Mr. Independent

Well I thought last week I officially had a walker in the house; boy was I wrong. I thought the 10-12 steps he was doing were keeping my busy! Friday Wade decided to prove me wrong. I was in the other room and I looked up and Wade was walking towards me. I was shocked. I said "what are you doing walking?" He just smiled so big and was so proud of himself. Since Friday he has just improved and is walking/running all over the house. He even stops and claps for himself! Last week he would do 10-12 steps and then fall down. Well not now he is going everywhere and even turning around and coming back. If you try to grab his hand and direct him the way you want him to go he nicely pushes your hand away and walks where he wants to go. We are so proud of him. He kept us so busy this weekend but we love it. He has been so tired at night because he walks so much during the day. Today he walked all around the yard. My parents were shocked because he was not doing this Thursday before they left for the lake. He is also talking up a storm. I honestly think he picks up a new word every day. He is so serious when he talks and wants you to listen and acknowledge him. It cracks me up. I just shake my head and say "is that right" and he just keeps babbling. He is saying momma, dadda, ba-ba (sippy cup), banana, dog, ball, yum, byebye, melmo(elmo), bbb is bird. We went to my Papaw's house today and he almost said his name. 

We were driving in the car last week and I always play his Bible songs for him to listen to and "This little light of mine" came on and I looked back at him and bless his sweet heart... he had his little finger up and was moving his hand from side to side. I could have just eaten him up. He is so good at holding his "number 1" up and my mom taught him "This little light" when she kept him last weekend. I had not seen him do it yet. His newest thing this past week was snaping. We were in the car and for some reason Josh started snapping to the music and showed Wade how to snap. Wade just stared at him while he did it a few times and we were amazed when he put his little fingers together and then crossed them like he was snapping. We both just cracked up and couldn't believe it. I told Josh we have to be careful what we do and say these days because he is just picking suff up left and right.

Weekend Trip

We had a great time this past weekend. Wade and I headed down to the lake Friday. We stopped by the zoo since it was on the way. Josh headed to the lake Friday night and was trying to get there in time to see Wade before bed but he somehow got a rip/tear in his tire and got a flat tire. Of course he was on hwy 85 which is so busy. Luckily he was able to get to an exit ramp where he was safe. 3 hours later he made it to the lake. Zach and his uncle's went to help him because Josh's jack did not work so luckily between the 4 of them they got the tire changed finally! I was so glad he made it home safely.

My big boy walking at the lake

Saturday we got up and mom and I went with Ashley for her dress fitting! It is so pretty and we had a great time going and getting breakfast together. We got back to the lake so I could play with Wade for a little while before Josh and I left. While I was gone Wade figured out he could cut grass with Pops and he had a blast doing that. I am so glad Josh remembered to take pictures for me. Once I got Wade's lunch ready we decided to leave while he was eating because we knew he was happy sitting there eating. I did really good and did not get too sad. I was a little nervous but excited to get away at the same time.

Loving cutting the grass with Pops

Josh and I  headed to IKEA once we left and we loved it. We did not buy much but it was such a neat store. We even had lunch in the cafeteria! After that we headed to our hotel to get checked in at the Omni which was so nice. Everything is walking distance- shops, restaurants and bars. We put our stuff up and walked around a little bit and stopped and got dessert. After eating we headed back and did something we never do... we got in bed and watched Bride Wars (it was on HBO.) We relaxed for about 2 1/2 hours and then got up and got ready for dinner around 8pm. We never eat that late but it was so nice not to be on a time schedule. We went to BlueFinn and it was soooo good. We can't wait to go back. Josh was in love because we sat in the bar area (because they were so busy with so many bachelorette parties) and there was a tv at our table that had the ball game on! He did good and still talked to me even while watching the game. After dinner we were so full that we headed back to the hotel to relax and re-group. We almost decided not to go out after laying down again but around 10:30pm we headed to Wisky River (Dale Jr.'s Bar) and we had a blast. We even danced a little but had the most fun watching everyone! We didn't get home until 1am which is so late for us. Of course I could not sleep in past 8am but it was nice to lay in bed until 10am. Our hotel had a breakfast buffet included in our package and it was amazing! We ate way too much. We had so much fun together and headed home around 11am.

Our great night out- Getting ready to go to dinner!

Since we did not have Wade we headed to Winston to see the babies; they came home last Thursday. Oh how sweet were they. I could have just eaten them up! We stayed for lunch and saw Josh's parents as well and then headed back to get Wade. He was sleeping but when he got up he was excited to see us. We all played for a little bit and then headed to see Ashley's new house- we had not gotten to see the inside yet and it was really cute. We are so happy for them. We missed our little guy but really enjoyed our time alone together. We can't wait for our next adventure!!!!! (Mexico)

My sweet nephews!

Love them- I love that they look different

Rylan Matthew

Nolan Parker (he looks a lot like Peyton did)

Big sister Peyton (she is doing great!)

Zoo Trip

Friday we met Claire and Katelyn at the zoo and had a great time. It was a little warm but in the shade it was great. Wade and Katelyn had so much fun and were really good. Ashley went with us and I am so glad we took another person. We had to get on and off the tram and fold up strollers and stuff so it was really nice to have her there to help hold the little ones. Here are a couple of pictures from our trip. We went ahead and bought a family pass so we can go back all year. Can't wait for Josh to go with us so he can see how much fun Wade has!

Not too sure about this place

Loving the flamingo's

Bird exhibit

Looking for the Lions

Good Friends

So sweet

This Weekend!

Well I think I can say we officially have a walker in the house. Tuesday Wade decided he would just start letting go of the furniture and walk to me or Josh. He does like 10 or 12 steps at a time now. He is so proud of himself. He is also standing a lot more. Now he would much rather crawl but if we make him walk he can walk across the entire living room! He looks so little walking. I am sure it will be another week or two before he is walking all around the house but he is getting so much closer.

This weekend is such a big deal for us. I have never been away from Wade for more than 5-6 hours ever and never over night.  I know it's crazy because he is over a year old but it just happened that way. I can't imagine it any other way. I love being home all day with him and I just have not been ready to leave him at night yet. Now if things would have been different and he would have been a better sleeper from 6-11 months I think we may have done this sooner. Well we are headed to Mexico for 6 days in May and I knew I had to leave him at least once prior to our trip. So we are doing a "practice" run this weekend. Ashley is in town and tomorrow we are heading to Asheboro to meet Claire and Katelyn and go to the zoo. We are so excited! Then we are heading to the lake. Mom, dad and Josh will be coming tomorrow night. Josh and I will spend the night at the lake on Friday and spend the morning with Wade playing at the lake. We are leaving at lunch time on Sat. and heading to Charlotte. We are going to go to IKEA(we have never been there) and Concord Mills for some shopping then heading to our hotel. We are staying in downtown Charlotte so we will be in walking distance from the restaurants etc. We are going out for dinner/drinks Saturday night and then we are going to sleep in Sunday morning!!!!! I just know I will not be able to sleep past 8am out of habit of getting up early. I know it is only one night but it is a big deal for us to get away. We know Wade will have so much fun with my parents, Ashley and Zach and we will miss him much more than he will miss us. Sunday we are hoping to stop by Winston and see the twins. Last we heard they are supposed to be coming home today!!! Can't wait to see those sweet babies. Lets just pray Wade does ok and will sleep for my parents on Saturday night. He has cried the last two nights and I am almost positive his one year molars are coming in because he had been sleeping so well. My parents will not be able to hear him cry so I am hoping he is so worn out that he sleeps for them.

12 Month Pictures

Here are some of the pictures from the other day... of course I could not get a good picture because my little man is only still if he is sleeping these days but I figured I would still post them!

Here is little Josh being silly!!

This was him getting ready to drop the sign on the floor again after crumbling it up

This is the serious look he always gives right before throwing or dropping things

This is the "who me" look; He is probably tired of hearing me say "please sit down and put the sign down"

Wade loves to play while sitting on his knees these days

My sweet boy learned how to blow kisses today (mostly he just does this and pats his face, we are working on pulling his hand back and blowing the kiss!)

