Hair Cut

I finally decided to trim the boy's hair. It was getting a little out of control if you saw my previous post on this topic. I was quite pleased with how it turned out considering how apprehensive I was to take scissors to his mop.

But then the next morning he woke up and it looked like this...
I found it a bit ironic that he is playing with a hair brush.

Oh well. I tried.

Identity Crisis

I am starting to think that my child believes he is a dog. Perhaps he has concluded that since they both get around on all fours, they must be the same species. Therefore, he growls like her, plays in her water dish, and attempts to eat her food. And now this...

My first reaction to seeing the Boy inside the dog bed was to quickly snatch him out. I mean, the dog sleeps in there. Gross. But then of course, I remembered I had a blog and the urge to take a picture overcame that of good hygiene.

He was having such fun, I couldn't bring myself to spoil it - or to put the camera down. Then Roxy came to investigate. I don't think she was very happy with the boy commondeering her bed. But she is getting more tolerant of him and his fascination with all things dog related.

Shake It Up!

Here is the other picture I took on Saturday of the Boy laying in the floor. Incidentally, it was at my birthday get together. (Thanks to all my friends for being there and to those who wanted to be but couldn't.) I love this picture because it also captures little buddy's affinity for his maraca. This was a Christmas present from Mamie and Papa and it rarely leaves his sight now. Whenever you shake it, this toy can do counting or colors in English and Spanish or musical sounds. Since the Boy has a hard time ever keeping his arms still, this is a perfect toy for him. I was a little worried when it stopped functioning correctly after it got dipped into the dog's water bowl. Luckily, it dried out and is back in full operation.

As a result of the inordinate amount of time he spends with his maraca, little guy has learned how to "count" to ten. It goes something like this:

Dad: Let's count it out! One!
Boy: *grunt*
Dad: Two!

Boy: *grunt*

Dad: Three!

Boy: *grunt*
Dad: Four!
Boy: *grunt*

...and so on. He's a genius!

A Happy Place?

I am not sure why and I can never tell exactly when, but lately the Boy can often be found laying on the ground, motionless. He is completely content in this position. I once thought it would be a good idea to get down there with him. When he saw me, he cried, got up on all fours, and crawled away. So I stood up, feeling rejected, and went back to what I was doing. He then returned to the original spot and resumed his lazy demeanor. Here he is on:

Sunday









Monday









Tuesday








Wednesday









Thursday

Friday

Saturday






Either this is his Happy Place, or he's given up on life. Whichever it is, he does NOT want to be bothered. Sometimes I feel like I should grab the chalk and outline him.

**In response to Jo's comment, he has never fallen asleep like this and never stays this way for more than 30 seconds. I guess when you've only lived 13 months, 30 second breaks seem sufficient.

An Unexpected Visitor

This is Stella. She lives behind us one block over and decided to drop in this morning to say hello. I saw her out of the corner of my eye while I was sitting at the computer and she was snarfing around our driveway. So I hurried her through the house and onto our back porch. Stella has visited us once before (also unannounced - she just has no etiquette). And though the picture on the bottom makes her look like a good candidate for a Cujo movie, she is a very sweet girl. But we are ill equipped to host a big dog. Besides that, Roxy is never all that thrilled to have another canine in the house. She is guarding that door with the full force of her 17 pounds. Outside however, they are buddies.

The Boy is also not a fan of Stella. I thought that having a dog would keep him from being afraid of them. Not so. He saw her and was terrified! Would you just look at that pitiful face.

Luckily Stella does not even come close to fitting through that doggy door, but it is not for a want of trying. Poor pooch picked the wrong day to get loose- she must be freezing! I hear her whining outside as I type. I hate to call Animal Control, but I think it's better than letting her become a popsicle.

It Got Very Quiet

Yesterday, prior to the big step, I was in another room when I realized the Boy had become very quiet. This is not usually good news. So I peeked my head into the living room and saw this...


Anyone who knows me at all probably knows that I don't find much pleasure in reading. But I badly want my kids to love it, so this was a proud moment for me.

We'll Call it Official

The Boy took his first step yesterday! And I do mean step in the singular. He may have done more (but I doubt it) had I not gotten so excited at the first one that I gave him a big kiss preventing any further forward travel. I still think it will be a while before he walks. The Boy is a fairly cautious kid and generally does not attempt anything until he is certain he can do it right. But he is more willing to stand on his own now. Incidentally he can do this with a rubber duck in his mouth, which is good since that has been its permanant home since it was given to him by our friends, the Silva's.

Cheery-O

In my opinion, the Cheerio step is an important step in a baby's life. If he can eat Cheerios by himself, then we are on our way to many more independent eating habits. It's also the beginning of many a Cheerio being left in piles on the floor, all around the house, in his car seat, on the pew at church, etc. I bought a box of Cheerios a little while ago but still have not felt comfortable giving it to the Boy. However, some sweet little girl was kind enough to share hers with him at church on Sunday. Okay, she didn't so much as share them as she left them on the ground and little buddy became a human vacuum cleaner. But he did quite well with them. So Monday morning I thought we would give them a shot for breakfast.



The first round went pretty well.






But then something went horribly, horribly wrong.





Have I ever mentioned the ridiculous gag reflex on this kid?



The Cheerios are going back into the cabinet for a while.

Do I Need a Hair Cut?

Someone please tell me what to do with my child's hair!

Chug-a-Lug

The Boy had his one year check up today. He's a little guy as you all know by now. Today he was 17 pounds 14 ounces. This is barely the 3rd percentile. We decided that we should try and bulk him up before the weigh in... Maybe this wasn't the best way to go about it.

Boy oh Boy!

If it wasn't already official, I think it is now. The Boy is definitely a boy. Today I found him eating the dirt out of one of our orchid pots. I'm sure this is just the first of many things he will ingest that will make my stomach churn. Talk about a dirty mouth!

Sweet Baby Boy

This has been a one year project. I love you, baby boy.

(Scroll down and pause the site music before playing)

The Fine Art of Head Butting

I've talked before about Roxy and the Boy. Now that he can get around more, their relationship is.....evolving. He finds Roxy to be an endless source of entertainment. If they are in the same room, he kicks into turbo crawl in her direction. On occassion, Roxy will treat this as "playtime". Especially if one of her toys is near. I love this picture because it yet again shows his cute patootie. I could have taken this from the other angle, but trust me, the boy's hiney is much more pleasant than Roxy's.


Most of the time, however, little dude just irritates her. Particularly because whenever he gets within a foot of her, he squeals in delight. I'm not a dog, but from what I can gather, squealing hurts the canine ears. The Boy's new favorite way of relating to Roxy is by head butting her. As soon as his head comes into contact with her fur, he cannot contain his jubiliation. Roxy hates this.

Her least favorite part is when the Boy sneak attacks from behind and head butts her in the rear. I have to say it's my least favorite part too. Hopefully little guy will start to be a bit more discriminating with where he puts his head.

Happy Birthday, Boy!

Yesterday was the boy's first birthday! We weren't planning on having a party, but then I was guilted into it by some close friends. Really I had enough of my own guilt, all I needed was a little push. So we celebrated with some pizza, cake, and ice cream. I am not sure whether or not I have previously mentioned that the boy is a magnificent eater. I am daily in awe of how he still has not managed to break 18 pounds. In any case, here's a little play by play.


Cake approaching. (The name on the cake and bib have been smudged to protect the innocent.)






Testing...






Shoveling by the fist fulls.






Big mess for mom to clean up.






But oh well. We all enjoyed it! Even so, I have to mention that while I was running around town yesterday running errands like a crazy woman, I got all hormonal and weepy in the car. My baby is already one. It's not like I long for the days where I was getting up every three hours at night or cleaning spit up off my shirt - I just felt like it went so fast and that it's never going to slow down.

Let's end on a happy note though. And what better way to do that than with MORE PICTURES! Happy Birthday, Boy. We love you!

I'm Outta Here

Now that the boy is a proficient crawler, he has discovered all the major exits of our home. Including this one - the doggie door.

I have not tested this out yet, but I am fairly certain that he could get through it with a little effort. Currently he spends a good deal of time poking his hand through. This bothers me for two reasons:

1. That door is a venue for all disgustingness. If indeed that is a word. And...

2. His little hand turns into an ice block.

But he doesn't care. Why is it that children don't mind being cold as much as adults? Do they not notice?

The Best Seat in the House

In a previous blog I mentioned how Roxy had taken up residence inside the boy's exersaucer. Well apparently, the little guy thought this was a great idea. I was sitting in the living room when The Man told me to "come look at your boy".


Maybe there is something to this spot. I think I will try it out later when no one is looking.

Got...?

So, I am not sure how trademark laws work...but I thought I would be on the safe side. Seriously though, does this picture need an introduction?


Incidentally, this is not milk. It's cottage cheese. I once read that the stuff they use in the milk ads was actually a combination of milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, and other similar things. That seemed a lot more interesting in my head than it does written down.

How Low Can you Go?

This is one of the Boy's new favorite past times. He gets down as loooooow as he can go and then attempts to stand up again. Sometimes he needs help with the second part. He is quite flexible and often ends up in the middle splits.


As a result of this and in reference to his size, we have received comments like: "He should be a gymnast" or "he would be great at ballet". I know it's wishful thinking, but just once could someone say: "He looks like he could play in the NFL". Humor me. The kid won't always be able to do the middle splits - as long as I keep him out of ballet class.

As I Get Older...

...I definitely lose brain cells. Having a baby seems to have dramatically increased the rate at which they expire. Let me share with you just one case-in-point.

On Friday I was getting ready to go to lunch at a friends. I put the boy in the car and went back inside to grab some other things. I took the keys with me. Do you see where this is going? I set the keys down, picked up the other stuff, and walked out. I started to dead bolt the door when I realized...I had no keys. But I had already locked the bottom lock by hand. Crud! In all of my memory, this is the first time I can recall locking myself out of the house. Although, my memory is another thing that has slipped in recent years . So who knows.

It was freezing outside. My phone was inside. The Man was out of town. I had no idea what to do. So I attemtped to reach through the doggy door and unlock the bottom lock. I have a semi-permanent impression on my shoulder and back from that. Unfortunately, I was just about a half inch too short. On a sidenote, the Boy found it very entertaining watching me struggle to break into my own house. I finally gave up and went to the neighbors.

We love our neighbors. And luckily she was home. I had no idea who to call so I started with 911. They said they would send someone out. I left the boy with the neighbor and went back to the house. Two firefighters came, both of them tall enough to reach through the pet door and unlock the door. As soon as he opened it I was so excited that I jumped and gave him a hug! Thank you fire department!!

I am concerned that it will only get worse from here. Goodbye, precious brain cells. We had a good run.

Milk is Goooood!

A Warning: I do not think I have many (if any) male visitors here, but if I do, please feel free to skip this post as it is about breastfeeding.

I may be jumping the gun a little here, but I must share with all of you that I believe the Boy is completely weaned. It took all of ..... one day. We went from three nursings to zero in just over 24 hours. In my opinion, I accidentally scared him into this. (I won't give you the details here but there was no trauma involved - for the Boy anyways.) Plus, I came to realize that he wasn't getting as much out of those three nursings a day as I thought, but still...I am very happy that he has managed to go cold turkey by himself. He is onto the sippy cup and whole milk. And while the first day was a little bit of a struggle, today is much improved.

Seriously, I do not think I should have another child. There is no way God is going to let me have two just like this!

Sacrifice

Roxy has a few favorite spots in the house. In the winter, two of those places are in the floor directly in front of a heating vent. Before The Boy came along, she could often be found snoozing next to the one in the dining room. Within the last month or so I put the little guy's exersaucer there. Poor Roxy.

Last night I heard her let out a sad little sigh. I walked into the dining room and found this...

We all make sacrifices for a baby.

Matters of Business

I have noticed a few people have posted on here of whom I need to inquire. First, Nadia. I would truly love access to your blog. Can you fit one more person on your list? : ) And second, Mary. Do you have a blog that I don't know about? We miss you guys tons! And finally Cassie, I am still waiting for my Edward picture woman!

End of blogging business.

I Am the Champion

The Boy learned something new within the last month...


...stretching your arms over your head is fun.


But then once they are up there, what do you do with them? Hmmm...that was rather anti-climactic.

I've Been Hit

Jaime tagged me with these questions about me and The Man. So away we go...

How long have you been together? About 9 years. Married for 8 of those.

How long did you date? Dated about 3 months before we were engaged. Engaged 6 months before we were married. Oh that's so Utah.

How old is he? 30

Who eats more? At the moment, I do. A fantastic side effect of nursing.

Who said "I love you" first? The Man. He wrote it on a piece of paper while we were playing Balderdash. Kind of freaked me out.
Who is taller? The Man by a couple of inches.

Who sings better? I have more training and The Man can hardly remember the lyrics to the Happy Birthday song. So I'm gonna go with me.

Who is smarter? The Man. Although we took a class together in college and I did better! I just had to slip that in there.

Who does the laundry? Me mostly. Once in a while he pitches in with folding. Ugh folding. Is there a worse job? Oh right...there is. The dishes.

Who does the dishes? The Man used to do them for the first 7 years of marriage. What a sweetie! But the lot has now fallen on me. He helps when I really, really beg.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? The Man.
Who pays the bills? Me. The old fashioned way - check book and stamps. I am afraid of auto-pay.

Who mows the lawn? The Man. I have offered many times, but he secretly enjoys it.

Who cooks dinner? Me mostly. But The Man is pretty good at fending for himself when I don't feel like it.

Who is more stubborn? No contest, ME!

Who kissed who first? Hmmm...we'll call it mutual.
Who asked who out? I suppose he asked me. It was extremely unromantic. If you wanna know the story, just ask.

Who proposed? The Man did....sort of. Again, see me for more details.
Who is more sensitive? Me, me, me. Are you gonna make something of it?

Who has more friends? Me.

Who has more siblings? The Man - by a long shot. I have three siblings, he has seven!

Who are you tagging? All my sisters-in-law, Amy, April, Holly, and Seleta. I believe Deborah and Joanna have been tagged, but I don't mind putting a hit on them again. Your turn chicas!

Life Father, Like Son

I have been wanting to take this picture for a while - The Boy and The Man in matching shirts. Well...almost matching. It was a total fluke. I bought The Man's shirt years ago in another state, (he has hardly worn it since then). I bought The Boy's in Vegas last summer. If anything, I am consistent in my taste. I dressed little buddy up today and made my hubby put his on as soon as he got home from work. We are going out in public now. I wonder if anyone will comment...

Face Lift

As you can see, I've made a change. I saw this template on Joanna's Blog and thought it was so adorable. She was kind enough to share her source with me. Initially I tried to resist ripping it off from her, but in the end it was just too cute. So thank you Jo!

I've also been learning how to alter templates. I have to share what I have done because it took so much effort for me to learn how to do it. I expanded the size of the side column so that the pictures would fit better, I changed the column color, and I customized the font of my blog title. If you don't have that particular font installed on your computer (it's called Beyond Wonderland), you won't see it. I attempted to remedy that problem as well, but I got in over my head and decided against it.

I found the Beyond Wonderland font at 1001 fonts.com. April introduced me to this site and I love it! Getting the fonts on your computer can seem a bit involved at first, but once you know what you're doing it's no problem. It has been such a great thing for scrapbooking and card making. Thanks April!

The Man

A couple of you commented on the last post that The Man bears a resemblence to Jensen Ackles. So I decided to do a side-by-side comparison. The Man reluctantly agreed and finally posed for a photo. Now tell me, do you still think that? Really, who's the better looking one here?

