Happy 1st Birthday Leo!

We had a wonderful birthday celebration for Leo. We kept it a small family affair by design. The bottom photo represents all attendees minus my dad and Grandma Laurel (who was the photographer). Leo took the opportunity to show everybody how happy he was by being very high energy and full of personality...he was having the time of his life!

Leo's latest obsession is cars, so we decided to have a car themed party. Leo was wearing a cute-little outfit featuring the animated movie Cars, and we also watched the movie Cars and and had a cake decorated with the Cars theme. Many of his gifts were car-themed as well. Great Grandma Naomi gave Leo a ride-in car for Christmas (top photo) and we saved it for his birthday. He loves it and is now the perfect age for it! He also received many other awesome gifts including a fire engine ride-on car from Aunt Tiffy and Uncle Martin, Gymboree tuition from Grandma Laurel (and her visit was the best gift), a little-guy guitar, savings bond, clothing and $ from the Anzell-Morris clan, and a car seat, clothes, a ball etc. from my parents. I am sorry if I am forgetting anything...Leo is so lucky! Joe and I bought Leo some little Tonka cartoonish cars and a few books too.

Leo also had his 1 year doctor visit on Monday and he is doing great. He is on the small side (3% weight, 14% height, and 70% noggin), so Dr, Crowley put him on a high fat diet and wants him to eat 5-6 times day. I add heavy whipping cream and butter to anything I can, but feeding him this often has become my achilles' heel. What a pain! Now that he has more attitiude, he turns his face away and rejects every spoonful. He is dteremined to eat his way, which now includes ingesting large quantities of cheese and throwing fistfuls of perfectly good food to our eager cat. It is frustrating! Leo will be returning to the doctor in a month for his shots (ugggg!) and for a weight check. Please wish us luck. I am trying my best to fatten my busy bee up!

First steps and more!

Grandma Laurel came out from Pittsburgh to help celebrate Leo's first birthday. Leo really got a kick out of her and they had a great time together. We spent most of our time enjoying meals at home/out and just hanging as a family, but we did manage to visit a pond that has many ducks. As you can see in the bottom photo, Leo really loves seeing "real" ducks.

Leo is also a home town celebrity and was featured on the local news in honor of his first birthday (hmmmmm...I wonder who had a hand in this?) Leo got such a kick out of seeing himself on television and squealed with delight.

Leo also decided that turning one wasn't the only thing he was going to do on the 27th...he also decided to take his first steps and now he is unstoppable! Although he hasn't mastered walking just yet, he is quickly gaining confidence and has taken up to 6 steps. Go Leo!

Fun Weekend with my Boys!

Leo and his daddy have a very special bond. No one laughs harder at Joe's funny faces and crazy antics than Leo. Leo now says "dada" on a regular basis which is so cute. Joe and Leo play so well together too and with all the walking practice they are getting in, Leo should be walking in no time at all.

Leo was starting to look a little scraggly, and since his 1 year portrait is scheduled soon, we thought we would have Leo's hair cut professionally. We took him to Kid's Castle, which specializes in cutting kid's hair. They had him in a sports car chair and we kept him distracted with a steady stream of Cheerios and bubbles. It worked and now he looks like a clean-cut young man.

Leo continues to amaze us with his growing vocabulary. He now says: mama, dada, duck, dog, cat, car, ball and hi. Of course, only we would understand him. But he says the words consistently, so we know it is deliberate. Let's break out the Scrabble board!

Mama's Boy

Right now, I am listening to Leo "cry it out." This is horrible! I am just hoping that soon enough, he will enjoy going to bed (well, that is a lot to ask for). It breaks my heart that he is still crying and Joe and I are still trying to finesse the night time routine. Luckily, we are getting more sleep, so it is worth the mommy guilt I am feeling.

It seems like Leo is becoming a bit of a mama's boy. He asks for me often and reaches out for me. I have to admit that it melts my heart that he has grown so attached, but luckily, there are so many other people in his life that he loves. Leo also yells "mama" when Joe is changing his diaper or cleaning him up after a messy feeding. Somehow he thinks I am going to rescue him from this "torture," but this is certainly not the case.

Leo's newest obsession is cars. For now, any object that has four wheels is a car and he yells "crrr, crrr, crrr" with great delight as he scoots them across the floor. We certainly did get ourselves a little boy!

P.S. Leo stopped crying and is now asleep!

the Big 3-5!

Today I turned the big 3-5! Wow, that seems old, but I really don't mind. I am just so happy with my life, age doesn't mean a thing to me. I had a great day! Joe let me sleep in and then I opened my gifts. He bought me 3 new workout outfits, which is great considering I wear disgusting old tee-shirts. Now that I have my cute new workout clothes, I think I will be even more motivated at the gym. Joe and Leo also bought me some cool new shoes (sporty Mary Janes) and a gift card to Ulta. I also received many generous gifts from family. Thanks everybody!

Joe, Leo and I went to the zoo, but it was barely 40 degrees, so we only stayed a short time. As you can see by the top photo, even my friends, the bears were cold. Next, we headed over to the Children's Museum, which is across from the zoo. Leo had a blast, but his naptime was approaching, so we went home. In the afternoon, my parents came over and watched Leo while Joe and I headed out for some alone time. We ate Mexican food and shopped. When we returned, we all ate cake...yum! This was a truly memorable day!

Leo continues to be very adventurous. He loves exploring every nook and cranny of the house and always finds himself in the most dangerous predicaments. Luckily for him, he has a very protective mommy, so he usually doesn't get away with too much.

11 Months Old

11 Month Portrait -
His face transforms when he smiles
Squinty, happy, eyes and big dimples

Leo's Obsession

Serious Leo - A very rare scene

Leo turned 11 months old yesterday and he is growing into such a big boy. The biggest change we recently made was to start sleep training with Leo. We were all sleep deprived and something had to be done. Sleep training involves us letting Leo fall asleep on his own, without help from breast/bottle feeding or rocking. Unfortunately there is crying that goes along with this process and I was very hesitant to do this because Joe and I have never allowed Leo to cry without coming to his rescue. We have done sleep training for 2 nights now and the results have been miraculous. Leo cries for a few minutes and then we go into his room, put him back in sleep position (he is usually standing when we walk in), pat him gently and say"night night Leo." We come back every 5 minutes or so until he has fallen to sleep on his own. It only took about 15 minutes the first 2 nights and when he woke up through out the night, after we went in his room to reassure him, he fell asleep again within 5 minutes. For 2 nights now, with minimal wake-ups, he has slept 10-11 hours straight. I just hope this successful streak continues! I have to admit that it is heart breaking when he is crying, but if we all get more sleep, it will be worth it. Plus, it is only fair to allow Leo the opportunity to learn how to sooth himself to sleep.

Leo continues to be obsessed with balls and saying the word ball. He must say ball at least 100 times a day and everything round is a ball...oranges, the soup ladle, balloons.

Leo is close to walking. He can stand unassisted for up to 10 seconds and can travel quite far with the use of his walker. I predict he will be walking by his first birthday. We officially signed Leo up for Gymboree, so he has many opportunities to practice his skills.

I have to admit that this week has been especially emotional for me. Leo has been accomplishing so much and he is growing into a little boy so quickly. He is falling asleep without me, he plays with older children at the gym (and wants to be a big boy so badly), he says words and is almost walking. It is all so wonderful, but he is no longer my little baby. I just can't believe he is almost a year old.

Leo's First Visit to the Zoo

The weather was so beautiful and both my mom and I had the same idea that today would be the perfect day for the zoo. For my birthday, my parents offered to buy me a family zoo membership and even though my birthday isn't until next month, today seemed like the perfect day to become a member.

This was Leo's first glimpse at non-domesticated animals and although he loved them all, he seemed to especially like the elephant, leopard, giraffe and zebras. He would wave goodbye every time we left an exhibit. He also enjoyed petting the goats at the family farm. Leo has always been an animal lover, so he will enjoy the many trips we will take to the zoo this year.