Happy Halloween!

We didn't do much for Halloween this year. Robbie is still too young to go trick or treating. (Just our opinion. We have seen some pretty young trick or treaters!) We didn't even decorate this year. Next year will be different with Robbie walking (he better be!!) and we might take him around the neighborhood, or at least to our church's trunk or treat night.

It was a nice night, so we sat outside to hand out candy. The cats sat in the window wanting to hand out candy with us...or run away! We only had kids come around for about an hour. We had a few large group of kids of all ages and they were all dressed up. We've had some older kids just come around without costumes wanting candy. I can't say I blame them for wanting free candy, but it's disappointing. They were all very polite, too. We have plenty of left over candy. I'm hoping to return some of it (or exchange it for a different kind!). Robbie took a late afternoon nap. I was ok with it because I didn't want the trick or treaters keeping him up by knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell. He went right to sleep tonight. Hopefully he'll sleep in a little tomorrow!

Alex the skeleton.


Waiting for trick or treaters.


Hi Simba!


I'm not doing anything.


How did that get in my hand?

Too smart!

Robbie is too smart for his own good! Last week he started climbing on the baby gate like he wants to climb over it. He also knows that to open the gate has something to do with the latch. Luckily he hasn't gotten it all figured out!

If I do something with this...



I want over there!



This past weekend Robbie started climbing out the cat door. Matt said he left the room and when he came back Robbie wasn't there. He thought maybe Robbie had followed him, but then he found him sitting on the porch.

http://youtu.be/_kLGedvNlPQ

Robbie didn't climb back through the cat door, but when I opened the sliding door he came inside. I closed up the cat door for now.

23 Week Appointment

I had another appointment today. These appointments aren't too exciting, but I do get to hear the baby's heartbeat. I love knowing that he is doing well. I feel him moving around several times a day. The doctor measured me at 24 1/2 cm. Generally you measure a centimeter per week, so I'm measuring a week ahead. Guess we should be another week early in our preparations! :) I don't really think it's a big deal at this point, though. I remembered to bring the camera, so here is the video of the heartbeat. The nurse said the heartbeat is in the 140s and sounds perfect, just what I want to hear!

http://youtu.be/iqYVJZPJrj0

The baby does have a name. We've actually known the name for a long time, but we like being able to share the news in person and told a lot of our family last weekend when we were visiting. If we didn't get a chance to tell you when we saw you, sorry, but it was pretty busy at the party.

The baby's name is Alexander Michael! They are my brothers' middle names. I've liked the name for a while, but I don't think it had come up when we were naming Robbie. We are looking forward to meeting Alex!

Robbie's birthday party

We had so much fun last weekend celebrating Robbie's first birthday with the family. We started the long weekend with Robbie's 12 month check up. He is 24 lbs 5 oz (75th percentile) and 30 1/4 inches (75th percentile). Wow, I can't believe he's 2 1/2 feet tall!! Poor thing had to get 3 shots (Hep A, chicken pox, and MMR), but he really does good. The doctor cleared him for traveling, so we filled up the gas tank and got on the road. Robbie and I took naps on the way down, but Matt said there wasn't much traffic and we made good time.

We went straight to Mimi and Gramps' house for a short visit until Barbara got home from school. We headed over to Barbara's and got to spend some time with her before everyone came over for dinner. Monett made beef stew that was so good. Barbara had to work Friday, so we didn't get to see her in the morning.

When we were up and ready Friday morning we headed over to my parent's house for some play time and a nap before picking up my grandma for lunch. We ate at Jonathan's Chick-fil-a. Unfortunately it was pretty busy, so we only got to visit with Jonathan for a few minutes. Mom was home from work when we got home from lunch. She made a roast for dinner and they were surprised that Robbie ate it. That night my dad and Matthew put together a grill that Matt bought and brought down. We weren't sure of the condition of the grills at the park, so we thought it would be best to bring ours down. Matt, Dad and Robbie had some fun with the grill, too.

The other white meat:



I want out!



We also let Robbie open his gifts from my parents and my grandma. He liked looking at his new books.

Is this for me?



What is it?



