First Haircut!

The past few days Blake has been in to wearing hats:

And putting things on his head:

It's true, his hair was getting extremely shaggy. Maybe he was embarrassed?

Time for your first hair cut!!

He actually sat really well through it! And the results:

Maybe a few touch-ups here and there, but overall not too bad.

This is Blake pointing to his new hair.

B is for Birthday

Blake turned ONE and to celebrate we threw him a big birthday bash. The theme.......letter "B" I know it's not that clever, but it was fun and a bit of a challenge to coordinate an entire party, food and all, around a single letter. Here's a peak at our birthday bash.

Ball pit.....full of cousins

Birthday gifts

Birthday cake

Blake's cake (clearly homemade :)

The winners of the Balloon contest.....Dylan and Sophie

4 generations of Steffens.......and if you look behind them, there's the banner I worked on for the past month that I didn't get a picture of!

and of course, destruction of the cake.

All in all, the party was a sucess.......except I was busy running around and did not get enough pictures. I have no pictures of party favors, food, decorations, family, etc. I should have hired a photographer! If you took pictures, please send them to me!

He Can Walk!!

Blake has been getting better and better on his feet recently. He usually only takes 2 or 3 steps at a time, but suddenly today he has been walking across the room! Just in time, as his birthday in only 1 week from today (and he's nearing 23 pounds....way too heavy to carry!) I was lucky enough to catch it on camera too! Sorry the video is sideways.........no clue how to rotate it!

My new ride....

Gotta love garage sales!  I got this red beauty for $2!  Blake doesn't quite know what to do when he's in it, but he sure knows how to make it move from behind........

The first supper....

No more baby food for this guy.  He's a very 'do it yourself ' kind of baby.  Dr. Boe gave us the go ahead to feed him any and all table food (within reason) and Blake is loving it!

I've posted before about making my own baby food.   Looking back I realize just how much money we were able to save and not to mention the added health benefits.

     

Here's a rough estimate of how much baby food I was able to get by using good old Dave's produce:

1 sweet potato = 6 baby food containers

1 butternut squash= 7  baby food containers

1 apple = 3 baby food containers

1 pear = 2-3 containers

1 lb organic carrots = 11 baby food containers 

Where's Blake??

I think this is the funniest picture ever.........

Yes it is right side up!  He was playing peak-a-boo behind our cubes.  I have yet to figure out how he was able to balance himself at this 90 degree angle.... without holding on to the edge of the cubes.  

Why buy toys?

These are some of Blake's favorite things, not to mention remote controls, cellphones, and glasses........

laundry baskets....

Any kind of box.......

saran wrap.......

baggies.........

cans and bottles.....  

         

and of course, under anything that he can fit!

We had another fun visit with Aunt Natalie this past week.  Here's some pics from our exciting week.

We took a trip to Miller Park Zoo..........

                   

Then a trip to Chicago to see the cousins.....

And a 5K Walk in honor of Matthew Steinmetz ( I realized I didn't get that many pictures of the walk  :( 

Maggie, Blake and Ethan all had matching "team Matthew" shirts

Of course, NO ONE can make Blake laugh like Natalie.........

Ft. Lauderdale

We had a GREAT time in Florida!  We spent most of the week relaxing, swimming and spending family time together.  Here's a recap of our week.........

     

It was an early morning flight out of Bloomington at 6am.  Blake did great on the plane sleeping most of the way.  When he did wake up he was busy checking on the people behind us and smiling at the flight attendants as they walked by.

Blake was very eager to unpack once we arrived at the condo.

We spent a little time at the beach

            

But most of the time we were out at the pool!

Then back on the airplane to come home.  Good-bye Florida, we will miss you!

Finger paint fun!

We had our first finger painting experience today.   I think Blake was more excited about the paper than the paint.  Here's some tips to "successful finger painting"

Remove all clothes and place large towel on floor

Insert binky to avoid snacking (on paper and paint)

Proudly display artwork on refrigerator!  

A month of excitement

Wow, I can't believe I haven't blogged for an entire month!  There's been so much to blog about, but not enough time.  I'll try to catch you all up in one post....here it goes.....

    

Easter came, and I was FINALLY able to put Blake in this cute little tie to match Daddy!

We learned how to eat a puff....

Crawl under the table....

and tear up the doctors office!

But the most exciting adventure for April  was meeting our new little niece/cousin, Maggie Sue.  We've been waiting for you Maggie!

Good morning!

Here's some cute pics daddy took yesterday morning before heading off to see the doctor.