I heart books!

Anderson is SO hilarious!  Even when he is asleep, or by himself in his room.  Every night I have to go in his room before I go to sleep and just look at him.  He always looks sooooo sweet, and he is always in some crazy position!  I can't count the times I go look at the monitor, and yell, "Adam!  You've got to come look at Anderson!"  In the mornings, he normally wakes up and "reads" his books for about 45 minutes before he's ready to get out of bed.  Reading consists of turning the pages and talking, sometimes jibberish, and sometimes we think he is just reciting every word in his vocabulary ("Bubba, Pappaw, Moon...").  What a sound to wake up to in the mornings!  Lately, he's been playing in his crib before going to sleep.  So tonight when I went to check on him, he was asleep with his book on his chest, and me and Adam cracked up.  Then a little bit later, I looked at the monitor and saw it covering his face!!  I had to go in and get a picture.  He didn't even wake up!  (And I removed the book from his face!)

What I walked in and saw one night as I was checking on him.  Do you see anything hilarious with this picture?

Anderson's Top Ten

10. Crackers  Anytime, anywhere, but especially in the car.  His favorite thing to do is request "Cah cah?" and hold up his hand from the back seat!  I've had to resort to organic crackers of different varieties since he eats them so often.

9. Madie  He loves his cousin Madison!  He says her name as we pull into the driveway of Mammaw's School, and he loves to hug her.  That's because he knows she takes care of him!

8.  Ice Cream  "Eye Came" is more what it sounds like, but thanks to Mammaw and Pappaw, this is quickly becoming "cah cahs'" competition!

7.  Daddy  Everytime we pull in the driveway, Anderson either says "Bubba?" or "DaDa?"  Sadly I have to tell him that Daddy is at the football field and he will be home later.  He loves to spend the mornings with Adam.  After he wakes up, he loves to run into the bathroom, and yell "DaDa!" while Adam is in the shower.  He has also been known to point to a football game on TV and say "DaDa!"

6.  Brushing his teeth  Anderson has a morning ritual of announcing to Adam he is up, then he points to the sink and says "Teeth!"  He loves to brush his teeth, and until recently cried when I made him stop.  Now he gives it to me and says "Thank You" (in his own language; it sounds like "Ta Ta" but he says it everytime he gives us something)

5.  Lawn Mower  Another ritual is every day when we get out of the car, Anderson goes to the lawn mower in the garage and says "mower."  He used to call it a car.  He tries to move/roll it.  Every day.

4.  Cars, Airplanes, Helicopters, Trains  He loves them all!  In real life, in books, anywhere.  He says, "Cah," "Aih pane," and some jumbled form of "helicopter."  He says "choo choo" for trains.

3.  Mammaw's house  Now, don't get me wrong, he loves to go to Gigi's house and he loves his Nana, but every day when I go pick him up from school, he runs away from me.  I guess I should look at that as a good thing!  Sometimes he runs more than others, many times he cries when I pick him up to put him in the car seat!  We have to remind him he will come back again tomorrow and play with Marshall and Madison and KiKi, and of course, he is always fine once we're on our way home to see "Bubba."

2.  Good Night Moon  He LOVES books, and I am so glad!  He loves for anyone to read him books.  A particular one he's taken to is "Good Night, Moon."  We have a small board book that we read to him, but also my Grandma Hays got him a big version of it with her reading out loud to him.  Many days I will hear someone talking, and it's Anderson in his room listening to Great Grandma Hays reading "Good Night, Moon!" to him.  He carries it around and says, "Moon!"  He definitely picks it out over other books in his book case!

1.  Outside  Another wonderful thing Anderson loves is being "Aa side."  I will see to it he always loves books and being outside as much as he does now!  Nothing better for a child!  Until it is time for bath and bed, and he throws a fit when he has to come inside.  He loves to play with sticks and rocks, and just run back and forth in the yard.  He also loves riding in the stroller or wagon, anything just to be outside.


And just because I couldn't resist...

Anderson with Uncle Chad and soon to be Aunt Stacey at their farewell party in St. Louis before leaving for Melbourne, Australia!  Skype is on our "to do" list!

Grandma Hays thought every little 16 month old boy should have a basketball goal, so she made sure Anderson wasn't an exception!  He loves shooting baskets!  He might just take after his Great Grandma Hays!

