Birthday Bash

We had a bunch of our family come over for Ian's birthday bash on Saturday. We had a lot of fun despite having to wait for 2 hours for lunch to cook...sorry guys.

Ian and my sister's baby Caden. His birthday is coming right up, too.

The fam gathered around to watch Ian open up all his presents. Thanks guys. It's been nice to have a few new toys to play with, books to read, and clothes to wear.

My brother Greg and Dad patiently waiting by the grill as the chicken slowly cooks. (I'm just glad it didn't all turn into charcoal!)

My nieces Brooklynne and Kaitlin climbing our tree. They all had a blast. Boy am I glad we got a house with a pretty decent sized back yard...some of them around here were pretty teeny.

Gift opening time. Ian's cousins were all very eager to help unwrap his new things.

Time for the birthday cake! Chocolate with chocolate icing...we've gotta start this boy out on the right track.

The much anticipated first bite...it was a glob of red frosting...yummy!

Everyone gathered around waiting intently for Ian to really dig in...

It took him a few minutes, but he finally started going for it. We had to take it away from him so he wouldn't get too sick!

What a cute little messy boy!!

Time for a bath to get all that frosting off his face and out of his hair and ears!

Daddy showing him how to hit the ball off the tee. This bat is his favorite toy. He loves to carry it everywhere he goes...around the house, outside, to bed, in the car. I have to draw the line at the store though, so he doesn't start knocking things off the shelves as I cut out my coupons!

All in all we had a great time. It really does seem like he is older now that he is finally one. He is getting to be so much fun! We are still waiting for his first real word, but he does love to jibber jabber. He continues to be a very happy and outgoing little guy and we are just so happy to have him as apart of our lives!

Walking Time

Well, Ian has starting walking pretty well now. Crawling is still his preferred method of movement when he is already sitting or when he falls, but he is starting to walk a lot more. It is so cute to watch him toddle around! He also loves to eat...we decided he must have my appetite! We're still working on his first word. He says dada and mama, but I don't think he knows what they mean yet.

Here are a few more pictures from Ian's recent sitting. They are just so cute I can hardly stand it!! He is so much fun and you can really see some of his personality shining through in these pictures. As you can see he is standing well on his own. He can also walks several steps (I've counted up to ten) when he wants to.

Photo Shoot

We went to Target for Ian's 10 month pictures yesterday and they turned out fantastic! I wanted to buy them all, but we are not made of money, so I signed up to see them all through the website. Here are a few, but I will probably post some more because they are so adorable! The photographer always does a good job and she even wants to send the pictures to see if Target will use them for advertising. I had him wear the top hat in celebration of the New Year.

Christmas Photos

Here are some of the photos we took for Christmas this year. We have had our tree up since early November and are really enjoying it. Ian usually does not bother it since it is in the front living room.

You can see four of Ian's teeth in this picture. Now he has seven!! Luckily he has stopped biting me while he eats...not to say he has stopped biting us at other times. We've decided that his mouth must be his main sense because he is always putting everything in there. He even licks the couch as he stands up most of the time!

High Five!

Nate recently taught Ian how to give a high five and clap his hands together. The other day at church, Nate was holding Ian and someone came up to them and held out their hand, Ian then slapped their hand like giving them a high five.

Playtime With Elmo

Here is a video of Nate and Ian playing with Elmo. Ian is such a happy little guy.

A New Friend

We had some new friend's from our ward come over for dinner the other night. They also just have one baby boy and he is one month older than Ian. When Ian had played with Finley earlier that day, Ian kept crying whenever Fin would look or growl at Ian. This also happened a couple of weeks earlier when we went over to their house. Luckily, Ian must have adapted to Fin because they had a lot of fun together this time.

Fin is giving Ian one of his open mouthed kisses on the cheek. So sweet!

Daddy

The other night at dinner, I noticed Ian watching Nate very contently. He just stared and stared at Nate. It was so cute!

From a Child's Eyes

The other night I was laying next to Ian while Nate was playing with him. I thought this was an interesting perspective on what Ian sees when he is laying down and we are towering above him.

Learning to Crawl

Ian is slowly teaching himself how to crawl. He often gets on his hands and knees or hands and toes and wobbles around a bit. It will be nice when he can move on his own because then he can go where he wants to without us having to move him, but on the other hand it will bad because when he can move he'll go where he shouldn't (like down the stairs)! I don't think it will be long before he get the hang of it. Here is a picture of him doing his push-ups.



This a funny shot of him sticking his arms and legs straight out. By the way, don't you just love his little outfit? I think it's great! My sister gave it to me, but I think that it used to be my older brother's when he was a baby.

Hiding

While I take my shower I lay Ian down on a blanket in our walk-in closet which connects to the bathroom. The other day I finished my shower and looked in the closet for Ian but I couldn't see him anywhere. I got worried thinking that he had learned to crawl or something and had probably fallen down the stairs! Well, then I saw my clothes moving around. I peeked under the clothes and Ian was just kicking around and having a great time. I was relieved he was just fine. He loved it so much that he just dropped off to sleep while we was under there! He is always doing such cute things like that!

Ian's First Cereal

We started Ian on solids this week. Here are a few shots of his first attempt at eating the cereal. He didn't get much down the first time and it is still hit and miss with how much he will eat. He is also starting to get his teeth in and already has the front two bottom teeth poking through.