mamalogues

my baby is one.

So Jonesy turned one on St Patrick's Day, we kept it low key with just dinner and cake since the boys will have a double birthday party on Saturday, which also happens to be my birthday.

I now have two 1-year-olds (well just for another week until Scout turns 2). Crazy.

Jones had his one year check-up this morning, his stats:

Height: 31" (85%)

Weight: 24.7lbs (77%) Fun fact, Mila weighed 18lbs at her one year check-up!

Head: 19" (93%) <--------- Big head!

I just looked at Scout's one year stats: 29" for height, 23lbs and same for head. I always thought Scout was bigger at Jones's age, I guess not.

He did great until it was time for shots, poor baby. He's still not anywhere close to walking, just cruising around furniture. He is also off the ba-ba! No more buying formula! EVER!!! I didn't wean him, we just quit cold turkey in this house.

We went to Mary's studio for some birthday pictures on Saturday. I can't wait to see the ones she took, I snapped this one at the end when he was definitely done.

Then we went on a walk, Scout stayed in the pack for twenty minutes afterwards and looked at pictures on Grandma's phone.

The little cake I made

Mila wanted to blow out the candles, her hair caught fire after I took this picture. (just barely)

I usually let them dig into their birthday cake but he had just had a bath...

 

Happy Birthday, Jones.

Jonesy my love,

How are you one-year-old already? Time sure does fly when you are the third baby. It doesn't seem like it's been a full year since you made your sweet debut in the early morning hours of St. Patrick's Day. Like your brother just a year earlier, you too had a rough little start and an 8 day stay in the nursery.

You were kind of an ornery little thing until you reached your 4th month, then it was smooth sailing. You have been the best baby since then, never testing our patience. You have been a little late on most milestones, instead of sitting up at 6 months it was more like 7 or 8. You didn't crawl for a while either and you still don't really crawl on all four's, you still look like a wounded soldier :). That's okay though, all on your own time.

You are easily frustrated by your big sister, but I would be too if she were constantly in my face. Scout is sometimes mean to you but there are sweet little moments when you two play next to each other and it makes me yearn for the future when the two of you will be best buddies (I hope). Oh how I love your big beautiful eyes and lips (and your chin that you got from me). I can't wait to watch you grow.

Happy Birthday, sweet baby Jones.

 

Love you to pieces,

Mama

 

and now a gazillion pictures from your first year...

Belly sessions in Seattle (MKC Photography)

Your arrival. (also my MKC Photography)

life lately, according to my iphone.

german pancakes.sleepy boys.scout's feet.push-up.tree.bad dog.bath time. jones.mila.late night reading.whoppers fro-yo with marshmallow sauce, chocolate sauce, and chocolate chips.climber.

life lately, according to my iphone.

preschool.big eyes.avocados.daddy.bath.book club.smarty pants.stair climber.lashes.lounger.fro-yo.paparazzi.bones.more fro-yo.brothers.toy-box-bed.flossin'.twillys.

to the park!

On Saturday Mila, Scout and I went to the park.

Warning: photo overload. I couldn't help myself, the lighting was just right and they were too darn cute not to take a million photos.

Scout loves this hat, he found it by the door and picked it up yelling, "hat! hat! hat!"

 

This one kills me







We went again on Sunday, this time with the rest of the fam.

It was nice to get some fresh air, we were turning into couch potatoes.

nine month-er

The baby is getting less and less baby-like lately. Sure he still poops his pants, drinks a ba-ba and isn't a walker yet, but he is definitely not a baby-baby anymore :( He is now nine months old and though he still isn't up on his hands and knees while crawling he is still army crawling EVERYWHERE--under the table, down the hall, into Mila's and Scout's rooms, into the kitchen and his favorite place to check out is the dog bowls at my mom and dad's, gross right? He is the happiest baby ev-a, if he isn't hungry or tired then he is just content to explore the floors and play with his toys. He is OBSESSED with the bath, my mom sends videos to me at work when she is giving him a bath, he kicks his little legs a million miles a minute, totally happy and loving it, I'd post one but you can see his man parts a little too much :)

Oh and he has the most gigantic teeth I've ever seen on a baby. I'm not sure what his current stats are because his doctor was unexpectedly out of the office the day of his 9 month appointment and now she is switching clinics so it might be a while before we make it in for that appointment.

Look at those lips!

outtakes.

Last night I tried to take the kids' picture for our Christmas cards, keyword is "tried." This was at 4pm which was cutting it pretty close on lighting, I had to bump up my ISO which meant more noise, Mila was cold, Jones kept looking everywhere BUT the camera, and Scout kept moving too fast turning himself into a blur.

Here are some outtakes. I literally took over 120 photos last night, I tried changing the location and bribed them with cookies, but not one is decent.

Jones kept looking across the street so I was trying to stomp my feet to get him to look at me, which made Mila stomp hers, and Scout was feeling lovey so he planted a big kiss on Jones's head. 

The boys are blurry and Mila decided to let the "crazy" in her come out.

A nice shot of Scout's black eye. I put Jones in the middle, hoping he would have nothing to distract him (which didn't work), Mila is getting tired and cold and bored.

My personal favorite, Scout looks awesome and somehow I managed to cut half of Mila out of it. Jones was trying to flap his little wings to get him the hell out of there.

I tried taking them inside. They kept messing with the "backdrop" and Scout was way too into his cookie.

I'll be trying this again tomorrow during my lunch hour with the help of Grandma :)

giving thanks.

Well I had a fabulous Thanksgiving/Anniversary! We (my little fam, my sister and her little fam, my brother and his kiddos) ate dinner at my mom and dad's house, and let me say it was the best Thanksgiving dinner I have EVER eaten. Don't mind the bajillion pictures that will now follow...

I contributed a pear/apple crisp (Ina's recipe) and "Old School Sweet Potato Souffle" (The Neely's recipe)

Ducky made caramelized green beans (which were amazeballs) and some sort of pumpkin pie caramel cheesecake.

The guest of honor...

Mother's baster broke so we had to improvise with a medicine dropper :)

The kids played while we put the finishing touches on din din.

Kids Table

Cheers

Time carve the bird!

David's and my anniversary dinner :)

Ducky and Ari...and Garrett :)

Santa....I mean my Dad. He doesn't usually sport a beard.

My mom and Scout

Yup, I ate all of that....and two rolls

Scout was so cute at the kids table :)

The men watched tv while we cleaned. I'd like to point out Aren's nice sweater paired with some sweatpants and flip flops...

The kids played some more

Time for dessert!

You may notice one of my children is missing (the little bald one), Jones slept through dinner and dessert but I promise he was there :)

nightwalker.

Last night I awoke to muffled whimpers. I called out for Mila, more whimpers. I felt around for her in the dark, nothing. I reached towards the floor and found her all curled up in a tight ball with her blanket draped over her back. I couldn't see what time it was because I didn't have my contacts in but I'm guessing it was around 3am. I thought maybe she had a bad dream, or didn't feel good.

I said, in my most sympathetic voice, "Mila, what's wrong?" Again I'm expecting her to see she threw up, wet the bed, etc.

Her response, "You turned my movie off."

3am and she is upset that The Little Mermaid is no longer playing on her tv. She is crazy. I carried her back up to her room and put her back onto her skyscraper of a bed and turned her tv on, she rolled over to face the wall and fell back asleep, then I turned the tv off again. Not one word. I'm almost wondering now if she was really awake before.

When I got back in bed I started thinking about her lying on the floor, I used to do that all the time. The house I grew up in was 7000 square feet, my mom and dad at one end on the main floor and their youngest child (me) at the other end, upstairs (Which I still can't believe they would stick me that far away). I vividly remember many nights walking through the hallways, down the stairs, and waiting outside my parents' bedroom door. I'd start at the door and wait a few minutes, then go in and wait at the foot of their bed, then move around to my mom's side of the bed and just wait, wait for her to feel my presence, probably making some sort of noise to wake her up :)

I can't remember if she let me sleep with them or not. I remember doing the same thing to my sister, sitting outside her door hoping she would let me sleep on her futon. I think she usually said no.

The funny thing about Mila is she never wants to sleep with us, last night I put her in bed with us because I was too lazy to take her back to her room, she lasted about 2 minutes and wanted to be in her own bed. Not that I'm complaining, I definitely don't want our kids in our bed every night.

I just find it hilarious that she was curled up in a little ball by our bed. Was she going to sleep there all night?

 

And here is a picture of Jones, sitting. Fi-nuh-lly.

10 on 10: The "Thankful" Edition.

So every month we (the other "momtographers" and myself) participate in a 10 on 10 blog post/challenge. We've been doing it for the last few months and I just want to say how much I love our little Momtography with MKC facebook group! Its awesome, we share tips, give encouragement, constructive criticism, and new friendships! So I'm thankful for that :)

Okay now onto my 10 on 10. Ten pictures from yesterday, things that I am thankful for every single day.

1. My dad picks Mila up every single morning so that I don't have to drop the boys off near our house then drive over to East Wenatchee to drop her off and then to the North end of Wenatchee. He saves me a lot of time and gas and for that I'm thankful. He's truly the best Dad/Grandpa ever!

2. My backseat buddies. I am thankful for their health and the unconditional love we share.

3. My morning Starbucks, definitely needed a pick-me-up from staying up too late last night :) Thanks Starbucks!

 
4. My two best friends. So thankful to my mom who volunteered to watch Mila every single day so that we don't have to pay for three kids to go to daycare. My sister...so thankful for sisterhood, it still breaks my heart that Mila will never have a sister-bond like I have with Sarah. She is my other half.

5. Diet coke. My love. My life.

6. My cell phone. Again, my life. I'm thankful it keeps me connected to the ones I love, and that I just found Twilight Radio on Pandora, yes please!

7. Being a mama. You will never understand it until you're there. My heart has tripled in size and for that I am thankful.

8. My husband. He is wonderful daddy, he cooks, he cleans, he does it all. I'm thankful for my partner.

9. I'm thankful for my little people warm and safe in their beds.

10. Every night after we put the kids to bed David and I pick something on tv to watch and we usually eat a treat, last night it was Rocky Road and Inglorious Basterds. I'm thankful for our alone time.

What are YOU thankful for?