Wordless Wednesday: Saturday Fun :)

What's Little Man Doing?

5 Little Pumpkins sitting on a gate...the first one said, "Oh my, It's getting late!"

This is one of Little Man's new favorite books.  He's gotten to where he loves to help turn the page, and he anticipates his favorite parts of the books.

His favorite line from "5 Little Pumpkins" is "Out went the light!"  He always laughs when I read that line, and I'm guessing it's because he loves to turn out the lights when we leave a room.  I tell him, "Turn off the light," and he knows exactly what to do.

Some of his other current favorite things:

• Throwing the coaster around and watching it go around and around before finally coming to a stop.  We have square coasters and round coasters, but he isn't as fond of the square ones...they come to a hard stop pretty quickly when he throws them.  But Little Man will entertain himself for quite a while throwing the coasters around the room.
• Going to the guest bedroom bed.  Daddy likes to play with him and wrestle on the bed.  Little Man has figured out that he can fall back and not get hurt.  So he climbs up and stands at the headboard, holds on, and then just lets it go.  He is so trusting that the bed will catch him.  Right when he lands, he laughs, and then waits for Daddy to "get him!"  He then erupts in uncontrollable laughter and wants to do it all again!
• His new thing is climbing up the couch.  Thank goodness he hasn't mastered climbing onto the couch by himself yet.  If I set him on the couch with me, he climbs up, holds on to the window (we have a cutout between the kitchen and the den) and then plays.  He will bounce up and down and wait for one of us to grab him down.  If he gets tired before we grab him, he completely lets go and falls back.  I'm scared for the day when he does that without one of us around!

• He still loves to read books, turn on and off the lights, play in his Johnny Jump-up, play "Where's Little Man?" with his night-night (blanket), take baths, play with any kind of water, shake his head, dance, and go on walks in his stroller and his new car!
• Playing with keys.  That's what keeps him busy while I'm shopping!
• Playing with the wind chimes.
• Rocking on the front porch.
• Waving to everyone.
• He now drinks wonderfully from his sippy cup.  He loves whole milk too!  He is drinking 3 whole cups a day, but I may have to switch one cup with some juice or something after we talk to the pediatrician.
• He still loves most every baby food.  He likes Cheerios, Baked Lays, and now maybe chicken!  We still need to work on new textures!
• Sleeping at night!  He normally sleeps from 7:00 to 7:00 which is great for Mama and Daddy!
• He loves to talk, and his vocabulary includes: Hey, Dada, Mama, Good (usually without the d), Book (without the k), Uh-oh, and Bye.  Whenever he sees his daddy, he gets really excited and says, "Hey Da. Hey Da!"

Some not so favorite things:

• Napping!  Some days he still takes two naps, but lately he just sleeps for 45 minutes to an hour in the afternoon and wakes up cranky.  Definitely going to talk to the doctor about that!
• Sometimes he lets out random cries while he is eating and sleeping.  We don't really know why.  They are actually more scream-like rather than a cry.  If he does it at night, it usually lasts less than 10 seconds.  After a nap...it lasts a long time.  If he's eating, it's in random spurts.  He doesn't do it all the time, but enough to cause concern!  Hopefully we'll figure something out :)
• When something's out of reach or you take something away.  He lets out a scream, and I just say, "No. No."  He is pretty good at understanding that now.

We love our precious Little Man and are so thankful that God has blessed us with him!

Happy Tuesday!

Monday's Message: Use your Body!

The message yesterday was about how we need to respect our bodies because God gave them to us!  We need to use them for his service, and in order to do that, we need to take care of them!  Do not be obsessed with how you look, but make sure that you are healthy.  I think this is a very important message.  It is so true.  If we don't respect our own body, how can we use it to the best of our abilities for God?

(One year ago today...wow how things change!)

On another note, after church yesterday we met some people at a Mexican restaurant (yeah...after hearing to take care of our bodies...I ate cheese dip, an enchilada, and rice!)  But if you recall, we have been having a hard time getting Little Man to eat anything except for baby food, cereal and Baked Lays.  We decided the chips at the restaurant would probably be okay after he practically begged for them when he saw us eating them.  Well, we were wrong...after just a few bites, he gagged, and lots came back up.  Only Puffs after that!  And then Mrs. Lou asked if she could give him a bite of her chicken.  I was nervous because of what had just happened, and he has never tried chicken before...but he loved it!! No gagging and he even wanted more.  I am so happy to know I can feed him chicken now...I just want him to start getting table fruits and veggies soon! :)  His one year check up is on Thursday, so I will definitely have some questions for the pediatrician.

