We went to a park in Tallahasse tonight that has a walk-through Christmas light display, and Kenton loved it. I don't think he's ever been as excited about anything in his life. He ran and squealed and pointed for the whole hour we were there. He kept saying "light, light, light" over and over, and stopped and yelled it at several people we passed, too. I think he would have stayed all night if we would have let him. It was big fun. I think we'll try to go back and visit again sometime after Christmas.

We waited too late to have a Christmas picture of Kenton taken professionally, so we decided to do our own snapshots at home last week. This one obviously isn't going to be used for our Christmas cards, but I still thought it was awfully cute. There's something about that smirky little face he's making that makes me laugh every time I look at it!

He's talking so much lately, adding new words every day. Today I heard him say "phone" and "hair" for the first time. Sometimes it seems like he's learned ten new things from the time I leave for work in the morning until I get home at night!

Edward and Kenton at the library Christmas party on Friday night. I got home from Warner-Robins (about a 3 hr. drive) at 6:30, and the festivities started at 7:30, so I was feeling very tired and not at all photogenic. I thought my two favorite guys were looking very handsome, though! :-)

Santa visited the library today, but Kenton was not happy to see him. This was the best picture Edward was able to get--in the other one he's really fighting to get off Santa's lap. One of the other kids there, who's about three, had insisted on wearing his Halloween costume so Santa could see it, so he was dressed as a shark sitting on Santa's lap. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get a picture of that!

After a hard afternoon playing, Kenton and Tiger take a much-needed nap.

Edward and Kenton went downtown tonight to check out the Christmas parade. I'm battling a cold, so I stayed at home. Kenton really enjoyed the show! Edward said he clapped and bounced when the bands came by, squealed and pointed at the floats, and just had a great time.

Before we put up our big Christmas tree in the living room, we bought new shatterproof ornaments to replace the glass balls we'd used in years past. Kenton has been pretty good about not pulling things off that tree so far, but we let him play with the ornaments on the little tree in his room. It's decorated with plastic candy canes and stuffed Santas, and he really loves to take them off the tree and carry them around. At the end of the day, we find them all over the house!

We put the Christmas tree up last night after Kenton went to bed, so he got his first look at it this morning. In this picture, he's running over to tell me all about it, flapping his arms in a most excited way.

I think we need to buy more locks for the cabinet doors!

We got out our Christmas decorations this afternoon, and decided to kick off the holiday season by decorating Lucy and Kenton.

Happy Thanksgiving! We decided to make things easy and go out to eat today. We got to the Seminole Wind buffet right at 11:00, and got one of the last tables before they went on a wait. The place was really packed, but the food was great. Kenton sampled a little of everything but really enjoyed the mashed potatoes, rolls, and sweet potato casserole. They had turkey, fried chicken, and ham, but he didn't care for any of those. In the picture he's having pumpkin cheesecake, which he liked, but he wanted to eat it with his fingers rather than a spoon.

Edward and Kenton were horsing before dinner last night, and Kenton was laughing so hard. He was cute, but I couldn't ever seem to get a really good picture. This one was about the best. Not sure what Edward's doing here, but Kenton was amused!

Edward stripped Kenton down to his diaper to get ready to go take a bath, then he decided to grab a book and sit down in his beanbag chair. He seems to enjoy running around without his clothes on. He gets a real kick out of pulling his socks and shoes off now. I figure it won't be long until he's ripping off all his clothes and streaking through the house.

This pic's about a month old, taken when Grandpa & Nana were down visiting. It's one of my favorite pictures of him.

Another picture from our vacation--We had lunch at Frank's Pizza in Carolina Beach one day. If you every find yourself in Carolina Beach, you should eat there. It was really great. Kenton was being so cute I just had to whip out the camera and snap a picture. And yes, I do carry the camera with me pretty much all the time.

Happy Halloween!

Despite the cool weather, Kenton enjoyed a trip to the playground at Carolina Beach. The slide was definitely his favorite.

We spent last week vacationing in Carolina Beach and Wilmington, NC. Despite the record-breaking low temperatures, we had a great visit. Kenton was a pretty good traveler. Here we were strolling along the riverwalk in beautiful downtown Wilmington.

Cloth napkins are not only cheaper and more environmentally friendly than paper ones, they're also much better for playing peek-a-boo during dinner.

Both my boys are under the weather today. Kenton has a snotty nose and a fever and Edward is still battling kidney stones. Kenton hollered for his daddy all morning while Edward was gone to the doctor and then wouldn't leave him alone once he got home. Kenton isn't usually one for cuddling, but when he isn't feeling well he wants to be held. I was okay when dad wasn't around, but as soon as Edward was home that's who he wanted to be with. He sure loves his daddy.

Kenton is a busy boy with lots of important phone calls to make. Or so you would think if you saw him walking around our house lately. His favorite "toy" lately is our cordless phone, which he carries around the house constantly, pushing buttons and jabbering. We're probably going to end up with a huge charge on our phone bill for a call to some country we've never heard of. But he's so cute walking and talking that we let him do it anyway. Not that he's spoiled or anything. .

