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[05.27.10]

It's amazing how entertained Mr. Big can be by a bucket, some water, and a few plastic cups!
The weather was beautiful on Friday.  Not too hot but plenty warm enough for a little water.  Drake has been fascinated by buckets lately, so I figured we'd try it out with some water and cups.  He was one happy guy!  He would have played out there all day and cried hysterically when I made him go inside to eat lunch!  It is so dang fun to watch him play these days.  He is learning so many new things every day and it amazes me to see the things that he picks up on so quickly.

And... another month has come and gone!  This little boy is now 16 months old!
A few things to remember about Drake at [16] months:

*  He can now reach the ice and water dispensers on the refrigerator and loves to make big messes if I forget to lock the controls.

*  He loves Pops' motorcycle and always wants to go in the garage to look at it.

*  He has the cutest little tan line on his bum! For being my child, he really does have good skin! Another trait from his daddy... lucky boy!

*  He loves to play in his sandbox and gets pretty mad when I won't open it for him.

*  He has started to hold his own around other kids but along with that, he has started to make this awful screeching sound when he doesn't want someone to take something from him.  It's bad news!

*  He is in the process of learning "time out" and obviously doesn't love it.

* He LOVES baby Monie and always wants to give her loves and touch her.

*  He completely understands most of what I tell him to do!  It cracks me up everyday!  He has recently learned that he has to leave his binki and little blankie in his bed all day and he loves to chuck his binki back in there if he has it in his mouth when I get him up.  It usually ends up behind the crib, which he thinks is hilarious.

*  He loves to give the boys loves and will follow them around the house laughing if they won't sit still long enough!

*  He LOVES to help grammy and pops work in the yard and especially loves watering the plants.

*  He know exactly where things are at our house, grammy's house and at g & g weaver's house.  Yesterday, he was pretty mad that we wouldn't get his toys out of the closest for him and he kept yanking on the door handle, trying to get the door open.  Bad news there!  He is tall enough to reach the handles!

*  He now pats his diaper every time I change him.  I'm not sure why he does it, but it's cute!

*  He is still obsessed with opening things with his mouth.

*  He LOVES fruit snacks and is a pro at manipulating daddy into giving him as many as he wants.

*  He has just recently started to climb onto the ottoman and stand up.  He gets in trouble every time but just laughs at us!  One of these days he's going to fall on his face.

*  He really isn't very destructive, thank goodness!  He definitely makes messes with his toys and his few drawers, but that's about it.  I'm lucky there!

*  He says "oof, oof" every time the boys bark or when he sees another dog.

*  He is not a little parrot, like most kids his age.  He refuses to say things if I ask him to but will say things all day long if I pretend to not pay attention.  He's latest phrase is, "let's go," at least I'm pretty sure that's what he's saying.  He has the "go" down great, but the "let's" is harder to understand.  I say "let's go," all the time so I'm sure that's where he got it.

*  He has started to dance, but only when you pretend not to watch.

*  He LOVES to play with other kids and is usually a dream at other people's houses but as soon as I come to pick him up, he starts whining instantly.  It's so weird.  Amber always tells me what a good boy he is but the second he sees me, it's game over.  I'm grateful he's so good for other people, I just wish he didn't want to always whine to me!

*  He is still a sturdy little man.  Definitely built like his daddy!  I think he still weighs around 25 pounds.  Life is much better for me now that he is walking!  No more lugging him every where!

*  He loves balls and cars, and trucks and pretty much everything boy!

Love, love, love this little guy
Happy [16] months baby boy!

Just because...

[05.26.10]

Today I went to the store and bought baby wash and lotion for the first time. (other than for gifts.)

I realize this is a funny thing to post about however...

I wanted to make sure to write it down.

I have made it 16 months, using the things that I was given for gifts when Drake was born.  

It was a total reminder for me as I drove to the store of just how generous and sweet so many people have been.

We are truly so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family.

I know buying these things is really no big deal, but like I said...

it's just the fact that we were given so much that amazes me.

We really are so blessed!

Recents

[05.23.10]

I've slacked yet again and am now having to post lots of pictures in an effort to catch up a bit!
This little man has become such a big boy in the last few weeks.
He is cruising all over now and is the funniest little walker I have ever seen!
I think he is for sure going to be a lefty.
Even while walking, he favors his left side. It's pretty cute!
He is once again obsessed with sunglasses.
He loves these red ones and loves to cruise around with them on.
He is also crazy about his trucks.  He plays with them all day long and loves to make his truck sounds.
Just today he started making vroom, vroom noises and pointing to the garage at m & d's house.
He wanted to go outside to see the motorcycle.  He loves to hear it and see it but he doesn't like to sit on it when it's running!  He really likes all loud things from a distance!
He still LOVES his swing set and is a pro at climbing up the ladder.  I still worry about him falling backwards off of it but so far so good.  He is also a pro at sliding down all by himself.  He usually burns out a bit at the bottom but he always laughs and gets up to do it again.
Now that it's nice outside, I usually open the back door in the morning and have to be careful to always watch him or else I will find him cruising across the yard towards the swing set! A few times I have even caught him on his way up the ladder.  He's pretty sneaky when he wants to be.
He is still fascinated with the light switch in his little play room. He LOVES to stand on the chair and turn the light off and on.  Yesterday I had to scrub the walls to get all the dirty little handprints off the wall by the switch.
He has also started to talk like crazy.  Not in a language that we can understand but boy does he know what he's talking about! He jabbers all day long.  He will slip real words in there occasionally when I ask him something but mostly its just his gibberish!  I love to hear him walking around the house gabbing to himself!

