Prayers for the Families

Reese and I had a fabulous weekend. Thanks to Anderson's Grammy, we were able to get away for a day and night. We spent some time at the spa being pampered, had a relaxing lunch (where we actually tried to figure out the last time we had lunch together out, just the 2 of us), and then went to see Dave Matthews Band in concert. Anderson did great with Grammy and even got to hang out with Aunt Reagan too! Lucky Guy!

Some unfortunate events have happened this week with our families. Reese's father is currently in the hospital with some blood pressure problems. We are praying that the doctors are able to find any problems and put Ray on the right path toward healing. On the same day, there was a terrible accident with my Step dad, Billy and their dog, Macee. Macee jumped out of a moving vehicle and suffered a broken pelvis which required a trip to Dallas from Lubbock for surgery. When the accident happened, she was in shock and uncharacteristically attacked Billy on the upper lip while he was driving her to the vet. Billy is recovering and is of course more worried about Macee than himself. We are praying that Macee's surgery goes well tomorrow and that her recovery is speedy. We are also praying for Billy's recovery and know that he is already looking forward to the day that Macee will be standing at their back door ringing that darn bell for the thousandth time.

Anderson wanted to send his love to Gramps, Grandpa Billy, and Macee so here's a few of his favorite pictures.

Anderson admiring Macee's collar

Grandpa Billy introducing Anderson to Santa Gramps and Anderson looking oh so cute

Weekend Roadtrip

We loaded up the family and drove to Houston this weekend to visit my brother, Dustin and his wife, Sarah. The best reason to drive there, though, was to visit their kids, Carter and Kate. Anderson did great on the drive down there. It's a long time to sit strapped in that car seat! On Saturday we all (and I mean ALL) piled into the AggieMobile to drive to College Station for some baseball fun. It was a tight fit with 3 car seats and 4 adults, but it went surprisingly well. Except for all the times DQ and Reese had to let Sarah and I out of the back. The baseball game was great and it was fun to catch up with some old friends for the day. It was easy getting all the cousins down for the night when we got back to Houston. They were exhausted! Sunday morning brought some playtime and posing for pictures with the cousins. Then we were on the road back to Dallas. Anderson did awesome on the drive home. We didn't even have to sit with him in the back the whole way! We had so much fun and only wish we lived closer so we could see them more often! Here's a few pics from the weekend.
Carter, Anderson, Kate, and Peyton enjoying the game.
Kate and Anderson having a chat over some morning Cheerios.

Carter, Anderson, and Kate

Here's a picture of Anderson playing with his water table outside yesterday. He loves the spraying fountain and being able to splash water everywhere! Thanks for the great birthday gift, PaPaw, Grandma Ellen, and Uncle Ryland!

Recent Developments

So, life with a one year old is just so much fun. I know I've said it before, but I just love being able to see Anderson change day by day and figure things out.

Current words: dog, duck, daddy, yi-yi (which I think is Riley), ball

Hugs Are Awesome~ Anderson is a good hugger. Yesterday after his nap, though, I picked him up and he hugged my neck so hard that tears came to my eyes. I could just feel so much love in his little arms wrapped around my neck.

Riley Cuddles~ Lately, when we've had to go wake up Anderson from a long nap, Riley follows us upstairs to get him. We've put Riley into Anderson's crib and he just gets so excited and hugs her. Riley just lays down and enjoys the cuddles from Anderson . It's so cute.

Riley's Game~ Anderson has developed a new way of playing with Riley. He takes off his own socks and holds them out for Riley (teasing her). He then places the sock in his mouth (because that's how Riley carries socks) and waits for Riley to play tug. Riley gently comes over and puts the other end of the sock in her mouth and proceeds to play tug with Anderson's sock in both of their mouths. It's hilarious.
Favorite toys~ Anderson loves to play with his slide and ball pit that we got him for his birthday. We've put the ball pit at the bottom of the slide so he has a nice, fun place to land. He also loves the activity station that Aunt Reagan got him. It's full of buttons to push and makes lots of noise!

Following Directions~ He's doing great at following a few directions. Put the ball in the bucket, throw the ball to Riley, push the button to close the garage, etc.

