Isaac's First Birthday

I didn't realize (until Mom told me) that I hadn't posted any photos from Isaac's actual birthday.  I only posted pictures from the party.  Sorry!  Most of the excitement was actually at the party, rather than on the day itself.

Blue Bear is shrinking!

First, our friend Candy brought over a super-cute little dinosaur that she made for Isaac.  The red fabric has little grey tools all over it and is perfect for Isaac.  It even goes well with his bedroom decor! 

Then, our very nice next door neighbor, Kathy, surprised us with a toy for Isaac.  He LOVES this thing and the various (loud) noises it can make when Mom and Dad are trying to watch TV.

Then, Daddy came home from work and put together the gift from Mom & Dad.  It's a cool tricycle thing.  Isaac's friend Cash has one, too, and Isaac really likes this.  It's how we go on walks now...

I have a great video of Todd playing with this, but I can't get it to upload...


Later, Isaac opened his present from Aunt Shannon, Uncle Scott, Kyle, and Katie.  The tree frog passed the taste test.

He got this fun rocking puppy (as opposed to a rocking horse) from Aunt Krissy and Uncle Dave.  This has been a fun toy for him so far.  Sometimes he rocks on it; sometimes he kneels on it.

Finally, we gave him the Noah's Ark set and book that Nana sent.  He plays with it every single day now.  Last night, one of the giraffes jumped ship and went for a swim in my water glass while I wasn't looking...

The other big, fun gift Isaac got was given to him before the birthday party.  It's a water/sand table from Grandma and Grandpa.  He likes this toy - especially the various shovels and rakes that he carries all over the house while crawling.

Giggles

I have seen several videos of babies giggling lately - they seem to have all gone viral on the Internet at the same time.  I think they are adorable.  So, here are a couple of videos of my favorite baby laughing:

Bluebonnets

Texas tradition is to brave the oak pollen every spring to get pictures of your kids in the bluebonnets.  We didn't succeed last year because Isaac was so young.  This year, we delivered!  Isaac did a taste test and then we took several shots.

 Sweet, happy boy

 Family photo

 Four generations:  Albert "Abe" Walter, Dave Walter, Todd Walter, and Isaac Walter

 The Walter Men

Isaac and the girls

Birthday Party!

Wow!  Today was an amazingly fun time!!!  Today, we celebrated Archer, Henry, Cash, and Isaac's first birthday.  We had a huge party for all 4 boys and they had a blast.


Isaac had his first taste of sugar and I think it's safe to say he liked it.  We got all 4 boys to sit at a little table in the yard so they could enjoy their cupcakes.  We lit candles (and kept all fingers away from the flames) and then let the boys dig in.  Isaac went FACE FIRST!!!  It was absolutely hilarious!  All of the kids played with the water/sand table and we got pictures of the birthday boys, their mommies, and the Baby Mamas.  Here's a hint of the festivities from today:


The fun (messiness) is about to begin!

 "Let's get started, Grandma!"

Preparing to taste the cupcake:

 The first taste:

 Hm, this is pretty good!

 What is this thing?

 Who cares?  I'll just dive right in!

Yum!

No hands required

Cash's icing mustache.

"WOW! Have you tried one of these?  They're terrific!!"

Starting on the "cake" part of the cupcake

Mmmm...

Isaac's face... The "after" picture!

Icing on the elbow

...and the foot.

Crumbs EVERYWHERE!

Isaac says, "YAY! for cupcakes!!!"

Sitting with Mom for photo ops:

Playing with his new sand/water cart.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

 Anderson is having fun, too!

"Hey, Isaac, check this out!"

"That's pretty neat, Anderson!"

Fun with sand

 Hooray for messes!

All of the birthday boys:  Cash, Archer, Isaac, and Henry sporting their super-cool birthday shirts that Bethany (Archer's mom) made:

 The Baby Mamas! 

House Update (Finally)

Todd has made major progress on the shower.  We need to get to work on picking out doors...

There is even a cool little seat in the middle there:

Todd also got a new leaf blower a few weeks ago.  It's the kind that he wears on his back and is much more powerful than the old one.  It has definitely been worth the investment!!

I have planted a few little plants in a patch of the Druid Ruins in our backyard.  I had help, as you would imagine...

I am not sure whether you can see the soil smeared all over his mouth.  He had fun with the scoop and the dirt/mud while I tried to clear the bed of weeds.

Here's our final result - one jalapeño pepper, one banana pepper, one Roma tomato, one oregano, and one lemon thyme.  Now let's see whether I remember to water them every day...

11 Months!

Isaac is 11 months old today!  This month has been LOTS of fun.  He's learned some new things, like pointing and clapping.  We are also working to get his sleep "schedule" back on track as it's been off for about a week now.  Last night, he also said his first word!!!  It was "Yay!"  Naturally, right?  He's my kid...  He has said "mama" and "dada" and something similar to "hi", but this was the first thing he said remotely close to being in context.

In the past month, he's gotten a little longer and stronger, but, unfortunately, has lost 2 ounces.  He is back down to 17 pounds, 12 1/2 ounces.  I took him to the doctor's office and weighed him today.  I am glad that I did so that I can try to make some changes before his next check-up in a month.  I was worried that I was force-feeding him because he was taking 4 ounces of food (one container) at every meal.  Now I realize I may actually be underfeeding him.  <<sigh>>  I am still nursing quite often and even gave him 4 meals today.  I am adding some olive oil to his food (the veggies, anyway) to try to increase his caloric intake.  I don't want to force him to eat if he doesn't want something, so we're going to have to get creative on getting him to eat enough.  It almost doesn't seem like there is enough time in the day!


Candy and Henry came over to play in the pool today.  It was a warm 80 degrees outside, so the mommies ate some barbecue while the boys splashed.

Here's a quick video of Isaac demonstrating his ability to clap (and charm his parents).  It was *immediately* after I turned off the camera that he said, "Yay!"  Todd and I were so excited!  

This second video was recorded this morning.  I had already finished feeding Isaac his oatmeal and was eating my cereal.  I had some blueberries that I was adding to my bowl and decided to let Isaac try them, too.  I was thrilled that he actually tasted them!  He's not been a big fan of self-feeding over the last 2 weeks or so.  We did give him a bite of tortilla the other night, though, and he managed to turn it into a gooey mess before finally swallowing it...

Pool Weather & Video Update

Isaac got to experience the pool for the first time today.  It was sunny and in the 70s, so we took advantage of it.  I used the hose to put most of the water in, but then added some more warm water just to be sure it wasn't too chilly for Isaac.  He took a few minutes to get used to the idea, but then he played for about an hour in the water!

Here's a little video of Isaac having some fun in the sun.

These are a couple of quick videos shot over the last few weeks of Isaac doing his Isaac thing.  I thought those of you who hadn't had an Isaac fix in a while might enjoy watching a few of these.  The first video is Isaac on the move, crawling after the dog, as usual.

Our little boy stands all the time now:

A little fun with Dad after work:

Here he is in the midst of pulling every toy out of his toy bin (the truck Todd's PopPop made for Todd when he was Isaac's age).

Wednesday, a couple of friends came over to play.  The dogs in the backyard, of course, were the highlight of the boys' day...

One Word Wednesday

Teeth!