The Big O.N.E.!!!

It's finally here! Wyatt is officially ONE YEAR OLD!!! What???!?? Was it really one year ago today I was lying in a hospital bed, numb from the waist down, seeing my little man for the very first time? We had Wyatt's party on Saturday so people could be there for our little man. It turned out to be pretty much a family affair...grandparents, Uncle Jared, Grandma Jerri, both god parents (Auntie Marie and Uncle Shane), but it was really nice! We set up a ball pit in the middle of the living room for Wyatt to play in, and he had the best time between that, being the center of attention, and opening presents! Oh yes, and cake. :)

These are some of the pictures taken by Linda (Anthony's mom). I'll get mine up once I'm able to sit again!

Lovin' life in the ball pit

Playing Peekaboo

His favorite face to make

Thanks for the awesome trike mom and dad!!

Ball Blowing Elephant from Ma and Pa

Hanging out with Uncle Jared and Saunie

mmmmmmm!!! Cake!

Sharing cake with everyone

The 11th Month

It's coming up fast....the big ONE! Wyatt is now 11 months old and the time before his first birthday is quickly sliding away. He has always taken his changes in leaps and bounds, and now is no different! Last week he went from pulling himself to his knees to pulling himself into a stand. We are so excited about this change, but it now it's incredibly difficult to keep things out of his grasp :)  Then earlier this week he started walking along the coffee table and couches, which means practically nothing is safe! Haha! He'll hold onto our hands and RUN to where ever he wants to be. It's absolutely adorable. And the whole time he'll pant "he he he he"...kind of like a woman in labor. At therapy Wednesday he climbed a WHOLE flight of stairs on his own (which we've been working towards since before he could crawl), and his latest accomplishment came yesterday when he started clapping! It came completely out of the blue too! It's so exciting to me to see all these milestones finally happen because we've been waiting and waiting for them.

And when it comes to food, it's more of the same. Wyatt's decided that he just really doesn't care for baby food anymore, and will only eat finger food of some sort. I've started buying the toddler graduates food since he absolutely prefers them. And boy can that boy eat!! I thought he was a piggo before when he would down double the amount of milk the pediatrician said he could physically handle. Now he'll eat nearly as much as I do! Anthony has to make an ENORMOUS batch of scrambled eggs in the morning to feed both he and Wyatt. The funniest part is that Wyatt is still a skinny bub! He's a little chunk on him (enough to cuddle), but for how much he eats, you'd expect him to be at least twice his size! A friend of mine had a baby four days before I had Wyatt, and they met not long ago. Her boy is already in 18 month clothes!! Meanwhile, Wyatt is barely in 9 month. I still think our guy is pretty damn perfect though :)

Yogurt Fun

Ballpit Fun!

Let me out!!

Stole some of Mom's Strawberries

Helping Daddy Run a Bath

Strong Like Grammy!

First Ride in the New Wagon

Can't Wait to Get in the Tub

Swimming Lessons

Hooray! We've officially started swimming lessons with Wyatt, and he LOVES it! Well, that part comes as no surprise to us. Once Wyatt got in the pool, it was as though he just knew what to do. Float on my back? Oh ya, no problem. Kick my legs? Yup, got that down. Get in and out of the pool? Piece of cake. It was especially hilarious to watch when compared to the little girl who wouldn't stop screaming the entire time.

Thanks to Linda for coming with us and getting pictures while I took video!

Why blow bubbles when I can lick the water??

Future surfer in the making

Trying to eat Daddy's nose

Trying to warm up our frozen babe

I just love his little swim diapers!

Check out all those teeth!

A Whopping 10 Months

10 months?!?! Really??? It's been 10 months since our little Bubs was born? That seems absolutely impossible! In just a few weeks, I can't believe how much he's grown and changed! He's still his happy, loveable self, he's just growing into the boy he'll soon be.

At 10 months, Wyatt...
*Has SIX teeth!! Two on bottom, and four on top.
*Has more than mastered the art of crawling on all types of surfaces, and is eager to start walking.
*Pulls himself up on anything and everything.
*Definitely has his daddy's long arms and can reach pretty much anything!
*Can climb up the stairs with some motivation, but has yet to voluntarily go up them.
*Knows exactly where the animals' water bowl is in our house and how long it will take us to realize where he's headed :)
*Loves to "shake his noggin".
*Will imitate any noise Anthony or I make. This week I've done a lot of throat clearing and he picked up on that.
*Has started saying, "da!" when he sees the dogs, "ca!" when he sees the cats, and "ba!" when he sees his bottle.
*Continues to love the crap out of bath time! One memory I forgot to put in the last post is that the first real bath (i.e. first time he could be completely submerged in water) Wyatt ever took, he fell asleep in Anthony's arms while floating in the water.
*Taught himself how to stick his face in the water and blow bubbles. He still inhales every so often, but it doesn't stop him for long!
*He wants to eat solid food, but prefers to share what mommy and daddy have or to eat chunks of food instead of puree stuff.
*Plays "peekaboo" by pushing up into downward dog and looking at you through his legs.
*Can't get enough outside time, and loves to help me with yard work. Maybe this year I'll actually have a good looking yard! ;)

Wyatt starts swimming lessons this Saturday and I'm so excited! I've wanted to do this since he was 6 months old, and we were finally able to find some Saturday morning lessons to go to. I'm pretty sure Wyatt is going to love spending a whole half hour in the pool!

Memories

I've come to the realization that not all the memories of Wyatt's younger years will stay with me, so I thought it would be a good memory spark to have them recorded on here. Plus, I'm sure some of you would like to know this stuff too :)

*First rolled over at 5 months.
*Started whistling (and yes, actually whistling) around 6 months, just after he learned how to blow raspberries.
*Thanksgiving morning 2011, Wyatt decides he'll start sitting up.
*Around the time he started blowing raspberries and whistling, he also started making Chewbacca noises.
*February 11, 2012 - First time playing in the snow!
*February 11, 2012 - First time sledding!
*February 11, 2012 - First time snowmobiling!
*At the beginning of March, we started finding Wyatt sitting up in his crib. A few days later he amazed me by sitting himself up from his belly while playing in the living room.
*October 1, 2011, we try to take Wyatt's hand print for the first time, only to fail epically.  Pretty sure I still see a black spot on his tongue from time to time.
*Middle of February, Wyatt starts shaking his head and thinks it's HILARIOUS!
*March 16, 2012 - Wyatt crawls for the very first time!
*At 9 months, Wyatt is a little chatter box. His vocabulary consists of ga, da, pa, ya, ca, ba, and any combination he can think of. He also quite enjoys the occasional uuuuuuuuggggg!, arg!, oh!, and aaaaaaa!
*We have been going to Mandi for OT since Wyatt was 2 months old. She has watched him progress from a baby who couldn't lift his flat spotted head to a cruising babe who puts everything in his mouth and tries to pull himself up on everything, and she is every bit as protective, proud, and entertained as we are.
*From 2 months on, I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady has been his favorite song. As soon as I start singing it, he stops fussing and immediately starts smiling. He also really likes the Beach Boys. :)
*Our boy has had the most animated facial expressions of any baby we've ever seen.
*He has been a terrific night sleeper from the get go, sleeping anywhere from 12-15 hours a night.

I hope to keep adding to this post as I remember more!

Helping Daddy baby-proof the house

The 'Oh" face he's so fond of

Came out of the bathroom to find him like this

Doggie sandwich!!!

Months Already!?

Has it truly been months since my last post? Good grief! I wish I could say all has been fine and dandy, but unfortunately that isn't the case.

I'll start with the not so great and get it out of the way. The middle of February we received the unfortunate news my Uncle Randy passed away unexpectedly. He was flown to the hospital in Pittsburgh in the middle of the night suffering from kidney and liver failure. Early in the morning Randy went into septic shock, followed shortly by internal bleeding. There was nothing the doctors could do. It was and continues to be heart breaking to our family. It's hard to accept something like that because of it's abrupt nature. Randy was only 46! At the same time my Ma (Dad and Randy's mom) is suffering from an incredibly aggressive form of dementia. She's been going steadily downhill, but the 2 weeks preceding Randy's death were especially hard. When my aunt told her Randy had died, she didn't understand what was going on, and the funeral was more of the same. My Pa has been doing his best to take care of her, but he has health problems himself and can't keep up with Ma all the time. And now the stress of caring for an ailing wife is taking it's toll on him.

Well, now that we've got the downer side of things over with, we can move onto (hopefully) happier topics.

Our days are filled with Wyatt and all his accomplishments. It's incredible how much they change week to week! His personality just continues shining through with every new trick he learns. He LOVES eating solid food that mommy and daddy are eating. Yesterday he tried scrambled eggs for the first time and wouldn't stop eating them! Last week he taught himself how to get into a sitting position from his belly. We kept going into his room after his naps to find him sitting up, looking at us over the crib. And every time he had the proudest expression all over his face! And then today, it finally, FINALLY happened....he CRAWLED!!!! I haven't been so excited since he rolled over. I even managed to get it on video! (Who would have thought that little Kodak camera would be so damn handy??)  I wish I could mention everything he's done in the last little bit, but the truth is I can't remember the last time I posted, and there's been so much going on it's hard to remember!  I'll just finish up with some pictures and videos of the little dude since I know that's what you all are waiting for :)

His zombie baby look

Always having fun in the tub!!

He figured out the dogs will eat anything he drops and thinks it's HILARIOUS!

Cheeto's Pope

One of many Faces of Wyatt

Surprise! I can sit up now!

"Oh, hi mom. This? It just fell into my hands. I swear!"

Charly and Wyatt 'playing'

One of many attempts to get a mommy/son shot.

Mirror Fun