The Boy Has Turned One

What an amazing year it has been! I know I keep saying this, but wow. It has been amazing.

On one hand it is hard to believe that only a year has passed since the amazing day of his birth. It seems like he has always been a part of our family. On the other hand I can't believe our baby is one. There's not really much baby about him anymore. He has grown so fast and changed so much right before our eyes.

12 month stats:
For months he has been way off the charts and with this well check that was no exception. Rather than closing that gap, it appears that the gap is increasing. Our Pediatrician is just astonished at how tall he is.

Height: 33 1/2" (> 97th %)
Weight: 28lbs 14oz (> 97th %)
Teeth: 6 total, 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom with 2 more bottom teeth trying to emerge.

His Hemoglobin came back at 11.3, so all is great there.

The birthday party was the Saturday prior to his birthday. His Grandparents, Great Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, & Cousins were there to celebrate his special day.

He wasn't quite sure what to make of his cake. He dug right in but had no interest in actually eating any of it. He was grateful for his bottle to wash down the itty bit of sweetness that did make it into his mouth.


















Eight days before his birthday he began walking, or waddling rather, on his own. He spontaneously put one foot before the other and moved across the room in a vertical position. Day by day he grows more confidence with his walking abilities and there is less evidence of the side-to-side waddling. I can only imagine he will be running before we know it.

He continues to move non-stop and has become rather independant... for a one year old. He still requires our torture to get him dressed daily. He is an inquisitive little guy who has no qualms about exploring on his own in his quest to find the perfect choking hazard. Fortunately we haven't experienced any choking incidents thus far. That is not to say that we aren't constantly swiping his mouth to remove the choking object of the moment.

Spencer's verbal communication has become more conversationalist in nature. He is still quite talkative and quite loud, but it seems to have much more meaning to him. We still can't understand any more than we could before. Though it is great fun to have "conversations" with him. Watching his expressions and listening to his inflection is fascinating, heart warming, and entertaining. He sure has a lot to say!

He loves to be outside! He will escort himself out the dog door and onto the deck at any opportunity. We don't mind so long as the weather is decent. On really nice days we open the sliding door and he goes in circles... out the dog door, in through the sliding door, out the dog door... He is now able to climb to the top of his slide on his own though it seems that we still have work to do on the turning around part. He always ends up on his belly heading face first. He also loves to play with his bike and push toys when we are out front.

Spencer has also figured out that he can clap his hands together. This is a skill that I thought he would learn months ago but he hasn't had any interest in it. Now he finds great joy in clapping for accomplishments... like knocking over a tower of blocks.

And last but not least, the boy has weaned himself. I was planning to ditch the pump during the day while continuing to nurse at night, but he had alternate plans. Instead he has become our cuddly boy at night, a nice change of pace from his constant motion during the day.

Thanks for an awesome year Spencer. We are here by your side and ready to experience what your second year has in store for you.

We love you!

Done Painting...For Now...

Most of you know about the painting project from hell. We finally reached the milestone of completing one entire room. It was about 11:00 Friday night and we were peeling off the tape, taking down plastic and generally cleaning up our mess. I went out to the garage to get something and heard the crash. I raced inside to find Sonya and the ladder about 8 feet lower than when I had left and there was blood everywhere.

The ladder had been situated on the green beam running accross the ceiling over the stairs going down to the basement. Fortunately, when the ladder slipped, the top of the ladder landed on the railing at the top of the stairs instead of falling all the way into the basement. I came in to find Sonya and the ladder perched on the railing bleeding. The only thing I could think of was to hold on to her as tight as I could. I was terrified that the railing would give and she would fall the rest of the way into the basement. Sonya, on the other hand, was more worried about the blood she was dripping all over the carpet. I finally loosened my grip long enough for her to swing her leg over the railing and we assessed the situation.

It was 11:15 pm. Sonya definately needed to go to the hospital. We had three sleeping children. The first person we thought of calling is vacationing in Hawaii, and both of our parents live an hour away. We called B & B's mom who generously came over with out hesitation and off we went to the hospital.

It's never a good sign when you pull into the ER parking lot and every single space is taken. I dropped Sonya off at the doors and went to park the van. When I got back she was waiting to be triaged. The triage nurse called us back and asked some basic assesment questions and then we waited for a room to open. We waited less than 10 minutes and were called back before several people who had arrived before us.

A tetnus shot was given, x-rays were taken, a plastic surgeon was called, and Sonya's lip was stiched. The worst part was the injection of the numbing agent. Sonya squeazed my hand harder then she ever did while she was in labor. After about 3 hours in the ER we were sent home.

Despite all of the trauma, it could have been worse. Sonya is pretty stiff and sore, but doing well. The swelling has gone down in her lip and looks much better and the stiches come out on Friday. The dentist says that none of the roots of her three chipped teeth are damaged and when her mouth has healed a little more they can repair those.

The Question Of The Evening...

If your legs are awake enough to carry your little body out of bed and down the stairs how can they suddenly be asleep and unable to carry your little body back up the stairs and back into bed?

Furthermore, how can we get the upper part of the body to go to sleep that quickly?

What Are You?

On the ride home from our field trip today the girls were asking questions about boys vs. girls.

They concluded...

Girls are girls
Boys are boys
Mommas are mommas
Mommas are like mommies

Which leads us to wonder... what are Mommies?

Farm Field Trip

The girls' and I went on yet another field trip with school today. We went to a farm.

The girls' had a blast, despite the awful weather conditions. It was cold and rainy. Oh, and the first half of our field trip was outdoors. I thought the experience was okay. When I heard we were going to a working farm I created some expectations that just couldn't be met. I've been to a farm before, many times actually. I've helped out on a farm before, nothing elaborate but still a farm experience.

This particular farm had some typical farm animals. Your everyday cows, pigs, horses, chickens, etc... Though other than the horses, the number of animals seemed to be sparse.

My favorite part was the indoor experience. Not only because we were then out of the elements but because we could get up close and personal with those animals. This is where I really become perplexed about the "working farm" aspect of the experience. The animals that we got to learn all sorts of cool facts about, get really close to, and touch aren't your typical "farm" animals. At least not where we live!

Many of them were dessert animals that you would find in Iran or Iraq. A more common animal, a particular breed of turtle, you may see in our neck of the woods but they are much more common in the south. The other turtle was a Russian turtle. They also got to learn about Chinchilla's, Ferret's, Iguana’s, Tree Frogs, Tarantulas, and a snake named Sunshine.

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to my Sweetie!

I'm hoping you are having an awesome birthday. May your day be filled with joy and wonder.

Okay... so given the recent and upcoming events in our lives I know it is a bit crazy around there. I promise to do my best to not add any more excitement to the mix!

Keep your sights on Friday when super sitter comes to the rescue and we can go out and celebrate your special day. Hang on until then!

Happy Birthday Carie!!!

Baby Steps

It would seem as though we have a walker on our hands.

For some time now he's been confident with his skills of taking small safe steps between objects. It seemed no big deal to him to let go of an object, take a step, grab onto new object. We of course were like "Did you see that? Did you just see that??".

Then he expanded his abilities by taking a couple steps here or there before plopping down and utilizing his faster mode of transportation. Of course our excitement grew. He is quite mobile as it is. I think it would be better if he were vertically mobile.

Then last Tuesday he took the most steps he has ever taken... five! He took five steps without any assistance. Every day over the past week he has gained more confidence in his abilities. He still finds crawling to be advantageous but he isn't as hesitant to put one foot in front of another when he's standing.

What an amazing development to witness!

Rationale Of Young Minds

There have been several instances lately where the girls' just crack us up. Here's a peak into our insanity...

Yesterday morning I happened to notice a mark on a wall... a freshly painted wall.

Me: It looks like someone marked up the wall... is that ink?
Me: Abby, do you know how this mark got on the wall?
Abby: No
(pause)
Abby: I think Spencer did it!
Me: I don't think so
Me: Ellie, do you know how this ink got on the wall?
Ellie: No
(pause)
Ellie: I think Santa did it!
Me: Really? I'll have to have a talk with Santa!
Me: Then I enter lecture mode on why it is not okay and what we are to do instead... yadda yadda yadda. I'm certain that is exactly what they heard.

In the mean time I think we will have the both of them scrub the ink off the wall (since our new paint is actually scrubable) and reinforce the fact that we do not draw on the walls. Like that is doing any good.

Though it is possible that it wasn't them since B&B were at our house a couple of days recently. They could have been the offenders. But who really knows since I know our girls' are more than capable of doing this. Figuring out who actually did it isn't going to change the outcome... so we move on.

Future Florist?

Ellie loves to pick flowers! It truly seems to be a passion of hers.

In the early parts of Spring... Day after day we would ask them "please do not pick the flowers". It became a futile effort. The new rule is that they can pick all the flowers they want in the backyard. I guess it is only fair since they shed blood, sweat and tears right along with us as we planted the hundreds of bulbs in the backyard.

We do ask, and hold firm on the rule, that they not pick other people's flowers. If it is in our yard it may be picked but please leave the neighbors flowers alone. We have to keep an eye on them or all the flowers in a 10-mile radius would be picked.

If there is a flower to be picked... Ellie will pick it. Daily she comes inside with fist fulls of flowers that she wants to put into bowls of water. We oblige. Another year comes and goes and again we have no remaining tulips in the back yard. I only hope our front garden stands a chance.

Maybe next year?

Pics of the recently picked tulips...

Are You Ready for Children?

I was reading Put it on your Therapy List tonight and found Dr. G's latest entry to be hilarious. It is worth a trip to her site to read it! I've also copied it below and have added commentary.

Are You Ready for Children?

Mess Test: Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Now rub your hands in the wet flowerbed and rub on the walls. Cover the stains with crayons. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer.

** I think we pass this test with flying colors. Refer to any of the various posts regarding vaseline, poop, crayons, ink, or graffiti on the walls.

Toy Test: Obtain a 55-gallon box of Lego's. (If Lego's are not available, you may substitute roofing tacks or broken bottles.) Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the bathroom or kitchen. Do not scream. (This could wake a child at night.)

** We don't yet have little sharp objects to hurt ourselves on. I'm sure our time is coming. Instead we are constantly navigating around play shoes, books, marbles, rocks, etc...

Grocery Store Test: Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop at the grocery store. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.

** We are known to crack open a box of something to just make it through the store. Oh, and in the dairy department they have small cartons of chocolate milk.

Dressing Test: Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag making sure that all arms stay inside.

** This is why our kids are always running around naked.

Feeding Test: Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a stout cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal (such as Fruit Loops or Cheerios) into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.

** Whoever decided that carpet belonged in the dining room should be shot!

Night Test: Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8 - 12 pounds of sand. Soak it thoroughly in water. At 8:00 PM begin to waltz and hum with the bag until 9:00 PM. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10:00 PM. Get up, pick up your bag, and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until 4:00 AM. Set alarm for 5:00 AM. Get up and make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

** Cool... we have survived nearly 4 years! I had no idea we were near the end of this insanity. Do we look cheerful?

Physical Test (Women): Obtain a large beanbag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans.

** No kidding!

Physical Test (Men): Go to the nearest drug store. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.

Final Assignment: Find a couple who already has a small child. Lecture them on how they can improve their discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training, and child's table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they should never allow their children to run riot. Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you will have all the answers.

** So true!

Source: Aha! Jokes, http://www.AhaJokes.com/

To Edit or to Not Edit

Amongst our circle of friends there is often a discussion as to whether or not one edits the story as you are reading to your children. Often times, given our circle of friends, this discussion is focused around the subject of "Mom and Dad" appearing in the book.

For us, there are some books that we do edit and some books that we do not. For me, it really depends on the story or purpose of the book. A great example is that of the book we read religiously prior to Spencer's birth. One of the particular stories that we liked was a story about a new baby. The book "The New Baby" by Mercer Mayor. In that story we changed it to fit our families needs while leaving the main point of the story intact. The girls' were becoming big sisters', the baby was a baby brother, and the parents were Mommy & Momma.

There are many other books that we do not edit. I believe all kids should be educated about the variety of family structures that exist.

However, we've been doing a different kind of editing more recently and frequently.

Last week the girls' library selections got a thumbs up response from Carie. One of them happened to be one of our favorites that we have read to the girls' many times over. The other she had recognized from her childhood. We had settled in to read our books; Carie hands over their new books and leaves us to our reading. As I was reading one of the books (Chicken Licken) I became a bit concerned as we neared the end. I look ahead as I'm reading and quickly decide to alter the ending. The girls of course knew no different since they can't yet read.

Later that evening I mentioned to Carie that I altered the ending so she had a heads up if she were to read the book to them. They do remember how the story goes! She was surprised that I needed to alter the ending, but after I told her how it really ended she agreed.

