All I want for Christmas...

or I should say, all Dax wants for Christmas are his 2 front teeth! The bottom 2 are taking their sweet time coming in, with no sign of any others at this point. You can barely see the second tooth coming in, it's the one on the left when you look at the picture - it started coming through Saturday morning.



Yes, that is pumpkin on his face, I've been mixing it in with his oatmeal in the mornings for breakfast and he loves it! He loves his new teeth, he's constantly moving his tongue over them to feel them out, and his new favorite thing to do is feel our teeth. This sends both him and us into peals of laughter.

Dax's First Birthday Party

We went with a Halloween themed party this year, and it was a success! I was pretty stressed out about getting everything done, and I wish I had made and/or bought a few more decorations, but this was truly the first birthday party I have ever thrown, and it was a pretty big learning experience for me :) I am also proud to announce that I did not have a breakdown until after Dax went to bed last night, I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that my baby will be 1 on Monday.

The cake is not what I had originally attempted to do, but it was the next best option when we didn't have a cake the day of the party :)



I also made up some cupcakes that were inspired by my friend Joanne, who made some Candy Corn Cupcakes (for what it's worth, I used a cream cheese frosting, which I probably wouldn't do again if I wanted to pipe frosting on, it doesn't hold it's shape very well once the frosting gets room temperature):



We also had some homemade pumpkin cheesecake bars with oreo crusts, and little ghosts on top (these are so delicious, i had one for breakfast!):



The table setup:



The decorations:



And the birthday boy himself with his first piece of cake!



It was everywhere :)



And here he is with his present from mama and daddy:

Pumpkin Lane

We took Dax to Gull Meadow Farms where they have Pumpkin Lane. It's a little area set up with different cut outs to pose with, pumpkins, activities, and great picture taking opportunities. The weather has been wonderful here, so last night we packed up and went over to check it out!











Stay tuned for pictures from Dax's halloween themed first birthday party this weekend!!

A Tooth!

Dax finally has a tooth, and just 2 weeks shy of being 1 year old as well :) We were beginning to think that his almost 5 month old cousin was going to beat him in getting some pearly whites.

Bilingual Baby

Dax has started saying his first word in french "chat", which is cat. Everytime he sees a cat he starts saying "cha cha cha"...we love it!

Birthday Planning

Dax's first birthday is almost here and I have been working like crazy trying to get everything pulled together for this special day. We have decided to do a halloween-themed party, mainly because there is an abundance of halloween decorations available right now :) The first thing I took care of were the invitations. I enlisted the help of my friend, Joanne, who is also a Stampin' Up demonstrator, to make some invites. You can see them on her blog here.

I have since moved on to figuring out our menu. We are having a mid-afternoon party, so we'll be doing desserts and finger foods. This week, I tested out some carrot cream-cheese bars.



I'll be changing the colors used so the "spiders" are a little more noticable :) Up on the menu to try next week, pumpkin cheesecake bars with an oreo crust.

Temporary Hiatus

Excuse the absence and lame posts from me over the past week or so. We moved yesterday, and are still in the process of moving. We are about 1/2way into our new apartment, but do not have internet set up yet and that isn't really on the top of the list for today. Dax is loving the apartment, there is a long hallway that he cruises up and down with a crazed look on his face and giggles the entire time. Nighttime and naps are a different story, he doesn't know the place at all, so he wakes up, even more frequently, screaming himself scared. When I go get him from his crib, he's sitting up, and looks petrified, I hate seeing him so scared. Hopefully this adjustment phase won't last forever.

Jail Break!

Meet Dax, my adorable almost 11 month old son.



See Dax Land where Dax plays.



See Dax get too smart for his own good and climb onto his car in an attempt to escape the confines of Dax Land.

F is for Football

College football to be precise! Fall is my husband's most favorite season, mainly because it means the start of college football again. To say he loves watching college game day, following his favorite team, and participating in college pick'ems with his buddies is an understatement. Lately, he and Dax have been playing lots and lots of football together. Dax is learning how to tackle and catch, he even has conquered spiking a ball. Just watch...

Second Attempt at Crafting

and the results came out much better!! The zipper was a lot easier to sew this time and I was extremely pleased with the results!



Dax has been romping around everywhere these days. He and Derek have been enjoying playing football together, and we have even taught him to do the touchdown sign when we say touchdown!

Crawling Explosion

Ever since Dax has started crawling, it's as if all of these other light bulbs in his head have gone off at the same time. He's EVERY WHERE at once, trying to walk all the time, crawling up, in, out, through, down, pretty much anything, pulling up on everything, this boy is ready to run. Here are a few "action shots" of him crawling and going up the stairs.

