13 Months

George is 13 months old today!

Celebrating 4th of July at Five Guys

George ate an entire berry bowl from Pret--he loves strawberries! 

Walking around Waterloo Lake at Roundhay Park

 Lunch in Wetherby

 We got this cute little wooden train at John Lewis in York. We're getting a John Lewis in Leeds soon--I can't wait! I love their classic kids toys & clothes

We've been going to La Leche League meetings in Ilkley--it's lovely to have a day out there after the meeting! 

George still loves the swings

"Poppin' my collar"

 At the river in Wetherby

He was very curious about the rocks but we managed to keep them out of his mouth!

Last Saturday we went to Lotherton Hall

He crawled off to play with the giant Jenga set and left us sitting across the lawn

Heading off to explore the giant lawn chess set...

Watching the birds at Lotherton Hall's bird garden

Last Sunday after church we went to Ilkley and George had another go on the swings

Another busy month has flown by! We've been making an effort to get out and about on the weekends, whether the weather cooperates or not. George loves being outside, crawling around on grass and tasting flowers, twigs, etc. I've been busy with marking and a conference paper this month, so George has been having lots of quality time with Daddy. My conference up in York went well and it was lovely to be in 'academic mode' again, but I did miss him and I looked forward to seeing both of my guys at the end of the long conference days (14 hour days, with the commute!). It made me appreciate my part-time work situation--I'd been really frustrated by job application rejections lately, but now I realise how hard it would be to work full-time and commute every day.

George had his first dentist visit earlier this month! He was very good and calm and got a sticker. He also just had his 12-13 month immunisations last week, with four shots this time! There were some tears, but I just comfort fed him and he was all smiles for the nurse before we went home. He had a little site redness and swelling, but it looked much better the next day.

This month's firsts:
First dentist appointment
First MMR vaccine
First visit to Wetherby
First taste of blackberries (a hit!)

George's First Birthday

Happy first birthday, George!

As he doesn't have any character/theme preferences yet, we picked out this cute Peppa Pig car cake

George's birthday cards from friends and family

We gave him a slice with George Pig's picture on it

We got this cute Happyland birthday set before he was born--he loves it!

We took loads of pictures of his big cake-eating moment--it was all over very quickly!

Looking around for more

Ruth gave him this lovely Paddington Bear and book set--he immediately took to him and grabbed his wellies and examined his face! Richard and I gave our nephew Charlie a Paddington Bear for his first Christmas, and he poked the eyes and nose right away, just like George did. So cute!

Playing with the farm set from Aunt Kelly, Uncle Jason, William & Charlie

On a sugar high after his cake!

Today we had a little photo-shoot with his new toys and books

The shoes, socks and shorts are all birthday money purchases, too

I love this shot--he looks like he's actually reading The Highway Rat!

The Parum Parum Pum set has been a huge hit (excuse my finger in the shot, but I love how he's raising the drumstick!)

He loves that little orange shaker egg and crawls around with it in one hand

The bee maraca is a hit, too

All that playing and posing wore him out, so we had to call it a day on the photo shoot...

It's been a week now and it still seems crazy that he's a year old! I've got a conference coming up and a work deadline later this month, so I'm not sure when I'll get the Thank You cards written up--but in the meantime, here he is enjoying the lovely gifts! Thanks, everybody!