Celebrating Ian

Ian's birthday fell on a Saturday this year and it was a busy Saturday! For some reasons, we decided it would be a good day to take the van in for an alignment and tire rotation. So, after a quick breakfast of pancakes we all piled in the van and then came home in Daddy's car. The girls each had a friend birthday party to go to. So, while I took Audrey and Rachel to their different parties, Ian hung out with Daddy. Andy should have gone into work, but decided to try to work from home that day. Here's Ian in the morning working away with his daddy:

The van was finally ready around 2 pm. After dropping Andy off to pick it up, Ian came home and took a super long nap. He was tired! After his nap though, he was ready to have some fun and celebrate. The Mackays joined us for dinner and cake. Prepare for picture and video overload. In my defense, there are a lot I cut out.

The Birthday Boy:

Ian with all his presents (he was so spoiled by family):

Trying to get the bow off:

Handsome boy with his tie:

Checking out all his toys:

I love how his tongue it sticking out to the side:

He's a natural!

Checking out his mow lawner, I mean lawn mower:

More interested in the flame than the cake:

"I don't know what they expect me to do with this, but I'm not doing it":

"What on earth is this?":

"I'll just enjoy my milk, thank you very much!":

Birthday boy with his balloon:

Mommy, the Big 1-Year Old, and Daddy (we all have double chins, not the best angle, but Ian's adorable):

We had so much fun celebrating Ian! And he did try some of his cake 2 days later. I think he was just a bit overwhelmed that evening with all the attention and activity. If I put a piece in front of him now, it would get eaten. I guess he's going to have to wait until Rachel's birthday... Ian has been the best baby in the world. I'm hoping the coming years go as smoothly as this past year. We are looking forward to celebrating so many more birthdays with our little man!

1 year old

Ian's first birthday has definitely come quickly! It seems like with each child the time just goes by faster. Ian is still a very happy, content little guy. He hasn't gotten any teeth yet. He's completely weaned from Mommy's milk and has transitioned just fine to cow's milk. In the past few weeks he's gone from army crawling to crawling on his knees. He's also figured out how to climb up one step. He doesn't have the opportunity to try and do more since we don't have stairs. He's mastered pulling himself up to a standing position (especially at the bathtub or Grandma Michaelson's toy box). 

Right now Ian has this unique little laugh he does. It's hard to explain, but it's just a quick little laugh when he thinks something is funny. He loves to take things out of containers and then put them back in. He's become a beast when it comes to changing his diaper. I never understood why people would have to pin a baby down to change their diaper. I now understand... He also can get quite upset when things are not going his way and he'll just fling himself back in protest. Sometimes the path is clear and sometimes it isn't... I'm surprised he hasn't hurt himself more than just a few tears...

Most days he only takes one nap. Usually around noon he'll crash and sleep for about 3 hours. If we're off schedule due to errands or different activities, he'll usually catch a catnap in the morning and then a longer nap later in the afternoon. He's still sleeping great at night. Ian's favorite foods right now are: Gerber mixed grain cereal, any flavor of yogurt, cereal bars, grapes, mandarin oranges, bananas, mac 'n cheese, ham, chicken, veggie sticks, baby puffs, cheerios, and bread. Depending on his mood he's sometimes more adventurous. He ate cheese pizza a few weeks ago. It just depends on what we're eating for dinner... Here are a few pictures of Ian from this past month:

This was the first time he climbed a step - into a kitchen cabinet:

Standing up and watching the girls play outside:

Playing outside:

Ice sledding with Daddy on Christmas Eve:

Celebrating his first Christmas:

Figuring out a straw (I know there's stuff dripping but he drank a lot):

This picture is just an example of how he uses his feet. He uses them like hands and has since he was only a few months old. It's really kind of funny! He drops toys all the time while traveling in his car seat and he'll pick them back up with his feet. One day he was sucking on a teether and using his feet to help:

Enjoying ice cream for the first time:

 

Playing in a ball pit for the first time:

 Getting his first haircut (Audrey as the photographer):

 All done:

Enjoying his first sucker:

And today he celebrated his first birthday:

Museum of Natural Science x 2

We have a membership to the Museum of Natural Science because there's a little Sugar Land museum that we enjoy. We can get into the Houston museum as well but never have. Since Andy had time off around the holidays we decided to pack the kids up and take them downtown the day after Christmas. There were quite a few others that had the same idea. Luckily we didn't have to wait in the long line since we're members. The downtown museum had just opened up a new Paleontology Hall. It was quite impressive. We enjoyed our walk through the museum. Although we were a bit disappointed about the lack of hands-on activities. Here are a few pictures of our day at the museum:

Ian's so good about his stroller. I don't think we had to take him out once (other than a diaper change). As long as there are people to watch and we keep on moving, he's one happy guy. And it helps that he enjoys taking his socks off and playing with his toes:

The following week after Andy was back at work, I decided to take the kids to the Sugar Land museum. It had actually been awhile since we had been there due to their limited hours. We can get 4 children in, so we picked up a friend to go with us. We enjoyed a fun morning at the museum.

The dinosaur bone dig pit:

 

For those under 2, there's a ball pit (Audrey's always bummed that she can't join her brother):

We enjoyed our days at the different museums. We are looking forward to the summertime when the hours are better at the Sugar Land location and we'll be able to go there when it's not a good swim day.

New Year's Getaway

Andy took a little over 2 weeks off around the holidays. He does that every year and it's very nice! It helps us get ready for not seeing him much... We decided to drive up to my parents' place for New Years. We actually drove up on the Friday before New Years and came home the Wednesday after, January 2nd. It was a nice amount of time and was very relaxing. It was definitely colder than Thanksgiving, so we hung out inside quite a bit. We drove down to Longview on Saturday to do some shopping and go to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. We did church on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday we just relaxed. My mom made her fabulous clam chowder, which rivals any trip to Pismo Beach. I believe on New Year's Eve we played games, watched the ball drop in NYC, and then went to bed. We celebrated at 11 pm! Here are a few pictures of our little getaway.

Ian's most favorite spot:

Fooling around after a long car drive:

 

Fun at Chuck E. Cheese:

  

Getting stronger and driving everyone crazy with the sound of the chair scraping along the tile:

Fun with the teether:

 

Audrey and Ian playing:

  

Ian and Papa Michaelson:

 Audrey as Snow White:

This picture cracks me up (and it's not because of Misty's green eyes)! Every night when Grandma would give the girls their bath these 2 would hang out together outside the door waiting for them to be done.

 More fun with the teether:

 Rachel and Ian just chillin':

 

Ian's first taste of ice cream, courtesy of Papa:

  

Our last morning there both Papa and Grandma were back to work. While we packed up, Ian discovered the toilet paper:

 

Lots of pictures of Ian this trip! It was so nice to go up and relax. It was a great way to say farewell to 2012, which was a good year for us. We feel extremely blessed and are looking forward to what 2013 has in store for our family...