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Monday, February 29, 2016

Cabin Trip with Kids

This weekend we took a little trip out to Groveland with some friends (and their kids). It was a nice relaxing trip filled with tasty meals, chasing after wild children (and Angie), and a day at the lake. We planned to drive up to the snow and also to take Saige fishing, but plans change sometimes, don't they?

On Sunday we stopped in at Bass Pro Shop with Erica and Schmiddy. Lee was definitely intrigued by the place. His eyes were wide as he looked around at everything. Too funny! We then continued on our way to Livermore to celebrate baby Desmond's 1st birthday. It was a successful, crazy, fattening weekend. Big thanks to everyone for coming, contributing to meals and cleaning up, and to Nicole for some of these wonderful photos.











Nicole volunteered to carry Lee on the way to the lake. Too funny! He looked cozy in there, but the walk back sure was sweaty when I was carrying him. hehe




















Angie wanted to play Kings Cup.



One man among so many ladies.









Kels

11/12 -- 1st birthday, here Lee comes!

DSLR is still on the fritz, so we have another batch of crappy iPhone photos for this month's post.

We've got one happy little guy on our hands, and soon he will be one year old! I can't even believe that. He's still refusing to walk, but he climbs up our two flights of stairs in about 20 seconds flat. We're pretty sure he's just stubborn and doesn't want to walk. Little stinker!

Talk about stubborn. Mr. Attitude is going to give us a run for our money as he gets older. We are 100% sure of that.


Lately he has been more snuggly and loving than ever before. He loves to lay down with us and give us big hugs and kisses. He also loves swim lessons. He is a pro and is learning to kick his little feet and splash around. The cutest thing (in my opinion) is when he goes underwater and then when he's turned around to face the wall he tries to climb out so that he can do it again. It's just so much fun to see him do new things and explore the world around him. He loves grass and being outside. He's not afraid of anything, so far as we can tell, but he has yet to take any major falls (no jinxes!).

He has 3 top teeth and two on the bottom. He's great at throwing a ball and it's officially one of his favorite things to do. That and riding on a wheel-less skateboard. 

He likes the sound of my voice and has been dancing lately when I sing or we listen to music. He also loves to dance with me (when I hold him in my arms and swing him around). I love, love, love dancing with him! We really hope that he likes music and instruments when he is older.



Hmm, what else is new? He's a major talker and we try to keep him talking whenever we are with him. It's hard in groups because socializing with adults takes priority, but when we're home, in the car, or on the go - like grocery shopping - we try to keep a conversation going with him. He knows a lot of words, but regularly uses only a few. We hear "mama", "nana", "dada", "papa", "num num", "more" ,"hi", "oh!", and "book" most frequently. We have also heard him say, "I love you" and "goodmorning" (which we practice every morning and in the car), "diaper", "Angie", and "block". We keep a little sticky note with a running list in his room, but it's up there and I'm down here, so I am not going to go get it. I think there are a couple more, but we can live without them for now. He likes to play silent baby when we're in larger groups, so you'd never know that this kid just gabs all day long.

He loves to be swung around like crazy, wheelbarrowed across the room, play telephone with his play phone (or a remote control), be pushed on his horse toy, to have us tap his mouth while he says "ahhhhhh!!!" and to read his books. He's just a one of a kind kid and we love him to death!!



We're down from three 8 oz bottles a day to three 4 oz bottles, but he has to eat a sizable amount more than we're used to. It's a challenge, but we're learning. He'll eat anything and everything, and right now his favorites are cottage cheese, yogurt, peas, and tofu with any kind of sauce on top.



We've made it 11 months without resorting to TV, and I'm very proud of that. Not sure when he will take an interest in it, but we're happy that we aren't quite there yet.


Happy 11 months to my little dude. We love him so!!

Kels


Sunday, February 21, 2016

photo dump: Daubert grad party + Long Barn snow stop

We seem to have survived the weekend! Rather than cleaning up the pile of things we pulled out of the car when we got home, I am posting photos to ye olde blog(e?).


We spent Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning out in Valley Springs celebrating the college achievements of two of my cousins. Ant, Lee and I slept in my aunt and uncle's travel trailer - fifth wheel - and yeah, I want one now. UGH.

Lee got to spend some quality crazy, cousin time with all of his friends! This lucky kid has so many cousins and psuedo aunties (my cousins) to love on already.





Uncle Hugh thought that he could turn Lee into an Alabama fan. I told him that Lee is only into ribs, women and ice cold beers.



Sunday afternoon we drove out to Soulsbyville, after checking out Leah and Shane's sweet new pad (omg, I want a home too!!!!!!!), and had lunch with GeeGee Weems. It was a short 4 hour visit before we trekked up to Long Barn for a quick snow sesh with little dude. He was OK with it, but not in love. We're going to attempt to encounter snow next weekend as well, so we'll see if his feelings have changed by then.




















snow high five!



It seems that Lee would rather nap than play in ice cold snow. That sounds nice right about now, actually, so I will go ahead and sign off for tonight.

-Kels

Thursday, February 18, 2016

when time flies FAST.

I'm sitting on the floor of our living room right now (watching Parks and Rec with a Down to Earth) and I'm basically on the edge of my (carpet?) for my son to wake up. The reality of my life is that I have a kid who goes down for the night between 7 and 8pm, SOMETIMES 630, and wakes up in the morning between 7 and 9am, USUALLY 830. We're talking 12 hours every single night. I'm not bragging. I'm not complaining. I'm just stating the facts. My child is a sleeper. He plays hard, he naps during the day and he sleeps at night.

*here's to praying that I didn't just jinx this magic right before 2 weekends out of town 
When Lee was less than a month old we took a trip down to Southern California to visit with family for my cousin Katie's wedding. While we made our way down the state our little dude slept like a champ. When we got there he slept all bundled in between pillows on the second bed in our room. He literally DID NOT CARE that we were not home; He didn't care that we were in the same room with him (which was definitely odd for us as a group to be in the one space); and he made our trip way more easy and fun than it should have been for brand new parents.

When he was about 1 week old we had put him in his own room. Between 1 and 2 months old we had transitioned him from his bassinet to his crib. He has NEVER slept in our bed as a part of his sleep routine. I think that in the past (almost) 11 months he has spent something like 8 hours total in our bed during sleeping hours. Every single time up to now I have felt nothing but this immense guilt when doing so, as if I was committing some crime against both myself and our tiny human.

Like all people, Lee goes through wake cycles in the night. He wakes up and talks a little bit. On occasion he gets upset, but generally he just talks himself back to sleep. In the past two weeks it has become increasingly obvious to my husband and I that this kid is straight up teething / going through a major growth spurt. He's been sleeping most of the day, going down at his regular time, and waking up 2-3 times a night for a bottle or just a little bit of mom/dad time. We've just been holding him for a few minutes and then laying him back down in his bed. A couple of times this week though, we have let him lay in our bed for a couple of hours. In these instances he has gone from crying to sitting between us to laying his head down on my pillow in a matter of minutes.

Because of this, in combination with the fact that my freaking NEWBORN BABY is 5 weeks away from being a ONE YEAR OLD, I am just really looking forward to the possibility of maybe holding my little dude tonight, and possibly snuggling him in our bed for a few hours.

This kid right here. This independent, adorable genius of a child. 

Yes, this whole entire story/rant/post/whatever was leading up to that one simple statement. I want to snuggle my child before he becomes even more independent and grown up than he already is and decides that he doesn't want "mama" anymore. I no longer fear that a few random hours in our bed will "ruin my child for life" or create a child that is so attached to me that I completely regret it and want to kill myself. I just want to love on my kid, and I want to do it before he gets any older and less-babylike.

So there, go ahead and judge me one way or the other -- for what I have done in the past, for what I may or may not do today, for what I did say and for what I did not say.

Life is short, guys, and extremely unpredictable. Appreciate what you've got, right now. OK?

Kels

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

late-night fairy


It's 9pm and everyone in my house is asleep. Well, except me, the dog and the cat. Those two pretty much go wherever I go. Anthony is working a 5:30am shift this week since his crew is on a project that makes a lot of noise (so you do the work early in the morning?) doesn't make any sense to me... but I digress, and Lee goes down for the night by 7pm, so tonight I'm the only human downstairs after 8. 

I was sitting here on my phone (typical waste of time) when I started looking around. I saw a sink full of dishes, random items strewn throughout the house, toys all over the floor, DVDs all the over the floor (thanks Lee), etc... So, I started cleaning up. Apparently, at a certain time of the day I turn into the late-night cleaning fairy. I get every single item back in its place, usually with a beer in hand, before I finally retire to the bedroom to read for awhile - aka fall asleep with the light on and a book in my hand. Why do I do this to myself? Do other people do this every night? Is it just women? I feel extremely frustrated with the fact that I am actually RUSHING through this post so that I can pick up all the messes and finally relax. Shouldn't I be able to relax with a mess? And why do I need a reward AKA a beverage? It's insanity!

I guess that tonight I will not relax ---- yet. My nature says otherwise. Tonight I will be a fairy who cleans the house so that my husband can wake up in the morning and be like, "What and when?" and my kid can wake up and terrorize everything all over again. 

Maybe I will grab that beer after all. 

-Kels

internet life vs. real life PART ONE: Kid parties


OK, who the hell has enough time and energy to plan one of those legit kid parties that you see on the internet? I'm talking matching everything, themed everything, DIY and/or expensive everything. Really, who? 

Excuse me. What I mean is, who in my REAL LIFE has the time, money or energy? 

I hate to do the "when I was a kid" thing, but, when I was a kid I don't even think we had goody bags, let alone a theme. In the home movies everyone is smoking cigarettes inside and the birthday boy or girl is basically crawling or running around with his or her cousins without a care for why the party is even happening. It's just a reason for the adults to get together and eat a shit-ton of clam dip. 

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Anthony and I are starting to "work on" Lee's 1st birthday party. While we can all admit that party #1 is for the parents and not the kid, I still find it absolutely exciting to have one for our little dude. It's like a right of passage to have a first birthday party. Now, by "work on" what I mean is, hey let's pick a date and think of a theme and make an invitation. 

Our theme started out as this really funny, insanely detailed idea for a party. We're down to something mega simple and fun. The most exciting part for Anthony is making the invitation, because I've handed it over to him and said, "Please do as you wish!" For me, I'm excited that we will get to spend a fun day with family and friends, drink some beers at a first bday party, and that my son will finally get to smash his face, hands, whatever - maybe nothing (no expectations here) into his own tiny cake. The kid's had sugar, but nothing like a big slice of chocolate goodness. 

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I'm just saying, I'm excited, but this party isn't going to top any "best party" lists on the internet. It's going to be simple; It's going to be fun. And please, dear God, NO RAIN! K, thanks.

Kels