Month 12, (November) People!

Well, as I mentioned in my last post...

Our little boy is one.

. 

. 

. 

........

Say whaaaaaaat? 

haha, it's true. I can't believe that a year ago from this very birthday, I was making toast in Norry and Barbara's kitchen when my water broke. 

Not that I was sure it was my water breaking at the time....but, still...

a YEAR ago. 

People say time flies, but I don't think I've ever really related or understood that statement until the day I realized I was the mother of a one year old. 

 

We decorated a little for Anthon's birthday. Don't be fooled by the balloons on the wall though, they only lasted there about five minutes after Anthon had woken up.

Actually, he woke up and could see the balloons from his bed. Typically, he will lift up his blanket in front of him, bink still in, for me to pick him up. That morning, one look at those balloons and it was like he didn't even remember there WAS such a thing as a blanket...haha. If that story doesn't do his excitement about the balloons justice, then I think it's safe to say the following picture does...

To say he's a fan of balloons would be a gross understatement..

 

This picture was right after he woke up, in his very matchy pajamas ;)

 With how much I share my food with Anthon, there was no way he could it to his first birthday without having some sugary/non-healthy food tastes along the way. However, his birthday cupcakes were the first time we just let him go nuts on sugar.

I think he had three mini cupcakes..

These highchair pictures absolutely kill me.

 Before bed, we opened presents. I am blown away by the thoughtfulness of family in sending gifts for Anthon's birthday. People are SO sweet and it meant the world to us that they remembered Anthon's first birthday.

I like this next picture because it makes him looks like a baby again,

especially after how old he looks in the few pictures above.

Funny that it was taken just a bathtime after the highchair pictures, right?

Anywho...it was a wonderful first birthday. Full of hanging out, playing with balloons, and eating cupcakes. 

The only downside was birthday night, which lacked in sleep because of what I suspect was the aftermath of sugary/dairy-ridden cupcakes on Anthon's tummy :(

That being said, something magical happened on Anthon's birthday. . . 

Since about four months of age, Anthon never really sleeps in my arms; I don't know if it has most to do with him being a do-er and go-er, and/or partly because I've typically put him down while he's still awake. But, whenever I try to rock or cuddle little man the last 8 months, he typically whips himself around, trying to get upright, trying to see all around, or trying to play with me. 

I think he figures--if I'm awake and with mom, it's party time. 

However, he was crying on the night of his birthday, so I went in to comfort him. 

I put his blanket on my shoulder and held him upright. This usually doesn't last long before I put him back in his crib and walk out of the room. 

But, this time, he was so quiet! He slid down to where his head was on my right arm and was just quietly watching me and laying there. 

I was in SHOCK. And, not about to take this moment for granted. 

So, I walked and rocked (standing) back and forth with him--every so often nearing the window's light to see if he was still awake. For about ten minutes, he just lay there calmly and quietly, looking up. (Again, SO unheard of). 

His breathing slowed and body relaxed, helping me to realize he had fallen asleep. 

Again, I wasn't about to take this moment for granted. So, I continued to sway with him, all the while watching his face. With not having rocked much the last eight months, I hadn't built up much muscle in my baby swaying arms--that being said, I wasn't about to lay him in that crib when given an opportunity like this. Accordingly, I sat down in our swivel chair in his bedroom, brought up my left leg to help prop him up, and just continued to watch him sleep. 

Again, I can't express how uncharacteristic this whole experience with Anthon was. It was his birthday gift to me. One of the most magical moments I've had with him yet--just when I think he's a grown-up one-year-old and my phone baby updates start calling him a 'Toddler'... Anthon lets me rock him to sleep. 

What a tender mercy from the Lord. 

So, I sat watching him, thinking back to the day I had him, the first time I held him, and the year we've shared with him 

I can't think of a more magical way to have ended his birthday.

  . . .

You know, it would be far more dramatic, poetic, and magical if I ended the post here, on that incredible note. 

But, seeing as I didn't forsee me sharing that story, I have already uploaded about 30 other pictures to this post...

30 pictures that would take a considerable amount of time to re-locate and re-upload to another post. .

So, just pretend me continuing this post with an update of our next month is just as dramatic, poetic, and magical. ...

 

Anthon's 1 year appointment! Little man has thinned out a little, with his sweet head still topping the charts. Again, SO happy my hubbykins can sneak away from work to be at these appointments with us. This particular visit included four shots (tear). Matthew is really good at distracting Anthon for these kinds of visits. 

Height: 29.5 (41%)

Weight: 20 lbs 10 oz (20%)

Head: 49 cm (97%)

 

We got to go to Jeremy and Krystal's for Thanksgiving. 

We LOVED it and it was so fun seeing Anthon interact with Carly and Emma. I think my favorite part was just staying up and chatting with Jeremy and Krystal. 

We split the 16.5 hour drive into two days, which was such a good decision. We stayed in Cleveland in between. Andddd....you'll never guess who, when we were 30 minutes outside of Cleveland, called me to tell me he was in Cleveland too!

 

Tyler happened to have an interview there that weekend--what are the chances?! 

Anywho...here are a few pictures from the trip..

 

Whenever Anthon got fussy, this was one thing that would, without fail, cheer him up--dad's hand! 

 

Jeremy putting up his TV on its wall mount. I think Matthew helped a little bit ;)

 

One of Anthon's new developments is answering phones and putting them up to his heard. He tilts his head down towards his shoulder and it's adorable. 

Anthon was a champion road-tripper going both ways. We're (obviously) parked for the first picture below. But, from napping in the car to playing at stops, he did SO great. 

 

 

Dad won him not one, but TWO rubber duckies along the way. I don't think I've ever seen anyone win anything from one of these machines.... leave it to Matthew! Needless to say, he made Anthon's day. 

Krystal took some family pictures for us; I especially LOVE some she snapped of Anthon. I already posted a handful of these, but here are two more..

 

 One of all of us..

Andddd...one of him swinging with Miss Carly :) Isn't she adorable?

 

 After returning to New York, we had some time to prepare for Christmas :) The rocket below is definitely one of Anthon's favorites. It resided in our closet until late Christmas Eve.

 

Still a lover of boxes. Also, this month he learned how to put things away. He puts toys/items in a box/container, we clap like he's just saved the world. Which, he has, hasn't he, really? :) 

He had been putting bath toys away, and then we came back out one day and he put the TV remote into this Amazon box. He looked up and around for me, silently clapping as if to say, 'okay mom... just put this awayyyy...' 

Cue the clapping! 

Don't worry--I didn't disappoint ;) 

 

Our tree, pre skirt and ornaments..

Can you believe I had a baby that couldn't even lift his head last Christmas when I laid him down by the tree?

 

Diapers in the bathtub...

What we resort to in order to avoid cleaning poop out of the tub.... 

 

Helping mom with laundry...

He actually does help--I'll put wet clothes onto the door and he pushes them inside the dryer :) 

anddd, we still love walks, when it's warm enough to

Moving along..

Some people say you're grown up when you graduate high school, some say it's when you go on a mission, get married, have a baby, get your own place. I submit, that you are not truly grown up, until you leave your baby with his/her first baby sitter that's a non-relative.

Congratulate us, world--it happened! My parents got us tickets to the musical Matilda. We had some delicious dinner (on the go), and had a blast having a date night for the first time in a while. I don't think Matthew realized how much I like musicals.... Going to them is a kick in the butt to any budget...so it may have been a wake-up call. Lucky for us, this time was a generous gift from my fabulous parents :) 

 Speaking of fabulous parents, check out the Christmas bibs Darla made for us! While you're at it, feel free to check out Anthon and Matthew's adorable expressions in these pictures. These bibs are GENIUS, as they come with turtle neck tops! They are both for Anthon...just one was big enough for Matthew to try on for a cute picture :)

 

New Anthon developments this month were: 

Sharing Food

Crawling to his room for his blanket when he's tired

Pointing to a dog in a book and then grabbing his dog stuffed animal

More wobbly steps--seen more and more often :) 

Saying 'MOM!'

Favorite things:

Mandarin Oranges (Still) 

Spiral Spaghetti (Still) 

Dog Stuffed Animal

Blanket

Pooping in the bathtub 

Baths

Boxes

Month 11 and Visitors

Anthon turns 13 months today! So, naturally...I should take this time to tell you about his 11th month of life and turning (dun dun DUNNNN) ONE! Month 11 was full of fun, as Anthon started standing even more on his own and even (gasp!) took a few steps on his own. He started pointing at things, has added 'duck' and 'dad' to his vocabulary, and is just the funnest baby.

Anytime he is given something awesome (which is really, anything--a plastic lid for his bottle he was eyeing, a toilet paper roll, the candle from the kitchen table--you name it), he pauses before enjoying it to look up at you with the biggest grin on his face as if to say ,'Oh my gosh, THANK YOU. This is the best thing I've ever received and you are the most wonderful person for being here with me for this experience!' Handing him things has got to be the most gratifying thing in the world. haha. There was one time I handed him something and he went straight to playing with it instead of giving me that gratitude-filled smile. I had a glimpse of what it would be like to have a less-social, less-people-focused baby...and am SO glad I have Anthon!!!

You'll have to excuse the blur in so many of these pictures. As I've said before, homeboy doesn't stay still for long. We take what we can get. That, and...I have the shakes, so my pictures turn out blurry half the time anyways. 

Anthon loves crawling all over us whenever we're on the ground. Over our knees, thighs, backs, really, whatever. He just wants to be involved and part of the party.

 Oh, and the make-up play continues. This picture is blurry, but oh so 'real-life'. Check out that belly. Got to love a full baby :)

 

Another new favorite thing to do is have Dad either push or pull him around in boxes. Shoe boxes, shopping boxes, anything. Lucky for Matthew's back, that engineering husband of mine rigged a rope so that he can now drag him. Hours of entertainment (for mom watching, and for the boys :) 

 

 

Again, anything he can get into. Oh, and bottles--bottles were a favorite thing this month. 

 

 Forts with dad continue to be one of these two's favorite ways to play.

 

Clearly...we don't keep Anthon still for long, even for diaper changes. I typically manage to get at least his next diaper on before he's off and onto new things, but...then again, as you can see, sometimes not.  

 Walks and just being outside in general continue to be one of Anthon's favorite things.

  

 

Some Fall/Halloween fun at our church activity and then the pumpkin patch :)

 

Anthon's item of the month, if I had to choose one? 

BALLOONS. 

He LOVESSS them. It started at this ward activity, where there were some left-over balloons from another activity. He played with them forever and was loving them. That love then carried on--there's one store I shop at that has balloons all along every checkout counter. hehe, needless to say, his eyes are locked on them as I walk past them with him in the cart. 

Anddd... the pumpkin patch. Take a second to take in those colors again. 

What theeeeeeeeee! Where do we even live??!

Anthon loves the dollar store and so do I. It sometimes ends in impulsive buys...but, on the bright side...they're only $1, right?! ;) haha,

 

Anthon especially loves his 'peace pipe' (as Matthew coined when he took the picture). haha, we'll stick with calling it his golf club. He loves it and looks for the golf ball specifically to hit around with it.  

Anthon still digs bathtime...

His only frustration is all the bottles on the shower rack we typically refuse to let him play with.

Typically...

Also...we really do give him bath toys.... haha. I'm not sure why he doesn't have any in this picture..

 Another new thing this month was apples. I didn't even know he could really eat them! I left him with an apple on the floor, not thinking he could really eat it, while I was cooking, only to turn around and find half the apple chomped away!

 

Say whhhhhaaaaa?? haha, I might have been a little more paranoid about him choking had I known...

but, he survived, so I guess we're okay :) 

 Lyn and Darla (Matthew's parents) visited! They stayed with us for seven days and we loved it.

 Honestly, I said it on Instagram, I'll say it again...anyone who does my dishes and talks about how cute our baby is as much as we do can stay as LONG as they want. They were a joy to have around and were just oh so cute to watch interact with Anthon.

  Watching Winnie The Pooh (for the first time) with grandpa...

 And, a free trip to the Children's Museum, compliments of the library...

 Also....Anthon has a thing for toilet paper... 

lol! In case there is any confusion here...he took a bite out of the toilet paper roll...

 Still loves looking at those animals outside..

 The many faces of my boy. These crack me up:

 And....here's where he starts to look sooo olddddd.

 Again, with those apples :)

 

 Church, as you can see, often consists of more and more roaming the hallways. His picture on the right just kills me.

Month 11 was so fun and Anthon just keeps getting busier and busier. I was going to put some birthday pictures up here, but I think I'll save them for my next post...

Thanks for reading!

Magical Moments

You know, there are some days when you have moments that just make you sit back and say, 'wow, I am so lucky'.

I've had a few of those moments today.

 

One of them was this morning, when I got up with Matthew to see him off to work. I typically get up with him and make him oatmeal in the mornings and a pack lunch. Today, he was running a little late, but, as he often does, as he opened the front door to leave, he gave me a big squeeze and a kiss.

 

Then he said 'Bye! I just love you!', in his very excited, happy Matthew kind of way.

 

Then...he kissed me again.

Said bye,

and gave me another squeeze.

 

This process repeated itself about three times until he finally said, 'Okay, I need to save on our heating bill. Got to close this door! Ooo, I just love ya!'

 

I then closed the door behind him, with a smile on my face, and walked to the window to wave at him as he walked away.

 

As he walks, Matthew does a variety of things, depending on the day and his mood. Among these things are: a wave, blowing a kiss, jumping up in the air as he makes a face, flashing the 'I love you' sign with his hand, a bending of both his legs--while lifting his arms in a running motion, and shaking his butt at me... Really, any myriad of things.

 

Today, I think it was a booty shake.

Then a wave.

 

After he gets to his car, he usually waves again as he gets in.

 

After he starts the car, before he pulls away,

he usually flashes his lights at me and waves goodbye and/or an 'I love you' sign.

 

Depending on how dark it is, this is sometimes accompanied by turning on the lights inside the car and waving at me, flashing an 'I love you' sign, or blowing a smooch.

 

As I did today, I often walk away from our kitchen window with a smile on my face, thinking, 'Gosh dang, I have the funnest husband.'

 

Don't get me wrong, there are also days where I think to myself, 'okay, babe. Go already!' Or, 'Oooooookkkaayyy.....there's the last wave....and RUN and hop back into bed. Hoorayyy!'

 

But, most days, I just have to smile and think to myself how fun my life is with my peppy, early-to-work husband. Really, with a husband who leaves the house like that every day, how could I NOT get up with him? It is just the funnest start to the day and I treasure those videos saved in my brain of him doing all those crazy things as he walks away. 

 

 

 

Another magical moment is when Matthew gets home from work, which is often while I'm feeding Anthon in his highchair. Matthew usually stops in the window to make a face at Anthon until he realizes he's there. Little man gets the biggest grin and then looks to me to share in the excitement.

 

Anddd...another is just minutes later, after Matthew's gotten changed and we take turns holding Anthon and chasing each other around the house with him as we switch off hiding and chasing as Anthon laughs and kicks his little legs and arms in excitement.  

The moral of this post is this:

There are so many little moments in life that make me glad I'm alive. And SO glad I've made the decisions I've made to get me here. Are there things I'd do differently if I could go back? Absolutely. There are people I've offended, boys I didn't text/call back rather than being up front with, weddings I would have traveled to, trips I would have taken, time I would have spent differently...

But, at the end of the day, I have to be so grateful for where I'm at. SO grateful for a little boy who loves to body slam me in the mornings in his room, all while giggling uncontrollably. Grateful for a husband who takes the time to put up garland in our house for the Christmas season and stands on a chair for ten minutes while I ask him to straighten out random branches that I think look catty-whompus. Grateful for siblings I can call any day and exchange stories about life with. Grateful for roommates and memories that have shaped who I've become. Grateful for an apartment that makes me feel at home. Grateful for knowledge of the purpose of life and that what I take with me is my family. Grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Grateful for repentance, for change.

Grateful for life.