Reid Turns One!

Happy baby boy had a big first birthday this month! Yay for Reid! He really is this happy all the time. A few days before the big day, an early birthday present from Gigi and Bubba arrived - an activity cube. It was fun for big and small kids.

This is Reid's serious face.

Not to be left out, Mom had to take some cute pictures of me as well.

Usually, either Mom or Dad is busy too busy with work to do much one on one time with each kid, but this day, we lucked out. Mom stayed home to play with Reid while Dad took me to the Harvard Museum of Natural History. It was a great day!

Looking at bugs through the magnifying glass.

Mimi and Papaw came up for the week before Reid's birthday to visit. We had a great visit. One of the highlights was a trip to Onset Beach in Cape Cod for the day. This beach is a quiet beach located in Buzzard's Bay, so the waves were small and quiet. Reid who is usually terrified of the water, decided this wasn't too bad.

In fact, it was pretty fun!

Papaw bought us a tub full of new beach toys including this awesome boat.

Reid loves to stand up! He crawls super fast, so while he likes to stand up, he currently has no interest in walking anywhere. He can drink standing up and shake his booty, but nowhere near steps!

Papaw liked to hang out with Reid splashing in the water.

And Reid didn't even eat too much sand!

All cleaned up with Papaw.

Me posing at the pier. After the beach trip, we stopped at a local restaurant and had a yummy lunch. It was a super great day!

August 6th came around and it was time for Reid's birthday. Check this link if you need a reminder about his dramatic entrance into the world one short year ago. We decided on a low key backyard pirate themed birthday party for our boy who loves to growl, "Aarrrrgh!"

Reid is a great little brother. He's a pretty easy kid - he's great at playing in the floor with his toys by himself. He loves playing with balls and cars - a typical boy. Throwing and catching a ball just lights up his face. He has several words - mama, dada, ball (of course), book, baba (bottle), down (usually said right before he everything off the coffee table or when standing up in the bath tub), bye bye, and car. He'll repeat other things, but those are the ones you hear pretty consistently. He smiles with his whole face. He has three snuggle teeth - two on top and one on the bottom, but they're only part of the way through. He loves to eat most anything, but will throw it on the floor or at you when he's done. He weighed 22lbs 3 oz. He's a great sleeper too. We are so glad to have him in our family.

Reid's party just consisted of Mom and Dad, Mimi and Papaw, me, Kaya, and her parents. We had a summer time baby on purpose just for outside parties, so this was ideal.

We started off with a little baseball.

Even Reid got in on the action.

Reid and Johanna

Then it was time for dinner. Papaw cooked his famous flank steak and twice baked potatoes, plus they also brought us back some fruit from a farm stand in Maine.

A pirate themed cake for our pirate boy.

Happy birthday to Reid!

Not too big a fan of the cake, Reid grabbed it and threw it on the ground.

Oh well, more cake and ice cream for me!

The highlight of the party was the treasure chest piñata. Reid got a whack at it.

So did I!

Kaya too!

It took several hits and several hits from grown ups before the piñata hit the ground. Then it took several more beatings on the ground by the kids before out came the treasure.

Reid wasn't about to miss out on the treasure!

Then, present time!

After a long day and finally some much needed baths, we cuddled Mommy.

Happy birthday little man. We sure do love you a lot!

Keeping Busy in the Summer

I feel like we were pretty busy this month, but didn't take too many pictures. July started off with an America's birthday celebration, and there is no place like Boston to celebrate the 4th. While we're not yet brave or crazy enough to brave being downtown with the Pops and two rowdy boys, we did manage to see some good firework displays. Mom was assigned the fourth as her holiday to work but it still left the evenings free. On the 3rd, the city of Needham had their 150th Fourth of July celebration with big firework displays. We met up with buddy Kaya, danced to some music, got some glowy sticks, and got cozy on a blanket for the fireworks. I want everyone to know that this year I was not afraid, and I didn't put my hands over my ears. It was great! Little Reid wasn't too sure about the fireworks at first, but soon he got used to them and watched the sky in amazement. On the actual fourth, mom and I headed up to our usual spot on the hill at Millennium Park (a park in our own neighborhood) where we could see the downtown firework spectacular. I'm completely afraid of bugs, so a mention of mosquitoes was enough to send me wanting to go home and catch the rest of the show on tv. Oh well.