This baby is still obsessed with having his own bag of everything.

His daily favorites are bags of dry Raisin Bran or Life cereal.  He loves to carry them around the house for awhile until he decides that he's done with them.  Lately, I've had Dorritos in the pantry and he finds them in two seconds flat whenever the pantry door is open.  The other day he also pulled out a bag of tortilla chips that was almost as big as he was and drug it around the house for a good long while.

I know I shouldn't let him do this, but it's so funny to watch, I just can't help myself!

He is a chip eater! He really doesn't eat that much junk but he does love his chips!

Today [05.23.10] mom introduced him to licking the beaters.  Nice!  She first let him lick the mashed potato beaters and then made sure to save the spatula from the brownies for him.  He obviously loved it!

He is also so smart when it comes to treats.  He is not typically a little begger but he ALWAYS comes a running when you have chips or a treat!  Even if he can't see what you are eating, he knows its good! 

He is still pretty funny about eating.  He still loves all of his favorites but he's getting a little bit better about eating bites of our meals.  Not a ton better, but a bit.  However, he will eat almost anything from mom!  He is truly a Grammy's boy!

Yesterday [05.22.10] we let Biggie get in the shower with the water on.  He loves to climb in and play around when it's dry so we decided to try an actual shower.  He loved it!  He just sat there and played around until I made him get out.  I may have to try this more often. Cleaning the filthy bath tub after every single bath gets exhausting!  Now that he's walking, he is so dirty every single night.  His hands and feet are black as can be and the white bath tub doesn't fair too well after his scrub down!  My mom keeps telling me that it's only going to get worse! GREAT!

This is a new development for the Biggie.  He has learned that he can pretty much open anything with his mouth.  I think it's kind of like a nervous twitch for him! Whenever he sees a bottle or tube of anything that has a pop open lid, he has to open it with his mouth.  He gets into my bathroom drawer every single day and has to go through all of the bottles that he can open with his mouth and brings them to me to close.  It's really weird!

He has been playing in this drawer for months now, but this was his first attempt at sitting and standing in it.  He was pretty proud of himself at first but them got a little nervous because he couldn't figure out how to get out!  Silly little guy!

And last but not least... I love this little dirty boy so dang much!  He is learning so many new things every day and is so much fun.  His little personality amazes me every single day! I am one lucky momma to be able to spend my days with this sweet little son!

Another May 14th!

Holy Smokes!  It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone!  And... it's even harder for me to comprehend that Chris and I have been an "item" for 10 years! 10 YEARS... that is so long!  I love it!  It still makes me laugh to think of all the times in high school that my friends told me that Chris and I were going to end up together and I laughed at them!  Oh how wise Marcy and Tracy were! They new all along we couldn't live without each other!  Man... am I grateful that they were right! 

I am one lucky girl!  

Happy May 14th Baby!

** I love this picture!  I captures our little family's dynamics pretty darn good! 

I'm a lucky momma!

[05.09.10]

This year, as we celebrated the second Mother's Day since my little son was born, I again felt completely overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity I have to be a mother and for all of the other amazing women in my life that have taught me by example.  This last year has by far been the fastest and most wonderful year of my life.  I have been blessed in more ways than I ever could have imagined and yet still experienced times that challenged everything I thought I knew.  Now... 15 months into motherhood, I can honestly say that I have all that I ever dreamed of and more.  Being a mother is the greatest gift I have ever been given and I am grateful every single day for the opportunity I have to raise such a precious little son.

[05.09.10]

This little man discovered the light switch and LOVES to stand on his chair to reach them!  I know it's an accident waiting to happen, but he has so much fun climbing up and down, I just can't tell him no.  

Chris' uncle Scott made this rocking horse for him when he was tiny.  Pam let me borrow it for pictures awhile back and I have obviously not given it back yet!  I love it!  Drake is still a little unsure about the rocking part, but he's slowly warming up to it!

[05.10.10]

And last, but certainly not least... this little dude got his hair cut!  Yep... all the curls are gone.  I know, I know, curls are darling on the little ones, but I couldn't handle it anymore.  I am too much of a control freak and I felt like my little son looked like a rag-a-muffin all the time with his hair so wild and crazy.  So, today was the day.  Snip, snip!  I tried to get a better picture but of course, he wouldn't even glance towards the camera.  He does look SUPER handsome though!  I love it!  He looks like a cool dude little boy!

LOVE these too!

Here are a few more!  I am totally dying over the last one!  Obviously Drake is OBSESSED with his little blankies and this picture captures it SO perfectly! 

LOVE these!

She did it again! Staci is seriously so talented! I am dying over these!  I couldn't be happier with how they turned out! They capture Drake's personality so well! Thank you, thank you Stace!  I can't wait to hang them all over my house! 

Dear BTW,

I don't have anything overly exciting to report so I thought I'd just show you some pictures.  Most of these are a little old, but still funny!

"helping himself" (of course!)

Lunch at The Bistro with Uncles Mike, Warren, and Stewart and Grandma Great!

Tobie doesn't ever want to be left out of the action.  He thinks the swing set is for him too.

Sleepy head baby! Check out that hair!

The first chocolate milk! Check out this hair do... he looks like he has a serious re-seeding hairline!

The typical "quit bugging me" face! 

Love you BTW!  Hopefully we'll see you next weekend!

xoxo

Dear Melissa,

Once again, while working on my book, I came across some pictures that I thought might make you smile!
Remember this day... November 8, 2007?
Look at the face in the bottom right pic!
He was so "not stoked" at that moment!
Isn't it crazy how much things change!
Aren't you so glad that it's 2010 and not 2007, 2008, or 2009?!