A Beautiful Day Spent with Beautiful Friends

It was absolutely gorgeous weather yesterday!

Blake hasn't been to many playdates lately because he was teething and cranky and then I got sick and then... I got lazy. LOL! Whoops...

So we got the chance to meet up with Blake's BFF, Max, and his wonderful mommy, Stephanie, at the park!

Yesterday was just the most perfect day to be out and about. We visited Centennial Park for the first time. The playground in the South park is AWESOME! By far my favorite park in the area (so far).

image credit: Stefani Chung

image credit: Stefani Chung

Centennial Park South has a foam padded playground, a calm walking trail, and shaded picnic tables to where you can post up. Blake is walking now so it was a whole new type of experience for him. He can finally explore without me.

He loves climbing on stairs and then going back down. He tries to chase the older kids but since he's not fast enough, he just reaches his arm out as they run by and/or smiles at them when they make eye contact. He is all about rollin' with the big dawgs. :-P

There were signs around the park that advertise their Summer Serenades on Wednesday nights. It's free to get in so I'm hoping to catch one concert before it's too late. Blake's dad and I always enjoyed live music and now it's so wonderful learning that Blake loves live music, too! He claps, dances, and sways to the music. Click here for more information on the summer concert series.

image credit: Stefani Chung

After some time at the park, we took the boys out for a quick lunch. I don't know if playing in the sunshine just made Blake really hungry or if seeing his buddy, Max, eat motivated him... but he ate! He hasn't been into any meats lately but he ate some chicken nuggets. He had some fries and even drank some milk from a straw! Usually Blake just eats veggies, fruits, some rice and maybe some cheese ravioli. Man... we totally need to hang out with Max and older friends more so Blake can see how it's done. ;-)

14 Months

image credit:// Bitsy Baby Photography

In the past month, Blake had two teeth pop on out (totaling 8 altogether), he found the confidence to walk, he night weaned with me, and started sleeping about 7-8 hours at night without waking to drink milk!

My heart is bursting with golden rays of sunshine! I was able to reconnect with my long lost friend, Sleep. Oh, Sleep has been so wonderful to me in the past when we were young and hadn't a care in the world. But since I was pregnant until just this month, we've lost touch. Having Sleep back in my life has been a different kind of blessing. I haven't felt this wonderful in so long! I wake up in the morning and just feel so refreshed. Revived. Renewed! Oh, it's absolutely terrific!

Besides that, you read it right up there ^^^ . Blake learned how to walk! He's still slow moving but he practices everyday and his confidence just keeps getting better and better. His little legs are doing some work to get from point A to point B to point C. It's adorable. He's been taking steps here and there for the past two months but one night he just decided to get up and walk to Elmo on the TV.

Blake's dad and I took him to Sesame Place the other week to celebrate his big milestone. Blake certainly enjoyed it more than Disneyland. Not sure if it's because he was only 10 months when we went to Disney or if he just knows who Elmo, Bert & Ernie, Cookie Monster, and all of their Sesame friends are. He was a little hesitant about the cold water shooting from the sprinkler and splash parks but he was totally diggin' the kiddie wave pool! He kept walking towards Ernie and his rubber duckie that were posted around the wave pool. My heart nearly melted from all of the joy. I would post pictures BUT I forgot to charge my camera battery before we got to the park. Don't worry... we ended up getting season passes sooooo I'll be taking Blake back.

He learned more signs since I last updated you. He knew how to sign "please" before but now he uses it when he wants something. And if he wants something really bad, he rubs his chest to sign for "please" REALLY hard. lol!

The cutest one yet is "love". He crosses his little arms across his chest like he's folding his arms. I die every time. Sometimes when he wakes up next to me in the morning, he signs "love" and holds my face to pull me towards him and kisses me. :')

He is also learning how to act out the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song. He can't quite get his fingers to do that funny motion but he puts his pointer fingers together and moves them. I'm trying to get him to at least put a thumb and a pointer finger together because his "Itsy Bitsy Spider" action is too close to the sign for "hurt".

Seeing this boy grow is an amazing joy everyday.

I guess since he's walking now, he's officially a toddler? Oh boy...