Happy 1st Birthday Kyle!

It is hard to believe that one year has gone by since our momentous day in the hospital. It has been such a whirlwind, the first months we constantly thought "What the heck are we supposed to be doing?" as we dealt with dangerous diaper changes and an over-stimulated baby. And then suddenly, before we knew it, we were upon the last few months which have been filled with "Where the heck do you think you are going?" as we chase after our little toddler! It is truly amazing to look back over all of the pictures that we have taken over the past year, and it is hard to believe that the "little" baby we brought home from the hospital is the same little boy that we have running around our house today.

Kyle was very spoilt, with lots of presents from his Maemo and Granpa, Noni and Papa, and his aunts and uncles. We took him shopping at Toys-R-Us to help pick out some of his presents, but the lawnmower we saved for a surprise turned out to be his favorite. Now he has yet another reason to be excited about going outside. Good thing the weather has been so nice lately, because it is difficult to keep him indoors! He also has a new gardening set, with watering can, bucket, shovel and fork, which will keep him very busy with tidying up and caring for all of the plants in the garden.

Thank you from our family of three to all of our family and friends, who have been with us in body and spirit over the past year, for all of your warm wishes and guidance as we have survived the first year of parenthood! We're looking forward to sharing even more good times with you in the future.

Busy in the Garden

I love this action shot of Kyle in the garden this afternoon. He had such purpose as he carried the (empty) watering can back and forth to take care of the plants. It was a beautiful day to be outside, which was good news because most days Kyle can't stand to be inside. So we played outside as soon as he woke up from his afternoon nap until dinner time - it was my way of making up for the torture I put him through earlier in the day when we went shoe shopping for the first time. It turns out that he has pretty chubby feet for a baby, so it is actually pretty tricky to find something that will fit him! In the end, I did manage to find some cute sandals, but they don't quite fit the purpose of being good in the water and having a flexible sole. Sorry Kyle, there may be another trip back to try on a few more pairs...

Here's another picture of Kyle, asking if he should bother watering what looks to be a dead plant! "Um, Mom? Is this thing alive?" I have to admit that last year, we had a little too much on our hands to pay much attention to what was going on outside. However, this year we have a little more free time as well as a little helper to get into everything!
And a final parting shot of Kyle checking the dampness and quality of the fuchsia's potting soil (this also included a taste test!)

Fun at the Park

With Kyle's first birthday rapidly approaching, there are lots of other 1st birthdays for his "friends". Last weekend we attended Turner's 1st birthday party on Saturday, and then on Sunday hosted a 1-year reunion playgroup for the Moms' Support Group that I used to attend. This past weekend, we gathered at a park for a picnic/get-together with the families who were in our "Preparing for Birth" class. Needless to say, there was a lot of chasing around, with kids heading in all different directions. We got some great photos of Kyle, but this in one of our favorites. He is becoming very expressive with his face! (This was taken just before he tackled me and the camera)

Empty Nest

This photo was taken of Tweetie, Pie, and Mom yesterday - just before Pie was spooked by Mom being spooked by Kyle walking up to the rose tree! Pie hung out on the ground overnight while Tweetie enjoyed some extra room in the nest, but the next morning when we went to check on Pie, Tweetie got spooked and flew out as well.

We couldn't find Tweetie again, but the fact that Pie was "flying" (not much vertical, but his distance wasn't too bad), I'm assuming that she was testing out her wings as well.

It's a little sad to have them gone now - Kyle always had such a big grin on his face when he saw them, but now he just looks at the empty nest and holds up his hands as if to say "Where did they go?"

Getting bigger

As much as we love marveling over everything that Kyle is up to now, it is also fun to watch our little doves growing. I only wish that Kyle was a little bit older to be able to understand what the two little feathery things are in our rose tree. Here are Tweetie and Pie, getting bigger amazingly quickly, we can't believe that just over a week ago they were two tiny eggs not much bigger than grapes!

The Littlest Walker

Kyle is everywhere now - it is amazing how much he has taken off in the last three weeks. He can now walk from room to room in the house, often going back to his room by himself, or wandering into the kitchen in search of a snack. He occasionally uses support, but loves practicing walking at every chance that he can get. He has more fun pushing his car now, rather than riding on it. Kyle prefers to walk, although will resort to crawling if he has fallen down and isn't close to anything that he can pull himself up with. Once he learns how to stand up on his own, there will be no stopping him!

We went to his friend Turner's first birthday party yesterday and had lots of fun with balloons, bubbles, box tunnels, and of course, someone else's toys! It's amazing that one-year has flown by and the next couple of months are filled with birthdays. We also hosted a playgroup at our house today, with 4 other babies in attendance. It was so much fun to see them all mobile and moving throughout the house.

Our Growing Family

Meet the latest additions to our family: Tweetie and Pie. This pair of doves hatched over the last week in a beautiful nest built by robins. The robins came to their senses, realizing that although the fragrance was beautiful in our rose tree, it was not the most practical of locations - with too much traffic for watering and trimming, in addition to TOO many roses and the supporting branch being pulled down by all of the weight! So soon after the robins abandoned their love nest, the doves moved in. These two little guys are growing VERY fast, but they will definitely not be catching up to 20-pound Kyle!