Holiday Recap

With Rhys's first birthday birthday behind us and Halloween approaching, I realize (sniff) that we have reached the end of Rhys's first holidays.

Since I'm feeling a little nostalgic realizing my baby is becoming a little boy (and I definitely wasn't as good as I wanted to be about sharing all of these pictures this past year ) here's a recap . . .

First Halloween:

With our Mamas group (Rhys is the
sleeping one in the bottom left)

(You can also see more Halloween pics here)

First Thanksgiving:

 First Christmas:

First St. Patty's Day:        First Trip to the Cherry Blossoms (March 20, 2012):                                          

 First Trip to the Beach (March 26, 2012):

 First Baseball Game (Nats v. Red Sox, April 3, 2012):

First Easter:

 First Fourth of July:

With Dad, Saj, and Hannah

Happy Birthday, Rhys!

So, it's official: we are now the parents of a toddler!

Rhys had a great first birthday last month and very much enjoyed having so much family around, celebrating with friends, and having his first taste of chocolate (a whole wheat chocolate cupcake with whipped cream frosting complements of Aunt Sara)!

Here are some pics of Rhys celebrating:

Eating snacks with Abby

With Uncle Dwight

Fire truck!

Opening presents with Nana

The Celebration Begins ...

Rhys's first birthday is tomorrow(!), but Jeremy's family came to visit this past weekend to help us start the celebration.  Rhys loved all the attention and getting to play with his Grammy, Uncle Shawn and Aunt Tiffany.

He also seemed to enjoy his first birthday treat with his own mini cheesecake from our favorite local cafe, Capital City Cheesecake.  He ended up eating the whole thing!  While he definitely enjoyed his cheesecake, I think his favorite part was when everyone sang to him.  :-)

Walking!

He is still utilizing crawling as his primary method of transport, but Rhys is definitely now stringing steps together.  Here's a video from his first day of walking on September 13.

I picked him up from the nanny share that day only to hear that he had been walking all day (!).  I was a little sad that I had missed the first steps, but Rhys then promptly demonstrated his new skill for me and once we got home I took this video.  :)

Rhys's Second Photo Shoot - 11 months old

Rhys has grown so much- time* for another photo shoot to capture all those super cute smiles!  :-)

* I just realized that I never posted these, so I'm posting them now after the fact and dating this post when I should have posted it.

Adventures at Nana and Grandpa Jeff's

Rhys and I had a great time visiting my parents in Florida over Labor Day.  Here are a few pictures from our visit.

Fun at the pool ... although a little uncertain at first, Rhys decided that he really liked his new float!

Practicing making phone calls and checking out vintage technology ...

Enjoying toys old and new (Note: all the toys on the right that my mom saved from when my siblings and I were kids!)  :)

Taking the alligators for a walk

Rhys has become pretty proficient at pulling himself up and walking along while holding on to things (the sofa, coffee table, mom and dad, etc.), so we thought he might like a push toy that he could walk with. When we first presented him with his new push toy though, he was more interested in sitting by it and playing with the bug decorations on the handle.

I thought I'd give it another try and he seems to have gotten the hang of it!  Here he is demonstrating his new walking skills.  He also does a little chatting for the camera and gives a demo of one of his other new skills: waving.  New skills everyday ...  :-)

Waterbabies

Rhys completed his first Waterbabies swim lessons class.  No, he's not quite the next Michael Phelps yet (it's really a water-acclimation class), but he does like to splash and I think is now aspiring to blowing bubbles.  :-)

Being on his back in the water was definitely not his favorite, but he otherwise seemed to enjoy the classes.  Only one parent at a time was allowed in the class (they were kind of serious about their policies; any additional adults had to watch from the observation deck!), so Jeremy and I took turns.  Here are some pics from our classes ...

First Day of Class

Waiting before class with dad
(Notice the fancy pool!  Rhys hasn't tried out
the waterslide or diving platforms yet ...)

Gathering at the start of class with mom

Practicing splashing with dad

Practicing floating on his back

Playing with rings (and looking at mom on the observation deck)

Waterbabies graduate!