Happy 1st Birthday Eli Hudson!

A year full of love and smiles and fun!

I can't believe my little baby has turned one!

 

Thank you Eli, for being the best kid we could have ever hoped for.

Eli's first haircut!

It was time for our little man to get his hair trimmed.  The front may have looked OK, but the hair over his ears and down the back was getting a bit ridiculous (he was also getting quite a few "look how cute she is" comments, which may have been the long hair or the pink shopping cart cover we inherited from Hannah and Sophia, hard to tell). 

No surprise -- Eli enjoyed himself at the hair salon!

A visit with Santa

You know that moment when the baby starts screaming and crying and struggling on Santa's lap at the mall?  When the baby sobs (much like Eli with the Easter bunny), but everyone that's around just smiles and says stupid things like "Oh, guess Baby's gonna get coal this year" or "These are the memories we make".  As if tormenting your young child is part of the holiday fun.  You know what I am talking about? 

I HATE that moment.  Tears come to my eyes for the child and I get super annoyed with the smiling parents.  So when we took Eli to see Santa for the very first time while we were visiting his cousins for Thanksgiving, I dreaded that moment of tears.

But, of course, all of my dread was for naught!  As I have found many times over these last 11 months, I often worry a lot about something only to watch Eli face the situation and shine!

Maybe Eli loves Santa so much because he met him last year, when Santa dropped Eli off at the hospital at 8:28pm on Christmas Eve?

A dapper Eli, waiting in line at the
"North Pole" (Palmer Mall) to
meet Santa for the first time. 

"Hi Santa, it's been a while since I saw you. 
How was your year?  Mine was pretty good."

Even Santa was impressed by Eli!

How cute are these kids?

Eli's first Halloween

Lots of Halloween posts below (What can I say?, it's Ryan's favorite holiday!), but here's a last one of some of the photos from actual Halloween Day (on which we sat at home being grateful that we survived the frankenstorm) as well as a summary of ALL of Eli's Halloween costumes (doesn't every almost-one-year-old need 3 Halloween costumes and multiple Halloween outfits?)!

"Happy Halloween!"

"This pumpkin is JUST the right
size for me!"

Eli's first pumpkin patch 2012

Halloween 2012
Baby's 1st BOO!

Eli the Skunk 2012

Incredible Eli Hulk 2012

Flying Monkey Eli 2012

Eli's first day of "school"

At the beginning of September, Eli had a very big day -- his first day at the baby-sitter's! 

Eli goes to a sitter's house with just a few other young kids (including his favorite Madeline!), but Ryan calls it "school".  In the few weeks he has been going to "school", he definitely has learned a lot!

We were very lucky to work out schedules so that one of us was home with Eli everyday for more than 8 months and we are very lucky that we were recommended to a great sitter!  It's comforting to know that Eli is in good hands the 3 days a week that we're not with him. 

Take me out to the ball game (DC/Baltimore Edition)

In our quest to visit all MLB stadiums, we went on a trip with Grandma, Uncle Steve and Aunt Kelly down toward the capitol, to go to a Nationals game and an Orioles game.  There were only a few weekends all year that both teams are playing at home, so we had planned this trip a few months in advance.  Little did we know that it would be RIDICULOUSLY hot, hitting over 100 both days we went to the games.  Despite the heat, we all survived, and even had a good time! 

Our first night, we went to the Washington Nationals game against the Tampa Bay Rays.  Eli sported his Jeter Yankees onesie (and that's it -- trashy, but it was sooo hot!) in support of the Rays losing.  It was a hot night, but we had great seats and plenty of room to relax.      

Us with Thomas Jefferson at Nationals Park.

Eli watched most of the game with Aunt Kelly.
(I think she became his favorite because she
kept giving him ice cubes! Oh, and she's fun!)

"It's so hot, Mommy!"

The Wynnes at Nationals Park

This trip included Eli's first hotel stay and he loved it!  I am pretty sure his favorite part was the giant bed.  Ryan and I got a room with a king-sized bed so that we'd have room for the pack-n-play and Eli went nuts over it.  I think he also liked that Grandma, Aunt Kel and Uncle Steve were just across the hall and we could go visit them every night!

"I love this giant bed!"

"I could sleep on this bed every night!"

The next day, we hung out in Baltimore for a bit ... but mainly it was so hot we all felt awful.  So we ate lunch (Ryan ate only ice cream!) down in the Inner Harbor and then hung out in the air-conditioned hotel.  Eli, Ryan and I also met up with our good friend Jenny for some drinks (how did we not get any pictures??  Curses!).  It was so nice to see Jenny and have her meet Eli!

Luckily, it rained right as that night's baseball game was going to start, so it did cool a bit (though only a bit).  Another amazing stroke of luck -- our game seats were undercover, so we didn't get wet at all!  It was a nice night with the Baltimore Orioles playing the Washington Nationals (so it was packed!). 

"What?  Another baseball game? 
I'm cheering for the Mets tonight!" 

The Wynnes at Oriole Park at Camden Yards

One last playtime on the bed!

On the way back up north, we all headed to Atlantic City.  Grandma, Uncle Steve and Aunt Kelly spent the night, but we just hung out for the day and then drove home.  It was too hot for the beach, but we had a great time in the hotel pool with Grandma (Mommy also had some fun gambling with Uncle Steve and Aunt Kelly!)!

