he took 3 steps!

ezekiel walked three steps from mommy to daddy!
we were so excited for him!


here he is back in the ball pit box.

he very much enjoyed his first ice cream cone. yUm!

the other "kids" enjoying their ice cream cones.

sparky (dog) and missy (kitten) enjoy a nap on sparky's bed. derek finished off the hardwood stairs before ezekiel's party last week.

the next day...

here is ezekiel playing withhis new airport from his cousins and aunt and uncle. he fits right in the middle!

the ball tent has been packed up so the remaining balls that we have got moved into this large box.

these are our kids! wow! so much fun :)



a few days later...

daddy surprised us with a coffee break from work. he brought a latte for me, and gigantic gingerbread cookie for him and the kids (i actually didnt feel like a cookie, very unusual...must be all those party food leftovers!).

diedre wearing her new "crazy socks" (tights) while the kids eat a little snack.



my poor little toddler girl has been having some major issues since ezekiel's party. i'm sure it has to be jealousy based. she has had more potty accidents than successes (normally, she makes one or two accidents per week) as well as tantrums or an hour-long cry session. this is my mothering analysis breakdown:
*too much attention on ezekiel last sunday
*all the new fun toys around here are zeke's; so even though she can play with them, she has to share and doesnt get to take ownership of them.
*her room was converted into a playroom and it took a few days to get all of ezekiel's toys out of there and give her back her stuff.
*ezekiel was still receiving more gifts a few days after the party so that might feel to a toddler like it was never-ending! (even though Auntie M sent a special princess pony out with the gifts for Diedre).

ezekiel turns one!

The Stats:
our boy is 20lbs 4oz and 29 inches tall.
he can stand and squat. derek saw him take one step the other day, but he does the stretch and transfer mostly. he can throw a ball with precision (ie. basketball into hoop).
he has said quite a few words and is working on ones like "ball" "catch" "cat". he says "duka duka duka" alot when he's playing. its very cute!
he has 6 teeth, two arriving last week.

we had our baby boy's first birthday party on his actual birthday. i invited lots of people and i think close to 30 people came (kids included) and about 10 to 15 cancelled the day of. derek and i worked like crazy getting everything cleaned, renovated, and ready to go! it was a fun day and great party.

i know this is going to be alot of pictures...but see explanation at the end ;P

ready for ezekiel's FIRST birthday

he loves his new band set

diedre loved the guitar, she was very possessive of it

opening gifts with grammy and grandpa salmon online

unwrapping

cool basketball net

first taste of peanut butter

playing nicely together

the party spread: ball/circle theme. i chose round crackers, olives, pickles, round sandwiches, devilled eggs, sausage/cheese slices, chips, meatballs, and...

soccer ball cake. i also made a soccer game (on the left) that has two nets, one smaller ball, and two pairs of shorts (players). and you can see the round sandwiches in this picture.

the big cake. it was really fun to make!

the beverage station

blowing out the candles

his own little soccer ball cake



thatta boy!





i think the sugar was sinking in...

flossing?

the play area

we took diedre's bed out and put away most of the toys, leaving out enough for the party. there was a ball tent, basketball, cars, bowling and ring toss.

everybody ready for a turn

diedre drew this picture the same day that she did his card. she drew daddy, mommy and the sun (i drew the lame airplane).

diedre placed the "happy" and i did the rest. she stuck all the stickers and did the drawing.

here's the middle of the card. all the wavy lines are "abcd's" as diedre calls them and dots like what daddy does for her (he helps her draw triangles and other shapes while he's making work calls).

here are some more party pictures for those who are interested.
ezekiel's one photo album

i posted quite a few pics here because i did not find the quality of the facebook gallery to be as good and the grandparents need to see good pics!

xo
amanda

fun children's event

our community has a fun childrens event every month it seems.

this time there was this amazing face painting artist

diedre did not like the feel of the paint on her skin, so she wouldnt let the lady finish (she was doing such beautiful faces and sparkly too!

diedre's shy, "i'm all done", look.

family bowling day

snuggle at home

drumming at church

bowling!

ezekiel was so miserable there. he wanted to bowl sooo badly but those balls would hurt him if they fell so we were wrestling him for two hours...not so fun.

diedre loves playing with friends :)

laughing fun times on mommy's bed (its daddy's too, but its called mommy's bed by diedre)

what a lovely smile you have!

watching the fish at abc

stripey day

i had to take pictures of zeke's crazy hair. he puts banana all through his hair and i use a cloth to try to wipe it since he was already dressed for the day.

i was scared my camera was broken because of the stripes.

but after i turned it off then on again, it was fine.

a noteworthy event happened yesterday: i discovered that diedre could reach the bathroom sink! when did this happen?? when did she grow?? i do not know!

this morning i woke up to ezekiel's cries. i nursed him. put him back down in his crib and went back to my room. i checked the time: 5.35am. i said "oh, that sucks, its really late." derek said, "isnt that a good thing?" i said, "no. i'd rather it was three or something so i could sleep longer. oh wait! that means ezekiel slept through the night!" derek said, "that's what i meant." and he slept for another 2 hours.

yes, he's almost a year old (nov 25). but this is the best he's ever done! we went out last night, so a babysitter put him to bed around 8.30pm, he slept until 10.30pm for a feed, then didnt wake up until 5.30ish am! wow! i hope he does that again and again and again! just to put this in perspective, he has been feeding as frequently as every two hours, as recently as three weeks ago because of a very bad cold. he started stretching it out to three hours or four in the last week.