Grandpa and Nana came to visit over the weekend and did a great job of spoiling Kenton while they were here. Grandpa read several stories to Kenton on Saturday afternoon.

Kenton is very interested in shoes, socks, and feet lately. Today when I came home from work and was changing into my socks and sneakers to take a walk, he yelled "shoe" and grabbed my socks and tried to put them on his feet. When he tried to steal his daddy''s shoes as he was putting them on, Edward just decided to help him try them on. He thought he was cool wearing the big shoes.

Playing in the fall leaves, south Georgia style

Kenton had his first real haircut today. Edward has been wanting to get it cut for months now, but I've been holding out. Today at lunch I told him even I had to admit the time had come, since Kenton's hair was starting to look like Donald Trump's. It was really getting out of control. So, they went this afternoon and Kenton now has big boy hair--no more sweet little curls in the back. He looks so grown up. He's getting pretty good at walking, too. My baby's growing up.

Boy wonder figured out how to get into my craft cabinet last night. He didn't do too much damage--was content to open and close the doors and look around. We need to find the missing doorknob and buy another child lock, though. I think he looks so big in this picture, wearing his t-shirt and blue jeans. We had a little fall weather and got to wear pants for a couple of days, but temps are back up in the 90s today. We don't get much fall in south Georgia!

If you look closely at the picture, you can see that Kenton's "eye teeth" have come in recently. Unfortunately, his teeth look like they're going to be crooked like mine. We should start saving now for the orthodontist. He's also working on cutting the first one of his molars, which has left him feeling a little under the weather for the past couple of days. Last night he woke up about midnight and didn't go back to sleep until after 2:30. Luckily I don't have to be at work until 10:30 on Saturdays, so we all slept until 9:00 this morning. Edward and Kenton went to Birdsong, a nature preserve, while I was at work today. Judging from the picture, it looks like Kenton enjoyed the trip.

Look out world, Kenton is walking! Several times today he took five or six steps without any help, and then tonight he went twice that far across the living room! We're all very excited. In a couple of days, he'll probably be going wherever he wants.

He's running around in his shirt and diaper in this picture because his pants legs were too long and they were causing problems with the walking. I think he has his daddy's short legs--I'll have to work on my hemming skills! You have to admit he looked pretty good wearing the cool camouflage pants, even if they did have to be rolled up a little. Thanks to uncle Ken & Christy for such a stylin' birthday present!

Our boy loves to eat. He was enjoying some peanut butter and crackers in this picture. Peanut butter is one of his favorite foods, but it ends up smeared all over his face, in his hair, and everywhere else. After he ate tonight, his hair was a crusty mess. Luckily it wasn't long until bath time!

We put up our Halloween tree tonight. We never thought we'd be the kind of people to have a tree decorated for any season other than Christmas, but when we were out walking this evening Kenton was really impressed with the Halloween decorations in a yard we passed. This house decorates in a big way for pretty much every holiday. They had big inflatible ghosts and pumpkins, and trees with lights and all kinds of stuff. He pointed and talked and got really excited looking at it all, and it was so cute. So, I decided we needed to hurry home, get out one of our small Christmas trees, and run to Big Lots to see if they had any Halloween lights. They did. Kenton was ready for bed by the time I set the tree up, so he wasn't too into exploring, but I expect he'll check it out good tomorrow when he gets up.

On Saturday, we went to Tallahassee and toured the Southern Living & Progressive Farmer Idea House. It was quite nice, but not as extravagant as most model homes like that. Here's a shot of Kenton enjoying the screened back porch. The porch area was probably as big as some of the apartments we lived in when we were first married!

Kenton isn't quite walking yet, but he still gets into plenty these days. We've had to put cabinet locks on the entertainment center and in the kitchen. He could open the first kind we got, even though I couldn't. Then we switched to the kind you see in the picture. They keep him out of things, but I can't get them open 90% of the time, either. Apparently they're not only baby-proof, but mommy-proof as well. Thankfully Edward can undo them, so we're not completely locked out of our cabinets!

Kenton looks so "big boy" in his new overalls!

Kenton has refused to wear his sunglasses since we bought them earlier this summer. He rips them off, fusses, whines, and just generally raises a stink whenever we try to put them on him. And then tonight--after dark, in the house--he decided they were cool. He put them on and hammed and showed off crazy. We'll see if he'll actually wear them out in the sun now.

Here's a picture of Kenton enjoying one of his last bottles. He has been completely bottle-free for three days now and doesn't really seem to miss it. We thought it would be harder than this to wean him off the bottle. He drinks out of a sippy cup just fine and loves to eat whatever we're having. Edward washed packed all the bottles away in storage this morning, along with all the other things he's outgrown--toys, carseat, swing, stroller, and tons of clothes. I just wasn't prepared for how much stuff a baby goes through in the first year!

We had a nice trip to Panama City Beach over the Labor Day weekend. The weather was great and the beach was beautiful. Kenton was still a little timid about the water, but boy did he love the sand. He would have played in it all day if we'd let him. He wasn't even too bad about trying to put it in his mouth. It was a good trip, but we're all tired and glad to be back in our own house.

