First Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Today was Ezekiel's very first Thanksgiving - and what a Thanksgiving it was!

First, we started with my family at my Grammy Bea's for a Thanksgiving lunch. There were lots of people (in the range of 25); all loud, all in the livingroom, and I'm pretty sure - all in love with Ezekiel. Marty and I both brought cameras as we were super excited to capture every moment with Ezekiel and his first Thanksgiving. I got his plate ready, brought it out to him and realized that I still had to make MY plate. I told him to "hold on", I'd be right back so Marty and I could witness his first taste of Thanksgiving. Our cameras were ready to capture the first taste...I walk into the livingroom after making my plate and see my sister Beckie standing there feeding him his plate! NOOOOOOOOO. So, after much fanfare, we captured his third bite of Thanksgiving on film.

Here he is enjoying his "first" bite of lunch (notice my sister is STILL doing the feeding):






Ezekiel was super tired. We had a long day yesterday (we went over and helped Grammy Bea cook - I made my first lemon meringue pie, Ezekiel opened drawers, cupboards, and danced on toy boxes). Then today he didn't have time for a nap. He really held up well, letting everyone hold him, kiss him, and play with him. He even let out more than a few hearty growls to everyones' delight.

Waiting for his lunch to be served. Not impressed with the wait.


Wait, who put the celery in front of Ezekiel? He really enjoyed helping himself.


After lunch (of which he ate a LOT), he got to have a piece of chocolate pie. I was busy stuffing MY face with pie, so I figured he could eat for himself.

Start of the sugar high:


I gave him a fork to use so he wouldn't make too much of a mess. My logic was sound.












Using said fork:




Wondering if there is any more pie available:


Disbelief that he isn't getting any more pie:




Scientists have proven that there is no such thing as a sugar high. Scientists, meet my son:



Being that his shirt was destroyed, we took it off and gave him a washdown. He likes showing off his chest, so we let him run around shirtless for a bit to impress the older ladies (4, 7, 8, and 11 years old!)


During the final pamper change, he tries to pass out:


Video of the pie eating:


And another one..


We finished up around 3:15 at my grandmothers. We were supposed to be in Winthrop for a Thanksgiving dinner at 3:30.. We were running a bit late :) Ezekiel took a quick snooze in the car on the way to Winthrop that gave him a little juice back. When we got to Marty's aunt, Ezekiel got to remeet his cousin Darius. They are almost exactly a year apart. Ezekiel was really impressed with a little guy that was almost his size. He was even willing to share his pacifier and his juicy cup!

At one point, Ezekiel and Darius just kind of disappeared. I found them in Darius' closet hiding out with each other giggling like crazy. I tried to snap pictures but they didn't come out great. I think they felt like I was interupting their boy time.




By the end of the night, we were all exhausted. Here are Marty and Ezekiel getting ready to go:




All and all, it was a really great first Thanksgiving. There were a few people that were definitely missed though. We missed Papa..we toasted to him at Marty's aunt's. Adam is always missed. We miss Auntie Berta. And Marie. We missed Grandad Jack and Angie - we would have loved to have seen them over the holiday. We missed Tammy and her new beau. We missed Julie and Lonnie. We missed Auntie (but we got to see the gorgeous flowers she sent to Gram Bea). And we missed Cricket.

Lolly Man

Here is Ezekiel hanging out in our hallway. He is sucking on his second lolly of his life (the first being on Halloween). He does pretty well for walking and taking care of that lolly at the same time!

Some Pictures Don't Need Words

my, oh, my

Time really does fly.

In three weeks, Ezekiel will be one year old. It seems like just yesterday we were waiting to be able to take him home from the hospital. Then when we got him home from the hospital it felt like every night would never end as we were only getting about 45 minutes of sleep each night. We prayed that we would make it through those long nights and now we look back only in fondness and wish we could slow time down just a little.

He is getting so big! Bigger than most kids his age. The other day I was trying to get his shoes on and they kept slipping off because his feet have grown so much. I went and got this box of shoes that he has (they were all given to him by various cousins) and none of them fit! We brought him to Lamey Wellahan to get him sized and he takes a size SIX!! Holy big feet! So then we get him home later that night (after visiting Nana, Great Nana, and seeing Aunt Irene and Uncle Morris) and go to put his p.j.s on him. He doesn't usually wear pjs to bed, but it is getting cold so we thought we would get him in the habit. I grab the 18 month old pjs and they are too small! So, out we went again - this time to Walmart where I bought him one pair of pjs in size 24 months (that fit him perfectly). THEN, we realize that he doesn't have a winter coat (ok, this stuff is adding up quickly!) so it is off to LL Bean for a jacket. We tried the 18 month jacket and it was too snug so we had to go with a 2T!!! Our Little Beef is all decked out for Winter now but my has he grown (and we still need to get a few more pjs, pants, socks, and shirts for the little guy).

