Birthday box...

A late arriving box of birthday prezzies makes Fender's first birthday month one non-stop celebration!!! And not only were the new toys and clothes fun to play with, but the big box they arrived in was a hit! Thanks Nana and Pops!!!!
 
 
 

A short video of some of the fun:

Misc fun pictures...

 
 
 

Dallas Aquarium...

We spent the day at the aquarium in downtown Dallas yesterday with Auntie Loren and some friends. What fun!
At once, all the flamingos stuck their necks straight up and turned to look at Fender. Funny!
 

Fender loves looking at fish.
 

The sharks were so neat to watch.
 

These spotted manta rays were another hot watch spot.
 

Well, need to go run the dog and take Fender out to play for a bit so I'll post more pictures later when I have a chance. I highly recommend visiting the aquarium, but go armed with the knowledge that parking is $5 and the aquarium was just over $18 with tax.

okay...here are more pictures. Not pictured were the Jaguar and Jelly Fish which were awesome!

This is where you walk under the big tank with sharks and manta rays swimming all around. And the huge alligator was about the size of three grown men!


Poisonous blue frog and predator puffer fish.

Snacking...

 

The important things...

Daddy teaches Fender how to bring him a coke from the fridge.




Just an overalls kind of day...

Bedding down...

Well, I started to post this after the first night (which is why the date says Monday), but didn't want to jinx anything and really can't say I believed we were successful after one try, but as it turns out, putting Fender down to go to sleep on his own has been yet another transition Fender seems to have taken to without much fuss.

All bias aside, he's just brilliant. ;) Honestly, that first night I even said to his Daddy, "You know, he is smart. He knows we are here if he needs. And I think he will figure out pretty quickly that it is just time to go to sleep for the night." (That was my hope anyway.)

~Monday - he went to bed awake, but tired, and a cup of milk instead of bottle. He fussed maybe 5 minutes and went to sleep on his own. Yea!!!!
~Tuesday - I gave him a little milk in a cup before carrying him to his room mostly asleep, he gave a whimper as I left the room, then was out for the night. Amazing!!!
~Wednesday - not even a cup of milk, and a little more awake then the previous two nights...he cried for 8 minutes and then went to sleep. Good boy!!!
~Thursday, a little milk before bath but none after. Played a little, read a book, put him to bed. He cried about 4 minutes and slept though night. I don't believe it!!!
~Friday, basically just put him in his crib after our evening routine when he was sleepy. No fuss. Just went to sleep.

FYI: Goes to bed around 9:00 - 9:30PM and sleeps through until about 7:30 - 8:00AM.

When I tried this on Monday my attempt was to get him to fall asleep on his own (sans mommy's arms holding him tight with a yummy bottle) but I didn't intend that he should never get a bottle again. It just turned out that he didn't need it or miss it. No big surprise I guess. He is independent and seems to take changes well.

So now I give him the last of his milk prior to "bath time" so we can brush his teeth, bathe him, read him his story and put him to bed. I have enjoyed the past year of holding and rocking him to sleep, and am so thankful that didn't seem to spoil him from going to bed on his own now.

Also, we're brushing teeth twice a day now that molars have come in. His top two molars came in last week (you may remember from the "momma's birthday" post below) and the bottom two are pushing through right now. By this time next week he will be a 12 month old with 12 teeth! Not typical but not out of the norm either.

It's my party...

Pizza first...




Then a break to play with my buddy Caden...


Next we ate cake (not pictured because it wasn't as good as the cheesecake from two days before) and then we opened birthday presents...


And played some more...


I also had my first haircut Saturday before the party...

This is the big ONE...

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, FENDER DREWRY!

While the first two months seemed to go by so slowly...before he even learned to smile, it seems like the rest of the year has flown by in a quick two months time. Fender now smiles, laughs, sings, dances, plays, feeds himself, drinks from sippy cups, and even through straws. He can ask for things he wants by pointing, crawls through tunnels, climbs up stairs, walks and occasionally runs. He can clap, play peek-a-boo, say Bye-bye and wave along too. He even used our hand sign for "elephant" when he wanted to play with his elephant piggy bank a couple of nights ago. And can throw his arms up for a "touchdown" now. What a lot of learning and growing to do in just one year.

