The Walker

Well, The Roo has officially taken his first steps... and second steps... and many many steps now. He is transitioning from being a very speedy little crawler to a very wobbly walker.  It's precious though. Of course, instinctively he knows when I am about to pick up my camera to film said walking, to provide some sort of evidence so that you people don't think I'm just trying to brag that my kiddo is walking before he is even a year old... so as soon as I pick up the camera he drops to his booty and crawls over to the stairs to climb up those. 

And now that we are wobbly walking, I realize we are probably only weeks, days, hours, minutes away from not-so-wobbly walking and before you know it he will be running circles around me. I suppose it's time to baby-proof. Like for-real baby proof.  We covered all the outlets, moved some breakables and picked up most of the knives and guns that were laying around... but that sly little guy has now realized that we have no cabinet locks and no baby gates on the stairs.

And he loves the stairs.  As soon as his little hands, knees, feet, bottom hit the floor he makes a B-line for the stairs.  The wooden stairs. With the sharp corners. The steep stairs. And he wants to go up. And keep going up.  All the way up. Until the 3rd stair from the top. Where he likes to just stand. And grab the rail. And bask in the glory of his accomplishment. And there is very little stopping him once he gets going because he can boogie up those things faster than a girl can untag herself from a picture that makes her look fat.  So baby gates are on their way...
 He also has found the cabinets. And of course his favorite cabinets are the cabinets with cleaning supplies and glass bowls. Why oh why doesn't he like the tupperware cabinet? (smart boy... tupperware is stupid... I can never find a lid and container to match...god forbid you try and organize it) We actually have cabinet locks, but haven't put them on the cabinets yet. I'm quite afraid that I will end up locking myself out of cabinets and having to get The Roo over ot figure out how to get the darn thing open!

Anyway I can't get the video I DO have to upload, so you'll just have to trust me that the little guys is taking steps...

Anyway... He is awesome.

6 Months

So I am about a month late... but since I've been out the little Roo turned 6 months old! Time flies when you are having fun!

You've probably already seen these on Facebook, but I have to share his 6 month sneak-peek pics from Aimee Fuller Photography. They. Are. Amazing.

I am quite convinced that I have the cutest child in the history of 6 month old babies. 

So a few things about my little 6 month old:

- Just when I am convinced that he is teething, and there is no way possible that he could possibly chew or drool anymore... he does. The water faucet that has replaced his mouth is constantly turned on, and at some point I am sure we will get teeth... or drown...

- Instead of crawling, Roo has taken to a kind of hop like that is reminiscent of a frog. He wriggles his legs up under him, then stretches his arms out with a bit of a leap to it. One day he will be an expert at leap frog. For now, we are just waiting for him to realize that crawling is actually easier than what he is doing.

- We are signing to him, but I don't know if it's enough that he realizes what we are trying to do. We sign, "I Love You", "Mommy", "Daddy", "Eat", "More", "All Done", and "Sleepy". I'm pretty sure he understands zero of them yet, but who knows. Maybe one day he will surprise us.

- We use the regular bathtub now. He loves to splash around for as long as I let him. We can't wait to take him swimming in a baby pool. We may also do swim lessons if they offer them a the rec center.

- The Roo is a little piggy. He eats like a champ. He loves oatmeal, apples, carrots, green beans, green peas, bananas, sweet potatoes, squash and zucchini. 

We had our first baby birthday parties last weekend. We actually had 2 one-year old birthday parties! Two of his little friends turn one in April and we celebrated with them on Saturday.  I will post pics from then soon!

Excuse me, my son shouldn't have any girly parts!

So yesterday I had an ultrasound to check the growth of little Andy.  He is chugging along just fine at 4 lbs 6 oz, which puts him in the 65th percentile.

However, the ultrasound tech through me through a bit of a loop. When she first started the ultrasound she asked if I had found out gender at the last ultrasound. I informed her it was actually 2 ultrasounds ago when we found out.  (I did not mention that SHE was actually the ultrasound tech that did that sonogram. I figure she sees a lot of women every day, so I didn't expect her to remember my awesomeness).
Fastforward about 20 minutes after she had checked most of Andy's measurements, she then casually mentions "And there are her girly parts". I sat straight up and said "EXCUSE ME!?!? My son shouldn't have any girly parts! He's been confirmed boy TWICE!" (Once again I did not mention that one of those confirmations actually came from HER!) She apologized and said well, I just saw a little bit so let me take a closer look.  After a few more minutes she was able to confirm to me that Yes, Andy is still a little boy!

I will say this is still enough to put me in a minor panic, as when my mom was pregnant with me, she had an ultrasound that confirmed that I was a boy. She was quite shocked when I was born and came out a little girl instead. So here is the deal, if little Andy does end up being born with 'little girly parts', here's hoping she likes sail boats, the color blue, and puppy dogs!!! And if he is born with 'little boy parts', I'm sure this story will be used numerous times throughout his life as a way to embarass him!

Here's a few pictures for you. These are actually from 2 weeks ago, but I don't have the ones from yesterday electronically... so I figure I would post these instead

His Manhood

His Profile

3D picture of his cute little face

Showered with Love!

Wow, it took me way too long to write this, but I have to brag about how awesome my baby showers were last weekend! Unfortunately my camera charger has gone AWOL and so I have no pictures, so if you have pictures please email them to me! 

Eric and I went up to Mansfield last weekend because I had not one, but TWO baby showers!

Saturday I had a shower at Grandma's house. It was so great! She put together the cutest Diaper Cake ever! She had adorable blue decorations, and made a baby clothesline for me with all sorts of cute stuff on it. She even made a game out of the clothesline, where she took it away before I opened presents and the guests had to remember what all was on it! She also played the infamous chocolate in the diaper game, which I think Morgan won! (She has a lot of experience with analyzing the inside of diapers I suppose). This was a 'family shower', so a lot of my cousins, aunts, great aunts, etc. all came. To top off the event, my mom brought a black forest cake! Now, I am not 100% sure if Black Forest Cake is gluten free, but mom and I decided it is probably just maringue and sugar and milk... or something of that nature. I don't care... it's my favorite dessert in the whole wide world! I got all sorts of fabulous things for Andy, including 2 baby baths, some super adorable clothes, and my diaper bag which I am super stoked about! (Ok, so maybe the bag is more for me than for little Andy... :))

Sunday, my mom's best friend Teresa put together a shower for me. It was with alot of my Mansfield friends, and all of my Church Mom's, as I like to call them. (I guess they will all be Andy's Church Grandma's now!)  It was so great to see everyone! Peggy made some gluten free cupcakes and cookies which were AMAZING! We ended up with so much swag I wasn't convinced Eric would be able to fit it all into the Armada.  I got to see a lot of my high school friends that still live in the DFW area that I don't get to see nearly enough! I need to plan another trip back, because I know I didn't get to catch up with each of them as much as I wanted to, but I was so happy to get to see them all and spend time with them! Plus, all the ladies who helped raise me were there (all my Church Mom's), and it was so great to see how excited they were for Eric and I as we start this next phase of our life! I feel very blessed to have such wonderful women in my life... I hope Andy gets the opportunity to grow up with 'Church Mom's' as loving and kind to him as these ladies have been to me in my lifetime.

The Armada was litterally STUFFED full of stuff! I even told Eric I did not think he would be able to fit it all in, but somehow he managed! We barely had room for Lola and Patton in the truck, and had to squeeze their bed in... though I think they would have preferred to be in my lap.

Thank you cards are written, and everyone will get them soon, but I am just so grateful for everyone who came and shared in my excitement with me! I had such an amazing weekend, and it was wonderful to see how loved Andy is already! I can't wait until he is here and I get to bring him back to Mansfield for everyone to get to meet him!!!

PS Chelsea, I am SUPER SORRY that I forgot to add you to the invite list for the shower :( I still love you!!!

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

A few years ago, someone gave me a picture frame that said "It's Official, I've Become my Mother".  It was a cute frame, so I put a picture of me and my mom in it and put it on a shelf... little did I know the reality that I actually am turning into my mother... one day at a time...

