At One Year

Little 'Mister',

 

 

You are one year old!  

 

I cannot believe how quickly one year has passed.  Watching you grow in your first year has been such a joy and it warms my heart to see the little person you are becoming.

 

You are such a chill, laid-back little dude...for the most part.  You go with the flow which is good because we are on the go a lot.  You have a little bit of a temper and when you are upset or angry...you let us know it!

You are such a happy little fella...always smiling and showing off those adorable dimples.  You are a little flirt, too.

 



You have a serious side...there is this 'ooo' face that you make.  You furrow your brow and pucker your lips as if to say 'you must be joking'.  It is so adorable.  You are not impressed by much.  I'm honestly not sure that we have ever seen you overly excited. 

You love your brother and sister and spend a good part of your day chasing them around the house. You're not exactly desperate to play with them...you usually give up trying to keep up with them and then go play with their toys when they aren't looking.  You're a sneaky little guy.

 



You are our first 'Little' who isn't attached to a blanket yet.  You don't suck your thumb or a binky.  You love your bottle.  Love it!  I don't know how we will ever take it away from you. 

You grow more and more curious each day and are starting to try to figure out how things work. You love swinging doors back and forth and putting objects in and out of cups.  Your favorite toys are Little People.  You could play with them all day.

 

We still call you our 'Chunky Monkey'.  You aren't exactly off the charts with your size but your daily mission is to eat as much as possible.  I don't know when you will ever be full.  Your favorite food is bananas...you would eat 20 a day if I'd let you.  You also like pancakes, chicken, and most fruit.
 

We just love you so very much 'Little Monkey' and are so happy that you completed our little family.

Happy first birthday, 'Mister'.

 

 

On the Farm

Gigi and Pop gave 'The Boy' his first Ant Farm for Christmas.  It was a complete and utter surprise to all of us.  I wish you could have seen how wide my eyes were when I saw it being unwrapped. 

 

But, 'The Boy' was really excited about it.  So, I suppressed my desire to throw it away unopened and invited our little guests into our home. 

 I definitely get mom-of-the-year for this one!

And I am happy to report that we did not have a single escapee.  Thank goodness!

They didn't stay with us for very long.  They made a few tunnels and slowly died off.  'The Boy' was pretty bummed when the last one went to ant heaven.  Pop said he would buy some more.  Yikes!  Maybe 'The Boy' will forget about them.  A girl can hope, right?

New

 A new year and some new things happening around here.  This year may (or may not) see a whole lot less blogging.  'The Littles' require so much of me and I require some time for myself...and with "the Hubs, too.  While I used to get so much out of blogging, I am feeling pressured to keep up with it these days. I don't necessarily enjoy spending all of my me time blogging.  I don't want to give up on this wonderful journal so I will just say this.  I will try to blog once a week.  And if it doesn't happen...oh, well.  I hope you all continue to read about our adventures.  And here is a whole bunch of random ones from January...

 ...hanging out at Panera...
 

 ...So excited to ride the new Radiator Springs Racers...

 

...it's not easy to get these monkeys to all look at the camera at once...

...'The Hubs' took me out for one of the best dates ever!  We got a new bed for my poor aching back...

...These two love to wrestle...

 ...I enjoyed breakfast with my 'Mister' while the other kids were at a sleep over...

...someday, they will deny this ever happened...

...our little mermaid dressed herself...

...'The Hubs' laced me up properly...

...My mom and I had a girls day and cried through this movie...so good...



...we used to carry formula in this to go canister...now its protein powder...

...Still loves trains...

...Just Dance Disney...

...Studying the map like we have never been to Disneyland before...

...why I run...

...'The Hubs' finally built us a storage system in the garage...

...'Munchkin' clearly is not a fan of basketball...

 

...bouncing away at a party...

...first ever pinata swing...

...We got to spend a day with 'The Hubs' best friend from childhood and his family. Happy first birthday, Little Ricky!

At Eleven Months

'Mister',
     You are eleven months old.  As in almost one year.  It makes me a bit sad that you had to grow so much in this time.  I wish that I could keep you little forever.  Especially since you are my last baby.  So many of your first are the last firsts I will see until you 'Littles' have children of your own.  I suppose it will always be that way.
      As sad as I am to see you grow so fast, I love so much about this age you are at.  I adore your sweet giggle and that you have different smiles for the special people in your life.  I love that you can tell us when you want "mama" or "dadad".  My heart melts when I see you playing with your brother and sister and breaks when they get mad at you or leave you out.
     Growing by leaps and bounds with new teeth sprouting up faster than I can kiss away the tears they cause.  Discovering left and right, testing our baby (and sister) proofing.  Dont' worry.  We've had a talk with her.  You will not get prayed in the face with Windex ever again.  And I'm really, really sorry that it happened in the first place.
      Next month, you will be one year old and we will celebrate.  We will celebrate the anniversary of your birth.  We will celebrate Mommy and Daddy making it through the year (because it is tough sometimes).  We will celebrate the closing of one baby filled chapter and the beginning of a new one for our family.  And we will celebrate you.  Wonderful, amazing you!