Walking Soon~ Anderson's taken 8 steps without falling. He's not walking consistently at all, but he is standing on his own very frequently.

Teeth are coming~ He has 5-6 total now. It's hard to tell because he very much dislikes us to try and look. However, we know they are there because he's taken to chewing on the rail of his very expensive crib. We had to go and buy a gummy-type rail guard to help protect it. Hopefully, that doesn't ruin it even more when we try to remove it later!

I'm sure I'll think of many more things I could write after I post this. I'll try to post some new pics soon as well. It's nearing nap time!

Time flies when you're having fun

Over a year has gone by since we got the website set up, and I'm finally just now getting to post on it. Fortunately Allison does a great job with this site, but I figured that I should finally get something on the board.

After being out of town for just one night, I came home today and thought that Anderson looked much older. Playing with him this evening also made me think that his balance had improved so much since the weekend. On the one hand, I feel like I've missed 2 incredible days in Anderson's life. On the other, I feel a bit fortunate to have the opportunity to have seen such a tremendous change by stepping away for 48 hours.

Life is an amazing thing. I've found myself wondering if we all change this much on a daily basis, or if this change slows down as we get older. It's unfortunate, on the one hand, that we all can't step back from our lives and observe our own changes. On the other, I'd hate to give up any days of my life to do that.

Hopefully this is the first of more frequent posts from Dad's computer. Anderson's not sleeping well tonight and I think he's getting a new tooth. This would be #6. In a week we should be able to see it. How crazy is that...one week, 5 teeth. The next A WHOLE NEW TOOTH. Amazing.

"After" fence pics

I know you are all just hanging waiting for pics of the finished fence. :)

Here's one I snapped a little while ago. The backyard is still a bit of a mess with the siding work that is now going on, but you get the idea.

Fun Easter Weekend

Anderson has had a very busy weekend! Last night we were excited to go out to dinner with our friends Jack and Amanda who are visiting from Chicago. They met Anderson for the first time and we had a great time catching up with them!

This morning we took Anderson to the children's Easter celebration at our church. He enjoyed seeing the clown that was there and listening to some fun music. Then it was time to hunt Easter eggs! Anderson did great when we plopped him into a patch of grass. He went right to grabbing them and putting them into his basket! It was a pretty day and we had fun being outdoors.

After a nice, long nap at home, it was time for Anderson's first haircut! He did awesome. The salon had a fun car for Anderson to sit in and to top it all off, Elmo was on the TV at his "station". He was very content to sit and watch Elmo while the stylist worked away. He looks so handsome with his haircut. Reese and I were the typical first-time parents with our video camera and digital camera both recording away. They even put a lock of his hair in a little keep-sake envelope for us!

Quack Quack!

What a great weekend we are coming down from! Anderson's first birthday was this past Saturday and we had so much fun celebrating with family and friends. All of Anderson's grandparents came to town and he even had a very special visit from his Great Gran from San Antonio. Anderson's Aunt Reagan and Uncle Ryland also came to the party. There were a handful of Anderson's friends that brought their parents along as well! There were ducks everywhere, literally! Mommy did some hunting around and found a small duckling that could come spend the day at our house for the party. Anderson had a great time seeing and trying to pet the duck. All of his friends had their pictures taken with the duck and it was a great addition to the celebration. Anderson is still trying out all of his new toys that he received and will enjoy them for years to come! Thank you to everyone who was a part of the weekend. It went so smoothly and I know Anderson will look back at the pictures and video and realize how much he is loved even at 1 year old.

The biggest surprise of all was that a few hours before his party, Anderson took his first two steps. Right there with all of his family watching! We all yelled and shouted hooray so loudly that we probably scared him! It was such a surprise, but we were all so lucky to share it together. He hasn't taken any steps since, but he's getting braver and braver with standing on his own. I bet he'll be walking soon.

Here is a video I put together showing Anderson on each of his "month birthdays".

Here's a link to all of the pictures from Anderson's birthday party:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=ujmmgqn.3zhu0qdj&x=0&y=-hfxi03&localeid=en_US