rosa & chad

A few weeks after Aaron's birthday, we traveled to Long Beach Island, NJ for my best friend Rosa's wedding.

Rosa and her husband Chad are two of the most delightful people you will ever meet, so we were pretty excited to spend the weekend celebrating them.

Aaron's a pretty big fan of Rosa.


Here are some photos from the weekend festivities.
Disclosure: I stole a few photos from Amanda. (Thanks Amanda!)

The Rehearsal Dinner

Keith and LaurieAmanda and Greg - they are next!Who invited this guy?
He was pretty excited about it.

Getting Ready

Amanda takes getting ready very seriously.Georgia, you are welcome.Ready!
The Ceremony
What a stud!
The bride and her parents.
The Reception
High school friends.
You can click on the Picasa link on the side to see more pictures from the weekend.

The weather was perfect, the venue was stunning and there never was a more beautiful bride. All in all, it was a perfect wedding and we had such a good time.

We love you, Rosa & Chad!

it's my party and i'll cry if i want to.

We celebrated Aaron's birthday over Labor Day weekend by having a jungle themed party at our good friends' house. (Thanks again Hayes'!)

Aunt Shelley and Barry even made the long journey from CA for the party.


I'm not going to lie to you, loyal blog readers, I lobbied hard for a cool bouncy house themed party. Alas, both Isaac and Tutu didn't seem to think that bouncy houses were appropriate for a one year old. (I still disagree - what's funnier than a baby who can't walk in a bouncy house??) So, the theme of the party was In the Jungle instead. Very fitting because Aaron's favorite animal is the lion. He's a really good growler.

You know I love a good theme, so we got a jungle safari kiddie pool and I made some jungle cupcakes.
Pretty awesome pool, right? Especially good for a kid who loved every minute of swimming over the summer, right? Except not.



Because it's my party and I'll cry if I want to. (I highly recommend clicking on that picture to make it bigger. It gives you full effect of the drama llama birthday meltdown.)

Now, I should add, I hear you, son. I always ascribed to that philosophy too. Many a birthday party ended in tears in my youth. You come by it honestly. So for that reason, I'll keep the video of the hysterics to myself.

And not to rub it in, but guess who WASN'T crying.
This girl.
I can't say she was having the time of her life, but at least she didn't act like we filled the pool with acid.

Anyway, we moved right along to cake which I knew would cheer Aaron right up. That and a rousing round of Happy Birthday was just what the doctor ordered.


Success!
Like the cake on his actual birthday, he needed a little encouragement at first to get started.


But he quickly caught on. Smart boy.

He could not even be bothered to stop stuffing his face to take a picture with Mommy & Daddy. Priorities.

I love this - it's like he's saying, "Uh, pretty sure that's mine, Daddy."

For those of you that prefer live action...





After we pried his chubby little fingers away from the cake and cleaned him up as best as possible (without dunking him in the pool, which was my original plan), we moved on to presents.

Everyone knows you read the card first.
A lion! ROAR!
Daddy's pretty excited about this one. Trains!
And Mommy was pretty excited about this - a handmade knitted stocking with his name and birthdate. Priceless! (Thanks Lydia!)
And more presents.
Everyone needs some chucks. In several sizes and colors, obv.

Sweet ride.


There were so many presents - Thank you everyone!

The party continued...


Until babies started passing out left and right...

But not this guy!
Because he's ONE. And officially a BIG BOY.
Oh dear.

In one year, this

became this.

And my heart is full.

catching up

Hey, do I know you?

I guess it's been awhile...

Where, oh, where do I even begin?

Events since we (I) last posted:
1. Aaron's Birthday Party (plus 13 & 14 months - whoops)
2. Weekend at the Beach for Rosa and Chad's Wedding
3. The Big Move
4. Pumpkins/Fall/Halloween

Plus many, many random pictures I took between those big events.

But I think each event deserves it's own post.

So, I will do my very best to catch you all up. Consider yourself warned.

fourteen months

(Written in November 2009, but never posted.  I backdated it to make it fit chronologically, for posterity.)

Aaron at 14 months:

Moving:

He is constantly in motion.

As I write this, he is just days away from walking. He's been cruising furniture and people for months now. He crawls like a speed racer. He takes tentative steps alone but still lacks the confidence to keep going.

He likes climbing too. The other day, I caught him climbing up on his music table and attempting an escape from his play area. Sweet.

Talking:

Aaron has been saying some words pretty consistently now for the past month. It's still so cool to hear him try to repeat the sounds that we are making. He still communicates mostly by grunting, but we are getting a few words here and there.

Here are some of his current favorites:
-uh oh
-hi
-meemo (remote)
-mama
-dada
-dadoo (thank you)
-moh (more)
-puh-hin (pumpkin)
-up
-down
-bubba (bubber - his blanky)
-ehmo (elmo)
-tee (tree)
-wow

plus a plethora of animal sounds - lion, cat, dog, rooster, duck, cow, turtle (ref: halloween post)

He is doing a LOT of pointing these days, accompanied by grunts. We are making more an effort to teach him some baby signs (more, please, thank you) to try to combat his demands.

He also has been wandering around a lot lately just saying "hi" over and over again. He says it to kids in the grocery store, toys at Target, us, leaves, anything. He's friendly.

Loves:

-independence
-music
-books
-throwing things
-lions (and all animals)
-Little People
-Mickey Mouse
-playing our piano
-eating

Dislikes:

-diaper changes
-being penned in
-sleeping past 5am
-if you don't share your food with him