11 Months

It's official, Tate is walking. He started taking some steps 2-3 weeks ago and then last week he really started moving. Over Thanksgiving weekend he seemed to switch off between crawling and walking and now he is walking every chance he gets. His teachers told me today that he was their busiest baby! He is so excited about his new skill, he has no interest in eating, going to bed or doing anything other than running around and testing out his new skill.

He has also become very LOUD over the last couple weeks. He has always been such a mellow baby and now he loves to use his voice, laugh, wave bye-bye and play chase.

When we do get him to sit still to eat he is really enjoying whatever the family is eating. In fact, he often surprises me with the foods he enjoyes - a couple weeks ago he was devouring the homemade PF Chang's style chicken lettuce wraps I made.

The first year can be long at times, but it really is amazing that he's almost one.

Tate's Baptism

We finally got around to getting Tate baptized on November 20th. It was a great day, and his godparents Larry and Kaye (next door neighbors) were able to join us.

Halloween

Neighborhood picture

With our neighbors Jim/Ed

Tallulah Gorge

We've gotten back into hiking now that Tate is a bit older and recently enjoyed a day trip to Tallulah Gorge in northern GA. It was gorgeous and a nice drive out of the city. Apparently they have some sliding rocks that you can hike down to and slide on in the summer. When the boys get older we'll have to give that a try.

Dec's Birthday

We did a simple party for Declan this year and invited several of his buddies from school to join us at the local airport playground for pizza. Unfortunately it was the coldest morning we've had in months, but the kids didn't seem to mind. My mom and Don's dad were both in town which was nice as well. Can't believe he is 4 years old. He has really grown up in the last couple months. He went through the "why" phase over the summer and is now just very into asking lots of specific questions. He loves playing soccer at school with Coach Jorge, bringing books to school and playing barefoot in the backyard. He says something hilarious every day and I really need to get better at writing down those quotes!

The Beach

In late October we took a nice long weekend trip to Blue Mountain Beach down in Florida. We had a great time with beautiful weather. The water was a bit cold, but the boys enjoyed playing on the beach, we all enjoyed the sun and had some great food and relaxing days.