Anderson with Little Rock Central's new Defensive Coordinator!  That's right, Adam was promoted before the season and, well, the Tigers have only lost one game after a two year losing streak...just saying!  He is doing a great job!

Fun with Anderson

So I don't have time to mess with the pictures and all that (as much as I love them!), but I'm afraid I will forget to tell everything if I wait until I have more time!  Anderson is so funny, and he has really started talking a lot within the past month.  Here are some things he says:

Ball- He loves balls!  One night we were eating peas for supper, and he picked one up, and said, "ball."  At first I tried explaining to him they were peas, but then I just decided to go with it.  "Yes, you're right, Anderson!  Ball!"  This is also the only word he consistently signs when he says!  Considering we've been signing to him since birth, I'm glad he finally picked up on some of it.

Car- Sounds more like "cah!"  Anything, car, truck, bus, is a "cah."

Bye- He finally waves bye, and he also likes to say "bye" to "cahs."

Cracker- again, the English accent in him is coming out.  This is how it sounds: "cah-cah."  It is so funny, because he calls most food "cah-cahs."  The other day he got a box out of a drawer in my bathroom, and said, "cah-cah!"  I had to explain to him not every box has "cah-cah's" in it!  His favorite is Ritz.

Bubba- sounds more like "Baa Baa!"  He says it when he hears him bark outside, or when he sees him too.  He loves to go put his arms around Bubba and say "Night Night," like he's using him for a pillow!

Night Night- He says that when he puts his head down, or he will repeat it after us before we lay him down.  Yes, it is the saddest thing ever.  Many times he is still awake when we lay him down and he goes to sleep on his own.  I don't care; I will never tire of rocking him to sleep.  The years will go by and soon he will be grown.  Plus he is so active these days, "night night" is the only time I get to hold him!

Light- He loves to point at the light and say it.  "Eye!"  He will also say "On" and "off!"

Water- This is is more like "Wa."  Sometimes we get a "wat."  He LOVES water. He loves to drink it out of a sippy cup, regular cup, water bottle, and he loves to play in water!

The next three really sound a lot alike.  But he says them appropriately, so I'll give it to him:

KiKi- His Mammaw and Pappaw Acklin's dog
Kitty- our cat, Tolliver.  He loves to chase her and pull her tail.  She loves him.
GiGi- my mother's name.  He will walk up to her door, saying, "GiGi!"

Shoe- What can I say?  Me and Anderson are pretty tight, seeing how it's just me and him most of the time.  He has taken after his mother's love of shoes.  "Soo."  He pulls mine off my rack and tries to put his feet in them.  I'll take this opportunity to say that he was observed pulling a tube of lipstick out of my mother's purse this week, proceeded to take off the lid, and put the lipstick to his mouth!  I did not teach him that, but he is in the bathroom with me playing every morning while I'm getting ready for work.  He takes in more than we know!!

Outside- He LOVES outside.  He will go to the door and say, "side!"  He requests to go outside all the time, and he often cries when we have to come back in, regardless of how hot it is!

No- OF COURSE!

Banana- "Nana"  He spots them from a mile away!  Too bad we can't let him eat as many as he wants to... bowel issues :)

Dance- as in, throwing his hands in the air and getting low, whether it's the CD player or a ringtone.  The other day at Mammaw's school, he pointed to the CD and asked to dance!

Emerging words:  Mammaw, Marshall, Madison.  His playmates and cousins he is with most days!  He's got the "ma" down, and is adding more syllables!

Okay, fine. Here is a picture. Or two.  Or...

Happy Father's Day!

Take me out to the ball game!  Colorado Rockies vs. Chicago White Sox

Family vacation to Denver 2011 to visit friends Amanda and Nate

And he's OUT!

Put me in, Coach!  Cheering on Daddy at his baseball game.

Go LR Sox!

BIRTHDAY BOY

Aren't his invitations the cutest?! I decided to do a red wagon theme since it's a big boy theme and it goes with his room...and the colors were so cute, of course!

Here is a surprise only my father could be a part of!  He is the one responsible for mine and Chad's name on dumpsters all over Poplar Bluff while we were growing up, as well as the announcement on the First Midwest Bank sign the day of my wedding, so it is only fitting he would carry on the tradition for Anderson...

