How To Eat Worms

Ever since my son was born, my dad has been asking, "when can we go fishing"? You see, my dad loves to fish, but when I was growing up it really wasn't my favorite thing to do. Lack of patience and complete dislike of touching worms probably had something to do with it. So, last weekend my dad finally got his wish, and my husband, son, and I went with dad to a friend's pond and caught a boat load! Dad was tickled pink! My son caught the first fish plus many others. I was mainly there to take pictures, as requested by my mom. Thanks mom, for the great idea because I got some awesome shots! Anyway. . .we had a blast, and my son even got to taste a worm, well almost. Daddy wouldn't let him bite it, but he did get it in his mouth. Here are some pictures of our little fishing trip.

Step By Step

Yay! We're walking now! Not exclusively, but we're getting there. Here are some pictures of James walking with mommy to get the mail. He made it half way until he decided he was tired and wanted to crawl. Doesn't he look so cute wearing his San Francisco Giants baseball hat? His grandpa got him that.

Sponge

It is truly amazing to watch my son learn and grow. He is like a sponge that never stops soaking up water.

So we've been trying to teach him sign language and he's finally picked it up. First with "milk", and now today he signed "eat" and "all done". We think he's doing "more" but we're not sure because it looks like he's clapping his hands, which he likes to do ALOT anyways. It's so wonderful to be able to communicate with him and have the ability to know exactly what he wants. For now at least.

Also, one more fantastic milestone, he kind of took his first steps today. We were at my friend Rhonda's, whom we visit practically every day. Might as well just keep a bed made for me. Ha! She watches James while I go work out at Curves and I do the same for her daughter, Hilary. Sometimes we're lucky and Tu Tu (Hilary's great grandma) comes over and watches them. Anyways. . .James and Hilary were playing and he needed to get around her. So, he daringly let go of the coffee table and took two side steps around Hilary.

I was sitting there screaming like a fool "oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh" while bouncing up and down, eyes wide with excitement. I never thought I'd react that way. It was almost embarrassing, but I guess I have every right to do that.

My guess is that he'll be walking by the time he's 14 months, which is in a few weeks. Good for him, bad news for mommy. Friends tell me it's all over when your child starts to walk. We'll see. Maybe it'll help me take off those last 10 pounds I've been trying to lose.

Isn't there a running baby trailed by a running mommy? Lord help me!

Milk, It Does A Body Good!

Milk! Yaaay! Clap clap clap. Milk! Good job, lil' biddy! Those were our words as we shouted for joy after our son FINALLY signed his first sign.

After having a yummy dinner of Papa John's, we decided to try to reinforce (again and again) the sign for "milk" to see if he would finally do it.

We knew he wanted more milk, so we didn't give it to him until he did the sign, and miraculously he did it!

It's so pronounced and cute with his little pudgy fingers opening and closing. He's even more talented because he does it with both hands! Ooo ahhh.

Now it's on to "eat" and "more".

I'm such a proud mommy!

Me Time

::Long deep breath in::. . .::long deep breath out::. . .(repeat 3 times).

Between the hours of 7pm and 8pm is Me Time. No whiny one year old. No hubby. Just me. One hour of whatever I want to do. One hour of destressing. One hour of getting my ::bleep:: back together.

Sometimes I decide to read my Bible (hubby and I are doing a course at church called Rev Up Your Faith: Reading the Bible in 90 Days at 12 pages a day), take a walk (maybe come home, ha!), take a long shower, or even pay attention to my neglected ::sniffle sniffle:: blog.

So, as I sit here in silence (you don't get that much when you have a one year old) I am enjoying my one hour of peace and quiet, which every mom should try (emphasis on try) to make time for. And I thought I'd share some photos from our trip to Ohio a couple weeks ago during our "vacation" to visit family. It was the first time my father-in-law got to meet my son, James, and it was also the weekend of James' 1st birthday.

I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I'm enjoying my Me Time.




Grandpa and James

Grandma Kathy and James

Sleepy Baby James

A Kiss from Great Grandma Cook

Aunt Ashley and Aunt Michelle playing with James









Notice how the booster seat tray gets progressively covered in cupcake.













In the end, even if I've had a bad day, it all seems to melt away when I am able to hold my baby boy and tell him that I love him.

Waiting for Mommy

I had to run some errands today. Grocery store. . .Target and Toys R US to return a few things. While I was gone, my hubby was holding down the fort with son and dog, Anakin (yes, he's a Star Wars fan). Here's a cute shot hubby took of son and dog. Hope you enjoy it!



Here are two more pictures my mom took of James and I at the MS Walk. Don't you just love that hat? The outfit courtesy of "Gram" (James' grandmother).

Waffles for Breakfast

Happy Easter, everyone! A day late. Oh well. Having a 10 month old baby tends to keep me away from the computer.

Want to know what my hubby did for me Easter Sunday morning? He brought me breakfast in bed. We didn't have much in the fridge (Sunday is grocery day), but he made the most of it. As I was sleeping peacefully in my nice, cuddly-soft Sleep Number bed, hubby made yummy waffles for breakfast. He crept upstairs to our bedroom and greeted me with "Happy Easter" and a plate fully of waffles and a nice tall glass of milk. Now remember I was fast asleep, so I kind of awoke with a start, my vision was foggy, and I had nasty morning breath. He cowered back a bit because he felt bad about waking me up, but once I realized what planet I was on, I thanked him, gave him a kiss, and was able to enjoy the warm and tasty waffles. And yes, I said warm. He even thought about keeping them in the oven on warm. And. . .AND. . .he even cleaned the kitchen up. How sweet is that! He really never cooks unless he has to. I give him an A+++ for effort. Aren't hubbies the greatest?

Bath Time!

It's bathtime with baby James! James absolutely LOVES bathtime with daddy. Daddy puts him in his special seat and fills the tub up high. When the water is high enough to reach, James gets to splash splash splash all around to his hearts content. Laughs and giggles fill the bathroom with delight. It fills my heart with joy and puts a smile on my face to hear James and my husband having so much fun. "Splash splash, James. Splash splash," says my hubby. "What should we wash next? Let's wash baby James' arms. Ready?. . ." Isn't that the sweetest? I just had to share some photos I took. How could someone resist that melt-your-heart grin!

Cruisin'

My son, James, cruised for the first time while we were at Small Group with our church friends. As I watched him slowly and clumsily lift his feet up and down, my little boy started to grow up so fast. I felt a bit anxious and overwhelmed as these past nine months flashed in my mind. I'm not ready for this to happen. Soon enough he'll be cruising fast, then standing alone, and then, heaven forbid, walking! Yikes! It's all seeming to go by so incredibly quick. I wish life had a pause or slow down button. I guess this means that I need to continue to cherish this little human being that God created, take lots of pictures, and love and hug and kiss him as much as possible.

60th Anniversary Celebration

Over the weekend, my family went up to Mechanicsburg, PA to surprise my grandparents with a 60th wedding anniversary celebration. It was a HUGE success, and I wanted to share some pictures of how we decorated and such.

This is the sign that I made so the guests would know where to go.



Here is a picture of the room with all the decorations finished. I was the decorating coordinator, which was so much fun. I really enjoy doing stuff like this. My dad said I should do it for a living or work in a flower shop part time. We'll see.



This is the table we set up especially for my grandparents. We thought it would be nice for them to have a table all their own. Instead of having balloons at their table, I created a pretty bouquet of roses from the supermarket.



This is a picture of the gifts/guestbook table. The picture is a picture of my grandparents on their wedding day. That thick book is the 72 page scrapbook my mom and I created from all the photos that we put together and that guests sent to us. We asked them to send any photos, memories, or memorabilia so we could create a special scrapbook for them. It was ALOT of fun. They are enjoying looking and reading through it.



There's Grammy and Gramps thanking all of the 100 guests who came to celebrate.




These are some photos taken at their home with their great-grandson, whom they so dearly love.






Hope you enjoyed looking at these photos. Let me know if you want to hire me for your next event or celebration. Ha! :)

My son's personality is starting to really shine these days.

He is starting to cut his two top teeth so he's been a very cranky baby. He blessed us recently by not getting to sleep until 3:30am one lovely Friday night. I think I'm still catching up on sleep from that. Ever since he started to sleep through the night at 3 months, I've been a little spoiled with more sleep than I could ever dream of. Ha ha.

Anyway, the teething is causing him to slobber, chew, and drool on anything and everything. So, I bought some biter biscuits to see if he would enjoy them. And he did. I usually give one to him while I'm preparing his solid food for the morning or afternoon. I set it on his tray so he can practice picking it up (I think he might be right handed). He puts it in his mouth and gnaws on it, but instead of ingesting the gummed-up, soft, pastie biscuit, he spits it out and lets the sticky slobber run down his chin. Makes for a very messy boy afterwards. If a chunk breaks off into his mouth, he scrunches up his nose, squints his eyes, sticks out his tongue and shakes his head. Quite a scene! If I try to take it from him, he cries out in protest, tries to pull it away from me and chomps on it like a little piranha. After a while, he looses interest in the biscuit, and our dog, who loves to beg at baby's feet, gets a nice (nasty?) treat.

So, while I'm wetting a paper towel to clean his little hands, he decides that he wants to be little He Man. My son sits in a booster seat that has a tray with a snap-in removable dishwasher safe tray. He has figured out how to rip the tray off, which has become a habit of his while I'm feeding him. He'll grab the front with both hands, purse his lips, squint his eyes, and yank it off. He ends up hitting the back of his head on the back rest, but it never phases him. I put the tray back and start to feed him his pureed bananas. He reaches forward again and I tell him no! and he objects with a brief cry (ooo, you're such a mean mommy). It's cute though because he also avoids eye contact with me because he knows he's doing something he shouldn't.

I can only imagine what he will be like in a few months. Crawling and into everything! Aah, the joy of parenting.

I absolutely love it!

To All Prune Hands

Have I got a product for you! I'm so excited about this product, it's given me a new enthusiasm for washing dishes! Uh, maybe not, but you've got to check out the new soap from Dawn. It's Dawn Direct Foam. This stuff is AMAZING! I literally cleaned 4 large pots and pans, several large mixing bowls, utensils, and measuring cups with one pump of this incredible soap. Well, maybe two pumps, but it only amounts to like 1 tablespoon total of foam.

Anyways. . .

It's definitely something that every prune-handed person must go and purchase. Right now. You can do countless loads of dishes (approx. 250) with one 13 1/2 ounce bottle. It's totally environmentally friendly because you're using less water, which is only needed for rinsing. Heck, I could be their new spokesperson!

Okay, so all of you who spend time scrubbing away at crusted over dishes. . .GET THEE TO THE STORE AND BUY SOME DAWN DIRECT FOAM. You'll be thanking me later! I gua-ran-tee it.