Alexander, Declan, and Brendan: February 2013

So we left off the last post at your Aunt Debbie's wedding the day before you turned 15 months old. During your 16th month we had Halloween. You were a sock monkey this year and in my very non-biased opinion, you were the cutest sock monkey EVER! We started the evening by dropping off Halloween treats for all the neighbor kids. Then we headed over to your cousins Will and Harrison's house. The three of you had fun running around the yard showing off your costumes. It was difficult to get a picture of the three of you together because you were so excited.

After we snapped a couple pictures, we went trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. Uncle James had a wagon for you to ride in, but you wanted nothing to do with that wagon. You wanted to walk everywhere and you would push through the kids to get to the front and get the candy out of the bowl. You absolutely loved Halloween this year!

After we walked around Will and Harrison's neighborhood for a while, we stopped by your Grandma Gerry's house so you could spend some time with your cousin Alyssa.

We went trick-or-treating with Alyssa too and you were exactly the same. You didn't want anyone to carry you and you charged ahead to each house and clutched onto the candy they gave you (even though you really didn't know what it was). This was a great Halloween and I'm sure they will just keep getting better!

Your 17th month was extremely eventful! First off, we celebrated Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine, We started to day at Grandma Gerry and Paw Paw's house where we ate a lot and you played outside in the colorful leaves.

After that we headed over to Gram and Poppy's house where we of course ate some more and enjoyed the family. You certainly enjoyed it much better this year than last and you had a great time running around and playing with all your cousins.

In early December, there was a day that was unseasonably warm so you and I went to the park. It was a very unexpected day out but we took advantage of it. Since the leaves had fallen off the trees, you really didn't care much about the playground equipment and pretty much just enjoyed playing and rustling through them all afternoon.

(I HAVE to remember to turn my phone the other way when I record video on it! Uggh!)

You absolutely LOVE Cheez-Its! Sometimes you even go into the pantry to get them out yourself. And when mommy and daddy aren't looking, you have dumped them all over the floor on occasion. Yes, this is super fun for you (not so fun for mommy and daddy). But boy do you LOVE your Cheez-Its!

We also did a lot of Christmas type stuff this month. We went to the Cor Jesu breakfast with Santa. You had a great time running all around the gym and dancing to the Christmas music. You also loved doing some of the crafts they had set up as well as playing the games they had. But one thing is for sure, you did NOT like sitting on Santa's lap!

Besides that, it was a great day! Since we got your picture taken with Santa, we figured we should also get a picture with the real reason we celebrate Christmas, baby Jesus. The sisters that run Pauline Books and Media threw a birthday party for Jesus, so we decided to go. We had so much fun looking at books and eating cake and ice cream to celebrate the birth of Jesus. But again when it came time to take the picture you were not happy. To be fair, it was close to nap time for you. Plus the sisters insisted on dressing you like an angel. Since you weren't so very happy, they talked your dad and me into dressing like Mary and Joseph and your Grandma and Alyssa dressed like angels like you. Here is the picture which still cracks me up each time I look at it!

Of course I baked Christmas cupcakes this year. It is a bit problematic that you have a mother who loves to bake because you definitely have a sweet tooth! One of your first words (within the first 10) was 'cupcake'! Yea, not my proudest mommy moment, but you sure do love mommy's baking!

We also went back to Eckert's Farm to cut down a Christmas tree. It was way more fun this year than last considering you could actually run around the fields of trees and of course because you didn't get sick this year! You enjoyed to van ride out to the fields and you seemed genuinely concerned that we hadn't put you into a seat to get out there! We picked a nice Scotch Pine that you weren't too impressed with dad cutting down. Dad had to carry you and the tree to the pick up area since mommy had just had surgery a couple days before.

While Daddy strapped the tree to the car, you and I ran around looking at all the Christmas decorations:

When we got home, we decorated the tree.

One of the biggest things that happened this month is that we found out that you are going to be a BIG BROTHER!!!

You don't quite get what this means just yet, but everyone who knows you, KNOWS you are going to be the best big brother ever. Your dad and I are going to spend the next few months preparing you as much as possible for this big transition. But more on that later!

Your 18th month brings us to Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Gram and Poppy. We went to their house and ate some yummy food and opened presents. We also went to mass with them at St. Simon. It was a great night and you really enjoyed opening your presents this year. You didn't even want to move onto another one once you opened your first because you wanted to play with your new toys! Christmas day was spent with Grandma Gerry and Paw Paw. It was a wonderful Christmas this year!

Since we had so much going on before Christmas this year, we headed to Our Lady of the Snows after Christmas to look at the lights. We put you in the front seat with us and we drove slowly through the lights display. You loved looking at the lights and you kept pointing and oohing at them.

We had a very low key New Years Eve this year. Just you, dad and me at our house. You had so much fun blowing on the horns we put out, but you would not put on the hats. You stayed up so late! You ALMOST made it to midnight (and you probably would have had mom and dad not MADE you go to bed at 11:30).

With the holidays over, it was time to get back to real life. Swim lessons started back up soon after and they had a new facility to swim in! Because of the new facility, they had an open house where we were able to sample some healthy snacks, sit for story time, play mini golf and put your hand print on the wall! It was a really fun time!

One really funny thing you did this month that I can't help but mention is that you got into the bath tub with all your clothes on! We were at Gram and Poppy's house and Gram started your bath water. I peeked into the bathroom and I didn't see you so I asked Gram where you were. She said you were in there, so I stepped in and saw this:

You just could't wait to get in! It was hilarious! And you just looked at us like we were all crazy when we couldn't help but crack up at you!

You are such a sweet and affectionate boy! You often come up to me with your lips pursed saying "mmmmm" (meaning you want to kiss me). You give mommy and daddy hugs all the time. You point to me and say 'mom' or 'momma' and you point to dad and say 'dad' all the time. The other words you say right now (that I can think of off the top of my head) are ball, cat, haaaa (hot), goag (dog), nanna (banana), cupcake, cookie, uh oh. You are very smart and you often know how to ask for what you want without saying anything at all.

Your stats from the doctor at your 18 month appointment were as follows:

32.2" Tall (50th percentile)
24 lbs (25th percentile)
19" head circumference (75th percentile)

You are such a good boy. It has truly been a privilege to be your mommy. I'm one lucky woman!

I love you Sugar Pot!

Love,

Momma

Alex,

You are 18 months old now. I don't know how my sweet little baby boy turned into a very active toddler, but here we are. Lucky for me you are still sweet and if it is even possible, I think you may be even sweeter now! You have done so much in these past 6 months.

During your 13th month, summer was still in full swing. We did a lot of water activities including playing with the hose and water table in the back yard as well as dad and I taking you to the City Garden to swim in the little pools and splash in the fountains.

We also did the Color Run with Heather, Mandy, Aunt E, Robby and Grace. We has a blast. You weren't quite so sure about all those colors being thrown on you, but you definitely went with it. You were exhausted at the end of it and you ended up falling asleep right in mommy's arms.

Here is a before picture of you:

Here is a picture during the Color Run:

And a couple after:

You have become quite a smoothie aficionado. Mommy likes to make a smoothie every morning for breakfast and every time you hear the blender running in the kitchen you are on it! You even like it when mom makes green smoothies. I have started making 2 smoothies in the morning now so we can both have one. Here are some pics of when you were still "stealing" mommy's smoothie:

We also went apple picking this year! We went to Eckert's Farm in Belleville and you really enjoyed the tractor ride as well as strolling through the orchards to find some yummy Honeycrisp apples.

As I mentioned before, you took your first steps right around your first birthday. From then on, you have only improved. By 13 months you only needed a little assistance from me or from a toy. You really enjoyed the little carts they had at the Eckerts Farm Store:

Of course you could also take a couple steps all by yourself at this age too. We just couldn't be too far away yet:

During your 14th month, the weather started to cool down a bit so we could do some things outside that didn't involve water. You and I went to the zoo one day. It was a gorgeous day and you had so much fun looking at all the animals. You loved the hippos and orangutans especially. It was a glorious day with just you and me walking around the zoo and enjoying life.

We also went to the park quite a bit. I would get up with you in the morning and you and I would spend a couple hours on the swings and slides just playing up until nap time.

You have also been enjoying accompanying mommy to the grocery store. You love the carts they have these days. They look like cars. Daddy and I call them CARts. I know, we are so clever - haha!

By the time you actually turned 14 months, you were finally walking on your own, which opened up a whole new world for us! During your 15th month, you finally fit into the cool Indian outfit that Auntie Sabrina gave you. You were walking around in it just happy as a clam:

The Cardinals actually did really well again this year and we celebrated during the post season this fall. We put you in your Cardinals jammies and you would run all over the place in excitement! It was so much fun to see you get so excited when we were all excited.

During this time, you started taking swim lessons. I thought you would love it so much since you tend to like playing with/in water. It was a little bit of a rough start, but now you LOVE swimming lessons. You love to jump into the water from the side of the pool. You are also good at putting your head under the water. They took a picture of you under the water. It looks a bit creepy, but it's also pretty cool that you are able to do this!

One of my favorite little quirks that you do now is that you cross your ankles while you sit in your high chair. I don't know why I get such a kick out of it, but I do. And of course I took a picture of it:

With the weather being so nice outside, I decided to take you to the zoo again. It was great since this time you could walk all over the place. We went early so we could pet the Sting Rays and get into the Children's Zoo for free. You LOVED the goats again! Especially now since you were able to run around and chase them a bit. You were just in heaven!

The zoo was also decorated for Halloween this time, so we took advantage of the fun scenes:

After the zoo, we went to Adriana's. You and I had a great day that day!

We also went to the pumpkin patch with Braden, Cate and Anna and Matt. It was a beautiful day outside that day. You really liked pushing the cart around as well as riding in it with Braden. You also enjoyed playing the "drums" on the big pumpkins.

And it is a REALLY good thing you started walking earlier this month, because you were Aunt Debbie's Ring Bearer. Before the wedding, we decided to get your first haircut. You could have probably gone a little longer, but since your hair was getting a bit long and we wanted you to look nice for the wedding, we went for it! You weren't a big fan of it at first, but once Abby gave you some combs, you did great.