18 Month Appointment (at 19 months)

This past Monday, Baker had his 18 month appointment but for some reason, when this appointment was made, it was set on his 19 month birthday. Regardless, he had it and all went well. He does pretty good with his appointments and everyone always seems so happy to see him. And we like to show him off! :) Baker weighed in at 24.8 lbs (35th %ile) and was 34" long (80th %ile). It's amazing to me that he used to be this little chunk always weighing in the 90th %ile but now sits in the 30th. I guess it's the active toddler in him, along with the fact that he's quite picky over what goes into his little mouth. Dr. Hulver said Baker was right on track with his development and enjoyed watching Baker show off some of his animal sounds and his vocabulary!

This appointment was also the one where Brad and I would decide if we felt comfortable giving Baker the MMR vaccine or not. We have delayed this vaccine for 4 months now. For those that are unfamiliar, the MMR shot is the most controversial of all vaccines because of talk that it's associated with the rise in autism over recent years. It's never been proven that it triggers autism but there is much speculation. We finally came to the conclusion that the protection that Baker would gain from getting this shot outweighs the "what ifs", therefore, he got it. Now, this doesn't mean that we were both excited about it...not the case. As a matter of fact, I'm still a bit nervous over the side effects and find myself watching his every move. We know that Baker is in God's hands and when it comes down to it, he is not ours but God's and we have to trust that He will protect him. So, MMR it is!

He loves to play with the weights on the scale. We always have to pull his little hands away because he gets in the way of the nurse. But what's a kid to do with such a cool gadget?

Playing with one of his favorite things at the ped's office - roll of paper.



With our newly married Dr. Hulver (former Dr. Fleming)

Later that day...

Baker decided he wanted to take his pants off while watching Sesame Street. I kept trying to pull them up but just gave up. Notice the little bandaid from his shot. :(

He succeeded in getting them off but never took his eye off of SS!

Trying out a new look...pants on the arm, expected to hit runways next Fashion Week.

Then attempts to put them on the right way. I love that he actually picked up his foot and placed it in his shorts.

Snuggle time! Baker is sucking on Potty Training Elmo's sippy cup. No, we are NOT training. I got this Elmo from a consignment shop in NC and wanted it only for the soft Elmo so that Baker has one other than his big, hard Live one to carry around. The potty training aspect of it will come in handy later though!

Lil' Mickey!

Last week when Brad was in LA for work, he had to do an event at Disneyland for the movie Wizards of Waverly Place (a Disney made for tv movie). The Disney people let Brad go into their gift shop and pick out a lot of stuff to bring home to Baker. He brought home a hoodie, hat, sunglasses, shirt and Buzz Lightyear straw and you would have thought that it was Christmas...Baker was so excited! The pics below show Baker trying out a few of the things.

How cute is he? Seriously, I could die seeing him in these glasses. He reminds me of the little boy in Jerry Maguire! Look #1.

When he first puts them on, he won't take his eyes off of the floor. Maybe he likes the way the floor looks through glasses???

He loves these glasses and every time he puts them on, he runs to the mirror

to see what he looks like!

This is look #2 with the shades closed.

Wearing his hat!

And finally the jacket that is WAY too big for him. He won't be wearing it this year but at least he has it for next year!

Video: Baker loving his new glasses!

Ka-ker!

Over the past few weeks, it seems Baker has really started to say a lot. He will repeat a good portion of the words that we ask him to say, so we'll have to be extra careful! Baker has several new words that he says frequently but my favorite word is "cracker". He says it the way I say it to him, which is kind of up there on the register. But if we say it to him with a low voice, he'll repeat it that way! Too funny! "Bubbles" is also a favorite. So, I took a video of him saying a few words in the bath the other night. I am trying my hardest to get a video of him pointing to his body parts but he refuses to cooperate when the camera is on. So far, he knows his face well - head, hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth - and he knows his hands and feet. I'll get a video one of these days when he doesn't get distracted...I'm determined! In the meantime, enjoy the movie that I made below. I love the way he says cracker so much that I put it in there a lot at the beginning!

Week Two in NC With the DanClan (daniels clan)

My niece, Lindsey, came to visit us week before last and since Brad had to travel to LA last week, I took her back on Monday and stayed through Friday. It was nice to get away with Baker, getting that little extra help with him, rather than staying home and feeling lonely. We had a busy week and a great time but missed Bradley!

On Sunday, before we left for NC, Brad and I took Lindsey and Baker to a few museums. We wanted to make sure Lindsey got to see some of the cool stuff at the museums before going back home. So, we took her to the Natural History Museum and the Museum of Amercian History. She had to see the ruby slippers from Oz and all of the animals at the "dead zoo" as she called it!

While Brad took her around the American History museum, I let Baker explore the discovery zone so that he could break free from his stroller. He insisted on hanging out with the older kids building big kid stuff as opposed to the section for smaller kids. No matter how hard I tried to reign him back in to his area, he was determined to run to their section. I love the look on the kid's face next to him, like don't touch my stuff! :) And of course, while we were separated, Brad and Lindsey saw Bill Gates! This stuff never happens to me.

Look at what our genius child built! Just kidding!

Some other kid did this and Baker just tore it apart.

He was into these tinker toys. He didn't build this one either. :)

In North Carolina...

When we got back to NC, Lindsey gave the boys a puppet show using Baker's finger puppets.

But Baker insisted on wearing the stage around his head instead! He was the star of the show!

One afternoon, we went to the mall there...wow, I forgot how terrible this mall is. How on earth did I grow up shopping here...and working here. Working retail at Maurices was my first real job when I was 15. I thought I was so cool to be wearing color blocked Paris Blues shirts and stirrup pants...ha! My first job that I got paid for was cropping tobacco...NOT fun! That's a whole other posting in itself!

Baker doing his Zoolander pose. Drew must have put this hat on his head while we were rummaging through his toy chest.

Attempting to wear one of the kid's Crocs. I love that they are not only on the wrong feet but completely backwards altogether!

Sitting in the midst of all the toys. My brother's house is a dreamland for any kid...toys galore but for Baker it was all the trucks and cars he could ever wish for.

He loved to climb up on their bench and chairs. You'd think that taking a big fall off of one of them would have taught him a lesson but no, he kept on doing it!

At the pool - Baker managed to get two floats around him!

Celebrating Ben's 8th birthday - I was thrilled to be there to celebrate it because we are never able to make the kid's birthdays! It meant a lot to me to share it with him!

Brian and Shannon started a tradition a few years ago to celebrate birthdays in the morning so the birthdays last all day. So, we ate cake for breakfast...yum!

Baker loved seeing the gifts Ben got!

Wow, a scooter!! This is how Baker wanted to ride it.

Baker with Papaw - I ADORE this picture of the two of them!

There was pure joy on his face when Papaw let him play with his model cars!

Drew the cowboy!

Baker testing out knight gear

The cousins - Seth, Lindsey, Baker, Ben, Drew

Video: Baker and Drew were playing so funny together one morning before we headed to the pool. Drew was playing chase with him and Baker thought it was the most fun thing! He thinks the boys are just the coolest and immitates everything they do, good or bad! :) They taught him to blow raspberries on their arm, burp, all the things that boys do! One funny incident, not sure if I told this story yet but if I did, disregard it! My memory is horrible. We were having dinner one night and Drew was really upset about something and crying. He had his hands over his face crying. Next thing we know, Baker is covering his face with his hands, peeking through them to see us, and making the saddest wimper. He was totally immitating what Drew was doing and kept on for some time. We laughed so hard...it was hilarious!

More Boating Pics

So, I've never been good at editing photos for the blog. I love them all and can never make a decision on what to eliminate. I know I posted a slideshow of all of the photos from our boating adventure but I wanted to highlight a few...okay, maybe more than a few. This way you can sit and stare at them (yeah, right) as opposed to letting them pass by on a slideshow, not giving you a chance to really see the picture! Ha! So, enjoy!

Baker had a great time on the boat. Brad and I were worried that he would be freaked out by it, causing our day to end sooner than we hoped, but he proved us wrong! He walked up and down that boat a lot!

El Capitan - Casey and his Skipper Brad and co-skipper Baker

You get the best views of all of the monuments from the river - Washington Monument and the tip of the Jefferson Memorial on the right.

Mommy and her stiff boy, ha! Baker hates a life jacket but who can blame him? He can't move in them!

Lincolon Memorial


View of Georgetown

Brad and his mini-me

Casey, Baker and Lindsey - We went for a swim in the river once we got to the clean area way upstream. It was wonderful and so warm! I love that Baker is stiff as a board here!!

Enjoying a Capri Sun. He didn't quite understand the concept of holding it at the top so it doesn't squirt everywhere and ended up losing half of it!

Susan, Baker and I

This was the cutest thing - watching this girl with her dog rowing down the river....so cute!

Casey and Susan - parents-to-be in February!

Me and my honey

Lindsey relaxing and getting some sun!

Baker loved to stand at the front of the boat. It was next to impossible to bring him to the back where the shade was and it stressed me out with the sun! It was ridiculously hot and I was freaked out he would get sunburned.

Our family + 1! Baker refused to turn around for this one.

In the words of Titanic, he's the "King of the world" - Okay, cheesey but isn't he cute sitting at the front with the wind blowing his hair? He's soaking it all in before we get to the marina.

Sweet toes

He looks so old to me here...sigh.