Tuesday, July 26, 2011

One Year!!!

So last Saturday my baby turned a year old. *sniff, sniff*  I can't believe he's already a year.  We had a great birthday party complete with family and friends, young and old.  I was exhausted by the time it was over but I think everyone who came had a good time.  Here are some photos to highlight the occasion.

This is the spread of food and drink under the happy birthday banner.  That's pretty much all the decorating I do.  I prefer to decorate when it's going to last longer than a day.  In fact, I didn't even buy that banner, it was my mother in law who did.  I know, shame on me.  However, I did let my creative juices flow when I made the cake.

Actually I copied this from an article on parenting.com.  However, it said to use chocolate twizzlers for the hair on top (which I don't think you can even see in this picture) but apparently those are a commodity like gold because I couldn't find them anywhere.  Not even at Mr. Bulky's, the candy store.  So I had to be creative there.  Instead I used chocolate covered orange peels.  First step to being a fancy-schmancy mother--improvise.

Though we told people not to bring gifts (since a one year old doesn't really know that he's getting gifts), we assumed the grandparents would violate this rule.  However, everyone seemed to violate the rule and still the thing Elijah found the most interesting was this blue bag and the tissue paper.  I warned you, folks!

The best thing was having my mom and stepdad and my brother's wife and their little girl Addisyn for the weekend.  Addi is a total doll.  She is way more talkative than Elijah was when he was 6 months old--or even now for that matter.  And she seems way more outgoing.  She seems to want to get to know people right away.  Elijah is a bit more reserved.  It's weird how they have personalities before they can even really talk or poop outside of their pants.

Last picture for your viewing pleasure is my mom holding Addi.  I guess she's waving at someone.  She is way more animated.  She's only 6 months and seems determined to crawl at all costs.  Elijah didn't do it until he was like 10-11 months old, but I think he was just lazy.  Or maybe lazy isn't the word, but he was just content with where he was.  She wants to get up and go NOW!  So funny.  Also, she looks so freaking much like my brother it makes me want to puke. ;)  She looks like her mommy, too, I just remember what my brother looked like when he was little and I see him in her with many of the faces she makes.  She's so cute in spite of looking like him.  Love you, Miss Addi!

And Happy Birthday to my sweet Bitty Guy!  You're getting way too big for Mommy's liking!  Love you!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Copycat

So lately Elijah has been getting more demanding.  He also hasn't been sleeping well the past few nights and days but I suspect that has to do with the fact that Daddy is out of town for work.  He'll be back Saturday and my mom is coming in tonight to help me since I'm having surgery on Thursday to finally get rid of this silly cyst on my wrist (most likely caused by picking up Mr. Demanding over and over, but I digress).

Anyway, lately when he wants something--like to be taken out of his high chair or to be fed or to be picked up out of his pack and play or just to have attention paid to him--he starts making this whiny, increasingly loud and high-pitched "ehhhh!"  It is really annoying.  But then today when he did it, I thought, "Oh no, did I teach him this?" because it's surprisingly reminiscent of the way I get with Mike when he's annoying me.

"Mike, will you please CUT THAT OUT!!!"  (Imagine the voice getting increasingly loud, intense and shrill.  Poor Mike.)

So nice parenting on my part.  I sound like a toddler, therefore my son thinks, "Hey, this is the way we get stuff!" even before he can really be classified as a toddler. Whew!  I'm so glad the blood of Jesus makes me righteous because I could SO not be good on my own.

Anyway, here's a funny scene from the movie "Big Daddy" to showcase how wonderful of a parent I am (the part at 30 seconds where he throws the fries cracks me up every time): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjO6Tjn8wS0

In other copycat news, I copied an idea from some Real Simple magazine for measuring Elijah's height as he grows.  It's basically a huge ruler you can mount on the wall in his bedroom.  Also, it's real simple to make. (Get it?  Like the magazine?  Man, I'm hilarious.)

Anyway, here's what you need:
6 foot board
Wood stain (whatever color you prefer, I used maple b/c it's more ruler-color & all the other wood in Elijah's room is the same color)
Polyurethane (buy separate stain & polyurethane)
Black paint
Stencils for numbers 1-6 (or if you want to be fancy you can buy house numbers 1-6 and tack those on then you won't have to have the stencils or the black paint)
Black permanent marker
Tape measure

Instructions:
First thing I did was stain both sides.  Then when it was dry, I measured out the inches all the way to the top.  On the foot markers I made the lines 2 inches long, the half-foot markers 1 & 1/2 inches, the quarter-foot markers 1 inch, and the other inch markers I made 1/2 an inch.  I did it in pencil first and then went over it with the permanent black marker.  Also, I started the bottom of the board at 3 inches below the 1 foot mark so that there was room to stencil in the number 1.  (This means you will mount it 9 inches from the floor.  Be sure to measure everything well or it won't accurately measure your child's height.)  Anyway, then I placed the stencils next to the foot markers and painted the numbers on there in black.  Later I am going to put a coat of polyurethane on top but the black paint is drying right now.  Once that's done, though, it will be ready to mount in his room and start measuring his height as he gets older.  I'll probably use a medium-tipped sharpie to mark his height and age each year.  It's better than marking it on the wall, I think, because if you move you can take it with you.  Enjoy!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

It's Been Too Long

So it's been awhile since I blogged and I thought I'd just share some info and pictures this time.  First, Elijah was doing that reverse army crawl for like months.  Then one day he figures out how to do the hands and knees crawl and go forward and the next day he's all over my house and I can't keep up with him.

Then the next week after he felt like he had a solid hold on the speed-crawling, he moved to pulling up on the furniture, but only to his knees--testing the waters.

We did this for about a week and now we're doing this:

Don't know if you can tell, but that's all the way up on his feet.  Sorry the picture's a bit fuzzy.  It was taken with my cell phone.

This is what Elijah thinks of your attempts to suppress his crawling prowess.  Also, he has taken to throwing everything on the ground.  Apparently he thinks of Mommy as a golden retriever.

This is him helping Mommy go to the grocery store.  It is like walking around in a friggin oven out there. UGH!  I hate the heat.  I much prefer the cold.  Anywho...  Elijah also wants to inform you all that if you have no toys or are tired of the toys you do have, the trash is a perfectly acceptable alternative.  Observe:



Our recycle bin was overflowing.  Don't judge me! ;)