1 Year Old Pics

We had Alex's one year old portraits taken last month. It was hot as heck outside and past his bedtime but he did well. Here are just a few of my favorites! I'm not sure why they look so washed out...

Monkey

One of my good friends at work gave me this adorable monkey as part of a baby shower gift because he knew the nursery had a safari theme to it. Well for the past couple of months, this monkey has been in the book shelves in Alex's room. The other morning Alex kept looking up at the book shelves and "talking". I held him up to the shelves and he pulled this monkey down. He LOVES this monkey! Alex talks to him, he hugs him, he smiles at him...he head bumps him. Yes, I'm not sure why but if you lean towards Alex, he will bump you with his head. This is a new thing. He likes to bump things with his head...

Shake, Shake, Shake

For Alex's first birthday, my sister's family gave Alex a band set. It includes drumsticks, maracas, tambourine, flute, whistle and harmonica. (Yes, we are training Alex, Tyler, Jack (my nephew)and Ivy (my niece)to each play an instrument...we are hoping to be the next Partridge Family!) Well, Alex loves this set! He can't get enough of the maracas. He loves shaking one in one hand while his other hand is holding a drumstick. Yesterday he saw my playing the flute and gave it a try. He didn't know to blow in it but once he did, he wouldn't stop. He had Bill and I in stitches! I'll have to try to get video of him playing the flute...or is it a clarinet? I'm not sure the difference between the two...heck, it could be an oboe!

A Few More Steps

Alex decided to take some more steps this weekend. I don't think he realized what he was doing the first time he walked on his own. He was standing next to his rocking chair, saw his ball so he walked about five steps to it, stood there, picked it up and dropped it. Then he decided to sit down. I tried to get video of him and after a couple of attempts, I got a few steps.

He's Growing Up

Alex is becoming such a big boy. This past weekend my parents were in town and Alex took his first steps! Alex was holding my mom's hands and he took unassisted steps to me! We were both shocked! Alex looked so proud! I'm a little sad that Bill missed them but Alex walked (took two to three steps) to him multiple times last night. Each time Alex had a big grin on his face when he reached his dad. He has been walking around furniture for the past three or four months but has never had the balance or confidence to give it a go on his own. I have a feeling he will most likely be walking on his own by the end of the week...but we'll see!

I have been signing to Alex for a while. Sometimes I forget but I try to be consistent. I sign hungry (eat), more, sleep, milk and thank you. Yesterday we were at Target and I did my "funny dance" for Alex. (I shake my head from side to side and make a funny noise.) Well, Alex is at the stage when he mimics what I do, so he did his funny dance. Then he looked at me and signed "more". I was really surprised that he made the connection that I would do it again if he signed "more." I bet the other shoppers thought we were nuts...but I don't care because we were having fun! I love my sweet baby! (Alex has signed "more" before but it wasn't clear that he knew the real meaning behind it...like he did yesterday.)

Beach

We just got back from a family trip to the beach. Bill and I loaded up Alex and Tyler and headed down to South Padre Island. This was the first trip for both boys to go to the beach and needless to say, they both loved it! We got Tyler a boogie board so he spent lots of time trying to figure it out and Alex crawled EVERYWHERE! Tyler and I worked on building sandcastles but Alex just tore them apart. We spent many busy days at the beach and I'm glad to say that nobody got sunburned!! Yea!

We also went bay fishing and I'm happy to say that my legacy continues...I once again out-fished my husband! Bill knows that I love bay fishing and that I'm much better at it then him...and he's OK with that! We had 4 keepers and I caught three of them. We had numerous other catches but they were just under 15 inches, which is the minimum length for Speckled Trout.

Overall, everyone had a great time and we look forward to our family trip to SPI in 2012!

1st Birthday!

Alex turned one and we had a little birthday celebration at our house a couple weekends ago. We had family and friends over to help celebrate...the kids stayed cool by playing on the slip n slide and in the baby pool and the grown ups tried to stay cool by drinking some adult beverages. I was amazed at the number of Bill's single friends who voluntarily attended a one year old's birthday...what great guys!

Alex had a 3D duck cake as his smash cake. I will have to upload a picture of the cake before he "smashed" it but here's a picture of the after. (He didn't really understand to smash the cake. He kept grabbing handfuls of icing until I tore it apart...then he started eating the cake.)