late birthday post and catching up

i've been taking a much needed blogging break the last few days. all those pre-birthday posts kicked my ass! devin had a nice birthday at home last wednesday. fabian got off early and devin opened his presents. he got a radio flyer wagon, a huge scrapbook of his first year, a little plastic pots and pans set, and 2 books. he loved the wrapping pare and balloons! later in the day we went to his photo shoot where as you can see from the last post, he was an absolute perfect little guy and smiled and posed like he wants to audition for a commercial or something!

this was taken at the exact time he was born (10:51 am) on his b-day :)

we had his birthday party on friday, i'll have to post those pictures soon, i don't have any on my camera and need to get them from my mom. it was stressful getting things set up but after the thunderstorm and after NOBODY showed for an hour things were great! i'll post about it soon.

since his birthday devin has all of a sudden decided to act just like a true one year old! hes all over the place getting into trouble. he crawls under things and gets stuck, chases the cat and actually succeeds at catching him a few times a day! he pulls up to standing on just about anything and has started to cruise the furniture. hes still perfecting his technique and needs to be spotted the whole time. this can be difficult because its pretty much all he wants to do for the last few days!

he's also eating solids much better. i give him 2 meals a day for now. usually some of what i eat for breakfast and some of what we have for dinner. he picks stuff up, pops it in his mouth and actually chews! such a big boy! i've introduced cheeses and eggs so it gives us a huge variety of foods for him to try. he likes scrambled eggs, cinnamon toast with butter, noodles of any kind, croissants, shredded cheese and LOVES watermelon! hes just not a baby food kinda guy and i don't blame him. i don't even offer him purees anymore because he never liked them. he likes flavor and spice and real texture so that's what he gets!

he got so many toys for his birthday and loves them all! even though he just got so much new stuff, i could'nt resist getting him this fabulous activity cube thing the other day! its so cool! he loves it!

happy first birthday sweet baby devin!

1st birthday countdown - devin's 11th month...

i cant believe its officially the last night of devin's 11th month of life! in 10 minutes it will be his 1st birthday!!!

this last month has been so crazy! so much has happened and devin is really like a different baby!  i never thought he would be able to hit so many milestones in just one month but he has. he learned to crawl at the beginning of this month. he also started pulling himself up into a standing position.

 he learned to clap and wave and has been feeding himself pretty well. he also learned to move forward in his walker, something he didn't really understand at first ;)

here he is looking at his hand waving... so cute!

needless to say, our lives have changed drastically in the matter of weeks. having a mobile baby is challenging and so much fun. its so amazing to see him follow me all over and just as great to watch him go places on his own. he crawls all over the house! he can make it through the dining room, down the hallway and into the bathroom in 17 seconds! yes, i counted the other day! hes also all over the place when we give him some time in his walker. that thing is pretty big but he maneuvers it easily through the skinny hallway and around furniture. he chases the cat in it-he chases the cat while crawling too. hes always going after things he shouldn't be touching even though i make almost 100% sure the complete house is safe for him.

we had a nice father's day. devin made fabian a nice picture. it was his first masterpiece and fabian loved it!

things have changed so much. devin just seems so much older and so much more capable of well... everything! he does little things just to get a reaction from us and thinks its funny if we say no. we can redirect him 80 times and make it nearly impossible for him to continue doing whatever it is he shouldn't be doing (going after wires, crawling under the chairs and so much more) and he will find a way to keep it up, laughing at us the whole time! its pretty hard to get frustrated at things like this, its just so funny and im so proud that hes a little trouble maker! im sure it will get old when hes an older trouble maker so im going to have to figure out some discipline eventually. not now though! hes too cute for discipline!

nice bruise huh? that was his 2nd bruise in the same spot!

becky, does this look familiar? i remember seeing issac doing a push up just like this! i had no idea devin would be right behind him trying to keep up!

this past year has been the most rewarding, life changing year of my life! fabian and i were just saying the other day that we had no idea what it would be like to have a baby. we thought we did but it has been so much different than what we imagined! i cant describe it, sometimes i'll be putting devin in his carseat or watching him learn something new and i snap into reality and cant believe im his mom! since when did i have a baby? since when was he so adorable, smart, funny, healthy, advanced, amzing? since when did i have a boddler? (baby toddler ;) its such a wonderful feeling to know that hes mine and i get to enjoy him all the time. my heart skips a beat when i think of how far hes come and how great hes doing. im so proud of him. hes the best thing thats ever happened to me and i love him more than anything!

and finally, here are the last pictures of this perfect little boy before he wakes up in the morning (who am i kidding- at 3am) and has turned one whole year old!

RAW(e) photo entry...

this is a quick post just to enter a contest called RAW (e). its a fun weekly photo contest over at sailor & company. sailor&company is a very fun blog i read and you should definitely check it out. this weeks theme is pets and animals. my mind immediately went to this picture of my adorable tonka looking quite pouty surrounded by devin's toys. he was trying to soak up the tiny patch of sun and was willing to go to great lengths to do so :)

1st birthday countdown - devin's 10th month...

devin had a fun 10th month! he had a few different playdates and started going to gymboree. his social life is much better than it used to be! he goes to gymboree once a week and i bring him to play with other babies as often as possible. he loves other kids!

he started to figure out how to get around during this month. he would pull up to his knees on everything possible and began scooting a tiny bit on his but. he would also lunge for toys from a sitting position and i could see him figuring out that he might actually be able to achieve forward motion sometime soon!

mother's day was nice, we went out to breakfast and spent the day together as a family.

i got my favorite baby carrier this month and have loved using it since then! its awesome ;)

devin continued to explore new foods and enjoyed feeding himself more than being fed.

because of his increasing mobility and desire to get into trouble he started spending more time in his pack and play. this is what he does to show us it time to come out!

overall, devin's 10th month was a whirlwind of learning and discovery. we could tell that it really would'nt be long until he was crawling and doing so much more. this is also the fateful month when he decided to stop sleeping through the night. ever since his 3rd tooth  (big front tooth) appeared he has been waking up at least twice through the night. its halfway in now and i highly doubt he will break this pattern any time soon :(  at the end of this month, i sent out his birthday invitations and started getting things together for his big birthday party!