Sean is 1!!

Oh boy - I am a little embarrassed that it is October already and I have not blogged about Sean's birthday and that I did not blog at all in September. Since I am partly doing this for Sean I definitely need to get better about finding time to blog. 

Anyway - - Sean turned 1 on August 21! Mom and Dad both stayed home from work so we could hang with the little man all day. It was a wonderful day. Sean slept in a bit and woke up in a great mood. We opened a few presents. Sean still does not really get the whole "present" thing but seemed pretty excited about some of his new books. Here is a picture of all his loot! 

Sean seems to like his new chair, although he rarely sits in it. He prefers to climb it. Brett snapped this picture and I am still shocked we got it since the pictures that follow it show how Sean looks in the chair 99% of the time! 

It currently sits in a corner so that he can not tip it over when he climbs on it. Hopefully someday he will actually use it as a chair. :-) 

After Sean's nap we took our last set of monthly sticker pictures. I have to say I got a little emotional here! I loved taking those monthly pictures. Here are a couple from this last photoshoot. 

Later on in the afternoon we gave cake a try. I was not overly optimistic that it would go well as Sean did not like to get messy with his food. He would not touch the cupcake. He would not even open his mouth to try it. Finally I stuck his hand in it (2nd picture below) and he was less than thrilled to say the least! 

It was a wonderful day and we are so happy that the three of us got to spend it together. Sean has brought more joy into our lives than we ever thought possible and we love him more and more each day. 

The following Saturday we had a little party at the house. My parents, sister and a few friends came over to celebrate. Major shout out to my sister Kerrigan who drove up from Richmond and hit horrendous traffic. We really appreciated you not giving up and making it to the party. Sean loves his aunt/godmother!! The party was Winnie the Pooh themed and we had a lot of fun picking out decorations, ordering balloons and ordering the cake! The cake again did not go over so well, but that just meant more for the rest of us! :-) 

August Already!

This summer sure is flying by as well as the weeks since our last post. When I first started writing this post it was the first week in August (hence the subject line) but we got a little sidetracked and here we are at the end of August doing a post covering the last month! Sean has done so much developing in the last month that I think this will be a long one. 

In the time since the last post a month ago, Sean learned to pull up. At first he could only do this if he was crawling toward something (like the couch) using his momentum to help propel himself up. Here is a picture from the first time we ever saw him do this. Of course, he used the remote control as his motivator. :-) 

Shortly after he figured out how to pull up from a stationary position so now he pulls up on everything!! This includes the crib. Sean is teething pretty badly right now and one day we noticed some strange marks on the crib rail. After talking it over a bit we decided Sean made the marks with his teeth while standing up. The very next day Brett walked into them room and Sean had just done it again! So, off to the internet I went and bought something to protect the crib rail. So far, it seems to be working. 

The last weekend of July Sean got Baptised by Father Malm at Grace Church. He also married Brett and I so it was extra special that he was able to baptise Sean. It was a nice service although Sean did not want to fully cooperate and cried during the lead up to the actual pouring of the water. The church seemed to find it amusing though and as soon as Sean was put on the ground afterwards he was happy as could be. We don't have many pictures but several are on other cameras so will post some when we get those. 

The second week in August we visited Gemma and Poppa and had a really great visit. Sean had his first experience in a real pool which, once we moved out of the baby pool he seemed to really like. Ironically, we decided that he was too small for the baby pool since he can't walk yet, and crawling would have put his face under the water. We switched over to one of the bigger pools and just held him in the water and motered around with him. He had a ball with this, especially when with his Poppa! We took a ton of pictures so here are just a few. 

I forgot to pack extra clothes to put on to wear on the drive home so in order not to soak the carseat, we changed his diaper and put him in this way. He either did not like to be almost naked in his carseat or he really did not want to leave. Either way, I thought it was mildly amusing and took a picture. 

We had a delicious dinner that night outside. Sean did not participate in the dinner but ate Cheerios and Puffs while we were eating (he had eaten his own dinner earlier). He seemed to enjoy being outside with us. 

Sean sleeps in a pack and play next to us when we visit. This is what we woke up to Sunday morning and how we knew it was definitely time to get up! 

While we were there, we also visited a local park. Sean had a blast. You may remember the first few times we took Sean to the park and tried the swings he was unimpressed and showed zero emotion one way or the other. Well, what a difference a few months makes! Sean loved the swing this time, giving us big smiles both times we put him on it. He also cried and had a death grip on the swing when we tried to take him out. Below is a little video of him swinging for the 2nd time that day followed by some other pictures at the playground. 

Right next to the park is where Brett used to play little league baseball. Of course we had to take some pictures on same field! 

Sean also began "cruising" while we were there or walking while holding onto something. We happened to catch it on video the 2nd time he did it. It is only a few side steps but very exciting for us. Hard to believe he went from barely being able to pull up on something to pulling up on everything and starting to cruise around! 

We had a really great visit and were sad to leave! 

The very next weekend Sean progressed a little more and walked with his walker. Brett and I were both sitting in the room with him and he just stood up and started pushing it (kind of awkward very large steps at first but by the second pass was much smoother). We turned him around and captured a video. He has done it a few more times since then but sometimes he gets lazy and drops to his knees and pushes it at that level. 