Happy Monday Y'all!

Thankful Thursday!

I am so thankful that this sippy cup thing is going over so well!!  I was really nervous that Little Man would not want to make the switch.  The first day I tried was on Monday after breakfast.  He simply cried wailed and would not even let the sippy cup touch his mouth.  On Tuesday, he drank 4 ounces from the sippy cup at lunch and then decided he wanted the bottle.  Yesterday, it was all sippy cup!  He even laughed and had fun drinking out of his cup!  I was really nervous about the after dinner bottle...but he did great!  He drank most of his milk with dinner.  I then gave him his nightly bath, put on his pajamas, and let him drink the rest.  We read books and he slept great! 

That is one major milestone for me to check of my list. 

By the way, we are using the Dr. Brown's transition sippy cup, but we will move on to others soon, because two sippy cups is not enough to have in the house! 

Now, I need to get him to eat some table foods with different textures.  He gags on anything that is squishy or doesn't feel good to him between his fingers.  He will eat Baked Lays, Cheerios, french fries, and last night he ate some mashed potatoes.  So I guess he likes the carbs :)  Any tips on getting him to eat his veggies (not pureed!)

Hope you have a great Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday: Sippy Cup Success!

Oops! I'm smarter than you think!

The other day, I was in the kitchen and Little Man was in the next room playing.  I could hear him laughing, but I definitely didn't hear the spill.  I walked in to find this.

He had somehow reached his puffs and pulled them down, gotten the lid off, and poured them out! 

Oops!

Hope you have a great Tuesday! :)

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Happy Birthday to the little man who brings me the most joy in life!

His birthday was yesterday, and we celebrated with family and friends!  We had a great time.  The day started off with Little Man laughing at me singing "Happy Birthday" to him when he woke up.  We went on our daily morning walk.  He ate breakfast and I put him in his crib for a nap (which is my time to get ready for the day).  When I was ready for church...Little Man still had not fallen asleep!  I guess he has decided that now that he is the big "ONE" he is no longer taking a morning nap.  

We went to church and ate lunch there for the 140th anniversary celebration.  Luckily, Little Man fell asleep when we got home, so I could finish preparing for the party.  The mister and I had set up most everything the night before...he just had to run pick up the balloons, ice, and a few other things.  

The party started at 3, and it was tons of fun!

The cake

The "smash" cake

The Party Favors

The food

The centerpieces

Our little cowboy

With Grandaddy

Family shot:

Friends

The party surprise:  A miniature horse! (Lola!)

Trying the cake

He wasn't a big fan!

And it all came up on GiGi!

With Daddy (after an outfit change!)

Opening presents (a Tarheel bear!!)

His new ride!

Thanks for coming Papa, Grandmama, and Seth!

Night Night!

Hope you have a fabulous Monday!!

Thankful Thursday!

I'm about to head in to work this morning with the adorable two-year-olds!  The mister is on a walk with Little Man, but he is going to bring him after his nap (it's the mister's day off).  I have enjoyed working at the preschool.  I like that I don't have to plan lessons or think about work when I'm not there!  

All I have been focused on lately is Little Man's first birthday on Sunday! I can't believe it has really been a year.  Last year at this time, I was about to pop!  I was so swollen, and I just wanted Little Man to get here :)  I actually worked up until his due date (which was on a Friday last year).  And I went into labor that Friday night while playing Wii after dinner :)

What I looked like last year:

Anyway, soooo THANKFUL that my Little Man is in my life.  He makes life worth living!!

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday's Tip: Books!

Many people start reading to their baby while he/she is still in the womb.  I thought that sounded like a good idea, but never ended up doing it.  I didn't really start reading to Little Man until he was about 5 or 6 months old I think...but he absolutely loves books!  At first, he mainly liked eating them...which he still does on occasion.  But, he also loves when we read to him.  I read to him before his naps and before bedtime.  I like to do funny sounds and make the reading lots of fun.  

A few of his favorites are:

Goodnight Moon (This is a must!)

Farm Animals (He loves the sounds!)

I Love You Through and Through

(This book is great for interaction while reading!)

And yes, if you begin reading the same books over and over, you will start to memorize all the words! I definitely have the above three memorized word for word!  Feel free to quiz me :)

Happy Tuesday!