The start of Fall!

Fall is my favorite season - and I think it agrees with Sully as well. This has been such a busy season for us - with Griff in school during the day and working at night, me working part time from home and taking care of Sully full time - we don't have time for much else these days. Sullivan is a busy little guy too - He is growing up so fast! He started walking, talking a ton, and is always on the move. He loves to play and walk anywhere he can. He's also started dancing, which is about the cutest thing you've ever seen.
This is such a cute stage he's in right now - he is constantly exploring his world and learning so much. He has such a big vocabulary for his age - some of his most common words currently are: doggie, cow, turtle, duck, all done, all gone, bite, water, drink, plane, car, truck, bye-bye, hi, banana, grapes, toe, nose and of course mommy, daddy, meme, pops, and nanna. We're also working on animal sounds and currently he knows what a doggie and cow say!
This past week was the first time Sullivan has been sick in his 15 months! I can't believe we went that long without him catching anything. He got some sort of virus and had a pretty high fever (over 101) for 5 days! Combine that with cutting his one-molars and it has been a rough week in the Stroope household. His fever finally broke yesterday, but now his teeth are just killing him. I feel so bad for him, but we're making it through the best we can. He loves chewing on his toothbrush - I think it helps massage his gums and helps the pain. Whatever works at this point!
Sullivan is such a joy and everyday we love him more than we ever thought we could! Here are some pictures from the past few months.

Ready for some Cowboy football! Go Pokes!!

The sweetest smile in the world!

Mommy and Sully, watching the cowboys game.

Daddy, Sully and Pops

Fall fun at the Arboretum

Hawaii!

This summer we went on the most amazing vacation to Hawaii! We were in Kauai for 2 wonderful weeks - I'm pretty sure island life agrees with our family! We had such a good time and Sully got to experience so many new things for the first time. He had his first plan ride (8 hours!) and all in all, he did really great. He had to adjust to the time change once we got there and took it like a champ. He played in the sand, splashed in the ocean, ate yummy Hawaiian pineapple, and celebrated his first birthday while there. I don't think I have ever seen a more beautiful place than Kauai - and here are the pictures to prove it!

Swimming in the baby pool, looking out over the ocean

First trip to beach - he wasn't too sure about the sand at first, but ended up loving by the end of the trip.

Celebrating his first birthday, eating brownies out on the patio!

At Kipu Falls

My little bucket head at the beach :)

Inside an amazing sea cave on the Napali coast


The whole crew!

Just chillin!

Overlooking Waimea Canyon

Sully's First Birthday

My little man is 1! Hard to believe that he already a year old - time has flown, but this has been the best year of our lives. Sullivan is such a joy and we love him more than we ever thought possible.

We had a great party for him, and of course it was pirate themed :) We had so many friends and family there, it really made it a special day for our whole family.

The table, food and cupcakes!

Opening gifts!

Sully with 5 of his 7 great grandparents!

The grandparents

Eating cake! He's got quite the mouthful!

Going for it! Forget the hands, he dug in face first!

I think he likes cake!

Our Family!

Weeks 43-46

Sully is a boy on the move! He is in to everything and is still as sweet as ever. Over the past few weeks we've been pretty busy. Sully started taking swim lessons and he is loving it. He just smiles and laughs and splashes the whole time we're in the water. It's been a great class and I've loved being able to introduce him to the water in a fun environment. I see many pool days ahead of us now! Here's a picture of my little swimmer!


Sully has also started crawling for real now - it was so cute watching him figure out how. He was so awkward at first and didn't really get the rhythm of it, but he's doing much better now. He was already pulling up on everything but now he's started to walk while holding on to the couch or coffee table. He's not tested his balance yet by letting go, but I'm sure that's just around the corner. Another small thing, but so incredibly cute, is that Sully started to wave. It is precious - we were in line at the grocery store and he started to wave at all the people around us. He also waves at his stuffed animals, the pictures in his books, really anything. It's beyond cute! And speaking of cute... here are some pics of the cutest baby ever!!

Memorial Day in Oklahoma with my family

Look at those pearly whites!

Sully loves to clap!

Doing his best model face :)

Not a happy camper :(

Weeks 40, 41, & 42

Sully is on the move now! He is EVERYWHERE, ALL of the time! He's really doing great though - such a happy boy. He loves to play - with the most random things he finds around the house - I'm pretty sure we never needed to buy him toys! He also really likes playing with our little dog, Bernie. He'll find a dog toy and wave it for her and they'll play tug of war with it. It's pretty much one of the cutest things you've ever seen.

It seems like Sully is growing up so quick now. In a matter of weeks he went from sitting, to crawling, to pulling up. He's getting so big and really starting to explore the world around him. Makes for some great photos and videos!

This is 40 weeks. I got Sully a little pool for the backyard and he had a blast playing in it!

My first Mother's Day!

He is hysterical when he laughs!

He's in the laundry basket here - I had to run outside really quick, but since he's been pulling up on stuff I didn't trust him to not get in trouble while I ran out to the backyard - so I did what any normal mom would do - put a laundry basket on him!

This is quite possibly the best part of my day - when I come in his room after he's woken up from a nap he's always trying to pull up on his crib bumpers and he looks like he's in baby jail. Cutest baby ever!

April 22

Army Crawling Pro from Griffin & Kami Stroope on Vimeo.

May 16

Trying to pull up from Griffin & Kami Stroope on Vimeo.

May 17

Standing Boy from Griffin & Kami Stroope on Vimeo.

May 19

My little climber from Griffin & Kami Stroope on Vimeo.

Fun Videos of Sully

Here are a few videos from the past month of Sully's new tricks!

Tart Food from Griffin & Kami Stroope on Vimeo.

Picking up a puff from Griffin & Kami Stroope on Vimeo.

Swinging Sully from Griffin & Kami Stroope on Vimeo.

Trying to crawl from Griffin & Kami Stroope on Vimeo.

Weeks 30-something - 39

So apparently I got off in my weeks, because I don't have any pictures from weeks 35 or 36... but I picked up at week 37. I think I just miscounted somewhere in the early 30's... oops! Anyway, here's what's been going on lately...

• Sully had his 9 month (can you believe it!) check up last week and it went great. He weighs 17 pounds (5th percentile) and is 28 inches long (50th percentile). He also did great getting his shot and finger prick - barely any tears!
• Sully is on the move now - he is army crawling like a pro. I don't think it would matter if he was crawling on his knees because he's super fast at army crawling and can get everywhere imaginable in the house. And even though he has loads of toys, his favorite things to play with are cords (I don't let him play with them, he just has a crazy radar and finds them no matter where they are), dog toys, remotes, and the pots hanging off the island in the kitchen.
  
• His spitting up is FINALLY better! He still has a few moments where we're caught off guard, but all in all it has improved so much. SO thankful for this!
• Now that the weather is so nice we've been going to the park almost every day to swing - Sully loves it and could probably stay there and swing all day.

Things are just going really well and Sullivan is such a great baby - he is so happy and smiley and is the most adorable baby ever! We are so blessed to have him and couldn't be more thankful for every day we get to spend with him. Here are some pictures from the past few weeks...