The evidence is piling up, and since getting knocked up it has become MORE and MORE obvious that I am turning into my mother... Here is my list of Top 5 Realizations that I have become my mom:

5. I freak out about cleaning for the cleaning lady. I remember being a little girl, laying in my twin size bed playing with Teddy Rupskin when my mom came in and told me that I had to clean my room. I asked her why and she said that we had a lady coming to clean the house (by the way, my mom did this MAYBE 2 or 3 times in my childhood. I don't recal if there was a specific reason for this, maybe she was hosting a party?). Anyway, I thought it was ludicrous to clean for the cleaning lady, yet there I was yesterday, trying to get things picked up and the dishes done before my cleaning lady came today (Then again, she does put our knives in the dishwasher which Drives. Me. Crazy!!).

4. I am all of the sudden afraid of heights. My mom and my brother have always been the ones afraid of heights, and I was always the one to make fun of them! Over the last year or so I have realized that I, myself am a little freaked out by heights... not to the point where I would hide in the floorboard of a suburban while going over Engineer's Pass... but none the less... kind of weirds me out...

3. I think the new heights phobea is linked to #3... worry... I. Worry. About. EVERYTHING! I can't help it! I worry about normal things like money, childbirth, my hair falling out after the baby gets here.  But then I also worry about silly stuff, like if I will have fun on vacation, what we are going to eat for dinner, and OMG What is my cleaning lady going to think about my house being SO DIRTY!?!?!? I will say, that my Gran may have been a bit more of a worrier than my mother is... so maybe it comes more from her... but I never really considered myself one to worry. Until... Baby... I guess babies make you crazy... that's the conclusion I am coming to!

2. Mom's gonna love this one... (It's probably going to make her cry - I love you mom)... but my mom has a bit of passive aggressive in her (And I still love her for it!!!). This was most obvious to me when I was getting married. She would ask what color bridesmaid dresses I wanted and I would answer... and she would reply with "Really?!?!? You think that will be a good color?!? Do you think that color would look okay on (insert bridesmaid name here)?!? I mean, it's your decision, but think about it".  And I would reply with, "Well mom, what color do you think I should choose?", and her response was "Oh honey, it's your wedding... it's up to you!".  That conversation happened with just about every decision about my wedding. It cracked me up and drove me crazy at the same time.  And now I am doing the SAME THING to Eric.  I mean substitute wedding talk with baby talk, and you have daily conversations between Eric and myself. It. Is. Scary! The scarriest part?!?! I didn't even REALIZE it until one day Eric looked at me and said, "You sound just like your mom!". EEK! Good thing he likes my mom!!!

1. The Disappearing Purse: The straw that broke the camel's back happened to me Saturday afternoon when I ran to the grocery store. I purchase my groceries, take them out to my car, load them in the trunk, take the cart to the cart return, go back to my car and drive off. I get home, pull into the driveway, reach over to grab my purse and.... OH MY GOD WHERE IS MY PURSE!?!?!? I must have put it in my trunk when I unloaded the groceries. I go check the trunk... No.Purse.  Well crap... At this point I realize I have done one of 2 things... Left my purse at the cashier or in the cart... I still managed to get home with my keys and my phone... but no purse! I rush back to Kroger, and thankfully as I pull into the parking lot I see 3 women holding my purse walking it to the guy that is picking up carts in the parking lot. I frantically jump out my car yelling 'It's Mine! It's Mine!" fortunately they believed me... because it's not like I could show any proof of ID!!!  If you haven't heard, my mother is NOTORIOUS for leaving her purse places... fortunately, Kroger is only 3 minutes away as opposed the the 3 hours trip my mom took before realizing she had left her purse at a fast food restaurant in Marshall, TX... Good times...

I guess in the end, it's a good thing that I am ending up more and more like my mom. I love her to death and she has been such a great role model over the last 27 years (give or take a few of those teenage years ;))! She really is a blessing in my life and I don't know where I would be without her.  She has always been so loving, nurturing and protective of us. I could have never wished for a better mother, and  I will be extremely happy if I end up half the mom to Andy that she was to me.

(PS I hear a few people are having trouble leaving comments... Sorry but I have no idea how to help you! If anyone else has had trouble leaving comments and figured it out, feel free to leave a comment on what they may need to do!)