Hard to tell, but he is splashing and trying
to grab the water.
(He likes to grab and examine everything!)

Swimming was so fun, we had to nap!

While it was hot, we had a great time and a wonderful adventure with Uncle Steve, Aunt Kel and Grandma!  Can't wait for some more adventures to go see all the rest of the MLB stadiums!

Taking a dip in the (Gallagher's) pool

When we traveled to WNY back around Father's Day, we made a stop in the Roch to see the Gallagher's new house.  Eli was very excited to see his girls again and it was so nice out that we got to enjoy their pool and some grilling out on their deck. 

It was Eli's first time in a swimming pool and I think he had an amazing time!  The pictures show his "concerned" face, but we take "not crying" as pure enjoyment at 6 months old!

So much fun!

In his froggy suit for the first time!

"This isn't so bad!"

Kenzie, trying to teach Eli how to swim

Happy Father's Day!

Daddy & Eli
June 17, 2012

Happy FIRST Father's Day to the very best dad that I know!

Ryan and Eli are already best friends.  Eli and I are so lucky to have Ryan!

We celebrated Father's Day in WNY and stopped by Niagara Falls before nice dinner!

A swinging good time

On a random, nice Thursday night, we decided to check-out the local playground and take Eli for a swing.  At first, Ryan and I were surely more excited, but Eli quickly joined in on the fun!

(Thanks to Aunt Kimmy for lending us her Hugga Bebe, which allowed Eli to sit in the swing and is awesome and gets daily use at the Wynne house!)

Curiosity

Excitement

Contemplation

Joy!

Eli's first pet

Could the son of two nerdy science professors possibly have a normal first pet?

No, of course not.

Eli's first pet is a shoal of transgenic zebrafish known as GloFish.

Eli with his GloFish!

 What are GloFish?, you ask?

GloFish are a zebrafish (Danio rerio, as my 8-year-old nephew quickly identified!) with an inserted transgene from either a jellyfish or a sea anemone.  These genes are for fluorescent proteins that are expressed in the muscles of the zebrafish and make them "glow".  They now sell red, orange, green, blue and purple (you can now buy them at your local pet store!).  Eli has a few green and a bunch of blue ones.

Green GloFish
(Photo by Ryan Wynne)

Blue GloFish
(Photo by Ryan Wynne)

 
Sure, Eli is probably a bit young for a pet of his own (Wait, I am not supposed to buy my 5-month-old his own pet?).  Truthfully, these are some research subjects that are just spending the summer with us from Ryan's lab.  Ryan has been working on a few shoaling studies with his undergraduate students, based on some experiments I did during my thesis work** (a long time ago!). As Ryan is home with Eli all summer, we thought it would be fun for Eli to start doing a bit of research and earn his keep (Wait, I am not supposed to have my 5-month-old doing research?).  


**Totally nerdy side note -- While getting some links for this post, I discovered that my old thesis paper is actually mentioned on the GloFish Science page.  I am that much of a nerd that I am a little excited about it!**   

Eli eats some more

As I mentioned before, Eli started food a while ago because his doctor wanted him to start cereal at 3 months and fruits and veggies at 4 months.  Eli turned 4 months old just as Ryan and I were in the throes of finals week and then we went to PA for the day so Nana and Pop-pop could baby-sit Eli while we went to a wedding (Congrats Matt & Heather!!).  With all that fun, we waited for a bit to start solids other than rice cereal.  We decided to go with bananas to start (because I read somewhere that was a good food to start with and we had bananas in the house!) and then a few days of sweet potatoes. 

Yummy!  Bananas!

Eli seemed to really like to eat both.  The bananas were just mashed fresh bananas mixed with formula.  He ate them down, but on the third night, he woke up almost hourly with obvious tummy pains.  This was very unlike him.  He usually only wakes up at night if he is hungry and will chow down a full bottle.  That night, he would wake up yelling and then want to be held and snuggled and occasionally eat, but only about an ounce or so.  Not a good night.   

"I love sweet potatoes!"

We waited a few days and then tried sweet potatoes, this time out of a jar, thinking maybe the pre-made jarred food might be easier on his tummy.  Again, he gobbled it down at each sitting but woke up with tummy pains again throughout the night on the second and third days. 

For now, we have decided not to push the food too much.  It is obvious that Eli's tummy cannot take the food even if his mouth loves it!  Ryan and I made the executive decision to stick with bland cereals (maybe oatmeal this month?) for a few more weeks and then try fruits and veggies again.  I even have a bunch of "homemade" baby food waiting for him in the freezer (more on that fun adventure later!). 

"When can I have more of
those yummy 'tatoes?"

Weekend with grandma

Eli was very excited that Grandma came to visit for Mother's Day weekend/her birthday! 

He made some gifts, baked a cake, and was generally cute the whole time.  We took Grandma to the Central Park Zoo, to NJ for a visit to IKEA, and out to some nice dinners.  He was also very good while Grandma and Mommy went to the casino and while Mommy and Daddy went out on a "date" (yay, Avengers movie and fast food!).  Eli already misses Grandma and can't wait to see her a lot this summer. 

I'll put the official "Mother's Day" photos on the next post, but here are a couple photos from the weekend ... though none with Grandma ... oops!

Making Mother's Day gifts!

Amazed by our crafty-time!

Loved the penguins!



This penguin loved Eli!

Mommy's favorite!