I'm feeling patriotic.

Well, seeing how I completely skipped the month of June on this old blog, this is going to be an extra long post :) Summer has taken us by storm and I have been trying to keep the summer activities flying for Vivian. I actually planned out a calendar to organize all the stuff I want to do, you know to be sure we don't let any summer days pass us by ;) Naw, it wasn't so much of a calendar as a list of all the things to do if we ever felt bored. Two days after I created this list I realized that that's the joy of summer, not having a list to follow. So I tossed it. But let me tell you we have been busy eating popsicles until we get tummy aches, swimming in warm kiddy pool water, playing in the garden dirt, and enjoying the outdoors.

Summer is, and always will be my favorite season. Not only is it just plain awesome, the 4th of July takes place in the summer. Which is, and always has been my favorite holiday. Number one, because there are fireworks. Number two, because that's when Chris popped the question four years ago, which is one of my favorite memories. Well enough of the rambling about how much I (heart) summer, I'm sure ya'll just want to know what we did on this glorious holiday. I'll do a photo review:

We started off the holiday weekend in Des Moines. Chris had some training and we met him up there and got together with our good friends Jake and Christy. Our babies are so close in age and we love catching up right were we left off. My favorite part of the trip was when the babies started getting down in their pj's to Beyonce on GMA :) How cute are they?



After coming home I worked the weekend (thumbs down), but had Monday off, (hooray!). We made our way back to my hometown area for the parade. Are you sick of me saying how much I love stuff in this post? Well here it comes again, I love a good parade. I won't lie, it was a little less then par this year, but great company made up for it!
My bestie Ramona and I got to catch up after what seemed like forever. The boys and baby had fun too.

Tootsie wanted to be next to dada the whole time, mainly because of the constant stream "tandy" she was recieving. But how sweet is this pic? She sure loves her dada.

Small town.


After the parade we were on our way home, when on a whim we decided to stop by this old rope swing we used to play on. Karissa and I would beg our dad to take us on bike rides over to this church to play on the swing. We loved it. Well, lets just say, this old swing has not lost its charm. It was pretty fun (and funny:).
Chris is scared of heights which is evidenced by the look on his face in this photo :)

Vivie had fun too, but lets be serious, this was really for the grown-ups.

Family.

Ramona was obviously a seasoned pro:

I wasn't to bad myself, considering I was wearing a skirt. I've had practice considering I didn't wear pants till I was 12.

Boys will be boys.


Later on in the evening we bbq'd at my parents house. Chris started talking to my uncle about his truck, "old blue". Then they decided to take it out for a spin. Once again, it was pretty funny. This truck doesn't have any breaks, and is strictly for hauling firewood. They took it for a spin around the pond. And wonder of all wonders, one of the tail lights still works, even though the breaks don't... Explain that.

The last few hours of the night consisted of trying to entertain Vivian and keep her up for the fireworks. We played on the swings. Grandpa walked with her around the golf course. But five minutes after the first pop she officially decided she had had enough. We hurried back to the car and she promptly fell asleep in her carseat. Hubby and I watched the rest of the show in the parking lot. It was romantic :)

But honestly, isn't that what the fourth is all about? Creating new traditions, keeping your kid up for three hours past bedtime, only to have them fall right asleep at the best part of the show, sweating so much you think you are going to have a heat stroke, eating so much candy you get a stomach ache, then eating so much rubarb desert that you get another stomach ache two hours later. I think so, and I'll be darned if we don't do it all again next year...

Vivian turns one

Vivian turned one last week. How amazing is that? How did she go from this:

To this:


It really is a miracle, and I get a big lump in my throat when I think about it to much. Growth is so bittersweet.
Anyway, the birthday girl is just changing every day. She is 29 3/4" tall (she's obviously going to be way taller then me) and 19 lb 12 oz. She just had her one year check up and looks great. She had to get a blood draw and she didn't even make a peep! However, Dad started sweating, and Mom was a little nervous :)

It seems like every day she does new things. She knows quite a few words. She doesn't say very many but she knows what you mean when you say them. The other day I asked her if she wanted to read a book, so she walked over to the books, picked one up, carried it back to me, and backed up on my lap to read it! She knows it "chew it up" when I give her food. Of course she knows puppy, mama, daddy, bye-bye, hi. When you ask her where something is, she holds her hands upside down, bent at the elbow with a questioning look on her face like, "I don't know mom". It is precious! She loves to wave, and waves non-stop. She also gives lots of hugs and kisses. She kisses the book, the puppy, mom and dad, her toys, basically everything.

On her birthday we were going to go swimming, but we missed the times due to her nap, so we went to the park instead. We decided, "oh this will be fun, we'll take her in her new wagon". The trip there was fine, its only about 12 blocks. We had some good times on the swings/slide. However, when we went to put her in the wagon to bring her home and she was not having it! Holy cow, where did the sweet baby go?! She was arching her back and crying, I thought I was going to drop her on the pavement. So I handed her over to Chris of course :) Oh man, that made it even worse! So I finally took her back and she quieted down, I guess she at least realized if she was going to have to go home it was better to be held by mom. The teenagers in the park were laughing and pointing at us, I have never felt so old! We booked it out of there, awkward! I kept trying to put her back in her awesome wagon on the way home, every time a tiny fit ensued. Which brings me to my next point, where did this independence come from? Holy cow, literally on the day of her first birthday. She has had small fits before but nothing like this, it was kind of ironic :) She was fine when we got home ( my back was not ).

Here's a few more recent photos of tootsie. I have about a million other posts to make (swim lessons, popsicles, the list goes on). But we have been so busy playing outside I haven't had the motivation to blog. We're also going to have family pics today, keep your fingers crossed for cooperation!

Things I love

Here are a few things I'm currently in love with.

#1 Baby-proofing of the kitchen cabinets, courtesy of Grandma Y.


#2 Vivian having play dates with her bestie Lo, probably the cutest interactions ever!


#3 Snickers. I have no idea but all of a sudden I crave snickers. It is so random, and also deliclious! Chris is totally using it to his advantage too, because he is usually the one with the sweet tooth. So now when I wake up there is a snickers magically sitting on the counter, courtesy of Mr. Chris, as if to say, "ha, you have a candybar and I don't". Its very sneaky! Actually, I've just decided that this is another sign I'm turning into my mother, she also loves them :s


#4 Diapers on the line. Oh man, I love spring for this reason alone! They get so white, and smell so good, its amazing!


#5 Tootsie playing in her kitchen in her big girl pj's. Oh man, for some reason these pj's just break my heart! She could ask me for anything while wearing them, and I would gladly oblige her. Thanks Aunt Kikki!


#6 Tootsie eating spaggati! My heart overflows. It's so cliche because I know all kids do this, but it is just so sweet!


#7 A wonderful dada who plays all day with tootsie in her fort-box, and he has just as much fun as she does. Okay, my heart is bleeding :)

LOVE

10 Months

Vivian was 10 months March 18th! She is doing all sorts of cutesie-tootsie things.

+ She is walking everywhere! (This sign thing is getting tougher by the month)

+ She has 8 teeth

+ Waves hi/bye

+ Gives hugs and kisses
+ Experiencing some stranger danger

+ Goes up and down steps (this probably started around mo 8)
+ Eats almost everything that mom and dad do

+ She loves the puppies

My favorite time of day

I love, love, love breakfast. It is my absolute favorite time of day with Vivian. We both love breakfast food, the sun is usually shining, and we just love it. Did I say that we love it? :) Let me tell you our routine. At 8 she gets in her high-chair and eats some cheerios while to get the food around. She always eats what I call a Banana-Mash-Up, and I eat oatmeal with the rest of her banana. She probably also eats about a half a box of cheerios, which are definitely her favorite.
So here are the goods.
1. Banana Mash up: Bananas + Orange Juice + Cereal for viv
2. Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal + Milk + Left over Banana for mom
3. Vitamin D drops
4. Cheerios
Then sometimes we also have amish eggs or yogurt. It's devine. I think that I just like a good routine, its just so comfortable. Kind of like an old shoe. It's just the best feeling in the world.

Our trusty side-kick Sophie sits under the high chair waiting for tidbits to drop off.

My happy breakfast buddy :)

Random Wednesday

So, some funny things happened around our house today. Number one. The baby has been sleeping from about 7pm to 5:30am, which is more amazing then I can even explain! I haven't slept 6 or 7 straight hours since I was probably about 7 months preggo. This morning Baby woke up at about 5:30, I went in and fed her and she dozed back to sleep in her crib until 6:30, when she woke up again. So I went in again and figured it was time to get up for the day. Well, she was still a little sleepy so her and I decided to doze in the chair until daddy got home. A few minutes later Dad showed up and baby woke up, looked at him, and then promply projectile vomited all over me. And then she did it two more times. And then she smiled :) It was so weird because she really stopped spitting up around 8 months old, so this was completely random. So her, I, and the chair were covered in puke. I decided we better both just get a bath because I hate that sour milk smell. So we both jumped in the tub. We usually don't do this because I like the water much hotter then Viv, but decided too this morning to save time. So before the tub is even full I look down, and what do I see? Baby poo. That's right. This was definitely a morning of firsts because she has never done that before either! It was completely disgusting. Once again Viv was just happy as a clam, she must have felt better to get that out of her system. It turned out to be a pretty short bath, which leads me to number two: Cleaning the tub.

Finally after all the shenanigans had calmed down, Chris went to sleep and we decided to have breakfast. Number three: I went to make our oatmeal and while opening the new box punched a hole into the flimsy package = oatmeal all over the floor. As I'm cleaning it up I realized I didn't get my favorite kind of oatmeal which is, Thick and Hearty Maple and Brown Sugar, I just got plain ole Maple and Brown Sugar. Dangit! So not only is there oatmeal all over the floor, I got the wrong kind. Double Whammy! You might wonder why I'm so concerned about what kind of oatmeal I got? Well, I will save my oatmeal rantings for their own special post next week. Anyway, I swept the extra crumbs under the frig and we got on with breakfast. So far the rest of the morning has been glorious! Some cute little boy stopped by our house yesterday selling candy bars, I bought a snickers and had it for my mid-morning snack today and it was devine! Viv had a bite too :)

So basically the morning started off a bit rough, but it was kinda funny too. You know when people tell you, "kids poop and puke everywhere". Well, I'm here to tell you its true :) But, I hate to say it, its totally worth it. Did I mention I have baby fever again? Well, thats right, I do. And so I will leave you with that. Those are my random Wednesday thoughts. Don't worry 10 month photos will be up soon, because I know thats what ya'll want to see anyway :)

9 months

3/4 year old, hooray! Vivian is doing so many cute things I can barely keep up. She just started getting her 8th tooth (which is practically 8 teeth in 6 months :S ). Every time she starts getting a tooth the sleep goes out the window. But I am just thankful that she is healthy and happy. We have had some sleepless nights lately, but I know that it is not going to last forever, and soon she will be 1, and then 2, and then I might miss waking up at night to hold her (maybe;). In the spirit of spring Vivian has started to wear dresses with leggings, which is the cutest thing ever! They are so cute with her cloth dipes and leg warmers I just want to pinch her cheeks. She's getting a little more hair, but it is still pretty sparse on the top. Here is her 9 month drumroll:
* She gives kisses and hugs
* She claps
* She can climb up the steps
* She can free stand
* She can edge around all the furniture
* She can push her toy and walk behind it
* She can eat everything we eat for supper as long as its mashed up a bit
* 8 Teeth
* Says mama
Holy cow it has been a big month! Which I'm guessing is maybe why she still wakes up so much? Maybe she is just to excited to sleep with all these new developments, ha :) Photos: