Today my awesome little nephew, Gus turned 1!� I just got back from spending a few days in Michigan visiting my family and celebrating his birthday, as well as my brother-in-law's birthday and the 4th of July in an all-in-one extravaganza.� Needless to say, my sister the event designer made sure it was fabulous!

[caption id="attachment_1226" align="aligncenter" width="462" caption="1 Year Old Gus!"][/caption]

Emmett had some reservations about Gus at first, but in the end, I think he warmed up to him.�� Here are a few shots of the birthday boy and the awesome weekend.

[caption id="attachment_1227" align="aligncenter" width="539" caption="Captain Gus and His Matey, Emmett"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1229" align="aligncenter" width="474" caption="Gus' party hat and balloons"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1230" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption=""Watcha got there, cuz?""][/caption]

Age Timers

Emmett: 17 months, 3 weeks

Gus: 1 YEAR!

Topics: birthday, family, Events, cousins, party

Well, the holidays are officially underway, and as always, I'm super behind on my Christmas shopping.� We have, however, managed to get the stockings hung, the tree (delivered by James' parents from Maine) up and decorated and our holiday cards safely to their destinations.� Although I wish I could send a card to everyone I know, it's simply not possible, so here's a peak for everyone to see:



Yes, Emmett has a full-out Santa suit.� Yes, this was the best picture I could get of him in it, even after two photo shoots on separate occasions.� Now I understand why people take their kids to professional photographers.� It was literally impossible to get a quality picture of Emmett smiling that also showed off the Santa suit.

[caption id="attachment_1107" align="aligncenter" width="539" caption="Santa Baby"][/caption]

In developmental milestone news, Emmett is officially only a month away from his first birthday.� He now has six teeth -- four on the top and two on the bottom in the front -- and as of earlier this week, he weighs 21 lbs, 11 oz.

He's getting more adventurous about his standing, too.� If you let go of him he can stand without help for a few seconds, and if you hold one of his hands, he'll walk around with you.�� He can also now climb onto the chair in our living room by himself, which means he now garners a lot more attention from me.� Can I say the cliche thing?� He's seriously growing up so fast!� After much hesitation, I even gave him his first (very) overdue haircut tonight - just a little off the sides.

For more pictures from Emmett's Santa Baby photo shoots, check out the Flickr set here.

Age Timer: 11 months

Topics: Weekly Updates, Milestones, holidays, Events, haircut, santa baby, Christmas, baby, santa suit, standing

James had his first Father's Day last Sunday, so of course I did a successful job of teasing him by wrapping his presents and displaying them on the kitchen table the Wednesday before.� I know -- evil.� To be fair, there were three gifts, and I let him open one each day starting on Friday.� Father's Day itself was fun.� We indulged James' craving for KFC, then later went out to dinner to Charley's with his parents who were in town to help James' step sister move.

[caption id="attachment_879" align="aligncenter" width="642" caption="James, Emmett & spoon on Father's Day"][/caption]

Overall, I think James enjoyed his first Father's Day.� I bet he'll love it even more as the years go by and Emmett actually understands what's going on :)

Age Timer: 22 weeks, 5 days

Topics: family, Firsts, Events, Father's Day, dinner, dad

So much to blog about!� It's been a busy past couple weeks - a visit from my sister, Adrienne and my brother-in-law, Mac; a trip with Emmett to New Jersey for Adrienne's baby shower; and Emmett's first run-in with the extended family - second cousins, great aunts and uncles, great grandparents.� Plus, I'm back to work.� Rather than overwhelming you with the past couple weeks' events in one long post, I'll plan on a series of posts in the next few days.

Last Saturday we had Adrienne's baby shower.� We went with a spa theme, complete with candles, a hand scrub, peppermint soaked washcloths, a cool spoon eye treatment and soothing, spa-like music.� Everyone had a great time, and Adrienne was showered with some great gifts for Baby Gus (and some gifts to pamper herself as well!).

Check out some of the day's events in pictures ...

[caption id="attachment_734" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="Spa Candles and Wheat Grass "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_735" align="aligncenter" width="583" caption="Lauren, Lindsay and Grammy "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_736" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Chelsea and the Mom-to-Be"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_738" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Tower of Tastykakes"][/caption]

Age Timer: 9 weeks, 6 days

Topics: Events, party, baby shower, sister, Gus