Ramblings

I know it's been a while but I've got a million and one excuses.  Starting with - I've been PACKING TO MOVE!!!  We are all set to close (on the sale of our current house) on Friday. We've secured an apartment to move into in the meantime and we will most likely build a house.  I naively thought packing wouldn't be too bad because when we listed the house we went through every. single. room. in the house and took cars full of stuff to Goodwill.  We've sold a ton of things on Craigslist.  And still, in spite of the fact that N brought home literally a car full of flattened boxes, we are nearly out of boxes. And we are not finished packing.  Seriously, where did all this stuff come from???  I know it will get done and I appreciate both sets of our parents for being willing to help us with the packing and moving.   

So, we have all this packing to finish since we are moving Thursday (that's day after tomorrow if you're counting).  Instead of packing here's what I've been doing today:

1. Getting a mani/pedi (my nails are now painted "asphalt" gray and I LOVE them).
2. Spending too much time (and money) in Target under the guise of looking for the last piece of the little man's Halloween costume (I got new boots - yay!).
3. Spending more money in Old Navy for the same reason as #2 above.
4. Buying Christmas presents. So we have more stuff to move.
5. Drinking obscene amounts of coffee.
6. Eating ice cream straight from the carton (don't judge me - we have no bowls, there was only a scoop and a half left in there, and I AM A GROWN UP AND CAN EAT IT FROM THE CARTON IF I WANT TO!!!).

The little man had a 15 month birthday. He is sort of walking. The most he's walked w/out hanging on to anything is about 6 or 7 steps and that has only been a few times.  Most times he's content to cruise around the furniture or hang onto our fingers. And that's fine. He'll get there. He's also starting to try to repeat a LOT of what we say. We have to be VERY careful.  He's also developed a fake cry.  He will sound like he's really crying until right before he takes a breath and then his voice goes up like he's questioning whether he's really crying.  It's pretty hilarious. He "talks" constantly and looks at you like you should really know exactly what he's saying. It's very cute.  He says "Oh yeah" and "OK" over and over, he has said "blueberry", even enunciating the "bl" sound (which I was impressed with at first and now has evolved into him walking around all day saying "blah blah blah blah blah"). He knows the things he's not supposed to touch - doesn't mean he won't walk over to it and look at you, shake his head "no" and touch it anyway, but at least he's aware he's not supposed to. He has also learned the word "no". Small wonder that wasn't his FIRST word, as often as I feel like I say it to him.

I guess that's about all for now. I will try to get back with some semi-regular posted once we get moved, and at the very least update with pics of Halloween costume and such. In the meantime, I leave you with the following pics of our sweet little man:

Bathtime - Daddy was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and he was just in awe:

Playing around with the camera:

I think he looks like such a big boy here. So grown up. And so tired of mom taking pictures of him all the time. :) 

Hope you're all having a fabulous week.  Looking forward to cooler weather, fun plans with friends this weekend, and getting settled in our new (even if temporary) space.

Thankful Thursday

I have been thankful for a whole host of things this week.  Here's a short sampling:

* Wonderful teachers for the little man at his MDO program.
* Consistently cooler weather (and even a hint of fall in the air!)
* Pumpkin spice waffles (from Eggo...and I don't generally like those!)
* This:

Seriously, can you stand the cute?  Those house shoes were a gift at a shower and they are just now fitting. And he loves them. And they make me smile.

* And this:

That's the sand dollar I found on our vacation to FL. Every time I pick it up to dust and set it back down, it drops a little more sand. It's like a little vacation while I'm cleaning. It makes me smile!

* Extra snuggles from the little monkey.

* A job that is flexible.

It's been a good week, and I KNOW it's going to get better! 

Catching Up. Sort of.

Alright. I know it's been ages since I've posted. Since the powers that be changed the extended deadlines for ALL tax returns EXCEPT individuals to be September 15, I've been a little busy, working some evenings, weekends, etc. to get it all done. So my "free time" has been spent with my family rather than blogging.  I do hope you'll forgive me.  This post probably won't be super long, unless I get a second wind and the motivation to load all the pictures I need to post.  We'll see where this goes.


First, for all of my praying friends (which I do hope is all of you), I have a couple of very specific requests for the next couple of days.  We have had our house on the market since May. We have had BOATLOADS of people come through here at (seemingly) all hours of the day and night, had people ask all kinds of questions and ask us to jump through some ridiculous hoops...but not a single offer.  We have a plan for if the house doesn't sell this time around, HOWEVER, it would be REALLY nice if it would.  Milo has started a mother's day out program that is quite far from the house, closer to the area we want to live in when we move. What this means is that I am in the car for no less than two hours each Tues/Thurs driving him to school, myself to work, back to get him, back home. And that's the days I DON'T have an inconveniently scheduled appointment RIGHT BY HIS SCHOOL but RIGHT SMACK IN THE MIDDLE of the four hours I get to be at the office (this happened yesterday...I may or may not still be bitter about my lack of planning).  To say I'm already weary of it (after nearly two whole weeks) sounds pathetic, but it's true.  I feel like that's wasted time that we could be doing other things.  I will gladly continue to do this if that's what we need to do because we feel like he is in the right place.  BUT, the point of this whole (lengthy) paragraph is this. I am praying very specifically for the next 48 hours that we get an offer (a good one) on this house. We have two showings tomorrow and one of them is a second showing (we've had several of these already also, and even some THIRD showings). 


The second item on the prayer list is our sweet little man.  He has started the MDO program and seems to really enjoy it, and I feel REALLY good about his two teachers.  But it appears we are having quite an adjustment period. He has been extra clingy, tired, etc. the last 5 days or so and we think may have had a little virus with some tummy trouble...plus he's got four molars in various stages of coming in. He's just not himself and we don't like it! Mind you, I am soaking up all the extra snuggles I get, but I will certainly be happy to see my little busy body back again! 

First day of school - the look of irritation on his face is because his teeth were REALLY bothering him this morning.

So, the two things I'm asking you to pray are that (1) We get an offer on our house this week and (even more importantly) (2) that Milo adjusts quickly and thrives in this new stage and that that's really all this is...an adjustment period.


Moving right along. We went to Ikea last weekend to get a few things for the house (and by a few things I mean we MAY have filled the trunk up to the point that our luggage MIGHT have had to ride shotgun all the way back home...maybe).  Milo seemed to enjoy looking around at all the fun things. We also got him a couple of Christmas presents. I can't wait for Christmas! I think he's going to be so excited...he climbed all over the box for one of them so he will probably be more excited about the box than what's in it but I think it's super cute. :)

Some of the spoils of our trip...I am IN LOVE with that ottoman.  Seriously. I'm trying to dream up other ways to use them in other rooms so I can get another one.

Let's see.  What else has been happening. Oh, there was a zeppelin in the city for a couple of days this week. For just $350 you could take a half hour ride or for $750 they'd fly you over downtown.  We did not indulge but it flew nearly right over our house so I snapped some pics w/my phone (I did not actually know what was going on, I was just outside waiting for N to get home when we spotted it).

The little man has learned the sign for "more". I had showed him maybe a handful of times but was never consistent.  His sitter WAS consistent however, and we noticed him doing it over the weekend.  I thought it was a fluke but then he kept doing it so I texted her to ask if she had showed him that and she had!  I love it that he knows how to tell us at least one or two things (he's quite good with the head nod also).  He's also apparently got the Daddy's OCD gene:

Cleaning the recliner (had had already cleaned the side table, the floor around it, and his face). 

I took this because he had lined his waffles up on his tray. The look I captured was just a bonus.  By the look of things, he also got the Daddy's ornery gene.

Alright. I think that'll do for one evening.  I have things to post to Craigslist and I need sleep. Hope you enjoy the pics of our little monkey, and thanks in advance for the prayers!!!

13 Months!

Our little man is 13 months old today!  We don't have the sticky bellies for anything past the first year (well, they might make them but we don't have them) so no "official" pictures today.  But this picture pretty much sums up what's happening around here these days.  Milo is into EVERYTHING.  Today he figured out he could reach the door handle.  Fantastic.  At least he can't reach the deadbolt. Yet.  

