This and That and Catching Up

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile. I got very sick for a week right after my birthday. Six days of fever and a couple of visits to the doctor. It was just some weird virus going around and I'm over it now. Also, Mommy had a bit of a scare when melanoma was found in a mole that was removed from her face. She had to have some minor surgery and is recovering quite well and they got ALL of the cancer - that's the good news! So, here's a little bit of this and that for the month of January.

First, here's a picture of my taken on Sunday 1/13 wearing a new shirt I got for my birthday from our good friend Fran. I was just starting to get sick:


Here I am on Wed 1/16 (yeah, wearing the same shirt, hey, I like it!) when I was pretty darn sick. Herbie felt bad for me and kept me company:

And here I am on Wed 1/23 feeling all better and playing with my alphabet blocks:

And lastly, a video of me on Sunday 1/20 enjoying the early morning sunlight hitting our little disco ball:

ANOTHER Family Christmas Get-Together

I think yesterday was officially the last day of Christmas. All of our family from the Eastern side of the state came to Aunt Kris and Uncle John's and we had a nice get together.

Here I am with Dennis (2nd cousin by marriage):

Oooh, more presents (that's my cousin-once-removed (cor) Clair, in the background, and Dash the puppy too):

Brigid (Claire's big sister), Claire and I enjoying our gifts as Mommy and their Mommy, Amy, look on:

Cousin, Katelyn, Claire, Great Grandmom and Grammy open gifts and watch:

Brigid showing me the Fisher Price Little People she and Claire got for me. Boy, these have changed a lot since my Mommy's Little People:

Lessons on how to play with the Little People:

And here is my 2nd cousin David with Daddy:

Here I can't decide if I should play with the cool bell or get to know Dash:



Ultimately, the bell wins:

1st Birthday Fun

I have to say my First Birthday was a lot of fun. We had a lot of friends and family stop by during the day. I think I'll tell it with pictures as usual...

I asked for an Elmo themed party (well, that's what the 'rents determined I wanted anyway, I do love my Elmo). Here's a shot of the big Elmo cake (Mr Noodle is on the left and Dorothy - the goldfish - is on the right in her bowl and Elmo in the middle):

Here's a shot of the whole spread. You can't tell but the crepe paper and window decor also had Elmo themes:

Here was the free baby cake that came with the big cake (for 1st birthdays only). Mommy and Daddy decided not to let me have at this but I did get a finger of the icing on the top left side. I actually made a face of yuck after licking it off my finger, so they probably did the right thing by skipping that ritual. They are holding off sugar until I'm a little older and understand what one or a few means.


Here is the 'cake' Mommy made for me. It's a nice blueberry/apple muffin shaped like a cake with cream cheese frosting. I enjoyed it VERY much (that's my Godfather, Phil, with me):

And a video too:



Can someone PLEASE take of this hat?!

Here I am showing off my playroom to some of the guests. It was fun to have other kids in there with me!:

I finally got to meet little Bodi - he's just a month younger than me. That's his Daddy, Brian and Mommy, Michelle. Michelle made me THE greatest hat with my name on it. Once Mommy gets a good picture of me in it, she'll be sure to share it with all of you:

Mike, Amanda, Eli and Kylie made it too!

Here is Eli modeling the Christmas present we got for him. It roars too:

Here's my Godfather, Phil again and Grandma made it the whole way across state for my party. I was SO happy to see her:

Here's Grandy on the left, and Kathryn with her Daddy - Doug. Doug has been friends with my Daddy since they were about Kathryn's age. She is such a cool girl and I believe she will be a famous actress someday!

I'm getting better and better and opening presents:

Whew, what a great day! Thanks to EVERYONE who came. It's such a blessing to have so many loving people in our lives.

I'm Twelve Months Old!

Of course, I must continue the tradition (or should I say my mother insists on following the tradition) of posting my monthly growth picture. So here you go...

I'm almost walking. I can stand for a few seconds without holding anything. I LOVE to do "SO BIG! hands up in the air". I'm doing A LOT of signing now and I understand a lot more than my parents will ever know :-) I'm repeating the sound of words hear and there like "uck" for duck and "ig" for pig (those darn consonants throw me every time). I can point to lots of things in my books if you ask me too, that's loads of fun. And I'll sign a lot of the stuff too, like hat, shoes, socks, light, stars, moon, toothbrush, sleepy, etc. That should update you for now.

I'm One Year Old Today!

Can you believe it!? Today I turn one! What an amazing journey so far and I just want to say thank you to all of you who have followed along. Mommy made a nice little slideshow of my first year for all of you. A special thank you to Michelle who gave her the idea :-) We hope you enjoy it and we hope you continue to stay tuned to XiaLife for my 2nd year!

Guest Appearance on Mommy's Work Blog

Mommy made a little video for her work blog and I made a guest appearance. Check it out.

New Year's Eve 2007

Happy 2008 everyone! We had a great time on New Year's Eve at the Volpe's house. I started getting sleepy around 8pm, so we headed home. I was out by 9:30pm, so I didn't ring in the new year - Mommy & Daddy didn't make it either. So we all woke up to a new year.

Here is Maryam (the oldest) tickling me and then giving her best cheesy smile:

Here is Isaac decked out in his armor:

Their youngest is only a little over a year older than me (2 plus some) and Mommy has no idea how to spell her name (Giovannah?) You will see her and the rest of us all playing kitchen in this video. What a great way to end the year! Did you have as much fun as we did?