Happy Spring!!

Easter Eggs!

"Ethan" egg

Watching Bob The Builder with Papa

Deep discussion about carrots and vanilla milk for the Easter Bunny

Nate dives right into his basket- apple broccoli crusher- this is the one and only Easter that the bunny will get away with putting fruits and veggies in the basket!

Checking out his loot

"Wait a minute!  There's candy in this one??!!"

Egg hunt

Fancy Man

"I'm just kicking back, snacking on some edamame"

Sitting with Uncle Bobby

Zoo!

Climbing the spider web

Hopping as far as a frog can!

Climbing trees!

Feeding goats!

No trip to the Bronx Zoo would be complete without a pretzel!

Here are a few shots from the first days of spring!  We are LOVING our time spent outside!!

Nate turns One!

St. Patty's Day parade, Portland

Taking after big brother

My sweet boy!

Getting the job done!

Helping GMa with some housekeeping

Happy First Birthday Nate!

Daddy gives Nate a ride

Hooray!  We survived a year as parents of two!!

Our elephant spread- cake, cupcakes, and cookies made by my mom and me!

Don't know about opening the presents, but I'll certainly climb them!

Hard to believe that we just celebrated Nate's first birthday! Time certainly does fly!  We had a couple of celebrations- one on his actual birthday, and then a party with extended family a few days later.  Both parties were a lot of fun, and there was no shortage of love and support from family and of course, cake!

Our little one year old is growing by leaps and bounds.  At his 12 month check up, he weighed 22 pounds and 12 ounces, and was 29 and 3/4 inches- both measurements putting him in the 50th percentile.  He is now reliably take 4 or 5 steps at a time, although he has no interest in walking about while we hold his hands. He's much more likely to stand up on his own, take a few precarious steps, and fall to the floor.  Nate is also a serious climber!  He is super fast too- climbs on couches, tables, dining room chairs!  Yesterday while we were at the beach, I parked the stroller, put him in the sand, put a blanket down, turned around and he had climbed up into the stroller and was standing up!  I'm scared to see what he's getting into when he can actually walk!

He is using more and more words now.  He can say, "bird", "bubble", "wow", "go!", "get" and of course "mama" and "dada."  He still loves to play ball and has added standing up and throwing it into something (the bathroom sink, a garbage pail, a basketball hoop) and kicking it to his repertiore. He loves being outside!  He really enjoys riding his little tricycle, or just sitting in the grass.  He is sleeping better at night now that we are following the advice of the pediatrician and only allowing him one nap a day.  Overall, he is thriving and we couldn't imagine life without him!

March Celebrations

Ethan proudly poses after giving Barley a new toy to cheer him up after some minor surgery

First haircut!

Grandma and Nate share a laugh

No haircut with Grandma would be complete without a lollipop!  Just what we needed to keep him still for the final snips!

Ethan listens very intently about the maple syrup making process, but is really thinking, "So, where are the samples?!"

Nate and Daddy at the Maple Syrup Festival

Checking out the buckets

Drilling a hole

Another "Ethan original" He carefully selected the vehicles that would adorn my birthday cake!

My boys helped me celebrate

Nate approves of the carrot cake!

Seriously Mom, it's almost April and there's MORE snow??

For my next trick I will stand on my own without using anything to get up...

Ta Da!!

Very appropriate shot for month 11- his favorite thing to do is open the cabinets and take out the lids!!

Lots of fun in the month of March!  Nate is growing by leaps and bounds, now standing on his own, cruising around like crazy, and the newest trick, climbing into and on top of whatever he can find!!  An empty box?  Why not!  A laundry basket? Sure!  Stairs? Most definitely!  He is also becoming more and more picky about the foods he'll eat- no more pasta, cheese, fish or even bread on some nights.  But he continues to really enjoy all fruits, yogurt, and cheerios.  Hoping this too is a phase as we were really enjoying the fact that he'd eat anything we put in front of him!  Oh yeah, and he has finally sprouted his top front teeth- four total now!

Ethan is still all about trucks, trucks, trucks.  He was excited to decorate my birthday cake with a variety of vehicles and I even had a digger help me unwrap my gifts! I appreciate the fact that Ethan knows what he is passionate about!  He has recently begun to teach me about the various vehicles and what they can do- last week I learned what an articulated dump truck is!  I keep saying he's going to be smarter than me by the time he's ten, but I may need to bump that estimation up a few years!!

We spent my 35th birthday at a Maple Syrup Festival at a local Nature Center.  As we were walking back to our car, Pete carrying Nate, and me carrying Ethan, I said, "I can't imagine a better birthday.  I get to spend my whole day with my favorite boys."  Ethan pulled me in a little closer and replied, "Yup, Mama, we all love you!  That's why it's your best birthday." And it's true- I am so lucky to have all of my incredible guys in my world!!