Christmas Time!

Christmas was SO much fun! Anthony had a blast unwrapping his presents (and ours too!). Daddy didn't want to miss a moment of the day, so he opted to forego sleeping before his shift. That allowed us to spend the entire day together! Grandma, Auntie, Aaron & Kevin stopped by to bring Anthony some presents; thanks guys! We had another awesome dinner at Aunt Michelle's on Christmas Eve. Thanks for having us over, Aunt Michelle! I don't know how Anthony stayed awake on the ride home, he was wiped out! He had some milk, a little cuddle time and then off to bed! That boy is such a trooper! Thank you to GG, Gramma, Grandpa, Uncle Chris, Uncle Jon & Aunt Abbey for all the wonderful gifts you sent! We miss you guys and wish we could have spent Christmas with you!

Aside from the Christmas-hoorah, Anthony is trying so hard to gain his indepence... he wants to do everything himself! He doesn't want a handful of Cheerios, has has to hold the bag and feed himself. He takes the napkin from me and wipes his own mouth. He takes the toothbrush from me and brushes his own teeth, etc. I mean, really? Already? 16 months old and he doesn't need us anymore? lol

Inspecting the Christmas Tree

I forgot to post these pictures yesterday... Anthony woke up on this morning to find the tree decorated. We think it's so cute how he stood there with his hands behind his back and inspected the tree.

Nov 30 - Dec 20 2009

So, we are gearing up for Christmas! We have the tree up and decorated. I think we have all of Anthony's gifts. However, every time one of us goes to a store for something, we come back with more gifts for him! Daddy made some candy cane cookies and Anthony just LOVES them! He will take my cookie from me if I have one for myself and he stuffs the whole thing in his mouth so I can't get it back! Anthony has his first cold now! But, he's taking it like a champ; it doesn't seem to bother him much. He's still a hearty eater and is really starting to want to feed himself more and more. We've caught on to the fact that Anthony is very aware of who's at home with him. He seems to know what he can get away with or get to do with each person he's with; he's quite clever!

Nov 18 - 27 (Thanksgiving)

We spent Thanksgiving over Aunt Michelle's and had a fabulous dinner with her and Jen. Anthony was too busy to be bothered with eating. But, he did enjoy playing with his food and stabbing his bread with a fork. Anthony is changing so fast; it's just amazing! He is constantly searching around for new things to discover and figure out. He has started saying "all done" and knows & uses sign language for milk, more and pacifier. He likes to lay down on a pillow and pretend to snore and take a nap and he rolls his cars around while making engine noises for them. He is a very healthy eater; we are amazed by how much he will eat sometimes! His favorite things to eat now are blackberries and zucchini; he grabs them off his plate and can't seem to shovel them in fast enough!

November 12 - 16 2009

So, this weekend we took full advantage of having Daddy home from work! We were finally able to do some things together as a family, that we normally don't have the opportunity to do. For example, going to the park as a family for the first time since the week that Anthony was born! It was a beautiful day outside and we all had a great time together. We also had a nice lunch at Tomatina where Anthony enjoyed his own personal pizza and getting to color with Daddy! Anthony has been saying "Mmmm" when he eats something that he likes. And now, he also says, "cheese"! Woo hoo! A new word!

November 1 - 10 2009

Anthony has 3 more teeth coming in now. There could be more that haven't broke through yet. But, it's hard to tell because he doesn't give us much opportunity to look in his mouth. So, that's a total of atleast 7 teeth now! He has started leading us over to the stairs when he's tired and ready for a nap or his bedtime. At first, we thought he was just leading us over there because he likes to climb the stairs. But, he's only doing it at his normal sleep times. I'm sure this wont last. But, we are going to enjoy his willingness to go to bed while we can! He just loves to play in empty boxes or inside his toy box. And he wants to climb EVERYTHING!

Alison feeding Anthony (video)

Alison feeding Anthony (video)
Originally uploaded by jamie1888

Halloween

Anthony had a great time on Halloween! We went over to Cindy's house to have a little dinner and then out to Trick or Treat. Anthony made a few attempts to give Alison a kiss, but she was playing hard to get that night and wanted no part of it. Although, she was sweet at dinner time and fed Anthony some Cheerios! SO cute! We only went out trick or treating for a short time. But, by the time we got home, Anthony was exhausted! As soon as we came through the door, I set him down and he ran right over, climbed up on the couch and waited for his milk! He always drinks a cup of milk right before bed; so he was ready to get the show on the road and get to sleep!

Oct 23 - 30

We all had fun carving pumkins and getting ready for Halloween! Anthony seemed to enjoy putting things inside the pumpkins more than anything else. He's getting some new teeth in; we can tell it's causing him some discomfort. But, he's a champ and doesn't let effect him too much. He has started saying "uh oh", climbs up and sits on the couch on his own when he's ready for some milk and now, when you ask him if he wants to go "night night", he runs over to the stairs and happily waits for us to take the baby gate down so we can assist him while he walks up the stairs like a big boy!

Pumkin Patch

We all had SO much fun at the Pumpkin Patch! Anthony loves when he can just run around on his own; uninhibited and free from all the, "No, you can't touch that"s. (Be sure to check out the additional photos!)

2008 vs. 2009 @ the Pumkin Patch

What a different a year makes!