Monday, February 28, 2011

10 months

Y'all, for real. When did this happen? In two short months my baby will be a YEAR old. Holy cow. I'm absolutely loving this stage in little man's life. He is an absolute joy to be around...except for that week when three top teeth came in at once. We're putting that behind us, though.



He loves his independence.  In fact, he's content without being held at all.  He'd MUCH rather explore the house without us in his way.  In some ways it makes me sad.  I wish he were cuddly and loved being in my arms.  In other ways, I love his adventurous spirit and the fact that he figures things out on his own.  We'll see how I feel about that when he's walking, but for now it's good.


He doesn't like to do things on demand.  In that regard he's like his father.  He can clap, shake his head "no," and copycat with noises you make.  However, if I get the camera out and try to document it...no dice. 
 Frozen expression like above.


He has 5 teeth now, and like I mentioned above, 3 came in one week.  I looked this morning and I think he'll be getting another bottom one soon, too.  Lord help us all.  He's not-so-much a trooper when he's teething.  I remember wishing his teeth would come in late because I loved his gummy grin.  I'm sad I wished that, because his toothy grin is adorable!

His newest trick is my favorite: standing on his own.  We've been practicing for a while, and he'd do it every once in a while.  Now, he's caught on and for the most part will stand on his own...if we're dangling something nearby.  It's so cute seeing him gain his balance, and he's even getting a bit brave and dancing while standing on his own.  I adore this.


Speaking of dancing, this little man LOVES music.  I love this about him, because I feel like this was genetically given to him by me :)  We listen to music and watch music videos in the morning, and he's obsessed.  His little booty shake is too much for me to handle.


Pretty soon he'll be walking on his own.  He still walks behind Dino, and in fact he's started basically running around the house behind him.  He is very comfortable on his feet, so we'll keep practicing and maybe one day soon we'll be there. 


Loves:
Walking around furniture (including Dino and pushing the ottoman around the house)
Dancing
Standing on his own
Walks/Runs-basically being outside
Feeding the dogs his food from his highchair
Clapping
Bathtime and splashing water all over the bathroom
Copying dad's head shake saying "no"
Fav foods: Grilled chicken, string cheese, fresh strawberries and teddy graham crackers
Drinking out of his sippy cup (with a straw, can't grasp tilting his head back)
Says Mama, Dada, duh duh (I think for the dogs) bababab, ggggrraa, and other random things

Hates:
Sleeping in unknown places (but he doesn't have stranger danger)
Being contained (long gone are the "I'll just put him the exersaucer while I shower" days)
Hearing "No" when he wants to unplug everything in sight
Changing clothes
Mom wiping his face after meals, or getting his boogs
Sitting in his carseat if we're not moving

 We absolutely adore this little man. His little personality shines through every day, and we couldn't feel more blessed.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Stickers in action

One of my neighbors had a baby girl on Monday.  I made the usual, baked ziti,
and took it over to her...but not before I got to use
my Dotson stickers.  So cute and fun.


Friday, February 25, 2011

Little Stinker

Knox has cut three teeth in 7 days, and with that comes snot, fever and a very fussy baby.  I'm not complaining...he needs his teeth.  However, I can't wait for this "set" to be done so I can have my sweet baby back. 

Earlier this week I heard him wake up, but he wasn't fussy so I let him "play" while I finished up some things.  I got carried away and realized it had been a while and he was quiet.  QUIET.  The dreaded word...it almost ALWAYS means trouble. 

I looked on the monitor, and this is what I saw.  He had reached through the slats in his crib, past his bumper, UNPLUGGED his noise machine, brought the plug BACK IN HIS CRIB, and was playing with it.  Mommy of the Year award right here.  How did he do it?  I thought I had baby-proofed.  Ugh.  Thankfully nothing terrible had happened before I found him (and took the time to take a picture before "saving" him). 


Yesterday morning I let him play in our bathroom while I was getting ready.  He found the toilet paper.
Great.  Now bathrooms are off limits...but it was pretty cute.  He was DETERMINED.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Lock up yo kids. Lock up yo pets.

We got a call on Sunday morning before church from our neighbor.  Her son, Ryan (5), ran inside saying there was a stray dog with no tags.  Ummm...not exactly a dog.  Good thing he didn't get too close. 

I looked out my window, and across the street sat this beauty.  Seriously, amazing animal.  That doesn't mean I watched my dogs intently when they were outside.  Goodness.



Um, ok. I'm scared.  Doesn't his face look so mean?

