Mommy Goggles

I'm back! Here's a new edition of Mommy Goggles! I'm thinking I'm going to stick with it this time because it helps me fall asleep (what?! Yes, I usually post these the night before). And well, I've had some trouble sleeping lately.

The kiddos have been incredible lately. I have the normal amount of sibling rivalry, sort of. Mila loves Ian. Anytime he comes around, she lights up and starts giggling and getting super excited. She loves to play with her big brother. She loves to play with his toys. Ian isn't always in the sharing mood though, so he'll snatch it from her and get her a really lame toy to play with. It's almost comical, but I don't (intentionally) encourage it.

They love to play in the pool in the backyard. Mila just sits in her float and will play with a duckie (or whatever toy Ian allows her to have). I wish we had a nice real pool, that would be uber. Do you see how dead our grass is? This dryness is so lame.We are watering the foundation at 9 o'clock-ish at night. I hope it's helping. We need to redo our yard, dessert style.

Anyways, do you see how happy Mila is that Ian is pushing her on the swing? That's like my favorite picture, Stephen took it, you can sort of see Amy's foot in the background. Whom, Ian calls "Aunt Amy." :) He was also letting the swing hit him, then dramatically throwing himself to the ground. It was hilarious. Ian is really, really funny. He has a great, sophisticated sense of humor... kind of like our cousin Dylan. I love it!

We got to go to the pool with Franny and Mila tried out her new bathing suit (via namaw) and hat (via Franny). Um, I'm in love. Doesn't she look absolutely adorable? I almost can't handle it, but I am. And the girl was so worn out that she fell asleep poolside.

I mean, we've been spending, a lot of time at the pool. Even Aunt Amy's... where Mila is so excited, she puts her float on her head.

BTW, can you get over Ian on the slide? How ridiculous is that? And that picture of Mila in her skirt and flower? My dad's favorite! And that Daddy and Ian playing at Chuck-e Cheeses. So much fun! (I know, it's been a while since I've updated).

And completely un-child related, Franny and Feng came over and made us some (super spicy) kung po chicken.

It was really tasty though. :) Do you see the chair behind Feng? He tried to build a blockade to keep Ian out... nothing keeps Ian out from anywhere... lesson learned.

Hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more updates from now on. Have a great week everyone!

Mommy Goggles

Ian and I have been having so much fun lately! I had to leave him for over 24 hours to photograph a wedding in Houston (you can check it out at the Photography Blog). I wanted to cry, but alas, I resisted. And then yesterday, we went on another photoshoot to try and find places to take pictures. First stop?

Have you ever been to this place? It was completely fabulous. I can't believe I've never heard of it! There were peacocks EVERYWHERE!

And you could get pretty close to them. But sometimes, they'd yell at you. I had no idea they made those kinds of sounds.

Beautiful, right? Franny came along with us for the shoot. And her and Ian enjoyed looking at the fish.

It was a good time. I'm glad that Franny came along to help me out. Ian was running around that place like a crazy person. I'll, hopefully, make a post on the Photography Blog soon with the sessions pictures. Ian did try and rock it pretty hard too.

As you can guess, Ian has been amazing me daily, as usual. And he's so stinking cute! Especially when he Baaaaa's like a sheep. He's so serious about it. And tries so hard. It's hilarious.

I'll be (trying) to participate in the 10 on Tuesday, so check back for an update! And I really need to update the 101 in 1001, I'm falling behind.

Blog out!

Christmas can Officially Begin!

Yesterday was Franny's birthday! She exclaimed to me how she can now put up Christmas lights because Christmas begins December 10, the day after her birthday. We had a birthday dinner with her. Mmmmm, it was tasty!

Franny knows how to cut a cake. Sort of. I'm sure there is an easier way...

Ian always makes the job easier! Ian and the birthday girl sharing some delicious cake. Franny is 23 now! That means Caroline is now the youngest bridesmaid. :) Poor Caroline.

Oh, I almost forgot, Franny was assisting Ian in tearing down the restaurant. Though, I think we're invited back anyways. The entire staff (even the cooks) made their way out at one point or another to look at Ian. I can't help that he's so rambunctious and looks like he's 6 months. I'm sure they're astounded.

Any who, I must get back to my domestic day.

