Happy 1st Birthday, Anthony

On his birthday... smiling away for me.


Eating the funniest looking fall cake on his birthday... yeah, it still tasted good.


The two above pictures... one is him stealing Aunt Dana's pretzel and the other is when I asked him to smile with his stolen pretzel! Hilarious. Yes, he does smile on command.

One of those moments he wouldn't stop laughing... to make us laugh. All four of us were busting our cookies laughing at him. I need to post a video of this soon.

Birthday party with the neighbors last night... above.
And below... photo shoot out back...

A Patrick face.
"Hey, Mom!"
His very serious face he gives when he does not want to do something.

Sweetness.
Mischievous.
Oh, so sweet.
Most of the day... he stands. Love those chubby feet.

Profile shot.
Another picture where he is trying to crack us up. Gabriel is thinking... this gets so old.
Cuddle bug. It got rough real fast...
And below... my crazy baby with his big baby blues.

Above is a combination of pictures of my one year old cuddle bug, maniac, hysterical, rough and tough baby boy. When Fr. Baker told me that he was going to pray that Anthony was BIG because he knew he would need to defend himself from Gabriel, his prayers were answered. My big boy turned one on September 23rd. The year has flown, but I think life does with two kids. Anthony has taught us the joy in being flexible because he has never found his schedule. He has taught us the joy in being awake because he is ALWAYS awake. And he has taught us the joy in being reckless with our affection because he will tackle you, munch on you, grab you and lay himself right across you if you give him the chance. He is ALL over you with his LOVE!

He has starting eating lots of fruits and vegetables and will eat at least 3 eggs in the morning. He likes to cruise the furniture and finally right before he turned one he started crawling... this kid has army crawled since forever. I think he will be walking soon and he just broke his 4th tooth yesterday... the 3rd one came on his birthday. He has a super hilarious laugh that he uses specifically to get others to laugh and he will use it until the laughing stops. It's super great. He has started shaking his head no at me when he doesn't want something and he pretends often that he is talking on the phone and tells, "HEYYY." That is the only other word he says besides, "DADA." He adores his brother and wants to go everywhere he does. They are best buddies. Anthony is FINALLY sleeping through the night... it took till he turned one. It has been a long year of crying it out! Lastly, he still loves to swing... he would swing all day if I let him. Love this little man.

Happy Birthday, Ant. Thank you, Jesus for my precious baby boy, Anthony Edward.