State Fair

I took Blake to the NM State Fair last week. We went Thursday with a friend of ours who has a little boy Blake's age. Blake LOVED the petting zoo. There was a yak, brahma, pony, cow and of course goats. There were a few goats that weren't in the pen and were just laying out on the hay. Blake had a ball pushing their fat tummies over and over and over. They really are squishy (like santa's tummy). I was going to buy him the food to feed them, but he saw someone else's and tried to eat it himself, so I decided against purchasing it.

He also had a good time on the tractors. They had these small tractors that are operated like bicycles, although he couldn't reach the pedals. I got a few cute pictures of him on the tractor.

And then I made the mistake of showing him a light-up toy in the exhibit hall where they sell all the junk. He used to have one of these toys that my friend affectionately called "baby crack," because her son had one too and could never put it down and would get upset when it was taken away. I figured Blake could handle it. wrong. I let him hold it, which was my first mistake and ...... yep, you guessed it, we ended up having to buy it. He dropped it only about 5 minutes later and yes, it broke. $7 down the drain. I think I learned my lesson though.

It's official!

Blake is officially walking now. He actually prefers to walk these days, so I guess that's what makes it official. He will walk about 8-10 steps by himself before he falls and if you hold his hand, he will walk and walk and walk.

We went to the grocery store tonight and I let him down to walk (holding my hand) and he found these HUGE pumpkins. Seriously, like state fair sized pumpkins. I have no idea how much they weigh, but there are $60 so you can imagine how big they are. He kept trying to climb the pumpkins and then he would tap them and walk around them.

Then he found the balloons. Yep, the mylar balloons that are about $5 each. We like to go to Trader Joes and when we go there, he gets a free balloon, so now he believes every balloon at a grocery store must be free. No, I didn't buy a balloon. You don't realize how many balloons are in a grocery store until you go with a one year old. This kid will find a balloon anywhere. Next time you go, look around and I'm sure you'll be surprised at the number of balloons in a grocery store. I can't say I have ever seen anyone actually purchase one though.

Anyway, he's a walker now and I'm not so sure it's a good thing.

Tonka

Gotta love the Tonka Dump Truck.

Grammie and Grampie bought this dump truck for one of the other cousins and he never really liked it so on their recent trip to see the other kids, they re-bought it at the family garage sale so they could give it to Blake. He LOVES it!!

He pushes it all over the house and along the way, he stops and picks up all his towels and puts them in the dumper. Then he goes to another room and takes them out and then puts different combos of the towels in the truck, picks up all the towels and heads off to another room. Sometimes he even climbs into the dumper. S and I like to push him back and forth down the hall while he is in the truck.

Today he went to the living room and picked up his dapper dan doll (S thought his name was "diaper dan") and put him in the truck with the towels. Now he isn't the greatest driver, so I have had to cover the edge of the dumper with a towel in order to save our walls, although we will have to do some patching before we leave.

I just think it's funny how the other little guy didn't like it at all and Blake loves it. kids.

walker?

Perhaps.

Blake has started walking while holding my hands and I can usually get him to go about the length of the hall or possibly a bit farther. Most often he can do this while only holding one of my hands.

Today we were at the Q (outdoor shopping center) and he started pushing his stroller around (no he wasn't in it) and he went the length of about 4-5 store fronts then would turn around and come back. Everytime I asked him where grandma was, he'd let go of one hand and turn around and wave to grandma and then start walking again. We must have gone up and down about 5-6 times.

Then tonight when daddy got home, Blake walked back and forth to us in the living room. He was going about 5 steps all by himself. I have video, but can't seem to post it right now. I'll work on it. It's cute.

So, one of these days he'll finally get going. My mom says I didn't walk until I was 15 months and look at me now. Now Blake is 15 months, so he's right with me. I guess we can expect great things. :)

Grandpa's memorial service

Today was my grandpa's memorial service. He died on Saturday. It was a very nice service and there were lots of friends there. I played my saxophone for about 10 minutes before the service started and then Tim and Kerry played/sang "When I Get Where I'm Going" by Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton. It was very good and very well done.

The minister was very good and his message was simple and nice. Near the end there was supposed to be a video slideshow of photos from my grandpa's life. The staff at the chapel didn't know what they were doing and the video took forever to start. We were all worried that it wouldn't play and that we had done all that work for nothing- because it did take several hours to compile and then scan all those photos. It finally got going and was very nice. Well, at the end there was supposed to be a recording of my grandpa and grandma's song, which also didn't work and we never did hear that. The staff told us they didn't know what went wrong, blah, blah. It was fitting of grandpa though, as I reminded my mom, he would have asked for his money back.

Anyway, there were a few technical glitches, but all in all it was very, very nice and it reminded us what good friends and family we have.

What's new with us

I realize it has been a very long time since my last post. Here's what we have been doing:

-High school marching band camp. evil. I'm so glad it's finally over. It was three weeks long and the last two weeks were afternoons spent outside with loud high schoolers. I did take Blake though and the kids were really nice to him. They decided his name is "B-dog." It's pretty cute. He would just crawl around in the grass and listen to music and pick up rocks and other stuff of the ground and deliver it to me.

- Baby Boot Camp- this is my new stroller fitness group. After our old class went away, a few of us from that group joined a new class and we are having very good workouts. This class is harder and is alot more running, but that's what we need and we're all getting into better shape. It's not as fun because the people are different, but we still have a good time.

-Walking- just kidding. gotcha. Blake is STILL not walking and actually is even doing less of the hand-holding-walking than he was doing before. I don't know what is going on. He's just on his own time. The way I see it, I'll have to sign him and myself up for soccer in a few years because I'll have to carry him and actually kick the ball myself. My mom says it's my own fault because I pick him up so much, but what are you going to do. According to her, I also didn't walk for a long, long time....hmmm.......do you see any connection there?

Olympics- I'm having a great time watching them on TV. Wishing I would have been really good at something when I was younger and then I could have gone to the olympics. But then I realize that I was good at saxophone, but they don't have olympics for that.

-baby swimming lessons- Blake is totally over them. I signed him up for the second session and he pretty much hates it. He really only wants to sit on the edge of the pool and dangle his legs in and kick the water in my face. He doesn't mind the underwater part, but he totally hates the rest of it.

I guess that's about it. I need to get a shower before he gets up. bye

Half-walker

So here is a photo of the half-walker. He actually took a few steps from me to S last night, but they were more like a stumble than an actual planned step, so we're not counting it as walking.

I took him to band camp today, though and he liked sitting in the grass listening to the kids play. He also liked tipping their stands and music over and moving their water bottles. I was worried he would just be naughty and make it hard to teach sectionals, but he was very good. He is used to loud, bad sounds already so that part was no big deal to him. And he really liked the free cookies- the high school kids are doing their cookie dough fundraiser.

Anyone happen to know anyone selling a BOB Stroller? They are these really, really nice (code word for expensive) strollers they sell for jogging with your baby. I got one I thought I really liked and it's pretty good, but the trunk of my car is just too small for the thing, so I have to disassemble it every time and then put it back together at the stroller exercise class and it doesn't go together so smoothly. I then have to get my hammer out of my little tool kit and pound the wheels on. It's totally ghetto. And, everyone there has either A. a big SUV that their stroller fits in without all this business of hammers and wheels or B. a nice stroller that was designed to come apart and go back together easily- a.k.a. a BOB Stroller or C. both A and B. S already told me that I need to be happy with this stroller because this is the one I wanted and when I got it, I really liked and blah, blah. He hasn't pushed the glorious BOB stroller though. Picture it this way, my stroller now is like pushing an old vacuum that is heavy and doesn't really go very smoothly and the BOB is like pushing a Dyson Ball vacuum (which I also want, but WILL NOT, repeat WILL NOT pay that kind of $$$ for a vacuum- I might pay it for a stroller though).

Anyway, if you happen to see a BOB stroller for sale, keep me in mind and call me immediately. They do not last long at garage sales, craigslist, etc. Thanks!

I don't have a good title for this post because I didn't want to get you all excited like Blake was really walking, when in fact he isn't yet. He did however start to walk on his feet (as opposed to his knees which he was doing for a while) while holding my hands.

He can walk all the way down the hall before he decides he has had enough and then drops to his knees. He looks much like a drunkard though. He sticks his belly way out and walks on his tip toes. I suppose the top half of his body wants to get there faster than his legs. It's pretty funny. Surprisingly, he can actually do this move better with shoes on, which I thought wouldn't be the case. Once we get a picture of this feat, we'll pass it on.

We also went to the zoo yesterday. Blake's favorite part: the dippin' dots grandma bought after our picnic. Not at all impressed by our wonderful zoo, just the ice cream. My favorite animal, just in case you wanted to know was the super, super cute baby chimp. He was in there playing around with his grandpa. Much better than what we saw the chimps doing last time. I can't remember if I blogged about it, but the chimps (the closest relative to human) was sitting at the window pooping in his hand and then eating it. yep. i know. No such spectacle this time.

white-trash baby

Yesterday I had Blake dressed in a sleeveless one-piece romper which is borderline trailer park anyway, but then I decided to try to do his hair. You guessed it, in a mohawk. That pushed him right over the line straight into white trash-ville. It was actually pretty cute, but totally trashy.

Today he saw a speech therapist and a physical therapist (we were able to get a full evaluation because he was a preemie) and both commented on how busy and social he is. Good for a baby, I suppose, but won't be great when he's in school. I'm sure I'll be getting many calls home from his teachers.

Anyway, he seems to be on track for a 12-month old, which is his adjusted age since he was 6 weeks early. He is a little ahead on some things, which is good, so I guess I don't need to worry too much anymore. I did get them to show me some exercises for him, both verbally and physically, so I can help him do the most he can.

Facebook

Ok, so I finally bit the bullet and joined Facebook.com. I was putting this off as long as possible because I was nervous that it was like the sites the kids use (you know, I can say that now that I'm old- according to my students).

Anyway, it's actually pretty neat and I have added some of my friends and been able to see their friends and now I can contact them and be their friends. I have found a few people from high school- not that I want to talk to everyone from high school, but the few I wanted to are actually on there.

Anyway, you can join too for free and then we can all be friends!

Fouth of July

So, since my last post I had my 5 year wedding anniversary. It was nice. We went out to dinner (no baby) and then to a movie. It was really fun and we made it through an entire evening without talking about Blake. Not that we don't like him, but we just wanted to have a baby-free night. We ate at a nice asian bistro and then went to see Baby Mama- yea, I know Baby Mama isn't the greatest choice, but there really isn't anything else that good playing right now, so we went to the dollar movies. It was alright, not terrible and funny in some parts.

This week we went to Build-a-Bear with S's family who was in town for the week. Blake doesn't really like stuffed animals, but I found a cute turtle that has a removable backpack that is his shell. I decided to name the turtle "Shel." If you haven't been to Build-a-Bear, it's this massive teddy bear store that sells empty skins of animals, then you decide how much stuffing to put in then you give it a heart and a wish and then they sew it up. After that, you get conned into buying all these clothes and other accessories for your animal- which I didn't get suckered into, because when was the last time you saw a turtle wearing clothes? Then you go to the computer and give it a name and your address and all this other stuff, then it gets a birth certificate. Basically it's like Cabbage Patch Dolls but only animals. I totally wish I would have come up with this. It's fun though. His turtle is cute, even though he's naked.

We also went to the mountains and hiked up the river. Blake rode in the hiking backpack with dad and they had a good time. The water was pretty cold, but it was a fun day. On the way home, we stopped and ate indian fry bread at a little stand along side the road. It was good and warm, I covered mine in powdered sugar. Yum. For those of you who may not know what fry bread is, it's basically just like a flat, fried up tortilla. That was really all the indians could make with what the white man gave them- flour and lard. good eats!

Fourth of July was a fun night. Blake loved the fireworks and didn't even get scared at the ones that popped and whistled. He had his cute Mom's Little Sparkler shirt on. He got to eat homemade ice cream and lots and lots of other BBQ food.

Here are a few pictures from our little family get-together. enjoy!

Blake's swimming lessons

Blake and I do swimming lessons every Sunday at the Jewish Community Center. It is really, really fun and much more of a "lesson" than I thought it would be. I signed him up thinking it would just be splashing around in the kiddie pool, but it's actually in the deep water (4 feet) and the parents get to learn stuff too.

At the end of each lesson, the teacher comes around and submerges the child- kids can actually hold their breath instinctively until they're about 2 years old. So, they don't even have to learn how to do that if you start them early enough in swimming. Today at the end of class, the teacher took each child and had them "swim" back to their parents. She got across the pool and then upon her submersion, she kept them under water and guided them all the way back to mom. Each kid got to go twice and none of them really even got too upset. Blake likes swimming.

It's really fun.

Me and Brad

Ok, after much waiting and anticipation.....

Here is my picture with Brad Paisley. I am very excited that I actually had my eyes open! And, he is actually a little taller than I remember. I think the camera man needs to go to photo school to learn how to center a subject in the picture, but no worries, I can crop that out before I print it.

Enjoy!!!!

Brad Paisley Concert

the joys of motherhood

so for those of you easily grossed out, please feel free to stop reading this post at this point....

you're still here? ok, here goes

My dad was here visiting for the week last week. On Thursday we went out to dinner and then came home to do the whole bathtime/bedtime routine. Prior to getting in the tub, Blake soiled his diaper (I'll pretty up the language). I thought "oh good, now were free and clear to get into the tub." Well just a few minutes into the bath Blake "soiled" the tub too. I didn't know what to do, so I just pulled him out and started draining the tub- you have to clean it after that, you know?

So while I went down the hall to get the cleaner, he started crawling after me and I realized "OMG, he's peeing in the hall!" Now I have two messes to clean up and how do you decide which one to do first. Well, the choice was made simple for me for as I was moving him back into the bathroom (where the was a towel on the floor) I noticed him sitting on the floor pooping (I forgot I was using the word soiling, wasn't I). So now there is a pile of pee, a pile of "soil" (in a different spot) and the tub full of mess. I picked him up and put him in the back shower and shut the door until I could clean everything up, then I gave him a quick shower and off to bed. YUCK, right?

Well, that wasn't it. As I checked in on him later that night I smell something funny in his room- yep, turns out he had thrown up in bed too. Delightful.

So as most of you that read this have kids, I'm sure it's funny (it is when it isn't happening to you) and those of you that don't have kids (if you're still reading) must just think it's gross. oh well

not too much

Nothing major to report here except Blake has learned to climb. And climb everything. He started with the bathtub- climbed/slipped right out while he was all wet. Today he figured out how to climb the couch. Well, it wasn't long until he figured out how to go up the back of the couch right onto the kitchen counter. I am guess it won't be long now until he takes a face-plant right off the counter. I'm also guessing it won't be long until he gets out of the crib- oh joy.

Birthday!!!!

Last Thursday, Blake celebrated his first birthday. Actually we celebrated and he just came along and napped in the car. We got to my mom's for our little family party and on the way over there, he fell asleep. Since he would likely have been very crabby, we just let him sleep while we ate dinner. He woke up for cake and presents- he must be my kid. :)

He liked the cake, but didn't get quite as messy as I had hoped. We got lots and lots of presents- too many in fact. Grandma likes to spoil him. We only bought him a small tambourine and some wooden blocks and because he got so much other stuff, we didn't even give him the blocks yet!

His second year of life seems to be going well so far. He has 10 teeth now and is working on 11 and 12. He has two molars already! Hopefully they'll all just come in and we'll be done. I'm sure he'd feel better.

We couldn't get an appointment with the doctor for a one-year check-up until June 9, so I don't really know how much he weighs or how tall he is, but he doesn't seem to be getting any heavier, just taller. We'll see in a few weeks.

Forgot to tell you this

I can't believe I forgot to blog about this until now.

Last week when we were getting ready to go to Farmington for the weekend, Blake dialed the police. Yep- that's right, he managed to press the talk button and get the 9, the 1 and the other 1 all in a row. We do not have 911 on speed dial, so for him to do that was like insanely improbable- I seem to remember something from HS algebra like getting some combo like that out of the possible 10 numbers on a phone is something like 10 to the 10th power then you multiply that times 3 because there are three number in 911 ( I don't remember, but I know it's nearly impossible).

Anyway, I was out most of the morning running errands and teaching, so S was home with Blake and apparently letting him play with the phone. Well, I got home and was folding laundry in the garage with the garage door open and I saw a cop car park next door. Being the nosy neighbor that I am, I walked halfway out of the garage to see what was going on next door. A female cop started walking up our driveway (if you call the police, they park next door so you can't see them- in case you're in some kind of danger and there is a crazy person in your house with you) and asked me if everything was alright. I said yes and then she told me that they received a call from our house and no talking, so they tried to call back and it went straight to voicemail. Since they got no response, they had to come over. Once I told her everything was fine, she signaled to another cop who was parked in front of the house on the other side and he drove off.

She asked me if I had a baby or kid who may have dialed and I said that yes, we have a baby and he must have pressed the numbers. I was so embarassed and I kept telling her I was sorry. She wasn't amused. She asked if she could just come in and check things out. She came in (which is good to know they do that- just in case) and we were both so mortified and so sorry. We kept apologizing and she was less than amused.

worst day

I was going to post photos of him getting into everything, but yesterday was a terrible day for me. I was beaten down by a 1-year old with a bad case of separation anxiety. I didn't get much done except sitting on the floor holding a baby who can't seem to let go of his mommy. It's nice that he loves me, but it's nice to be loved standing up without holding a baby.

I'll get back to the photos in a day or two.

A day in our life

So I have decided to chronicle everything Blake gets into in a day in photographs. I started this morning when I heard spoons clanking and found him sitting on the lowered dishwasher door playing with the dirty spoons. I will take photos all day today and try to post them tonight or tomorrow. Make sure you have lots of time for your computer to load the photos because I'm sure there will be MANY!

One year photos

We went to get Blake's one year photos taken yesterday. He won't officially be one until next week, but we wanted to have them to give out to people right on his birthday, so we went this week.

I'll tell you, getting photos was much easier before he became mobile. He was ALLLL over the place. He wouldn't do anything the photographer wanted him to do and he wouldn't sit still- he wouldn't sit at all, in fact. The last few times I have been to this portrait studio, they take about 100 shots, but she finally gave up on us at about 40. Then when we were trying to look at the photos on the computer to select the ones we wanted, Blake was crawling all over the place and I had to keep chasing him into the session of a girl who was graduating and getting her senior shots taken. I'm sure her mom used us as an example later to her daughter of what happens when you have a baby and don't do it. Oh well. I don't really mind him acting like a little boy, but the chasing around just gets tiring.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy a few shots. So even out of the the small number of shots, I managed to spend my usual over the $9.95 intro package. what can I say, I'm a sucker.

My first Mother's Day

Yesterday was my first Mother's Day as a mommy. We were in Farmington for the weekend, so I opened my present there- well, actually there was only a small present there to open (the Barenaked Ladies new CD, which I have totally been waiting for. A MAJOR disappointment, btw). My main present is coming soon in the mail. It's a 16 x 20 photo mosaic of photos of Blake's first year. Upon first glance, you see a one large photo (the one that used to be on the front page of this blog- with me and Blake in his little elmer fudd cap), but when you look closer, you realize that the image is actually made up of lot of tiny images that are photos we have taken of Blake all year. It really is very cool and there are over 200 smaller photos in the mosaic. It works out really well because he is just about a year and so it basically captures his whole first year of life. I asked S if we could get one made every year.

We had a very nice day (in spite of the fact that I had to drive home from Farmington because S had to do some reading and we couldn't have the music on because it would be distracting- but at least Blake slept). We got home and I read my book. Book club is tonight and this time it was my book and I have to do the questions, so I figure I better finish the book. Then I took a nap and then we met Grandma for dinner. A very nice day indeed.

The photos are us in Farmington and Blake using his walker. I started calling him Bam Bam because whenever he gets stuck on a crack in the sidewalk, he just picks the whole walker up and moves it over the crack and keeps on trucking.

Gone so long

I know it's been a while since I posted, but I'm back now and have lots of pictures to share. We went to Vancouver for about a week (sans baby) and had a really nice time. The weather is pretty blah, the sun really only came out for one day and there was rain most of the time. There are lots of homeless people there, apparently it is so expensive to live there that lots of people are homeless.

I am making it sound like it was bad, but it wasn't. I got to hang out and do lots of stuff on my own while S was at a conference. I visited my favorite stores (you know, the ones they don't have in NM like Tiffany), explored the city and went to Granville Island- a cute/funky place where there is a big public market with so many types of fresh food and fun things to buy. I loved it. I took the subway train to the big shopping center, and most of all....ate way too much. That's what vacation is for though, right? I ate sushi twice! yes, me.

Anyway, Blake stayed home with Grandma and they had a very good time together and she even got him to use the walker and he cruised all over the place in that thing- even though he refuses to use it at home. Her dog even liked his incessant pestering.

enjoy some photos of Vancouver.

Blake and Lila

Well, today it finally occurred to Blake that he could actually make friends with the dog by way of her stomach. Now, don't get me wrong, he has been feeing her all along unknowingly. She sits right under his highchair every time we put him in it. But today was different.

Blake was in his chair and he was eating some turkey for lunch. He looked over the side of the chair and saw Lila and then he picked up a piece of turkey and dropped it right over the side of the chair. I almost thought this wasn't a purposeful act until later this afternoon, I fed him some small bits of orange and he didn't like them. He sticks his tongue out really far to get the food off. One piece fell to the floor and I thought to myself "oh, he just wants to feed himself." So I went back to the counter to get another piece and the first piece was gone. I figured he just picked it up and ate it (I forgot to mention he was on the floor). So I put another piece in his mouth and again he stuck his tongue out as far as he could to get rid of the orange and once it hit the floor, he picked it up and held his hand out to Lila to give her the orange. I assume that is also where the first piece went. He finally figured it out.

Maybe she'll be nicer to him now, either that or she'll just be a mean dog that weighs too much!

back to normal

Now Blake is over being sick. The rash went away, guess it wasn't chicken pox. S said it was a viral thing that usually clears up in a few days after the rash. He is back to normal again, except happier. He was happy all day and in a very good mood. Not that he's a really crabby baby, but some days, he just cries alllll day long.

We went out to dinner tonight for Italian food and Blake just loved the spaghetti. He just wanted to keep eating it. He also liked the tomato from my salad. At least someone will eat it. I'm trying really hard not to bias him on my food dislikes. I let him try everything and I try to tell him everything will taste good- even if I don't like it. tomatoes, for example.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know he's back in business.

sick baby

So last night when we were getting ready for bath time, we noticed this really bad "rash" on Blake's torso- front and back. S said "oh, last week there were a few kids in the peds clinic with chicken pox." Well, it turns out that Blake and I were there visiting on the peds clinic day last week and one of the other residents that was seeing all the chicken pox kids was holding Blake after clinic. So of course now I'm paranoid that it's chicken pox and I have been worried all day and checking Blake all day to see if the rash is changing/spreading.

I told my mom all this and she went to lunch with her friend and told her all this and the friend said "oh, my kids used to get roseola. It sounds like that is what he has." So I looked it up on the web and it seems like that is what he has. High fever, tired, no appetite and bumps all over. It basically seems like a mild version of something like chicken pox- they come from the same type of virus. And it also seems like once they get it, they won't get it again.

Not that it makes today any easier.

He has been sleeping alot though. And when he is awake, he is very cuddly (which definitely indicates he doesn't feel well), and wants to be held ALLLLL day. It's nice to hold him though because he's not his usual squirmmy self.

Hopefully in a few days all will be back to normal. Except I called the babysitter to cancel this morning and told her about it and we don't want the other kids to get sick, etc, but it turns out that now that it is in the rash stage, it's not contagious anymore. Oh well. I'm sure he caught it from someone else when they didn't know they had it either.

good times

nothing new here

I just wanted to write and let you all know that there is nothing going on here to write about. We're just doing all the same, weekly stuff that we do EVERY week. Stroller Strides is still really fun- this is the greatest workout and the best group of ladies and kids I have ever joined. It's great!

We're still going to the library on Wednesdays for music and storytime. The librarian lets the kids play with the percussion instruments at the end of class and Blake loves pulling every one of them out and experimenting. He especially likes the tambourines. I'm sure it's because of the noise that drives mommy nuts. :0

We bought a little pool for the backyard and we'll set that up when it gets a little warmer. I think we're going to join a "swimming" class. I use the word loosely because I'm pretty sure it's just a "get used to the water and have fun in a pool" class at the Jewish Community Center. That will be in the summer.

Oh, wait. There is one new thing- Blake learned how to clap his hands together. It's pretty cute. He doesn't clap hard enough to make noise yet, but if you tell him to clap, he knows what you mean and he'll do it. I'll try to take a pic of that soon.

Hope you have a great week!

Our trip to see the Easter Bunny

Our stroller class currently meets at the mall (because it's still a little cold outside in the morning) in the court where they have set up the Easter Bunny. Well, we have been shoved aside to exercise anywhere else we can find room. We pay for the space and since they are taking our space to house the Easter Bunny, they decided to let us all visit the guy for free and take pictures with our own cameras- if you know anything about the mall Santa and Bunny, you will understand- it costs $20 for a picture (one picture) with either of them. I know they say that you can just go a visit and not have to buy the picture, but let's face it, that is rarely what happens and then you get home and realize you have just paid $20 for some picture with a horrible looking Santa or Bunny.

Anyway, we were able to take pics with our own cameras and not have to pay. This made the old ladies who try to sell you stuff really mad, but it was pretty funny when we told them there were 12 of us there that day. Now, don't think we were taking some other kid's time away from the bunny. This was a Tuesday morning at 10 am.

So, here is Blake with the Easter Bunny. Not all together the greatest shot, but much better than what we would have if it wasn't for the stroller class arrangement- which would have been NOTHING. I refuse to pay to see a bunny. I'll pay to see Santa, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Happy Easter!

Fun times

Any idea what you might think was the funnest thing in the house if you were 10 months old? Well.......

The bathroom and everything in it! Yes, Blake discovered the toilet paper today. Just like a cat, he'd pull the roll and a bunch would come rolling down. Once he pulled a little harder, it would tear and he could play with that stuff on the floor. That got boring, though. He had to pull more down and more and more.

After that game grew old, he pulled himself up to the toilet and started giggling this little metal thing he discovered. He was about to give up and then gave it one more hard pull and.....yep, it flushed. Well, that was about the most amazing thing he had ever seen in his life and he just wanted to keep flushing over and over. Our toilet is one of those old high flow jobs, so after the first flush I had to hold the handle up to keep him from flushing it again and again and again. I have a feeling he has forgotten for now, but will suddenly remember one day when I am in the shower!

First words!

The other night we were over having dinner with Grandma and after dinner Blake was playing on the couch, his favorite thing to do these days. He babbles and yells and makes lots of noise. Well, all of a sudden he stopped and sat still and looked right at S and said "da da." It was definitely a word, not just a babble. It was so cute.

Afterward he just looked at all of us like he had done the most normal thing in the world and we were all excited and laughing and clapping and trying to get him to say it again. Hasn't happened yet though.

Hello

Hi!
I realize it has been a while since I blogged and I said I was going to blog more often. I need to stick with it, don't I?

Blake is doing really well. He now has 4 upper teeth- which seem really big to me. He must have my teeth. There are 2 on the bottom too. He'll be eating steak in no time now. Actually, he has started to hate baby food. We gave him some spaghetti the other night and I think it ruined him. He really only likes the pink banana fruity stuff now and he knows exactly when the pink jar is opened because he magically opens his mouth and bangs his hands.

We are really involved in the stroller class. We are loving it! I get a really great workout and Blake gets to do a little socializing. The other day I went to a class on the west side of town (like 30 miles away, but fun) and he teamed up with another little boy about 18 months and just did everything this little boy was doing. It was really cute!

Now I have a dilemma. I am trying to decide if I should buy Brad Paisley tickets- I received an invitation to buy VIP tickets early. I want to go, because I missed him last year while I was in the hospital, but Sheldon will be out of town and I have no one else to go with. What do I do? Please don't reply and say "go by yourself," because this place is far away and I don't want to go alone.

I better go for now. It's a rare silent moment and I better get some tidying up done around this place!

Party in the potty

Yes, I said potty. Blake has learned to pull himself up on just about everything in the house, including the potty. S got out of the shower the other day to find Blake pulled up at the toilet splashing his hands about in the water. I wasn't home, so I made sure to ask the obvious question: "was it flushed?!" Yes was the answer, but Blake just had a great time splashing water all over the place.

Other than the potty party, not too much going on here these days. We have been attending our normal weekly events- stroller strides, music and dance at the library and this weekend, Grandma is taking Blake to music class. I am judging the solo and ensemble festival and dad will be at work, so Grandma gets to sit on the floor and sing a bunch of silly songs. I'm sure they'll have fun. It's only a half an hour.

Well, that's it. Have a good Thursday

9 month check up

Last week we went to our 9-month check-up. Blake weighed in at 20.28lbs (50th percentile) and was 29 1/2" long (95th percentile). I don't remember what his head was, but it was in the 25th percentile. So basically, we have a long, skinny peanut head. :)

He is doing really well these days. He now has 5 teeth. 2 lower, two outer top teeth (fangs) and 1 middle top tooth that just emerged this weekend. The other middle top tooth is on it's way, but not here just yet.

He is making my life hard these days. He wants nothing more than mommy love. He follows me ALL over the house crying, crying, crying until I pick him up. Then, as soon as I pick him up, he magically stops immediately. Interesting, isn't it? If I don't pick him up, he crawls to where I am (crying the whole time) and pulls on my legs until I pick him up. It's nice that he loves me, but it really is pretty trying of my patience.

Oh, I forgot to mention that now he can pull himself up on the furniture, especially the inside of his crib. So, those of you that have been through this before know what's coming next....yep....he pulls himself up at bedtime and just stands and cries in his crib. And cries, and cries, and cries. This also happens at nap time, which is after lunch and sometimes the crying is so severe that lunch actually makes a re-appearance. A little too much info, I know, but hey, that's my life for you.

Stroller strides is going great! It's really fun and I have met lots and lots of nice people (moms). I have joined a team that is participating in this challenge to change your lifestyle by eating more veggies, more exercise, drinking more water and mostly spending a little time by yourself every day. The more of these things you do, the more points you get. The winning team gets a free month's membership to the stroller class and a massage. We definitely want to win. I am also joining a group of women from the class to form a marathon relay team. We are going to run the Duke City Marathon in October. There are 5 plus one alternate, so each of us only has to run about 5 miles. I am sure that if I start training again soon, I'll be there by race day for sure.

That's about all from here. Hope you're having a nice week so far.

We made it through

Made it through what? Well, S was gone for almost an entire week and I was single parent to the baby. It went ok, but I did get lonely and definitely needed some adult conversation. We did have a few funny incidents that would have been easier to handle with both of us home.

Most notable funny thing- poop in the tub. I had a feeling this would happen soon and I even had a feeling it might happen that night, but what are you going to do about it anyway? So I was watching B take his bath when all of a sudden it happened. I didn't even know what to do first- get the poop out or get the kid out. Well, I decided on getting the.......kid. Then I had to fish the poop out and clean the tub and start all over. It was such a bummer because we were so close to the end of the bath time and then we had to start all over.

He also got another new tooth. It's the one to the right of the middle two on top. He also has the one to the left of center on top- does he have the middle two you ask? No. He just has a nice set of fangs now. My friend says we can just say he's from Appalachia. :)

The photo is from the day we went to the park. B loves the swings, but surprisingly hates the slide. Oh well.

Our first playdate

Yesterday we went to our first playdate. It was more like time for the moms to talk about stuff, but the kids did play, although not together. Fine by me, as long as Blake was busy. He found lots of fun toys to play with at the home where we went.

The other moms there were really nice and not all "my child is brilliant and he is only 2 and reading at a 4th grade level and blah, blah." Well, there was one mom there a little like that, but she felt entitled because she has 2 kids and everyone else only has one. So she felt like she knew everything. Oh well, she was mostly nice anyway.

We were supposed to go to our stroller strides exercise class yesterday too, but on Monday night, there was a teeeensy little bit of snow (I'm talking like less than 1/2 inch at our house) and they cancelled, yes cancelled school. So, since our class goes along with the school schedule, class was cancelled too. It was ridiculous. There was nothing on my street- not even ice. And I had one really lame excuse from a student about why they couldn't come to their lesson. Text message from student- "my mom and I saw a car flip this morning and she doesn't think she wants to drive all the way to your house this afternoon for a lesson." LAME!!! This message came at like 7:30am and the lesson time wasn't even until 3:30 and if you know anything about Albuquerque, then you know any ice that may have been there (even though there wasn't much) was melted by like 10am.

