More of C's birthday

For documentation, I wanted to do one more post of Crosby's actual first birthday (last week--but I'm just now getting around to adding these pictures).

On the morning of his birthday he had an appointment at the ENT clinic for a follow-up/check to his tubes. His ears look great right now--happy about that! This is the only picture I took, and it was with my phone. It's in the waiting room: under the chair on the left is Rhett, on the right is Alexee and standing in the middle is Crosby. Our appointment was at 9:00 and we were strapped in and back on the road at 9:16--awesome!!!

In his high chair at home before lunch:

Common scene around here these days--C digging in the kitchen drawers and/or cabinets. This one is full of plastic cups and lids, so it's a great one for him to look in. (Lane's parents gave him these sweet monkey PJs for his birthday. He looks so snuggly in them!)

He's now allowed to face forward in his car seat! Lane turned him around before going to dinner.
We took him to the usual kid-birthday spot in our family, and he had a good time! He got his own special scoop of ice cream with a candle on top.
Rhett and Alexee were hovering over him ready to grab more ice cream (they'd already had their own milkshakes).

Bath time on his birthday. :)

Sweet sweet SWEET smiling boy!

After I get him dressed at night, he likes to crawl over to his crib, reach through the side and get his football softie. He sleeps with it in one hand.

Playing before bed

Whew, it's been a busy birthday season at our house, but now we have a break for a while!

Happy FIRST Birthday!

One year and 12 minutes ago, we welcomed this sweetie into our family! What a wonderful year it has been! I wish I could go back to the hospital today and re-live the delivery and that moment of seeing him for the first time! He is so much fun, and it is an honor and a blessing to get to be his Mom.

I love to look at his hands and feet!

And I know I'm really having to search for a curl here, but do you see that tiny one in the very back? :) (Oh, and seeing his ear in this picture below made me think--I took him back to the ENT this morning for his check-up, and the tubes/his ears look great. We check in again with the doctor in six more months.)

He has 5 teeth in, and one more is just coming through on the top now. A lot of the time I think he looks like my baby pictures, but I think he looks like Lane in this photo below.

He smiles and laughs a lot. He sleeps all night with no late-night bottle now. He's not walking yet, but he's getting braver and braver about letting go of things. He can crawl all the way to the top of the stairs (with me RIGHT behind him, of course), and he'd do that all day long if I'd let him (the ottoman is currently serving as a baby gate at the bottom of the staircase).

I think he weighs 25 lbs. and a few ounces. He's a big boy! He is losing interest in baby food. He'd rather eat little bits of things that the "big kids" eat: waffles, grapes, strawberries, bread, turkey, etc. He seems to really like yogurt. I guess I am about to switch to whole milk and a sippy cup...hope that transition goes well! While I'm sad to see him grow so fast, I will not miss purchasing those $25 containers of formula that I bought from age 8 months until now! Maybe our Kroger bill won't be quite as scary now.

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TO YOU,

Crosby Grant Garner

Donuts, bunnies & haircuts

The kids love to go get donuts, so since it's Spring Break (temperature today feels like Winter Break) that's what we did for breakfast this morning. It's been nice not having to get Rhett to school by the 7:40 a.m. tardy bell this week! I don't know what R & A were saying here, but I like the expression on Alexee's face.

Crosby even tried the donuts today--and liked them, of course! I shared mine with him...he's reaching for more in this picture: :) He has a loooong reach--you'd better watch out if you're sitting anywhere near him!

We came home and put Crosby down for his nap and then worked on this Hobby Lobby Easter craft (Marshmallow Bunnies). Ours didn't look exactly like the ones on the box, but it was a fun project for the kids.
To have just turned three, I think Alexee has strong 'fine motor skills'. She holds crayons, pens, etc. very precisely, and I was impressed with her ability to spread this melted chocolate in the small mold with a tiny stir-stick.
This was a fun part--stacking the marshmallows and dipping them in the white chocolate.
Adding the tiny candy eyes while the chocolate was still soft:
By the time we were finishing the Easter project, this little guy was awake. He played happily in the floor with Robie Robot while we worked.
About to eat a marshmallow bunny after lunch:
Next on the agenda: haircuts for R & A. I forgot to take my camera inside, but I snapped a few of Alexee with my phone. This was her first official haircut at the salon, and she did great! I never know what she's going to do in situations (like the other day when she threw a fit at the shoe store and refused to let the nice lady measure her foot?? She loves shoes--I thought she would be excited??). So it could have just as easily gone another way today, but thankfully she was in a easy-going, cooperative mood and climbed right up in the chair (she even wanted to go first). She said to Debbie, "Don't cut my face off!". Debbie laughed and said she'd never do that!

Alexee & Debbie

It looked cute and healthy when she was finished. She probably trimmed 1 1/2" because the sides were shorter than the front. I didn't get a picture of Rhett in the chair. He was in an extra-wiggly mood, so I didn't want to distract him even more by taking his picture. They each left with two Tootsie pops and a sweet haircut for Easter!

Tonight we met Lane at Panera Bread for dinner--we love that place! I always get the same thing: 1/2 Tomato Mozzarella hot panini and cup of Garden Vegetable soup--mmmm!

Dinner w/friends and zoo trip

Last night our Bible study group met for a fun dinner at a fish restaurant downtown. The weather was so nice, and we had a table by a big, open window.

the whole group

The hushpuppies were really good

This morning we met some friends at the zoo. It was chilly! I guess I thought it was going to be 75 degrees by 9 a.m., but it wasn't!

Alexee & friends trying to see a bear

Alexee, Maylee & Savannah waiting for their train ride

Crosby was so good. He was missing his usual nap time, but he never whined or cried. I gave him a bottle as soon as we got to the car, and he was asleep by the time we got out of the parking lot.

We drove straight from the zoo to meet my Mom and pick-up Rhett. I'm so glad he's home--I've missed him a LOT! It's been quiet around here. He had a great time though. He told me that he was getting homesick this morning, but he wished he could have stayed one more night. :)

We won!!!

It has been a good Monday! This morning a sweet friend came over to babysit for a few hours while I ran errands ALONE and ate lunch with Lane--it was great! It was really cold and windy this morning, but warmed up this afternoon so we were able to play outside after the kids' naps. Alexee tried out the new 3D sidewalk chalk from Mo and Granddad--doesn't she look funny in the 3D glasses?

Crosby laughed at us blowing bubbles at him. Bogart likes to try to catch them too.

Rhett went to my parents' house for a few nights, and boy am I missing him! It seems so calm and quiet around here. I'm ready for him to get home, but I know he's having a blast there and probably has no interest in coming back here for several more days!

So after we played outside for a while we went to check the mail and were so excited to find a package for us! I haven't won a drawing since I think the 4th grade when I won a Barbie doll from a cereal box drawing. But my loooong, unlucky streak was broken last week when I won THIS great prize from a friend's blog!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH, AMY--ALEXEE LOVED HER CRAYON HOLDER! It is very cute! (She has another fun Easter drawing going on here if you'd like to check it out. She is so talented!)

Here is Alexee with her mail (Amy, she loved the stickers...and the candy). :)
She wanted to try it out right away!
When it was time to go upstairs for her bath, she packed it up and took her supplies with her.

Thanks again, Amy. I'm so happy that we won! :)