Merry Christmas

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas... We sure did!

Chelsy's wedding

What a beautiful day (and location) for a wedding!

My little sister was married on Saturday of this past weekend and it all turned out to be so gorgeous!

The view from the balcony at Birch Creek

He had just about had enough.

The three of us.

Sisters... doesn't she look beautiful?

These two are the best of friends! Anders absolutely loves his cousins! With Kenley he seems to feel a constant need to bear hug and tackle her to the floor. The whole time with a big smile on his face and giggling as he goes. He's such a boy!

I have been having a hard time with posting lately. I usually start atleast one post a week and NEVER finish them. I keep coming up with different things that I want to say and then try to figure which order to put things in, and then try to upload photos in the correct order and by the time I get through thinking about it an hour has passed, and I give up. Then I try to start again on another day and I find a "better" way to do it all and start the process over again. Give up again, and then the next time I try I realize it's been a week and everything's outdated and not worth posting.

But here's an update on Anders:

He talks all day long!! Most of the time Cam and I are the only ones who can understand the things that come out of his mouth. Most people will catch a word here and there but I think Cam and I have gotten pretty good at interpreting his language.
I'm planning on posting a video soon of what he sounds like as he goes about his day. It's really quite hilarious. Everyone comments on what a chatter box he is.

I'm so proud of my intelligent little man. He knows all of his letters, his numbers 1-9, his primary colors, and a few of his shapes. In fact that seems to be his favorite thing these days. All he wants to do is tell me what things are. Even in public he points out signs and reads off the letters to me. And he regularly asks me throughout the day, "What's that?" and usually within two to three times of me telling him (he asks me over and over again, almost like he's making sure that it's sinking in), he's got it down. I LOVE that he wants to learn constantly and I love that I get to teach him! He says "wow" to so many things and I can already envision him walking into the living room on Christmas morning and that word coming out of his mouth. I can't wait! I've never been so excited for Christmas in my life!

The main reason that I haven't kept up with my monthly posts of Anders is because everyday he does something, lots of things really, that are cute and funny and just plain AMAZING!! I have no idea which ones I should be writing down and it almost seems like I forget them immediately because I'm so busy being entertained by the next thing he's doing. I just love being his mom. It's the best job in the world!

Oscar!!

This is my friend Sarah's new baby boy Oscar! Isn't he beautiful? We sure love him!

I'm not one to toot my own horn... but I must admit that I'm pretty darn proud of these pictures. Thank you Sarah for letting me harrass your little boy for a while.

Not too bad

Remember back when I was pregnant and I did this post?

Although the hair and eyes aren't right, I'd say it's not too shabby.

What do you think?

One night in the life

I have to write down what happened tonight. I want you all to know what an amazing little dude I have on my hands. Anders was playing around in the living room tonight, he wasn't acting tired at all. I said to him, "Are you tired, ready for bed?" It was almost 9:00. He rubbed his little eyes. I grabbed his bottle and a binky and picked him up. Walking to the bedroom, unprompted, he gave me a kiss on the cheek. I layed him down on the bed and gave him his bottle. He took it and I layed there with him for a minute or two. Anders has to play with my ear every night to go to sleep. After a couple of minutes, he took his bottle out of his mouth, grabbed the binky and put it in, patted me on the face as if to say "I'm okay mom, you can go now" and turned over on his other side. I stood up and kissed him good night and left the room and he fell asleep. I really can't express with words how much I love that kid. He is my heart.
And p.s. this little show of independence, is kind of bittersweet.

14 months

Love this kid... he's more and more fun every day. We will be spending our weekend re-arranging furniture. There is a brick ledge above one of our couches and he has decided that he is a rock climber now too, so there will be changes coming to our living room. And still... he is the cuddliest, most affectionate person that I've ever known. Couldn't ask for anything more.

Tickidah!

Sometimes he whispers it sometimes he screams it! I just wish I knew what it meant.