milestones

i have neglected to update this blog with all the amazing milestones rivers has been achieving. furthermore, rivers 1st year calendar ended after june and i have failed to buy a new one, or even make note of any exciting things happening in his life. i know, i am a bad mother. i just hope rivers will forgive me. :(

so let me bring us all up to speed on his amazingness...rivers is walking!!! he began to walk just around his birthday, but it was short little bits. mostly walking between jeremy and i or over to the couch if i stood him up and got him set to go. after our trip up north at the end of july he came home, settled back into his routine, and a week or so later began walking everywhere. he would still occasionally take a finger if you'd give it to him, but he could do it on his own. the last 2 weeks he has really taken off. so now he's in full blown walking mode! he can get himself standing up, balanced, and off he goes. he can walk in shoes, on carpet, on hard floors, on grass, on the sidewalk, etc. sometimes changing surfaces can be tricky. going from our hardwood floors in the hallway into the kitchen is problematic at times, but for the most part he's got it down! its been very exciting for us all. luckily, he's not quite running yet! he was so proud of himself too. he'd be walking around and looking at me to be sure i was watching him. so i really, truly, and officially have a toddler now.

rivers is also working on exerting his independence. now that he has this new found freedom of going wherever he so chooses, he expects to do just that. last night the gate had been taken down at the bottom of the stairs. as soon as he saw that it was not up he made a B line for them and before i could blink an eye, he was on the 2nd step. when i came up behind him he turned around and put his right arm out at me as if to say, "stop- leave me be!" he thinks he's so grown.

something else that has been very cool lately is how much he's understanding us. we can now ask him questions and we get yes or no answers (by nodding the head of course)! last night i asked him if he was ready to get out of the tub and he quickly shook his head, no! so we played a little longer. we were walking jasper around the neighborhood, which we do every night as a family, and jeremy and i were talking. rivers was riding in his little car and i was looking at the back of his head. i commented on how sweet his little baby head was and next thing i know rivers has his hands up on his head! which also made me realize he's listening even when i'm not talking directly to him- yikes! he also knows his belly, his feet, his toes, his eyes and nose. when i ask him whats on his shirt he looks down to see and will point at whatever it may be. so its been very fun to communicate with him (and a little scary too)!

his interest in books continues to grow. jaime and patrick bought him a few dr. seuss books for christmas. at the time he wasn't too into them, i couldn't get through a whole book. obviously over time, his attention span has been expanding. we started with "the foot book" a few months back- it is the shortest and he could easily sit through it. a month or so ago we'd only get through some of "hop on pop" before he was ready to move on to the next thing. now, he's all about "hop on pop" - it's his new everyday read, multiple times a day. he can also sit through "are you my mother" which is another book that is lengthier than some of his others.

over the past 2 months he has become very aware of the sky and anything in it. the first time he noticed the moon he was fascinated and would point. same with a plane or helicopter. then when we were in ohio at the beginning of the month the moon came out and not only did he point to it, but he also kept saying, "moon, moon, moon"! he was all about the moon! everynight we look for it and he also recognizes the moon in books too. he saw stars a couple weeks ago and same thing- sat in his stroller and just pointed. maybe he'll be an astronaut! ;)

a funny little copy cat moment i have to share, is when we were visiting the doctor for his 12 month checkup. he had to get shots, which were very upsetting to us all and i told him we'd go home and have some yogurt (he loves it)! next thing we hear is him say "yogurt"! no joke- even the doctor was amazed at his amazingness! she couldn't believe he had just said that- and i couldn't either, actually! speaking of doctor- i didn't even update his growth! seriously, what kind of a mother am i?! his checkup was on july 24th- 1 week after his birthday. he weighed 21 lbs 2 oz and was 27 and 1/4 inches tall. he's now in the 25 percentile for height and weight. his head is still big and is in the 50th percentile. of course, this was 1 month ago already, so i know he's grown since then. he woke up just the other day and looked taller to me. yesterday he looked like such a toddler. i guess it was his little outfit and new shoes- he just looked grown up! makes me a little sad (sniff, sniff)!

so now that i've written a novel and probably bored everyone with all of this i'm feeling a little better now that i've got it written down. sorry i don't have any pictures to share- i know that's what everyone really wants! i'm at work typing this, not on my own computer. i have TONS and TONS and TONS of pics to share, so hopefully i'll get a chance to put a very long blog post of pics up soon!

new mac!!!!

happy belated birthday to me! i got a new 24" iMac today!!! i am over the moon and beyond excited! this has been a much needed and long awaited computer upgrade. my mac powerbook has served me well and will continue to do so, but my new imac is where it's at! as soon as i get photoshop loaded on here i will be an editing machine! i have a TON of pictures to edit, but have been waiting for my lovey to arrive. jeremy is afraid he will never see me again, as it is set up in our bonus room. afraid to say, but he is probably right! one of the many cool little features of my mac is the iSight camera and video. here we are playing with my new lovey!

these are just a few pictures from his birthday and the day of his party. birthday party pictures will soon follow, so stay tuned for those!




look at jeremy's face- he is so concerned!





these were taken the day after his birthday. this was after his party playing with some of his new toys. he LOVES his water table and bubble machine!

12 months

a couple weeks late, but here they are! its getting next to impossible to get these pictures. i'm debating on whether to continue with these...