Happy Birthday to ME!!! (the official celebration)...

We had so much fun at Anthony's birthday celebration!!! The Bellican clan was able to make it down for the event! I was halfway expecting Anthony not to be interested very much in the festivities, but he really had a ball! We did a Mickey Mouse theme, complete with mouse ears and Mickey silhouettes on the block cake. Here are some pictures of the afternoon...

MeMe letting me see the balloons

Wow! Uncle Josh is pretty cool!

Digging into my first present of the day

Whoa, baby! Cash from Great-Grandad!

Just reading my card from Grama

I love Curious George already!

All of this excitement over little ole' me???

Not too sure about the mouse ears!

Still not too sure, but at least Mommy and Daddy are on board

My beautiful birthday cake!!! (Mine's the big one in the middle!)

So, what, exactly, am I supposed to do with this again???

Oh, I see! Now I'm getting the hang of it!


I think I'm going to be sick!

One big squished up mess and a sugar crash later, and I'm ready for a nap!

Thanks, everyone, for joining me and for making it special!!!

Uncle Ben's B'day Present

Some birthday fun, thanks to Uncle Ben. Anthony received his gift just a couple of days before his birthday. He has enjoyed this so much! It's a little bulldozer...he can ride on it, push it from behind, and store his toys in the seat compartment. Thanks for thinking of us!!!

Great-Grama and Great-Grampa Visit

We really enjoyed our visit with Grama and Grampa (Anthony's Great-Grama and Great-Grampa)!!! They drove all the way from Olathe, KS to come stay with us for the weekend!

We had so much fun!!! The boys did lots of projects around the house--Grampa even magically fixed the water dispenser on the fridge!!! Grama and I went shopping for Anthony's birthday and some groceries. We had some great food--the boys grilled out for us! And we even had some time of singing and worship when Mario played his guitar one evening. Anthony really warmed up to them--I think he enjoyed their visit too!

the boys hanging out in the backyard

Well, I can't believe I only took one picture the whole time they were here!!! How sad! Grama and Grampa, if you have any more pictures of the weekend, please send them to us! Thanks again for coming...we love you!

12 Month Checkup Stats

Here's a quick run down of our 12 month checkup for all those interested...



Weight: 17 pounds, 1 ounce (less than 3rd percentile)


Length: 29 1/4 inches (40th percentile)



Well, it officially happened--Anthony fell off the bottom of the growth chart for weight:) Yes, we pretty much expected that to happen. We aren't concerned, and neither is Dr. Goebel--he's otherwise progressing very normally. I forgot to pay attention to where he is developmentally, but he's right on track. Maybe I'll take a peek at his chart next time I'm at the office! It may be awhile before we get to turn his carseat around to face the front. Oh well...he doesn't seem to mind too much--he doesn't know any different. And it's safer that way too!!!



This is such a fun age!!! Everything is so new and exciting for Anthony. He's not interested in walking yet, although we have caught him a couple of times standing by himself. He definitely doesn't realize he's doing it though! He loves music and loves to dance, and he will shake his head to any tune I can come up with! He'll make a monkey sound on demand, complete with monkey face! He will even hug his stuffed animals when asked--how cute is that? I've only seen him do it with Bear-Bear and George.



He's interested in talking, although we have yet to hear that first word. Plenty of babbling going on, but he hasn't quite made the connection that each object has a name. I can see those wheels turning, and he'll get there soon enough. He transitioned from nursing to whole milk extremely easily, basically weaning himself 3 days before his birthday. We still nurse in the morning, as that's always been his favorite one (Mommy's too!)

He's a very loving, very obedient, rough and tumble little boy now. This first year has been amazing...I can't wait to see where the next one takes us!

What a Wonderful Birthday!

Yes, that is a very sarcastic title! All I can say is it's a good thing it was his first birthday and not his fourth--we had a pretty rotten day (at least the first half!). Praise the Lord Anthony didn't know the difference! I decided to run some errands in the morning so that we could have the rest of the day for some birthday fun! Daddy was out of town for work, so I was determined to make Anthony's first birthday extra special--ice cream, the park, the works. We went to Sprouts to do some grocery shopping. I finally got all the food and Anthony loaded up into the car and began driving away when I heard ga-dunk, ga-dunk ga-dunk. "What the heck is that???" I thought, "and why isn't my car driving right???" I pulled right across the street into the Citibank parking lot, and saw my poor, pitiful flat tire!!! Of course it would happen--it's Anthony's birthday, Daddy's out of town, AND I have meat and dairy products in the car!!! Mind you, it's probably in the mid 70s already!!!





I called AAA, and told them I didn't have a spare tire. The only place I knew to look was the trunk, and Anthony's stroller is back there--no room for a tire, right? They sent a tow truck right away! I was really impressed with how fast they were. They took us right across the street to Firestone to get some new tires (we really needed four--not just one!)

Here's my baby in the (gulp) front seat of the tow truck! Good thing we didn't have to go very far! We don't ever do a paci in the daytime anymore, but since it was naptime, and it was going to be a LONG time before we made it home, I thought he just might go to sleep if I gave it to him--yeah, right! But boy, he sure looks tired. Once we got there, the guy tried to sell me--the poor, pitiful girl with a baby, all by herself--the "premium" tires and "lifetime alignment package" and what not. Whatever. I told him I just wanted his cheapest tires! :) He said sure I could have them, but they didn't have any in stock and it would be two hours before they could even get them in. Awww man!!!. I convinced the guy to let me put my meat and milk in their office fridge. Then I started calling every friend I knew--maybe SOMEONE could pick us up and get us the heck outta here! My friend Jenn saved the day! She came and got us, fed us lunch, and Anthony and Brody got to have a playdate!

Buddies

Aren't they cute together?

They don't quite know what to make of each other--another kiddo the same size and all...but they think it's interesing and fun!

We got to go to the park after all. So, at least the afternoon was salvaged. Here are the boys in the swings...Brody loved to swing, but Anthony preferred sitting still watching the big kids play nearby.

My angel baby! What a trooper!!! He's exhausted at this point, but he's been a very good boy.

And here's the best part!!! He wasn't thrilled with the swings, didn't care too much for the slide, but sit him down in the wood chips and watch out!!! This is the most fun we've had all day!!! Can I get some of these for our backyard?!? ;)

Oh, and by the way, I later found my spare tire...in the trunk, right where I thought it wouldn't be. You know those high-tech, under-the-floor-of-the-trunk compartments? Yeah, that's exactly where it was! In hindsight, I could've had AAA just change my tire. (Sorry, Dad--I know you showed me how to change my own tire back in the day, but I probably couldn't do it now if my life depended on it!). Oh, well--we needed to do it; at least we just got it over with. Four new tires...I won't be going back for a long time!!!

Nakey Baby!

Just some cute pics of "nakey baby" in the highchair. I don't remember why he didn't have clothes on, but he sure was happy about it!

Peek-A-Boo

I'm going to be doing a lot of updating here in the near future, as I've been lagging behind on my posting again. I guess 3 weeks isn't as bad as 3 months!!! Haha! We've had a lot going on!

Anthony has really started to love "hiding" games of all sorts. His favorite is the standard peek-a-boo, but he also loves playing the baby version of hide and seek (where mommy hides behind one of two couches, and Anthony crawls around to "find" me!). He's also started to "hide" his toys by stashing them under Bear-Bear. (I'll post a picture of Anthony and Bear-Bear soon!)

Where's Anthony???

There he is!!!

I think he's peeking in this one!