Christmas 2012

We've stayed very busy, visiting family and friends over the holidays. We spent December 23rd-25th with both sides of my family and the 2nd half of the 25th with Kevin's family. Kevin had to work the 26th and 27th, and we headed to Bloomington the 28th and 29th without Lewis (he stayed home with my parents). With the exception of going out tomorrow for dinner/the IU game and a movie (Argo), the past few days and the next few days we will just be hanging out as a family and taking it easy.

I just tried to cut down the 100+ photos I took on Christmas Day, and I can't do it right now. I did find some that made me smile, a few from the beginning and one from the end of our trip.

First, Lewis was very interested in the booster seat as I was trying to pack:

 A nice place to rest his buns

David made me promise that I wouldn't dress Lewis like this for school (because he doesn't want him to be picked on):

 

 So handsome (on Christmas Eve)

The shirt only stayed tucked in for as long as it took to take these pictures. :)

And then to sum up our Christmas Day...

One Tired Buddy

This is the first time we've successfully carried him from the car to the house, still asleep. He was ti-red (he did wake up when we changed him into his pajamas, of course). He had three days of bad naps in a row, and it eventually just caught up with him. Thankfully he's back to normal now. 

Playdates with Carlton, Clara, and Amelia

Phew! Christmas break is here! Kevin worked 60+ hours the past two weeks which made for some looong days for Lewis and I (and Kevin, too, obviously). Lew and I stayed pretty busy with Christmas shopping and our usual errands, but the house is a wreck and I really realize how much Kevin normally does to help out (once he was no longer around to help out). I still feel like I'm catching up, but we managed and now it's break time (Kevin does have to go in for a few half days, but whatevs) and we are onto Christmas!

A few pictures from the past week or so:

 Ziploc Hat, the newest toddler trend

Tonya and Carlton came over to visit last week. Carlton and Lewis were being cute on this bench, but none of my pictures caught both/either of them looking at the camera at the same time (naturally, as toddlers do). 

 Open your eyes, Lewis! :)

 Carlton is ready to climb away and Lewis has a stinker face.

Eh, the best we got. 

Earlier this week, we headed out to Corydon for a nice visit with Maria, Clara, and Amelia. We played, exchanged Christmas presents, and had lunch before heading back home. 

 The girls were still getting situated, but Lewis was ready to say 'Cheese!'

 Opening gifts

He got a Cars coloring pack and a Francesco car (from Cars 2). He fittingly was wearing a Cars shirt I bought him the other day at Target. And Maria found Cars Christmas wrapping paper and everything! Lewis was in heaven. :)

 Clara got Lew his first Little People playset--a pirate ship! Argh, matey!

It has a talking parrot, a plank, a cannon that fires a cannonball, etc. It's so awesome. They also gave us a Little People construction set that Clara doesn't really play with anymore. And later that day, I found a LP barn with the farmer and all of the animals for just $5 at GW, so now he has a few to get him started with imaginative play.

Then it was the girls' turn to open their gifts:

 A ball for Amelia and some puzzles for Clara

 And a couple of pouches that Clara dug right into

(Amelia seemed interested in them, too! We got her some yogurt melts to go with her ball.)

I made some spaghetti early last week, thinking Kevin and I would eat it for dinner a few nights. Since he was home after 9:30pm most days, he ate at work and I ended up eating spaghetti with Lewis like four times. :) Luckily it was a really good sauce I made, and I didn't get too tired of it. After a few bites, Lew would throw it across the room, on the ground, into the Christmas tree, etc. I was too tired to do anything about it, and one day Hattie got caught in the crossfire and was cracking me up:

I know I smell spaghetti somewhere!

She is one smart girl--after I was done laughing at her and taking her picture, I plucked a piece off to give her. She then shook and flipped the other pieces off, and she ate them that way.

KaLightoscope at the Galt House

My parents came down Sunday evening through last evening to visit and babysit while I went to the dentist to get a crown. After my lovely morning in the dentist's chair and some solo shopping (thanks, M&D), we all headed down to the KaLightoscope event at the Galt House.

Lewis ran right to Santa

(and we wrote his name on the Nice list)

Checking out Santa's flying sleigh with Gramma

On the train with Mama

They had a cute area where kids could write a letter to Santa and then go put their mark on the wall with a sticker. Lewis tried to put the sticker on his shirt at first, but he finally got the right idea.

Stickers, stickers, everywhere!

Watching the dolls dance

He was mesmerized by the possum (that moved) in this display. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a cat because he was meowing at it at some point.

Then he'd lean in and stare it in the face to fully inspect it. It was so cute.

We forgot to find Santa to get a picture, but the Snow Fox from a local TV channel was there instead...

:)

With Gramma and a reindeer

There was a train that we were excited to let him try (since he loves trains so much).

Sitting and ringing the bell while he waits for the train to get a-going

Ooof, nope, would rather not sit...

Moved back with another little boy

Off they go!!

And up and away he goes!

Mom walked around the outside of the fence as the train started going, and she said after the first turn he started wailing. It was pretty loud and fast--thankfully they spotted that he was upset and stopped the train and took him off. :( Such a sad face! He was fine as soon as he was off it, and he spent the next 15 minutes or so watching other kids go around on it. Mom thought he was going to try it again after he wandered into the fenced-in area with a couple of boys, but he realized what he'd done and quickly wanted her to save him again.

Choo Choo!

We had a really nice time! It was a bit of a challenge to keep Lewis from touching all of the light sculptures and moving animals, but thankfully we made it out without damaging anything. :) Afterwards I took my parents to 'The Unique' (Kevin told me that's what the cool kids call the Unique Thrift Store)...Dad said it was one of the most interesting places he's ever been. :) We had dinner downtown and Kevin came down to visit for a few minutes (but had to go back to work).

22 Months Old

22 Months Old 

His stats (from BabyCenter):
Height: 36 inches (between 90th and 95th percentile)
Weight: 34.8 pounds (above 95th percentile)
Head Size: 20.5 inches (above 95th percentile)

So his head stayed the same yet again and he didn't gain any height, but he did gain another pound (which is shocking that he gained any weight at all since he's been eating like a bird the past week with teething).

What he's doing this month:

• His two favorite words are Hat! and Hot! Both make me nervous. :)
• Hat! might mean that he wants us to put a hat on, or that he has placed some other object on an object as a hat. An apple on his sippy cup is fine, but a bowl of food on his sippy cup can get messy if there is still food in that now-upside-down bowl. :)
• Hot! used to mean that the food was hot, but most likely is just an excuse for not eating something. He'll say Hot! and blow air out of his mouth to cool it down. Then he probably throws it on the floor.
• After a 6ish month break, he is back on yogurt with a vengeance! There is a strawberry honey Greek yogurt that he eats like a mad man. I tried getting just honey (because he was out and we were at Trader Joe's and that was the only flavor they had)  and that was a no go.
• He is still not great with vegetables, so I've been making a lot of veggie pasta macaroni and cheese (from Kraft, made with cauliflower pasta) and smushing steamed sweet potatoes into it, too. I've also started giving him a pouch (of puree) a day that has vegetables and fruit (instead of just fruit or fruit/yogurt) so he can get some veggies in that way, too.
• He's good with fruit--blueberries are the clear favorite (and he asks for them...he can say Blueberry now!). I've been buying big bags of frozen berries and thawing as needed.
• He still rather hates having his teeth brushed, but this past week he has started climbing up on the table to get his toothbrush and toothpaste. He likes to carry them around, at least. I think he just wants to have Thomas the Train in his hands (he is on his toothpaste).
• His speech continues to grow. He's getting better at saying words back to us if we say them first. His favorites/most used are probably Hot, Hat, Plane, Car, Vroom Vroom, Train, Choo Choo, Bat, Ball, Bowl, Balloon, Dog, Woof, Mama, Dada, Blueberry, Mmm (if something tastes good), Tree, Star, Santa, Ho Ho Ho, Hi, and Bye Bye. He has even started saying Bye Bye to strangers (usually cashiers as we are leaving a store).
• He also says Bye Bye to his toys if we are going from house to car, car to store, upstairs to downstairs, etc. I'll say "We need to leave those here, we're going ___" and he puts them down and tells them Bye Bye. :) It's pretty sweet.
• Sometimes when he hears dance-worthy music, he will say Dance! and wave his arms in the air for a few seconds.
• He is more and more into his train set. He pushes the train cars around on the actual tracks now instead of just driving them along on the furniture or floor.
• He really likes his basketball goal--he likes to put the ball through the hoop, clap and yell with excitement, and chase after the ball as it rolls down the driveway. He'll get it and run back and shoot it and chase it all over again.
• He is into turning the faucet on, closing doors, flushing the toilet, and flipping light switches.
• Kevin has been working some loooong hours this week, so I've been doing bedtime. It's been neat to have Lewis show me their routine after I normally leave the room. After a diaper and pajama change, Lewis goes over and selects his books. He is so damn cute about picking just the right ones. He will pull one off to see what it is, then put it back if it's not what he wanted. He stacks up the books on the arm of the chair as he selects them and has ended up with 2-5 books on any given night. Once he's done choosing, he'll come sit on my lap. He doesn't seem to want the words read to him for the most part--he prefers to turn the pages and point to things he knows (ball, star, car, tree, etc.). Kevin said he will ask him where certain things are, and Lewis will point to the right thing most of the time.
• When we are done reading, I say, 'Okay, it's time for bed' and he will walk over to his crib and wait to be lifted into it. I'm so impressed by the routine that he and Kevin have developed together. :)
• Speaking of bedtime, sleep has been great the last week or so. We're back to almost 12 hours a night. I'm sure it will be short-lived, but for now it's great. Nap is 1 1/2 to 2 hours, creeping more towards 2 hours lately.
• He has officially moved up to 3T sleepers--the 2T were so tight on his thighs and his big ol' feet were barely fitting anymore. The 3T are a bit baggy, but I think he's much more comfortable. He's wearing 18-24 or 24 month jeans/pants (the true 2T are still a bit baggy in the waist and long in the length). He is wearing 2T and some 3T shirts. Size 7 1/2-8 in shoes.
• The past week or so, he has been not eating as well and has been chewing/sucking on his fingers. It has to be teething, but he doesn't seem to be in as much pain as usual. I did give him Tylenol one day when he did seem to have mouth pain before nap, but otherwise he's just had his hands in his mouth a lot. I haven't gotten in there to see if his molars are coming in or not--that's all he has left are those last 4 2-year molars.

