Guest Blogger! :)

Hi all. This is Stephanie, Jen's longtime friend. I'm here to hang out with Jen and get some Tegan time. Yeah, life is rough. I came directly from work which was around Tegan's feeding time. That little guy has quite the appetite because he made a "happy plate" by eating all of his dinner. After Jen cooked a delicious meal we got to play with T before his bedtime. He is so much fun and I highly recommend it =)

A little Godzilla

Jen took this next picture of Tegan right before the attack

Jen was gracious enough to let me play with her new camera. I must say, taking pictures of Tegan is a lot more difficult than I thought because never stops moving! Brendan, these Jen pictures are for you and the others are dedicated to Jen's loyal blog checkers (you know who you are). Here are our favorites:

Jen the Builder Mommy goofing off

My (Steph's) favorite

Ok, now it's Jenn. Hope you all enjoyed the evening through the eyes of another. Take care...

Love to all!!!

~jenn & steph

A Day with the Ladies

Yesterday was my good friend Jen's wedding shower... well it was her first of several wedding showers. (below is a pictorial representation of how the showers seem to be lined up and just don't end... or something) :)The home that the shower was at was beautiful. It had these beautiful build in cubbies but they were drywalled and not big wood build-ins. Super fun!The owner loves white walls which actually make taking pictures pretty neat because all her accessories stood out so beautifully. As far as the shower went... let's just say that I think Tegan took a little bit of the attention off of Jen but I don't think she minded it at all.

This next pic displays Tegan discovering a bright pink gift bag. He was shaking it up and down as fast as it would go. It was super cute because he was laughing his big belly laugh. :)

This last one is just a fun one I got of one of the centerpieces... cool huh?

Well, that's it. Nothing new since Saturday except Tegan is being a champ sleeper. I'm so blessed that he's been sleeping all night and not waking up until I'm all but done getting ready in the morning. He's also begun talking to himself and playing in his crib when he wakes up instead of just crying, which makes it that much more fun to walk in and see his smiling face when I first see him each morning. YAY!!! Praise God for such wonderful blessings!

Ok... love to all!!!

~j

Sneak Preview

Well... we had a fun-filled day with Aunt Amanda (my sister). Tegan got to spend much of the afternoon with her while I snuck out for an hour to get my nails done... it had been nearly 3 1/2 weeks... needless to say the lady did a horrible job and I'm super mad about that! I guess that serves me for trying to sneak away for a little me time, or something.

Anyways, while I was gone Amanda fiddled around with my new camera and got some pretty cool shots even though this was her first time using a digital SLR as she's only used an old-school film one :)

Here's a sneak preview of what we got. I've gotta get to bed as it's nearly 12:30am. OH, one more thing. Tegan is finally starting to use the baby sign I've been teaching him. So far he'll sign "milk", "more" and a very sloppy "all done". :)

Love to all!!!

~j

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

Well, I finally got around to giving T a bath tonight and hopefully that will help him sleep in a little bit in the morning, too, so that I'm not up at 6a.m. ... again!

Tegan used his "more" sign again at dinner tonight. YAY!!! He did require some prompting, but he got the idea. I'm SO excited because hopefully this will help minimize the whining when he wants, well, more.

What else... He's getting really good at singing "Old MacDonald," at last at singing his section of the song, the e-i-e-i-o part. He frequently omits the "o" at the end, but that's OK as far as I'm concerned.

There was something else I was going to share, but I can't remember what it is now. If I think of it I'll add it later.

Hope you enjoyed all the new pics and frequent updates. Unfortunately some of today's cutest pics are best kept in the family :)

Love to all!!!

~j

More of Mommy's Photography

I have the best model in the world... never mind the fact that he won't stand/sit still for me, but he is the cutest guy ever!!! Here's some more love he gave the camera, whether he knew it or not.

This next photo almost makes me cry... just so precious with the sunlight shining through the window. God is shining right down on my baby.

Hi-hi-hi-hi-hi!!!

Mmmmm... dinner!

Tegan sure loves juice!

Ok... that's it for tonight. One more announcement: Tegan took one step without holding on to anything on Saturday evening. Jen Meyer witnessed it too, so I'm not making it up. Sarah claims that she saw him T take 2 or 3 steps without holding on to anything...but I don't believe that one since I didn't see it and it's the LAW that the mom has to witness it for it to be true :)
OK...goodnight!
Love to all!
~jenn

New Camera!!!

SO, I got a new camera... a digital SLR (D-SLR) and it's so cool but kinda confusing at the same time. Here are a few shots I got of Mr. T today that I especially liked... enjoy!

Ok... here's when I could read Tegan's mind "Enough pictures, Mom!!!" HA!
Love to all!

~j

2 Weeks?!

Gotta start off with a big "I'm sorry!" I didn't realize it's been 2 weeks since my last post... we've just been really busy with multiple birthday celebrations with the various parts of our extended families. You'll be glad to know that you haven't really missed out on any major milestones since the last post, so that's good, I guess. Still no walking, but Tegan is getting more and more comfortable with letting go of whatever he's hanging on to and just standing freely... except when we are drinking from the sippy, which he loves.

Two weekends ago we celebrated Tegan's b'day with my side of the family and this past weekend we did the same with Brendan's family; both celebrations had a cake and singing and the whole bit... still no huge interest in cake. I guess he's had it so much lately between cousin Aubrey's birthday in late November, T's baptism in January and 3 birthday celebrations between us and both sides of our families. HA! Personally I cannot understand how one can tire of cake, but I guess it's possible. It was cute to see his face light up when we'd say his name in the "Happy Birthday" song. So sweet!

I'm trying to think of what else there is to share...

Have I mentioned he loves being naked??? :)

OH, I thought of one more new thing... we've got some major teething going on. Yea, there are 3 (THREE) teeth getting close to breaking through, so that's gotta hurt (and explain some of the crankiness at the end of the day when I'm sure it's down right annoying).

And I think we've got a future builder on our hands. No pic yet, but I'll get around to it... but Tegan got a Bob the Builder book complete with a little hammer for his b'day and he has been hammering EVERYTHING. It's adorable!

Ok... all for now. Love to all!

~j

A Glimpse...

So I was toying around with our camera today... seeing what I could get with just a point and shoot digital. If you shoot with a D-SLR can you let me know what you have and how you like it and/or what you'd reccomend? Thanks!!!
Love to all!!!
~jenn

12 Month Stats

Here's Tegan's growth statistics from his 12 month check-up today:
weight: 24.5 lbs = 78th percentile
height: 31.3 in = 93rd percentile

Currently the "toddler" is busy playing with and dancing to the music of his spinning alphabet/animal wheel... one of his favorite.
Love to all!
~jenn

More B'day Fun!

So I'm sure you're asking yourself, "what could Tegan have done on his first birthday?" Well, here's a recap of what we got from the day (really evening) in pictures:

Happy Birthday, Tegan!! Mmmm, cake!
I'll have some more of that!!!
Water, I need water!
Ok, time for more cake. Mom's right, this stuff rocks!

Off to...

Bring on the Fries and 'nuggets
Now for the reason we came to BK... PLAY PLACE!!!
Hi Mama! Hi, Hi HIIIII!
Back home, time to play with my present from Miss Laurie (daycare provider). Vroom-vroom!!

And that was all he wrote... the dude pretty wiped after all that fun. As always, thanks for reading and the Birthday Wishes many of you sent!

All for now...

~j

Welcome to Todlerdom

OK, so I'm doing a quick post from work... will add pics when I get home and after we "celebrate" tonight.

Happy Birthday, Tegan! It's hard to believe that this is what he was just a year ago! Time sure flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?!
More later...
~j