This was displayed on the electronic billboard right by our house for 24 hours the day of Anderson's birthday party.  Compliments of Grandpa Mike and GiGi!

 

Here are some pictures of his fun fun special day:

Guests signed in and wrote messages for Anderson to read when he learns how, like next year.

                                        

We had red cupcakes with blue icing, wagon wheels (party pinwheels), and chicken ranch dip...

and strawberries with dipping sauces and banana bread with strawberry cream cheese/marshmallow creme mixture on top...mmm, thanks Maria Keeton!

Cousin Christina, Grandpa Mike, Pa

 Uncle Chad and Great Grandma Hays

Daddy and Pappaw

GiGi and Uncle Chad

I'm not sure how my brother made it into so many pictures, but take a close look:

Name that baby!

(Looks a lot like Anderson, doesn't it?!)

We asked for no gifts, but Anderson didn't complain...

You can tell we had a full house!  I think the final guest count was 52...

Such a special guy!

 

A special gift made by Nana

This is Anderson posing with all his gifts.  Do you notice the large rake and shovel his Uncle Chad found for him!?  He was in heaven; there was even a hoe in the package too!  Now he has tools to grow with.  I need to get a picture of him carrying these around, because he does...!  (He's even been known to sit on the toilet hanging onto the rake!)

It was so much fun celebrating with everyone who waited so anxiously (and patiently!) to meet this little baby!  He truly brings a smile to everyone he encounters!

In leiu of gifts, Anderson asked for donations for children who don't get to have birthday parties or get gifts.  I have a friend from high school who started a ministry in Bronx, New York, called Graffiti 2 Ministries.  People brought everything from cupcake mixes to alarm clocks to toys.  We were so excited to ship up all the goodies and send them their way!  We have so much more than we could ever ask for, and it was so humbling to be able to do that.  I know Anderson brought tons of smiles to kids when they received it all!

It ended up taking two HUGE boxes to ship it all to New York!



Little birthday boy, so many people love you and pray for you every day, and you have no idea.  You really are a blessing and you bring joy to everyone who meets you!

Sick baby!

About a week before Anderson's birthday party, he woke up in the middle of the night and I thought he felt warm. He had never been sick, and I had never even had to take his temperature before, so I didn't even know where our thermometer was or how to use it on him! I ended up putting it under his arm, and it was over 100! I was so scared since he has been perfectly healthy! I called his pediatrician and was told if it got to 104, to bring him in. Otherwise, it was probably a fever virus. WHAT?! I did miss my first sick day at work in over six years! It lasted a good five days, and I was really glad we had scheduled his birthday party for the next weekend. He almost made it a whole year without getting sick! Nana jumped at the chance to spoil Anderson and brought over orange push pops and these cute little forehead chiller thingys:

Poor baby

Have I mentioned his love of shovels? I had always pictured my baby having a little blankie or stuffed animal he would carry around with him or snuggle with to go to sleep. My talented friend, Rebecca, even makes all these cute taggies, but he would never have anything to do with any of it! Well, for Easter, his Nana got all the grandkids beach buckets and shovels...the rest is history. He carries it with him everywhere. He even goes to sleep with it occasionally. This purple shovel got stepped on and broken, so I went out and bought three more while they are still in season. A family down the street even had several in a yard sale and I snatched them up. A man and his shovel... ?

Thankfully, he was good to go for this birthday party.  He knew he had lots of people coming to town to see him on his special day.

Here he is the morning of his party:

Notice what he woke up with?!

And yes, he wakes up, smiling like this often!! He definitely did not take after his daddy!

Anderson's First (official) Hair Cut!

Anderson was born with so much hair, it shouldn't be surprising that we'd have to "trim" it several times to keep it under control!  We thought that he needed a big boy hair cut before his first birthday and birthday party, so off to Pigtails and Crewcuts we went!  There was quite a wait, so we played in a nearby toy store...

And went for a cupcake...

Then it was Anderson's turn!

 He loved it!

There was ONE moment of "What are you doing to me, Lady?"

After church on Mother's Day!

Adam is so funny.

This is a day in my life...  :)