Happy 1st Birthday, Shane!!!!

Shane is 1! Where did the year go? I can't believe that a year has passed since he was born. I remember every second of his first day like it was yesterday. As you may know, I have taken a picture of Shane in his 12 month Notre Dame jersey on his monthly birthday since month one. Here they are are - It is a great way for me to see how my baby has grown!

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Month 4

Month 5

Month 6

Month 7

Month 8

Month 9

Month 10

Month 11

Month 12

When I look back at these pictures, I am so surprised at how much Shane has changed and how much he has stayed the same. He has grown up so much. In the past year he has learned to sleep through the night, hold his own bottle, eat food with his fingers, smile, giggle, crawl, stand, crawl up the stairs, kiss, say 'ma ma', 'da da' & 'na na'. We are pretty sure he associated Dan with Da Da and we think no is Na Na. He has 8 teeth and even a little bit of hair. He loves his doggy, Thunder more than anyone in the house & he hasn't met a bouncing song he does not love! However, he still has that warm look in his eyes and the same face I fell in love with 1 year ago. I know every parent falls madly in love with their child, and we are no exception, we love Shane more than anything in the universe. He is our everything. I can't imagine being anything other then Shane's mom! His smile lights up my world, his cry can break my heart. He is so unique and special. He is the happiest baby ever and he loves to explore. He loves open doors, cabinets, drawers, and mirrors! I guess if I was as cute as Shane, I'd like to look at myself too! His favorite game is to crawl away as fast as possible and have me catch him! When I say no because he is splashing in Thunder's water bowl - that just may be his favorite game, even more than the chase game - he cracks up! I may be in trouble because of that one! He is great at playing Peek a Boo and he already has his favorite story book, "Ten Wriggly, Wiggly Caterpillars." I can't believe how much I/we love him. Having Shane has made me a better person and it has made me love Dan even more. How can I not be crazy in love with the man who can change a diaper better than me? Or a man who aims to give his son a hundred kisses a day? Today I am the luckiest woman alive - I am Shane's mommy!
Since my last update, we actually got a picture of Shane crawling up the stairs! He made it all of the way up with Dan right behind him. The picture is not great - it was taken in the stairway, but here it is!

Shane also had a play date with his buddy Alex on Monday. They had a blast! Shane shared his toys with Alex and they both loved crawling all over Thunder! Here are a few pictures from the day! Please excuse the mess - Shane does not believe in putting away his toys, only in taking them out. As soon as he sees me putting a toy away, he immediately gets it. All cleanup must be done during naps!




We also went for his first birthday pictures! Here are a few - we did some in his dressy outfit and some in a cowboy outfit! My sister bought him a hat & badge on her trip to Texas with Jason & Jason's mom got him the pony. I found the top & boots on clearance at Gymboree and could not resist the photo! Here are a few!






We spent today at the lapsit class at the library. Shane LOVES it! They sang happy birthday to him and he was beaming! I made him jumbo cupcakes for dessert tonight and he will open his present from us. We hope to see you at his party this weekend! Happy Birthday, Shane! Thanks for the best year of my life!
Shane's picture was on the channel 5 news this morning - he was the only baby in the first birthday pictures. Here is a link, but it may not work. Dan & my dad said they had trouble getting it to work. If it doesn't and you just wind up on the NBC web site, just type in "first birthdays" in the search box and you can select March 10th from the list.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/shows/newstoday/First_Birthdays___Wednesday__March_10_Chicago.html

Almost 1!

I can hardly believe that Shane will be ONE this week - where has the year gone? I am going to try and post some pictures on his birthday so I will leave most of the reminiscing for the 10th, but WOW I can't believe my little man is going to be one! In some ways, I feel like he has been here forever & I wonder how I ever lived without him. In other ways, it feels like he was just born yesterday!
Anyway, on to life since I last blogged! Well, I have been crazy busy with my editing work. I am counting down the days until I am done - mid April! I can't wait to have nothing to do but take care of Shane and the house! We are also busy planning Shane's birthday bash next weekend & enjoying the thaw outside!
We celebrated Dan's Dad's 75th birthday last Saturday - his birthday was Monday, but the party was Saturday! We all met at a restaurant and had a great time. Shane loved hanging out with his family and he especially loved the cake! The food was delicious and it was great to see family! Here are some of the many pictures from the day. I had trouble with the lighting in the room - it was dim so the pictures either have us all with devil eyes or they are dark. Aunt Jeannie gave Shane some garlic toast and he LOVED it! Here you can see Jack and Grandma Carolyn, Shane chomping away, Megan, Bill & Liam, & Danny & Tommy.





This next set of photos includes the birthday boy - Grandpa Bob & Colleen, a picture I love of Shane & Dan, Grandpa Bob & Uncle John, Great Aunt Margaret & Great Aunt Bernadette, & Uncle John & Great Aunt Geri.





And then there was cake!!! As you can see by the three pictures of Shane - he likes to eat. He especially likes cake! He ate his whole piece and half of mine! You can also see a picture of Uncle Bob and Jack and Grandpa Bob relaxing after his big meal!





And more pictures! Here are Grandpa Bob and Grandma Carolyn by themselves and with their favorite grandson (It's my blog - I get to say that), Colleen, Jack & Shane, Grandpa Bob with his 3 sons & Aunt Jeanne & Megan discussing all of the great gifts Grandpa Bob got!





This is the last round of party pictures! Here is Grandpa Bob with his sister and sisters-in-law, and all of his grandchildren - plus one great grandchild (Liam), Liam by himself (how cute is he!) and finally a picture of Dan & his mom!




The party was a great time! Shane loves his grandpa very much & can't wait for his next birthday (and more cake!)
Last weekend I realized that February was almost over - I know, no great shock - and I had no outside winter pictures of Shane in the snow. With the weather starting to thaw and our winter wonderland melting faster than a popsicle in the summer, we got Shane outside ASAP. The poor little guy was thrown in wet snow and asked to smile. He liked it enough and we got a few good pictures of his first winter.



In other news, I think Shane truly is starting to think he is a dog! His new trick, taught to him by Thunder, is to carry his toys in his mouth as he crawls! Here are the pictures I took of my little puppy!


On Tuesday Shane's buddy Augie came over to play! The boys have a great time together& play so nicely. Augie is 15 months and walking up a storm. I told him he needed to teach Shane to walk & he's working on it!

Here Shane is sharing! Mommy likes to see that!

And here is is trying to use Augie to help him stand up! If you can't lean on your friends, who can you lean on?

Here is just one of Shane looking adorable!

Dan came home from work on Tuesday with a box of 4 brownies from an amazing bakery for Shane! The teachers at Dan's school are so amazing to us! Another teacher had books for Shane's first birthday! Anyway, back to the brownies. We froze 2 - Shane can only eat so many and I did not want to eat them myself! Shane LOVED the brownies! Between the birthday cake last week, the brownies, and the ice cream we got him yesterday at the train restaurant, he is more than ready for his birthday cake! He has a sweet tooth just like mommy and daddy! The pictures show different outfits because he had brownies 2 nights in a row! The first night he had brownie in the middle of his dinner (Dan finished before Shane and I did & got out the brownies) - how dumb was I to think that he would eat applesauce after brownies? By night 2 I learned my lesson, no brownies until he finished his dinner!



Yesterday Dan and I met our friends Cathy and Dan and their son Alex at Choo Choo Johnnies. It is a restaurant where you sit around a counter and the food comes out in a train - http://www.choochoojohnnysfranchise.com/ It was adorable and Shane liked looking at the trains. He also like playing with Alex! He wore his train conductor outfit and it was warm enough for him to wear his Thomas the Train coat! I'd love to show you pictures from the restaurant, but we forgot our camera and so did Cathy. Next time. We did take pictures when we got home!


Thanks to all who emailed or called about our Sun-Times article! Don, Shane & I were really excited about it! Not a typo - the article called Dan by his right name, but the picture calls him Don! :-)