It is hard to say good-bye to this wonderfully sweet year full of so many "firsts." But it is hard not to want to move forward into this second year and see what new things await, for Fender, and for us as parents. I have a feeling this year may be a bit more challenging given his new found freedoms such as walking, running, and more and more talking. And if he is anything like his mom and dad, I'm sure he will be asserting his independence and stubbornness more every day. Oh boy!

He had his one-year check-up and weighed 25lbs 6oz and was nearly 31" tall. He was given vaccinations for Polio, Measles, and Chicken Pox. YUK! But has done well so far. We've had a fun week of birthday celebrations, including a visit from his "Grandmother" (Drew's mom) who got to watch him devour his first cake ever.

He had a fun-filled first birthday party on Saturday with pizza, cake, friends, family, and toys galore. So without further ado...here are the pictures.

Cheesecake from Napoli at his actual birthday dinner on October 4th! Yum!




October 4th birthday cards, presents, and hanging out with Grandmother.

Big boy car seat...

Our boy will be ONE year old tomorrow. Wow.

Forgot to post this before, but early last month we moved Fender from his infant seat to his toddler car seat. Yea. After all the fuss about "he's not going in that seat until he's ONE year old because the safety guidelines say so..." we compromised and at 11 months made the much needed transition. Fender loves his new seat facing forward where he can watch all the cars go by.

"I'm much too crowded here."
 

"Let's get to the new seat...charge"
 

Here's his super safe (only side-impact tested) and super cool RECARO (who make the safe sports seats for race cars, boats, and planes) toddler seat which will grow with him until he no longer needs a seat.
 

"Yea. Room for my legs to stretch out."
 

Happy Birthday, Momma...

Today was my birthday and Fender will turn ONE on Thursday. As big as he is and as much as he has learned, it seems hard to believe last year at this time he was still in my belly waiting to get his first look at the world. I had a really nice, lazy birthday. My Dad brought by some of his homemade fudge...YUM! My sister came to town for a quick visit. Drew made lunch AND dinner. And I got to watch the Cowboys and Packers win both their games giving them each a 4-0 start to the season. How cool is that? And Texas Tech won their game yesterday by about 60 points...really! So today has been a good birthday with calls, visits, and emails from other family and friends.

We're planning to have Fender's first birthday party this Saturday, Oct 6th from 12:30-2:00PM with lunch and birthday cake for all. Everyone is invited! We'll be watching the Texas - OU game after the party at 2:30PM and everyone is welcome to stay and watch it at our house.

We're also putting together a time capsule for Fender to open when he turns 14. If you want to contribute something, please do. Feel free to write him a note with advice or a memory, or photos, or newsclippings of current events you want him to remember. Anything you want. You don't have to be here for the party to add something to it, just send it to us and we'll include it.

Here are a couple of pictures from today. Our poor boy has had a rough two days of teething. He already had eight front teeth, now he has two top side teeth that have already broken through the skin and two VERY sore swollen gums on the bottom sides as well. I think he has four more teeth coming in at the same time. What a trooper. The last picture below shows how he really feels! :(
Happy Birthday, Ma-ma...
 

Having a snack with Auntie L...
 

Teething is such a pain sometimes...
 

Walking man...

Tonight my mom suggested that I might want to use Fender's walker more so he can follow me around the house a bit, it dawned on me that maybe I haven't kept you all up to date with how fast Fender's walking has progressed. He now tries to break out into a full run. He definitely keeps up with me pretty well walking from room to room. So here's a short video of a very short Fender walk. He can walk as far, as long, and nearly as fast as he wants to. Enjoy.

Cooling off...

Fender doesn't nap much these days, which is saying a lot considering we all know he never has slept much. He did get to a pretty consistant 1 1/2 hour nap for the past five months or so. Now the trend is to try and skip the nap all together, but he typically doesn't make it so he has shifted it to an evening hour nap. He still sleeps from 9PM - 7AM or 10 - 8 depending on how late he takes that little nap. He is doing very well moving from bottles to sippy cups and formula to milk. He only gets a bottle in the late afternoon at daycare most days and his bottle before bed. Those have formula, the rest of the time he gets whole milk in his cups. I'll be 31 years old a week from today. And Fender will be ONE four days later. Drew will be 33 six days after that. :)

Fender finds the fridge.
 

A new way to play the piano.