That is Lewis at 22 months. We're really looking forward to Christmas and having Kevin off of work for a week!

Playdate with Clara and Amelia/Breakfast with Santa

Last week, our friends' daughters, Clara and Amelia, came over to stay and play for the day while Maria ran some errands. We had such a fun day--Clara and Lewis played well together and Amelia seemed to love watching the 'big kids' run around.

 Little buddies watching something on TV before lunch

 Our Lunch (and Dinner) Bunch!

It was an adjustment having to feed two toddlers (one who speaks well) and an infant and myself! I finally got Lewis and Clara settled in and was able to sneak a few bites of my food while spoon-feeding Amelia. It was pretty crazy, but fun.

Lewis went down for nap, so the girls I played in the basement for a few hours without Big Lew:

 Miss Amelia is a speedy (and happy) crawler!

 

 Clara and I built a tower.

She liked spinning in circles around the pole in our basement.

Lew Man awoke from his nap to join in on the fun:

 The stepstool/potty (currently being used as a stepstool on the other side of the basement) made its way over to the TV area--Lewis was excited to discover that he could stand on it to bang the TV screen with his hands. :) Thankfully he has since forgotten.

 Playing well (wow, how tall is Lewis compared to Miss Amelia!)

 Coloring and Sticker Fun!

 Puzzle Time

Clara breezed through the ones that Lewis is just now mastering, so I moved her up to a more difficult one of the entire alphabet. She did very well with it and let Lewis help with a few pieces, too.

 And then up popped Amelia to check out the puzzle action. :) Such a big girl!

What a fun day! Lewis loved having his girlfriends over. :)

This past Saturday we went to Breakfast with Santa at the Y. They had breakfast (duh) and a few crafts for the kids, as well as Santa and an elf to have your picture taken with. 

Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!

Lewis and the elf do not look impressed, but at least Santa looks jolly. :) Lew gave Santa a total once-over to check him out, and he wasn't freaked out but certainly wasn't smiling either. He seemed a bit suspicious of the big man in red. :)

Figuring out the Camera with my Models, Hattie and the Tree

As I sat and waited for the Insight guy to come today (which he never did...he apparently called Kevin's phone to say he was on his way, but that went unreceived all afternoon). At least it was a dreary day...

I used the time to mess with the new camera a bit. I knew it should be taking much better pictures than it was, and I found that it has an Easy Auto setting and just an Auto setting. Easy Auto is bad, Auto is apparently good! (I also added a picture of the invitation to the shower post.)

Hattie was my model:

My sweet girl :)

If you can't see, she has her paw outstretched, wanting me to pet her rather than take her picture. 

Good girl.

I also wanted to see what flash vs. no flash looked like. (All of the ones of Hattie had the flash.) It made for a totally different look.

No flash

With flash

And Lewis has been eating some of his meals facing the tree, at his request. :) He really likes it, especially with the lights on.

Adie's Baby Shower!!

This past Saturday I was honored to co-hostess a baby shower for Adie with their sister-in-law (and our friend from camp), Julia. We had so much fun planning it--we exchanged a lot of emails and pictures over the past few months and crafted and sewed, and it was so fun to finally have it all come together!

The theme we decided on was Little Man with a Campy twist. Instead of the traditional Little Man black mustaches, we went with red beards to bring Ben into the theme. For the camp part, we decorated with pine cones, plaid/burlap, old enamelware, acorns, a wishing tree, and we had a campy menu. It consisted of: fancy PBJs (fancy nut butters with Julia's homemade jam), trail mix, a vegetable tray, 'kids in a blanket' (which are a.k.a. pigs in a blanket), fried biscuits (thanks, Will, for being our biscuit frying guy!), icing grahams (thanks for the pudding grahams idea, Emily!), s'mores cupcakes, and s'mores bark.

Here's a look at some of the highlights from Adie's special day: 

Invitations by Julia (she made some plaid and some burlap)

 Bearded straws for drinks made by Julia

The food spread 

 Desserts and Drinks, ready for guests

 Close-up of the name banner

(which hung above the desserts and drinks) 

 Most of the Waycross girls

L from bottom - Lauren, Bess, Joan, and Kate, R from bottom - Adie, Marian, Liz, and Vanessa! Kendra and her girls were at another table.

The above picture is also the best I got of the table decorations. There was a bit of a mad rush before the shower started to get the tables decorated, and I forgot to take a picture before people sat at them. I did take a close-up of some of the elements, the picture after next.

 Close-up of the coasters

A great big thank you to Kate for coming over after work one evening and sewing these with me until well after midnight! I literally couldn't/wouldn't have done them without your help and encouragement and skill. (They were really frustrating me.) :) 

Some of the table decor 

Here are some of the decorations from the tables, close up. I sprayed pine cones in orange, green, blue, and cream and left some natural. We also had (fake) acorns scattered about.

I stole the picture idea from my cousin, Leitia (here she is, featured on Apartment Therapy!)--she drew mustaches on pictures of her son for his first birthday party, so we thought it'd be cute to put little red beards on Gordon's ultrasound picture. :)

The flowers, close-up

We did green (in different leaves, berries, mums), yellow (not sure what they were called), and white (baby's breath). (Thanks to Emily and my parents for lending us your camping coffee cups!)

 Marian and 8-month-old Carter (Julia's son)

The gray-blue in his flannel shirt matched his beautiful blue eyes perfectly. He is such a sweet boy.

I have a bunch of pictures of Adie opening gifts (which I'll send to them), but I wanted to post a few of her opening a gift I got her. I saw this super cute campy onesie a few weeks ago in Parenting magazine, and I decided to attempt to make one. Just last Thursday night (two nights before the shower), Adie pinned the exact same onesie on Pinterest! I immediately texted Julia, our friend Kate, and my sister (some of the people whom I've shown the onesie and who are also on Pinterest). I think she was pretty surprised (and maybe confused) to see it.

Checking it out

This was the finished product.

Surprise and/or Confusion? Or both?

We had a few girls modeling the red beards:

 Sophie and Lily

 Down just a little, Norah! :) 

One group of girls gave Gordon these adorable mustache pacifiers.

 Julia and her little man, Carter! :)

He was incessantly licking the straw.

The Wishing Tree

Full of wishes for Adie, Ben, and Gordon as they embark on the adventure of parenthood :)

 S'mores Bark as favors

(I used this recipe, substituting milk chocolate for semi-sweet in the main chocolate layer.)

Kate and I made the bark the night before the shower, and we had a small-ish fire after taking our last batch out of the oven!! It was so strange--she took the batch out, I spread crushed grahams over the toasted marshmallows, and then she went to move it to another countertop (I'd estimate at least a minute passed). She said she smelled something burning but passed it off as the marshmallows toasting. Next thing we knew there was a large flame climbing up the oven mitt (still on her hand...) and onto her sleeve. We went right to the sink and she pulled her sleeve down (which had a hole burned in it), but somehow the fire never touched her skin. Phew! It was wild. I'm so glad it wasn't any worse (especially glad that she didn't get burned).

And here's one last one, NOT of the shower, but of Lewis enjoying some of the leftover PBJs:

 Double fisting it!

He loved them! He ate 3 halves at one sitting and 3 halves at another--big fan! And an increasingly big eater!