Picture of the Week

OUR NEW HOME!!!

We closed on our new house today. Although most of you knew about the purchase, we didn't mention it on here because when we started looking, we didn't know if we'd find anything we liked. When we found a house we were interested in, we didn't know if we'd make an offer. When we made an offer, we didn't know if it would be accepted. When the offer was accepted, we didn't know how the inspection would go. When the inspection report came out good, we wanted to make sure the deal would go to closing. When closing was scheduled... well, by then it seemed much too late to mention it. =)

But closing, though delayed a week, went through today and we are now the happy owners of this place. That's why we've been so busy (and not posting), and that's why we are soon to be busy some more. You'll excuse our laziness while we break in our new home.

Picture of the Week

Dane's learned to climb and he'll get on anything he can!

He managed to get up there by himself, and he was very proud.

We're proud too.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Yeah, I know - long weekend! But with the beautiful summer weather, I think we feel like sitting in front of the computer to post about as much as you feel like sitting inside to read our posts. We're spending a lot of time outdoors lately, enjoying the sunshine and all the lovely gifts Dane got for his birthday.

This weekend was fun. We overly prided ourselves on taking care of too few chores around the house. On Saturday, we went to an ice cream social at Gramps and GrannyK's church. Dane was quickly passed off (or rather scooped up) by Gramps, shown off to many admirers, and stuffed with all the ice cream he could eat. It was there that Dane first met his Nana B and Opa, Karen's parents from out of state, who have never missed an excuse to send Dane cards and gifts, and who have been faithfully following the blog. After the social, we went back to Bobby & Karen's, where Dane's Great-Grandma, Uncle Eli and cousin Ben came to join us. We played a lot and ate a lot - a recipe for a good day for Dane.

And on Sunday, Dane moved up at church to the One Year Olds room. He didn't do very well. But a room worker gave him a little extra attention (and snacks!), and the constant calling for Mama and Dada finally subsided. He's going through his separation anxiety and thrown into a new room, so it was a lot on him. Considering that, he did well.

Monday and Tuesday were a blur as we've been taking care of house things. We're about to get really busy soon, so if we go missing from the blogosphere for a while, do not fret. We will be back... with pictures of course. =)

Picture of the Week

We are officially parenting a toddler now.

We're finding the proof in paper trails:

Couch Potato

Dane's latest fascination is the couch. We'll pick him up and sit him next to us on the couch, and he crawls, jumps and climbs all over the place. He'll satisfyingly glances at us in between shrieks and giggles. He is old enough to be aware that to fall off the couch would hurt, and he contradicts his carefulness as he bravely reaches for things off the coffee table or floor. There is absolutely nothing better in his mind than being on the couch with the dogs. Pure joy.

Dane spent a long time on the couch today playing with all of his might. Banging on cushions, hiding things in crevices, climbing up the back. He played and played and then played some more. In fact, he played until he just couldn't play anymore. Dane naps only in his crib and car seat and when forced on rare occasion, in his pack&play, but he pooped himself out right there on the couch. Here's a shot of our little couch potato.

For the Record

Dane had his 12 month well visit today. No ear infection (Hallelujah!), just lots of teething. Early on, Dane had lots of symptoms of teething, and it took forever for the teeth to cut. It seems these days he has no symptoms, other than touching his ears a lot, and his teeth pop before we can know it.
He checked out great. The doctor commented several times about how active Dane was, and he was doing all he could to keep her hands off him. He screamed bloody murder while they gave him his shots, but a couple minutes of cuddling with Mommy made him feel better. He was back to banging and yelling and playing in no time.
His height was 30.5 inches (75%) and he weighed 19 pounds even, which puts him just above the 5%. The doctors are no longer concerned about his weight.
The doctors give you this survey to fill out about your child's motor/communication/cognitive/etc. skills. I kept laughing as I filled it out thinking "Boy, does he!". There were questions like:

• "Does your child hold toys in both hands and bring them together?". Dane bangs together remote controls and cell phones and the baby monitor and whatever else he can get his tiny, sneaky hands on like he's trying out for cymbals in the marching band!
• "Does your child throw an object in a forward overhand motion?". Dane will actually throw his food at us when he has had his fill before we say he has.
• "Does your child walk while holding your hands for support?". Please. Dane leaves us in his dust!

Yes, Dane is completely healthy and happy. And wild. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

Weekend Wrap-Up

We were getting ready to settle into our weekend Friday night when Dan got called in to work. Until 2:30am!!! Despite the lack of sleep, we got up early on Saturday and made the long drive back to the beach to pick Danny's bike up from the shop that repaired it. We stopped to let loose at the park long enough to spare Jackie from a 4 hour drive home with a cranky, crammed, unhappy baby. Dane, again, did wonderfully in the car. Sunday was dedicated to errands and miscellaneous chores. Of which few were actually accomplished.

During this time, Dane's Aunt Trina had surgery, Dane's Nana made a visit to the E.R., and some neighbor friends delivered their baby.

We were glad to wrap up our boring weekend and we're braced for the busy week ahead. Dane has his 12 month well-visit tomorrow. Jackie's calling for an ear infection. He's also getting shots. This means... keep us in your prayers!

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Pictures of the Year!

We showed one other video at Dane's birthday party this weekend - a video montage of his first year. Included are pictures of Dane from minutes old to last week. Try not to get choked up...

Dane's First Year

52 Weeks in the Making

Dane is 53 weeks old. For his first year of life, Jackie could tell you exactly how many weeks Dane was at any time. This was because every Wednesday, we took a picture of Dane to compare with the others and see how much he's grown. And at one year we put the pictures together to make a video. The video is complete now, and was shown to our family at Dane's birthday party. If you'd like to watch Dane grow from one week to fifty two in 2 minutes (not 4 like it says), view the video below. I swear the first year feels like it only lasted as long as the video!

So here's our big boy,
52 weeks in the making.

Weekend Wrap-Up

What an exciting weekend! Daniel took off work for Dane's birthday, so our weekend began extra early. On Saturday we hosted Dane's first birthday party. As you all very well know, this event was more for the adults than the one year old. But he did get super great presents and CAKE! It was a great day and it couldn't have gone any better. Thanks to the mamarazzi crew for getting the angles I couldn't and working the camera when I was busy. Jen, Karen, Cindy: Your pictures are due to me soon.

After Dane's party, and all of our naps, we headed off to a family friend's house to watch the fireworks. We sat on the lawn amazed by Dane's amazement. Definitely our best Fourth of July so far. Looking forward to next year already!

Sunday, while Daddy got out for a much needed break from the "honey-do"s he'd been taking care of lately, Dane and Mommy played with every toy he received the day before all day. The perfect finale to a perfect weekend.

Because I fear the pictures will get leaked before POTW, I'll go ahead and share some with you now. What are the odds that Dane won't do something adorable by Friday anyways? =)

I know most babies just smash the cake around, but that little boy put it away! Here's, as GrannyK puts it, the "progression of the cake eating". Enjoy.

Picture of the Week

Some pictures from Dane's First Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANE THOMAS!!!

Well, Dane is one year old. We celebrated his birthday together by doing Dane's two favorite things: playing and eating.
This morning we played around the house and ate chocolate chip waffles. Then we napped and played some more. For lunch Dane had chicken nuggets and apple fries. Then we took Dane to ToysRus so that he could pick out his present, where he got a little special recognition from Geoffrey's Birthday Club. He picked out a laptop that he can open and close and open and close and open and close... I don't know if he's noticed it makes noises and lights up as well, as he's busy and content with the opening and closing of it.
When we got home we had a family pool party and played outside. For dinner, Dane had a meal fit for a kid: his first Kid's Cuisine. And he... ate... it... ALL. So his usual dessert of vanilla wafers or animal cookies was replaced by a small piece of his first birthday cake, sans frosting (got to save something for his party). Needless to say, he made short work of it. We read him part of Dr. Seuss' "Happy Birthday To You", which we'll write him a message in, and got him ready for bed. 2 hours late.
He had a great birthday and now he's one year old. I don't think we have to tell you how incredibly proud we are of our big boy and I'm confident he'll always know how very much he is loved.

Happy Birthday, Dane Thomas.

You are our everything.

It Could Be Worse - No Rain, Too Few Candles

We like to [try to] stay positive in the Howard home. One way we do that is with sayings we use to remind each other that it isn't so bad. The longest running one between Danny and Jackie is "It could be worse - Your house could be on fire or your dog could die". Totally made it up, and I mean, that would be worse. We credit some phone commercial for our latest saying, "No rain, no rainbow". Hmmm. You know, that's true.
In less than one hour, our little baby will have his first birthday. Baby Dane will become Toddler Dane and I have to admit that we can only be so thrilled about this. Which brings me to another saying: "There can never be too many candles on the cake". This, of course, is meant to make people feel better about turning OLD. And so we'll feel better about our little man growing closer to a little man. We rejoice in a year complete with Dane. An entire year of struggles (sleeping through the night, gas issues, naps, gaining weight...) and of accomplishments (first words, crawling, signing, walking...). A year of abundant joy and little pain. We are grateful for the best year of our lives. And grateful for this miracle we call our son.