Kevin's First Birthday!!!

Today Kevin turned one! I am not sure where the year has gone, but apparently it has passed. :) We celebrated today by staying home and just playing. Tyler was beyond excited for Kevin's birthday and his excitement caused Kevin to get pretty worked up as well. The boys spent the morning running, chasing, and playing hard. And they were so intense that not only did Kevin take a three hour nap, but Tyler took one too!! Since Tyler never naps, that should give you an idea of how crazy their morning playtime was. :)




With a quiet afternoon, I got some things done around the house I have been needing to, and even managed to watch part of a movie. Kevin was first to wake up and we managed to spend some rare one-on-one time together just playing and talking. It is amazing how attentive he can be when it is just him.




We played and played until it was dinner time, and since Tyler was still sleeping we woke him up. It didn't take long to get through dinner once daddy got home, because Tyler was very excited for the cake and presents. :)




Kevin was not sure about us singing Happy Birthday to him, but he did manage to clap for us when we were done. So I think that he warmed up to the song. It took us awhile to actually get him the cake because we were trying to figure out the camcorder. So Tyler sat in his chair begging for cake, and that got Kevin excited so he started banging on his highchair. I was convinced Kevin would go nuts with the cake, but alas he did not. He took a few bites/licks of cake and was done. Adam and I were just shocked! Even though he wasn't into the cake, he did manage to get messy when he realized he could "paint" with the icing. So while the rest of us ate cake, we just let Kevin sit in his high chair and paint away. He had a blast and was an absolute mess when we were done. So he finished the night out with a big bath, some warm pjs, and playing with presents.

Thank you everyone for the phone calls, cards, and well wishes. We really appreciate you thinking our little guy on this big day! And now for lots of pictures that I took throughout the day.


Rocking in the chair by himself.

He made it look like so much fun that Tyler wanted to rock too.

So we spent some time rocking and singing.

And just having fun.

But soon it was time to get out, and move on to more fun.

So, Kevin crawled over to the dog water dish and stopped to see if I was looking. He is fascinated by the water dish, and loves to get into it if we let him. We yell "no no" so much that now he will crawl over, stop, and just sit there signing dog and saying "ugh ugh" to see first if I am paying attention. Thankfully, this usually catches my attention if I am not and I can say "no no that's the dogs water" at which point he will stop and leave the water alone. It is just those times that I don't realize what he is doing that we have a big mess to deal with. :)

Leaving the bowl for a balloon that Tyler is playing with, and I am thankful since I didn't need to get up to get him away. :)

Cake time!

These are after dinner in his birthday hat that the Balk's gave Tyler for his first birthday. Had to get my birthday hat pictures. :)

And then some pictures before singing and cake.

Tyler can't stand all the pictures and no progression towards cake. He was begging and squirming so much in his chair! :)

So we turned out the lights, starting singing, and brought the cake over to Kevin.

He is not sure at all about the singing and won't take his eyes off of Tyler.

But did give us lots of clapping when we were done, so we guess he liked the song! :)

Won't take his eyes off the cake.

Decided to start banging his highchair in excitement. We were busy here trying to get a tape for the camcorder loaded and it was driving Tyler nuts! He was begging and bouncing around so much, that it got Kevin going too. :)

First touch.

First taste.

And a few more tentative bites.

Seems to enjoy it.

But that is about all he eats. He decided that cake was more fun to "paint" with than to eat. So he spent the time in his highchair while we ate cake painting his tray and his belly. Tyler got a kick out of watching him paint, and we all couldn't believe that he wasn't going crazy for the cake!

A post-painting picture.

And after a big bath and some warm pajamas, Kevin came back out to watch Tyler open his presents and then got to play with his new toys. Kevin was more interested in standing up than opening presents, and Tyler was beside himself that there were presents. So it worked out this year, because Tyler got to open, and Kevin was just as happy watching and getting to play. :)

Kevin's Birthday Cake

Tyler and I just finished up Kevin's first birthday cake, and so I thought I would take some pictures for you to see. Iwasn't fully paying attention because the B is the center, rather than the K that I intended (the block has K, B, T, and 1 on it). But I doubt that Kevin will notice, and the cake does meet my goal of being nice and colorful for messy icing pictures tomorrow. :)


Getting going....

