To shake things up a bit, I just wanted to give a big hallelujah that's nearly football season. The weather is cooling off (marginally) and I cannot believe Labor Day weekend is nearly upon us! Clearly the spotlight is on my team, the Crimson Tide, thanks to our national championship season last year, and it's been fun seeing all the stuff that has been in the media lately. I don't even live in the state, and being up here in Big Orange Country (yuck) limits the access we get to fun little snippets of Bama news.
I was so thrilled to get to watch the ESPN special that was done on the team. It got me really in the mood for college football. I DVR'd it and enjoyed watching last weekend. The two things that were the funniest to me was the kid who did the awesome impression of Nick Saban (this kid seems like he might have a future on-camera) and the focus they gave to the very colorful Bama strength coach. If you are so inclined, here are snippets from them both! Roll Tide!
Robert Ezell Imitates Coach Saban
Coach Cochran Motivational Playlist - this guy is hilarious
http://www.mixpod.com/playlist/64992893
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Ch-ch-ch-changes
So this is mostly more for me, probably stuff that should have gone on his 12 month status update post, but also a few things I wanted to get down somewhere so I can remember them later. I feel like sometime that this blog is my psuedo-baby book (which is handy, since I don't have one {don't be horrified I just have this big stack of stuff I'm keeping to put in one eventually, but I haven't found one I like yet, so if y'all know of any that are cute, let me know}).
His 12 month pediatrician visit went pretty smoothly. Since we hadn't been for a check up since 9 months (although she has seen him once in between there, for something, cannot remember what), she asked me if he was pulling up on things yet and I laughed out loud before I told her that he was walking by 10 months. He showed off for her a bit and she was impressed. He weighed 24 lbs, 4 oz (75th) and was 31 1/4 inches long (90th). His head was also in the 90th percentile. She said we could turn him around and while I know it is recommended to leave them rear-facing as long as possible, we did go ahead and turn him last weekend so that he would have more leg room. His poor legs were jammed up against the back of the seat in his old seat, and I just know he wasn't very comfortable anymore. He seems to love the new-found independence of being forward-facing. I keep meaning to take the flip video with me some morning so I can get some footage of him (at a red light, of course). He likes to point, gesture and vocalize about whatever it is he has spotted on our way to and from school.
As my mom said to me this weekend, as soon as he figures out the sounds that he needs to put together, this boy is going to be talking. He babbles all day long and is trying out all sorts of new sounds. He can say what I know means "outside", since I always talk to him about Dixie having to go outside to go to the bathroom, and if I ask him if he wants to go take Dixie outside he will walk over to the back door and hold his arms up for me to pick him up. He also knows what "upstairs" means and will try to say it, but it comes out like "uh-says". He will point upstairs or lift his head up like he's trying to see who is up there. Hilarious. He stayed with my parents last week for a couple of nights and came back saying all kinds of new sounds. Nothing that resembles any new words, just new sound combinations that I haven't heard him say.
He is also doing the open mouth kiss these days, which about makes me swoon every time he does it. He and Dixie seem to be reaching an equilibrium which is also nice to see, although lately we've had to deal with multiple screaming fits because Mitchell will offer Dixie whatever it is he is eating, and she, not being a very well-trained dog (our fault), will take it. That used to amuse him but now it makes him mad. This kid is serious about his eating, y'all! We're working on that. I have explained to Mitchell that if he offers something to the dog, she is going to eat it, but clearly that concept hasn't really translated yet!
Sorry, no pics on this post. Just boring, minute details (to all of you). :)
His 12 month pediatrician visit went pretty smoothly. Since we hadn't been for a check up since 9 months (although she has seen him once in between there, for something, cannot remember what), she asked me if he was pulling up on things yet and I laughed out loud before I told her that he was walking by 10 months. He showed off for her a bit and she was impressed. He weighed 24 lbs, 4 oz (75th) and was 31 1/4 inches long (90th). His head was also in the 90th percentile. She said we could turn him around and while I know it is recommended to leave them rear-facing as long as possible, we did go ahead and turn him last weekend so that he would have more leg room. His poor legs were jammed up against the back of the seat in his old seat, and I just know he wasn't very comfortable anymore. He seems to love the new-found independence of being forward-facing. I keep meaning to take the flip video with me some morning so I can get some footage of him (at a red light, of course). He likes to point, gesture and vocalize about whatever it is he has spotted on our way to and from school.
As my mom said to me this weekend, as soon as he figures out the sounds that he needs to put together, this boy is going to be talking. He babbles all day long and is trying out all sorts of new sounds. He can say what I know means "outside", since I always talk to him about Dixie having to go outside to go to the bathroom, and if I ask him if he wants to go take Dixie outside he will walk over to the back door and hold his arms up for me to pick him up. He also knows what "upstairs" means and will try to say it, but it comes out like "uh-says". He will point upstairs or lift his head up like he's trying to see who is up there. Hilarious. He stayed with my parents last week for a couple of nights and came back saying all kinds of new sounds. Nothing that resembles any new words, just new sound combinations that I haven't heard him say.
He is also doing the open mouth kiss these days, which about makes me swoon every time he does it. He and Dixie seem to be reaching an equilibrium which is also nice to see, although lately we've had to deal with multiple screaming fits because Mitchell will offer Dixie whatever it is he is eating, and she, not being a very well-trained dog (our fault), will take it. That used to amuse him but now it makes him mad. This kid is serious about his eating, y'all! We're working on that. I have explained to Mitchell that if he offers something to the dog, she is going to eat it, but clearly that concept hasn't really translated yet!
Sorry, no pics on this post. Just boring, minute details (to all of you). :)
Pigpen, 3.0
I just couldn't resist sharing these pictures from yesterday afternoon. Mitchell seems to have a special knack for getting particularly filthy no matter where he is. He is one of the only ones at school that seems to get food all over him, no matter what (this is based on my very unscientific visual survey of other children when I pick him up in the afternoons, and I recognize that all children are somewhat messy eaters at this age). But more than that, it's just that he seems to go at life with gusto, which I totally love about him. I do think sometimes it would be nice to have a child that's a bit more docile and might, from time to time, sit still and just chill out, but I wouldn't trade his adventurous little personality for all the tea in China.
This full contact attitude does mean lots of mess, though. Yesterday I had to go to M's school for a meeting of the Parents' Council (we were discussing a new pergola that is going to be built on the playground, yay) and they were out on the playground when I arrived. Luckily I was able to observe M for a few minutes from afar and I just got so tickled. All of the kiddies in his room were just sort of toddering around in their area, but no one was really getting into it like my boy. He was in constant motion: moving pea gravel around with the shovel, tumbling in and out of the toy car multiple times, manhandling his way into the toy house through the window. (No wonder I'm worn out on those weekends where it's just me and him!) But I didn't really get a good look at him, and then John picked him up so I didn't see him up close until I got home.
I mean, just look at this child. He was playing back behind a chair when I came in the back door, and as soon as he rounded the corner I just burst out laughing. He was simply filthy, and he had the biggest grin on his face to go with it. The pictures really do not do the filth justice. I love my little pig pen!
Friday, August 13, 2010
My Baby is One!
Ok, so this post is overdue. Mitchell's birthday was Wednesday, and his party was last weekend. Life has just been so crazy lately and I really haven't had the time to sit down and devote the time to this I want. The past week has been such a whirlwind, and I have been somewhat emotional thinking about how our lives have changed in the course of 365 days (give or take a few).
(2 Days Old)
This time last year we were coming home from the hospital with a new baby, both scared and apprehensive, but excited about getting to know our little man. We had no idea about the hard nights we would endure, buckets of tears we would shed (by both me and Mitchell) and yes, the arguments we would have when we were frustrated, confused or just plain tired. I still haven't lost all my baby weight, and there are some days I swear that my house will never be clean again, that I'll never have time to sit down and just read a book, and that I wish I could just run out and accomplish a quick errand that had just occured to me needing doing.
(1 Year Old)
However, we also had no idea how deeply we would fall in love. Not just with our son, but with each other in a way that was different than the way we'd loved before, tested and forged by confronting and overcoming the difficult moments that parenting holds while sharing in the immesurable joy that it also brings! I cannot imagine what my life would be like without him in it. I live for the first grin he gives me in the morning, for his giggles, his babbles, watching his chunky legs churn as he motors around the house, his inquisitiveness, and his little mischevious streak. I cherish every snuggle he gives me, steal every kiss I can from him, and never miss telling him how much his Daddy and I love him. My priorities certainly have changed, but I can honestly say that I really don't mind that a bit.
(Goofin' with Daddy)
We are so amazed that we've been given this wonderful gift of Mitchell. He has such a sweet, happy spirit, and I pray that he continues to be so good-natured for all of his days. He rarely meets a stranger and seems to be a natural flirt (when he gets to high school I am probably going to be a mess over these same qualities, right?). This boy has me firmly wrapped around his tiny little fat fingers.
(Birthday morning with Mommy)
He's always been in a hurry in life (except for while I was pregnant with him, they had to induce me and then still it was about 17 hours before he finally arrived), bearing weight on his legs at a couple of months, rolling over at 3 months, first tooth at just over 4 months, sitting up and crawling during his 5th & 6th months and finally, taking a step just shy of 9 months and fully walking by 10 months. In such a developmental whirlwind, it can be hard to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.
(Mitchell wants to know what the fun is in sittng still, anyway?)
But it has been so fun to see him grow over this past year. There's not much he's doing new from his 11 month update: babbling a bit more, pointing to indicate he wants something, shaking his head no intentionally now (so cute, but I know soon I will probably be wanting to eat those words), and starting to try to say a few words that we can just barely make out. He will say something that sounds like Dixie, shoe, and my favorite, which is sit down. Obviously only we can make these out.
(I hope you can see the blurred hand here, he was wailing and flapping and I'm sure our neighbors appreciated the wake-up call, this being about 7 a.m. on Sunday morning)
And grow he has! At his 12 month check-up, he weight 24 lbs, 4 oz (75th percentile) and was 31 1/4 inches long (90th percentile). His legs have started to get longer and his pants now look more like he is going wading (time to hit my mom up for some new ones).
(Barely filling up the carseat, on the way to our first doctor's appt four days after he was born)
(Using the carseat as a jungle gym)
I have been a bit apprehensive about how he'd take to phasing out the bottle at school, but all of a sudden in the last week or two he has gotten great about drinking from a cup and is almost entirely on cow's milk now during the day. He just nurses once before bed, and I will continue that until baseball season is over so John will be around to help put him to bed consistently during that process. He has just taken so naturally to the changes that come with growing up.
(Big Boy...Big Belly)
He starts in his new classroom on Monday (delayed slightly by them wanting another child who will probably have a harder time to be able to move up with him, so that they both have a buddy while they are adjusting), and while we will miss his teachers in the infant room, he hasn't really been an "infant" in so long that it is clearly time!
We're ready to charge head-first into year two of life with Mitchell! Thanks for the encouragement you've given through gifts, notes, e-mails, phone calls and yes, reading this blog. It is so nice to have a place to express myself AND show off my sweet thang!
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