One

October 2, 2009

How is it possible that Anderson in one? I just cannot believe that it was a year ago that we brought this sweet little guy home and into our lives. He has been so wonderful and such a great baby.

I remember how bad we wanted him to have lots of dark hair but we were so surprised when he actually did.

We couldn't decide on a name right away and it wasn't until we had to fill out the papers at the hospital that we actually came to an agreement. Anderson Kade :) It was cold and rainy the day he was born, exactly like it is today on his birthday. We showed up early to the hospital, things went smoothly, and by 3:30pm he was born. I felt great, he was healthy, and things were good. And now here we are, a year later and he is just as sweet as he was the day he was born.

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

He still doesn't have any teeth. He cruises around the furniture and will stand for a few seconds on his own, but can't walk without help. He LOVES his brother Jack. They play and laugh and scream at each other. Anderson has quite the scream, and Jack loves to copy him. He loves to play with phones, remotes, balls, and cars. He is now climbing the stairs, and has fallen once, but Justin was at the bottom to catch him, thank heavens! He loves Justin. A lot of the time he will prefer him over me, depending on his mood. Especially right when Justin gets home. He hurries over to the door and doesn't want Justin to put him down. If you ask him what a specific animal says, he will usually growl. Unless you ask him what a doggy says and then he will make a little barking sound. His hair is growing at a rapid speed and is in need of a second haircut. He has always been small as far as weight goes, and I am anxious to see his stats at his 12 month check up and find out if he has made it past the 5th percentile yet. He is getting pickier with his foods and does not eat as well as Jack did. I have to secretly give him veggies or he will not eat them. He is still taking two naps a day and is usually very happy. So far, in his first year of life he has traveled to Seattle, WA (2x), Salt Lake, UT, Las Vegas, NV, Disneyland, Washington DC, Boston, MA, Palmyra, NY, New Port, RI, Nashville, TN, Erie and Pittsburgh, PA, and various parts of Ohio. It has been a busy year, and so much fun.

Thanks for being such a sweet boy Anderson!!!

Hopefully you stay sweet and innocent for a long time. :)

Anderson is ONE!!!

Wow....this last year was the fastest year of my life!! Our sweet little Anderson is one today. We had a small little celebration with homemade pizza and cupcakes. Anderson wanted to invite his friend, Eli. :)

We was really tired when we were doing cupcakes, so I am glad he made it through with a smile.

Love the curious face.

"What is that bright thing on the top of my cupcake?"

"Hmm....I've never tasted anything like this before...but I think I like it."

Yummy!!!

Jack sporting the party hat.

We were trying to get a good picture of Eli and Anderson, and this one was by far my favorite! Even though Anderson isn't paying any attention, Eli's face is priceless!! Does it get any cuter than that?! He looks like he is a dental ad or something, showing off those pearly whites and cute smile. The funny thing is, Anderson is just barely older than Eli and he still has no teeth. Zero! Jack was 11 months old when he finally got some, but Anderson is trailing behind.

Anderson found a bowl of mini m&m's and we found him going to town on them. He has never had any candy or anything, so between the cupcake and the bowl of m&m's, he was loving life....

....until I took the bowl away. This is him climbing up my leg crying, and begging me to give them back. I'm a mean mom, I guess. One cupcake and a half a bowl of m&m's is probably enough for one day buddy!

We didn't open presents yet because he was too tired, so we will do that tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Anderson!!!

We love you!

Soccer

Jack had his first soccer game this morning. He is beyond excited to play and he is even more excited that Justin is his coach. After the game, we got in the car and he says to Justin, "Thanks for being my coach!" It was so cute. We did have a small meltdown this morning when we were putting his shin guards on. I should have tried them on him earlier so he could get used to it because he did not want to wear them. After we convinced him that if he wore them, they would make him kick the ball really hard and run extra fast, he was ok with it. :)

As you can tell, my camera is high quality. Especially with action shots. Ha! Every single picture was blurry. Oh well.

He had a lot of fun during the practice time when they were doing drills and other stuff. Once they started the game though, he would go after the ball and with 20 3 yr. olds, someone usually got there before he did and kicked it first. We had a small break down towards the end of the game, when he said with a few tears, "Everyone keeps taking the ball from me!" Overall, he had a blast. It was cold and rainy but fun.

Go Jack, go!!!

Sulphur Springs

A little while ago, we had a really warm day and decided to head out to Sulphur Springs, near Chagrin Falls. I am so glad we took advantage of the warm weather! Especially since today was 52 and rainy.

We tried to hold Anderson the whole time but about ten seconds after we got to the water, he would NOT stay in our arms. He wanted to get down so bad, so we let him get in, even though he had his clothes on and he had a blast. He was so cute kicking his feet through the water and picking up the rocks and throwing them.

I love his little straight smile :)

We were all having so much fun until we got to a slippery part and Jack fell into the water. He wasn't sure why I was just standing there taking a picture and not helping him. He makes a pretty good sad face.

It is so beautiful walking through the water with all of the trees all around.

This is one of the many places that I will miss when we leave Ohio. It is still 7 months away but every time we visit somewhere, I think about how much I am going to miss it.

Feeling much better after we started to dry off. :)

Jack's first day of Preschool

Jack has been waiting for this day for a long time. He has been "practicing for preschool" since we found out he was going to go there months ago. Everything that he does that is something a big boy would do, he says he is "practicing for preschool". He talks about how he thinks his teachers are going to teach him how to drive a remote control car, and he has been counting down the days until he actually gets to go. So you can imagine that he was a little excited when he woke up and realized today was the day. He was pretty cute, even when he was taking forever to eat his eggs when we needed to get out the door.

Justin went to grab his backpack and Jack says, "Oh, just like I have a backpack?" He loves that he goes to school just like his dad and that they both have backpacks.

You are a pretty big boy Jack!!

Love the Chinese eyes...he keeps doing this silly squinting smile.

We parked at the school...

...found his room, 142...

...found his cubby where he hung up his backpack...

...said hi to one of his teachers, Mrs. Epstein, who gave him a name tag...

...and he headed straight for the trains. He didn't miss a beat. Some kids were crying and not wanting their mom and dads to leave them, but he was just so excited and he was totally fine. Part of me was sad to see him so independent, but the other part of me was glad that I didn't have to leave him there sobbing and sad.

He gave us some kisses and off we went, leaving our little guy behind to have his first day of school. Weird!!!

When I picked him up he was sad that he didn't get to go and play in the gym but his teacher reassured him that they would be going there tomorrow so he felt much better after that. He said he was tired and had a long day at preschool but he also said he had lots of fun and that he really likes his teachers.

You did great today bud!!! Thanks for being such a great little boy. I know you will do so well in your class. You always make friends so easily and I am excited to hear about all the things you will be learning throughout the year. Good luck Jackers, we love you!!!

Final days of Summer

Summer has been wrapping up so quickly, we can't hardly believe we are even in the month of September. We celebrated Justin's 28th birthday on the 31st of August!! Once again, he didn't want a big party, but Jack and I were sure to make him a cake and his favorite dinner of roast, carrots and "real" mashed potatoes. Jack decorated the upper left hand side of the cake. :)

Do you like the 2 plus eight extra candles?? 28!

(Anderson was already in bed when we took this.)

For Justin's Birthday present, I sent him to Utah to see his whole family and his nephew Jaxson get baptized. He took Anderson with him so his sister's family could meet him for the first time! (Sad, I know!) I wish we lived closer!!

Justin managed to take about 3 pictures. One at the baptism, and one of the wonderful improv diaper he and Ryan came up with after they dropped the only diaper Anderson had in the toilet at the Spaghetti Factory. :) Gotta love it!! At least they managed, right? Other than that Justin said things went great and Anderson was awesome. If you want to see more pictures and a little more about their weekend, you can see it on Stephanie's blog.

Then last weekend we went to the annual dental school night at the Indian's game. They won and they had an amazing fireworks show after! That is one of my favorite activities of the year. We all get to sit in the same section and chat and let the kids have fun together. Our good friends, the Mortensen's let Anderson sleep at their house while we enjoyed the game. Thanks guys!!

Now we are in full blown fall, with school, cooler weather and Patterson's Fruit Farm opening this Saturday! Yay!