Happy Birthday, Cole!

Cole is turning the ripe-old age of 12 today, one more year closer to being an actual teenager.  All we can say to that is, wow, time goes by fast!

1 year checkup, birthday pics and more

The boys had their 1-year checkup yesterday, and they are doing great.  They are both now 29" tall.  Zach is the skinnier one of the two at 18 lb 12 oz, and Alex weighed 19 lb 15 oz.  Neither gained much weight since last time, but they are far more active now and don't have as much baby fat.  A few bouts with colds haven't helped their weight either, but the doctor is happy with their progress.

Both of them have teeth coming in on the top.  Alex has one that is out all the way and has a second one breaking through.  Zach again is getting two teeth at once.

We all had a great time at the boys' first birthday party.  Thank you so much to all of you who were able to come celebrate with us!  Z & A had lots of fun with their cake.  Alex picked up the whole thing and tried to fit it into his mouth, while Zach made a mess and ate the pieces.  Pics from the party have been added to the First Birthday album.

There are also new photos in the general Jan-Feb 2007 album, including Z & A playing with their birthday present from us (a Little People garage) and trying some new foods, and Cole playing with his early birthday present - a Nintendo Wii (I have to admit - it's a lot of fun!).

Zach's first steps!

Quite a few guests got to witness some of Zach's first steps at the boys' first birthday party last weekend.  Sadly, Mama and Daddy didn't get to see it.  (Figures...).  However, he did take a couple steps towards me yesterday when checking out the master bathroom (ah, the joys of exploration), and both of us watched him take a couple steps to Daddy when getting ready for bed this evening.

While Alex learned to crawl much later than Zach did, he's made huge gains to catch up to his "older" brother at a faster rate.  He can pull himself to a stand, cruise along the couch, and crawl right up the stairs.  Z & A just love to chase each other around the house, so I would imagine that as Zach toddles around more, Alex will be close behind him.

Wow, they grow up fast.  Pics from the party will be posted soon.

One amazing year

Happy birthday to our little gifts from heaven!  It's so hard to believe how much they've grown and changed - and changed us - in just one year's time.

Christmas photos and other stuff

As predicted, the Vandermarks and Belouseks went a little crazy with the cameras at Christmas.  It didn't help that we had three cameras going at various points.  We actually had about 600 photos between the three!  I did manage to whittle it down to a much more reasonable number - still a lot, but when you consider what I started with, I think I did pretty good. Check them out in the Christmas 2006 album.

Zach and Alex had a lot of fun with all the new things to see and play with.  And we all had fun celebrating that first Christmas with them.  However, I have to say that for the first time ever, I was happy to take the tree down this year.  The boys were just fascinated with it, always wanting to put the branches, ornaments, and lights right into their mouths.

Other new photos have been posted in the newly-created Jan-Feb 2007 album and a couple cute ones from the last days of 2006 (my favorite is the one of Alex sleeping on Eeyore).

Snap happy

We've all gotten a little snap happy around here, taking even more pictures of our favorite subjects (and an occasional one of the rest of us in the family). New pictures start on page 11 of the Nov-Dec 2006 Family album. And to think we haven't even gotten to Christmas yet. :lol: (The link is correct now, if you tried this before)

Vegas, baby, Vegas!

Joe and I just got back from a little weekend get-away to Vegas, and we had a fantastic time. We traveled with Mark Kantor, a poker buddy and former co-worker of Joe's, and his wife, Yvonne, and Rich Kanter (no relation to Mark), a long-time friend of Mark's, and his wife, Yukimi; we stayed at the beautiful Bellagio on the Strip. In addition to the obvious poker and slot machines, we saw the Blue Man Group (very unique show), toured the Strip, checked out the Ansel Adams show at the Bellagio's fine art gallery, and took advantage of the fabulous salon and spa (I had two massages, talk about being spoiled!). We didn't do too well at the casino, but hey, we had a great time!

Check out the pics we took in the Vegas '06 album in the Vacation gallery .