Merry Christmas

After hearing about Christmas for the last few months, I finally got to see what all of the hype was about. These pictures were taken before Christmas, but the photo below pretty much sums up my facial expressions all day long. My mom likes to call this picture "Christmas Wonder."

I also made a lot of smiley faces, especially when I was opening gifts and spending time with my family.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday as well as a New Year filled with health and happiness.

Check back soon for pictures of our Christmas celebration....

On another note, I want to wish my friend, Jack, a very Happy Birthday! He was born last Christmas, so today is a big day for him as he is celebrating his 1st Christmas and his 1st birthday with his family. I know they are going to make everything extra special for him, and I can't wait to hear all about his big day and celebrate with him.

We've come a long way from our "peanut" days. Here is a picture of when Jack and his mom came to visit us in the hospital right after I was born.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

A Few of My Favorite Things

I haven't been so good about posting videos lately, so here are some action shots of me playing with my favorite toys and doing some new tricks. Hope you enjoy!

For the last few weeks, I've been imitating sounds - of course, "dada" is my favorite to say!

And here's a video of me cruising around the furniture. Grandma says it's only a matter of time before I start walking....look out, everyone!

Saturday Morning Breakfast

Every Saturday morning (and sometimes on Sundays too), me and my mom go over to Grandma Deenie and G's house for breakfast. This morning we had scrambled eggs, ham, and bagels, and as you can see, I enjoyed every bite!

The furniture set up at my grandparents' house is perfect for my cruising. They even have an ottoman for a coffee table so there are no sharp edges as I navigate around it.

"Look, mom....no hands."

Before breakfast, I got to open an early Christmas present - a busy box!! Every time an animal popped up, I started laughing hysterically. I think this is going to be one of my new favorite toys.

Some Updates

Lots has happened in the last week. Probably the biggest thing to report is that I got my Christmas wish....two teeth! They popped up one after the other. Now that I am a big boy, my mom said that I could experiment with some real food that's not pureed. Over the weekend, I ate waffles with strawberries, cheerios, and pizza. Today, I even had homemade lasagna for lunch. If you check out the picture above, you can see my "lasagna face." Mmmm, mmm...good!

Besides eating real food, standing up and walking is my next favorite thing to do. I started cruising around furniture last week, and now I'm even starting to let go and balance without holding on to anything. I especially love grabbing my dad's fingers and "walking" laps around the house.

And, I've also taken up guitar. Wait, that was just a joke....but I do love playing with my dad's guitar hero game. You know, my favorite toys are the ones that my parents play with (remote controls, cell phones, and laptops - go figure)!

Fun with the Twins

Today, the twins came over for another playdate. We had tons of fun hanging out, and I got to practice sharing my toys. Dairien and William both loved the learning table. William pretty much spent the whole playdate singing and groovin' to the music. Dairien and I spent lots of time just playing and watching eachother.

And of course, we played a little football in the ballpit.

Santa Hats and Decorations

Today marked the first day of our Christmas decorating. Dad brought boxes and boxes up from the basement filled with all sorts of goodies. I even put on a "Santa Bill's hat" to bring the Bills good luck today.

Before the game, we had to focus on getting the tree up and decorated. I didn't want to miss a minute of the excitement, so I kept my Santa hat on and played with all of the decorations. Here I am 'singing my heart out' to my favorite Christmas song...."All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth."

Once the decorations were hung, it was time to get down to business...football business, that is. Of course, I had to wear my santa hat for good luck. Unfortunately, luck is something that the Bills haven't had much of lately. We lost another game, and our hopes of making the play-offs pretty much went into the garbage can with all of the broken ornaments and ugly decorations.

No worries, though. I change gears quickly - out of my Bills jersey and into my Buffalo Sabres outfit. Good thing the hockey team is doing well this year!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Today my mom and I bundled up and walked over to the Hunter's house for a playdate with the twins.

As you can imagine, the three of us together spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E. At only 7 months, both Darian and William are all over the place - crawling, standing, and cruising everywhere. It was so much fun playing and "rough-housing" with them all afternoon long.

My mom and Will talked about how we are so lucky to grow up on the same street because it's going to be sports, sports, and more sports all of the time. We certainly got our fill today, playing baseball and tackle football.

Will used to play professional football for the Minnesota Vikings, so he taught me a few football moves. As you can see in this picture, Darian and William thought we were still playing.

