Life With an Almost One-Year-Old

As always, life with an almost one-year-old is keeping us very busy! He is so full of energy and is always getting into something to play with or trying to "help" us with things around the house. Here's a quick debrief of our summer.

We decided to give Ethan his first birthday present early (by about a month) since he was showing so much interest in walking and standing. He loves pushing his lion around and listening to the music it makes!

Grandma Walker came down to visit in July and we got to spend some time relaxing at the pool. But we kept her pretty busy while she was here!

We've been spending a lot of time in the water during these HOT summer days. Grandpa Walker sent Ethan a fun toy to use during our pool-time! He looks a little uncertain here, but he actually really likes it!

It was finally time for an official first haircut. We decided to let Dad be the barber. Overall, Ethan did really well but he was uncertain at the beginning...

Who's that?

Daddy and his little man
The after shot

This is just a random pic of us one morning being silly! I love playing around with my boys!

Ethan loves to get into the spice drawer and play with the jars of spices. Lately, he has been favoring the bottle of Tabasco. This picture just cracks me up...I think the cajun food down here is rubbing off on him!
We started moving him to naps once a day when he started giving us trouble going to bed at night. In addition to that, I will be going back to home-schooling in a few weeks and on the weeks that he goes with me, he won't get a morning nap. I figured it was best to start weaning him off now, rather than after school starts. The first few days he really struggled to make it through lunch.

It's been fun giving Ethan lots of new foods to try and overall, he is a good eater! He seems like he's a bottomless pit these days!

Happy boy!
Tristan ordered a sample of some barley grass supplement that you add to juice...in the spirit of trying new things he decided to let Ethan have a try. Amazingly, he couldn't get enough. I think it was more because he liked drinking out of a glass, but either way it made for a good picture!
Ethan just loves the tongue depressors that his pediatrician gives him at his appointments to distract him. They usually stick around for a few days after his appointment and he likes to chew on them. What a weirdo! The laughs just never stop around here with two silly boys! Oh yeah, and there is one other important part of life with an almost one-year-old...hit play and see what fun we're having now!

A Visit From Home!

We were so excited that Kelly and Anderson decided to come visit us in Louisiana. We picked them up from the airport on Friday and night and hit the bath tub first thing. We could tell right away that it was going to be a lot of fun!

On Saturday morning, Tristan surprised us with a special pancake breakfast! Anderson was excited about his giraffe.

We decided to go out to Tickfaw State Park and hit up the water park they have there. Ethan was crawling all over the place and didn't mind the cement or the water flying everywhere. It was almost hard keeping up with him!

It was perfect for the boys. They had a variety of fountains that ranged from small ones that trickled out of the ground to larger ones that sprayed from overhead.

Ethan was fascinated with the buckets that dumped water at random intervals. He stood like this, watching them for quite a while.

Tristan and Anderson shooting us with the water cannons

Sunday morning, Kelly stayed home with the boys. As you can see they were busy loungin'! Last time they were in this crib together they were a lot smaller!

We spent the afternoon at the pool...loungin again'!

On Tuesday we decided to make a day trip to New Orleans to celebrate Tristan's birthday. Our main purpose for going to New Orleans was to take the boys to the aquarium. It was a first for both of them and I think it was a success! Here's a family picture as we started our adventure!

Taking it all in...

Two sets of best friends

The white alligator is always a highlight when we go to the aquarium.

Time for a quick photo op with the two buddies!

We stopped by the play area to let the boys stretch their legs a little and they had a blast!
We made a stop by the shark tank on our way out. The boys were fading quickly...

Luckily by the time we were done with the aquarium the rain had let up (temporarily) and we were able to take a walk along the Mississippi River.

All tuckered out from the aquarium
We finished our day off by taking a stroll through the French Market and going out to a late lunch to celebrate Tristan's birthday. We went home wet, but we had a great time!

We spent a lot of time just watching them play and be crazy! They had a lot of fun just finding anything to play with...

...like spatulas. I don't know what it is about kitchen utensils, but Ethan LOVES them. Apparently Anderson does as well!

Thursday Kelly and I decided to hit up the mall with our boys. Since we were on a shopping marathon, the boys got a little restless so we decided to stop at the play area and let them stretch their legs. This was Ethan's first time at an indoor playground so I wasn't sure how he would do....Needless to say, he did just fine! He had never been on steps before and he climbed all the way to the top of these without any help and without hesitation!

Good buddies

On their last night here we decided to go to the Bass Pro Shop and see the sights. We started with a stop by the aquarium to see the fish!

Checking out some of the non-living animals
We made a stop by the duck pond to see the ducks, fish and turtles. We wanted to see Rocky, the raccoon, but he was sleeping. The boys weren't overly impressed but we still had fun!
It was a busy week, but we had so much fun! We are really looking forward to the next time we can get together when we go home to Washington in September!

Catching Up: Grandma and Grandpa Walker's Visit

Here I thought I was all good and caught up on my blogging and then I realized that I never posted from when my parents came to visit---in MARCH...oh well, at least I'm trying! Both my mom and dad came for a week and we had a great time. We made the mistake of going to do the tourist attractions in New Orleans on a Monday...apparently, everything (aquarium, IMAX, zoo, House of Blues, etc.) is closed on Mondays. We ended up walking around and enjoying the PERFECT weather for being outdoors!

Santa was here on vacation, too...o.k., I'm not trying to be mean but if this guy isn't really Santa, he should get a job being a Santa. Doesn't he just look like one of those Santa figures dressed up in Hawaiian gear? Tristan spent a lot of time trying to discreetly get a picture...
Family pic in Jackson Square

We decided to do a self-guided tour of the USS Kidd while they were here as well. Since my dad served in the Navy, I thought he might enjoy it. We all ended up really enjoying it--even more than I thought we would. We learned a lot about my dad's time in the military and got to see some interesting items in the museum and the ship.

Getting a boost from Grandpa...

Our family in front of the USS Kidd
Hangin' with Dad...

On one of their last days here we decided to take Ethan on his first trip to the zoo!

Checking out the monkeys with Grandpa!

The aquariums were, by far, his favorite part (which made me even more sad that they aquarium in New Orleans had been closed)!
He was fascinated by each new aquarium and just looked up and stared and stared!

One of many stops for a photo with the proud grandparents!

We made a quick stop by the giraffes to get a picture for his buddy Anderson in Washington.

Getting some love from the grandparents...

Of course, no visit to the zoo is complete without a stop by the elephant exhibit!
Overall, it was a wonderful and busy visit! We look forward to another one soon (especially Ethan who was obviously spoiled by the attention!!)