I am thankful for...

Now that the (first) holiday rush is over (and I've fulfilled my stomach's pie quota), I can sit, relax and think about what I am thankful for. I'm thankful for a lot of things, but of course, I've managed to boil my list down to the most obvious...

I'm thankful for this boy:

I'm constantly amazed at how proud I can be of my son. I can hardly look at him without being thoroughly tickled that he's mine.
We spent some time outside after it snowed. There wasn't a ton of snow, but I took the opportunity to dress him up in his new snowsuit, coat and boots and managed to add the words: boots, cold and snow to his vocabulary.
He didn't seem completely thrilled by the experience....


In the last month Robbie has become enamored of the alphabet and more specifically the letter "o". My mom came by to visit the other day and while we were chatting he not only managed to gain access to my laptop, but he also managed to open a Google search. What did he search for? The letter "o" of course.


I'm thankful for this handsome guy:

D takes care of us, he comforts us and he brings so much laughter into our home. I love him every day.

Finally, I'm thankful for this baby:

So, this isn't the best photo of me, but will you look at that belly! I'm so grateful for a healthy and relatively easy pregnancy. Here's hoping that the next 17ish weeks will continue to go smoothly.

and a little later than promised...

If you aren't on Facebook, my favorite message boards or, you know, a member of my family, I imagine that you haven't heard my news. So, for those of you who are still in the dark:
About 16 weeks ago I found out that we are expecting our second baby. About a week ago we found out that our new little one is...

A Girl!

We are so excited to be expecting a little girl! I would be lying if I said that I haven't already purchased a few little girl things and that I have my eye on a few little dresses that may soon make their way into my collection. I'm going to have to try and restrain myself...

The Golden Days of Fall

Fall is by no means over (despite some snow fall last week), but I haven't posted in a while, so it's time to display some of my backlogged photos of Robbie.

We spent some time out in the leaves, enjoying the Fall weather and looking at some Fall color.















Robbie is in a full-blown learning mode lately. He has started learning words and copying sounds at a surprising rate lately. He seems to do this in spurts. I decided to document his current list of words. At 16 months he can say the following:
no ("nah, nah, nah"), tree ("twee"), chair ("chee"), cracker, banana ("nana"), shoes ("shoos"), clock, moo, Vroom Vroom, quack (interchangeable for duck), Mama, Dada, door, go, circle ("kurkle"), goat, car, cookie, Cuckoo (his teddy bear), uh-oh, show (as in "watch a tv show"), what's that ("wassat"), outside ("side"), peach, fry and baby ("be be").

Cute rocket ship jammies:














And finally, Halloween! Poor kid was sick on the actual day, but he was able to show off his costume the day before for some pre-Halloween festivities at D's work and the neighborhood trunk or treat. Then the day after, he got to do a private fashion show up at Grandma and Grandpa Bunker's house.

The Dread Pirate Robert!














And he made a cute sailor too:












Stay tuned, we may have an announcement to post in the next day or so. :)

Summer in review

I don't know where all the time as gone, but I thought it was about time to recap some of the fabulous things Robbie has done this Summer. Enjoy!

Cooling off in the heat:

Robbie had a lot of fun playing at the Splash Pad with his two buddies Taylor and Lucas. I was amazed at how brave he was walking into the different water features.

Lounging at home:

Robbie finally found two things to love: a new blanket and a fuzzy teddy bear. The blanket was made with love by one of my best friends (Carolyn, you're awesome!) and the bear was given to him by his Great-Grandma Dent. The bear has been nicknamed "Cuckoo". Robbie loves Cuckoo Bear.

Learning to drive:

It's never too early to learn...
We also tried to convince Robbie to apply for a job at the Kohl's opening in our area. He decided to take a nap during his interview time. Very disappointing, we could have used the extra income for all of those diapers he's burning through.

Building forts:

What is it about forts that are so appealing? I know I enjoyed them as a child and Robbie is no exception. Also note the new rock-star pajamas.

Making fashion statements:

Robbie has decided that he quite enjoys wearing his hat. I thought the hat with his pajamas and zip-up blanket was a bold choice.

Haven't we had a fun Summer?

Swimming

WARNING: If you do not wish to view images of me in a swimsuit, please navigate away from this page now!

Okay, you can't say I didn't warn you...

Yesterday, I took Robbie for his very first swim lesson. D came to document the occasion as you never know if Robbie will become a world class swimmer and they will want these very first images for the Olympic profile video.

While I wasn't terribly excited to put on a swimsuit for the first time in 2 years, the experience was well worth it. Robbie turned out to be a regular water baby unlike another little boy in the class that screamed his head off the entire time.

Here are some highlight shots:

First time in a pool

Practicing Arm Strokes

Back Stroke

Kicking

Free time with noodle

The End

Catching up

Robbie the day after his first birthday, enjoying one of his favorite new toys.

I went out of town for a few days and I came back to a fully walking child. Sure he could walk a few steps here and there, but nothing like I witnessed my first day back home. I thought I ought to post some video of Robbie showing off his mad walking skills at a play date today. (You know, for those of you that are not on Facebook.) Just a quick note regarding my trip to Chicago. It's a good thing that Robbie isn't a girl, or I may have come home with $200 worth of merchandise from the American Girl Store. My friends had to tear me away. I've definitely had prouder moments.

First Birthday Photos

We took Robbie to get a few first birthday photos. I think they turned out really well! Robbie was smiling, laughing and just generally wonderful during the session. I love my little boy!

Here are a few of my favorites: