Friday, April 30, 2010

Photo Friday-One Year Old Update

Well, we passed Robert's one year milestone almost two weeks ago, but I've yet to write down for future reference what Mr. Robbie is like at one. I mean, besides adorable, adorable and adorable, what is this boy like? How does he behave? What does he love and hate? What are his aspirations in life? Here's what I've figured out so far...

At one, Robbie loves life. He loves his sisters, his Mommy and Daddy, other children larger than himself, small animals, things that roll across the floor, and, yes, the television. The "small animals" and "things that roll" categories have been cleverly combined in his sisters' Zhu Zhu pets. He chases those little hamsters around until the batteries die. And fortunately, he has yet to put it on his head. That will be a sad day...New Skills! Robbie has figured out a thing or two about physics in the last couple weeks. Things roll...and bounce...and you can throw them...and put them in other things. All are new favorite games. He has also figured out that sometimes knobs turn and other things go up and down.
Can you see it? He just threw the ball in this photo.
Here he is demonstrating how to turn the knob on his gumball machine, a favorite toy. He also knows to put the balls in the top of it and hit the blue lever on the side to make the balls roll out and the machine sing.This photo was taken right before he bounced the socks off the floor. Then, he proceeded to pick them up and do it again. And again. And again. When he finally got bored, he stuck the socks in his mouth.Another very recent skill is screeching at the top of his lungs. It's a horrible, ear piercing noise, but apparently it gets him what he wants. Interestingly, it has multiple meanings. In this photo, he is screaming at me because he's so pleased to be climbing on my stomach. Tonight at dinner he was constantly doing it because he was tired and hungry and pissed that I wouldn't give him more blueberries. Sometimes it's because he likes something on the TV or he sees himself in the mirror. Whatever the reason, it's generally not a pleasant sound.
And yes, that is drool.
Favorite toys...while the gumball machine pictured above has been a favorite of Robbie's for the last couple months, just recently a new toy that I pulled out has taken the top spot. It's the Fridge Farm from LeapFrog. He LOVES it. He races over to the fridge, pulls it down, and repeatedly presses the button to hear it sing. He even dances. Ok, it's really just bopping up and down to the music, but for a one year old, it's a pretty slick dance move.
He also loves pulling the toy magnets off the fridge. Unfortunately, he hasn't figured out how to put them back on yet, so I'm constantly tripping on them as I walk in and out of the kitchen.
His new freedom found in his ability to crawl has finally sunk in for him. I swear, just this week, the light bulb went on and he realized, "I can go WHEREVER I WANT!" He's exploring new places everyday, and I am quickly remembering what it's like to have a crawler in the house and why we had those locks on the cabinets before. He still prefers the butt-scoot to the standard crawl position, but I think that's because on our hard floors, the butt-scoot is fast and he doesn't slip around as much. He does know how to crawl properly, he just chooses not to.While he may still shy away from vegetables, Robbie's appetite is back in full swing. He hardly ever has "baby food" anymore, except when I'm trying to hide said veggies in applesauce. This boy is all about finger food, and the meatier, cheesier or starchier, the better. He has loved every type of meat I've put in front of him, including fish. He's picky about the type of pasta you give him, but macaroni is definitely a fave. Any type of berry...well, you just can't pile it on his tray fast enough. He also loves oranges, kiwi, grapefruit, peach and pear puree (won't eat it in chunks), cheese, bread, dried fruit, pancakes, scrambled eggs, graham crackers and those sugary baby snacks that you think are healthy because they have the words "Baby" and "Gerber" on them, but are really full of sugar. He loves those. (So do Padyn and Kate!). For whatever reason, I can't get him excited about bananas and apples in their true form. Or avocado. And he hasn't wanted much yogurt lately. I'm sure next week it will be a whole new list. Quesadillas will be out and turkey sandwiches will be in. Or something.

But he does love his milky! Mommy's done nursing and this boy has moved onto cow's milk. As soon as he sees me pull the bottle out of the cupboard, he starts screaming. He keeps screaming until the bottle is in his mouth. Again, that horrible screaming noise. Kate was like this, too. Just something about that milk that they love. I can't say I understand it, not really being a milk drinker myself.
Other new stuff...he now sits facing forward in his carseat, he is back to (mostly) sleeping 11 hours at night, he poops ALL THE TIME, he loves loves LOVES taking a bath, he has to have his feet somewhere on your body when he's lying next to you, and the first thing he does when I pick him up is stick his hand down my shirt. All the boys think that's awesome.

Next week we hit the pediatrician's office for his one year appointment. At that time I will know all his other stats-weight, length, etc. I really have no idea if he's big or small or average for his age. I really don't care. Except for that screeching thing, he's really as close to perfect as you can come with a one year old. At least, compared to my other two one years old he is. I think we'll keep him around for a while.
Happy Friday.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Now that he can crawl...

...he ends up in some interesting places.On Monday when I found him trying to sit up under the bar stool, I decided to rescue him instead of taking a picture. I know! So stupid of me! Why didn't I capture that moment of torment for my child?But he usually doesn't get too upset about where he ends up. He's just so happy to finally be MOVING!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Afternoon Tea Attire

Today we went to a tea party at our neighbor's house. The girls were very excited to be invited. Katelyn decided to wear this: And now you know what you should wear to your next tea party. I think this ensemble would also work for a bridal shower, matinee or a business lunch.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Robert's 1st Birthday

The little guy turned one on Saturday. His big day coincided with our town's biggest day of the year, so Robbie is going to grow up thinking that the parade, the 100,000 people, the dogs, and all the other fun stuff on campus is happening just for his birthday.We had no less than 58 people (adults and kids) show up at some point during the afternoon to help Robbie celebrate. Twenty five kids running around can get pretty crazy, especially when most of them are under the age of 6. The other kids all loved their cupcakes, but like his sisters before him, Robbie wasn't too sure of this cake stuff I slapped on his highchair tray. I had to help him at first, and he liked the whipped cream, but he never got to the shoving-the-cake-as-fast-as-you-can-into-mouth stage. Maybe it's because I never make them chocolate cake.
While he might not have really liked the cake, he certainly liked being the center of attention...


This is the original amount of cake I gave him...and it's what was left on his tray when he decided he was all done. And that little dab of cream on his lip? That was about the extent of his messiness. Happy Birthday, Buddy! We love you!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Photo Friday-One Years Old Tomorrow

I wonder what this one year old will be like?Active, giggly, and stubborn like this one?Or calm, sweet and stubborn like this one? Or something like we've never seen before?

On the Move

It's the day before Robbie's first birthday and he's decided this is a good day to finally crawl. What motivated him? A toy car.

His sisters, on the other hand, don't think it's such a good idea. I just caught the eldest holding his legs trying to keep him from reaching his destination.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Update

Since I've been silent for over a week, I decided I owed you an update. But a quick one. I have a teething son who is up many many times at night and then decides that 5:30am is a good wake up time. So it will be brief. (And see...I gave you one update already, and you didn't even notice!)
*We went to Palm Desert over Spring Break. We drove all day on Saturday, the 3rd (Kate's birthday) and stayed until Friday the 9th.

*We did Easter with the cousins on Sunday. It included an egg hunt, swimming and ham. Love ham.

*We spent a lot of our week hanging out, playing with Kate's new Polly Pockets, eating, watching videos, and swimming. We really didn't swim very much. It wasn't actually warm enough to swim everyday. Big bummer.
*Robbie learned a fun new game. I call it "Throw a Stuffed Animal on My Head and Watch Me Crack Up." Padyn first taught it to him in the car on the way down, and Katelyn quickly picked up where Padyn left off.
*On Tuesday, the girls and I did something we've never done before...we went to Disneyland. It was super crowded and the lines where long so it wasn't a magical experience for Mommy, but the girls had a great time. We went with the cousins, which I believe made Padyn more inclined to go on rides that she would normally be scared of. (Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear). Kate could have waited another year. She loved the princesses, the merry-go-round and the Autopia, but that was about it. "I don't want to go on boats, Mommy."
*I have no real pictures of Disneyland because I didn't bring my huge camera. Aunt Christie has some, but she's a little busy these days...

*She's a little busy these days because Bella and Trevor (along with their Mommy and Daddy) are moving here to Cow Town. Aunt Christie will be working her way through residency. They have a short window of time to find a house, get school and childcare worked out, rent their house, and pack up all their stuff. I don't envy them.

*Padyn and Kate are more than a little excited that Bella is moving near them. Padyn is pushing for them to go to the same school.

*We should get back to our trip because it's not over yet. On Wednesday one of Robbie's friends (and Mommy's friend) came over for a visit. Andrew is about 5 months younger than Robbie but rapidly catching up in size. See how well they get along?
To be fair, they didn't send the whole time upset with each other. I think there was something totally unrelated to Robbie that set Andrew off, but then Robbie exacerbated the situation by going for the ear. That's my son. Always there for his friends when they are down.

*Thursday was our last day and we planned on just hanging out, swimming, slowly packing...you know, relaxing. That's what you are supposed to do on vacation. But a little incident with a golf hole flag left Daddy and Padyn in the ER all afternoon waiting for stitching. Don't ask Padyn about it...she's self conscience and doesn't want anyone to know she has seven stitches in her leg. But she's fine. And tough.

*Friday found us driving home. Here we are.

*And now, we have another birthday to celebrate this week. Saturday will mark the day Robbie entered the world a year ago. He tells me he's looking forward to it. At least, I think that's what him biting my arm means.
*And he isn't crawling yet. He's so so so close...but not quite there.
*He is, however, waking up, sitting up in bed, then crying because he can't lie back down. That and the teething is driving us crazy.

*And tired.

*As soon as these photos are loaded, I'm going to bed.
*Oh, and it rained today even though the forecast for partly cloudy with a 10% chance of precipitation.
*Consider yourself updated.

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Easter Fun

We heading down to the desert on Saturday (Kate's birthday) so we could spend our spring break swimming and enjoying warm weather. Bella and Trevor came over on Easter for swimming, dinner and, of course, an Easter egg hunt. I think you can guess what their favorite activity was...









Monday, April 05, 2010

Big 4 Year Old Girl

Saturday was Katelyn's 4th birthday. It's very hard to believe that she's already four. Well, for Mommy that is. Kate is VERY excited to be four and will not hesitate to tell everyone how old she is.

As with most birthdays, Kate's was spread over at least 4 days. There was the cupcake celebration at school on Thursday... Then there was the little birthday party with her friends on Friday morning. It was supposed to be at the park but when it started raining an hour before start time, we had to move it to our house at the last minute. No balloons or decorations...just lots of toys and noise and chaos.

Lulu helped open the presents...

Mommy helped blow out the candles...
And Kate was the perfect hostess...Then there was Kate's actual birthday on Saturday. She spent most of the day in the car driving down to the desert. She wore that crown all day in the car. Then on Sunday, she got a little more birthday fun when her cousins came over to visit. I think that today her birthday is finally over. Now we can get back to our normal existence...no more cupcakes on a daily basis. Well, until Robbie's birthday in two weeks that is.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

A Boy and His Truck

He just discovered that it makes noise and moves! How exciting is that?
Look at those big teeth!
And that drool...between that and all the spitting lately, I think there is a one year molar on the way...