Update

Wade had his one year old check up today and everything looked great. I learned after today that my days of going to the doctor by myself are now over. Wade was into everything!!!! They give you this lovely 3 page survey to fill out and I guess they must have thought that Wade was going to sit still long enough for me to read each question and answer them? I still do not know how I got it all done. He was jumping, trying to get down, trying to walk everywhere... needless to say I was worn out and we were only there 30 minutes. I really do LOVE our office because we never have to wait long at all. He had to get a shot and his finger pricked but the only part that bothered him was us keeping him still while she got enough blood for the finger stick.

He weighed 21 lbs and 10 oz and to my surprise he was taller than I thought he would be. He was 30 in. His weight was in the 25-50th percentile and his height was in the 50th percentile. Some new things he has been doing the past two days are: Sitting and playing on his knees. It is the cutest thing he just scoots around on his knees and will stop and sit back on the tops of his feet and play. He is climbing on EVERYTHING! Two days ago we where in the den and I looked over to Wade and he was standing in his little chair. He has never even sat in the thing so climbing up and standing in it shocked me. He can now get up the stairs at my parents house so fast. He has also starting to get a little clingy to me... when I am standing up doing something I now have this little person grabbing on my legs and pulling up and sticking his little head between them and smiling. His favorite things to do at my parents house these days are to help my dad "cut grass" and to help water the plants. He sticks that little hand in the water when he is spraying the plants off and just laughs! Of course he gets to do this as much as his little heart desires!! I didn't forget about taking his 12 month pictures we have just been so busy so I will try to post them tomorrow. The pictures are similar to our doctors appt today and I could not keep him still long enough to take a good picture. I gave up after awhile and figured I will look back and laugh one day about this busy bee.

Party Pictures

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this weekend. It would take forever to write about everything we did but to sum it up we had the best time and great weather. Wade is in love with the lake and watching the boats go by. He also loves the golf cart and he got to ride many times with my dad. From the moment we woke up (by the way he slept great in the pack n play; I think he was so tired he didn't care where he slept.) he was pointing to get outside. We spent Friday and Saturday at the lake and then headed to Winston on Sunday to go to church with Josh's parents and to go by and see Matt, Kendal, & Peyton. The babies are doing well and are still in NICU. Not sure when they will be coming home? We had a great time and were so sad to come home. Josh and I love the lake and would move there if we could. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Loving the lake life

Ready to go

Time for the party

Our birthday boy

Ready for church

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was Wade's 1st Birthday. Happy Birthday Sweet Boy! I can't even believe I am already doing this post. Where did the past year go? I have loved each age and milestone that we have gone through but I have to say I think this age may be my favorite! I could write pages and pages about my sweet boy. He does so many new things each day and is always making me laugh. I swear he is smarter than me and is getting so mischievous. Sometimes even when I am disciplining him I can't help but to turn my head and laugh. For example Wade has a mind of his own at meal time and he is so picky right now. He will eat any kind of baby food vegetable but when it comes to table food veggies forget it. So the other night I made his dinner, and I thought he would love it. Whole wheat pasta with broccoli and cheese and a little bit of tuna. Well I thought if I started with the pasta he would just love it. So Josh tried to feed him with a spoon and he pushed the spoon away; so then we tried to place it on his tray. Well the little rascal picked up the pasta looked at it and brought it to his mouth... well I was so glad I thought he was going to eat it. Then he looked around at all of us (we were at my mom and dad's house) held out his little arm and threw all of the pasta on the floor and then smiled as big as he could. I wanted to pop that little hand but all I could do is laugh. So what did he eat... Bojangles chicken tenders and some of a biscuit. Any idea's on getting a soon to be toddler to eat better? He is just rotten. He smiles and laughs all day and if he has a ball to play with he is happy. He has discovered the bathrooms and TP and we now keep the bathroom doors closed. He loves to be outside  and every time he see's a white car or an SUV he says "dadda." It is amazing to me how much he is learning these days. He newest thing he is doing is when we sing the "Dora" song. D-D-D-D Dora!!! He will copy the D-D-D-D part. He has a Dora ball and as he is chasing it around the house he sings it. Here are a few more things he is up to:

-weighs around 21-22lbs (we go to the doctor next week so that is just a guess)
-wears size 12-18 months clothes and size 3 diapers
-eats three meals a day with a snack in the afternoon
-finally loves cold whole milk- it took about 1-2 weeks to make that happen
-water is his other favorite, we don't give him juice but we tried juice and  pedialyte while he was sick and he didn't like either (which is ok with me)
-three favorite foods- oatmeal, yogurt, and banana's (crackers, bread, & goldfish are his next favorite)
-takes two naps a day
-sleeping much better-10-11 hours and now usually does not wake up at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-loves to be outside pushing his little car around or playing in the grass
-LOVES what we call "big trucks" which is an 18 wheeler or dump truck etc- he gets so excited and smiles, makes a squeal noise and claps. We look for them all the time while on the road.
-his other new love is birds... we look for them on our walks and outside, he get so excited
-loves "pirate" things and loves to make the "arrrgh" sound
-loves to read especially animal books (those are his favorite these days)
-two favorite TV shows- Yo Gabba Gabba and Wonder Pets (Backyardagins is another favorite)
-has mastered "mama", "dada," "yum," is pretty close to saying hey, bye bye, banana, and baby
-he can do "all done" and "more" in sign language
-he has a V-tech train that makes a train noise and he will make the train noise when playing with it 
-pretty much has become a Daddy's boy and ask for him all day... he only wants him on the weekends
-is busy, busy, busy and crawls all around this house all day or cruises around the furniture
-loves to get into Charlie's food and water bowl and today I found him sticking a toy in the toilet
-is so close to walking... he stands and will take a couple of steps but gets scared and falls down
-I don't want to jinx it but his hair is coming in and around the back and around his ears is may be starting to curl!!!
-he loves to give hugs and kisses and he will grab his stuffed animals (bless his heart he only has 2 or 3 because I am not big on stuffed animals) and just squeeze and hug them
-he pats us on the back when we pick him up from naps or in the morning (like "thanks" and "good job")

I know I am forgetting things but he is just an angel and a joy to be around. We could not even imagine our lives without him. I told Josh last night I wish I could take a video camera around all the time and capture all of these precious moments with him. I just hope and pray we will always remember just how precious our sweet little boy is at 1 years old. I am so happy to watch him change and grow and can't wait to see what he will be doing in the next six months. I got a little sad because now I won't be taking him every 3 months for pictures and I won't have a picture to take each month or a post to write. I think I will still post and do a picture at 14, 16 and then 18 months! That way I can capture new things every couple of months. Can't wait to write all about his party. I am a little sad because I got this cute monogrammed pants outfit with his name on it for him to wear. Usually Easter weekend is still somewhat cool but it looks like it is going to be 80-85 degrees. Looks like I will be getting him something else to wear for the party. Happy Birthday sweet boy, we love you so much!!!!

Easter Bunny and April Fool's Babies!

Yesterday we had a crazy day. Wade had his pictures and while we were out and he was dressed I figured we would go ahead and try to go see the Easter Bunny. He did great, of course would not smile but did not mind the bunny at all. It was so nice they let you use your own camera there and we did not have to buy a picture. We came home for a quick nap and then headed to my Aunt's house (she has an in home daycare) for an Easter Egg Hunt. Of course Wade did not really understand but he still had a good time playing with the eggs. Here are a couple of pictures!

Counting all of his eggs!

A big CONGRATS to Matthew and Kendal. The newest members of the Foltz family were born this morning. What a great Bday. Nolan Parker and Rylan Matthew made their apperance around 2am. Not sure who weighed what but one was 4lbs and 13oz and the other was 4lbs and 8oz. Can't wait to see those sweet little peanuts. We are so excited about our new nephew's and so happy Wade has two more cousins to play with. Peyton is going to be a great big sister. They are both in NICU now,  but breathing on their own! Kendal was 34 weeks and 3 days. She did great hanging in there while they got bigger and stronger; she has been in the hospital on bed rest almost 6 weeks. We are hoping for a quick recovery from her C- section so she can get home and get ready for the babies.