The funny thing about this though is that Carie didn't remember the "real" ending. She had no idea that "Foxy-loxy took them into the fox's hole and he and his young ones soon ate up poor Chicken-licken, Henney-penney, Cocky-locky, Ducky-lucky, Drakey-lakey, Goosey-loosey, Gander-lander, and Turkey-lurkey; and they never saw the King to tell him that the sky had fallen."

As I was talking to another friend today she too said that she recalled this book and she too had no recollection of the horrible ending.

How can you remember the rest of that story but not that ending?

I've concluded that their parents must have edited the ending too.

Happy Easter

The entire week leading up to Easter the girls' were pumped. They made bunny ears in school. They clearly had been talking about Easter, as have we. Then to boot, the girls' accidentally discovered the Easter Bunny's hiding place and found one item that was to go in their Easter basket. The rest of the week we heard Ellie telling us, and anyone who would listen, that "Easter is bringing me a jump rope".

Saturday afternoon we celebrated with Carie's family. The kids' thoroughly enjoyed their Easter baskets and egg hunting. We thoroughly enjoyed witnessing their excitement. I love sitting back and watching so much happiness fill they’re little bodies. All of the kids had fun hunting for Easter eggs and then playing with items from their Easter basket.

This being Spencer's first Easter he wasn't really clued into the hunting aspect of "egg hunting". He found two eggs and immediately smashed them against the pavement and squished them in his hands. Those poor eggs didn't stand a chance. Spencer had great fun.

Sunday morning we woke the kids from blissful sleep and went to the early service. It was a beautiful service though I did miss going to our usual service. The children's sermon included a story about a butterfly. As part of the children's time they received cool butterfly stamps, which made for a great activity for the duration of the service. That is until the very end. Carie and I were preoccupied with gathering up our stuff and Ellie decided to stamp butterflies all over her arm... shoulder to fingers. It was a lovely addition to her outfit.

While we were in Church the Easter bunny made a visit to our house. After Church we briefly stopped at home to check out what the Easter bunny had left for everyone. The kids' were quite excited with all of their little items, jump ropes included. We then gathered up our stuff for the remainder of the day and went to celebrate with my family.

Again they thoroughly enjoyed their Easter baskets followed by egg hunting with their cousins. Between my parents, grandparents, brother & sister-in-law there were a ton of eggs to find. Ellie was amazing; she took off without hesitation and filled her basket in no time. While the rest of the kids went one direction, Ellie went the other and had a whole area to herself. I had to empty her basket half way through because her eggs kept falling out. Both girls' ended up with quite a pile of eggs and they spent a good deal of time opening them one by one and collecting the contents. Abby really took her time opening the eggs and examining what was in each one. They will enjoy some of that candy then the rest will likely disappear. Though as well as Abby examined all of her loot, I'm sure she will notice if it goes missing. Spencer was off enjoying a much-needed nap during all of the egg hunting excitement.

Birthday Preparations

Spencer's 1st birthday is drawing near and we are doing the usual preparations. It will be a small (ha) gathering with our family. We'll have cake, ice cream, and dinner. Hopefully he will take his usual awesome afternoon nap and wake just in time for his party.

Thank you for making my invite Mommy! You did a fantastic job!

Text reads:

It's been an exciting year

full of joy and love and fun

come celebrate with us

as our little boy turns one!

Family of 5

Since we've become a family of 5, there have been some unexpected experiences.

Now these are things that we didn't give any thought to before and if we had they wouldn't have had an impact in our decision to become a family of 5. But now that we are a family of 5, these things now impact us... and any other family of 5 with an infant/toddler.

Here are the top 2 things on my list...

1) We can no longer stay in a standard hotel room. Max occupancy in one standard room is 4 people. I supposed we could always say we just have 4 people... but we don't. We have 5.

2) Eating out. This has to be my biggest gripe!

When we go to a restaurant and they ask how many people in the party, we say 5. They look at us and say... 4 and a high chair!?! Yes, we need a high chair but we have 5 people. They ignore us and put us at a table for 4. Generally they squeeze Spencer at the end and generally speaking the other end is pushed up against a wall.

So we are packed in there like sardines with toddlers on all sides. Spencer might be young, but like any other wee one, he grabs for everything. He's got a long and strong reach. If anything is within reach you don't dare get distracted or it will end up turned over or on the floor. This cannot be uncommon! Oh, then remember the other two children next to you that are demanding your attention.

So... you've got your meal pushed off to the side invading the girls' space to keep him from grabbing it. Then you've got the girls' physically leaning into your space because they just want to be close to you. Then you've got Mr. grabby hands exploring anything he can.

We often do sit at a table for 4 and make it work. It can and does work. However, this past weekend someone attempted to seat us at a table that had a max of 4 spots and tried putting Spencer on a corner. No thank you, how about this table over here instead!!!

It turned out to be a very pleasant dinner. We all had our own space, we all stayed in our own space. The girls' sat and ate, double bonus. They even noticed when another girl in the restaurant was having a hard time with her dinner. This other girl was a bit on the loud side (not overly obnoxious) and clearly had a rough time of sitting and eating. We've experienced that! Near the end I'm thanking the girls' for such an awesome dinner. Abby then tells us that the girl is disturbing her dinner. Excellent opportunity to reiterate why Mommy & Momma ask that we sit at the table and eat our meal like grown up girls.

Bottom line... Meals are much more enjoyable if we all have our own space. Kids deserve to have their own spot at the table. They aren't an "extra" to be squeezed in.

Momma's Helper

This weekend was another attempt to make progress on our massive painting project.

I had been prepping one of the walls. The spackle had dried and I was sanding it down. I put the sanding block down next to me and Spencer comes to help. He picked up the sanding block and began sanding the wall. It was a rather cute moment.

He then put the sanding block into his mouth. I am rather impressed though that it went on the wall first. Generally everything goes straight into the mouth.

Spencer's Bike

Thanks to Spencer's friends, B&B, he has a new bike that is just his size. He loves it!

This boy loves to be outside. He loves to go go go. He doesn't care whether he is on the grass, driveway or sidewalk. Anything is fair game.

We Love Riding Bikes

Watch where you are going...

A Picture Is Worth A Thousands Words

Do you feel those eyes???

The Rooster Debate

Yesterday afternoon Ellie was quite distraught. They were talking about Roosters and what letter Rooster started with.

Ellie was absolutely certain that it started with the letter H. Abby & Carie were trying to gently convince her otherwise. They would say and sound out Rooster with emphasis on the R. In the mean time, Ellie was still trying to convince them that it started with the letter H.

Carie was a bit perplexed. Generally speaking both girls' have become really good at figuring out what letter different words start with. They have made a game out of it and it has become a favorite activity. But this time, Ellie was just not on board.

Finally Ellie told Carie and Abby to wait as she went to get her Alphabet book. They have a ton of books; I'm not even sure which book she is talking about. But she found it rather quickly, opened it up, and turned to the page with the letter H. She was quite proud that she had just proved that Rooster started with the letter H.

Yeah, it was a picture of a Hen.

Lesson number 2: Discuss the difference between Hens and Roosters.

The Great Debate

Do Mosquitos talk?

Abby says absolutely not. Ellie begs to differ.

Listening them debate this is quite hilarious. Abby tries to reason with Ellie as to why Mosquitos don't talk while Ellie is trying to show Abby how you'd communicate with a Mosquito if it were present.

Ear Report Number 9,999

Friday night Ellie was in terrible pain. She was sleeping but thrashing around, something was clearly bothering her. Carie finally got her to wake enough to tell her what the matter was. Turns out, her left ear hurt. After getting some Motrin on board, she settled down for the remainder of the night.

The next morning I called as soon as the office opened. Our Pediatrician wasn't staffing the Saturday hours, but our favorite backup Ped was. I took the girls' in for Ellie's visit and thankfully the office was eerie quiet so I had him check out Abby too. We suspected Abby's persistent cough was just a bad cold/cough, but we might as well make sure while we are there. We didn’t feel it warranted a visit to the Ped’s, but since we absolutely needed to go for Ellie, why not take Abby too.

Turns out Ellie's left ear is raging. It is so bad that he talked to me about the possibility of it rupturing. Great! Yet I am amazed at how much it doesn't bother her. Outside of the previous night, she is acting completely normal. He then listened to Abby and found no signs of wheezing or crackling in her chest.

So we leave with a script for Ellie's ear and instructions to continue doing what we are doing for Abby and come back on Tuesday if it continues to be persistent.