Christmas pictures 2009

I'm walkin' here

Adjusted Birthday

Today is John's adjusted 1st birthday- in other words, one year after his due date. When you consider his rough start in life, he has made huge gains! We are so proud of him (and of us!).

JohnJohn is still not walking on his own more than a few steps, but he will now walk while holding my hands. Previously he was totally against that, so this is another positive step towards walking on his own.

That is all. Pictures posted today are of John (as usual) after a particularly messy meal. His hair is full of mashed potatoes, which he absolutely loves! Video is included.

Yellow River video 3

Yellow River video 2

Yellow River video

Poppy's Party and the Yellow River Game Ranch

Haven't updated the blog in a while, I know.... been too busy playing with the boy, enjoying my time off school, etc.

John has changed so much over the past couple of weeks. He is talking a lot more, and has some actual words: mama, dada, dog or doggie, yay and yum. He doesn't say yay and yum all that frequently, but we've heard them! John's receptive language is also very good. He understands so much, it's really awesome. John loves playing Pat-a-cake and Itsy Bitsy Spider- he'll raise his hands up for "down came the rain" and also for "out came the sun". Of course, it is very adorable and we think he's a genius. He's finally started waving 'bye' and being less shy/clingy when we're out and people talk to him. Also, John has taken some independent steps! He's been cruising on the furniture for a while and has taken a few steps away from furniture. Won't be long now!

Vacation has been fun so far. We traveled to SC at the end of May for John's Poppy's 80th birthday party. Every Wednesday morning we go to the public library near us for the Babies program (for little ones ages birth to 18 months, but the youngest ones there are usually around 6 months). John really enjoys that since there are other kids there in various stages of development. Today we took John to the Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn- it's a sort of a wildlife refuge place, with farm animals as well. John really enjoyed it. He has started really being into animals, so it was a treat for him to go today. I'm sure we'll go back in the future.

Today's pictures are small because there are so many of them: some from Poppy's party- sitting in a kid chair, laughing at Katie, Bill's cousin Carol's dog, sleeping on Caroline, Bill's cousin; from the Yellow River Game Ranch- feeding and petting some deer, looking at a bear, posing with Daddy, looking at goats (the little one was very interested in the stroller), feeding a cow, looking at some ducks, feeding hungry burros, some big fat pigs!, a bunny, thank goodness for water bottles! and sleeping in the car- exhausted!

Look for video later in the week, possibly, or maybe next week.

New Pictures and video

From earlier in the week: John in his retro t-shirt

From today: John eating his Daddy's homemade mashed potatoes today at lunch, with video

Birthday Boy

Well, we made it through our first year as parents! John turned one last Saturday (the 16th). Nana, Carolyn, SaraBeth and James came on Friday, and Grammy and Poppy came on Saturday for John's party. We decided to go low-key and invite family only, which I am very happy about. Bill and I are not ones for big crowds, and John was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. Pictures are attached. He had his own little "Smash cake" courtesy of Publix. John had no idea what to do with it and didn't really eat any of it unless I put some into his mouth. He enjoyed playing with the frosting, though.

John had his 1 year check-up last Monday. He continues to make gains in the 'catch-up' process- his pediatrician says John will most likely level out by his second birthday, which is when all the literature says preemies usually catch up by.

John is still not walking on his own, but he cruises everywhere. Because he is such a fast and adept crawler, he is not terribly interested in walking, although today when he wanted to come to me, he walked down the length of the sofa to get to me (instead of crawling).

I'm very excited as school is officially out. I have a three day weekend due to Memorial Day, and then I have three work days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday), and then summer is finally here! I'm looking forward to playing with John every day.

Today's pictures: John eating birthday cake; opening presents in his diaper after being cleaned up; lying down on a pillow, ready for a nap; getting ready for American Idol tryouts.