Happy 1st Birthday Maverick!

Yay, it's my birthday!

I'm one!

And I'm "So Big!"

With my big blue eyes.

Aren't I sweet?

Maverick turns one today! He has been sick with a fever all week, but I think today he is really feeling better. Today at the doctor's office he weighed 19 pounds 2 ounces (5-10%), was 29" tall (25%), and his head was 18.75" (75-90%). He's my little peanut, light as a feather. His huge smile is contagious, even at 3am. He doesn't say any words yet, but it's clear when he wants more and he points at whatever he's interested in. He stands on his own and hesitantly takes a few steps at a time before diving into your arms. He's a fast walker along furniture or when holding a hand. He'll wave bye-bye a minute after you ask him. He loves to throw a ball and then crawl after it over and over and over again. He's starting to understand what "no" means and occasionally he decides to listen. He loves his brother Brody and his LOVES his daddy!

Water Table

This water table is our ticket to happiness this summer for Maverick.

What?

I'm excited that our new place will have a deck off of the dining area of the house too. It's so nice to have a few toys on the deck for the boys to play with while we make supper or eat out on the deck!

Maverick's First Steps

Maverick LOVES getting his teeth brushed.  He smiles the moment he sees the toothbrush.

Maverick is a water kid.  As soon as he sees the patio door open, he kicks it into high gear towards the deck to splash in the water.  It's going to be a summer spent running around the deck and yard chasing Maverick.

After two long failed attempts at getting Maverick to bed, this is him wide awake at 10:30pm playing happily and nicely by himself int he living room.  The living room was clean before he got a hold of it.

Maverick took his first unassisted steps on May 17, 2013! He'd been cruising along when holding onto things, but he finally took some steps on his own. Omi says that he walked toward Papa at the farm that day for his very first steps. Then after work he walked from the couch to me. It's going to be a fun summer for him walking around the yard and learning to run.

Mother's Day

Brody on an adventure hike.

Maverick on top of daddy's shoulders.

On Mother's Day this year I was in Washington celebrating Audrey's 30th birthday and enjoying the great outdoors out there. Barry took the boys for a hike back home though and Brody collected rocks and sticks to show me when I returned.

Bethanie in Washington

Orcas Island, Moran State Park, Cascade Falls

Mount Baker, view from Anacortes

Orcas Island, East Sound, Indian Island

Whale Watching

Minke

Steller Sea Lions

Tide Pools

Audrey at the tide pools.

I went to visit Audrey in Washington May 8-13. It was Audrey's 30th birthday and a long time since I had been to Washington! I had a ton of fun and had the chance to catch up with Michelle as well. We spent most of our time on San Juan Island. We also visited Orcas Island and went whale watching. It was a nice little getaway.

Barry in Colorado

Per Brody's direction, Barry found a mountain so that when Brody gets to go, he can climb it too.

Aimee, Zach, Eric, Barry

Barry went to Denver May 3-7 to visit his brothers and have a little fun sans kids. He even got to ski!

Maverick

Pre-haircut.  Notice the three teeth on the bottom.  He has seven total and has for awhile.  That side bottom tooth has been there for 2 1/2 months, will the one on the other side ever come in?

What?

Mara & Mav enjoy playing blocks together.  Don't you always hangout in a giraffe hat too?

Happy when he's sick with his rosy cheek.

He loves baths, loves them!!  He also likes snuggling, even with just a blanket.

Post-bath

Hard to believe that Maverick will be one already at the end of the month! How time flies.

Brody works on writing his name.

His first try of "BRODY" for the night.  He's come a long way with the 'B' and drawing the 'O' is his favorite.

Drawing pieces to letters that are lines at an angle are tricky to explain, but his 'A' was spot on.

I never know when the mood will strike him, but when Brody asks to use the marker or chalk board I always let him. He's not great at recognizing a lot of his letters, but I figured out that learning to draw them himself is more his style of learning instead of staring at a letter in a book.  Sometimes he decides then that he wants to work on his letters. He gets frustrated if he doesn't get it right the first time, but with the proper encouragement he will keep trying and he always get so excited when he gets it right. That's why he likes the chalk and dry erase markers so well I think.

Brody fences a pasture...

The green blanket is the pasture.  This is before we found fencing.

Whoops, the farmer that was holding the calf fell down!

The pasture was moved to the table so Maverick couldn't destroy it.  Omi found fences for Brody to use so he didn't have to use imaginary fences.

A full farm.

Brody was so excited about his work!

On Thursday Maverick was sick so I stayed home with the boys. Brody got into farm mode and created a pasture. He discovered he didn't have fencing materials, a cowboy hat, or the right boots. We pretended our regular hats were cowboys hats and are tennis shoes were cowboy boots. The green blanket was the pasture and it was tricky to keep the animals from escaping. On Friday at the farm, Omi found some fences for Brody. On Saturday he went right to work fencing so that his animals couldn't escape. Don't worry, the tractors are allowed to go in and out of the field-duh, of course they are. As I write this, he's playing with his creation again. He has the skid loader hauling some fence panels in and out and doing various other "repairs". Can you tell that Papa and Sean have been fencing on the real farm recently?