The last month he's started to do so many new things. Hiding something and then putting his hands up and looking at us as if to say "where'd it go?". Making truck noises. Eating lots more table food. Walking behind his little cart or his John Deere. Giving the sweetest hugs. He catches on to things VERY quickly.  I think I have attached a video of him playing with the new toy he got last night. Within minutes of having it open, he was already hammering like a pro. I expect he'll be walking unassisted any day now.  YIKES!

That's about all that's happening here.  He's keeping us on our toes!

Happy Birthday Milo!

Our little man turned one today! Actually, if you want to be technical, his birthday isn't until 10:42 (if I remember correctly) tonight. But today is the day. We got up this morning and had our usual photo shoot. Those have gotten more difficult as he has gotten more mobile. Today was nearly impossible between the wiggles and him not feeling good because he's got several teeth coming in. We did manage to get some cute ones though:

This evening we decided to try round two with cupcakes. At his birthday party he just smashed it to bits and threw it all overboard into the floor for Kona. Tonight was not much different. You'll see in the series of photos below that he does have some icing on his face - Nathan got him to try a bite of it but he seemed less than impressed with the whole thing. 

We had a fun, low-key day with our little monkey today - it was so nice to go to church as a family, have lunch with some friends, and then come home for naps and some family time. It's hard to believe it's been a year. I was snuggling with him this evening and with his head laying up near my shoulder, his feet were at my knees! When he was born he fit up on my chest with his feet just at my waist...  He's quite a "waver" these days too.  He waves at everyone, smiles at them, etc. The other day as we were going into Target there was a woman coming out and he waved and smiled and she stopped and told me that he made her day which I thought was so sweet. He's pulling up and cruising the furniture and will occasionally act interested in walking on his own, but we're not in a hurry! (We're not pushing him over either but we're not rushing the walking - he's plenty fast when he crawls!)  He's eating a few more table foods but still acts uninterested in lots of things, so we just keep offering and assume that, like with the introduction of cereal/baby food, he'll eat when he's ready.  In the meantime he is certainly not starving.

I'm realizing I haven't done a great job of documenting his first year. I can't remember a lot of his "firsts"...we didn't even get a family picture on his birthday. BUT, we do have a lot of other pictures, and lots of fun memories of our first year with our firstborn! He's such a sweet, happy baby and we are definitely blessed beyond measure!

Thankful Thursday

Late again, I know.  But don't even act surprised.  Everyone knows that's how I roll these days. 

On to business.  Things I have been thankful for this week:

• A fun birthday party for Milo
• A husband who is creative and loves to go all out for birthdays (and any other celebration)
• Looking forward to a vacation
• A much needed mani/pedi all by myself on Thursday (my first one since before Milo was born - YIKES!)
• A happy, healthy almost one year old who is learning new things every day!

The big party was last weekend, it'll get it's own post later.  For now, here's a sneak peek at the preparation - and seriously, if the look on Milo's face in that last one isn't pure joy, I don't know what is.  He is just the smiliest baby!

11 Months!

I nearly forgot to post this one!  We were in Durant on the actual day Milo turned 11 months so we took these pictures a couple days late and then I forgot about it in the shuffle of unpacking, etc.  My bad.

In the last month Milo has started pulling up all the time, crawling on all fours (but he still does his belly crawl if he's in a hurry), jabbering a lot more (I really feel like he's trying to say words quite often), waving more, doing pat-a-cake, gotten a couple more teeth (we're up to 6 now), gotten (and started riding in) his new big boy carseat, and probably about a million other things I'm forgetting.  He eats cheerios now as well as graham crackers, he's started to show interest in drinking from a real cup (not a sippy cup mind you, the real thing with no lid), and he's showing a lot more independence.  He's constantly into things he shouldn't be so I'm VERY busy chasing him around most of the day! I wouldn't change it though - if I weren't chasing him all day I'd feel a lot worse about my Oreo habit.  :)

Here are some pics - yes, I know he looks like a little old man with his shorts pulled up that high.  There's really no in between waistline with these cloth diapers, either the pants are pulled all the way up, or they're not on.  Enjoy!