The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - SYTYCD

I have never denied my love for So You Think You Can Dance, and Season 8 looks like it won't disappoint!  Last night's premiere was full of all of the talent, drama, and spectacular performances we have come to expect.  Thank goodness for a talent show that displays actual skill.  (No, I do not watch any of the other "reality" or "talent" shows that are just media machines.  Blah.)

Mary was cackling, Nigel was messing with people's heads, Lil C was making up words, and...ugh, broadway boy was making it about him.  I might not be a fan of the last guy.  ;)  However, I couldn't really disagree with any of the love or lack there of this time around!

Who are my favorites from last night?

Shafeek Westbrook - This breaker's musicality is just incredible. And I don't just like him for being from Philly!



Daniel Baker - Ok, he's mostly nice to look at.  But also a talented ballet dancer from the SF ballet.




And, not surprisingly, my mom's group is a huge fan of
Bree Hafen - Mom of the cutest little girl ever



There were too many stand-outs to list, but these were a few.  Can't wait for next week!

Happy 1st Birthday, Lion!

Happy birthday to the smartest, most adorable, and well, perhaps the biggest troublemaker ;) I know!  I couldn't have dreamed up a better son, and I have enjoyed getting to be his mom.

What I didn't anticipate?  Everyone I know kept getting sad that their child was turning 1.  I kept waiting for it to hit me.  And waiting, and waiting, and waiting.  And you know what?  I'm not sad!  I truly love this age enough that I don't mourn that time is going quickly.  Now...when he moves out of toddler hood?  That may be a different story, but not right now.  I honestly will say that I don't really miss having a TINY baby.  I much prefer this rough and tumble little man who has personality in spades.

Developmentally?  He's talking a bit, but not as much as I would have thought.  He had a word spurt months ago, and then just kind of stuck there.  That doesn't mean he's not doing new things!  He points, and blows kisses, and makes what he wants VERY well known.  He can figure out all sorts of puzzles, like how to get the cans of cat food out of cabinets that have door latches on them.  He now imagines, and truly PLAYS with his toys.  Just this morning, he was opening and shutting the door on his Little People bus and putting the characters in, while saying "door" and "bus" and getting VERY excited when I sang that verse of "Wheels on the Bus".  He's understanding categories, but is making some mistakes, like when he chases Monster saying, "Dog, dog, dog".

Physically?  Walking isn't totally stable yet, but it's getting there.  He still prefers to crawl.  Did I say that he fell into a coffee table and chipped his tooth after his party on Saturday?  Well, he did.  It's not bad.  He is STRONG.  One of his favorite tricks right now is hanging.  From the counter, from the shelves, from the top of the dog cage.  We heard that my parents had to take down all their curtains with me, and I see that coming.  He's been expressing some interest in climbing them.  Oh, CLIMBING.  On his chair.  On his trike.    On the dishwasher.  He wants to get on TOP of everything right now.

Food?  He's eating everything.  Other than I still haven't tried nuts or shellfish.  He's also still nursing.  Full time.  And I'm still pumping.  :/  That was NOT the plan.  However, transitioning to milk is not going well.  He spits it and throws the cup.  He WILL drink coconut milk, but we have not transitioned at daycare.  This needs to be worked on.  Some of his current favorites?  Blueberries and animal crackers.  Last night we had Chinese food for our anniversary, and we let him have an egg roll.  HOO boy.  Kid was in heaven.  Though he kept dumping out the contents for the dog.  So, really?  He enjoyed a fried wonton wrapper.  Oh well.

Teeth?  8 teeth are fully in, one of which is now chipped.  ;)  My mother thinks that all 4 molars have broken the surface, but I have only been able to feel 1 so far.  He's not particularly into people messing with his mouth.  Really, he's been less fussy with the molars than the other teeth so far (hopefully I didn't curse myself).  I think the reason is that he's not running a simultaneous ear infection.  Which...brings us to our debate of if we really want to have tube surgery in a couple weeks.  He's now gone a month and 1/2 without an infection...hmm...we need to decide.

Trouble?  Last night was funny (but don't tell him that).  Robby is AWFUL about diaper and clothing changes.  Full out screaming, twisting, running away.  You have to physically hold him down while getting hit and yelled at.  I have not used a changing pad in months, only changing him on the floor, because he will throw himself off the table.  I'm not even joking.  My mother even started to avoid diaper changes while she was here because she had trouble controlling him.  So, my new tactic is to try and wait him out, and change him once he's calm(er).  Robby had run (naked) into the corner of his crib and the door and taunted me.  I stayed serious, and said, "Robby, come here.  We need to put a diaper on."  And that's all I said.  And all I did.  I sat there, serious-faced, repeating that.  And...patting the floor in front of me, as we might with our dog.  Unfortunately, Robby has LEARNED how we call the dog.  He proceeded to smile, and call ME by babbling and patting his leg.  Little twerp!  FINALLY, after about 10 minutes, he did voluntarily come over and the changing went much smoother than normal.  Hopefully I'm on to something.  

See how much fun he is?  Even when he's causing trouble?  I love you little man, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

      

Harassing the dog instead of taking birthday pictures.  Harper looks so sad!

I didn't forget!

Today is my anniversary.  I didn't forget.  Really.  This is just a late post.  Although, should I have ALMOST forgot, I have a reason.  This is only year #2, and last year I was in labor, so we've never really celebrated before.  Not that we plan on it this year either, because we're cheap.  But it doesn't mean I don't WISH we could rush off to Hawaii and relive our honeymoon or something along those lines.

Chris is a wonderful husband that many women would kill for.  (I'm watching my back, now.)  He's a neat freak, who consequently takes on more than his fair share of chores.  He's a fantastic father who thinks the world of his son.  He thinks more of me than I think of myself.  He's one of the hardest workers I know, and he rarely sits down.  He is the person I still talk to 50 times a day.

So, even if once I had to ask why this date was part of a username, or if I flake out sometimes...I still love you. Always will.  Thanks for putting up with the chaos that is my mind.

Our first Christmas card together...4 years ago.

Pregnancy Flashback

Wow!  I honestly didn't think something could make me have warm-fuzzies about 35 weeks pregnant, but...my friend Kelle did!  I had asked for this wonderful non-photographer, but game friend to take some pictures of me, since I didn't really have any good ones, and OHHHHH am I so glad that she did!  They are wonderful!  Even if I'm only seeing them now for the first time.  ;)  It actually is almost nicer this way, since it's fun to look back now that it really seems like a distant memory.  We went to Valley Forge Park, wandered around, and I did a bunch of things that scared her.  Ha!

Anyway, with little commentary...35 weeks pregnant with the Lion

(yes, I was rock-climbing, she was horrified)

 THANK YOU, KELLE!!!

The Lion's 1st Birthday Party

No, Robby's not 1 yet.  I will deny that fact until Wednesday, when I can't anymore.  But...we did have his party.  Lil man was really well behaved, and seemed to have a great time!

I'm disappointed that my practice cakes all seemed to turn out better than my "real" cakes.  Don't get me wrong, they TASTE fantastic.  I could have done better on the decorations, though.  That's ok.  Robby didn't care to eat too much of it anyway.

The cakes...not surprisingly were a bit of an obsession for me.  I did multiple rounds of test cakes figuring out what the best flavors were, and a couple rounds working on decorations.  I still need to practice decorating, but it's really hard to do without putting a lot of extra weight on your family's waistline!  I did get frustrated with my mom as she kept suggesting that I BUY cupcakes.  Which, any of you that know me know that would never happen.  I may have less time these days, but no.  I would not do that.  Uh uh.  So...I may have only slept 5 hours a night for a few nights in a row, but at least they were mine.  

Robby REALLY loves balloons.  Which is adorable, cheap entertainment, and all of that, but really can be worrisome.  Especially when he starts chewing on the "weight" which is a balloon filled with sand.  Consequently, they've already been disposed of.  I suppose it was fun while it lasted.  

Secondary obsession of mine.  I wanted the cute banners you see everywhere.  But I did not want to pay the exorbitant rates you see.  Of course, I thought, "I can make those, no problem."  The issue is I do not have a cricut or any similar device.  That is ALL done by hand.  And the characters I free-handed and cut out of paper.  One friend said, "I hope you at least bought the circles."  Um...nope.  Traced my tupperware.

Food.  Pretty self-explanitory.  It wasn't fancy.  Grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, salad, pasta salad, fruit salad, chips.  Think that's it.  All stuff Robby likes.

As always, Jen took on a lot of the baby-wrangling.  She's a natural.  Even if she usually teaches kids that are a bit older (8th grade).

And, of course my mother-in-law got roped into playing with all the outside toys.  He's obsessed already, but not quite steady enough to do it on his own.

This is about as much as he ended up eating.  I was a little surprised he wasn't more into it.  He LOVES sweet things (mostly fruit), but perhaps this took it a bit farther than he wanted.  Oh well.  

The party was largely lacking in kids.  There were only 4 there including Robby.  Kaden is only 2 weeks younger than Robby, Maddie's 3, and not pictured is Maddie's little brother, Noah who's only 3 months.  They still had a good time.  I hope!  Maddie was very sure she wanted to help with Robby.  It was very cute.

So, there it is.  My little man is all grown up.  Oh, ok, not quite.  But it's hard to believe it's moved so fast!

Daddy's Little Helper

These are two recent videos proving just how much Robby is Chris's son.  The little man already LOVES to clean.  There is really nothing he likes more than to push the broom around the house, and if he hears a vacuum?  Forget about it.  He MUST go be in the room with it.  Me?  I'd prefer to run the other direction.  The noise bothers me.  At least I know I'll be able to assign him that chore.  :)

Sweeping

Vacuuming

My Perfect Mother's Day

Oh, ok.  My PERFECT mother's day would have also worked in a nap somewhere.  But other than that?  I loved today.

That's a size 2T t-shirt ya'll.  CHUNKER.

Robby let me sleep in until 7 am!  Thoroughly refreshed (or at least chipper), we got ready and went out to breakfast.  My request that we go to church didn't end up happening, but Robby was thrilled with the fancy food.  The kid ate an entire piece of french toast, some pancake, and juice all on his own.  He's destined to be a competitive eater.  I better stock up on mass quantities of hot dogs now.

Oh, did I never say he was walking?

He went down for a nap, and Chris and I washed cars.  Ok, I know, you're saying, "On Mother's Day?"  But Chris billed it as "an activity to do together", and we had fun.  Even if Harper and I got sprayed a few times.  ;)

Most of the day was pretty normal.  A long dog walk, a trip to Target, the grocery store, the bookstore...  I did indulge and stop at Dunkin Donuts for an iced coffee while we were walking, but really?  That was because Robby was napping again and we didn't want to wake him up.  The nice guy there gave me some munchkin doughnuts for Robby, but Chris ate them.  Shh...don't tell.

Chris indulged me by cooking (actually, all weekend!) and taking pictures of Robby and me.  I never feel like I have any.  So...now I do.  And I love them.

Harper must always be part of any photo shoot.  This was no exception.

He also gave me a fantastic present.  He made a canvas collage of pictures of Robby and me on Shutterfly.  I LOVE it.  

Really?  I couldn't have asked for a better day.  Hope yours was just as great.

1st Trip to the Zoo

Man, I have been slacking.  Last weekend we went to the zoo for the first time.  We were meeting up with a couple of moms from a local group I'm in.  Zoos for us...well...we're a little torn.  We're not sure we support the captivity of animals, though if done properly we support conservation efforts.  However, this was not the place for people like us to go.

We received free tickets to this small, community zoo when we bought a pair of shoes for Robby, and...we were just glad they were free.  Yes, we expected it to be small, but the animals did not seem particularly well cared for.  Chris commented how sad the elk enclosure made him because there was not a single blade of grass in the entire pen.  It was a small expanse of mud.  The only animals that seemed to be moving at all were a couple of wolves that were playing with each other.  All the cages were definitely dingy, small, and somewhat unkempt.

Robby seemed to enjoy himself, though.  Of course, he loves the pet store and dog park, too.  It was the first time he had really seen animals beyond the pet variety.  He's always really liked birds, and enjoyed watching those animals.  No fear, we will not be adding a bird to our little home zoo any time soon.  Or ever.  Not a big fan personally.

He also enjoyed going into the petting zoo, and seemed to want to pet the goats and sheep, but we didn't encourage it.

So, we got a couple cute pictures, met a few new friends, and enjoyed ourselves...but will not be returning.

And, ok, a mountain lion for Chris.