Kitchen Update

It's been a while since I have updated on the kitchen, and we are making some great progress!! We set a goal of being able to move the refrigerator back to where it is supposed to go by Kyler's 1st birthday party on April 9th and...it happened!! To make that happen we had to finish staining the doorway woodwork and the window woodwork, put the doorway woodwork back on the doorway, finish tiling the doorway, grout the tile at that end of the kitchen, and stain the cupboards above where the refrigerator goes! Wow, that's a lot, but we (Erik) :) got it done!!! Our refrigerator is now where it's supposed to be and we have automatic ice again after being without it for about 2 years now... :) Also, Erik laid tile and grouted the spot where the refrigerator has been siting, which means our kitchen floor is finished!!! Also, our cupboards are also all sanded and Erik is going to stain them tomorrow, so that will be great too! Here are some pictures from the progress:

Stained cupboards above where the refrigerator goes

Stained window and doorway woodwork

Erik finishing the tiles by the doorway

Grouting the 2nd half of the kitchen

The back splash by the refrigerator going up

The refrigerator is in its place!

Tiling and grouting where the refrigerator was

The finished floor under where the refrigerator sat for the past 2 years!

13 Months Old!

Kyler was 13 months old last Thursday! Where has the past month gone?! Between birthday parties, Erik being busy at church, and Mother's Day, it seems like the past month has gone by so quickly. Our little man is doing really well! Kyler isn't walking yet but is gaining more and more balance all the time and walks along everything. He even walks along the wall where there is nothing to "hold" on to. He has stood for a few seconds occasionally when he's not thinking about it and even took a step the other night, again when he wasn't thinking. But, as soon as he realizes what he's doing it's back to the floor! So, he'll walk when he's ready! Another thing he's been doing a lot lately is going from crawling to sitting. He had done this once in a while before this past month, but never really had any interest in it, he was very content playing on his belly. However, this past month he has been going from crawling to sitting all the time.

In terms of eating, Kyler loves to eat finger food. He still really likes yogurt-which we still feed to him, but otherwise most of his food is finger food. His favorite is baked ziti pasta which I cut up into little "o"s for him. He takes his finger and sticks it through the hole in the pasta and then eats it!

He has also been talking a lot more this month. He babbles all the time here at home, and lately he has been doing a higher pitched laugh and "dadada", so I think he has figured out he can change between high and low pitch sounds. It's really funny though because once we go out in public and are around people Kyler doesn't know, he's as quiet as can be. :)

Kyler has discovered the bathroom cupboards!!! Ahhhhh!! The kitchen cupboards are pretty much off limits since we are remodeling the kitchen. I keep a gate in the doorway that does not allow him to go in there except on a rare occasion. However, the bathroom cupboards are free game!! We had a little "incident" this past month that caused me to clean out our cupboard and rearrange everything in the bathroom! Kyler was pulling things out of the cupboard, which he had already been doing. I was in the other room and came in to find him sitting in a pool of Hydrogen Peroxide!!!! Ahhhhh!!! He had pulled the bottle out of the cupboard and when the bottle hit the tile floor the lid cracked open, causing it to spill all over!! I didn't know if he had eaten/drank any of it, so I called Erik and asked if I should call Poison Control, he thought I should just in case. So....I quickly undressed Kyler, threw him in the bath tub while I cleaned up the mess and cleaned up the floor. I got everything cleaned up, Kyler in new clothes, and then called Poison Control. I was very relieved to find out that the worst thing that could happen was that Kyler would throw up if he had ingested any at all. So, we had a snack and took a nap! Wow, that was a day! I remember reading on Kris Hoskinson's blog a while ago that the Poison Control number is one you should have handy, well, I didn't think I would need it this soon!! Needless to say, we now have a nice magnet on our fridge with the number on it courtesy of the Poison Control lady!!

Other than that, things are going well at the Blanchards! We are loving this beautiful weather and the chance to be outside, go for walks, and go to the park.

Waiting for his bath

"Cheese!!" :)

Funny face

Digging in the cupboards!!

Sharing Mom's ice cream...a new favorite food!!

Bath time!! (Since this we have ditched the blue tub and now bathe in the big tub!)

I just need to be a little taller....

Hi!!!

Hmmm this box gives me a better view...

I'm 13 Months old!!!

Kyler's Birthday Parties

We celebrated Kyler's birthday with three different parties. The first party was with Erik's family. Both sets of Erik's grandparents came, as well as his parents, brother and sister. We had dinner, cake and ice cream, and opened presents. It was a nice evening, so we were able to eat outside on our back patio. Here are some pictures from the first party:

Yay, it's my birthday!!

Kyler's cake! (Okay, I know that "Happy" is in really fat writing, but I was having trouble with the tube of frosting...)

Kyler with his Great-Grandma Tonderum

One of Kyler's presents! Erik's mom cross-stitched this for him, very cool!

Another present, a sand and water table!! We will have fun with that this summer!

The second birthday celebration was on Kyler's actual birthday, April 12th. That was a Monday, so we just celebrated with the three of us. We had dinner together, Kyler opened his presents from mom and dad, and then we took him to Four Queens for his first taste of ice cream! He also had his first cupcake with his ice cream. He wasn't quite sure what to think about either one. Below is a picture of his first bite of ice cream; however, his opinion has quickly changed, whenever Erik or I has a bowl of ice cream, Kyler is sitting right next to you, leaning over the bowl because he wants some and then he gets mad when it's all gone! :) The same was true with his cupcake, he wasn't sure what to do with it, and was more interested in playing with the frosting than eating the cupcake; however, by that Saturday, he definitely wanted to eat the cupcake instead of play with it! Below are some pictures from Kyler's second celebration:

Opening his card from Mom and Dad (he loved opening the cards and got mad when we took it away to open the present)

Opening one of his presents, a Bible!

Sitting forward in his car seat on the way to Four Queens!

First taste of ice cream...

The "aftermath" of the cupcake!

Our final celebration was with Ashley's family the weekend after Kyler's birthday. Ashley's grandma, parents, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and old babysitter all came over to celebrate (21 people in all!). We had dinner together, opened presents and had cake and ice cream. It was nice out again, so we were able to eat outside. We were especially thankful that it was nice for this party because we wasn't sure where we would have put 21 people for dinner in our house! Below are some pictures from this celebration:

"1" Year cupcakes!

Ashley's brother, Ben, Ashley's grandma, and Geneva and Henry (Ashley's old babysitter) eating dinner.

Opening presents!

The family watching Kyler open his presents

Kyler eating his cupcake at this party!

We are so thankful for all of the family that took time to come and celebrate Kyler's 1st birthday with us! Kyler is so blessed to have all of these people in his life! Thank you also for the wonderful things that Kyler was given, he has been enjoying playing with and wearing all of the wonderful things that he got!!