Uppy and Hiya

He's talking!!!! OMG, now I know he'll never stop, but today I'm OK I'm over the moon. He's been saying "Erica", who is our next door neighbor for about 3 months, but I can never get a video. Now we have videographic evidence that my son can say, "Puppy" and "Hiya". Yeah I know puppy sounds like Uppy, but it's beyond cute.

He's learning body part names

Brooks' friend Gabe has known where eyes, nose, mouths and ears are for months, he can show you on himself and you. I've been trying to teach Brooks these sames words for a while now and he hasn't gotten them down. I point to my nose and say "nose" and he open hand punches my nose, it has really put a damper on my desire to further this part of his education. But I am happy to report that the other night we discovered he has learned a body part name and will point to it when you say the word...his penis.

We always said we weren't going to make up names for genitalia before we had a baby. So the first time Brooks touched his penis we said, "that's your penis" just like we say "that's your nose" or "stop poking me in the eye". A few weeks ago, like many guys, he started making sure it was there during bath time. When he would do that, in a funny voice we would say penis, this voice made him smile, then laugh and then it became a game.

I am very proud of my son for learning the proper nomenclature for his appendages, or at least this one. I am more than grateful though that he hasn't figured out he can get to it while clothed, hopefully he won't read that here and get any ideas. Back to working on vocabulary, maybe tomorrow we'll work on something he can do in public.

Inconsistancy

Brooks has another tooth. We had NO warning that he was getting this one. He started waking up in the middle of the night and was inconsolable. The best part, he crawls out of his room and down the hall towards our room and doesn't make a peep until he's at our doorstep. I wonder if he knows that we'll come in there and try and put him back in his room. Smart boy.

After two nights of staying awake for 2 hours trying to get him back to sleep, we decided to take two nights off of and when he wakes we've been bringing him back into bed with us. Two steps forward and 3 steps back. We are getting some pretty good snuggles in the mean time. Silver lining, huh?

First Birthday - Food Edition

Well, it's over. I'm calling it a smashing success. It was chill, the food was good, (mmm Qdoba), but most importantly it was filled with love. About 40 people came, mostly locals, but John's family came up from all over Maryland.

Firstly, I hope that Brooks has fond memories of his party since he won't have another till he's 16 or we uber wealthy and can hire people for everything. We did have the food catered, which, by far was the smartest decision EVER. I love Qdoba, and for a casual event they rocked our socks. I did make all of the ice cream for the sundae bar and the cupcakes. I got a little over zealous with the cupcakes and made 70, thankfully I begged employed my mom to do the icing and I had cupcake toppers which made the decorations minimal, which was another fantastic decision.

I'm going to brag for a second on my mad cupcake skills.












Tell me these aren't drool worthy. On the left my version of the Oreo cupcake, and the right is a chocolate chip cookie in a chocolate cupcake.

I was looking for ideas for the Oreo cupcake, I scoured the internet and talked to people. I found lots of recipes with the Oreo on the bottom and batter on top, or chopped cookies in the batter, but it was my non baker brother that came up with this idea. I separated the cookie and placed the side with the cream on the bottom, cream side up. Poured some white cake batter in the tin and then placed the other half on top of the batter then pressed it into the batter. When you bite into the cupcake the cookie has softened some which allows you to taste the cookie and the cake. I topped it with a little bit of cream cheese frosting and some Oreo crumbles. Between you and me though, I think these taste SO much better without the frosting.

The chocolate was an overload and so good. The batter was chocolate sour cream from here. I used my small ice cream scoop and did two scoops per tin. Before hand I made some chocolate chip cookie batter, using the same ice cream scoop I scooped the batter into balls and froze them individually. Once the tins had batter I pressed a frozen cookie ball in the middle, and immediately put them in the oven. Baked for 17 minutes,(in retrospect they should have baked for 15), and voila, yummy chocolatey deliciousness. In all honesty though, these are best warm, frosting is optional. My neighbor and husband have deemed these the best cupcakes they have ever eaten.

As I mentioned I had the main food brought in from Qdoba. They have their catering stuff down to a tee. The package comes with the chaffing dishes, plates, napkins, utensils (both serving and eating) as well as the food. Using them actually saved me money, since we were doing tacos anyway. I know that we will use them again.

I've gotten an email from the photographer with the pictures from the party and I hope to be able to post some of them tomorrow. So stick around and see the cuteness overload from BabyPalooza.

First Birthday

Brooks’ birthday is in 5 days, (did you hear my tears?) and I have been feverishly planning his party. John gave me free reign on the planning, but has been helping me by keeping the Dude in the evening. Oh, the Dude, he has recently become possessed by a super clingy, whiny, crying, pain in the ass, not all the time, but he losses his shit if one of us leaves the room, he can be held by the other, but God forbid one of us needs to pee. Sorry for the tangent, but I don’t want to belittle John’s role in this party, because it’s huge.

A couple of months ago I came up with the idea of doing a puzzle party, and we created invitations made out of craft foam that fit together. The invitation was glued on top of the foam and then cut into four pieces, recipients were mailed the pieces so they could put them together to get all the details. Pretty creative, huh? I feel that we set the bar pretty high with the invites, and I didn’t want the party to fall short.

We decide on a menu that fits with our puzzle theme, all of the food fits together or in something, so tacos, burritos, a sundae bar and stuffed cupcakes. I then start perusing the internet for inspiration and ideas and come across this DIY sundae bar. Pretty amazing huh and it’s just a concept. JUST A FREAKING CONCEPT, this woman put in all this time in and creative powers towards a concept and this is what I have to compete with. Shit! Fortunately I’m married to a designer and together we have pieced together some AMAZING stuff. Yeah I stole a bunch of her ideas, but go back and look at them, they are flucking brilliant.

Pictures to follow, but not till Monday, have a great weekend

A Chapter Closed

Yesterday was our last day with Miss K. It ended with a lovely time outside on a blanket soaking up some rays. We'll still have a good amount of time together. Her mom and I are going to swap sitting duties for an hour and a half each week. Then of course there is pool time, play dates and park time. Hopefully they won't miss each other too much. Hopefully this will give her head time to heal from all the hair pulling she endured.

While I am going to miss her, I'm excited for the one on one time with Brooks. Start working on letters, numbers, colors, oh and actual talking and walking. Maybe calculus, but it is summer so maybe we'll take it easy.

We leave for vacation today so posts might be sporadic, but I'm sure we'll have some funny stuff going on.

You have GOT to be kidding me

Want to know how to make your kid do something that you really want them to, but they won't? Post it on the internet, and make sure you use the "F" bomb in a forum that your mother reads.

Yesterday Brooks popped three teeth, we think another is on the way. Ugh, really dude? Way to make me sound and look like a jack ass. Although I'm the one that posted it, and dropped the bomb, so maybe you come by it naturally.

Interview with a Babysitter

Brooks will have his first non family or friend baby sitter tomorrow night. I asked some friends for recommendations and was given this name. I called her and did an "interview" that went something like this:

Me: Do you have experience with infants?
sitter: Not really, but I've helped my mom in the 2 year old room at the preschool, and I have a bunch of younger cousins.
Me: Close enough, he's sorta like a 2 year old, except that his mobility is different, oh and the communication. You'll be fine.

Brooks is really laid back, so I'm not too concerned. Plus we'll only be 10 minutes away at a party. Perhaps I'm too laid back, but when I relayed the story to John he was on board.

Now I have to clean my house as if I had a picky mother in law and she was coming to visit. I don't want the sitter to think that I don't have time to clean my house (which I don't). Also I apparently need to get some food for her, we have no snacks in the house except popcorn and we don't have a microwave. Maybe I should pick up paper towels too just in case. I don't want to scare her.

He Better Be a Damn Good Baseball Player

With all the hitting that he’s been doing recently it’s the only good thing I can see. He will not leave Miss K alone! He wants to pull her hair, stick his fingers in her eyes, or ears or mouth. He also doesn’t have very good control over the strength of his arms and he just smacks things, including, but not limited to my face, John’s face, the dogs, the cat, Miss K, the floor, the table, I could go on forever.
We just can’t seem to distract him when he gets on a hitting whim. No toy or song is good enough. We’re both so frustrated. John even put him in a time out today; I had done this a few weeks ago too. It’s so ineffective and he has NO idea what’s going on, but it’s for our sanity. Making him sit (or go in his jumpy chair) take him away from his target. He’s never distracted for long; he definitely has some hyper focusing going on.

This morning I was the recipient of a hard and direct smack to the bridge of my nose. Brooks of course looked so pleased with himself after waking me with such undeviating attention.

Anyone have any ideas on how to cope with this? Is it just a phase that he’ll grow out of? Does this mean he’s going to hit baseballs out of the park like Babe Ruth and buy us a nice apartment in NYC where we can retire?

Of course this "milestone" was completely usurped by his taking his first steps today. He's been cruising for quite sometime, but he really starting moving today. He still needs some assistance, but not for long. His little legs are so strong, and I know right now it's just a confidence thing. Thankfully Miss K isn't mobile, she is allowed to be as mobile as she wants in 5 weeks when her Mommy is done with school.

Oy!

I had a really funny post planned for today, but instead Brooks decided to have a super development day. He stood for a bit unassisted, crawled on all fours instead of "army crawling" and then did this....... click here because I can't get the video to upload.

Little Dude got his first real boo-boo

and I caused it. I was clipping his nails and got to the final finger and clipped the tip of his finger rather than the nail. The worst part, he whimpered, didn't cry, just whimpered, it was heart wrenching. Then he bled, oh my poor sweet baby. He had to have his first band-aid. The second worst part, John calling it a boo-boo.

There was a little comedy involved. After he got his band-aid he kept staring at his finger and this "thing" on it, and his new inability to bend it. Then, as is usually the case, he stuck his finger in his mouth and got a sour face. Sooo funny.

Attached are pictures of the disfigurement, or just a little larger than a paper cut cut.

please forgive the dirty fingernails