My baby is ONE!

My baby turned ONE in July! My little Aron with one A for Awesome!

 As you can see, he loved his cake. "What do you do for a one-year-old's birthday party that is fun for the older sibs?" you may ask... Well I would say - Finger paint with pudding!

 I love this little guy. He is so full of personality - ready to observe, ready to participate, ready to experience things himself.

 He is a major mover! He crawled at 4 months, climbed up stairs at 7 months, and was walking by 11 months. His favorite pastimes are climbing on top of the kitchen table, unloading any drawers, cupboards, or garbage cans he can get a hold of.

 He has a good sense of humor. He has the BEST baby belly laugh - ever - that's right, I said it. He loves games, surprises, playing tag, tackle hugs, cuddles, scavenging for snacks, coloring on the floor, putting things in the toilet, sitting on laps, climbing in beds, following kids around and overall is pretty pleasant to be around.

His stats are below. His head is apparently pretty large! He has 7 teeth in front plus 3 molars in the back - teething hasn't been totally painless, but he still is a trooper. His dark hair has blond-ed over in the sun like my other kids. He says Daddy, Ouchie, Pata (for pat-a-cake), and loves to babble! He loves music and spinning in circles. He loves inviting himself to whatever situation looks fun, and excuses himself from things that are not interesting. I look forward to see what treasures will come from this third installment as he continues to grow and develop. Love you Bubba!

9 month stats:
19 lbs, 14 oz (36%)
29 1/4 in (77%)
47 3/4 cm (96%)

12 month stats:
22 lbs 14.8 oz (54%)
31 1/2 (93%)
50 cm head (100%!)

T-Ball

Bridger played T-ball this spring for the first time. We had a fun, energetic, silly team of boys that I had the pleasure of coaching. Thank goodness for all the dads willing to help throw, catch, pitch or instruct when available and for all the moms and siblings willing to hold, watch, feed or entertain my younger kids while I was otherwise occupied on the field.

 Snow White got in on the action, too.

 Over the course of the season, Bridger even started hitting from pitches (as opposed to just the Tee).

 Overall, it was a great experience and we had more sunny evenings than not for practices and games. Bridger was nice and said that he liked me coaching and that it was cool that I was the only mom coach. Awww....



Happy July

 Here are a few scenes from our July 2012. A highlight for Kacy this summer was to go on the "Daddy Daughter Campout".

 We picked and ate lots of berries. Yum!

 We played in the fountains. This is a main contribution of Aron walking before his 1st birthday - the desire to go back and forth between me and the water. He figured out it was faster to walk than to crawl.

 We participated in the Sherwood Fourth of July Parade/Bike Ride, then spent some time at the park enjoying the sun.

 And we capped off the Fourth at Mark's house with friends, food, fun and fireworks.

I love summer in Oregon!

Overheard

Sometimes I have the best conversations with my kids. I need to be better about recording the things they say, but here is a few gems:

Bridger: "Mom, I think Annie is my girlfriend because she is a girl and she is pretty... But I don't really know what girlfriend means."

Kacy: After Jim & I returned from a trip to San Fran "Mom, I lost you!" She said this while stroking my head.

Bridger: "Mom, you are really old, like 1000 years old, right?"

Bridger: "I have the best nose in the whole wide world. And the best ears"

Bridger: "Mom, have you ever been to the moon?" No... have you? "Well, not yet..."

Kacy: "Ariel says feet."

Kacy: "You have to look for fireworks, then you can see the stars."