(Click on picture to see it larger)
The  man on the right edge of the picture was walking on the coyote's side of the street.  Once he saw him, he switched sides.  The coyote never moved, so at the alley he crossed back over.  Uh uh, coyote wasn't having it.  He got up and started trotting towards the man.  Right when I snapped this pic, a car approached the street from the alley and stopped the coyote.  The man, however, wasn't chancing anything and kept an eye over his shoulder.  Creepy.

Friday, February 18, 2011

I'm. in. Love


It's here!  I opened my front door and my heart skipped a beat.  Ok, I'm being dramatic, but seriously.  I'm obsessed with this calendar.  If you missed my previous post on this, read here.  Or just go to her website.  She's amazing. 

If you don't love organization or stationary, or cute calendars...Stop reading.  If you do, go ahead and drool.  And go order yours!




Packaging is so fun.  She did a great job at wooing me from the get-go.

 

Included was a personal note from my "packager." I know that's not a word, but I didn't want to say packer in reference to sweet Rose.



I may or may  not have bought stationary, too!  So cute!

And without further ado, behold the Dotson Life Planner:




I'm in love with it.  It's perfect.  Please watch the video here if you want to see all it has to offer.  It's the best!
She even gave me a bunch of coupons and freebies.  Below are twelve personalized gift stickers, and she gave me 12 more that say "The Dotson's." So cute!

 

Swings!

I'm a bad mom.  Knox is 9 months old and hasn't ever been in a swing.  Thankfully Alex is ONE, so we celebrated her birthday playgroup at the park.  Ashley packed an awesome lunch for us, and off we went.  We definitely got a few slow drive by's/looks...but honestly I don't blame them.  We had quite the brigade :)

Kennedy and Hadley

Molly

Knox and Emily


The group

Having the best time...with a pink blanket!
Thanks, Rachel!

Seriously, so cute.

Love the teeth/gum grin!

Emily and Kennedy LOVED swinging together

The parking lot

Everyone!

Playground, I heart you!

Knox is finally at the age where he likes those playgrounds in the mall.  We don't frequent them, but it now gives Stephen something constructive to do when I'm shopping on the weekends :)

Knox is in awe of big kids playing.  He stared the majority of the time we were there, at the kids and at the things to climb on.  We took him around, and he would stand and walk around everything. 

So happy.

He stood here forever, watching all the big kids running by.

Slide?  You want me to slide?  Uh oh...

Weeeeeeeee.  He loved it!  So sad this picture is over-exposed. 
Maybe next time I'll get a better pic.

This kid was obsessed with Knox.  He was old enough to walk and run, but
he insisted on crawling towards Knox.  It was cute.

Then the kid got a big-head :)  Pretty soon Knox
won't want me any where near his "secret meetings."

Love that boy.  And he sure does have a BIG heart!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Homemade Ravioli

Stephen and I have spent the past 6 Valentine's Days together.  Crazy.  Every year we make dinner together.  We decided to try our hands at homemade pasta this year, namely ravioli.  I found this recipe, and not to brag or anything...it was AMAZING!

Here's the play-by-play:

Meatball mixture and dough.  If you want the recipe for these PHENOMENAL
meatballs, let me know. 

Stephen rolling the dough.  Knox overseeing.

Finished meatballs.  Two are missing...I plead the 5th.

Ricotta mixture inside, egg as "glue", folding them in half to cut.

Stephen made a heart one.  He's so romantic :)



Knox finally contributed.

Finished product, with a nice glass of red.  Perfect.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentime's Day

When I was a teacher, my students used to say "ValentiMe's Day."  We tried to correct them, but it never stuck.  Now I find myself saying it when referring to the holiday and for some reason I can't say it correctly anymore.  Oh well.

I'm thankful for our Thursday playgroups for a million reasons, but the biggest is that Knox gets to interact with some cute little ladies.  He loves being able to play with other kids, younger and older.  It's so cute to see them all play with the same toys.  I've mentioned Emily a few times...but I just love seeing them together.  They are only a week apart, so it's like they are twins sometimes with how they act and the things they can do.  So cute!!  I stole this picture from Caroline's blog...adorable!


Here's a group shot.  Love that Emily is trying to get to Knox, and I'm not sure what he's looking at.  Maybe Alex?  Too fun!


Friday, February 11, 2011

Handsome Devil


Knox and his partner in crime, Emily



We had the Valentine's Day playgroup yesterday at lunch.  Of course the intention was to get a cute picture of all of the kids in their Valentine's outfits...not-so-much.  I did get one of Knox smiling...small victories!