"Oh I Just Can't WAIT To Be King!"

Doesn't this face just look like a little one-year old King?!

Walking in his new Nike tennis shoes. We went and bought him his very 1st pair! It really adds to the big boy look! He carries his blankie everywhere, usually just like this, in his mouth!

Getting the hang of things!

Dylan's 1st Birthday party was Jungle themed. My sister made him the precious outfit and safari hat. He really seemed to be quite overwhelmed during the present opening section of the party. I ended up opening the majority of them. He enjoyed digging into the cake but did NOT want to eat any! He invited one buddy, Brady, to the party! :) We had fun with a small group of family and friends celebrating Dylan's first year of life!

First Steps

As I watched you take your first steps
I cheered and smiled for you.
I can't believe how much you've grown
Your life shines through and through.

As I watched you take your first steps
My heart skipped a little beat.
You are changing into our little boy
And that is bittersweet.

As I watched you take your first steps
My mind quickly began to spin
A whole new world awaits you now
Oh the mischief you will be in!

As I watched you take your first steps
A new adventure has begun
Our sweet little Dylan Thomas
Is steppin' on to being ONE!

Love, Mommy

Dylan took his first steps on Wednesday, August 11th. He is becoming so brave about it! The most steps we have counted in a row are 12. I have a feeling it won't be long before his main mode of transportation is walking! He's cutting more molars so we hope that resolves itself before the birthday. It's causing some trouble sleeping at night! He also has started mimicking a bunch lately. If we say "shhh", so does Dylan! He "vroom-vrooms" his boats, cars, trucks, etc. He is so much fun right now!

Everything Changin' at Eleven Months!

Ok, so you hear everyone tell you over and over and over that "your baby will change so quickly", "time flies", or "don't blink or they will be grown" and for many years I half-heartedly listened and agreed. But, you can classify that with all the other "You don't get it till you experience it" things because IT IS TRUE! I can't believe that Dylan Thomas is 11 months old! Everything is changing in our world. We are seeing signs of a 'BIG BOY' at our house instead of a baby. He will ALWAYS be our baby, but he is becoming so much more independent. Examples below:
His new favorite place to play is inside this basket in our den. He can climb in and climb out all by himself. Oh, did I mention CLIMB??!!!!!!!!!!! He apparently has inherited his long legs and need for scaling things from me! He climbs onto the fireplace hearth, into the recliner, and my sister and I stared in amazement last week as he pulled out the bottom drawer of our chest to get a foot rest and began to CLIMB the chest of drawers. Really?! I can't leave this blue-eyed beauty alone for 2 seconds!We have graduated to ALL table foods! Once he got a taste of the "real" stuff, he was hooked. The only thing I can feed him from a spoon these days is yogurt. He likes hamburger, pickles, rice and veggies, grilled chicken, pot roast (yes, I said pot roast!), cheese ravioli, and FRUIT! The only fruit I have found so far that he won't eat is cantaloupe. He prefers toast for breakfast with butter and cinnamon. Yummy, right?! I have to admit I love the table food age. Now, when he eats I can eat too! I just have to make sure he doesn't have too much in front of him or it will all end up in his mouth!

On a side note, he puts anything and everything in his mouth. The smallest piece of string not even visible to my eyes, he finds and crams it in there! I have been bit on several occasions while trying to pry that mouth open to retrieve something! I did catch the orange crayon before it was too late :-(
Not sure about the pickle:

This was so much fun to watch. Instead of spoon-feeding him rice and veggies, I just poured it out on his tray and let him have at it. He had the best time! More definitely ended up on the floor than inside his tummy!You can't beat little messy baby hands! Enjoying our baby pool outside. Dylan played in the shade and I tried to catch a few rays. He has 1000's of facial expressions. I believe he gets those from.....oh yeah, ME!!!We now have locks on all the cabinets and drawers. This picture was pre-locks. One morning, I just let him have at it in our bathroom. He played for probably 30 minutes with my "travel" accessories. A kid in a candy store!

Other exciting changes:

We are working on our 1st molar. It is partially through.

He points at what he wants. It's a 3 finger point: his thumb, pointer, and middle fingers. :-)

The jibber-jabber is NON-STOP! He repeats after us, most of which in his own little language, but it is so much fun!

He can repeat these words after we say them:

Da-da, Ma-ma, and Bye-bye :-) but he also thinks it is really funny to repeat da-da even if you are trying to get him to say one of the other words. Such a pistol! ;)

When Jonathan gets home from work, he starts saying "Ne-ne" which is Nelli. He knows that Jonathan is going to take him outside to play with Nelli and feed her. :)

We are working on saying bible and dog right now.

He is still taking 2 naps a day. He has gotten into a pretty good routine with them and will sleep for at least an hour at a time, but he has cut the nighttime sleep down a little bit. He sleeps 10 to 10 1/2 hours instead of 11.

He is getting so brave at standing up by himself. He will stand there and look at me like "What's next, Mom?" I have to believe those first steps are around the corner.

He has a little bit of "stinker" in him already: telling us no-no, trying to bite when he doesn't get his way, but that's all apart of learning and growing up, I guess! He is such a joy.

Thanks for making in through this long post! I probably could write even more, but I need to go get a few more things done while Dylan naps!

Heat Wave!

There is definitley a HEAT WAVE rushing through Arkansas this summer. That means we either a) stay indoors or b) find water fast!!!!!!! Andrea and I took Brady and Dylan to Splash Zone for the first time. We stayed for 2 hours! You gotta love zero-entry pools. They are the absolute best for little movin' boys! We had a great day!One of my best girl friends since 7th grade, Amy, was in town for her sister's wedding. We got to spend some quality time catching up. She has 2 little munchkins now! Miss Emory is the sweetest little thing ever! I had the priveledge to hold her through Amy's sisters' wedding, so she could be the Matron of Honor. Eli, who is 2, didn't come over. He had a play date with his grandparents. I love and miss you Amy! I wasn't sure how Dylan would do with the tiny baby, but he was SO sweet! He just looked at her and patted her little arms. :-) I guess it's the summer for catching up with dear friends. Kelly was in town for a visit and spent one night with us. She got lots of "Dylan" time and he, of course, loved it! It was great to see her! Love you Kelly!!!

Our plan is to either be in the pool or in the house while these temps reach into the 100's. We are ready for fall!!!!!!!!!!!!!