Happy New Year!

It's the last day of the year and all I can think about is, "where the hell has this year gone?!" It's still amazing to me as well how much Little Man A has grown over the past 12 months. As of today, he is constantly walking around, can't quite stand up on his own without the help of a nearby leg or piece of furniture. He has two more teeth coming in which would make for a total of four on top. These ones aren't being kind to him about the process either. He's still wearing 12 months clothes, with the occasional 18 month that runs small or in his case his one piece pajamas. His coordination just amazes me on a daily basis and the way he imitates different moves that we make makes me do a double take (just the other day we taught him how to "strum his banjo" to play along with one of his toys).

One of the things that I am determined to finish this year, preferably in the next month or two, is his first year scrapbook. Just looking at his first pictures, his first bath, his first walk around the block, brings a tear of joy to my eyes. Here is one of my favorite pictures of him shortly after he was born.



In some aspects, I'm nervous about what this next year holds for him and his development/changes in general. I'm nervous about changing him completely over to a sippy cup and doing away with the bottle. But what I'm most nervous about is that I can already start to see his little temper begin to form in certain circumstances. Yesterday, I was sitting with him in his tent reading books. Occasionally I would peek out of the tent to either talk to my mom or peek at the football game. Two seconds later, I feel him swatting at me in the face - probably to make me continue reading to him or pay attention to him. I know allot of the temper tantrums come from not having the language ability to tell me what he wants, but if he's anything like my husband and I, which I can already tell he is, he'll be a handful before the age of 2.

Here's to making sure I keep my sanity throughout the new year, to the adventures that I'm sure will be fun and exciting, and to keeping our spills and injuries to a minimum (which I'm sure will by many- he's already given himself a black eye today from tripping over something in his room and falling toward his diaper pail).

Happy New Year!

Whore your loot

We were invited by That Chick Over There to whore our loot from Christmas for her Second Annual Whore Your Loot Post. In addition to getting what I really wanted for Christmas from Santa... er, I mean my husband, Little Man A had a blast this year as well. My parents as well as my brothers were able to join us in Virginia for a wonderful family gathering.


Little Man A's biggest present included a "Hide Me" tent from Gramma. It includes a tunnel for him to crawl through, but we didn't add that on and probably won't until next year when he's a little bit better about moving around. I ended up putting a couple blankets in there with some of his board books and he reads in there constantly now.


Yesterday he also grabbed the remote for the tv and crawled as fast as he could into the tent to hide (smart little bugger!). Just to let you know, this was a big step for me because at the same time we put away his entertainment pads that he has had out since he was born. He loved playing with the toys still and crawling in and out of them. This is just another sign for me that my baby is growing up fast!

The other big gift that he received was a 4-in-1 Ride-on bike with Winnie the Pooh and gang. It starts off as a rocker with the side bars to keep him from falling out. Then you can take the bottom off so you can push him around on the wheels with the mother's handle. Next, you take off the side bars and still push him around. Last, you let him scoot around by himself.


The rest of his presents included books, books and more books, a tractor and farm set that makes animal noises, and Leap Frog refrigerator magnet toy. He actually had so much fun opening presents that his morning and afternoon nap lasted 2 hours each. I'm sure most of the toys I'll have to hide and bring out later to switch with the ones that he has out now.


As for me, my father framed a Texas Wildflower poster that he had picked up on our journey to Texas when I first moved there in 1998. It was actually a pamphlet but Michael's did a great job of hiding the creases. My husband purchased for me the murder series by James Patterson, as well as a few of the Toddler 411 books on how to cook for toddlers, how to talk to toddlers, and what to expect over the next few years. He also purchased an under the cabinet cd/radio player for the kitchen. Now A and I don't have to sit in silence while eating our meals! Yeah!


I finally received the Mickey Mouse font disk for my Cricut diecut machine. Now I don't have to cut out Mickey Mouse ears by hand anymore! Our big gift from my parents was a gift card from Lowe's so we can install a new patio door in our downstairs family room.

Since my husband did such a great job at getting all these wonderful gifts, I of course showered him with Cowboys apparel. His big gift was a beer making kit which he has been wanting for quite awhile. With this, he can also make wine for us as well! Double bonus!

I did venture out to the stores the day after Christmas. More to pick up small gifts for family and friends ... oh, and the 50% off candy too! I think I have enough to last me until Valentine's Day. We may not even have to buy any for that event either.

Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas, and have a safe and happy new year!

Merry Christmas

Hope you and your family have a very merry Christmas!

Funny Noises for the holiday

I've been a little bit of a video maniac lately, so I have to apologize if you feel like you are getting bombarded by videos. Our little digital Cannon camera does a decent job at getting both pictures and videos. Which is good because that means we can get short videos for now without having to buy a new video camera.

I had to show you this one because it is too funny! Little Man A used to like for us to do this when he was 6 months old. For some reason this seems to calm him. It worked like a charm when we were out all day long looking to buy a house this summer. Now I think he just likes the sound that it makes. I didn't get it on film, but he ended up doing to himself after I took this video. Too cute!

Little Man A Walking

Tonight we went to our previous next door neighbors house for a big family dinner. We became really good friends with three families on the block and they really are the best things that have happened to us since moving to the D.C. area. As we were mingling with friends, I would watch Little Man A in amazement at how he would walk around the house. These videos were taken just 5 days ago and he's already improved this newfound skill since then. He's growing so fast and I'm sure it'll be no time before I'm running after him! Good way to keep the pounds off I'm sure!

Tootles!


My drunken sailor