Thursday, September 26, 2013

A Birthday for A

He's 1 and he loved his cake.

But let me back-up.

BIRTHDAY MORNING
When August woke up,
excited Drew got him out of his crib before he could have his balloon party.

So he got put back in bed along with a bunch of balloons.



THE PRESENTS
 He got 3.
Owen, Drew, and Sally each decorated one of the gifts.
(Owen - large, Drew - medium, Sally - small)

 This is about as into the unwrapping as he got.
Everyone else took it from there.

He got:
 A new bath toy (for his love of all things water).

A pound and roll ball tower (for his love of balls).

 And a wheely bug (because I thought it was cute).

I linked to all the toys because I'm happy with them and so is he.
Has played w/them all every day since his birthday.
The kid was in need of some toys.

Oh, he also got a little light up bouncy ball (love of balls)
and an early present of a super soft blanket (for his love of soft things).


THE AQUARIUM
 It took August having a birthday to get Justin to the aquarium.
Us 3 went while the other kids were in school.

 I designed him a birthday cake jelly-fish.


 Sometimes it's fun pretending we have one kid.


 Loved this aquarium trip.


AROUND THE HOUSE/NEIGHBORHOOD





CALEDONIA PARK
 Because Drew thought it'd make him happy.
It did.


THE CAKE







 This was his first experience with kiwis and cake.
The kiwis were sour, so not his favorite.
Once he got past those he was all over the cake.

They couldn't wait to dig in with him.
(don't mind Sally's fancy make-up)

And that's a wrap.

Friday, September 20, 2013

What We Did

 9/10
It was just a quick bike trip to the park...so he got to play with his helmet on.

9/12
Met up w/Sally's class at their field trip to the aquarium.

9/14
More helmets.
Love bike riding with the boys.
Sally somehow ends up in tears every time the bikes come out lately.

 9/14
This picture is horrible.
Took Owen, Drew, and Sally to the free viewing of "Jaws" in the park.
Owen slept in our room that night.

 9/15
K this was so cool.
We checked out what was left of the sand castles after the Carmel Beach sandcastle competition.
Notice Rapunzel's braid coming down from the window in the picture above.

 This family made a circle of sand seats with a raised area in the middle for their fire pit.
And they provided s'mores ingredients for whoever stopped by.


This one was the big winner.
Loved all the details, like the sword next to the boy and the dragon tail coming out the gate.

And then Sally painted some rocks.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Piano Lessons



I took piano lessons for 12 years.
And I pretty much never sit down just to play.

Then there's Justin who took lessons for a few months and plays for fun all the time.

He learns his new songs from You Tube videos.

His current favorite is "Evil Woman" from ELO.
And I'm not complaining because it's a break from Goo Goo Dolls.

9/13

Newscaster Hair No More/Ode to August










First Haircut: 9/15/13

I like his new hair so much better, but he seems different!

I can't even explain it, but he grew up with a hair cut.

His birthday is Friday so I'm feeling a little sentimental and want to do some documenting.

I made a mental note that he finally cut his first tooth the day Danna's family was here:
7/9/13 (almost 10 months!)

He crawled at 8 1/2 months.

He started sitting at 6 months.

We've seen him take a random step a couple times, but he's definitely not walking yet.

His words are pretty much mama, dada, and ball.
Not sure which came first.
But he likes Justin and I equally, unlike our other kids at this age (who were mama's kids).

He teased me by sleeping through the night for maybe a week.
Then surprise!
He still gets up 2-3 times a night to nurse then goes right back to sleep.

We're all still obsessed with him.

Owen always talks about how much he loves him, how glad he is that he's in our family,
and he loves his twinkly eyes.

Drew gets sad whenever it's time for him to go to bed. 
He always makes sure to hug and kiss him goodnight.

Sally is still a little bit Elmyra with him, but he's tough.
He's happiest with her when they're outside together or she actually lets him touch her Legos.

I love when he copies what we do.
Specifically this (while yelling):
9/13
But also when he copies our shrieks or our head shaking back and forth.

He's happiest when naked.
9/13

I have never seen a kid harder to diaper than this baby.
He fights it like crazy.
He's strong.
And he'll crawl away any chance he gets.
Wish I could film it without it being too explicit.

Also wish I filmed the sit ups he used to do during diaper changes.
He used to literally sit straight up from laying on his back.
He would lever against my hands on his thighs and pop himself up.
It was nuts.

What else?
He really loves textures.
Specifically soft things (i.e., his favorite spider blanket (that is finally in season thanks to Halloween)).
He goes crazy for it.

His favorite toy in church is an empty Trader Joe's chocolate tin with puff balls in it.

Speaking of church, he bonked his head on the pew 27 times on Sunday.
We counted.

He will eat pretty much anything.
Inhales strawberries, mangoes, avocado, and cheese.
Squeezie baby food pouches are my best friend.

SO happy we didn't get what we wanted.
9/13