Guilty Pleasures

This past summer I read a series of young adult fiction books by Stephenie Meyer, which begins with the book Twilight. I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I totally loved them, but not so embarrassed that I will keep it off my blog. I take comfort in the fact that I know many woman who feel the same way as I do (you know who you are) and found the Twilight series was a guilty pleasure.

It came to my attention that they are planning on making a movie out of the first book. Now...I did not make my blog available for search engines, but just in case the casting director happens on to my page, I would like to say:

Jensen Ackles should play Edward Cullen in the Twilight movie. Otherwise I will not go and see it. Okay, that's a lie. But I won't be very happy!

For those of you that have read the books, tell me what you think of my Edward choice. Tell me who you would choose. Deborah, I am giving you a reprieve from commenting today, but I always like to hear any opinion you have on the subject. Let me have it!

Roxy aka Crazy Old Fleabags

Look at that. I didn't post yesterday. See. I'm not addicted. Okay, okay...I posted yesterday and then I deleted it. But I can quit any time I want. Really! Especially since I'm running out of material now. It's time to ease up I think. But not until I tell the story of how we got Roxy. I can almost see the grin on Amy's face.



Back when we first moved here, The Man was in school and I had yet to find a job. We were living off of student loans. By December, we were in pretty bad shape. Our families knew this and were most gracious with their gifts that year. By the time we got back home, we had another loan check in the mail. The bank account was set right again.

Determined not to run into the same situation we did in December, we started becoming more careful with our spending. So when Amy called and asked if we wanted to play laser tag, I declined having decided that pretty much any form of entertainment above a dollar theater matinee was out of our range. The Man and I went to the mall to walk around instead. Can you hear the music in the background indicating danger? dun Dun DUUUUUUUUUUN!

So we stopped in the pet store and saw her. She was so dang cute! But not cute enough for me to want to really train a puppy. Having been through many as a child, I knew that it would be some work. The conversation went something like this:

The Man: Pleeeeeeease.
Me: No.
The Man: C'mon.
Me: No.
The Man: Oh c'mon.
Me: No.
The Man: Pleeeeease.
Me: No. Dogs are a lot of work.
The Man: But I'll feed it and walk it and potty train it. Pleeeeeease.
Me: No.

And so on until the store was about to close. We had been there an hour and a half. I felt pressure to make a decision. She was so cute and for some stupid reason - I gave in. At the time, The Man felt I needed a companion at home since I still wasn't working and he was in school and studying all the time.


I wont tell you how much she cost. Suffice it to say she was more than laser tag and that just her "accessories" were in excess of $100. Yep, a perfectly acceptable way to spend our Christmas money. Some days, especially since we had the boy, we regret that decision very much. But we love her to death. I could never get rid of her now. Dang dog.

Happy New Year!

I had a hard time getting to sleep last night. Why? Because I couldn't seem to keep my two hands and right foot still. Again, why? Because I was ever-so-slightly, almost imperceptibly, playing the air drums. I know what you want to ask next. Anna, were you any good? Uhh, YEAH! I rocked those air drums! Okay, okay, I'll get to the point. Why was I playing the air drums?

Last night we went to a Rock in the New Year party at the Holmes, where we played Rock Band with them, the Pulley's, the Shelton's, and the Talbot's. If you don't know what that is, see http://thepulleyprinciple.blogspot.com/2007/12/rock-band.html for a description. I took a shot on the drums and seemed to have a small (very small) hidden talent there. Although as the night went on, my performance slowly digressed. Probably should have stuck with the easy stuff and went out on top. In any case, it was a BLAST! Please take note of the picture with the "Blitzkrieg Bop" score. It says that when it comes to drumming, I have Serious Skills. I also love my overexposed picture of Seleta (hmmm....I have no idea if that's how you spell it. sorry!!!) playing the bass. Kind of looks like she's playing in flames. Now if she would have only stuck her tongue out Gene Simmons style and given me the devil horns...

I hope everyone of you had a rockin' New Year's Eve! Best wishes with whatever you do in 2008!