I'm 1!

Or, you know, 13 months and 10 days, but who's really counting? :)

But let's pretend that it's December 31, and I'm super mom, and even though in the past 6 days we've celebrated Christmas, J's dad's birthday, my parents' anniversary, my mom and sister's birthdays, P's birthday, and New Year's Eve, I still have enough energy to put up a super-cute blog post about my child's 1st birthday party...well, a girl can dream, right? :)

The good news is that even though there wasn't a timely post about my precious son's first birthday party, a birthday party DID happen! And it was wonderful! And fun! And most importantly, the peanut had a great time!

Here is the photographic evidence that on a day long, long ago, my child had a 1st birthday party. :)

Here's his invitation...it started off as a New Year's Eve theme. Period. But then, we couldn't help ourselves, and after the invites had already gone out, the persistent sock monkey theme surfaced. You will see evidence of this below. :)

The party was graciously held at J's parents' house...and it was an absolutely beautiful day.

Here is the one and only crafty thing I have made off of Pinterest...and J was equally as involved as I was in its creation. I love the way it turned out, and hopefully we'll remember to display it on our door for all the birthdays at our house (minus the "1," of course). :)

Our party guests had to put up with our "suggested party attire" that greeted them by the front door. After all, it was New Year's Eve...we were just the pre-party. :)


Another Pinterest idea (also suggested by my sweet, party-planning-friend, Brittney) come to life with the balloons hanging from the ceiling...

The table.
J's parents went above and beyond, hand-making sandwich platters and other tasty treats.

The centerpiece was made of some party-ready sock monkeys (as well as some other monkey "tag-a-longs.")

The "original" sock monkey that was used to entice J when he was a baby model had a special place at the table.

Okay - so the monkey centerpiece might have been my favorite decoration. :) Who says you can't combine a "sock monkey" theme with a "New Year's Eve" theme!?

Ahem...one more centerpiece picture. :) I told you, I was obsessed with this.

How precious is this!?! J's parents made little signs for the food platters, including one pointing out food designated for our youngest party-goers. :)

More balloons in the kitchen where the cake action was going to take place.

I was afraid this might look like we were hanging the sock monkey in effigy. :) That wasn't our intention, of course...

Pictures of Mr. P. over the past year (as posted here). In his mother's not-so-humble opinion, he was too cute to just pick a picture from each month, so I picked one from every two weeks...:)

Happy birthday balloons!

GiGi and Grammy Share decked out for the party.

J and I decked out...I'm sure P will look back at this picture at some point in time in his life and think his parents were such big dorks for making everyone wear this party gear. We'll plead the 5th.

Gramps and Aunt KiKi

My sweet family (some of P's favorite people)

Aunt KiKi and Uncle Bear...Uncle Bear was the most excited of anyone at the party to wear the party gear. :)

One of the "little party guests." :) Notice that the blanket she was playing on also went along with the sock monkey theme...thank you to Cousin Whitney for that addition!!!

The birthday boy made a fashionably late appearance...the party started at 11:07, and he didn't wake up from his nap until 11:45!

Our other little party guest and her sister and their sweet mom, Sara. J and I held both of these kiddos on the day they were born. :)

Our dear friend, Thomas, with J and P. He's the dad of the little girls above. :)

Presents!
Between Christmas and his birthday, I'm sure our child was expecting there to be present opening on a weekly basis from this point on.

A bleary-eyed birthday boy. I love this picture. :)

Cheese!

Why are you taking another picture of me?

I mean, I know I'm cute, but good grief, people.

The "before" shot of the smash cake, which was made by my kindergarten teacher, Ms. Parker. :) She has made a birthday cake for me every year since I was 6...and I'm pretty sure we haven't missed a year...seriously. My kindergarten teacher made me a cake for my 31st birthday last year. :)

Family shot, pre-cake.


You want to take a picture of little ole me? Eating cake? Okay...

Clapping as his adoring fans sing "Happy Birthday!"

Sweet Evie showing Mr. P. what to do. :)

So, you're telling me that I'm supposed to stick my fingers in this thing?

Are you sure about that?

Here I am trying to encourage things along...P is staring at the "Peanut Paparazzi."

Could this kid look any more unsure about what we're asking him to do?! :)

Nothing like force-ably feeding your child his birthday cake. :)

J and I have decided that this cannot be our child. Neither of us have EVER turned down a sweet treat. We're the kind of people who don't like nuts in brownies but will willingly pick the nuts out of a brownie in order to salvage just one bite. :)

I know, Mom. Instead of eating it, how about I just study it?

Oh, what a face...and so many captions that could be plugged in. :)


Pretty sure those are the "all done" hands. :)

And this is as wild as it got. A little red frosting around the kid's lips.

Here I am trying to clean the red off of his fingers, since he tends to put his hands in his hair at some point during meal time. :) Just trying to limit the damage.


And the "after" shot...with most of the damage done by me.

The big people cake. :)

A New Year's Eve party calls for some bubbly...cider. :)

It's present time! Again, sweet Evie helped P with the ins and outs of present opening. :) She really was so sweet about it. I love P's face in this picture.

This picture is included because P got a hat from his GiGi and Gramps, and little Miss Sadie decided to model it for everyone. :)

P's Grammy Share wrote him a very sweet note for his 1st birthday.

Opening his present from Aunt KiKi and Uncle Bear...a Noah's Ark from FAO Schwartz in NYC! They had just returned from a trip there and were so thoughtful to bring P such a unique b-day present!


Here's a close up of the ark! Aunt KiKi would want me to point out that the monkey on the right has a scary receding hairline that she had no control over because she couldn't pick out the exact ark with the cutest animals (as our mother has taught us to do :)) because it had to be shipped from NYC.


Playing with the camera...aren't those faces just so sweet?


Again, I just LOVE this!

As party favors, J's mom found pink sock monkeys, which you can see Sadie cradling in this pict. :)

P with Grandma Judy! (Somehow we missed getting Pops in on the picture! :( Probably because he was documenting the event from behind the camera as well!)

And here's the whole fam after the party...do you think J and I look a little tired? I can't imagine why...


We weren't the only ones who looked tired after the party...upon our return home, we just did some good relaxing.

Here's P hanging out with dad.

What a face.

We love the space between his front teeth. :) Although we are hopeful that the permanent ones will take up a little more room. ;)

Opening a SUPER cute book from his "Grandma" Cathy. :)

1) Love the thighs.
2) The red mark on his forehead is from him falling onto the corner of a book. Who knew reading was a contact sport?

Oh Peanut. We love you and loved celebrating your birthday with you...even if it all happened 1 month and 10 days ago. ;)

We're Alive! :)

...and REALLY busy, apparently. :) First things, first. Here are a couple of pictures of the peanut...

I know. He's gotten big. I'm sorry. It's been too long.

January seems to have come and gone in the blink of an eye. We've had a good start to the beginning of the year. J has been working really hard and is getting back into training for his second season of triathlons. I've been subbing a lot (meaning at least once a week) and have recently started tutoring two kiddos after school. I've enjoyed using that skill set (as P and I don't do a lot of work with integers and finding the area of circles or trapezoids), and admittedly, it pays better than my normal gig. ;) The good news for me is that every day I sub, it reaffirms for me that I made the right decision for our family in staying home. While I greatly enjoy being in the classroom (and seeing my old teaching buddies) and really enjoy interacting with older kids, I miss being with MY kid. I love getting to come home to him and enjoy our days when we don't have a set "schedule" and just get to hang out.

I'm sure P doesn't mind it when I sub or tutor, as he has some of the best babysitters in the world...his family! Weekly he gets to see his Grammy Share and Aunt Debby. Aunt Sandy has just started coming to hang out while I tutor, and Grandma Judy also gets in some good time with the little guy. We continue to try to make it over to see GiGi and Gramps every week, too! This is one loved little dude. We are so blessed to be surrounded by people who love us so much!

We continue to be really involved in our Sunday school class, and J is serving on the Benevolence Committee for the church. I do a weekly Bible study that I absolutely love with dear friends, and J and I are a part of a small group that meets regularly.

