Wow am I over-due for an update!

I can't believe it's been so long since I have updated the blog!  In my defense, work has gotten CRAZY.  We went from 4 people in my department to 2 plus adding on some additional duties so needless to say, I've been a little busy.  That plus the holidays, and here were are - the beginning of February!

The biggest news we have so far is that Kaelan took his first steps last night!  I'll admit - I got teary eyed! :)  We were able to entice him with one of his favorite balls to walk to Nick.  We finally got it on video tonight - take a look!

Kaelan's vocabulary is picking up but so far it's mostly him just repeating words we say.  He can say dada and mama, ball, cracker (kra-kuh), agua (his sitter speaks Spanish so Kaelan is learning a few words too lol), puppy, bye-bye, and a few others I'm drawing a blank on sitting here at the computer desk.  Kaelan's sitter, Paula, told me he will also say gato and diaper, but I haven't heard those yet.  Pretty much his favorite word is still ball. :)  The words he knows the meaning of are, of course, mama and dada, ball, cracker, and agua.

Christmas was AWESOME - Kaelan got a ton of loot (of course) and just in general, it was great time spent with family.  Christmas Eve was spent going to church and having dinner at our house with Nick's mom and 3 of his sisters.  New Years Eve we went to Nick's mom's house where almost the entire family was able to gather together.  Again, we had a great time - so wonderful to spend time with family.  We spent Christmas morning at our house and then headed up to my parents.  This was Kaelan's first "real" Christmas where he did more than just sleep so we took a TON of pictures.  I've tried to whittle them down, so here we go:

Some of our decorations

We moved the tree into the dining room this year... I was nervous what Kaelan would try to do with it.  Either because he wasn't interested or it was mostly out of site, he never touched it.  He would point a lot and say "ball" - and he LOVED pointing at the lights - but he was VERY good.

The entry way

So serious on Christmas morning!

He livened up once he saw his new chair! He seriously loves this thing!

Playing with some of his new toys :)

His favorite gift - a huge tub of animal crackers. He sat next to it for almost an hour while we all opened our presents at my parent's house.

Me and Marcy playing Santa

Being silly

Playing with Kaiya, my brother's dog

Interrupting the guys' pool game

Gatewood Family Photo

Laughing at the puppies

Thank you, Kaelan :) Sharing his animal crackers

Mouth full of food :)

I'll try and be better about posting! I have more photos (of course, lol) to upload soon.  We hope everyone had a great Christmas!! :) oxox, Nick, Ashley, & Kaelan

What's Kaelan Up To?

Kaelan has been changing so much lately... I realized it yesterday as I was watching him play and thought I should blog about it.  He is definitely looking less like a baby and more like a little boy.

He crawls faster than any baby I've seen.  I put him down and half a second later he's across the room!  He isn't walking yet, but he pulls up on everything these days (I saw that all the time because a few months ago I just THOUGHT he was pulling up on everything!) and has even let go of what he's holding on to and stood unassisted.  He does this a few times a day now.

Kaelan is a good eater too.. right now, his 3 favorite foods are blueberries, cheerios, and cheese.  He loves vegetables, chicken, eggs, ground taco beef, ground venison, and most fruit.

At his 2 month check up in mid December he weighed 24 lbs and was just shy of 32 inches... he's a pretty healthy kid!  He made it his entire first year without an ear infection - something I'm really grateful for.  I keep waiting for one to come - of course, now that I've said this he'll probably get one next week!  He has four teeth on top and just cut his 4th on the bottom.  I think his molars might be coming in, but he won't let me get a good look yet.

Kaelan is doing some "tricks" now... his sitter helps us with this thank goodness!  He claps when you say "yay!" and will raise his arms up in the air (about 70% of the time) when you say "Touchdown!"  He points at everything now and is finally saying "momma."  He's been saying "dada" for awhile and the other day said "ball" for the first time!  Most of the time it comes out "bah" but when I held his ball up yesterday, he looked at it and said "Bah!" so I'm thinking he gets it. :)  He waves "bye-bye" which consists of moving his entire arm up and down and when you stick your tongue out at him, he sticks his out too.  The latest is when you crook your finger at him to say "come here" he crooks ALL his fingers back at you.  Oh, he also gives high fives. :)

Kaelan's First Birthday Party!

We had Kaelan's First Birthday Party the Saturday after Thanksgiving and although it was a lot of work, it was SO worth it and it was so much fun!  The theme was "Nautical" and we're so blessed so many people came out to celebrate with Captain Kaelan.  "Our" photographer came to take photos of the event so Nick and I did not have to run around with cameras.  Let me tell you what a weight lifted off of us that was!  I'm a picture freak so it was nice not worrying about getting the right shot in the right lighting.  Crystal Lynn ~ Photographer did SUCH an awesome job and we were so happy to have her there.  All of the photos below were taken by her.  Let me warn you - I had a hard time whittling these down so beware... and Enjoy! :)

The Kaelan sign and captain's wheel were stolen from Kaelan's nursery ;)

Our "family" high chair from the 1940s. It was originally my mom's and has been used by every baby (myself included) on her side of the family. So glad we were able to use it for Kaelan's party.

The party hat and high-chair banner were made by my friend, Sarah. She has an awesome Etsy and Facebook boutique - Tut!s Boutique

Nick hand painted this to match Kaelan's birthday shirt :)

Happy Birthday banner I made using foam letters and scrapbook paper

Origami sailboat (courtesy of Nick and me) mobile

Life preserver wreath I made... this was a lot of fun to make and it's currently hanging on Kaelan's bedroom door :)

Dining room decorations

Party favors - sailboat and anchor rice crispie treats!

Cake!

Before you ask yourself what's wrong with this picture, yes... Kaelan's name was misspelled.  I was in such a rush, I didn't even notice it when I picked it up and to be honest, the cake tasted so good, I didn't mind ALL that much. It was seriously the best cake I've ever tasted.

Banner I had made to mimic his invitation

Lifesaver Life Preserver Napkin Rings... these were pretty time consuming to do but I was pleased with the overall effect

Birthday kisses from Miss Emma

Birthday Boy!

Always happy with a beer bottle!

Best Buds :)

With Uncle Brent!

And the grandmas!

Here are a few random pics from the party...

Cake Smash!

He HATED it!

"No More!!"

All cleaned up and all smiles again

Again, with the beer bottle!

Uh oh!!

Time to open presents! 

With the Great Grandmas!

Some of his festive aunts :)