Best seat in the house

He's figured out how to get up on the coffee table. He's quite proud. This morning he climbed up there with his toy to watch baby signing time. 

For the umpteenth time since he got more mobile, we are so so grateful to my parents, from whom we got this heavy sturdy table!!

And if you noticed his hair looks different, it does! He got his first haircut! I took lots of pics with my real camera. Assuming he naps alone one of these days, I will share them. 

Absent

Sorry for the long delay. We've been busy and someone hasn't been sleeping much or that well, which leaves mommy with limited time.

To occupy him while I post this, he is playing with a bowl of ice. Ice is almost as good as water! Hope to get back to a better schedule of posting soon!!

Having a ball

Here is the Bean the first time we put him in his new ballpit.  As you can see, he absolutely loved it!  Thanks to everyone who contributed.  We have more balls on order from a manufacturer in China, and they are a bit larger than the ones here.

Apologies for how long it took me to upload this video.  Google could not process the original one from my phone, so I had to recompress it.

Home!

We got home from our quick trip to DC last night. Most of the pics are on my real camera, so I will post when/if someone decides a nap is in order. 

The Bean had a wonderful time and had a very full and fun day to celebrate his first birthday. It may have set the bar a little high for future birthdays though!

And for a dose of cute, here he is eating an apple with lunch yesterday. 

A Year Ago Today

A year ago today (Sept 7) was our last normal day, just the two of us. Well as normal as a day can be when you are two weeks overdue and having daily contractions! I can't remember exactly what we did, but I'm sure it involved a walk at a park enjoying the sunshine. Little did we know what the next day would bring!

Today we traveled. It was the start of the Bean's fifth trip involving air travel! He continues to do pretty well flying. He loves to look at the window and interact with all the people. He just hates to sleep, even more than he usually does. He doesn't want to miss a moment. Because he doesn't want to sleep, there ends up being some screaming involved. On his part, not ours! Finally he napped for a while, and then got to enjoy the rest of the flight when he woke. As a special treat for all of us, we actually got to go somewhere non-stop!! What fun!

Happiness is napping on mommy. Well if one really has to nap!

Rain

Fall is arriving a little early after the wonderful summer we've had. Today it's raining pretty hard and there is thunder and lightening. The Bean noticed all the rain through the window and I think he wants to go play in all the water. 

All that water! I need to be outside 

Maybe I can open the door

Ball Pit

On Sunday the Bean got one of his birthday presents early. Mostly because it is a gift for us too :). He got ball pit balls from Jeff's parents and aunt and uncle.Thanks  guys! These turn an otherwise boring playyard into a fun place to be. Which means we can contain him in there for a few minutes (our part of the gift). He loves it!! He plays in the balls and throws them. We have another 100 larger balls on the way. After we see how that works out, he might need more for Christmas. Once he outgrows his playyard, these work great in a small swimming pool. I got the idea from a friend with four kids, who says all the kids still like to play in them and her oldest is around 12. We love toys that will last us a while!

He has some other great birthday presents waiting for him, but we are waiting till his birthday. 

So this is what 500 2.5 inch balls look like in a standard playyard. Oh and what a very happy baby looks like in said balls. 

He was so happy moving in them, it was hard to get a non-blurry pic. 

Jeff took a great video that I'll have to get from him to get uploaded. 

Walking, well almost

The Bean is working hard on learning to walk. He can take about 8-10 steps without holding onto anything before he falls. He cruises well hanging onto stuff. On our walk yesterday, he needed to get out his stroller and help us push it. He walked a pretty good distance and w as so mad when his legs got to tired. It won't be long now before he's walking for real. Now we just have to get him to like shoes!