Holden took his first steps last night!!!!

Last night Holden took his very first steps. The last few days he has started to stand on his own unsupported for a couple of seconds at a time. Last night, he got up and stood there for about 3 seconds, then came barreling into my arms, about 4 steps!!! He was soooooo excited and had the biggest smile on his face. Both John and I were there to see it, which made us both so happy. I had a nice little cry after that. My baby is growing up so fast!

Happy (early) birthday Holden!

Holden had his birthday party today (his birthday is actually this Weds). The whole family showed up!* We had a little party to celebrate this big milestone.

It was a great day. Holden had lots of fun. He loved having everyone around and was full of smiles and laughter all day.

Here's who was there:

Nannie (Danielle)
Grandamaman (Nicole)
Grand-daddy Zadie (Barry)
Uncle Gerry
Aunt Lisa
Cousin Cole
Cousin Keira
Paul (2nd cousin to Holden... or 3rd?)
Kay (great-great aunt to Holden!)

and of course:
Mommy (Steph)
Daddy (John)
and HOLDEN!

* Aunt Paula and Uncle Jeff couldn't make it down from Woodstock. We really missed them! Can't wait to see them soon.

On with the pictures!

Steph designed a Wall Juice tattoo to decorate. Here's Holden the morning of his party showing off the tattoo:



Let the party begin! Holden gets a kiss from Cousin Keira:


Holden gets his first gift, a great wooden activity center from Aunt Lisa, Uncle Gerry, Cole & Keira. Cole drew Holden a beautiful card too!



Aunt Lisa and Holden called each other in the morning to make sure they matched:


Cake time! Steph made great vegan chocolate cupcakes. They were amazing!


Holden's first true taste of sugar... he liked it! Ate the whole cupcake in 3 minutes flat!!


Playtime!





Holden gets a bouncy spinny zebra from Zadie. He loves it!


Bouncing:

First snow

This is from a couple of weeks ago at our first snowfall.

Holden was not impressed.

New photos

*nom nom nom*




With William the bee:

Holden was a turtle for Halloween!

Holden walking...... sort of..... with assistance

We apologize for neglecting the blog lately. So as a special treat, here are some videos of Holden playing with his walker. He just started using it for its intended purpose, rather than bonking his head against it from a crawling position - something he had been doing for the last couple of weeks. Special thanks to Aunt Lisa who provided the baby walker.

Here's Holden walking:

Another video of Holden walking:

Wipeout

Attack!

Holden swimming

We took swimming classes this summer. Holden had a great time. Here we are doing a front float.

"Free time" with Curtis at the end of the class

... and with daddy in our fabulous baby pool.