Illegal contact to the head....15 yard penalty.

I can't wait until our playdate next Thursday. Thanks guys for having me over!

An Early Christmas Present

One of my favorite things to do these days is stand, so you can imagine my happiness when my mom and dad gave me the Leap Frog Learning Table. It's the best!

A Bills Outing

Unfortunately, the Bills game was not on cable this week, so we had to go to our favorite sports bar, Tully's, to watch the game. I love to go to restaurants, so it was very cool to be out at a restaurant and get to watch the Bills at the same time.

The last time that I was at Tully's, I had my eye on their world-famous tenders, so I thought that maybe someone would sneak me a little snack. There was so much delicious food on the table, and all I got from Grandma and Grampa was a celery stick!

I tried to plead my case to Grampa Ed - I really thought that he would understand. No such luck! Speaking of luck, the Bills didn't have too much of that either. They ended up losing to the 49ers....not good!

My dad still says that there is a chance that the Bills may make the play-offs, but I'm not as optimistic. Hopefully, they will win next week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

When I woke up this morning, I was so exicted....finally, Turkey Day had arrived. I couldn't wait for everyone to come over to the house so that we could start the celebration.

It was clear when everyone got to the house that the priority of the day was eating. I've never seen so much food in my entire life! After eating appetizers all afternoon long, we held the 2nd Annual Lewandowski-Dera Turkey Shoot. I know, I know....long story.

My Grandma Deenie brought over her bebe gun and several homemade turkey targets (one with a NY Jets hat and the other with a New England Patriots outfit). After much anticipation - and bragging from my Grampa G who won the trophy last year, the games began. Here is some footage from the festivities.

Dinner was fantastic - and you can probably tell from my messy tray and face that I got to eat some mashed potatoes, applesauce, stuffing, green bean casserole, and sweet potatoes. YUM!

I ate so much at dinner that I had to quickly put on my comfy clothes and veg on the couch with my Uncle Ted.

Watching TV and hanging out with Uncle Ted is one of my favorite things to do. Look familiar? The picture on the left was taken when I was five months old. Not too much has changed, huh?

Here's one last video of me putting on a show after dinner. There was no need to play games this Thanksgiving because I was definitely the entertainment.

All in all, it was a very memorable Thanksgiving. As my mom and day keep saying, we have lots and lots to be thankful for this year. I know that I'm grateful for all of the wonderful people in my life. I hope everyone have a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday, G!

My Grandma Deenie and G are only 4 days apart, so we got to celebrate another birthday! I'm getting really good at blowing out candles and opening presents...I guess it's good practice for my big day in February.

Here I am taking a deep breath in so I can help G blow out those candles!

Birthday parties are so much fun. Not only do we get to eat cake and open presents, I get to hang out with all of my favorite people. Here I am getting some snuggle time with Aunt Jackie.

And, did I mention...I love opening presents!

Happy Birthday, G. I LOVE YOU sooo much!

A Bills Party to Remember

Today, we had a huge Buffalo Bills party with the whole family, plus Aunt Jen's family and some of Uncle Ted's friends.

We had tons of fun together...so much fun, in fact, that I decided to skip my afternoon nap. The best thing about the party, aside from hanging out with everyone, was that the Bills actually played well.

High fives all around!

Here I am doing some post-game celebrating with Jen's mom, "Crazy Mary," and G. No need to call CPS, though....there was no alcohol consumed by me!

After the game, we came home and I put my comfy clothes on to get ready for the Sunday night game. Dad and I played my favorite game....Sack the Quarterback.

Tonight I was the QB, and as you can see, I went down!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Deenie

Today, I got to get dressed up for a very special occasion - my Grandma Deenie's birthday!

When my mom told me that Grandma was turing 45, I gave her a very strange look. "What are you talking about, mom! Grandma doesn't look old enough to be 45."

My favorite thing about birthday parties is the cake. I can't wait until I turn 1, and I can dig right in. When my mom and dad weren't looking, Grandma gave me a quick taste of the frosting. Yum!

And, of course, I've learned that a birthday party isn't complete without presents. Dont' worry, Grandma, I'll help you open everything.

All in all, it was a great party. Here is me saying good-bye to everyone at the end of the night. We've been working on waving "bye-bye" a lot recently, but I prefer to stick out my tongue instead.