Happy First Birthday, Drew!

Our baby is one today.  It's amazing how quickly a year goes by.  We had a pretty busy day today, which was kind of a bummer, considering it was about 70 degrees here and we really didn't get to enjoy it much.  Hopefully tomorrow will be as nice and we can get outside a little more.

Drew has had met some more milestones the past few days, just in time for his first birthday.  First, he used a spoon for the first time.  He really enjoyed the spoon.  Sometimes he would scoop with it, and other times he would use his left hand to put food on the spoon and then put the spoon in his mouth with his right hand.  Of course, there was a lot of spilling going on, but that's ok.  

Drew's other newest trick is that he started WALKING!!! Yay! Last night he took his first steps. I think the most he took in a row was about 4 or 5. He seemed pretty proud of himself.  We even managed to get some of it on video, but I can't post that here.

So, for Drew's birthday today, we started the day with some Hot Hoops, one of his favorite toys of his big brother's.  Drew loves to put the balls in the hoop, but he has also figured out how to put the ball on the little launcher and launch the balls towards the hoop.  He has yet to make a basket that way, but at least he's trying.  I couldn't decide between which of these first 2 pictures to post, so I just went with the both because I think they're cute.

After we picked Zach up from preschool, we made an impromptu stop by the park to see our friends and former neighbors Susan and Anna.  Susan was due to have her second baby yesterday but is still waiting.  It was great to see them again.  

After our very brief stop at the park we headed home for lunch and then went to Drew's one year photo shoot.  That was a blast.  We went to the same place where we had Zach's one year photos taken, and she just does such a great job.  It's too bad we can't afford to go there more often!  I was worried Drew would be shy and not smiley, but he was great.  He didn't want to sit/stand still, but I am hopeful that Susan (not the aforementioned Susan) got some good pictures.  At the end we put Drew in just his diaper and put a little cake in front of him and let him go at it.  That was so fun.  He wasn't sure what to think at first.  He got some frosting on his hand and just kept looking at his fingers like, "What is this stuff on my hand?"  Then he pulled the candle out of the cake and was trying to put the frosting from his hand onto the candle.  Eventually he put a little in his mouth, but even then, I wasn't sure he was really into the frosting.  Then he got his leg in the cake, and he kept lifting it up, so he was trying to balance himself on just one leg.  Thankfully he didn't fall over.  That was especially good because at one point in the shoot he crawled off a little chair head-first (we just couldn't get there in time) and bonked himself on the hard floor.  So I'm sure in the cake photos he will have a little red spot on his forehead, but that's ok.  Anyway, finally Zach got into the picture with him, and they both had spoons.  Then they could really go at it, and that was fun for both of them.  I can't wait to see the proofs.  I doubt I'll be able to post any of them on here, but if I can figure out a way to do it, I will.  It was so much fun, but by the time we were done, Drew and Zach were ready for naps and I was ready for a break, too.

Here's a funny picture from a few days after Drew was born and one from today that I think is funny.

Some other things I want to remember about Drew and things he's doing right now:

-He loves to grab the phone and hold it up to his mouth and say, "Aaaaah," as though he's talking to someone.

-If you ask him what a cow says, he'll say, "Boooooo!"

-He is figuring out how things work.  At the grocery store the other day, he took the pen from my hand and was trying to use it to write on the paper.  The tip wasn't out and he wasn't holding it in a way that would actually make the ink go onto the paper, but I could tell he had the right idea.  It also seemed like he was aiming the remote at the TV the other day, which would be weird, because the TV is rarely on when he's awake.

-He loves Zach's marble run.  There are lots of things that spin and flip on it.  The other day I asked him, "Drew, what do you want to play with?"  And he went straight to that marble run.  Then he raised his hand up towards the top of the TV (where we keep the marbles) and started going, "Ooooooh!  Oooooooh!"  until I got a marble for him.  Don't worry, I sit right with him when he has the marbles so he doesn't put them in his mouth, and he only gets one at a time.

-He has no fear of dogs, big or small, but apparently is a little afraid of cats.  He's just like his mom!

-He likes singing, and if you ask him if he can dance, he bounces up and down and smiles.

-He has long been fascinated by my belly, but just recently he started giving me raspberries on it.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, and I feel like some of what I just wrote I've written before, but hey, that's why I'm writing it down; so I don't forget it!

And, because no post is complete without a Zach story or two, though these are probably only funny to Mike and me:

-The other night I was awakened by Zach coming into our room crying.  The next thing I knew, he was crawling up onto our bed.  In my groggy state of mind I thought, "What the hell is Mike doing, letting Zach get in bed with us?"  Then I hear Mike telling Zach we'll take care of it in the morning, so I asked Zach what was wrong.  Turned out he had a toenail that was bothering him, and he wanted us to cut his nail.  It was like, 2 in the morning.  I felt his toenail and could feel that a little piece of it was loose, so I grabbed it and pulled before Zach could protest.  I was a little worried that I would pull off more than necessary and he'd be hurting a lot, but thankfully, that did not happen.  I got the loose piece of nail removed, and Zach happily went back to bed with no more tears.

-Yesterday I was taking the boys to Grandma Linda's for the day and the dogs to be groomed, and then I was going to run some errands.  Zach woke up happy and was full of instructions on what I should do to take care of Puppy, his little stuffed dog.  It went something like, "First you have to feed him, Mom, and give him a pill so he doesn't get ear infections.  Give him one scoop of food and some water.  And make sure you let him out."  Then there were about 20 other directions that I didn't really listen to because I was trying to get everything/everyone ready to go.  I did tell Zach I wasn't going to be home to take care of Puppy, so he decided that George (as in Curious George, the stuff monkey) could take care of puppy "with his four hands."  Then at the end Zach said, "Ok, so follow all those ingredients, ok, Mom?"  I thought it was cute the he used the word ingredients there instead of instructions.  I know, it's not really a funny/cute story for anyone but the kid's mom and dad.

Ok, time for bed.  We're having Mike's family over this weekend for a little birthday party for Drew, so you can be sure I'll lots more pictures and aimless ramblings to post then.