December is here!

It's been quite awhile since I posted on this blog, I suppose because life keeps me busy doing other things.

Blake is busy finishing up his last semester of school, so I am busy helping him study and analyzing his websites to see if I can find any flaws (not usually).  He is busy, busy, busy, and we all cannot wait until school is finally finished.

Blake's boss hired me to do some writing for their company website.  It has been fun for me to be able to use my English writing skills and make a little extra money in the process.  Apparently when Blake's boss found out my degree was in English, he came up with several projects for me to do.  ("Bring it on," I say.)

Wade has been busy growing teeth.  Yes, he has grown about 4 in the past month, not counting the molars in the back which are a slow but consistent pain in the mouth.  He is also growing like a weed, getting tall and skinny.  He loves to talk and sing all day long.  He loves to explore everything. . . literally.

Wade with his favorite stuffed animal, commonly known as "Monkey".

Look at this face.... it's just begging to be kissed.

Playing in the dishwasher - After months of dreaming about playing in it, it didn't end up being as fun as he thought it would be.  He got out pretty quick.

My little reader.  Well, he loves looking at the baby pictures.

I tied Wade up when he was getting too rowdy.  He obviously wasn't too upset about it.

I picked up a pen with my toes, and Wade thought it was awesome.  So, I put some pens in his toes, and he was amazed at was his toes could do.

Happy Halloween!

What a fun day it has been for a sweet little dragon, a heroic knight, and a lovely princess.

Wade loved grabbing candy out of the bowls people handed him, but he didn't want to put them in his bag.  He wanted to hold on to the candy as long as possible.

Here are some fun pictures we took of our cute dragon.

Wade was exhausted by the end of the day...

Walking, Climbing, and Teasing

Wade has a new favorite pastime.
After several months of trying, he finally figured out how to get past our latest attempt at keeping him off the stairs.

Look at that cheese...

Now comes the fun part.  

Once he gets to the top of the stairs and craws around for awhile, he lays down on his stomach and yells for Mom to come get him.

In other news, Wade is walking all over the place.  

He gets more and more confident every day and absolutely loves wearing shoes. 

He likes to wear them around the house when we aren't even going anywhere, very unlike his mother who sheds shoes like a dog sheds hair. 

Birthdays

Wade celebrated his first birthday a few weeks ago.   Wade decided that morning to test his new one-ness with various forms of independence.

First, he thought he could blow his nose, all by himself.

Then he decided he wanted a breakfast of Cheerios without Mom's help.

Wade also tried to help decorate the cake, but I didn't get any pictures of my helpful son at that moment.  What a sweetie!



Fortunately, despite the looming black clouds, the absent church leader who I thought was going to unlock the church building, not to mention the fact that Blake and I had to call everyone about a location change 10 minutes before the party, the party turned out great thanks to all those wonderful people I call my family and friends.

 

Happy Birthday Wade!!!

Genes

My sweet boy has apparently inherited my love of fruit, particularly grapes.

I had no idea that sort of thing could pass down through genetics.

Drinking grape juice and eating grapes - what could be better?

I think there is also a silliness gene, and if so, Wade got double doses of silliness.

How am I ever going to keep up with this kid?

Little Man on the Move

You know that feeling when you work really hard for something, trying out various paths, putting in great physical exertion to achieve your goal.

Wade actually was working on this for about ten minutes before I started recording him.

That's a lot of determination for an 11 month old.  He was so cute and tenacious, I certainly couldn't be mad at him, especially when he finally achieved his goal.

My sweet boy was so tired yesterday. 
He fell asleep in the middle of the living room, right on the floor.
He looked so sweet and serene; I just had to take a picture.

When he woke up, his head was pressed in the shape of the carpet.  Poor boy!


Not too much later, at dinner, the phrase turned into poor mom, not poor boy....

Wade went right into the bath tub.  Dad usually chooses to clean up Wade over the kitchen, but not last night, so Mom had to bathe the sticky child.  (In my opinion, I got lucky with that.  Maybe I'll let Wade make huge messes every night!)