It does get quite hot here in Boston - over 100 degrees this week in fact - and most places including our house do not have central air. Believe us, we do enjoy our three (yes three) window units, but summer time here is all about the balance of staying cool and making sure we get all of our energy out. There is no better place to do that than visiting the Frog Pond at Boston Common. We went there with Mom on a Tuesday home from work. Reid loved splashing!

I love the Frog Pond too. I was a little bored this day because the water is too deep for Reid to crawl along in and there weren't too many other kids for me to play with. It was a fun day to get wet though.

I do love playing with and splashing my brother at every opportunity!

A trip to the Common wouldn't be complete without a ride on the carousel - all by myself!

Trying to get both of us to pose for cute pictures is sometimes challenging. Neither of us is still for long.

And we're easily distracted. Mom's hydrangea bushes turned out nicely this year though.

Little Reid at 11 months old is quite the character. He is very laid back and easy going but tons of fun. He wants every toy that I have - no baby toys for this guy! He loves cars, cars, and more cars. He can crawl and cruise with the best of them, and gets around quickly through the whole house. He's really discovered his voice this month, and his vocabulary is building quickly. He says mama, dada, ball, book, uh-oh, dog, down, all done, and can repeat lots of things. Finally after several months of being toothless, he is finally cutting his teeth. One bottom and one top - our very own snaggle tooth!

While crawling and cruising are his quickest modes of transportation, he's just started taking a few steps behind his push toy.

I'm still a speed demon riding my bike in the street in front of our house.

Watch out mom!

I left Reid in my dust!

This month I also celebrated my half birthday - four and a half officially! Mom took me and Reid to Chuck E Cheese's for a celebration, but she had her hands full and didn't take any pictures. We had fun though!

Dad's been super busy with his fellowship in Epilepsy since July 1st, so much of our fun time has been with mom - though dad's definitely home too sometimes. Mom also took us to Kidz World in North Attleboro - a place full of jumpy houses (and air conditioning). On the radio on the way home from Kidz World, I heard an advertisement that Phineas and Ferb from the Disney Channel were going to be at a nearby mall promoting their upcoming tv movie. If you haven't seen Phineas and Ferb, it's my favorite show and mom and dad don't mind it too much either. I'm not one to forget anything, so Mom, Reid, and I headed out to meet my favorite guys.

Packing up two busy wiggly boys and waiting in line for over an hour and a half to meet Phineas and Ferb was not an easy feat. Well, actually I did great. Reid, not so much. The excitement on my face at meeting the real Phineas and Ferb was worth the hassle. Before we got there, I was worried that Phineas and Ferb would be afraid, as they were probably meeting real people for the first time, hehe.

High-fiving my new buds.

For those who don't know, Phineas is on the left and Ferb is on the right. They're step brothers who invent lots of crazy stuff. Phineas even played peek a boo with Reid who was sitting nearby in a stroller.

Then we got back in line for another 30-45 minutes to meet Perry the Platypus. He's Phineas and Ferb's pet platypus who also doubles as Secret Agent P.

I thought it was funny that he was tickling my ear here.

So maybe we were a little busy this month, but doing lots of fun stuff. We definitely have lots of cool stuff coming up as Reid has his first birthday in just a few short weeks, we find out if baby JoJo is a boy or girl on August 23rd. More changes up ahead as we say goodbye to staying at Johanna's house every day - I start real school in September and Reid will be at a new daycare. Exciting times - stay tuned!

And Baby Makes Five!

Many of you know that the Bolton family is rapidly expanding! We're expecting baby # 3 in January. Again, I'm convinced he's a boy and I've named him Jo Jo. Is that an improvement from Chocolate? Anyways, here he is at 11 weeks and 4 days. Boy, girl, what's your thought? We'll know for sure in August.


Baby Chocolate at 11 weeks 3 days, who turned into wonderful Baby Reid.


Baby Gilbert at 11 weeks 1 day, who turned into wonderful Cooper. Do we all look alike?