Last week Sean turned one and pushed through another new tooth! I think his birthday deserves its very own post so will be posting that soon. 

Here are just a few extra pictures that I think describe Sean right now. 

Being his inquisitive self. . . . 

Playing with his books - although his favorite are lift the flap books 

Be back soon with a post on his birthday! 

Busy Week!

We have had a very busy week. Last weekend we went to Sean's very first birthday party and this weekend he went to his second! He seemed to have a good time at both. In the middle of the week we celebrated Daddy's birthday. Lots to celebrate lately! 

Last Saturday we celebrated Brett's birthday a couple days early by going out to eat for the first time as a family. We headed to Outback at around 4:15 PM. We were hoping to find a time that we would not have to worry too much about the other people at the restaurant given that lately Sean does not particularly like to sit still. He did great! He tried some of the bread and really seemed to like it. I gave him some of my broccoli since they said he ate it at daycare. He did not seem to care for it at Outback. I brought a tub of Puffs with us and he chowed on those throughout the meal. I think it was a good first meal out and look forward to doing this more often. Here are a few pictures from the meal. Sean loved the billfold and played with that for a while before we actually had to pay. 

Last weekend I bought some water ice at the grocery store. We decided to let Sean try some to see what he thought. To say he is not a fan is an understatement! Here is the video we took. Poor kid! :-) 

As you can see from the video Sean has learned to shake is head no when he really does not want something. Sometimes this gets confusing because he also just like to shake his head in general. 

Happy Birthday Daddy! We took this in the AM before heading off to school/work. 

Sean has become quite the crawler/explorer. It seems like almost overnight he went from crawling a bit mostly in areas he was familiar with to crawling all over the place at what seems to us like superspeed! 




He discovered the cable box today. He likes to pull up and touch the numbers on the clock. Needless to say we are trying to discourage this! 

We received a request from daycare that Sean bring in shoes for when they go outside, so off to the mall to visit the Stride Rite store we went. The woman who helped us in the store was great. Answered all our questions and recommended we only get 1 pair of shoes since babies feet grow so quickly. Sean is a size 4 Wide. The clerk thought maybe they would be extra wide but it was only Wide. Sean was such a good boy getting measured and trying the shoes on. He seemed a little confused as to what was going on his feet and at first kept swatting at them. We left with a cute pair of blue shoes that melt my heart just to look at. Here are some pictures from experience. 

Here are just a couple additional pictures from the weekend that I found particularly cute! 

Gemma bought Sean this adorable shirt. We just happened to have shorts that matched pretty perfectly!

Catching up.... Again!

I am behind on the blog again so this is going to be a little longer than normal. 

In June we celebrated Father's Day. Sean is starting to understand a little more about opening presents and cards. He especially loves playing with the cards and paper. Here are a few pictures and a little video of Sean and Daddy opening cards and presents together. It is always sweet to see how much Sean loves his Daddy. 

Back in October, Brett and I bought yearly passes to Mount Vernon (it is about a 2 minute drive from our house). Since it is summer we are trying to go more often so we can use our passes. We went during the last weekend in June and had a great time. We got there on the earlyish side and were able to take some pictures before the bus loads of people started arriving. We walked around a bit and found that people are allowed on the grass behind the mansion. This leads to a beautiful view of the river. We stuck around here for a bit before heading inside to find a quite place to give Sean one of his food pouches. It was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to going more often. I think we are going to try and bring a blanket and sit on the lawn behind the mansion for a bit longer in the future. Here are some pictures from our visit. 

Sean has become quite the little mover recently. Since he moved into the crawler room he has left behind his army crawl and learned to crawl for real! When he really wants something he is determined and fast so we are on our toes a little more which I am sure will only continue. Sean has also learned to pull himself up. Here are some picture of the first time we ever saw him do it at home. 

Here is a little video of our happy crawler. At the end he decides the china cabinet is a good place to test his pulling up skills so the video may abruptly end. 




We had beautiful weather the weekend of the 4th so we decided it was a good time to break out the inflatable pool. This is the pool my parents bought as an accessory for the baby shower and gave to us afterwards. Here is Sean looking cute as can be in his swimsuit. 

Sean and Daddy posing before getting in the pool. 

It is a great size! At one point, Brett and I were in the pool with Sean. To say he was not a fan at first is an understatement. He cried when he first got in. We think it was because the water was cold and he is used to the bath being the perfect temperature. Once he got used to it he seemed to be fine. We hope to do this more often throughout the summer. Next time we are going to put the bathing suit top on as well because even though I slathered him in baby sun tan lotion, I was still pretty nervous about burning so we did not stay outside very long. 

Sean is such a happy little man and we love him so much, a little more each and every day. His smile and laughter are the perfect cure for a long or difficult day. Last weekend while my sister was visiting he figured out what to do with the octopus on the exersaucer. I could have watched him do this for hours.




I will leave you with one of my recent favorite pics of Sean. This little outfit came from my Mom and Kerrigan last summer, so I am happy he is fitting into it this time of year. I love, love the monogram and his smile is just precious. 

Sean has been invited to his very first birthday party this weekend so we are looking forward to that! Happy weekend!