Turning the pages:



Reading his new book:



Saturday morning was spent getting ready for the party. Matt and I left Robbie with my parents to bring up to the park later. We got there about 10 to start setting up. It was kind of hard because it was so windy. It also made it pretty cool in the morning, but as the day went on it got a little warmer. Everyone started getting there around 11. Matt had the grill going and was soon churning out hamburgers and hot dogs. It was nice that we were right by the playground so the kids could play nearby. I didn't want to give Robbie a whole smash cake, so we just got him a cupcake. We think he was too full from lunch to really want a cupcake. I'm ok with that! We were so glad that everyone was able to come and celebrate Robbie's birthday. They party was kind of a blur and went fast, but everyone seemed to have a good time. I know we did! I just wish I had taken more pictures, but I was having too much fun talking to everyone to stop and take pictures. We did get plenty, though!!

At the grill:



With grandma/great-grandma:



Matthew, Robbie and me at 1 year:



Robbie's cupcake:



Birthday cake for the guests:



Happy with his cupcake:



I can't get enough of his smile!



Our shelter has been reserved:



Poor Robbie needed a nap after all of the festivities:



After the party Jim, Jean and Brittany took Robbie back to their place while Matthew and I dropped some things off at my parent's house and picked up our bags. We made plans with them to meet up with us for dinner. It was nice getting them together and we had a very good dinner at Bonefish Grill. Yum! Jim, Jean and Brittany got Robbie cute underwater creature musical instruments and new shirts. Brittany is trying to make a Wake Forest fan of Robbie.

We came home Sunday. We weren't so lucky with the traffic on the way home. We're glad that Robbie was feeling better for the long birthday weekend. He did great the whole time. I think he likes visiting everyone as much as we do.

Here is a year of watching Robbie grow!

1 week



1 month



2 months



3 months



4 months



5 months



6 months



7 months



8 months



9 months



10 months



11 months



1 year old!

Robbie is 1 year old!!

I can't believe a year has gone by already! What a crazy time last year when Robbie came so early. We are glad he is a happy and healthy boy. This weekend is the big birthday party. It should be a nice day to have an outside party, thankfully!

Robbie was diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease Sunday. I called the doctor yesterday because the spots were showing up every where but his hands, feet and mouth. The nurse thinks it's just something viral and since we are seeing the doctor tomorrow for his 12 month check up she didn't think we needed to come in. My mom diagnosed it as roseola via pictures I sent her, which is pretty much like HFM, just caused by a different virus. I'm so glad that he is acting more like his normal self today. Unfortunately he looks worse today. But his temperature was 98.9 when I just checked it, the lowest it's been in a few days.

Last weekend we went to Tallahassee to visit the Eikelands and have Lisa's friend, Jenna, take pictures of us and Robbie. You can visit Lisa's blog to check out pictures from the pumpkin patch we visited.

Here are some of the 100+ pictures Jenna took. Aren't they great??




























Unfortunately the slideshow maker website that I usually use is no longer up and running, so I have to post them all like this. I guess it's not a bad thing, it just makes the post seem really long and it's a little harder to caption the pictures.

Baby movements!

I've been feeling #2 moving around for several weeks now and wondering when he will be strong enough for Matt to feel him. Tonight at church I felt movements and put my hand on my belly and I could feel him with my hand. When we were home watching tv he started moving around, so I told Matt to come over and he could feel him too! It took #2 21 weeks and 2 days to get strong enough for Matt to feel him. Now I wonder when Robbie is going to notice.

It's hot in here!

Last night Matt thought that it was hot in our house. Apparently Robbie thought the same thing today. I don't remember why the refrigerator door was open, but it was. Robbie opened the bottom drawer and started putting his animal magnets in the drawer. He was getting them off the fridge himself, but I wanted to make sure that he kept doing it so I could get a video. He did end up putting the cow back in the drawer. I left them in there for Matt to find when he gets home. :)

Robbie graduated!!

Yesterday was the last day of Robbie's sign language classes. I can't say that he's fluent, or that he even learned all of the signs that they taught us, but I know that it will come with time and consistency. At the end of yesterday's class they played "Pomp and Circumstance" and handed out diplomas. It's a good thing that they laminated the diplomas because some of them would have been destroyed before they even left the building. Robbie was so excited to get his that he kept waving it around. (Yes, Robbie's diploma would have been one of the casualties.) They did take a class picture. Hopefully it will get emailed to us.

Here is his diploma: