Hayden's First Steps

The end of September Hayden took his first steps thanks to my mom's encouragement. He was obviously ready for it because he took 5-6 steps the first time rather than the timid 1-2 steps. It was so cute because he would giggle as he walked to and from Daddy and me. He is walking all by himself now, still very wobbly, but improving each day.

Hayden Dusting

Hayden loves watching and helping me do whatever it is that I'm doing. So I decided to take advantage of this time and put him to work. You may call it child labor, but I say it's genius!!

One Year Old!!

I still can't believe it! Hayden is a year old! His birthday was in September and we celebrated it with some family and friends. We were excited because Chris' mom, "Dodo" was even able to come from North Carolina. Hayden is one spoiled little boy. He got a ton of presents. He even got into the unwrapping of the presents with Daddy's help. It was so cute. Hayden and his cousins, Zora and Isaac loved playing with all the new toys. For his cake, I decided to make it and had a blast doing so. I had been watching Cake Boss on TV for a while and was taking notes of any tips they gave so I would be ready to do this cake. We decided to cover the cake with fondant like they use on the show. It was a very sticky, gooey mess, but eventually turned into usable fondant and worked great. I used frosting to make a tiger on top of the cake. I was quite proud of the result. Hayden was very entertaining to watch while he ate his cake. He hadn't had much sugar before this and so he was quite shocked with his first bite. He seemed to have "sugar chills" as the sugar hit his system for the first time. All in all, I think he liked the cake, just not the fondant. He also started making all sorts of funny faces while eating and soon realized that everyone was laughing at him so then he started hamming it up even more. I was quite surprised though because Hayden stayed fairly clean, even with chocolate cake. I had put him in a white onesie to show the contrast, but there hardly was any difference. That's my good little boy.

Opening his first present

Pulling off the paper

Look at all his loot. He is very spoiled :P

The finished cake

Blowing out the candle

First bite

Looking cute for the camera

Making silly faces

Trip to Texas

In August, we went on a quick trip to Texas to visit Chris' dad and family. This was the first time Hayden got to meet his Grandma Jennifer and his uncles. It was Hayden's first plane ride, which after this much time has passed I can say that it went fairly well, although I do remember having a hard time with him on the return trip. It was very hot and humid during the day so we spent a lot of time in their swimming pool, which was a blast! It was also Hayden's first time swimming and he seemed to love it. Hayden's uncle Travis (age 9) just adored his nephew and had a great time playing with him. Chris had a great time jamming with his younger brothers, filling the house with loud music. It was a wonderful vacation, but way too short. We just love having such a great family.

I love this picture. Hayden has such a funny smile on.

Playing in the water with Daddy

Hayden loved the water!

Family pict

Playing in the water with Grandpa Dupuis

Playing with Uncle Travis

Playing Catch-up

I apologize for not keeping our blog up to date. So now I'm going to be playing catch up and posting some of the more exciting things on our blog like Hayden growing up and turning into a little boy. Better late than never, I guess...

8 months old!

Hayden is 8 months old. He is at a very fun age now, interacting with Mommy and Daddy. He gives the best hugs, usually when you first pick him up. And now he has started giving out kisses. I just love these slobbery wide open-mouthed signs of affection. Hayden also says "dada" all day long while Mommy argues saying "mama" in a useless attempt to teach him what he should be saying. Hayden has no interest in crawling, but loves to pull himself up onto things and walk with help. He'll be walking long before he ever crawls. He also has his first tooth starting to push its way through, but hasn't popped out yet.

Ready for bed

Heading to church

Pulling himself up in his crib

Playing Peek-A-Boo

Being silly for the camera

Playing Catch-Up

I'm playing catch-up. Here are some fun pictures of Hayden: