Happy 1st Birthday, Beau!

Today is Beau's big day! I absolutely can't believe that I was in the hospital anxiously awaiting his arrival at this time last year. Time has flown by! He is such a blessing. I thank the Lord everyday for Beau Hansen Barnes!!

Beau and his best bud Cameron celebrated this morning at Teesee's with #1 sugar cookies. I actually made them myself if you can believe it? Beau is making me so domestic. I'm sure Todd appreciates that I actually cook now, too! ha! The big party is this Saturday. If he eats cake like he ate these cookies, it should be quite entertaining!

Such a Big Boy Now!

Can't you just eat me up!?!?

Helping myself to Mom's plate. Got a tomato. Not sure I liked it much.

I love Sam's Pizza!

Into everything!!!

Helping myself to a snack. I can open the box and get one out, too.

1st trip to visit Daddy at the fieldhouse

Having a popsicle with the team

1st ride in my big boy car seat

Beau is everywhere and into everything!! He walks all over the house. He still crawls to get to a spot to pull up, but then he's gone. He would prefer to stand rather than sit...even in the bathtub, which makes bathtime a little harder on me. He is eating mostly real food now. He loves grilled cheese sandwiches! We still break everything up in small bites. He has figured out where his Cheerios are stored and now helps himself to a snack. Ha!

He's saying Mama, Dada (which is coming out DaDoo all of a sudden), Back for Barkley, ByeBye (never on command, of course) and his all time favorite Uh Oh. I think he says Duck when I say it but I'm not sure he knows what it is yet. As Todd said the other night, "he's a little person now!" I think that meant he's getting to be a big boy.

Oh and how could I forget our best news?! He is sleeping through the night...FINALLY! It took us 11 months but we are finally getting some sleep at the Barnes' house! Hallelujah! Tonight we kick off football season with Ricebird Kickoff . The first real game is two weeks from today.
GO BIRDS!!

First Steps!

Beau took his first steps this week! He will be walking, or running I should say, everywhere VERY soon. His balance is getting much better. He stands on his own for fairly long periods. He's taken as many as 6 quick little steps before he topples over. I know the first big fall is also coming soon. Good thing he's a tough little guy. He is into EVERYTHING. I'm trying to teach him what is Mommy's and what is Beau's, so I don't have to completely redecorate, but I don't know how that is going to work out. I'm definitely picking my battles already. If he wants to pull all the magazines off the coffee table or the tupperware from the cabinets, I let him. He has to explore! I just try to keep him out of the breakable stuff.

Here are some pics of us playing with bubbles. He wasn't sure what to think.

NeNe (Aunt Whitney) went back to Fayetteville this week. We were so sad for her to go. Beau has had so much fun with her this summer and she has been such a tremendous help to me. We are going to miss seeing her nearly everyday! I have a feeling she'll make more trips home than usual this year to see her Beau Baby!

He is eating more "real" food and loves it. Last night he had spaghetti for the first time. That was a hit. I cut it up in small pieces and let him feed himself. What a mess he was by the time he was finished! I'm glad Barkley is a big help with clean up!

Yesterday was Todd's birthday. He's in the middle of 2-a-day practices, so we didn't get to celebrate much. We are making 1 last trip to the lake this weekend and will celebrate with our friends there Sat. night. Think we are going to Sam's Pizza. That is Beau's favorite restaurant! He loves the pretty girls and loud music...omg what do I have to look forward to?!?! He is already such a big flirt! He entertained last time we were there with his "dancing" in the high chair. He's got the "wave your arms in the air like you just don't care" dancing style. It's adorable!! Another one of those things I need to capture on video and post! Have a wonderful weekend!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODD!

10 Months Old Today

Beau is 10 months old today! I can't believe we will be celebrating his first birthday in 2 months. This year has absolutely flown by. Sorry there's no new pics this time. I'll take some this weekend. He had a check up today and is doing great. Here are his stats:

22 lbs. 13 oz. (75th percentile)
31" long (97th percentile) - we are hoping he's tall - so far so good! ha!
7 teeth (4 top and 3 bottom)
Wears 12-18 month clothes (some of the 12 mo. shirts are starting to look like muscle shirts, though)
Crawls everywhere (usually on one knee and one foot - I've got to figure out how to post a video of his stellar technique!)
Pulls up to standing and sits back down with ease
Loves to walk around holding my hands - it won't be long until he's walking on his own.

Today, he was standing at the kitchen cabinets and just let go. He stood there for a few seconds without holding on at all. His balance is getting much better.

Eats everything but green peas and those make him go "aagh"! He still eats mostly baby food (5 step 2 jars per day), but we are starting table food. He LOVES to feed himself Cheerios, black beans, bananas, and carrots. Todd and DeeDee introduced him to roast beef and black eyed peas over the weekend, and that was a big hit. Basically, he's a chunk who loves to eat! He also does well with his sippy cup now. The big kids at Teesee's all drink out of big sippy cups, so Beau has to have big ones now, too.

His favorite toys are balls, his yellow dump truck, a yellow star that was supposed to be a bath toy, but now serves as his favorite teething tool, and anything that makes noise. His favorite songs are Bingo, Old McDonald, and 5 Little Monkeys. His favorite book is Good Night Moon.

He still isn't saying anything except "uh-oh," which comes out"uh-uh." He has started saying it first and then dropping his cup from his high chair. He has also figured out that if he drops his food in the floor, Barkley will get a bite. I thought it was cute at first, but now he does it even when Barkley is not around, so I'm the clean up crew (more than usual). It's not so cute now.

I'm telling you, this is so much fun...exhausting at times, especially since he still gets up at least once a night, but soooo worth it. I LOVE THIS KID!

Our Little Fish

Sorry I haven't been holding up my end of this blog deal. When I set it up, my goal was to update at least once a week. Seems like my average is more like once a month. Since my last post, we have been to the lake with Todd's family and then again for the 4th (we did work & go to Teesee's in between). We LOVE the lake! What is it about just being near, on, in, or around water that is so relaxing? I feel like there are no worries and nothing that HAS to be done. Baths are optional, bedtime is flexible...it's the one place where I relax (sort of...the definition of relax has changed a bit for me since Beau came along!). Not to mention that there are always family and friends who love spending time with Beau and help me out so much. I didn't do a great job taking pictures the last few weeks, but here are few. As you can tell, we do a lot of swimming!

Daddy, Beau, and cousin Nathan (we have no pictures with Nathan of Beau looking at the camera because he couldn't take his eyes off him!)
Daddy & Beau

Hanging out on the dock with GiGi

Swimming with Mom

Swimming with DaddyD

Happy Dad's Day!

Me and my Dad


Kicked back at the Mexican place...this is where I was picking up chicks!

Daddy and me on our family outing to the Louisiana Purchase park


Mom got to go, too.

Father's Day was bittersweet for our family as it was Todd's first as a new dad but also his first without his dad. We kept busy and surrounded ourselves with family. It is hard to be sad with our little funny man, Beau, around. He is a hoot these days! He keeps us laughing all the time with his million expressions and infectious giggle. He is quite the ladies man, too. We went to Papa Pablano's (our favorite Mexican restaurant in Hot Springs) Friday night. Our table was right by the busy door. He watched every single person coming and going. Then there was a blonde girl waiting for a table who didn't pay Beau any attention. He started waving at her! What a flirt! Like father like son!

Like my mohawk?

Whitney kept Beau today and she emailed me this picture. Our little man was sporting a mohawk after swimming this morning. Isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen?! Our other big news - he's officially crawling! There's no stopping him from getting anywhere he wants to go now, so I have my hands full! He is trying to pull up on the furniture, so cruising is not far behind.