And another student couldn't come because he left his saxophone at school on Monday (heaven forbid people take their instruments home and ....practice...eee gads....) and since school was closed, he couldn't get his horn. I was tempted to tell his dad that whenever he comes to his lesson he spends over half the time talking and so he may as well come and we'll just talk, but I didn't have the heart to rat the kid out.

Pics of the crawler

It's over

It's over....that's right, my life is over. Yep, Blake has started crawling- that was last week and I tried to post about it, but I included some video and the computer wouldn't take it, so i guess I just kinda forgot to tell all of you that.

What really ends it for me though is that today I walked down the hall and there he was, standing up holding on to the couch! I started laughing and cheering for him and then he fell down onto his bottom and started crying. Then I fed him and got him to crawl all the way to his room (a pretty long way from the kitchen for a little guy who has never gone that far), when it occurred to me..."now that he can pull himself up, he can get out of his crib." So I went to get the rest of his bottle and yep, there he was about to go head first out of the crib.

So I had to go out to the garage and fish out the pack and play and set that up so he can take his nap. Sheldon said he'd lower his crib when he gets home- I have no idea how to do that. I do know, however, that it takes some tools and knowledge, neither of which I want to use for that task today.

Anyway, that's the big new from here. I hope you guys are having a nice week so far. Keep me and my baby-proofing in your thoughts! :)

library, part II

So, the library wasn't too bad last week. Blake fell asleep in the car (we were running other errands and hitting the library on the way home) and I really contemplated going at all. But I decided it would be a nice effort to go again and see how it was the second time.

I left him in his carrier and put it in the stroller and wheeled him in- still sleeping. I figured he'd eventually wake up from the noise, and he did. Once he was awake, we had a very nice time. No, no body talked to us and we didn't join any cliques, but we had fun with each other and doing the activities, so all was well.

Just thought you might like to know.

LIbrary

Last week we went to storytime at the library. The lady read to the kids and they got to dance in a circle and play with instruments. I thought this would be a great, fun thing for Blake to do on Wednesdays. Well, once we got there I realized how extremely clique-y all the women there are. The ones who already knew each other only socialized with themselves and didn't even try to include anyone else. It was so middle school-ish. I was happy to have Blake there so that at least I wasn't sitting there alone.

Sheldon's thoughts- "Oh, just go sit by them and start talking to them about their kids." Apparently he has never been around a clique of women before.

Anyway, we are planning on going again this week and hopefully we can meet some other people who are new and we can be friendly, and then we will be friendly to other new people next time.

The good news is that Blake really did like the music and dancing around. Which reminds me, we are starting a music class this weekend at the university prep music school. Should be fun- I'll give you the update later.

Happy (late) New Year!

I hope everyone had a nice New Year celebration. We had a fun time playing this video game called Sing Star. We were spending the holiday with Sheldon's family and one of the kids got this game for Christmas, so we had a tournament. If you don't know the game, this is the basic deal...the game plays a real music video of a popular song and you sing along with it. The video game recognizes your voice and gives you points for correct words and pitches. You compete against another person (it's alot like Dance Dance Revolution if you are familiar with that game) and the person who sang the best, according to the computer, wins.

Well, as I said, we did a tournament and mostly the old people- aged 30 and above went down pretty hard to the kids. All the songs were current hits and most of us didn't really know them (oh, and the rules we made up stated that the youngest person in each round got to pick the song, so we were doomed). It was pretty fun though. If you ever have a chance to play Sing Star, I highly recommend it.

Then after getting all the kids to bed, which I never realized was so hard until I had one, it was about midnight. We rang the new year in and then I went home and put the baby to bed.

He has been sleeping really well lately because we finally tough-loved him to stop waking up in the middle of the night. We figured the best time to do that would be when we both had a break from having to get up really early, so we picked the holiday break. Blake had been waking up every night at 3:30 and wanting to eat, then he would only take 2 oz. It was starting to get a little (alright, alot) annoying because we figured all he really wanted was some company. So for 2 nights we just let him cry it out and after about 10-15 minutes he went back to sleep. And now, knock on wood, he is cured. He has slept all night every night for the last week. We also put a heater in his room that has a thermostat and it goes on periodically throughout the night. One of the girls in my book club told me that research suggests that between 3 and 4 am is the time your body reaches it's lowest temperature during the night. So, either way- heater or tough love- he is sleeping all night now. YAY!

I got my hair cut too. I was finally tired of having it pulled all day long, so I just decided to chop it off. It's not all that short- just about an inch about my shoulders, but just high enough that Blake can't get a good handful of it. :)

Anyway, hope your year is off to a good start!

p.s. I can't figure out how to rotate the pics once they are uploaded, so sorry half my pictures are sideways. :(