Jailbird - Also Entitled: Why on Earth are Mommy & Daddy Spending So Much $$ on Toys When I Clearly Like to Play with Things that Aren't Toys!

Okay, so I know this is not something new for most parents, and I may hear a lot of "I told you so". It really baffles me how we could have an entire neighborhood block filled with nothing but age appropriate toys - ones with flashing lights, silly songs guaranteed to stay in your head and drive you crazy for days, all kinds of knobs and buttons and other cool gadgets that the average person would never think of - and yet, Merrick chooses to ignore all that. (Sheesh, and you wonder why kids these days have issues with sitting still and paying attention...these toys are insane!)

He is FAR more interested in things like...oh I don't know....dog crates, empty cardboard boxes, ice buckets, the toy box itself (versus the toys in it - see above), food pantries, tupperware, my cell phone, etc. Here's Merrick playing with a few of his favorite "toys":

Dog Crate Jailbird:

Ice Bucket:

Random Cardboard Box:

Merrick's Birthday Adventure

Merrick was very lucky and got to celebrate his 1st birthday twice! First on Sunday, when we had friends and family over to hang out at the pool. It was lots of fun! Grammie made the COOLEST cake ever to go with the beach theme...check it out:

Aunt Tracy was so sweet and took TONS of pictures so Craig and I didn't even have to think about it. We'll post those soon! Speaking of Aunt Tracy, she came out the spend the entire weekend with us, and to meet Merrick for the first time. After the party we took Tracy to the beach for some fun. Merrick just LOVED his Aunt Tracy....we miss you!

Playing with Aunt Tracy

Doing what he does best at the beach - destroying sand castles!

Then on his actual birthday Grammie, Grandpa, Aunt Teri, Willow and Wren came over to celebrate again! We all had such a good time.

So, after two chances to have all the cake he wanted, he is officially the only 1-year old I know that didn't really want to have ANYTHING to do with it. You can see what he thought by the expression on his face in the 3rd picture. He finally gave it a little try, but that last picture is the messiest he ever got!!

Happy 1st Birthday Son!

To our son - this past year has been the HAPPIEST year of Daddy's and my life, by far! I never knew such a tiny baby could bring a world full of joy. Each day with you, when we think it's just not possible to love you anymore than we already do, you surprise us and we love you even more the next day! We treasure each milestone, each giggle, each cry, and even each tantrum as we know all too well this time with you will FLY by. We look at each other all the time and ask ourselves - "what on earth did we do to ever deserve you"? How unbelievably fortunate we are to be your parents!

It's amazing to see you develop your personality...you are such a HAPPY baby! You like to make yourself and others laugh all the time. Even those quiet times, when you're supposed to be sleeping, we'll catch you babbling to yourself and cracking up with laughter. You're also very observant of the world around you. You love people and interacting with others. I can tell you have a bit of a stubborn streak as well.

Your favorite things in this first year? You love music of all kinds (you get that from both sides of the family), the water, climbing and testing your abilities, the outdoors, and of course bananas. :)

We are so excited to experience your 2nd year and discover more about you, your likes and dislikes, and to watch and help you learn and grow.

All our love forever, Mommy & Daddy.

A Week of Milestones

Sheesh it's been a while since I've posted....we've been busy busy busy! I cannot believe that Merrick's 1st birthday is tomorrow. This year flew by way too fast...I need a couple more years of his first year. In the last few days we've hit a few milestones. Let's see....

Merrick finally decided he would move out of the puree phase and on to finger foods...yay! I seriously thought he'd be calling me for the next batch of purees while he was in college. Anyway, he used to hate bananas, but now it's pretty much all he will eat. Every morning when he wakes up he says..."nana, nana...mmmmmm". So cute! He's going to turn into a monkey, I'm certain of it! Here he is below enjoying his favorite food of the moment. See, he even looks like a monkey:

Next - he's had his first ice cream cone! I know, bad Mommy. But Aunt Tracy is in town and we had to celebrate with something yummy in this already-horrendous heat:

And last but certainly not least...we have a walker! While there have been a few steps here and there over the last week or so, as of yesterday he is officially walking! We have him below walking to Aunt Tracy - even since this video he's mastered it even more: