you put the cake on a sheet, stripe them down to their diaper and away they go. So we mixed both and put a lamb cake on a sheet and let him go.

Lamb Cake: Tim made the cake and decorated.
Ian did not know what to do with it at first -we put his finger in it and he discovered he hated the feel of frosting. He spent quite a while just trying to flick it off his fingers. Then he just picked at it with a fork instead of eating it. He wasn't even making a mess and what is the fun in that so...

I brought down a large square of actual chocolate butter cream frosting cake on a plate!
The picture explains the rest!

It was a great day! Thanks to everyone for coming and sharing this special day with us!
Video will be posted as soon as Tim is done with finals later this week -then you can really see how absolutely excited he was.

As for the rest of our night. Ian went down to bed a little late at about 8:30. He went right to sleep then at 9:15 he woke up crying which is unusual so I went and checked on him. When I got him out of bed he pushed and kicked to get out of my arms. When I finally set him down he giggled and ran for the door and tried to head downstairs. Do you think he had a good day!?! He didn't want it to end. Thanks again!

Memorial Day!

What a day!!! We started off getting a few chores done around the house. First item of business was packing up all of Ian's baby toys. He does not play with his baby toys anymore he mostly just throws them to the side to get to the other toys. But he sure had fun while I was packing them up.

We went for a fun bike ride this afternoon with the Jeppesen's. We went during Ian's last naptime assuming he would fall asleep -which he did the last couple minutes. He had a blast playing in his chariot the entire 1 1/2 bike ride -with a few stops to play at the parks here and there.

We went up to Mack Park and then on the Smithfield Heritage trail which heads down to the Blue Socks field. Pike came too- but during this time Kaylie and Anthony were walking around with him.

Ian loves playgrounds and is really good at getting messy.
He loved going down the slides -with help of course. And runs giddily towards them.

And then attempts to climb back up them. He actually was really good at climbing up the slides -almost too good.

The sand....need I say more...

He loves letting it fall through his fingers and onto his legs and then he wipes his hands all over his clothes.

After our bike ride we stopped at A&W's and got ice cream cones. Ian loves ice cream!!! He kept trying to mooch off everyone. Apparently he thought Kaylie would give in and sat with her. We then heading to my parents for a good old barbque. Then came home and played games with the neighbors. Ian had even more ice cream. Just a little though, all of us we outside eating delicious homemade ice cream sandwiches that our neighbors the McKeon's made. I am usually not a big fan of ice cream sandwiches but they were delicious. Ian just keep using his sign language and signing "more" right after having a bit. All of the sudden he is picking up sign language left and right it is amazing.

It was a great day and soon we will have a new addition to our family
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Say hello to the Nissan Murano -Honestly did you think I was going to say a child??? If so you are crazy because that is not happening for a while -a long while grandma's and grandpa's. But seriously your child turns one -or is almost one and that just seems to be the generic questions. I have to start using my toes to count how many times that question has been asked -and that is just this weekend. Although Lisa did warn me. Anyway...

We are trading in the Escort and adding the Nissan to the family. We don't have it yet the dealership is fixing a few things and putting on all new tires for us so we'll have it in just over a week. It is a 2005 in really good condition and with only 22,000 miles on it. While I am not crazy on the color it is not too bad...kind of growing on me. The plus side is it hardly ever looks dirty. It has a lot more room than both of our cars and leather seats for our messy little boy. We all can't wait for it to arrive -including Ian he loves it when the seats are all down so he can run around in it.

It was a great weekend and I am not ready for it to end. I would like to say if I don't go to bed maybe tomorrow will not begin -but we all know that doesn't work ;)

Cheerios

Ian is obsessed with eating the cheerios -and he prefers them straight out of the box. I usually don't let him have the multi-grain because they have quite a bit of sugar in them.

He loves sharing food with the dog. But sometimes gets upset when Pike eats what he was sharing with him. Like the bread stick he so generously gave to the dog last night and then got very upset when the dog ate it (and very quickly because he knew we would try to take it away).He also loves walking the dog. The dog does really well with it too. However if the dog is not going when Ian wants him to go then he hits him with the handle on the leash. The dog does pretty well with that too and just looks at us I we put Ian on warning and then as he laughs and does it again we put him in time out. Time out the first time -nightmare!!!
Now it is going pretty well.

