More florida fun...

Also in Florida, we got to take a trip to the zoo and attend a HS playoff football game.






Back at home, Auntie L left a box full of musical toys for me to play with...

Holiday fun...

Fender had a fun, family and food filled holiday in Florida. I'll just post pictures since there are quite a few. December arrives tomorrow Christmas is on the way. Happy Holidays to everyone.

Our hosts...Pop carving the turkey and Nana preparing all the fixings.
 
 

Fender loved playing with the animals...especially little Gigsy (pup that loved playing with Fender as much as Fender liked playing with him) and there was also, Dust, an old cat that actually let him hug, pet, kiss, and maul him a bit before running away up the stairs.
 

Our boy also loved playing in the kitchen drawers, Tupperware, refrigerator, pots and pans...you name it.
 




Well, with all the chaos in the pictures above, I'm sure you can understand the need for a Fender cage from time to time. :)

Happy Thanksgiving...

Before the week gets any more hectic, we wanted to be sure to wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving. Currently "Daddy" is in Boston for the night and due back late tomorrow. "Momma" is sick with viral bronchitis...yick, but taking meds for the symptoms, which is supposed help me rest better and heal faster. If all goes well, we're off to Florida on a super cold and early Turkey day morning. Should be fun. I love holidays with a chill in the air. It just feels right. :) And even though we're off for a warm Thanksgiving, here at home, the high is supposed to be around 48 degrees F. Get those fires crackling.
 
 
 

Spoon feeding...

Breakfast nutritiously delicious and a good time too.





Just Fender getting into tight spots and figuring out things work.

Life as a one-year old...

After returning from our Amarillo adventure two weeks ago, we enjoyed the company of friends visiting from England this past week. That culminated in a weekend Doula training workshop in Houston for Momma, leaving no time for updating the website. For now I'll just catch you up on some of Fender's new achievements in his 13th month.

I'll start by saying he is just so grown up. I spent three days away from him and when I returned he looked much taller, hair is growing out, he looked much smarter, and is doing so much with ease now. He runs in addition to walking now. He his climbing more. And while I was away, he started saying "Mama" to me on the phone. He says Ma-ma and Da-da with clarity and direction, which is just so incredible to hear. Melts my heart. Verbalization seem to be his new direction. He says uh-oh again, and you can see he truly understands what we are saying and will try to mimic things back. He is also getting the hang of using a spoon. The past week he started turning the spoon around and putting the right "food" side of the spoon in his mouth. He even managed to scoop some food on the spoon once, but decided he didn't want to eat that bite.

What else...oh yeah, according to our home measurements, he was 32" long and weighed 26lbs at the start of this 13th month. Though, seeing him after being away for a few days, I'm not sure he hasn't grown even more. He is still so much fun. Still sleeping well each night and still laying down for bed each night without fuss so far.

I have a couple of cute videos and Daddy took pictures of the "father-son" weekend together so more pictures are coming soon. In the meantime, here are a couple from our day at the Ft. Worth Stockyards where Fender met his first Texas Longhorn.
 
 

Amarillo on my mind...

Fender and I spent a few days in Amarillo last week, primarily to be out of Daddy's distraction zone while he finished his studying and sat for his exam on Friday. The timing just happened to coincide with "Grandmama's" birthday and Halloween, so we "treat"ed her to a frightful dose of Fender.

Getting to know Gran's office...
 
 

Waking up with Aeon...
 

Running around town...
 

Breakfast in the comfy chair...

October ends...

Turns out that it is hard to follow last year's Chewbacca Halloween costume. Nothing really stood out as the "Gotta be that" costume this year. We decided on a pirate (see picture below) but when it came to Halloween in Amarillo this year, Fender, his Granmama (accent on the last syllable...as in Muhma, like the Adams family), and I just handed out candy sans the costume because it was a bit too cold. Next year should be fun and I expect some actual trick-or-treating will be involved.

 

As October ended we spent one afternoon at the park and I showed Fender around one of the empty baseball diamonds. He had a great time running around the bases.
 
 

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.