No stopping him now!

Shane has been walking more and more every day. He also waved bye-bye for the first time yesterday! I've been trying to get a good video of him walking for a week now so here is a pretty good one of him crossing the kitchen...ENJOY!

Rock Star

Shane and I spent last weekend in Ukiah visiting with family. My cousins were out here from the East Coast (Brett goes to the Berklee School of Music in Boston and Kyle goes to NYU) for their "2008 West Coast Tour." They are part of an awesome New York jazz quartet started by my cousin Kyle Hughes and beautiful vocalist Jennifer Tullock called The Punch and Judy Band. They had a gig at the Ukiah Brewing Company on Friday night and my Aunt arranged for a babysitter for Shane. It was the VERY FIRST TIME Shane has ever been left with anyone other than my best girls or Grandma and even then I usually put him to bed. It was a little nerve wracking for me, but other than a minor meltdown at bathtime he was just fine. Thanks to Molly who was super sweet and Shane took to her right away. The band was great and I wish them all the best with the rest of their West Coast appearances.

Click here to check out The Punch and Judy Band

(Brett-drums, Jennifer-vocals, Adam-bass, Kyle-guitar/vocals)

We stayed the night and my cousins made us breakfast the next morning before taking a little dip in the neighbors pool. Shane wasn't too sure about it, but he had fun with the boys.

Hanging out with Kyle

Practicing his surfing skills

This is the "Yes, I know I'm cute" look

Then we went over to my Uncle's house to visit for a while and Shane got his first music lesson! Both of my cousins are so talented and I was hoping some of their artistic skills would rub off on him. Shane took to the drums right away. We might have a rock star on our hands! Check out this happy smile!!

Here is a little video of Brett helping Shane play the drums : )

It was 100 degrees in Ukiah, but it really didn't seem too hot. Shane had a great time playing in my Uncle's garden and I wish we wouldn't have had to leave so soon. We had a great time visiting with our family!

Walking across the grass

My happy little gardener

Exciting news!!

For those of you that haven't heard, my brother Cory and his girlfriend Janice are expecting a baby in January. They just had their ultrasound on Friday and found out that they are having a GIRL!! Janice was really thinking it was going to be a boy so they were a bit surprised, but they are very happy and excited. Cory is a bit worried about being surrounded by everything PINK, but I know he will do great with a daughter. Grandma is very excited and now gets to shop for all the girly things she wasn't able to get when Shane was born. It will be lots of fun having a cousin Shane's age too!

Here she is:



Shane has been learning so much lately and is doing so many funny things! He is trying to repeat words that we say (things like "outside", "doggy", "sockies", "kitty"), but of course no "Mama" still. He has been saying "Dad" and "Dada-dada" for a long time, although not directly to Ryan yet. I have been trying to teach him some of the Baby Sign Language too and on Saturday he did the sign for "eat", but I'm not sure he really understood it yet. He does crawl over to his highchair sometimes when I say "eat" and do the sign, so I think he is starting to get it.

He has also been doing this funny thing where he crawls around with things hanging out of his mouth like his sippy cup, hair brush, paper, (clean) diapers and even came out of the bedroom with my bra in his mouth one morning! The other day I asked him "where is your brush" and he crawled across the room and brought it back to me! My little puppy dog! So cute, but the best part is that he knew what I was talking about!!


My favorite new thing that he does is KISSES! I've been trying to get him to give kisses for a long time and he finally started giving them back last week, but on Saturday he actually came over to me, leaned in and kissed me all on his own! SOOOO cute!

I caught him twice on Sunday trying to put on my flip flops! I tried to sneak behind him and get a video without him noticing, but it didn't turn out very good. You can get the idea though:

We also spent the day Sunday visiting with Grandma Sandi and Grandpa Warren while Ryan was up in Reno. We went out to meet Warren's sister Lisa (who is expecting a baby any day now!), husband Andy and son Cameron. Cameron is 4 1/2 and was very cute asking where "Big Ryan" was and when I told him he was gone for the weekend he asked "who is taking care of him?" Isn't that funny? I wondered the same thing myself : ) Anyways, they live out by Bodega Bay and have a beautiful house up on a hill. Check out the view in some of these pictures.

Then we had lunch at the Tides in Bodega Bay. It was the first time Shane has seen the ocean and he just loved watching all the seagulls! What a perfect day to be out at the Bay! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

Diaper Derby Champion!!!

We entered Shane in the Diaper Derby at the Sonoma County Fair this weekend and he WON! There were two rounds with a total of about 30 babies. Shane's friend baby Lulu was in the first round and came soo close to winning! After seeing the first round, we never would have guessed that Shane would win. A couple of the babies were really fast! After his round started he was just sitting there watching the other babies crawl away, but he ended up being the only baby to follow through and get to the edge of the tarp. We were so proud of our little baby Shane! They declared the first ever tie between two babies, but we know that Shane was the true winner...the other baby may have been faster, but Shane was the only one that went straight off to Daddy!

There are three videos below...the first is the Round 2 race that Shane won, the second is where he raced against the winner of the first round, and the last is where they announce the winner. We get to have our picture in next years Fair announcement and Shane gets a $25 savings bond. It was all very exciting!!

Diaper Derby

Diaper Derby Finals

The Winner is Baby Shane!

Here are some pics from the fair.
This is one of my favorite pictures...Daddy was so proud of his boy!

Busy weekend!

We had a great time this weekend! Shane and I went to the river with our new neighbors, Chris and Tony, for a BBQ at their old house. Shane was a very good boy and is becoming a little piggy! He ate lots of fresh fruit (blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, white & yellow nectarines) and even BBQ chicken! Here are some cute pics of his messy face.

Kickin back in his stroller

Messy face!

Mmmmm, BBQ chicken!


On Sunday, Ryan and I took Shane to Howarth Park for the first time. There is lots to see and do there and he just LOVED it! We fed the geese, introduced him to some horses and went on the train ride. Next time we will try the carousel and the big playground.

Watching Daddy feed the geese


Nice horsie!


Chugga, chugga, CHOO CHOO!

FIRST STEPS!!!!!!

9 months and 5 days old and here is Shane taking his first steps! It's so exciting, but scary at the same time! My little boy is growing up so fast. He had a runny nose and only napped for just under 2 hours all day today...yet he still manages to amaze me by taking his first steps. He took the first 7 before I could call Ryan and get the camera...so technically the video you are about to see are his second steps, but it's still amazing : )

4th of July

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!
We went over to Jackie and Del's house and BBQ'd.
I was wondering how Shane would handle all the noise and excitement,
but he slept right through it! He did really well the whole day.
He loves going to Aunt Jackie's because he gets to play with her doggies!
Here are a few pics from the 4th...

Shane admiring the mustang...Del's pride and joy!


So cute in his red/white/blue outfit!


Check it out...Ryan is smiling!!


The girls and I before fireworks. We had a great time!