Firehouse Visit

A couple of weeks ago, Keller had his first trip to the firehouse with his buddy Joe.  It was a Mom's Group thing that I had seen and although Keller is too little to get into it in any way, I knew that Joe was into trucks and firemen (or as he calls them, "mailman") so I made a date with Keller, Joe, me, and Jackie to attend the event.  I'm glad I'm technically part of the group and get all the emails and such, but I am a bad attendee for a variety of reasons but mostly because I feel rather busy in general and when I'm not busy, then I like to keep it that way!!  So far, the best thing to have come of the group is getting me signed up to be on Focus Group list.  I attended my first one on Tuesday and came home with $100 cash for an hour and a half of me giving my opinions (which as you know I'm very good at!)    

More On the One Year Thing

Here are a handful of pictures from Keller's "real" birthday party which we had on Sunday.  Of course the hope when originally inviting people was that we could be both inside and outside, but of course October is October and you never know what you're going to get.  So even after having kept the invite list short, Travis and I began to worry a bit when we realized it was going to be cold and rainy and windy so there was no chance of swinging a "cool guys hang out outside under the tent with the chiminea" to reduce the numbers inside.  Luckily I managed to offer and "opt out" option to a couple of good friends;) so while still a bit crowded in the little house, it worked out!  All the cousins got to hang out along with the rest of the family and friends.  Keller was a big ham all day long (with only a twenty minute nap in the morning) loving every ounce of attention he got from everyone but loving his special cupcake even more!!!

And after a long afternoon locked in the bedroom, BoBo loved being on the cake clean-up crew!  Having lots of kids and cupcakes sure makes for a yummy doggie treat!  And to top it off, the other day as Trav was leaving for work he said, "don't forget that Bo is out back" (8:00am) so at around 9:30 (oops) I realized it was so nice and quiet in the house and remembered I was supposed to have let Bo in, but there were no barks or anything coming from out back.  Well when I went onto the back porch I saw why he had been so content....Happy First Birthday trash, EVERYWHERE!!  He apparently had gotten into the bag and torn up each and every plate and licked clean any remaining frosting and cake bit to be found!  Sneaky dog!!

And our 1 year doctor visit was yesterday...He's grown an inch since our last visit (remember he was like shrinking or something last time...)  So he's 27.5 inches...10th percentile I think.  And after being weighed 3 times by the nurse, the doctor insisted on a fourth weighing because he's only gained 2 ounces since the last visit.  Uh-oh.  But although mildly concerned about the numbers she did say the he's more active now, he appears good and healthy, has lots of energy and is probably just falling into his genetic height/weight category so not to worry.  If we go back in three months and there's still very little gain then it will be looked further into.  Maybe I need to feed him more??  I mentioned that to the doctor and she didn't really think that was necessary...but she did suggest he start a multivitamin because his iron count is just a little below recommendation.  But anyway--he's healthy, happy, and on target overall!  (and trying desperately to sneak past my kitchen barricade--he's done it!  Gotta go get that little sneak!)

Down On The Farm

Last weekend while in VT with the family, we visited Adam's Farm with Jill and her crew and my parents.  Jill has been taking Chase for the past couple of years and now Keller and Cali are in on the fun!  You pay an entry fee and can pay extra for a basket of various foods to feed the different animals, along with a menu for who eats what.  Chase was in charge of feeding the animals (although I think Travis ended up doing most of the feeding;)  

Keller and Cali hang out in the wagon in the cold VT drizzle.  

Keller and Dad visit the chickens, I mean roosters, I mean hens...(big family discussion on this topic...we've got it all cleared up though!)  And I don't have a picture of the turkeys because I recorded it, but it was hysterical...they all came up to the fence and if someone said "gobble gobble gobble" to them, they all responded emphatically!  It was really funny:)

Keller and his sheepy friends.  Just after this picture was taken, he fell straight forward nearly doing a summersault...he was fine.

Driving the tractor with Daddy.

The family photo after having been spit upon by the greedy llama who didn't want to share food with the goats...we all got sprayed!  Blehhhh!!!The Crew, minus Cali, Grandma, and Grandpa.  Abby and Shan arrived later that day, and Jeff, Marisa, and Samantha couldn't make it:(

Trav took this cute little shot inside the little store.

The next morning, Keller and Cali share their favorite memories of the farm while lounging in their lazy boys...Fun times!  

12 Months!

Keller sports his first birthday cape, I mean bib!!  And yes, he's wearing shoes with his pjs because when he crawls his feet come right out of the holes and he ends up like little Sweet Pea!

Yup!  That means we have a 1 year old little boy on my hands now!  We were away in Vermont this past weekend with my family for what has become an annual Columbus Weekend getaway, although this year was far less eventful than last year if you can imagine...For nine months I told everyone, no, no, go ahead, book it, plan it, go for it, have fun...first babies never come on time, yadda yadda but alas, no sooner had my mom and dad unpacked their bags when I called to say  that I think that maybe there might be a new grandchild coming sooner than we thought.  Of course good for them that it wasn't for another 30 or so hours that Keller was to arrive, so they had enough time to find a ride home from VT since my dad's beloved Corvette ended up with a flat or rather a hole in the tire and being in VT it would take a week for a new one to arrive...I think he and my mom ended up driving an old Cavalier down to the hospital...ahhh, good memories!  I'll post pictures of our VT trip soon, along with last weekend's Nantucket trip...we've been a bit busy around here, but I at least wanted a quick Happy Birthday post for Keller here!

We had a mini Happy Birthday celebration on Saturday evening since it was after all his real birthday and since Abby and Shan aren't able to make it down next weekend.  So this lucky baby gets to do the cake thing twice!  I don't think he'll mind:)  He really liked the Italian bakery cake my dad brought for him.  You know how it goes, little taste, little taste, little taste, hmmm, wait a minute...BIG HANDFUL!  Yup, adorable:)  Oh, and please note the birthday hat Keller is wearing.  I made it my very own self with whatever we could scrounge up at the rental house.  A couple of paper plates stapled together, a fancy ONE colored with the only three drying out markers in the house, and one fancy blue ribbon my dad bought at 7-11.  Now THAT was a nice hat!!  Now to prep for the full party next weekend!  I hope it doesn't rain!  Please don't rain!  Please don't rain!!  I'm sad to not have been able to invite everyone I wanted to, but alas, October weather is his or miss and the house is teeny tiny:(  

And here we have the first two teeth poking through...finally!  Just as we were getting ready to board the ferry home from Nantucket, Travis exclaimed, "I see two teeth in there!" as Keller was chewing on his sippy cup!  What a big boy he certainly is!  As for walking, he's done up to 8 steps solo and he has been able to push himself up to standing on his own (not holding on to anything)...In the past couple of weeks, he went from pointing to everything and saying "dah...dah...dah..." to now far more expressively exclaiming "nah nah nah" usually when he wants something.  It is so cool to see him a little more able to communicate what he wants with the pointing and attempted language.  It has also become more challenging to get him to settle down for a nap or even bed at night sometimes because he'll be relaxing and ready and then his head will pop up and he'll be pointing and "dah"-ing away!  Makes me smile to see the world opening up around him!  So much new stuff to check out!  And luckily for him, it's all called "dah" or "nah"!   Well so much for a 10 minute quick post, 45 minutes later...this is why I don't do this often...if only I were a better time-manager!  Off to bed:)