Getting closer....

My helper....

Our finished product.

Friday

So this is the end of a long week of sickness here. We have all been coughing and congested since Kevin first got sick last weekend. Thankfully, Adam surprisingly avoided getting sick (still not sure how he does it) and the rest of us are starting to feel more normal.

The week was interesting. Tyler has discovered that he can get out of bed after we put him in. So sometimes he comes out for hugs, more water, to use the bathroom, or just to announce that he doesn't want to sleep. He has done pretty well at just coming out once at night and not several times...yet...before falling asleep. The surprise of the week though came on Wednesday night when Adam just found him crawling into bed with us. This was the first time he had done it, so of course it was sweet and he got to stay. And then came last night when we realized the mistake when Tyler came crawling in to our bed even earlier in the evening to sleep.

It ended up working out because Kevin decided to spend the night awake crying (we think he is teething), so I wasn't sleeping in the bed anyways. But, now comes the weekend of actually getting up at night and making Tyler go back to sleep in his own bed. I knew that someday we would have this issue, and I am just glad that we have made it this long.

Kevin hasn't learned how to crawl into our bed yet, but did seem well to aware last night that crying makes mom come back in, and seemed to get a kick out of the game (since he would fall asleep in my arms...or so I thought). Kevin has really taken off on his signing now, and seems to be more and more aware each day. Yesterday, he learned how to get high-five's, and over the last week has discovered kisses and waving. He also loves to clap, which works well since Tyler loves an audience, and is working more on saying "more" and "up" (the new word of the day).

Well, enough of my rambles. I am just glad to be feeling better and that the weekend is almost here. Here are some pictures of the boys playing after Kevin's day long nap. Tyler is very excited that Kevin is finally up to play, and Kevin is pretty thrilled to see silly Tyler (he is ignoring me).

I asked Tyler to show me three fingers for his age, and he thought that it would be funny to sign "water" back to me and has done it every time since.

And finally, a picture of Tyler's new suit. He was pretty excited to find it at the store and couldn't wait to show daddy once we got home. Unfortunately, daddy wasn't home so we settled for taking some pictures. :)

Playmates

Lately, Tyler and Kevin have become quite the pair. They love running around being silly, and are playing a lot more games together. This was today's game. Tyler riding on the car with his feet up while Kevin pushed him around in circles in the kitchen. It worked out well because Tyler would turn when they needed to turn, and it slowed him down from his normal racing through the kitchen on this car. Plus, it provided a nice weight to the car for Kevin since it still moves too quickly for Kevin across the kitchen floor. They played this for a long time while I did dishes, with both of them laughing and having a good time.


Having fun.

About to crash. Thank goodness Tyler had brakes because Kevin was ready to run right into the wall.

Kevin waving while Tyler is saying where to head next.

Tyler waving goodbye.

Yesterday, was another fun play day for them. They played Little People, chase, and a great game of throwing and chasing a beach ball in the hallway before the day was done. A funny moment came while I was cooking dinner and I heard them both start laughing. When it is silent or they are both laughing hysterically, warning bells go off anymore. I started listening closer and would hear a small crash and then hysterical laughter from them both. So I went to see and sure enough Tyler had moved his booster chair from the kitchen (I had just taken it off) to the Pack and Play and the was throwing toys out at Kevin. It also appeared that Kevin was grabbing Tyler's arm as he was leaning over to throw toys out, and that was causing the cute giggles.

And now I am off to clean the kitchen. I took some cold medicine last night to help me sleep (feeling congested) and little did I know I would be dazed until 3 today! Fortunately, the boys are great boys, and just played in Kevin or Tyler's room while I laid beside them trying to convince my mind and body to wake up! Yikes. Thank goodness for lots of toys. :)