Thursday, May 2, 2013

{we love} first birthdays!

my little bluebird turned one on april, 22nd. yes, one year old! what the what?! i'm in shock at how fast this past year FLEW by. i was snuggling her earlier this evening before bedtime (or trying to anyway..she gets wild sometimes)... and it just HIT me that this little girl who is desperately trying to keep herself awake by ripping off my necklace, jamming her fingers up my nose, trying to pull off my eyelashes and suffocate me with her blankie (i know she sounds violent, doesn't she?) was JUST barely a teeny peanut who loved being swaddled and wanted to nap all the time. now she hates being constrained in ANY way (she especially dislikes her new car seat that I spent hours painstakingly researching for over five months-and yes, my indecisiveness may have also played a part in taking so long to decide on one. guilty.) and pretty much is anti-nap. she doesn't want to miss out on anything. with each day that passes, she learns more tricks and keeps us entertained with her goofy, yet charming personality. she has mastered the art of walking between furniture and along things but has yet to stand on her own for more than a millisecond or take her first step. take your time baby girl, take your time :) she loves to open and shut things, especially the door to the pantry in the kitchen. she knows there are lots of naughty things to get into in there. she prefers dog treats and water bottles. she likes to take out as much as she can and voila! a mini baby home, just for her. it even comes equipped with a week supply of dog food and a fire extinguisher in case things ever get crazy up in there.

i see london, i see france :)

she has been shaking her head no for quite some time now but just yesterday she shook her head yes. finally! she loves to clap, blow kisses, give nice big open mouth kisses and does the fishy kiss better than i can. and oh, the waving. to everything and everyone in sight. she loves everyone the same. she is getting her two top incisor teeth and two molars. one on each side. she has the cutest vampire smile you ever did see :) i really love (NOT) when she grinds her new fangs onto her two bottom teeth. it makes a lovely sound. nails on a chalkboard, ever heard of it? i kid. i love watching her become aware of the new things going on with her body. she is such a good eater and chews food very well. the only thing she needs to work on is a little pacing when she eats and to learn that you don't have to shove it in all at once. she may have learned that trick from her daddy.  why eat only one puff when five fit in your mouth? seriously. she shovels food in like a starving, wild animal. she is so trusting when i offer her something new to eat. the only thing she absolutely despised and spit right out was tuna fish. i can't say i blame her.  she has started to say a few more words. last week (on April 16th to be exact)she said MAMA! i was sure it was a fluke until she did it again repeatedly the following day. and then this happened...
                                                            me: "sutton, say mama"
                                                            sutton: "da-da" (followed by a big, mischievous grin)  
she knew what she was up to. i smell sass. she now says water (it comes out more like wa-wa but it's clear enough that we know what she means) she is a happy camper when i put water in her little lady sippy cup. she loves music and is now a music conductor! she conducts with her right hand and if it is a song that particularly tickles her fancy, she uses both hands. like the justin timberlake jam she heard this morning. his music must speak to her soul or something. she loves it.  this is most entertaining when she does it in sacrament meeting at church. her version of conducting usually includes high pitched bird-like squawks and a few ear piercing shrieks.  hey-she wants these peeps to know she is helping lead the music! i pray her love of music will stay with her as she grows and develops.  

pops came to visit for sutton's first birthday ALL the way from ohio. ain't he sweet? sutton sure took to him quickly and they were best buds. the day after pops arrived we were off to nevada for a fun 5 days with my family. it was sutton's sixth trip on a plane in less than a year. she needs her own rapid rewards number. 
every passerby was incredibly interesting. can't you tell?
she stole my vanilla steamer and wouldn't give it back
i didn't know my daughter was so incredibly flexible. i'm jealous. 
 this is the face of pure happiness after stealing the coveted baby doll from Emmery.  
napping was not going to happen. ever. 
my niece emmery was born on april 2nd, exactly 20 days before sutton. i love that these two babes are so close in age and that they will be able to grow up together. i'm thankful that my family lives close enough that i can get to them in an hour flight or a days drive. (i'll always pick the flight option i have the choice) emmery LOVES sutton and vice versa. she gets so excited when she sees her and they have a lot of fun playing together. we had a little birthday party for the girls on sunday, april 21st. it was low-key, just my family and my friend brittany's family. the highlight was definitely watching the girls with their cakes that grammie made. have i mentioned how thankful i am to have a crafty mama? who can also cook? well, i am. very much so. here are some of my favorite pictures from the party...

cutest cake. ever. thanks mama. 
Char and Kloe wanted to be in all the pictures with the birthday girls
stealing candy from a baby. tsk tsk tsk...
they strongly disliked the grass! look at their little legs...straining hard to lift them up so they wouldn't touch the scratchy stuff.
emmery strained so hard she lost it. gotta work that core girl :)
what is this weird thing you have placed in front of me?
i know what it is and i want it NOW!
not afraid to get her hands dirty. at all. 
sparrow didn't appreciate sutton's attempt at sharing
emmery still trying to figure this mysterious object out. sutton wasted no time getting at it!
emmery quit before she even tried. her cake was devoured by four other munchkins that were lurking in the shadows, waiting for her to throw in the towel. sutton still going strong 40 minutes later with no sign of stopping. get it girl.
present time? or hammer time? Elliott looks confused. 
cousins and my dad's old truck. don't tell mom that his truck made it onto my blog. it might put her over the edge.  
our little family
oh bluebird. so pretty. 
grand finale. and yes, she did all that work on her own. that's my girl.


we had such a good time with my family in nevada over sutton's birthday weekend. she got to see lots of farm animals and even got to pet a brand new baby goat. she loved it. so many people love that little girl and i know she feels it all, even the love from across the country :) she is our miracle and we are absolutely crazy in love with her. she has blessed our lives beyond measure. thanks for being the light of our lives little bluebird. we love you!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

{we love} april

april. the month where most of my favorite things happen. namely, sutton blue's birth month. or as i like to call her, bluebird. her daddy is a bit resistant towards the bluebird nickname. he prefers to call her buggablue. she'll always be my little bluebird but i think its adorable that he has his very own nickname for her.

mini eggs also happen. those little suckers in that dark purple bag kill me every year. i always say i'll just have a small handful and before i know it, my "handful" turns into a "fistfull" and all the eggs in the bag are dead. in my stomach. but it's ok, more are born daily at target until easter is over. then i cry for more until they come out at christmas in the shape of christmas colored balls. not many people know of this amazing gift given by the makers of cadbury chocolate during the special holiday season. i like to keep it on the down low (is that one word or two? i should ask r kelly) so the stock is plentiful when I go in for my ritualistic purchase of these heavenly balls. i'm craving some right now. too bad John polished off my bag from the easter bunny without thinking twice. he shouldn't be allowed to eat them. he doesn't savor them like i do.

know what else happens in april that i'm obsessed with? cherry blossoms. i love them and so wish they really could turn into popcorn balls like i was brainwashed into believing as a child. often when i run and am parched and hungry, i look up towards heaven and see the beautiful blossoms blowing in the wind and think what a delicious snack a popcorn ball would be at that given moment. it wasn't really so, it wasn't meant to be.(had to throw that in there) sad. however, even though they are not edible (i am going to make sure bluebird knows that from the beginning so she doesn't grow up gullibly thinking that she will someday get to eat those magic popcorn balls) they are still my most very favorite miracle in nature. so amazingly beautiful. and tragic. why must their lives be cut short? sucked up into a scary ghostbusters looking backpack by the landscapers. it makes me sad that they are only here for a short time so i make sure to heavily obsess over their beauty for the short time they are in bloom.

bluebird turns 1 in less than a week. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? she was just this squirmy little nugget with yellow baby poo that really didn't smell. now she is equally as squirmy, yet not so little and she has far surpassed the non-stench of the newborn poo. she now has what i call man-baby poo's. she is up to shenanigans on an hourly basis. let me share, once more, how often i get told that she is the happiest baby. ever. she is still the favorite baby in the kids club at the gym i go to. she never cries when i take her there. as soon as we get out of the car to head inside she starts waving at people. anybody. doesn't matter to her if they are looking or not. i love that quality in her. she doesn't need constant approval. she just wants to be nice and friendly. she loves to wave. at people and animals. i had a few errands to run today so i dropped bluebird off at my friend ashley's for a bit. apparently when i was gone, ashley's 4 year old daughter went and got this stuffed chipmunk (yes, a real once-living, now dead, stuffed chipmunk. her father has unique taste in decor, what can i say?)and set it down in front of bluebird when she wasn't paying attention. she thought she would scare bluebird with this "stuffed" animal. blue didn't fall for it....she turned, saw the critter, waved and smiled. see? she loves animals. she's also into this really cute little fake cough. if she has a real cough she always has to make it more dramatic by adding a few fake ones on at the end. or if i cough, she coughs. fake of course :)
bluebird isn't one to turn away food. except for the peas. i don't even try anymore. they are more fun to throw at the doggies than to actually eat. other than peas, i am well pleased with her mature palate. she had a stuffed butternut squash bowl for dinner tonight. i chopped up onion, zucchini, cauliflower, ground turkey and seasoning and baked it in the top of the squash. she ate every bite and i would not be exaggerating if i said she pretty much ate as much as i did. she definitely prefers fruits to veggies so i am trying to make sure she gets more veggies than fruit. i know it seems mean but as a sugar addict myself, i'm looking out for her best interest. but, speaking of sugar....her daddy and i took her to see the croods in the movie theatre last week. we had passes that were going to expire so we figured, "why not"? we went to cinetopia so the theatre was really nice. big comfy leather chairs with a huge ottoman in front of us. we got lots of snacks and food to keep us all occupied in case of any unforeseen emergency were to arise. (ie a bluebird freak out) that babe went crazy for the movie! she was dancing to the music and talking back to the characters, eating the little tid bits of popcorn i was feeding her and then....then she got thirsty. it didn't seem like a bad idea to give her a little baby sip of our sprite. i mean, she's just a baby and babies can't really suck out of straws anyway, right? wrong. that girl sucked on that straw like she had done it a million times before. as soon as that sweet, sugary and fizzie soda hit her little tongue she was in heaven. i had made a bad mistake. so the rest of the movie consisted of her trying to get that sprite into her little grubby fingers and us trying to hide it and distract her with whatever else we could find. we kind of failed and she ended up drinking more sprite that would probably be desired by her pediatrician but hey, can't we all have a little fun at the movies once in a while? this will not be a normal beverage for her. we are going to try something normal next. like whole, organic milk. yum. i hope she isn't lactose intolerant. she likes it when i break up baby pieces of tillamook cheddar and eats them like she is in a food eating competition. i'm always reminding her to slow down, to enjoy the food. she never listens. it seems like she toots a lot more when she eats cheese. but i could be crazy. i'm just going to say it. i love when that girl toots. she is hilarious. i went in to check on her after she fell asleep tonight and she was rolling around looking for her monkey binky and all of these toots just came out. like an old man who had lost his toot control switch. when she toots during the day it is always followed by a pause and then a full on belly laugh. she may have learned that her toots are funny from us. guilty. we'll have a talk about that before we enter the age where public tooting just isn't as cute or accepted as it was when one once was a wee babe. but for now, toot it up girl. we love you and all your stinky toots. so, baby bluebird is really into jack johnson these days. i know she seems far too young to have such great taste in music but hey, it happens. in the morning she will point to her cd player and i'll ask her if she wants the music. then she freezes, as if waiting for a big dance-off to begin, until i press play and then it's over. crazy dancing party is on! she loves to dance. she has the butt shake down, the hula girl circle the hips move down and even the drop it to the floor move down. where did she learn these moves i ask? could not be from me or her daddy. well, maybe a little. bluebird also does the cutest thing with her feet. when she is sleeping she is usually twisting one of them around or they are crossed over each other. i noticed she also does this when she eats. it's adorable. her daddy and i also usually fight over who gets to peek first into her room in the morning once she is awake. that is probably my favorite of all my favorite moments in the day. she is starting to get a little more hair and if i'm lucky she'll have some bed head which is absolutely adorable. she gets the BIGGEST grin on on her face when she sees us and immediately starts bouncing up and down in her crib like she is in the circus show. when the puppies come to say good morning she gets even more excited, if that were at all possible. pop's is visiting us from ohio right now and today he asked if she always woke up this happy from her nap? yes. yes. yes. she is always happy and smiling that crazy jack nicholson grin that just melts my heart. poor baby blue has 6 or 7 teeth trying to all make their grand entrance into her mouth at the same time! other than trying to bite me today, i would have never known she was uncomfortable. i gave her the frozen teething ring and she seemed to find relief in chewing on that. until she found tucker's rawhide bone. i guess that gave her more relief. she wasn't too happy when i shut that down. she found an empty water bottle which quickly became more interesting. i said it before and i'll say it again, she doesn't really love her toys. she loves the dogs toys, water bottles, remote controls and any of the contents in my purse. oh man, i love her and so does her daddy. we are so incredibly blessed to have her as our daughter and to get the opportunity to see her adorable face every day. we love you sutton blue and we love our cp too :)

family run on the springwater corridor in portland. jax is still taxed!


Easter baby!

Easter baby!



Let's go for a walk!

she thinks swings are pretty cool


she would NOT look a the camera but isn't her hat adorable? Etsy addict. 
now bluebird, that's much better. thanks girl. 

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

{we love}all this personality...

over two months since my last blog update. tsk tsk tsk. i'm going to give you all a quick recap of what's been going on in the last two months...in pictures. yes, i am addicted to taking pictures of blue. i won't even try to deny it. never, ever ever. after all,  pictures say a thousand words. i hope you all can see the love and happiness in this little girl's eyes and know it's because we shower her with love every minute of every day and i know she feels that. i truly believe that is part of why she is such a happy, bubbly nugget. oh man i love her so. and her daddy and puppies do too.


p.s. someone wouldn't nap today. at all. so i may or may not have given her two pieces of tillamook cheddar and a bunch of cheerios while i was frantically trying to finish this. she loves cheese and carbs, what can i say? hope i don't need to make a miralax run later. i kid, i kid....

all the dvd's have since moved to the garage. i know, i'm a mean mama. her obsession with them was becoming unhealthy and she was neglecting her other toys. we needed to find more balance in her daily activities.

we call this the jack nicholson in the shining grin. she's mastered it. even he would be jealous.
at grammie's house in nevada this february. i was obviously more amused than she was. 
i was trying to nap. thought she was as well. creeper. 

aunt brooksie sent blue a darling new outfit for her first valentines day.  i think she was hoping for candy. epic fail in hiding her disappointment.
emmery and sutton during our february trip to grammie's.  em had a hard time containing her immense excitement with sutton being there. sutton didn't know how to handle all the aggressive love and attention. see the fear in those baby blues?
em's, terribly upset at sutton's rejection. sutton, terribly relieved to get some personal space.
see? the love IS mutual.
i know, blue....that's how i feel when i'm at grammie's too. sooooo happy. 
grandpa and blue with em trying to get in on the camera action. grandpa is getting really good at keeping his eyes open for pictures. you can thank me for that. 
em's, sparrow and blue. why is the oldest peanut the tiniest? 
very delayed flight going back to oregon. and very late at night. blue was a trooper. and yes, my eyebrows had just been freshly tattooed by the great b wagster. they don't normally look so....dramatic :)
there she is. the great tattoo artist. love her. love my new brows.
blue gets the munchies right after church just like mama and daddy. she thinks all things taste good, even books.
cousin amanda and me at aunt sue's in utah during my girls trip in march.

cousin love. and look at that foxy grandma right in the middle of it all. grandpa thinks she is foxy too. that's probably why they had so many kids :)
chan, me and half of brooksie. sorry girl. 
favorite picture ever. grandma ann and katie ann. 
sutton and miriam. cute cousins. second cousins. or first cousins once removed. who gets that anyway? 
i could eat her up. 
aunt brooksie's ombre book shelf was immaculately organized. and extremely tempting for those little digits.
first time in a shopping cart. at her favorite store. and yes, i used a pack of lysol wipes before putting her in.
favorite time of the day. let's take these puppies for a walk mama!
i often contemplate crawling right in and spooning her. then i read the weight limit warning on the crib.