Kenton went to the doctor this morning, since his fever was up again yesterday afternoon and last night. He has a virus, which the doctor said should clear up in 3-6 days. Nothing too serious. He already seems to feel a lot better than he did yesterday, so hopefully it will pass quickly.

We got a new toy out for him to play with today, from the stash of things Nana and Grandpa got for him when he was just a tiny baby. He had a great time pushing the wagon around his room and checking out all the blocks that came with it. He entertained himself for close to 30 minutes. He obviously likes it now, but I'm sure when he can walk, he'll really like pulling the wagon all around the house.

We've got a sick boy tonight. He'd been cranky and didn't have much of an appetite all day, but we weren't too concerned until his fever shot up to 102 this evening. We gave him some Tylenol, a cool bath, and a popsicle and the fever dropped some and he went to sleep. Despite the general lack of appetite today, he did like the popsicle and was pretty upset when it was all gone. I hope he sleeps well tonight, but even if he does I don't think Edward and I will--too much worrying.

Kenton loves to open and close things. Here he is playing with the drawers in his dresser. He entertained himself quite a while this way, but never did figure out he could open the doors on the side, too. He can't open it, but he is also fascinated by the refrigerator lately and comes crawling as fast as he can whenever you open it and wants to slam it shut. Since Ferd and Lucy also come running when the refrigerator opens, we get quite a crowd at the fridge these days.

Kenton had his 12-month checkup this morning. Things were apparently crazy at the pediatrician's office, and he and Edward had to wait almost an hour before they were called back, then had another lengthy wait before they saw the doctor. Usually the office is pretty good about not making you wait, so I'm not sure what was going on. Edward said Kenton behaved remarkably well the whole time, though. He weighs 26 1/2 lbs now--still right around the 75th percentile for height and weight and very healthy. He got several shots and seems to be feeling fine. However, the doctor said fever or another reaction to the MMR vaccine could take as long as 4-6 days to show up. We're keeping our fingers cross there won't be one.

A couple of nights ago, I looked in on Kenton after he'd been asleep for about an hour. This is the position I found him in. Pretty cute.

Yes, Ferdinand is one big cat. He and Kenton were having a good time playing with the ribbon off a birthday present, but I couldn't get a shot where Ferd was actually looking at the ribbon. He's as bad as Kenton about hamming for the camera when I point it at him!

It's Kenton's birthday! We weren't up for a big celebration, but we did enjoy some cupcakes and put up a few decorations. Kenton thought the streamers were interesting, but only until he got his hands on the cupcake. Then, nothing else mattered. He really enjoyed his cupcake. He ate the whole thing and was still yelling "bite!' (what he says when he wants more to eat) when we put him in the bathtub to rinse the cake icing off him.

Kenton talks all the time lately. Unfortunately, we understand very little of what he has to say. His first word was bye-bye, about three weeks ago. He has recently added da-di (daddy), a long I sound that means light, and bi which he says for bite, like when he wants a bite of what you're eating. I know it sounds just like bye-bye, but when he's sitting in his high chair screaming it we're pretty sure it has to do with getting a bite to eat, not telling us adios. When he babbles now, it has the rhythm of actual speech. Today at lunch he was talking away pointing at the light over the table. He's always been fascinated with lights and ceiling fans. I wish I could understand more of what he was saying, because he was sure excited about it. Even though it's just a couple of words right now, it's so exciting for him to actually be able to talk to us!

The picture above was taken at the Georgetown (KY) Public Library last week. In case you're not up on children's book characters, he's sitting in front of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, from Eric Carle's book.

While at Granny Cardin's last week we sat Kenton out in the yard and let him check out the grass. We've never really done that at our house, because our yard is very small and is more dirt and weeds than actual grass. He didn't quite know what to think of the grass and seemed a little freaked out by it. After gingerly touching it, he started fussing and wanted to be picked up. I guess he's a real city boy!

We survived our week-long trip to Kentucky to visit family and friends, and made it safely back home late Friday. Kenton had a pretty good trip, and got to have two birthday parties. Here's a shot of him enjoying birthday cake at Nana & Grandpa Chambers' house. We enjoyed getting to see everyone, but we're all glad to be back to our home and our normal routines!

Kenton got some new clothes over the weekend (10 for $10 sale at the baby consignment store!) and we couldn't resist putting this little hoodie sweatshirt on him. Amazingly, he didn't try to pull it off his head, but instead really hammed for the camera.

I've been so busy with work this week, I haven't taken a single picture of Kenton! I'll have to get my camera out tomorrow and make up for lost time. Here's a cute one of him at Chuck E. Cheese last weekend. This was in the toddler area and he was really having a lot of fun spinning the wheel and watching it. Of course, he had to look up at me when I got the camera out!

I've been looking through old pictures of Kenton, and I can't believe it's been almost a year. It's been a wild ride! I have no idea what we did before him--we can't even remember anymore.