Christmas!

It's been a pretty eventful week at the Magnuson house. For those of you that don't know, dad had a heart attack early Saturday morning, but is doing much better. Wes and I were in Salisbury from Saturday until Wednesday "helping" him get better. :) Wes was out-of-control wild the whole time. He had his first taste of cat food (and second!) and gave his granddaddy lots of open-mouthed kisses.
We got home late Wednesday night and have been resting and enjoying our Christmas tree ever since. Here are some pics...








I call this one, "JOY."


Get better soon, dad!!

Looking Back.

I've been doing a lot of looking back this week as I've been making christmas presents for family. It's hard to believe how much Wes has grown in one year. Our lives have changed so dramatically in the past year, and definitely for the better.

Oh, and our word count is up to four. The new word - BALL. He throws his ball up in the air and says, "BAHHL!" Notice the pattern with the b words?

Here's a look back:

January


February


March


April


May


June


July


August


September


October


November

Three Words.

As of this morning Wes is up to three real words.
I'm not counting mama, dada, bye-bye, or baby...although those are all really cute. These are words for things, not just baby repetitive noises.
This morning he pointed to the book he was reading after he woke up, "What's Wrong Little Pookie," and said "Moo." While I think Pookie is actually a pig, he looks like a cow. Any animal that is black or white or looks like a cow gets, "Mooooo." Anytime Wes is at the freezer door when it's opened, he also points to his Ice Cream and says, "MOOOOO!"

Then when I got him out of his crib, he picked up his teddy and said "Bear" (it came out as Beah but I got the point). I said, "Yes, Wes that's your bear! Very good!" and he kept picking it up and saying "Bear" and then laughing hysterically and kicking his legs (he's a happy happy boy).

Finally, his first word and maybe the cutest: Balloon. It comes out as "Boooon. Booooooooon!" He loves the free Harris Teeter balloons and gets one everytime we go shopping. But anytime he sees a balloon anywhere (like the other night when we were out to dinner) he says Boon.

I can't wait for more and more words to start coming from him. Something tells me it's going to get more and more interesting at our house!

Halloween

Wes was the sickest he'd ever been on Halloween...what a terrible weekend!
He woke up on Halloween morning with a 102 degree fever, so we went directly to the doctor at 7:30 am. Luckily his ears were clear, but he was diagnosed with a sinus infection. We spent the next two days trying to keep his fever down and clearing loads of snot out of his nose. I'm glad to report he's back to normal now and eating more than usual to make up for his lack of appetite for over a week!

We still dressed Wes up on Halloween evening and Ryan and Gina came over for chili and handing out candy. While our festivities were cut short by illness, we still had fun in the days leading up to Halloween.

We carved a pumpkin on Wednesday night.




We went to Fearrington Village on Thursday for their Kids Night - Wes got to pet some goats and see some cool jack-o-lanterns.


Dressed up like a greaser on Halloween




Hopefully next year Wes will be ready for some trick-or-treating!!!

A day in the life...

Wes and I spent the whole day together yesterday while Neil studied, and I decided to take pics of all the fun things we were doing. A "typical" day changes so often - I need to do a better job of recording the little stuff. So, I present a day in the life of 15 month old Wesley.


Blue's Clues with a bottle and Mr. Cow (our morning ritual...this is the absolute best cuddle time and what makes getting up at 6:30 am worthwhile)


Mashed potatoes and turkey for dinner (notice that he's got just as much potato in his hair)


Crying because I took something away (completely normal these days).


Playing with his airplane - I walked over and realized his plane had a random car and one sock inside.

You never know what you're going to get with Wes, but you will always laugh and smile...and feel loved when he gives you a great hug!

Thomas!

We went to see Thomas the Tank Engine in Spencer yesterday with Nana and Grandaddy. It was a blast but I'm so glad we went on Sunday morning (and not on a Saturday afternoon). Thomas is quite the rockstar! The bigger kids were so excited to see him pull up on the tracks. Wes smiled, pointed, and gave a grunt of excitement when he saw him.
We got to take a train ride (which was actually fun for everyone) and we were going to go see Bob the Builder but someone was a little too tired. :) It was a great day and I'm sure we'll be back to see Thomas for many years to come.

I see a pattern forming here...

We're busy, we're tired, we're working, we're chasing a one year old around all day.
But I know people enjoy reading about/seeing pictures of Wes, so we'll try to do better.

An update - Wes is communicating so much better. It's like a light went off in his head one day and even though he can't talk, he seems to understand what you're saying to him. He can now ask for more in sign language, which is about the cutest thing you've ever seen the first 1,000 times. I was so proud when he did it the first time - a tangible thing that I'd taught him! It was so rewarding to see that he understands that more doesn't just mean More watermelon, it means, more water, more Thomas the tank, more mommy-making-funny-voices! We're now working on "more, please", thank you, water, and others.
Yesterday Wes took his first steps while he was walking back and forth between Gina and me. If he would just let go, he could walk all over the place, but he's the type that is going to be cautious and wait until he's sure. That's okay...I certainly know where he gets it from!
He is into everything - we've had to get new outlet protectors because he's figured out the cheap ones! He's a smart little booger.
I promise there will be MORE blog postings (just ask Wes how to ask for them in sign language!) Here are a few recent pics: