1st Birthday Picnic!

My mom's group had a picnic on Friday to celebrate all of our kiddos turning 1! (They were all born between July and December 2006.) It is so hard to believe that I've known this great group of women (and babies) for a year! The group is an incredible resource and has helped me keep my sanity throughout the first year of motherhood! It was a gorgeous day and the food was delicious! Calder had his first jello jiggler, and I paid for it over the next SEVERAL diaper changes! Oy!

At the picnic, we were entertained by the talented Mr. Skip! You may know some of his hits: The Wheels on the Bus and The Itsy Bitsy Spider are a few favorites!

Thanks to Elizabeth for the photos! I swiped them from your site since I forgot to bring my camera to the picnic!

Running!

Calder has been walking for just over a month, and he is already off and running! It's a lot of work to keep up with him as he darts back and forth through the yard. Good exercise for Mommy!

Double Horsie Ride

Sean giving horsie rides to Calder and Sandhya at the same time!

Two Little Chubbies

Our two little chubbies munching on cheerios as they play with the learning table.

Aren't they just the cutest!?

More outdoor fun!

Calder having fun helping with the yard work!

Lucky loves our new yard just as much as Calder, if not more!

Sandhya's growing taste buds

Who'd want pureed peas when you could have a delicious cheeseburger!? Oh that's right -- Calder would. He refuses to eat any kind of meat! Sandhya is much more adventurous when it comes to table foods! (But no, she didn't really eat the cheeseburger...)

Pleeeease let us outside, Grandpa!

Calder and Sandhya trying to capture Grandpa's attention, in hopes that he'll bring them outside to play.

Adorable!

I love this picture of Calder's cousin, Sandhya. It's just such a fantastic smile. She had just climbed up 2 steps for the first time! Clearly, she was pretty happy about the accomplishment!

Walking a mile in Grandpa's shoes

Well, he may not have walked a mile, but he did manage to take a few steps! He was pretty proud of himself too.

A visit from Grandpa

Grandpa came to visit for a few days. He's really good at reading stories!
Grandpa brought Calder the quilt that Grandma Peggy made for him. Calder loves it. He laid right down on it and started rolling all around! It is so soft!

Lucky loves the quilt too!

Backyard exploration

Calder and Lucky exploring the back yard together. They are getting along great lately! They are becoming little buddies.

Little Wolverine

Dave wasn't so pleased when I snuck this shirt on Calder during the Michigan/Penn State game. He was even less pleased with the final score of the game! Go Blue!

Thanks for the shirt, Grandma!

Mommy's Little Helper

Helping Mommy clean the house! What a sweet boy!

We're moving on to advanced babyproofing

In our townhouse we were able to get away with a minimal amount of babyproofing -- a gate, a few cabinet locks, and light socket covers. But, towards the end of our time there, Calder started walking, and therefore gained a whole new perspective on the world! It didn't take him long to figure out the lever door handles that we had there, so we had to block dangerous doors (basement door) with boxes for the last few weeks that we were there. So, I was happy to find that we had no lever handles in our new home. But... within the first 2 days in our new home, Calder figured out how to open regular door knobs! So off we went to buy LOTs of new babyproofing items -- including not 1, not 2, but 5 gates! ugh!

Black Beans -- A New Favorite!

Finally -- he likes something other than fruit, cheese or bread!!! He smeared them all over his face, instead of all over his tray, which is what he does when we try to feed him something he doesn't like (i.e. vegetables).

All Grown Up!

I love this picture of Calder. He looks like such a little man! It was chilly the morning after we moved, so we put his new fall sweater on so Nonna could take him for a walk while Mommy did some unpacking. It has an adorable matching hat, but he yanked it off before I could snap a picture!

He's exactly 13 months old in this picture.

A yard just for me!?

Daddy and Nonna helping Calder explore his new yard!
Didn't take him long to find a leaf to munch on..

Moving Day -- Part 2

Here are the movers arriving at our new house. I had to take this picture to show that we completely filled this huge moving truck. Actually, not only the moving truck, but my car, Dave's car and Dave's parents car as well. Oh, and lets not forget the storage unit that we used to clear out a bunch of our stuff during the time our house was on the market -- that's in addition to all of this! Even the moving guys said 'You have a lot of stuff!' I'm hoping the sight of this will encourage me to start getting rid of some of the things that we no longer need/use. Yard sale anyone?

Moving day!

Moving day finally arrived on September 18th. Here's our last family photo in front of our first house.

"All Done!"

Here's Calder doing his "All Done" sign. I'm really not sure why he was signing it then...since he was getting ready to empty the pots and pans from the cupboard as opposed to eating, which is when he usually does this sign!

Froggy Friend

So Calder has had this stuffed frog since Christmas, and to be honest, he hadn't ever really paid much attention to it. That is, until one morning a few weeks ago.
When I came in to get him out of his crib that morning, he was pointing directly to the frog, wide-eyed and saying 'Ooooooh!' It was SO adorable. We brought the frog downstairs with us and he had a great time playing with him all morning! Too bad Calder wouldn't allow any froggy hugs this time... I was hoping to recreate this picture.

Bye Bye, Froggy Room

One of the things that I'll miss most about our townhouse is Calder's nursery. It was just such an adorable little room. :) Here's Calder posing for the last time in his froggy room.

We plan to recreate this nursery for Baby #2 (no, we do not have an announcement) but for now we're working on a new, big boy room for Calder. We found the perfect shade of blue -- it's called Little Boy Blue!

"Ok, Mom, time to pack these letters up!"

It's almost moving day!

Ok -- we're finally back online -- at least for the meantime!

Here's Calder helping Mommy get another box ready to fill up!

Long time, no post!

As many of you know, we recently moved into a new home! The daunting task of unpacking and getting settled has kept me from keeping the blog updated as regularly as I would like. Well, that, and the fact that our laptop is broken, which is where I keep all of our photos! But no worries, I have still found time to take plenty of new photos during the last few weeks and I will post them as soon as I can!

Steelers Season Opener

Daddy and Calder having fun watching the Steelers stomp out the Browns during the season opener!!

Vroom Vroom!

Calder is having fun with his big green bike! He can now get on and off all by himself (although sometimes he ends up backwards). Recently, we have noticed some new things in terms of his development -- he is actually starting to understand us -- or at least he is finally showing us that he understands! He can now understand and respond to several phrases, including 'Are you all done?', 'Go get a book', 'Lay your head down' and my personal favorite 'Can I have a hug?' Nothing melts my heart like this little one coming at me with arms wide open and then resting his head on my chest as he hugs me!!! What a little sweetie! :)

Lil' Nittany Lion

All ready to watch the Penn State game with Daddy! He has started imitating some of the things that we do -- here he is 'talking' on the phone (Mommy was talking on the phone too!)
And, when an extra phone isn't available, a remote control makes a nice telephone too....

Sick little boy

Unfortunately, Calder came down with croup while we were on vacation! But, he was a real trooper and still managed to have lots of fun. Here he is keeping hydrated: double-fisting with water and pedialyte.

Fun in the pool

Taking a ride in his little water buggy -- one of his favorite birthday gifts!

Watermelon thief!

Calder showed off his brute strength as he took off with a watermelon! It is definitely one of his favorite foods right now.

First Trip to the Beach!

We just returned from a trip to the Outer Banks, NC -- Calder's first beach trip! He had a great time playing in the sand and ocean!

First dip in the Atlantic!

Daddy and Calder getting ready for the next big wave.

Splashing in the water!

Family beach photo