Twice a month P and I are getting together with moms who have little ones his age. It was a group I connected with when Parker was about 10 weeks old, and now the kids are all over the place! :) It's fun to have reconnected with this group - the moms are a great sounding board, and P seems to enjoy going and playing with the other kiddos.

As for P, that "P" can now stand for "Peanut" and "Personality." :) The kid is coming into his own...and there's a lot of personality packed into that chubby little body. :) He makes us laugh every day, and he just brings us so much joy! There is MUCH to catch up on (you know, minor things... like his first birthday! :-/), but until I get to those posts...here are a couple of pictures from the end of December that capture the little guy in all his glory.

He is still bizarrely/endearingly into balancing things. :) Above is an example. He likes to put his pacifier on the table (or the floor, or the crib railing) and gently use his fingertips to make it spin or teeter.

See? He gets kinda into it. :)

This picture was taken on January 2, which was the first day I walked into his bedroom in the morning to find him standing up in his crib waiting for me. :) It's now a regular occurrence, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing that little face peeking over the railing at me.

OK - more posts are coming. Do I dare make a resolution to blog more frequently? :) I'll try to do better...I promise.

One More Christmas Thought...

I know that it's January 13 and that Christmas is now put away until next December, but I wanted to write this blog post so many times and never found the opportunity to make it happen during the holiday season, so forgive me for holding on to the Christmas spirit for one more post.

This was our first Christmas with our Peanut, although last year he was so much closer than we realized! When I think back to last year, besides remembering how big I felt (and let's face it...was!), I remember the unbelievable anticipation I had as I waited for the arrival of our baby boy, and as silly as it might sound, I remember thinking, "This must be what Mary felt like!" Now granted, I'm sure that my anticipation was a fraction of hers, but never-the-less, last year God gave me a gift, allowing me to identify with the Christmas story in a way that I never had before.

This year, I received a similar gift, but in a different way. As we began listening to Christmas music, one of my favorite songs from a few years ago (Joseph's Lullaby by MercyMe) came on the radio, but this year, it touched me so deeply that I cried...and it continued to touch my heart all season long, as I teared up (and I'm not kidding about this) nearly every time I heard it! (It truly became a running joke in our house!) The words are as follows:

Go to sleep my Son
This manger for your bed
You have a long road before You
Rest Your little head

Can You feel the weight of Your glory?
Do You understand the price?
Or does the Father guard Your heart for now
So You can sleep tonight?

Go to sleep my Son
Go and chase Your dreams
This world can wait for one more moment
Go and sleep in peace

I believe the glory of Heaven
Is lying in my arms tonight
Lord, I ask that He for just this moment
Simply be my child

Go to sleep my Son
Baby, close Your eyes
Soon enough You'll save the day
But for now, dear Child of mine
Oh my Jesus, Sleep tight

As I listened to the words of this song and held my baby, I was struck for the very first time (and I've known the Christmas story for a while now ;)) with the truth that our heavenly father who created the universe loved us enough to come to Earth as one of us, showing us, as Dr. Scates, the senior pastor at our church, has said a number of times, that he wasn't ashamed to put on human flesh. But it's not just that God became human, which is hard enough to wrap my mind around. It's the fact that he didn't appear on the earth as a grown-up. He came to earth as a baby. He had earthly parents who took care of his every need. Mary was up with him in the middle of the night. Joseph held him when he cried. Can you even imagine what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph? They knew that this baby was the son of God, and yet, at the same time, he was their little boy, and they adored him just like I adore P.

The idea that Mary and Joseph probably struggled daily with wanting to do the very best job they could to help God fulfill his plan, and yet, just wanting, especially in those precious, quiet moments when they looked upon their sleeping little boy, for Jesus to be just that...simply their baby boy to love. I think it was the humanness of our savior that caused me to be overcome with such emotion over and over again. What a gift to have even the tiniest-bit-better understanding of how much God loves us.

