Baby Rane is One

Can you believe it? I sure cannot! The sweet baby we brought home from the hospital a year ago is now on the verge of being a toddler. I prayed so hard for him for many months and when I found out I was pregnant my excitement and thankfulness to God was overwhelming. We have enjoyed every single minute we have had with him. He is SUCH a good boy. Ella Ann was a fantastic, easy baby and so is Rane....we are truly blessed. Rane is so laid back, easily entertained, has always played well on his own, loves to be in Spencer and I's arms, adores Ella Ann and wants to be wherever she is, loves being outside, hates being in his car seat, will eat anything and everything and can charm the pants off of anyone at anytime. I take this kid to the grocery every single week and every single week I am approached by several old ladies who have to ewww and ahhhh over him and Rane just hams it up for them and loves the attention. Rane is loved by everyone he meets because he will smile at you and grab your attention like none other. He is so precious. I look forward to starting my day with him and Ella Ann. Each morning when I go in his room to get him up (he's usually already awake) he hasn't even opened his eyes yet and he is grinning from ear to ear at me...all wrapped up in his favorite blanket (which is sleeps with wrapped around his head every night all night).

He has 7 teeth....seriously....and is working on his 8th. Crazy! He bites often, but only because he likes to put everything in his mouth, including arms and fingers. He takes 2 naps most days and is in bed at 7 each night. He will wake early still, but usually it is after 6:15/6:30 a.m. He doesn't have stranger anxiety and is fine when left in the church nursery. This is amazing to me because after dealing with Ella Ann and her separation anxiety with me this is quite a blessing! Ella Ann STILL cries sometimes (like this morning) when we drop her off in the nursery at church. It's a show for her now. Rane is all boy through and through. He is into everything, and I mean every. single. thing. at all times. All pictures, books, breakables, cords, etc. are placed in hiding or high on shelves to avoid problems. He is a climber and once he gets something in his head it's all over, he's on it. He has eaten holes through numerous things, including Ella Ann's Cooshie booster seat that I paid too much money for for him to destroy! Soon it will be his and HE can it in his shark-like bitten seat!

So our party yesterday was fantastic! All of our immediate family drove down and we had a big celebration with lots of food and cake on Saturday afternoon. Carter and Seth enjoyed playing with all of Ella Ann's toys, including her dollhouse and princess costumes! Rane loved all of the attention, as did Ethan. It was a quick trip for everyone and we were on our own again before we left for church this morning. It was so nice of them to drive all the way down here for Rane's birthday. Thank you again to our families!!!

I took several pictures so click HERE to view them. As always, the ones below are for my parents who cannot access Facebook. On a side note, our camera is showing an error message that we don't know how to fix so that's why the pictures are fuzzy. Bummer for sure on such a special occasion.

The ginormous whale cake I made Friday night while everyone was sleeping so if I screwed up (note the tail) no one was breathing down my back while I tried to fix it!

Hating the hat!

Not liking the cake at all!

Sporting Ella Ann's butterfly antennas.

Playing with the boys.

The shirt rings true!

Unfortunately this is his new face that he makes now with Grandpa!