Turning 1

So Xander is now officially 1 years-old. He is 27 1/2 inches tall and weighs 17 lbs 15 oz. He has 6 teeth in his cute little smile, and loves to use them for eating Cheerios, his favorite food. He's healthy and super cute. He loves to walk around with his Tonka truck (see last post), and has started to let go of the Tonka every once in a while to stand on his own for a second or two. He is also climbing stairs, up not down, and made it to the top today without an adult behind him, but with Japheth in front telling what a good job he's doing. He can talk up a storm with all his baby sentences, and sometimes helps me get after Japheth by holding his hand out toward him and talking louder. His favorite toys are Japheth's tools, and he loves to snuggle his bed-time doggy. He has the cutest facial expressions and words, and is such a fun loving little guy. He is super mellow most of the time, but has recently started to attack Japheth by climbing up him to stand up, and then puts his mouth to Japheth and talks into Japheth's back. It's cute to watch them play together; I think it's the beginning to their rough housing, luckily for me it's not so rough yet! He also loves bath time, with his most favorite part being splashing everyone even remotely close to the tub.
While Xander enjoys most things in life there are a few things he thinks he could do without. First is waiting for his milk to warm up. He thinks it's the end of the world having to wait, but refuses to drink it even luke-warm. Second is the feel of outside. Sounds weird, but it's true. He super hates the feel of grass, and while he tolerates it, he isn't fond of the cement either. He definitely prefers to be held outside, but maybe one day he'll find he's having too much fun to notice that he's outside.
We had a great time at his first birthday party! Thanks to everyone that could make it. All the presents are great, and both Xander and Japheth are having a blast playing with the new toys and can't decide which one they like most, though Japheth is finding it hard to share Xander's toys with Xander. Xander was a bit unsure of the cake at first, but only because it was cold. After a bit he really got into it. It's crazy to think we've had him for a year already, and sometimes he looks too big to me! But I know he's still really little, and we definitely enjoy having him around. Thanks again for all the great presents.

1 Plus 3 Equals Crazy!

I know it doesn't look like it but it's really a hug.

So first I have to attribute this post to Liz, since she inspired me to post it with her poo bath and crayon eating child. (Also thanks for helping me make my blog more stylin') The past few weeks we have felt a little crazy. Partly from crazy little boys and partly from Douglas' shedule. He just ended a class for work and started Chemistry 1210 with the overlapping time resulting in him being gone a lot. I think the hardest part is when the boys take turns being punks or just go completely out of control.
Japheth has been all over the place hyper! It's been a bit more constant than usual. We went to Applebees for dinner the other night and he was literally bouncing off the walls in the restroom. He has been into more things than usual, and has been playing harsher with Xander lately. They can play nicely, but Japheth has been hitting him to get toys back, plus hitting with toys in his excited playing. Also he hasn't been going to bed well lately. We put both boys down at 7pm for the night, but Japheth has been staying awake until 9pm, even though he's tired. The problem is that he isn't just laying quietly, so we have to go up every so often to put him back down. It can be maddeningly frustrating night after night! By the time he finally goes to sleep it's almost time for us to go to bed and we've spent all our "kidless" time taking care of a kid, instead of rejuvinating and relaxing to be ready for another day of kids. Sadly I think our only option is to finally drop his nap. :(
While Japheth has been perfecting his ability to not listen to a thing you say and be hyper beyond belief, Xander has been perfecting his art of crying and persistance in crying. There are many times when he wakes up and straight off swears that he is starving like he hasn't eaten for days. Though if we're out and about he has no problems waiting longer for his meal. Seems a little backwards to me, maybe I'm just wierd though. He'll cry and cry until he gets his bottle, and then sometimes cries more until he's had all his food, and then sometimes more until he has his cherios. And if he sees the bottle then he's automatically starving and needs it right then. And if he sees anyone else eating he of course is starving again, even when he's just eaten. It's a fun cycle of crying, luckily it's not all day long.
I know that they're really good kids, and I love them tonz, but man can kids drive you crazy. Luckily they can be really cute too, often right when it's needed to keep them in the family. :) I love that Xander likes to cuddle, and he says little baby-talk sentences all the time that make you just smile. Plus he does a little head shake ending with cocking it to one side and smiling like there's no tomorrow. While Japheth has started saying "thank you mama for making dinner" even when it's lunch time. And many times an "I love you mama" comes out of the blue. Since Xander is a cuddler, Japheth has decided he needs it a little more in his life too, and I very much enjoy that. But the funniest is when the influence of having mostly girl cousins around, and being with me all day shows itself. Like having tea. . .
Sorry about the audio, can't seem to make it work.

I was going to put a video of Xander talking cute, but since the audio doesn't seem to want to work with my phone videos here's one of him walking with the aid of a toy instead. (A recent developement)