Dean videos- 12 months

Here are a couple videos of Dean-bean. One is of him climbing into Abby's bed. He LOVES her bed. The other is of him walking around the house, sniffing out daddy's baked ziti. He reminds us of Maggie sometimes, the way he begs for food. Ha!

Dean's first birthday party!

We had a little bday party at the house for Dean. Grandma Susie, Jennifer/Carlos, Donnie/Leslie, Brooke/Jeff, Jen/Andy and their respective kiddos were in attendance. We wanted to keep the party fairly small this time around... it was so much fun! Dean did some walking around for show, but mostly wanted to be carried around; he is in the process of getting his top four teeth, which has made him continue to be our "koala baby", as we have always called him. Here are a bunch of pictures and a few short videos of Dean. During the cake "ceremony"..... Abby and Connelly chasing each other around and running in circles.... it was too cute!

Amanda's Place

I have been taking pictures all year long from "Amanda's Place". While I was able to spend time with Dean doing a mommy and me class, Abby attended the "sibling class" in the room next door. With this, Abby went to "Ms. Karlene" twice a week for an hour and one-half each time. At the start, Abby asked "where did mommy go" about 15 times, and each day she asked less and less. Her class was set up as a miniature morning of preschool, starting with playtime, art project, circle/story-time, music, snack, and stamps/stickers at the end, when moms come pick the kids up. I cannot say enough about the program and how good it has been for all of us, especially Abby. We have had an amazing experience and I couldn't be more happy that we signed up and made the drive down to Pompano Beach!

Dean was only three months old when we began... so little!!




Abby's first art project last November.... such a proud girl....




I think Dean was about six months old here...



Crawling around and exploring....







More climbing around.......





Big boy walking around...




Dean didn't particullary care for our version of "Happy Birthday". It was finally his turn to have it sung to him, and as you can see he thought we were a bit out of tune ;) We decided to try twinkle twinkle next, which made him happier!





More walking around....



Here are some pictures from Abby's last week of Amanda's Place. We are sad she won't be able to go anymore. Once the babies turn one, the "sibling class" ends. So, Abby will be off to preschool. Dean and I plan to keep going, but I know it won't be the same.... I am already having separation anxiety. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?

Abby "modeling"

Here are some fun pictures of Abby "modeling". I told her to pretend she was a model and she starting to tilt her head back, pose and laugh.

Dean toddling around

Below are a couple of videos of Dean toddling around. I also posted some random Dean smiley shots :) He sure does love our dog Maggie, as you can see.....

Key Largo

We went to Key Largo with Jennifer and Carlos over the weekend. A couple of pictures are from my iphone so the quality isn't the greatest. Anyways... we had loads of laughs, as usual, and lots of fun. The highlights for me were reading a "people" magazine in the hammock under a palm tree, and watching the sunset while having appetizers and beverages! Thanks to sweet Grandma Susie for watching both kids.... no easy task with the weather being so sultry, Dean starting to toddle around AND wanting to be held a lot of the time, and the long days because of early wake up calls and no nap from Abby-Lou today.