I realize that this gift will most likely continue to surface in different ways each year, which I am so thankful for, because admittedly, when you combine a procrastinator like myself with Christmas and a child's birthday, it is so easy to lose focus on the real reason for the season, even when PURPOSEFULLY trying to be focused. But that's how God works...even in the midst of all of the worldly messages that were so loud they could have easily drowned out a quiet truth...God was there, whispering to me, "I love you, my child...I love you so much that I sent my only son for you. He came to this earth as a helpless baby - just like you, and lived an earthly life - just like you, and then died for you and defeated death, so that you might have eternal life." What a wonderful reminder of how the greatest love story ever told started...with a tiny baby in a manger. "Emmanuel...God with us." (Matthew 1:23)

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and that the true meaning of the season stays with you all year.

And if you're interested...I found this posted on YouTube. It's the MercyMe song I was talking about with images that conjured up those emotions for me again when I saw it...enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PytP9XPhP1g

Christmas morning, Groundhog Day-style

We had Christmas morning again on the 26th. There had just been too much excitement on the 25th to get it all in. P, however, didn't seem to mind. :) When he woke up, he got to open his present from us - the Fisher Price "Laugh and Learn Musical Table." This is really the first toy he has had that allows him to play with something while standing up. It has been amazing to watch how he went from tentatively pulling up on it to now approaching that toy with gusto, getting from the floor to standing in 2 seconds flat. Here he is experiencing the table for the first time. I love how he kind of has this crazed look on his face...in my head, I can hear him thinking, "Presents, presents, presents, presents..." (and in my head, it's done in the voice of Garfield, who, in the cartoon A Garfield Halloween says, "Candy, candy, candy, candy..." you know, just in case you've ever seen that and that helps you hear the exact voice that I'm hearing in my head a little bit better. :))

Can you tell that we rolled out of bed and opened up our presents? This kid's hair is out-of-control. However, I must share that in his stocking he received some fancy-schmacy natural conditioner from a company called "California Baby." The results have been staggering. I'm not kidding. P could be the star of a Saturday morning infomercial for this stuff...after we use it his hair is super soft, manageable, and shockingly-not-wirey. And never mind that it costs more than what J and I pay combined for our shampoo and conditioner...Grammy Share was so impressed with the results that she said she would finance his habit until he goes to college. :)

Lovin' the "music" setting that plays upwards of 50 different songs. P spends most of his time trying to get this little toy to play all 50 songs at once, which, as you might imagine, includes some skill. Most of the time when he's playing with it, I feel like I'm on the game show, "Name That Tune" by only hearing one or two notes of each song. I'm getting pretty good, although differentiating between the Alphabet Song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star can be confusing.

Happy little man.

Think we're a little bleary-eyed? We definitely suffered in the sleep department around Christmas...but as a Christmas gift to me, after all of the holiday craziness settled down, P has been sleeping better than he has since he was 5 months old (which is the one time in his life when he would sleep until 7 AM without waking up in the middle of the night...at least I think that really happened, but I might just be one of those moms that has selective memory, which is a very distinct possibility. :) Either way...I'll take it!)

Here we are with another favorite present...a percussion set from Uncle Robert and Auntie Lindy. :) Dad's showing P how it works.

Do I hold the drumstick like this?

Future drum-line captain?

I love this picture...and it sums up our Christmas...it was full of JOY! :) Hope yours was, too!

Christmas Evening

Christmas Day officially came to a close at my Grandma Claire's house (as has been tradition for my family since I was a little girl). In recent years, it has tended to be a very relaxing evening...I say "in recent years" because I'm pretty sure that my parents would claim it was the opposite of relaxing when we were growing up. The number of presents when we were little was overwhelming to say the least. I remember not being able to see the floor and feeling engulfed by a sea of bags, tissue, wrapping paper, and ribbon. As a kid, the excess was probably exciting, but I'm sure for my parents it was the last thing they wanted for us at the end of a Christmas. Thankfully, now that I am a parent, things are nice and calm... :) (Gotta love how that works.)

See...very calm. :) And you can see the floor! :)

This year my grandma's present to everyone was to take us all to see "A Christmas Carol" at the Dallas Theater Center. We went the Thursday night before Christmas, and it was SO much fun! We had fantastic seats (we were on the first 3 rows), and everyone had a great time!

This is a picture taken from the Dallas Morning News...we saw these actual people on stage. And may I just say that everyone in the family wanted to take this little boy home! What a cutie! :) But I digress... :)

So we spent a relaxing evening eating good food and being entertained by the Peanut, as was a theme of the holidays. :)

P entertained himself for a while by throwing a charger onto the coffee table. It was all fun and games until the charger looked at him funny...and then he broke down...but until then, I was kind of wishing that I had gotten him a charger for Christmas. (And, for those of you uber-observant people...yes, Peanut is wearing the same pjs that he was wearing Christmas Eve...and Christmas morning. We ended up not going home between going to my parents' and my grandma's, but don't worry - we did change him in to new pajamas when we got home on Christmas night. And hey, you can only wear Christmas pajamas for so long...so we were getting the most bang for our buck!)

Hanging out with the family...and the awesome charger.

Reading a new book with Aunt Debby.

And here P is hearing the flute for the first time...how he didn't experience this until the end of his first year is beyond me! :) He definitely was intrigued. It was almost as exciting as the charger.

We had to end the evening early to get P home and into bed...we didn't even open presents, which, again, is just proof as to how old my kiddo is. :) When we got home and got Peanut into bed, J and I opened up our presents to each other. I am probably the most excited about 2 photography classes that I'm going to attend in the upcoming weeks! We'll see if you can tell a difference in my picts after I go...

You'll notice that we never talked about Peanut's Christmas present from us...that's because he didn't open his presents from us until the next morning, but as I've said before, that's a different post. :)

Merry Christmas!

Chrstmas Morning

After going to bed around 2 AM on Christmas morning, it was a nice surprise when the Peanut didn't wake up until 8:30! :) But considering that we had to be at my parents' at 9:00 (let me rephrase that...were supposed to be at my parents' at 9:00), we decided to hold off on our Christmas present opening around here until a little later in the day. I should also insert here that this is definitely a sign that we have a one year old, as opposed to a 4 year old...I know that in the years to come that a) our child won't be sleeping until 8:30 (in fact, if he's anything like me, I'll be telling him that he can come and get us at 6:00 on Christmas morning, but he'll be awake way before then :)), and b) there will be no "holding off" on the opening of presents until later in the day. :)

So, in our unfortunately predictable timing, we arrived at my parents closer to 9:30 than 9:00. Sigh...I am the first one to admit that I had problems being on time BEFORE I ever had a child. Now, despite my best efforts, I can seemingly never get anywhere I need to be when I need to be there. We used to make the joke in my family about telling some family members to be someplace at an earlier time, knowing that they would still show up later than the actual starting time. Please feel free to tell me to be somewhere 15 minutes earlier than you really need for me to be there, and most likely, I'll show up right on time. Seriously. You should do this. It won't hurt my feelings, and worse case scenario, I'm early. That's not something that I've experienced a lot in my life...it might be good for me.

First things, first. When we did get to my parents, P ate the traditional Christmas breakfast of Cheerios and yogurt with blueberries. :) (I must say, I love his face in this picture...what a goober! ;))

Here he is with, I would venture to say, the favorite present of the day...it's a Fisher Price house that does all sorts of fun things - and most notably for P has a door that he can open and close, as well as a mailbox that he can open and close...have I mentioned that he likes to open and close things? I'm sure it will be the gift that keeps on giving as he continues to discover fun things that it can do, but until then, we're content to just open and close...open and close...open and close...

Here he is seeing what his Aunt KiKi and Uncle Bear gave him - a water table to use outside in the summer! :) He has no idea what kind of fun awaits him in that box...

P loves his Grandpa Ron...who still does not have a good name...he's kind of like Voldemort, but instead of "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," it's, "He-Who-CANNOT-Be-Named." My sweet dad needs an equally sweet name...


Practicing his ninja sneak-attack moves on an unsuspecting grandma...these were the same ninja moves that broke her glasses frames this past fall. He may look slow, but don't let that fool you. He'll get you when you least expect it...

Think he likes his new blocks? :)

Hanging out with Aunt KiKi.

Christmas morning is the perfect time to practice your clapping...no matter how old you are. :)

Looking at his new snowman with Grammy Share. :)

After the present opening, my grandparents and Aunt Martha and Don came over. We ate a late breakfast and were just generally lazy, which is, I'm pretty sure, exactly what you're supposed to do on Christmas. After all, we had to rest up for Christmas - Round 3, but again, that is another post. :)

Christmas Eve

And the fun continued...

We had actually planned on attending the 4:00 "family" service at church (or as one of our ministers called it, "the zoo.") :) We didn't make this decision lightly. For as long as I can remember, we have attended the 11:00 candlelight service, but with P, we decided that there were (sadly) just too many details that would make that more difficult than it was worth to us. We also decided that it would be weird for J and I to put P in the nursery while we attended the zoo service with no little animal up there to call our own and videotape :), so we made the decision to bring P with us to the 4:00 service, even if it meant spending the entire time trying to keep him entertained. However, the stars didn't align for us, and we made the executive decision (after advice from a smart lady to "be flexible" :)), to forgo the church service for quality time with family. It was a good choice, and we know that next year, we'll be at the zoo service with bells on...and a 2 year old in tow. :)

At 6:00 we went over to my parents' house for the traditional family get-together. Christmas Eve is my favorite night of the year because of this tradition. :) It was so fun to bring Peanut into the mix this time around!

P was in a great mood and had fun playing with his family.
Here he is with his Aunt Debby and one of his go-to toys...the rings.

I love this picture! I wish I knew what they were both responding to! :) (Obviously something startling!)

More attention...this little man can't get enough. His cousin Kaitlyn was home from A&M and his Aunt Martha was in town from Washington D.C. The joke is - trying to find the baby? Just look to the center of the circle. :)

Cousin Kaitlyn and Uncle Brent

Sister, Mom, and me...they were the cooks with the mostest! I just showed up with the entertainment. :)

3 of my favorite people...Sister, Cousin Blake, and Cousin Kaitlyn

Gpa Jim (aka "Gramps" to Peanut) and J's dad, John (aka "Pops")

"Whoa there! I promise, Santa...I've been good...really, really good. OK, so maybe not so good in the sleep department, but no man is perfect..."

Having fun with his Aunt Sandy and Aunt Debby

Hanging around before dinner...

Uncle Brent, Cousin Kaitlyn, Aunt Becky, and Cousin Blake about to participate in the yearly viewing of "A Claymation Christmas" (circa 1987).

If you have never seen this...I must insist that you do next Christmas season. I'm pretty sure I first saw this when I was 7...and we've watched it every Christmas Eve since. In fact, up until a few years ago, we were still viewing this on the VHS that we had recorded off of the TV years ago when it aired. Sister and I found it on DVD a few years back...thank goodness! We didn't know how many more views that little VHS had left in it!

It should be noted that the family all-time favorite is "The Carol of the Bells," and our favorite line from this segment that can be used throughout the year whenever you misplace something is, " I lost mine." Really...I insist...you must get your hands on a copy of this thing. :)

Our little family. :)

After dinner and the "Claymation Christmas" viewing, we all just hung around until it was time to leave for the 11 o'clock service. J was kind enough to offer to let me go to church while he stayed with the Peanut. I took him up on the offer and was able to go and enjoy the beautiful service while J stayed at my parents' and assembled a Christmas present for the nut that needed 42 screws. :) We left right after my parents (who sing in the choir), and as the photograph below shows, we need to be remember that we don't need to show up before 10:30 next year. :)

I texted J this pict with the caption, "Whew! Glad we got here when we did!" :)

The service was beautiful, and we got back home around 12:45 to find Peanut asleep on J on the couch downstairs. Poor little guy had woken up and wouldn't go back into his pack 'n play, so his dad just had to snuggle him. :)

My sweet boys.

By the time we got home and got ready for bed, we probably went to sleep around 1:45 or so...sigh...at least our little guy didn't wake up until 8:30 on Christmas morning...but that's another post... ;)