Amanda

Ian is ONE!

Has it really already been a year? Ian is already one year old! The weekend went wonderfully. We have a billion pictures. I will try and control myself and only show a few. Thank you for everyone who could make it, we had a full house. And thank you to everyone who couldn't make it, your thoughts were appreciated! Let's see, I weighed Ian on his birthday, 18.6 pounds. So, no forward facing car seat for a while. He has his one year check up sometime tomorrow, where he will get his mumps and polio vaccine... I think.

We will start this blog by letting pictures tell the story. I will add commentary as well.

This is Ian on is actual birthday. He has no idea what's about to happen to him. He's just excited that so many people are here to see him! Robe and Caroline, Granny Janny, and Grandpa!

Caroline and Robe got Ian a 'Little Gentlemen's Outfit.' It took a while to get this smile out. But there were flippin' paparazzi around! I have a picture of that too somewhere, but I can't find it at the moment. There are about 4 or 5 camera's and we're all crowded around him taking pictures. It's a shocker he's smiling and not crying. But come on, isn't that outfit adorable?!

Before we went out, we met up with Granny Janny and Grandpa so that they could watch Ian so Caroline and I would help my mom prepare. Ian is playing with a new toy truck. He's having so much fun! I'm so glad that I have such a happy baby, so full of personality. Speaking of which, Robe and Stephen went to a bar while we were gone. Which brings me to an adorable story. Stephen would be embarrassed if he read my blog, but he doesn't, so here it goes:

Caroline and I caught Stephen and Robe sitting outside of a Starbuck's sipping on their drinks while talking about the wedding. When these two ladies get together, it gets ridiculous. They also went on a 4 hour hike together in which they swam in the water holes on the green belt. That's right, there's water there now.

Back to Ian.

So, of course we baked the cupcakes and cake, but this is one more thing we made. Looks confusing right? I got this idea off of another blog, maybe I'll write one with what we did. But basically, it's home-made hot chocolate sticks. You warm up some milk, water, or, as Stephen and Robe did, coffee, and stir in this chocolate goodness. Caroline and I added marshmallows to the bottom to make them look cool. We then individually wrapped them all and gave them away as the adult favors.

Food pictures! Sadly, we did not get pictures of the pizza or hot dogs.

All of those cupcakes are homemade except for the white ones. Those are from central market! Like the wind up bugs on top? My mom found those for really cheap. The kids (young and old) enjoyed them. They were adorable. They added some pizazz to the cupcakes.

Behind Caroline is a banner we made. It has 13 pictures of Ian from Newborn to One Year! It didn't turn out as expected. Next time, I have some very different ideas. By the way, the boys hung it up. It was pretty adorable though. Ian looks the same size from 6 months on. You can also tell that his ridiculous personality kicked in around 3 months. The picture idea was fabulous. I also picked that up from a blog. I'll add the inspiration links later... after Robe and Caroline leave. Ian is awaking them right now.

Now for Ian's cake. Notice how my child is not dirty. Weird right? Also notice, my kid has a hat on. Very strange. He never wears hats, he always throws them off in a fit of rage. Surprisingly, he didn't cry when we all sang Happy Birthday to him. He looked around confused, and by the end of the song, he was smiling with his famous cheesy smile. What a ham. Anyways, we put the cake in front of him, and he begins to neatly pull of the sprinkles. Eventually, my dad stepped in and helped him, that's why there is a chunk missing. However, Ian still did not get dirty. Leave it to my kid to eat his first birthday cake very neatly. He's adorable.

Ian even started feeding those around him. Here he is feeding my dad. I guess it's nice that he shares. He's still clean. FWIW, he stays clean the entire time. Only getting his hands slightly dirty.

Onward to the presents! Notice D-Money in the background. He read ALL of the cards for me, very helpful. Marissa opened all of Ian's gifts for him, very helpful as well. Ian was on overload not realizing there was a new toy until a few gifts later. I think it's safe to say he was always two gifts behind. He seemed to enjoy it. I think I'm going to put some gifts away and leave some out and rotate them. Finally, we leave...

Here is Ian with Caroline. He's tired. Can't believe we let him stay up late (he had TWO naps, which is incredible, I think this only ever happened one other time when he was sick with the measles). Needless to say, the birthday weekend was a success. He loved it. Remind me to tell you at a later date what I did for his Thank You cards. I haven't done them yet, I'm awaiting for something to arrive in the mail first, but I already wrote them out.

Time to see the guests out, Ian has FINALLY awaken Robe.

Human Development

Delicious. Last night my mom bought some tiramisu. I was too full to eat it last night so I woke up this morning and decided I didn't want to cook breakfast. Sitting in front of me, I have a plate of tiramisu. It is so delicious.

Moving on, last night I was reminded of why I chose my major. I remember when I was an economics and finance major. I remember sitting through my classes thinking this is so boring, is this what I really want to do for the rest of my life? No. I mean, I could barely keep my eyes open. Sure, it was easy enough, but I was literally bored to tear. I went to the career testing center and they told me about HDFS (Human Development and Family Sciences). I decided to give it a try, it had to be better than this.

I walked into my first class in GEA. It was HDF 304 Family Relationships. It was a wonderful class. I willingly came to every class. I sat in the front, took notes, and listened. I just listened. It was so intriguing! Then, I would go home, tell Stephen everything I learned and occasionally, make him do an activity from class. This was funny because in class we took them to see what our commitment was to our significant other. Stephen passed every single thing with flying colors... sometimes he scored better than me. That was embarrassing. Since that point on, I was always eager to partake in another HDF class. My life has been full of them. I love them.

Over the past few weeks, my practicum (internship) has been having a seminar where we give presentations on ANYTHING we want to the class (it just has to relate to young children). Every week, I'm excited to sit through everyone's presentations. Yesterday, I was reminded why I love this major so very, very much. First, everyone in our group wanted to go first. We decided to go in alphabetical order, so I went first. I presented on Montessori. I made everyone eat delicious food. Then, Carina went, People First Language. VERY important. I remember taking a class that involved that as well. Then, Justin went.

This part I really enjoyed. He should give lectures! He's so entertaining. He gave us all the True Colors quiz. Most of us were Blue. (Go look it up!) Finally, we finished with Kevin's ice cream presentation and the importance of science with young children. I, of course, took the place of that child with attention issues (see Carina, people first language. My bag broke during the shaking process and salt and ice flew all over the table. It was okay though. I still enjoyed my ice cream later. Our entire night was full of laughing and fun.

It reminded me of my Family Relationships class. I was always excited to go and always left in a very happy mood. Last night, I left class feeling great. Justin brought up a good point, he loves Thursdays! Those are the days where he sees us last and then sees us again first thing in the morning. I truly love these people! I love this major. I'm glad I changed (even if I don't know what I'm going to do yet).

Thank you lovely presenters for reminding me of that last night. It was delightful.

Scrambled

It's later in the day today. I know. Ian and I are at my parent's, waiting for the repair man to come. Ian has been walking around like a crazy man. He has a kickball and a glitter ball. He just walks around holding them, throwing them, etc. It's adorable. He looks ridiculous when he walks because he's so tiny. I will try and get a picture up later this week. Ridiculous I tell you! I've also realized that his version of 'mama' sounds more like 'mimi.' I've become mimi! Also, insane.

Ian's birthday is this weekend. We are pretty excited! I can't believe he's already going to be a year old. He's got so much personality, it's ridiculous! He's that tiny tot that says 'hi' to all the strangers he sees; he is constantly shocked and surprised; he has the biggest cheeziest smile. He's full of HUGE personality. He's already made two ladies come close to crying because he said 'hi' to them and it made their day. He's such a ham. And he knows it. I don't know how I feel about that yet. He has super cutie powers. He knows how to use them.

Here's another reason I'm pretty happy, Caroline and Robe are coming up this weekend! WO! I know this is hard to believe, but Caroline has NEVER met Ian! (Well, in person. We totally video chat). It'll be nice to have someone at the casa to help me get some things prepared for Ian's birthday. Speaking of which, lovely Franny is coming over tonight to help me make a practice cake for Ian's birthday. I don't bake... or cook for that matter. It would be nice to, but I just never have the time. I just want to make sure that when people bite into it, that it's possible. I don't want to bake a brick. I've never made a banana cake before! I need to insure that Ian is in love with it. :)

Well,  I must go now. Many things to do, little time to do them.

Amanda