All is going well here I cannot wait until summer which happens in 7 1/2 more school days. That means I have 7 1/2 more days to find a decent looking and fitting swimming suit because swim lessons with Ian start the following Monday! Hurray! Bring on the sun :)

Cheese :)

Tim's brother came down last week and while they all left and went shooting Ian and I had our own photo shoot. Let just say it was a little challenging with me taking the pictures and trying to keep him in one place long enough to snap a picture -we still got some fun pictures though.

Ian's new thing is to push his rocking chair up to the window in order to get a good view but mostly he likes to bang on the window.

This past week he has become quite the little trouble maker. He is constantly trying to get the dogs food, get into the bathroom and flush the toilet, or knock over something fragile. When we go to take him away he begins arching his back kicking and screaming - total tantrum from an almost one year old. I am pretty sure you can't put a almost one year old in time out. Lately I have just been walking away and ignoring it. If I give him the attention he laughs and does it again or finds something new to destroy. Little stinker.

This is Ian with my pump piece. He has discovered that if he blows raspberries into it -it sounds much louder. He gets quite a good chuckle out of it as you can tell.

Cruisin'

The weather here has been beautiful. A little rainy last week but who doesn't love a little rain? This picture does not do justice to how bright the rainbow actually was. There was even two of them (only one it the picture). Ian and I played in the rain and he thought it was quite funny when the water would splash on his hands. Then it warmed up and the neighborhood came out.

We have decided that we are getting a bike for Ian for his birthday. He loved the Jeppesen's pink bike, his probably wont be pink. I think every child in the neighborhood loves this bike. Thankfully Brent was more than happy to push him around on it while I snapped pictures.

I just thought this picture was too cute not to post. Ian loves Brent he is still today the only person that he will actually wave to. Although Ian loves everybody he is such a happy boy!

Running!

Things have been busy with little sleep,
but here are a few highlights from this past week.

We finally broke down and got drawer/cupboard locks. We really did not want to put them in but as you can see from the picture below -it is not hard to tell why we did.

Ian no longer walks -he runs! It makes us (me) very nervous and he is filled with little bumps and bruises to prove it. His new discovering is sliding large items towards the window, couch, anything to use as a stepping stool in order to climb as high as possible.

Ian loves being outside and taking wagon rides with the neighbors.
Mostly just giggles when he picks the grass and finds little rocks.

He is still a big eater and does not pick at his food. He prefers to eat in handfuls at a time.

He gets into the pantry and goes straight for the cheerios. When doing dishes if I do not watch closely I will find him sitting there eating handfuls at a time straight out of the box.
Don't worry though he has learned very quickly who to blame.

As for Pike he is doing pretty good -loves any attention anyone will give him. He too is happy to get outside when possible. Here he is cuddled in all of our fresh laundry -my parents watched Ian Saturday afternoon while Tim and I went on a date and were kind enough to finish our laundry. Although here the dog is rolling all over in it
-so I am not sure whether to say thank you or how could you?As for Me- 23 school days left until I get to be at home with Ian (oh- and Tim).
Tim is still in school on and off until middle of June.
The summer is soon approaching and we all can't wait!

Best Friends!

Ian and Pike are best friends -according to Ian that is. If Pike could speak he might not agree -but he still loves him. Appreciate this picture because it took me forever to get. Ian does not like Pike looking out his window -he pushes him out of the way immediately. Then pike tries again and Ian begins swinging at him. It is pretty funny to watch but the two of them still enjoy playing tug-o-war together with Pike's toys.

Ian loves to share his food with Pike -but only if Ian's mouth is currently full of food.
Ian has also discovered with all of his walking that he is bigger than Pike and he tackles him -we are talking bear hug tackle. Pike hates it but deals with it really well. He usually see it coming because Ian gets this mischievous grin on his face and takes off running. Yes running -not walking with a wobble but running. He is growing up so fast he now has three teeth on the top with the fourth on on its way and two on bottom. He loves climbing on top of things and then sliding back down them. He is getting really good at going down the stairs the right way...he can get off our our bed (but keep in mind it is only a couple feet off the floor), and he can get off the couch. It is really nice because when I am rushing to get ready for work in the morning I just leave him in our bed turn on Little Einsteins and know that he will be fine. When he is ready to get down he turn turns around and slides down then proceeds to come in and see how well he can destroy the bathroom. He is a smart kid and is growing up much too fast in just over a month he will be one year old -crazy how time fly's!