So Long Mr. Walrus

As of Sunday, Dax has officially transitioned into doing a normal crawl. As happy as I am to see him hit this milestone, I will definitely miss seeing his goofy walrus crawl.

Tupperware

Dax finally found the tupperware/plasticware cabinet at my parent's house and he went to town!

On The Shoulders

My dad has been eagerly awaiting the first day when he could pop Dax up on his shoulders and walk around with him. That day finally arrived on Sunday. We took a walk over to Somerset Beach Campground to go on the playground before bedtime. After going down the slide...



After swinging in the swings...



Dad finally popped Dax up on his shoulders

Fresh Veggies!

We have been taking care of my dad's garden while he and my mom are road-tripping out to Colorado and back. It's been a lot of fun picking the various veggies as they get ripe. Each day, Dax and I check the green beans and pick any that are ripe. So far we've had 2 :) They have been a great teething toy for Dax, they're hard enough on the outside that he can gnaw away, and then if the seeds on the inside pop out, he can mash them between his gums.





Here's the tomato plants, not quite ready to be picked - maybe by this weekend



The zucchini that is almost ripe - we've already eaten a few of them, yum!



And here's my little man eating the green bean...he loved it!

Baby Fever

You could say that I have been hit with baby fever....you see, a lot of people I know are pregnant or have just had a little one. Blame it on the hormones if you want, but I've been getting sad lately when I look at Dax and see how fast he has grown over the past 9 months! He's now 21lbs 2oz and 28" long - when he first was born he was only 8lbs 4oz and 21.5" long. His little foot no longer is the size of my palm. He now requires 2 arms for carrying and rocking instead of 1. Diaper changes now require a certain finesse for speed and the ability to keep him entertained long enough to snap the diaper back on BEFORE he flips over - he used to just lay there not wanting to squirm all around. I love seeing my son grow and develop, I do, but I miss the itty bitty newborn stage. This was the first time I saw my former itty bitty (it's a bit blurry - my mom was taking the pics and she was a little choked up from seeing her second grandson be born)





So, if you're pregnant, or have a newborn, and somewhat close, I may or may not be bugging you to come hold your baby :)

Fun on a Swing!

Dax loved swinging in the baby swing at the park the other day. Every time he would come close to us he would crack up laughing, it was so precious.

Beach Day!

While house sitting for my parents, we've had the opportunity to take Dax to a place that is really special to me, Somerset Beach Campground (SBC). When I was little, my grandparents spent their summers at the campground, they had a more permanent RV and each summer we would make the trek up from Pennsylvania to Michigan, and would always spend about a week camping at SBC. I even worked there as a lifeguard for a couple of summers. Dax was able to play in the sand for the first time (he even ate a few fistfulls!), and had a good time on the infant swing!









He even went down the slide with Daddy!

Happy 9 Months!

Dax is 9 months old today. It is hard to believe that he is only 3 months away from being 1, when it seems like just the other day he was my 8.4lb newborn baby boy! He's now up to 21lbs 2 oz, and we haven't measured him yet, but that is on the to-do list for tomorrow. While he's not crawling yet, he is definitely mobile as of last friday. He has started doing "the walrus" and is pretty fast once he gets going.

He's still really only saying mama, but he's so close to saying dada or papa, I just know it! He loves smiling, laughing, and stealing the show everywhere we go. He continues to be such a great baby and a joy in our lives. I must admit, being a parent is nothing like what I had imagined. I used to think being a stay-at-home-mom meant hours upon hours of endless boring days, with a baby who just cried all day long. I used to think that I would feel that my life had no meaning or purpose if I was at home, and I would just waste away in boredom. It is the complete opposite! Every day is spent playing and teaching Dax new things, and each day I wonder if he'll do something new, or say a new word. The most current feat we are waiting to capture is him actually crawling - trust me I have the video camera on hand at all times these days! Here are some pictures that were taken this past week by a friend of mine.



(my newest favorite picture)


my little stud

Scrunchy face

Dax makes this scrunchy face - he scrunches his nose up, squints his eyes, and breathes in and out really fast. We have NO idea what it means because it is so random when it happens. Sometimes it is followed by crying, sometimes by laughing, and sometimes with a goofy smile. So far I have yet to capture it on video, that is until today hahaha. I was feeding him some lunch (bananas and peaches) and all of the sudden he started doing it. So I busted out the video camera, and he kept doing it and even said mama at the end. Enjoy!