Bruce's First Birthday!

It's hard to believe that Bruce is 1 year old today! He took his first 2 steps yesterday just to mark the occasion. We had his party at Lake Mineral Wells this afternoon and the weather was perfect except for a bit of wind. He enjoyed his first cupcake and (sort of) opened his presents. He was excited about his new toys and the balloons! We also got a card from a very special guest. Watch the video for an exciting announcement!






So, yes, we are expecting Eastburg baby #2 in October! I am now about 14 weeks along and both of us are healthy. Unfortunately, I have been experiencing quite a bit of morning sickness, but well within normal limits.

Here are some pictures of the party.

B waiting to dig into his cupcake


What is this thing?





Getting into his meal

In need of a bath!


Hanging out with Dad


Opening presents








Cousin John playing with sticks


Riding on his new train


Yay! New toys!


The party

The following are pictures of the day we spent at Clark Gardens. My mom is in town for the week surrounding B's birthday and we are having a lot of fun with her!

Jerret feeding the ducks


Peacock with huge tail


B with the Bluebonnets


Something really funny...


Grammy!


The turtles and fish love our snacks!


A snake on the duck platform?!?!


J feeding more ducks


All worn out


Willow and some swans


Boys doing boy stuff


Channel gardens


Us at the channel gardens


B and Dad


Daddy and Grammy


J


Trains at Clark Gardens


More trains


Taking a ride




Us feeding the turtles

The Release

We took our possum friend to the lake and released him in a great picnic spot. I don't think campers will appreciate our generosity, but we know that the possum will be well fed since they are scavengers. He didn't want to leave the safety of the kennel at first, but Jerret prodded him a bit and he was happily and curiously exploring the area in no time.

"It's scary out there!"


Looking around


He blends right in! (He's the fuzzy gray blob in the middle)

Spectator turnout was amazing!





Bruce hitching a ride


Laughing boys

Our previous roommate

We had some excitement last night at bedtime! Jerret noticed that Chloe was sitting still and looking very intently at the mantel of the fireplace. She was watching a little POSSUM walk around up there! We have been hearing something under the house, but weren't worried because we certainly didn't think whatever it was was COMING INSIDE!!! I had some plants on that mantel that were disappearing when we first moved in. They were broken and pieces were missing every morning - they got smaller and smaller every day! Jerret now admits that he thought I was crazy (and I kind of did too), but I guess not! Anyway, the little guy wasn't very scared of us and accepted crackers from Jerret, which helped Jerret lure him into a kennel. We are planning on taking him to a woodsy area today to release him to nature where he belongs. And we will be spending some of the day searching for and fixing any holes (particularly the one near the mantel) and cleaning up there and around the fireplace. For those of you who know us well, yes, we did discuss keeping him. Don't worry. We came to our senses, but he is very cute and is obviously at home here! Never a dull moment here at the Eastburg house! Here are some pictures for your amusement.

This is our new freshwater tank. Although we did keep our 1 Percula Clownfish, I am burnt out on saltwater and hadn't done anything cool to the tank in a long while. I pulled out the freshwater stuff and started this one a few weeks ago. It is new and fun and keep my hobby side occupied. So far, we have a school of Neon Tetras, a Dwarf Goraumi, a male Betta (B's favorite as you can see from the picture), a Red Wag Platy, an Angelfish, a Glass Catfish, a Gold Snail, a Black Snail, and a Clown Loach. They didn't all show up for the picture, but they're never all out at the same time. We may add an algae eater or two, but not too many more to prevent overloading it. Sorry for the bluriness of the pictures. It turns out that it's pretty difficult to take pictures of fish in a tank! They move a lot (and I'm obviously no expert!).


Betta


Glass Cat and Gourami


Neon Tetra School (see their little desks and pencils?)

B showing off his standing skills

Bruce is now over 11 months and is so proud of himself when he stands unsupported. It won't be long before he is walking all over!




Here are some pictures of our recent day at the lake.

Bruce and Daddy hanging out at home.

First Haircut and Birthdays

When I was cutting Jerret's hair, I decided to trim a few out of control places on Bruce's as well. This qualifies as his first haircut since he's never had it done before. It was a bit intimidating on a young child that moves so unpredictably. It's not very straight and I missed a few pieces, but I will go back and clean it up when I get my guts back. Yes, that's his toothbrush that he's holding. He loves it and we sometimes use it as a distraction.




Bruce's cousin, John just turned 1! Here are some pictures from his party.

Fishing through the toy basket



Sharing. Yay!



Happy!



Opening presents


Trying out John's new toys



Grandma trying out John's new toys!



Jerret fishing in Sara and Nathan's pond



Looking for rocks and sticks and other tasty things



Caught one! (actually caught 3 by the end of the day)



Another one

We had a small party for Jerret's birthday at our house on Sunday.

Jerret cake


Grandma and the tired boys

Crawling and Standing

Bruce at 10 months old, showing off his 6 teeth

Bruce is now officially crawling on his hands and knees. Just a couple days later, he learned how to pull himself up to standing! He keeps us busy as he is all over the place and into just about everything. He still ALWAYS says "what is that?" and now knows who "Dada" is (although he says it for a few other things as well - it can also mean "doggie", for example). Once when he was sitting on the floor sharing his Cheerios with Willow (yeah, I know - we're bad parents), he said "Wil-low" but we haven't been able to get him to say it again. We are both sad and proud to be working on the plans for his first birthday party already. I can't believe it's almost here!

Standing Up

"What's so interesting about this thing, anyway?"


Here's a video of Bruce crawling. He sometimes uses a combo of regular crawling and his old army crawl, depending on the circumstances and how fast he needs to get somewhere.

Here's him pulling up on his own. He's a bit wobbly, but can do it as long as the incentive is right.

The rest of the family is doing well and things are pretty uneventful (Bruce is so much more exciting than the rest of us). Jerret's job seems stable for now, even though the industry is taking quite a hit lately. We are praying his position remains unaffected. I stay busy with household responsibilities as well as some social and fun stuff throughout the week.