My Little Man

Just a couple cute shots of my little 2-year-old. It was surprisingly warm yesterday so this favorite outfit of mine got another chance to be worn. Of course I just had to snap some pictures while I had the chance. :) Enjoy.




*A funny little note that doesn't really have anything to do with these pictures:
I decided today to try again with making his pacifier be only for naps/bedtime. He asked for it after nap today and I told him I put them up and they were for sleeping only now. He looked at me and smiled and said, "You teasing Mommy!". Sorry Buster, I'm not teasing.

N Turns 2 (brought to you by Pinterest)

Pinterest in the greatest thing ever! Okay, well maybe not ever, but it's pretty awesome! I pretty much did all of N's birthday party from ideas I found on there.

I went with a camping theme, mainly because I thought it would be fun and unique, but still easy enough to do. I loved the idea of a red wagon theme, but I couldn't find much out there, and everything I did find looked like it would take a lot more money to pull off.

The cake: This was a mix of a few different cakes I saw on Pinterest. I wanted to do two trees, but I ran out of green frosting and barely got that one tree covered, so that had to do. I love how the campfire turned out though!

The food and decorations: I had the kids collect some sticks and pine cones when we were camping last month and just stuck them in jars I already had (gotta love free!). I added some tags from a digi scrapbook kit I bought when I made the invitations with string I already had (that was my idea, one of the only things I didn't find on Pinterest, lol).
I also made a little "Don't feed the bears" sign and put one of the boys' teddy bears next to it (another Pinterest idea), and grabbed the lantern from our camping stuff.
For food I made a s'more trail mix (mini marshmallows, chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate), and golden grahams cereal), and then just did goldfish crackers, and watermelon. I also put out the rest of the giant marshmallows that I bought for the party favors.



I didn't take a picture of the favors (although I still could, I have a ton left!), but I did giant marshmallows, graham crackers, and mini Hersey's bars with a tag that said "s'more fun for later". I thought they turned out super cute!

Okay, on to some party pics of my birthday boy! :)

N loves marshmallows, and once he figured out he could reach the bowl he kept picking them out of there. He was too cute, so I didn't stop him. I love how he has one hand shoving them in his mouth and the other hand still grabbing them from the bowl!

On his very tippy toes!

He was so cute opening his presents this year! It makes me excited for Christmas (now I just have to figure out what to get him).

He loved being sung to!


He started off trying to use his fork like a big boy...

But quickly went with the quickest and easiest way to get that cake into his mouth!


It was a fun little party! N loved being outside and running around with all the kids!

Marshmallows

I saw this craft floating around Pintrest (LOVE that site, BTW!) a few times and thought it would be fun to do with the kids this summer. I had grabbed a bag of red (pink), white, and blue star marshmallows a few weeks ago and with today being rainy I figured it was a good day for this.
It really was a perfect craft. The kids loved it, it wasn't too messy, and they did it for over an hour. Win, win, win! And as an added bonus, my kitchen now smells pretty yummy! :)
Here are a few pictures...

M working on her bridge

R holding up his sun

Having funR using his marshmallow dumbbells.

Being cute :)

(sorry the quality is so bad, I'm not sure how to get them to upload better)

N at 20 Months

I just wanted to do a post about N and at this age so I don't forget all the fun things he's doing. We had a little impromptu photo shoot this afternoon after his nap, and I was just thinking about how much I love this age.

At 20 months...
He loves his pacifier, but is getting use to leaving it in his crib once he's woken up all the way.

He loves hats, and his favorite by far is his Giants hat that was recently passed down from R; I've never seen a toddler keep a hat on his head like N does.

He also has R's old baseball glove, and loves to wear that as well.

He loves baseballs, preferably M's pink one.

He is silly and loves to make us laugh.

He loves the "amote" and thinks it's great when he actually gets ahold of one long enough to change the channel on the TV (even when the Giants game is on).

His favorite thing to do is still to go "out-ide", he would play out there all day long if I let him.

He loves to grab the phone and pretend to call daddy.

He loves to get his hands on anything he's not supposed to have, and will take any opportunity he can to do so.


He's starting to enjoy being read to, his favorite book is the "broccoli-ew" book (Sandra Boyton's Hey Wake Up), and he laughs every time the "broccoli stew, ew" line is read.
He loves his brother and sister, and has so much fun running around playing with them.
He loves to walk everywhere now and I'm constantly hearing "I walk" whenever I try to carry him.
He loves bath time, and loves to splash at the end.

I love this age, he's learning new things all the time, and is talking so much now. He is such a fun little boy, and I'm really enjoying my time with just him while the kids are in school. :)

18 Months

N had his 18 month appointment this morning. He's moving back up the charts a little, at 22lbs (20%) and 31" (10%) which is up for both of those. :) His head is still huge (88%). lol
He's doing well all around. I did get an order for an x-ray because he was limping after his nap Monday and Tuesday. I really love our doctor. She told me to keep an eye on it and if he's still doing it in the next couple of days to take him in, but she wrote the order today so I wouldn't have to deal with getting it later if we need it. It's really weird... Monday after nap he wouldn't even walk on it, but he didn't seem to be in pain, and I couldn't see anything wrong. It took him a few hours before he quit limping on it. Then yesterday after nap he was limping again, but it wasn't as bad and it didn't last as long. The doctor felt both legs all up and down and as far as she could tell he's fine, but she said if he does it for hours again like Monday to take him in. Hopefully we won't need to, but I feel like she's the right level of concerned.

He really didn't like being at the doctor's office. He kept asking for his clothes, and when I wouldn't get him dressed he tried to put his shirt on himself.

He's talking a ton now (my recent favorite is when he says "Daddy's Ipad"), and starting to string more words together (after breakfast one morning when Matthew told him not to eat his bib he said, "Na eat Na's bib!").
He's also climbing, running, and trying to jump (so cute!).

Here are a few recent pictures...

I thought this was so cute, all 3 reading together (and then right after I took the picture N threw that book at M and she started crying, so much for that sweet moment).
2 baskets of shoes, he's so proud of himself.
He loves his big sissy... Hanging out under the desk while she does her homework.

Yes, he's now completely addicted to that dang pacifier (and the clear one in that shoe picture is his favorite, he won't take the other ones if he sees that one). I thought about taking it away a month ago when he really didn't care much for it, but he was weaning and I didn't want to do that at the same time. Now he flips out if he doesn't have it in his mouth anytime we're at home. I was really trying to keep it in his crib, but I gave up on that after a couple mornings of being screamed at for hours. He doesn't usually have it when we're out and about, so I think I'm okay with that for now. We'll work on keeping it in the crib once he's not as attached.

Cupcakes

Here are the cupcakes I made for M's party last night. I actually used a recipe for the frosting for the first time in my life (Martha's Buttercream) and it was SO yummy!! I just made 1/3 of the recipe, and there was plenty to frost all 22 cupcakes (I can never get the batter to make 24) plus a bunch of "doll" cupcakes (see below). I also bought a frosting tip and pretended I knew what I was doing... I think they turned out pretty cute considering I really didn't have a clue how to use it. I really want to take a cake decorating class, my mom and I need to figure out a time that will work!

Here's M's cupcake with the doll cupcakes. I made them by frosting Reese's minis, they were the perfect size for the dolls!

Both cake plates were made last week from things I found at the Dollar store. The top one is a disposable tray on top of an ice cream bowl, and the bottom one is a candle plate on top of a candle stick.

The party was fun... we had 9 crazy little girls here. I'll try to get some pictures up soon. We're getting ready for round 2 with the family tonight.

Back to blogging

Sorry I've been away so long! My wonderful mother-in-law (and her husband) brought up their old computer right before Christmas and Zack got me all set up. The only thing we couldn't find and get back from my old computer were my photoshop actions. I'm having to learn to actually edit my own photos (lol), but other than that I didn't loose anything.

We had a very busy Christmas season and there's no way I'm ever going to blog about everything we did, so I'm not even going to try.
I took quite a few pictures of our advent stuff during the month and I'm working on a scrapbook page (woohoo, I can scrap again!!) with all of the pictures, but here's a couple for now...

Making ornaments (which they LOVED)

cookies...

"Crunchy the snowman" with their cousins...


N had his 15 month appointment while I was without a computer too. He's still little (other than his huge head!), but he seems to be on a curve now and not dropping more, so that's good. He was 19lbs, 14ozs and 29.5" long.
He's talking SO much now, and I love it!! He picked up on the word "cool" and loves to say "Mama cool", "Daddy cool", "Kizzy cool", and "RyRy cool" among other things. M had to work really hard to get him to say she was cool. I also taught him to say "Awesome" and it's pretty funny to hear. He says "Ahh Hum".
He knows so many of his body parts now too, and will point to and say them when asked.
He's climbing on things, throwing, kicking, and running like a crazy boy now.
I can't remember what age the other kids did this stuff, but I feel like he's super smart and athletic and doing everything super early, like he's a genius or something. lol I'm just amazed at what he does every day and I'm so enjoying this age. :)
He's still nursing, we're just doing twice a day now, and I'm planning on weaning him in another month or so. I would love to keep going, but I would also love to get away for a night with just Matthew, so I think for my sanity he'll need to be weaned soon.
I've started eating some dairy and he seems to be handling it well. I've been eating mostly cheese and chocolate, but have had some dishes (and holiday treats) with milk and butter too. He's spitting up a tiny bit again, but nothing much. I've tried to give him grated cheese and he freaks out whenever I put it near him, not sure what that's about, but he won't even touch it. I guess I'll have to cut some up in cubes for him.

Here are a few pictures of him from the last couple days...

He's obsessed with wearing my heals now

Last night after nursing he decided to lay down and watch some TV with Daddy :)

(that's our new couch too, by the way) :)

The little climber himself

(ignore the wires and bad set-up, it's temporary until we get a cabinet or something for right there)

I think all the Christmas photos are on Facebook, so I'm not going to repost them all here.

So, I'm back online, and hopefully I'll be better about blogging now! Happy 2011!

N at 14 months

Just a couple cute things I wanted to remember that N is doing these days.

The kids taught him how to growl, so now he growls whenever he sees any animal other than a dog. The penguins on his socks- growl, the stuffed fish at the doctor's office- growl, the birds at the kids' school- growl. It's pretty funny!

Another cute thing he does now is when he sees something he wants a drink of he points to it and blows. Like he knows that's the sound drinking makes, but he can't figure out how to make that sound any other way.

He's walking all the time now, and getting really fast! And he says so many words I can't keep track anymore. He just put two words together for the first time yesterday, he said "cracker Mama". He's a little pill, but also a lot of fun these days!

Here are a few pictures from when he was swinging the other day...

Halloween weekend

What a crazy weekend!!
Friday I was going like crazy all day long. I took the kids to school, got N down for a nap and cleaned the house a bit. After nap we ate a quick lunch and headed back to the kids school for parades and parties. We got home from that with just enough time for M to change before heading to dance, and then straight to her last soccer practice after that (where I was informed the parents were to scrimmage the kids). After practice we came home and changed and then left the kids with a sitter for the night and went out to dinner and a movie (where I finally got to sit down for a bit).
Saturday I got to sleep in for the first time in a long time and then Matthew did some honey-do's around the house before the kids' last soccer games. After soccer he got the shelves almost all the way done (pictures coming soon), we caved pumpkins, made cakes for the carnival, and watched the Giants game.
Sunday was church, decorating cakes, more honey-do's, and the Halloween carnival.
Crazy busy I tell you!!

Here are some pictures...

Brian Wilson, a puppy, and a fairy princess

I have a ONE year old!!

I can't believe how fast this last year has gone by! Mr. N turned one on the 10th, which happened to be the same day my sister got married! It was a crazy week/weekend, but I'm finally feeling like life is settling down a little bit now.

We had his party on the Sunday after his birthday and it was lots of fun. N loved watching all the kids run around and play, and he loved his brownie bite!!



He had his one year appointment earlier this week and he seems to have found a curve to stay on at least. He's now 19lbs, 4ozs which puts him at the 6th percentile for weight. His height (according to the nurse) has not changed in 2 months, and she had him at 28" (which puts him at 5th percentile), but I don't really think she does the best job measuring him, so I'm not worried. His head just keeps on growing though, it's now 79th percentile. lol
The doctor was happy with his growth and development, so we don't have to go back until he's 15 months. :)
I'm still holding off on dairy, but I think I'll try giving him some of the almond milk that I've been drinking. He's still nursing 5-7 times a day too, and he eats 3-4 meals a day. We got the go-ahead to try eggs, peanut butter, and anything else we've been holding off on, so I plan to slowly introduce those now. We'll give dairy another try when he's closer to 15 months I think.

Here's one more picture of him from the other day. This age is so much fun and he's just so cute! :)

Mr. N

N is changing so much so quickly all of a sudden. I feel the need to do another blog entry about all the new things he's doing before I forget.

He now says so many words I can't even keep track. New ones in the last couple weeks include "thank you" (SO cute!!), "ducky", and "cracker", but I'm sure I'm forgetting some even now.

He has figured out how to play catch and LOVES to play with anyone who will sit with him. It is the cutest thing ever (IMO anyway). I think he's going to be right handed. At first we weren't sure, but he mostly uses his right hand to throw with, so that's my guess.

We pulled out a few more of R's "big boy" toys that we'd been saving and N is loving them! This rocket (which I still remember as one of my greatest sale finds -less than $20 at Costco!) is a big hit.

He's also STANDING now!! If I put him down in the middle of the room he'll just stand there for a while and then sit or fall right into crawling position.

Little turkey is doing way too much too fast! Luckily he hasn't tried to take any steps yet (unless he's holding my hands), but I'm sure it won't be long. He is getting very good at cruising the furniture and he even pulled up on the wall today.

I gave him a little hair cut the other night when everyone else was getting theirs done (sorry those pictures were from before). Not much, just a bit around the sides and back. I didn't touch the top, so I don't think he looks much different, which I'm happy about. :)

Oh, and a little update on the dairy... I was about to try yogurt when someone accidentally gave him goldfish crackers at church. His spitting up increased for the next week plus, so I let the kids eat his yogurt and I'm holding off until after a year. I'll talk to his ped again then to see what we should do. I still don't think he's allergic, and I'm almost positive that the other two kids would have reacted the same way had I stopped eating dairy with them, I think he's just taking a while to outgrow it (R spit-up until well over a year). Hopefully by Christmas we'll be past this, I don't want to miss out on all those goodies (yes, I plan to continue nursing him through the winter if I can).

Anyway, just wanted to post a little update on him and share those pictures I forgot to upload the other night.