On the move...

It wasn't just a fluke!

Ladies & Gentleman...

...we have steps! Chase took his first steps last night (May 19, 2011)! Three steps from Mommy's arms to his push toy and another 2-3 from Daddy to his toy. Hooray!

Grandpa Ness's 100th birthday and Mother's Day

Chase's great-grandpa turned 100 on May 5! This is quite a milestone and of course we had to celebrate with a party! Lots of family came, we got dressed up, and we enjoyed having (almost) everyone around.

Cousin Owen

Grammy

 Grampy and Cousin Owen

The birthday boy and Grandma Nana

With Amelia hanging out and Grammy and Uncle Jimmy

Kisses from Amelia

Stephen (desperately in need of a haircut) with the next generation of Lamont boys

Grammy and her boys

Cousin Erin and O

The next day was Mother's Day, so all the moms slept in (til 9am, ha!) and then we went out to brunch with the fam.

 The mamas and the babies:

 Finally, cousins Amelia and Owen gave Chase his awesome birthday gift-- a talking/singing rocking horse! Amelia showed Chase how to ride it and he's looking forward to playing on it with them in the next few weeks!

HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY GRANDPA (PAPA)!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY HELEN, GRAMMY, GRANDMA, CARRIE AND RITA!

Chase's First Birthday

Chase's birthday was a special day. Mommy took off from work to stay home with her little man (and prep for his party!) and we had lunch outside.

Chase played on his swing/slide set and enjoyed the grass (yay suburbs!)

When Daddy got home, we took Chase to get his first haircut!

Here's the before:

During:

After:

He was pretty good for most of the cut, but got whiny and started crying about 3/4 of the way through. Luckily the barber has been doing this for years and knew all the tricks. He gave Chase a toy car to play with, pointed out the ceiling fan, and told Mommy where to stand so he could get the right part of his hair cut.

Afterwards, we took Chase out for dinner because he LOVES eating out. He also eats much better when we are out at a restaurant because he's distracted. Chase had his food and some mac n' cheese off the menu, as well as a big boy cup of milk.

He also discovered birds and what happens when you drop your food near them.

After dinner, we stopped at one of our favorite places, Fancy Cake's by Leslie, which has delicious cupcakes. Chase got a white cake with buttercream cupcake for his official birthday celebration.

We got home, stripped him down to his diaper, sang happy birthday, and let him have his cupcake. (Video of this is forthcoming.)

He wasn't too impressed with the flavor, but loved the texture.

It was a great day!

Chase at 1 year!

Chase is 1 year old! I can hardly believe it. The last month flew by, much like the 11 months that preceded it. Chase has had some amazing developments this month that further distinguish him from the tiny baby that he was a year ago.

At 1 year Chase is:

-Cruising a lot, but not quite walking. He likes to walk with us holding his hands and once in a while will walk only holding on with one hand.

This typically happens when he's got something he really loves in the other hand and can't bear to let it go. He also loves climbing on everything or walking right over it.

-Saying "baba" when he wants his bottle, calling Stephen "dada", calling Mueller "abu" (don't ask me why), saying "hi", and saying "hop!" He learned hop from cousin Owen, who also showed him how to hop, and he has been obsessed ever since. He thinks it's so funny to say it and hop.

-Chase is pointing at everything that he wants and has also picked up some signs. In addition to "all done," which he perfected a month ago, he signs "eat" and "more."

-Eating lots of new foods. He's drinking whole milk. Chase is using the "pincher grip" to pick up food and feed himself, which is much more effective than the raking he had to do previously. We've expanded his diet to be much more like ours and he regularly eats small pieces of meat, toast with cream cheese (a fav during pregnancy), pieces of fruit, peas, spinach, fresh mozzarella cheese, and rice cakes. We let him try almost anything.

-Dealing with a nasty bought of separation anxiety- This is the age when separation anxiety peaks anyway, so the combination of that with the move and related chaos, new nanny, and no small children to distract him (our nanny share doesn't start until the 23) made him a very weepy baby for a couple of days. Luckily he has warmed up to his new nanny, Carol, and he's even happy to see her when she arrives in the morning! They have a good time together so I think he's torn between wanting to play with her and not wanting mommy to leave.

-Officially has 8 teeth. The last one (bottom right) took a long time to break through the skin but it is finally through.

-Getting big! 21lbs 11oz and 30 inches long at his 1st birthday doctor's appointment. He's in 12-18 month clothes and we just upgraded him to Size 4 diapers.

-Loving the new house which not only has a playroom filled with his toys, but also has great places for pushing  toys, a front and a back yard where he can play in the grass and watch the squirrels and birdies, and space to play/explore upstairs.

-So, so full of personality

Happy Birthday, Sweet Chase! We love you so much and are excited to watch you grow over the next 100 years!