Walker - 11 months!

Almost one year old! Oh my goodness. This month has been a doozy for our Walker-man. He had his first ear infection, a mean case of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, a lingering cold/cough, and an infected finger (yes, that happened!). He is on the mend though and is enjoying all his newly-acquired skills:

- Has started talking a lot more. Cheese and Bye-Bye (die-die) are his favorite words, and he's working on 'deer'. He gets a kick out of hearing himself talk. He also says mama, dada, and bubba occasionally. He thinks he's talking all the time but it usually sounds like "uh-oooh" over and over.

- He has just started giving kisses! My favorite thing ever!!

- Can crawl really fast when he does his spider crawl on his hands and feet. He is so close to walking! He can stand up on his own from a sitting-on-the-floor position.

- He loves people and makes friends every time we go to the grocery store. He flashes that big ol' smile and makes the old ladies swoon!

Sweeeeetest... 

And look at these pictures of Walker at each month. Love them! 

Brady's 3rd birthday party!

What a fun party we had for our big 3 year old! We had some family and a couple friends over to celebrate him. He had been talking about his birthday party and his Paw Patrol cake for weeks before, so to say he was excited would be a huge understatement!

We started the day by putting together his big gift - a green tractor. Blake had gone golfing that morning (as he's known to do...) but luckily Poppy was there to save the day and get the tractor put together!

While Brady took a nap I worked on his Paw Patrol cake. I baked the cakes the night before so all I had to do that day was the fun part - decorate! He wanted sprinkle cake and strawberry cake, so I layered them.

The finished product:

We had a happy birthday boy when he woke up to see his cake! He had been talking about this for weeks, and talked about it for weeks afterward. He wants the same cake next year, he says. :)

Pointing out all the characters...

Playing with his "little buddy named Mox."

When everyone got there we opened gifts and just hung out and watched the kids play!

His lawn mower from E&P... he's been super into mowing lawns lately. He saw an engagement picture of Uncle Levi and Ashlee and they were sitting in a field and he said "Oh, I gotta go mow that grass."

After he played with his gifts for awhile we gave him his big gift - a green tractor! It quickly became a big hit.

Time for birthday cake! We all gathered around and sang happy birthday and let Brady cut his cake. It turned into a giant mess!

Check out that bite right from the side of the cake.. Brady thinks this is how you eat birthday cake. I think it all started with his one-year smash cake.

Even Walker had some cake :)

And a couple other pictures from the weekend:

Cuddling with my baby!

And canning jalapenos with Mom. It was my first time to do this... they turned out great but super spicy!!

Walker - Hand Foot Mouth Disease

Walker got Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) in November around 11 months old. It was miserable. He had the rash all over his body and felt bad for about a week. Along with HFMD, he had a double ear infection, a cold, and an infected fingernail (random!). It was a rough few days. The scars from his HFMD stuck around for several months after he got rid of the virus.

His infected fingernail: 

His little thumb-sucking thumb was covered in blisters! 

He had these blisters all over his body: 

It is safe to say we were relieved when we saw him playing again after that rough week!