Michigan Getaway

 It has been a long winter with no end in sight, but we thought we would make the best of it and have a weekend escape. Although it's not quite beach weather yet, we made the trip to one of Michigan's beach towns, St. Joseph. It was only a few hours from the city and we found some fun things to do including a stop at a brewery for lunch, an indoor carrousel and children's museum, and a waterpark hotel. Zander's too young to fully enjoy the water park, but we did spend some time swimming in the heated kids pool. We had a lot of fun and we are now looking forward to our upcoming spring break vacation.

 

 

First Birthday Party

We celebrated Zander's first birthday on the day of his Birthday - Saturday, March 1. We had a sports themed birthday party (guess who picked the theme!) and we had a lot of family and friends here to celebrate with us. There were some other kids who gave suggestions for his birthday presents (luckily, one smart parent passed on the skateboard), helped him open presents and entertained him during the party. We had friends visit from St. Louis, Wisconsin and of course, Chicago. Jazzie's sisters and parents also added to the fun. We thank everyone for joining us or sending us birthday wishes as we celebrated Zander's big day!

 Zander hanging out with his friends 

 Grandma and Grandpa Ranum and his aunts and uncle spoiled  him

 Zander with his god-family and our local favorites, the LeFever family

 Henry and Zander continue to be good buds

 

Sports Theme for his Rookie Year

 

 

Checking out his presents.....lucky guy

 

 

 

1 Year!!!

Happy Birthday to Zander! On Saturday, March 1st Zander celebrated 1 year. We had a lot of family and friends to help us celebrate (I'll post more on the party later). It has been amazing to watch him grow into a little boy. He looks so grown up and seems to learn something new everyday. This last month, he has made a lot of gains with his strength and motor development. He continues to scoot on the floors (he is faster on the wood floors), but is now also crawling on his hands and knees. He has mastered pulling to stand and is becoming braver cruising around furniture where he will move between things to make his way around a room. He also continues to show us his love for climbing and he finds his way up/on/around a lot of things in our home. He has also learned to climb up the stairs! His standing table has become one of his favorite toys. He also loves to pop bubbles and Skype with Grandma and Grandpa Ranum.  He will also imitate actions and is starting to move along to some songs and is learning some sign language. He signs "more" (putting both hands together) usually when he likes the food he is eating and wants more food. He continues to be a good eater and likes to feed himself, but now he wants to use the spoon himself too! He is also learning to drink from a cup and is doing well with straw cups now that he is starting to drink milk instead of formula. It has been so much fun to watch his progress over this last year!

 

 Mostly smiles for the 12 month pictures although he continued to be distracted by the sticker on his shirt!

 He is still as dramatic as ever!

 Parker is still his favorite and luckily for Zander, Parker is getting used to him

He's going in for a puppy kiss

11 Months

The Gilliam family is surviving one of the coldest and very snowy winters! The good thing is I had a few extra days to be at home with Zander. It can be a challenge to chase him around all day, but it is also fun to watch him do new things every day. He is a very busy boy and continues to explore his mischievous side.....he is frequently getting my attention as he is about to do something naughty and when I catch him he will give me a big smile and sprint (belly crawl like a mad man) towards whatever it is he is not supposed to have. He is also now pulling himself to stand and cruising around furniture, but still needs help sometimes when he can't get a good grip. He is also taking some steps with his play walker and holding onto our hands. One of his other favorite new skills is throwing and a light up and a bouncy ball are some of his favorite toys. He also loves to throw food to Parker, so they are becoming better friends especially now that Zander is eating a lot more "people food." Another fun activity Zander has been enjoying over the last month are our trips to the pool. Zander likes to splash in the water and play with the water toys. We are now starting to get ready for his first birthday! it's hard to believe it is just a few weeks away!

11 Month Photo Shoot

 

 

OK, so I did get a couple of good pictures of our little angel........but this is the way the rest of the photo shoot went. Zander really wanted to see (eat) the cool sticker on his shirt and got really mad at his mean mommy who was trying to distract him from pulling it off and kept trying to put it back on his shirt. Needless to say, it ended a little early

10 Months

Zander turned 10 months old on New Years Day. We have enjoyed having some extra time to spend with him over the holidays and he has been keeping us busy. Zander is on the move and we now spend a lot of our time chasing after him....and he keeps chasing the dog! He loves to explore the house and tends to find the few things you are trying to keep him away from (heating vents, outlets, cords, Parker's dog food, etc.), but has also enjoyed playing with some of his new Christmas toys. He is also on his way to becoming a climber....he likes to climb over things on the floor and when he is standing he tries to climb on what he is standing by (his play table or the couch). He continues to be a good eater and is exploring a lot of new tastes and prefers to finger feed himself as much as he can. His personality also continues to come through and he likes to be silly...bobbing his head, clapping for himself, dancing to music, and making new sounds. He's lots of fun and keeps us entertained.....and on our toes!

Hanging out with his girlfriend, Lydia, over Christmas (we're having fun watching them grow up together)

Zander's First Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. It was so fun to celebrate with Zander this year. We traveled to Shullsburg on Christmas Eve day and made it home in time for mass. We then had our traditional celebration with the Ranum family on Christmas Eve. Zander was very spoiled by his grandparents, aunts and even us. I think he enjoyed the paper and the gift bags/tags just as much as any of the toys he got. We then spent a few more days in Wisconsin with family and friends. We then spent Friday and Saturday for a very busy few days in the Quad Cities where we saw more family and friends. We were very blessed this Holiday Season and we look forward to the New Year. Happy Holidays everyone, and thank you for making our Holidays special!!

 Our Family



Grandpa Paul gave Zander the rocking horse he had made for my sisters 34 years ago! He had a lot of fun playing with it!

 Zander was tired, but still had a lot of fun opening presents and playing with the paper....oh,  and he loved the new toys, books and clothes he got!

 His favorite "toy" was his very own spatula (he LOVES grandma's so she bought him his own!)

 Zander always has fun playing with great grandpa Kruser...here he is showing his favorite trick

 Even with Zander to entertain us, the puppies were not left out

 Thank you to all for the gifts!! He is one lucky little guy to have so many family and friends who love him