Children in Maine aren't supposed to go forward-facing in their carseat until they hit their first birthday. However, Ezekiel's legs are getting so long that he actually is pushing on the back seat and making his carseat rock. We thought that was probably more dangerous then turning him forward facing a month early. When we put him in facing forward he LOVED it! He giggled and hollared (his "sassy hollar") at us in his excitement. We snapped a picture of him waiting for the drive:


It was 37 degrees out the other day so Ezekiel had to wear his hat. Here he is waiting for his jacket and shoes:


He is such a handful and so independent already! We have a counter that is our "catch all" right next to our door. We walk in and throw things there. We have discovered that he is clever enough to get to the things even out of his reach. Let me explain these pictures. The bright toy is a kids piano tipped on its side (put that way to act as a gate so he can't get into the kitchen. We had pushed it out of the way up against the counter). Inside the piano is a big, blue, kids ball. I had stuck it on top of the piano to get it out of the way. Apparently, Ezekiel figured out a way to get the ball down into the piano. Then he climbed up onto the ball (I'm not sure how...Marty caught him while he was already on top of the ball balancing precariusly).

Stretching..stretching...stretching..


GOT IT!


Feeling fruity:


His favorite past time (other then getting into trouble)...reading.

Video Time!

We don't have very good lights in the livingroom, so these videos are a bit dark. They are from today (both obviously tonight)...

Ezekiel learned how to walk last week. I realized that I hadn't posted video of it yet. Here he is..


He has discovered that he really likes being on the furniture. Here he is on the livingroom chair:


Enjoy! More later (The Big Bang Theory is on right now) =)

The Most Awesome Thing Ever

Tonight, we were all hanging out at home doing our own thing. I got bored, so I picked up Ezekiel. He and I went over to where Marty was sitting on the floor, I sat down next to him (with Ezekiel on my lap) and I leaned in for a kiss. While Marty and I were kissing (a chaste one with our son in attendence ) Ezekiel grabbed both of our faces and he leaned in and kissed us at the same time. All three of us were sharing a big old kiss! (Then of course, while we were marveling at how sweet Ezekiel is, he hauled off and slapped us both across the face). So charming, yet so naughty!

YAY! An Announcement

Today is my sister Beckie's birthday. At her birthday party today, my mom was watching Ezekiel and she said "I don't know Shane, I think Ezekiel is going to start walking today".

Well...it is 10:36 and guess what? He decided he wants to walk for real. Back and Forth, Back and Forth. Every destination receives a huge clap (from Mama, Daddy, and himself). He is doing such a great job. It was just like it "clicked" and now he is ALL over the place.

Our First Halloween

This Halloween was Ezekiel's first. We had some big plans of trick-or-treating and maybe popping in on family and friends, but it just didn't work out.
We got a really late start .. then we went to my Grammy Bea's and visited for a bit, then Marty remembered he had to swing by work, then I remembered I had to swing by work and by then it was just like "let's go do groceries instead". So, we brought our little Turtle grocery shopping where we were one of like 5 shoppers and he got candy from the cart man and the check-out girls. It was cool though - a little turtle doesn't need THAT much candy. Mostly, he just got a kick out of the fact that people kept dropping candy bars into his doggy basket that Grandaddy Jack and Angie sent him last Easter. He likes puppies. Especially ones that can hold chocolate. ANYWAY - after the chocolate he was like a little drunk, falling down and being plain silly! He didn't get to bed until about 2 am. By then, he was laughing insanely at everything (and I mean EVERYTHING. We would tell him "NO, don't hit the fish tank with that magic wand!" and he would burst into peals of laughter.) We didn't snap as many pictures as I would have liked (there were none from the beginning of the night), but here we go....

This is us getting back around 9:00 at night. He screamed and hollared to let all the neighbors know we were home. He looks like a deer in the headlights due to the massive sugar high:


We are trying to entice him to come home...he is just thinking we are so funny as he sits outside of Beckie's door hollaring:


Wait..where's he going?


He's decided he wants to head out for more action:


Daddy has to go get him to come on home:


Too sugared up to even walk:


Escape attempt #433:


Close up of the chocolate face:


COME ON Little Turtle..It's Late!


So silly and wound up


Later that night..coming down from the sugar high: