Bright Snowy Morning

Last year this time Adrian was two days late and I was hoping Adrian would come into the world. I cannot believe Little man turns 1 next week. A. is not a baby anymore...sob!

Tibetian Rock Band

Grandma Ruth gave these instruments to Adrian before he was born. It was recently I felt little man would appreciate these. In matter of fact, Adrian loves the instruments so much the handle of the maracas had fallen off and it's no where to be found. We tried to teach him how to work the twist drum but little man decided wrist action is not needed to work the drum if he just twist his whole upper body. What a silly little man!

Wheels Are Turning!

Here is little man with his new toy. It's fun watching him learn to stack the shapes. He hasn't figured out how to sort the shapes but he's a pro at stacking. I find it amazing that he knows to flip the octagonal piece so the hole fits onto the rod. I'm such a proud mama right now!

Crafting For Little Man's 1st Birthday Party

I've been finding time after A. goes to bed to create decorations for his birthday party. Many people ask me how I find time to do all this and still be able to raise a child and keep a full time job. I say there is always time for passion.

Mwah

Sorry there isn't a picture to go with this post. I can't seem to find my camera this weekend. Perhaps little man hide it because mommy is just too camera happy and he's sick of it.

This weekend A. learned to kiss except he doesn't pucker up. He opens his mouth and slobbers all over his victim. He'll lunge towards you and plant a big wet one right on your lips-Attack of the baby A.

Happy Valentine's Day

Swingers

Little man and his friend Ethan went to the park this past weekend when we had a glimpse of Spring. This is the first time A. has been on a swing and he seemed very confused. I thought he would enjoy the motion because this would remind him of daddy pushing him on his Thomas the train. Of course little man didn't make that sort of connection.

Signing "More"

Up until now Adrian will sign "More" but not knowing the usage. Today he actually signed "more" for me to give him more bagel. The sign for "More" is using hands in a semi flatted "O" and bringing both "flattened-O" hands inward touching each other. Adrian's one hand is in the flatttened-O position and the other not. I equate this baby sign to baby talk. Whatever works for him! he gets his message across.

Heritage Farm Museum

Adrian says it's like comparing apples to oranges.

Little man joined Lisa, Luke, baby Selina, and Naomi at the Heritage Farm Museum in Claude Moore Park. It was a child friendly agriculture museum with lots of hands on exhibits.

Super Bowl XLIII

Adrian's first Super Bowl-Arizona Cardinals Vs. Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers won. As always you were very busy going nowhere. Mommy's busy little bee.

Oh! we no longer have pride in the neatness of our home. This is what our home is like these days...messy but fun!

Thomas the Train

Zac has been pushing Adrian around the house on his Thomas the Train. Talk about deep belly laugh. I've never seen Adrian so happy in my life.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy year of the OX! The Chinese shirt Adrian is wearing has been passed down from Mommy's boss, Susan. Mrs. Susan's husband brought this shirt back for his children while he was in Asia during one of the wars (Mrs. Susan couldn't remember which one). Susan's children took turns wearing this shirt, the shirt has got to be at least 40 years old and still in great condition.

9 Months Physical

Little man had his way over due 9 months physcial yesterday. Considering he's already 10 months and 19 days old we're a bit behind. Anyhow, not much to report except little man is a tall kid...his height was measured at 29 inches. He seems to have had a growth spurt height-wise (clearly, he doesn’t take after his mother) (unless this is both his first and last growth spurt), but the rest of him is falling neatly in the proscribed curve. He’s hitting all his milestones. The dry skin patches on his legs and head? Nothing a little Aquaphor Healing Ointment won’t clear right up. The results of his Hemoglobin was normal. After hearing children his age who are low in iron I was expecting the Dr. to tell me the same with little man. The only thing to continue to work on is his sleep or lack of.

New Baby and New President

Adrian crusing around during the televised inagural event.

As I'm playing with Adrian and trying to get glipses of the inagural recap tonight I realized Barak Obama will be the first President Adrian knows and he happens to be the first US minority President. What a momentous event!

Ghetto Ball Pit

You're Doing It Wrong!

Wrinkles

So as Naomi turned one today I realized Adrian's 1st birthday is soon to follow. I'm again wigged out by how fast time is flying. Every month Adrian gets older I get older. On the verge of sounding vein I looked in the mirror at every angle with every possible expression on my face. There are some lines. They aren't huge, but they're there. I also have some grey hair and prefer comfy flats to heels. I had to ask my younger cousin for help with uploading a video to Youtube. I know what blu-ray is but I don't really get it (like is it going to replace DVD's some day?). I remember being really young and recording songs from the radio. I was always so proud of myself when I only recorded a few words from the VJ before the song started.

I feel like I'm still in my 20's. I worry about "young" things like what I want to be when I grow up. I still dream about taking time off and see the world. I'm nowhere near "grown up" enough to have a child!!! this is why I'm shocked I almost have a one year old son... S-O-N!!!!

When did I get old and how did I not notice it was happening?

Naomi is One!

Where did time go? Happy 1st Birthday little Naomi!

Who Gave Adrian Bubble Gum?

WHOOSH

Adrian on the go at Ethan's house.

Playdate 1/10/09 at Ethan's House

Napping With My Dad

Daddy's Birthday Weekend

Happy 33, daddy!

Are You Making Fun of My Hair!?

You only wish your hair can look this good! $@!@%!%^!@^

Night Night Stories

The house is a mess, Christmas decorations need to be put away, and there are loads of laundry to be folded but there is always time for reading one more night night story to little man.

Mapping Out Adrian's Childhood

The longer I do this Mom thing, the more I realize that no two Moms do things exactly alike. For example, many Moms record their child’s childhood in a baby book. Other Moms squirrel away their baby’s clothes, socks, and shoes to help them remember just how small tiny really is. Others spend their child’s childhood double-fisting it with a video camera in one hand and a trusty digital camera in the other-this is somewhat us. While I've been off on vacation this past week and a half I've decided I also would like to capture Adrian's childhood with a map of the world.

Travel has always equaled memories for Zac and me, so this past week we applied for Adrian's passport and we will hang a map of the world on our fridge. Each time we visit a new country with him, we'll color it in on the map. Visits to family and friends quickly took care of Texas. A soon to be planned spring trip to Minnesota will soon balance out the southern state. We also have plans to expand the coloring to reflect future international travels. A trip to Mexico is in the works.

Although the thought of packing up my now extremely mobile baby and heading out on the road sometimes makes us wonder about our own sanity, we wouldn’t trade the memories for anything in the world.

Auntie M's Visit

Auntie M and Alberto came to visit us this weekend. They kept little man company while mommy and daddy went on a long overdue date with each other. Auntie M, words cannot express how much we appreciate you giving us time to ourselves...even if it was just for a few hours.

Uncle Erik and Auntie Cat, we hope you're still up for the babysitting gig because we may take you up on the offer soon.

Mama and New Year's Eve

Up until now little man only said Da Da but today he has been saying Ma Ma and Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa all day long. Everything was Ma Ma. It's safe to say he has not made the association me = ma ma. Oh well, at least he can pronounce the mmmmmmmm sound, we're making progress!

Something funny just happened. A few neighborhood kids rang our door bell asking if we wanted to hear them carol...caroling on NYE? it cracked me up that Zac asked the kids if they knew Christmas is over. I guess the kids gave some retarded answer. Is this how teenagers make money during the winter time? summer=mowing lawns and winter=caroling. Sorry to be such a Scrooge but we would bash anyone trying to wake little man up by ringing the door bell at 10pm. ***shaking my head*** Only in Loudoun County!

That was the highlight of the Otto's NYE, yes! very pathetic but AC comes first these days. It's 10:30pm on the last day of 2008 and I'm thinking of calling it a night. Little man has been asleep for 3 hours already. I look forward to 2009...AC will be one! still such a baby though. Here's wishing you a Happy and Safe New Year's Eve!

Naps Are For Babies!

That is what Adrian tells me. AC has always been lacking in the sleeping department. We have introduced the Ferber method for months now but we really stuck to it the past week and a half while I've been on vacation from work. For everyone who may not know what the Ferber method is...

In a nutshell, Ferber says you can teach your baby to soothe himself to sleep when he's physically and emotionally ready, usually sometime between 4 and 6 months of age. He recommends following a warm, loving bedtime routine and then putting your baby in bed awake and leaving him (even if he cries) for gradually longer periods of time. Putting a child to bed awake, says Ferber, is crucial to successfully teaching him to go to sleep on his own.

Parents are instructed to pat and comfort their baby after each predetermined period of time, but not to pick up or feed their baby. This routine is called "progressive waiting." The suggested waiting time, which Ferber charts in his book, is based on how comfortable you are with the technique, how many days you've been using it, and how many times you've already checked on your child that night.

After a few days to a week of gradually increasing the waiting time, the theory goes, most babies learn to fall asleep on their own, having discovered that crying earns nothing more than a brief check from you.

So AC now learns to either poop or take his paci and throw it across the floor and then cry harder. He knows with either act I'll be back in a jiffy to attend to him. Yes, I am a sucka! but it just isn't right to let babies sit in their mess. I will have to learn to let go of the paci throwing. He'll have to learn that once he loses the paci it's not coming back to him, that'll teach him not to spit out his paci! I sometimes wonder does my 9 months old have the brain capacity to make the coorelation that if he squeezes out poop mommy will appear? that child never seizes to amaze me! the thought of AC trying his hardest to poop cracks me up. The Ferber theory is killing me! I'm exhausted (believe it or not, this morning it took 3.5 hours of crying before he went down for a nap, I like to blame it on the fact that AC is teething again and he's in pain). All I want to do is rock him back to sleep so I can go back to sleep but instead we have this drawn out process every night and during every nap time so that AC can learn to fall asleep by himself.

AC is daddy's...

Going Shopping

Little man's shopping cart. He carries his little toys from the living room to the kitchen so he can be entertained while mommy and daddy make their meals. I think daddy prefers the masculine lawn mower over a shopping cart. Guess what daddy? mommy is making little man an apron as soon as he's old enough to help her bake and paint!

Storage For Toys

We finally found a better storage idea to contain all Adrian's toys. These wicker storage with lids are great to keep our living room organized. Adrian seems to like them too. They're at his height and he enjoys going in there to pick out his toys.

Christmas Morning 2008

Little Man opening his first Christmas present from mommy and daddy.

For Christmas I got a Walker!

Yup! Little man is walking!!!!

Dirty Old Man, Opps, I mean Santa!

I wasn't sure whether Adrian will be terrified of Santa. It turned out he was quite interested in the bearded man.

An odd exchange happened between Santa and me. Half way into pictures with Santa I realized one of Adrian's pants leg was hiked up. I interrupted the elf who was taking the pictures and asked if I may pull his pants down. Santa actually said "Ho Ho Ho, I hope you don't mean mine!" I was so appauld of what he said and I was speechless. Mind you this is also my first Santa experience at the mall. I think what was meant to be a sweet and innocent childhood experience has been tainted.