HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEVIN LEROY HAYS!

I'm not sure how to capture the past year.  Devin has brought so much love and joy into our lives, Ben and I feel truly blessed.  Devin was a fantastic baby!  He slept through out the night (who could ask for more)  I didn't hear him cry (really cry) until he was three months old!  He was very easy going and very chill (for lack of a better word).  He made it very easy on us.  Thank you to everyone for helping us out as a family, it hasn't been easy, but we are lucky that we have such great families that are there for us.

Now about our little man.  I just really didn't understand how quickly babies grow and develop.  He seems to have a strong grasp on language and mimicking our sounds.  I remember saying 'mom mom mom' repeatedly to him thinking in a couple of months he'd be ale to maybe make a MMM sound... who knew it would only take a week when he was just 6 months old!  And he 

understood that I was mom and uses the word correctly.  It didn't take him too long then to learn dad either.  Just today Ben was telling me how Devin was in the cupboard where his food is kept.  Ben said 'no no Devin you need to close the door'.  Then Ben told him to stop and to shut the door... Devin looks up at Ben and says NO!  Ben was like our son told me NO!  He just looked at me and said no!

I am starting to teach him a few signs I'm hoping he will pick it up just as easily as he picks up everything else.  You just need to show him once how something works and he has it down.  Devin prefers books over toys and loves to explore and is very curious and attentive to his surroundings.  His favorite song is the ABC's and his favorite book it Dr. Suess's ABCs.  He loves the movie Uncle Kevin gave him of it.  He likes Spongbob over any other cartoon.  Devin prefers his Smartville Train Station for toys.  It took him no time at all to figure out how to put the animals in the spot where they go and then push on them to get them to talk and make sounds.  As I said before Devin loves to dance!  Any tune that is played he just starts moving it is sooo cute!  He also loves his bath time.  He loves the water just like his mom.  Ben and I will have to get him to the Wellness Center sometime soon and see how he does.  

As for walking, we thought that since he was standing at five weeks he'd be an early walker, but he is taking his time, which is just fine.  Last week when my mother was in town we were sitting a few feet apart trying to get him to walk back and forth between us.  The second one of us would let go of him he would throw himself to the ground.  He didn't want to walk, I don't know if he was scared or what.  After about ten minutes of trying to get him to walk back and forth he started crawling back and forth.  He would go to my mom and put his head in her lap then turn around, do it to me then go back.  He did this for about five minutes... It was great, we were laughing so hard.  Then he started throwing him self on the ground as if he was falling down.  Not hard just playful... he's such a little character!

Then on Tuesday I tried to get Devin to walk again.  Is was having him walk back and forth between me and the couch.  He did great, you could tell that he wanted to do it.  At first he would just lean forward and then fall, but then he would take a few steps.  There was time when he got four good steps in!  He keeps his hands in fist and keeps them up at his shoulders and just goes.  He wants to walk now so there's no stopping him... Im sure in a weeks time he'll be a pro.

We were suppose to have his Birthday party on Saturday, however, because of the ice we received today we weren't able to.  We are going to have one for him tomorrow at noon instead.  I was really looking forward to having Ben and my family all together and have all the kids there at once.  It would have been a lot of fun for every one.  Hopefully this won't happen to the little man every year.  I will keep you posted on his Birthday party... and I will have my camera!