Happy Birthday - a week late :)

Happy Birthday Mr. C!!! Sorry this post is a week late, but that's about how my brain is running these days. I at least remembered the big day, though!! We celebrated Mr C's birthday last Friday - Little C even sported a Hawaiian shirt in Daddy's honor (Mr. C always wears Hawaiian shirts on Friday...just one of a million reasons why we love him dearly :). Dinner was sour cream enchiladas, a C family favorite, and for dessert, german chocolate cake courtesy of HEB....only one (generous) slice, though because Mrs. C did not need any cake and she certainly didn't need any left-over cake sitting around the house. Fitting all 29 candles on the aforementioned slice might have been a tad ambitions, though. Anywho, we love you Mr. C - happy belated birthday blog!

Fat Lip

With the south Texas heat continuing its upward climb, I have quickly figured out that the baby pool just doesn't cut the heat some days At least not for mom. I need a pool I can cool off in too! So this week, I've been trying to take Little C to the pool at the local Y. Unfortunately it doesn't open to the public until 4pm because day campers monopolize the facility before then. I shouldn't complain, though...4pm is really the only responsible time to let my pasty English-Irish skin see sunlight anyway.
Well, the munchkin has taken quite a liking to the 'big pool', but he's a bit of a kamikaze if you let him loose on the splash pad for babies. He doesn't quite understand that walking in water isn't the same as walking on dry ground and he underestimates the resistance and ends up face down in the water. Yesterday while I was being so diligent about keeping him right-side-up, I failed to notice how close he was getting to the side of the pool before he lost his balance and tripped, smacking mouth-first into rounded concrete edge. Lot's and lot's of blood, a few grossed out lifeguards, and several minutes of screaming later, I was finally able to mop things up and survey the damage. Teeth were in-tact, face was in-tact, upper lip not so in-tact. He split it in two places. It puffed out really badly but I knew he was ok when I went for the towel in our bag and he immediately stopped crying because he saw his yogurt puffs.
So, another day, another laundry list of firsts...the first time I used a first aid kit, the first injury away from home, the first time my son's really bled profusely, and of course our first fat lip. For two small little cuts, it was pretty scary to deal with, especially as a first time mom, but thank the Lord it was only a busted lip - with a rowdy boy, I can only imagine what's in our future!

Jon and Kate + Eight season premiere tonight!

Anyone else totally pumped about this besides me?? Jon and Kate are going to talk for the first time since all the rumors started! I swore I would not watch the show anymore because I think all of those children are going to suffer from what is happening between their parents, but it's a little like a car wreck. I can't turn away. Especially with all the controversy. I think it's going to be a big let down, though....I think my day dreams about an honest face-to-face between Jon and Kate where truth finally surfaces will never be realized...seeing as they have already aired trailers from future episodes that they are both in. No no, I am 100% certain they will kiss and make up and go on with season like nothing is wrong and collect their big paycheck (all amidst the rumors that will undoubtedly continue to swirl). And yes, sadly, I'm totally aware that my fascination with this family is what fuels the fire that is destroying them.

In other news, we had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend. We took a road trip to San Antonio for my niece's 3rd birthday party on Saturday (it was a dress up/tutu theme - it was precious!). Sunday I slept pretty much all day while Mr. C had some mandatory quality time with Little C, last night we watched Twilight on Mr. C's new Blue-ray player that he got for his birthday (his favorite present I would venture to say :). Then, this afternoon, we took the munchkin to our local YMCA because the outdoor pool is (finally) open!! We had so much fun, my cheeks hurt from all the smiling I did. We only stayed for about an hour, but for that hour we completely doted over every little expression and reaction and smile and laugh. I swear every other parent was staring at us like "what schmucks, just wait until they have more kids, then they'll realize what dorks they look like" but we could not have cared less. It was great to have the opportunity to be completely engrossed in one kid. As I type, Mr. C is grilling hot dogs and corn and as soon as I'm done I'll be slicing into a big delicious watermelon. And pictures?? Do you think we took a single picture?? Of course not!! Haven't you been paying attention to my other posts?? We are horrible. :)

Here are few pics from memorial day weekend last year, though - Little C was barely a week old - oh how time flies!!


Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

1 Year

Little C turned 1 year old yesterday. On Sunday we had a birthday party and welcomed lots of friends and family, so yesterday seemed a little uneventful as we had done most of our celebrating over the weekend.

We did start the day by sneaking into the munchkin's bedroom while he was sleeping to pick him up and hold him and just cherish those few small still moments. Mr. C and I just smiled and held him - we had made it, were officially the parents of a 1 year old!

Once the day got going, I had a thing to go to, and since my mom was still staying with us, she watched the munchkin while I took off for the meeting. Little C's friend Caroline stopped by after lunch for some splash time in the baby pool that was still out from the birthday party the day before, and Mr. C picked up Boston Market for dinner since I had spent a lot of time in the kitchen over the weekend for the party and was really boycotting cooking.

Even without much hoopla, it was a special day, and I was a lot more emotional about it than I thought I would be. There's just something about your first child's first birthday that is monumental. You are thrilled you survived, even more thrilled your child survived, and yet it is a slightly bittersweet day because that first year just flies by so much faster than you anticipate.

This past year has been filled with ups and downs, lots and lots of trips to the doctor, grand goals for parenting (and realistic adjustments), and many many milestones.

As of late, the munchkin has taken to walking EVERYWHERE. He's been 'walking' for a while, but for weeks and weeks, he would only take 2 steps. Then it was four steps. He'd get going with so much momentum and we'd eagerly count, one-two-three-four....then he would fall, sit or slide down to his knees to crawl the rest of the way. About a week before his birthday, though, he took 7 steps. It was completely out of the blue, and the next day he took 9, the next day 14, the next day 17, and after that we stopped counting because he walked from one end of the living room to the other. He had proven he could walk as far as he wanted, but despite the steady progression, crawling was the preferred form of transportation.

That all changed this past weekend. He just decided it was faster (or at least more entertaining) to walk from point to A to B than to crawl. It's still comically unsteady, but he'll run around, hands in the air, delighted with his new found skill.

He has also figured out how to take his diaper off. I left him for three seconds to run to the bathroom and when I came back, the munchkin had stripped himself down and was streaking around the living room, diaper held proudly over his head. No more pantless naps for you!!

The funniest new achievement is how well Little C can now use his voice. It's hilarious to see him point and jabber (loudly) at just about anything or anyone. He even scared a little boy at the park the other day when he walked right up to him and started pointing and shouting in his face. I tried to explain to the little boy that it was just his way of 'talking', but the three year old started crying. Guess he didn't think this new found method of communication was quite as cute as I did. :)

As for teeth, we're up to 6. Four on top and the 2 on the bottom. More to come soon, I think. He's been tugging at his ears but according to the doctor doesn't have an ear infection, so hopefully we'll be seeing a few more pearly whites soon!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from Little C's 1 year photo shoot with Mackenzie Wheatley of Chubbyfoot Photography.

Happy Birthday little man!! Your daddy and I love you more than you can imagine - you are truly the light of our world. This past year has been the most joyful, fun, challenging and rewarding year of our lives. We have loved watching you grow and learn and hope and pray we have many many more years to enjoy more of the same. We can't wait to see what the future has in store for you. All our love to you on your first birthday, mommy and daddy.

Easter and (mainly) Bluebonnet Pics

Pics as promised from Easter weekend. We took advantage of Mr. C having Good Friday off and took a mini road trip to Austin to visit his old high school/college friend in from Chicago for the holiday. On the way there we came across a huge open field of bluebonnets outside of Brenham (best known as the home of Blue Bell ice cream). There were cars lined up for at least a mile and paths through the bluebonnets for people to wind their way back to find the perfect picture spot. We couldn't resist, so we pulled over to take a few (hundred) pictures of little C.

We had a great visit in Austin with Mr. C's friend and then it was off to Mr. C's grandparents for some home cooking and some visiting. Mr. C has four living grandparents - it's remarkable, and they all still live independently in Austin, so we treasure any opportunity to get up that way to visit them.

Saturday we headed home, and Sunday morning we took a sec to go through the loot the bunny brought before heading off to church for worship and pancakes. Then that afternoon we loaded back into the car to visit my parents for Easter lunch/dinner.

A great weekend and wonderful first Easter for the munchkin, but sadly we didn't take many pictures after the bluebonnets. We are just horrible about that sometimes. I was even asked to take a picture of a family at the pancake breakfast at church on Easter morning, and as they all huddled together I thought, we should do this! Then forgot. We are just NOT good picture parents. If we ever have a second or third, God help them...they'll be lucky to get any pictures at all!