Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today is my Father's Birthday, but we all celebrated it on Sunday! We all went over pretty early in the afternoon and went swimming in the pool! Christian loves the water and today we decided it was time for him to go under! Under the water he went and he was not so sure about that but, we all laughed and acted like it was a game and quickly that frown turned into a smile and laughter too! The rain started to loom over us and we decided it was time to get out of the pool. Christian's nap time was getting near and I thought we should put him down for a nap upstairs. My parents have a crib in their house for when he stays with them or comes over during the day. He is in that horrible separation anxiety stage where he is so scared we are going to leave him, especially if he is in another place not his home. Every time I would put him down he screamed like crazy. Usually this means nothing and he sometimes cries a little when he goes down because he is afraid he is missing something. Today however was different he was freaking out and standing in the crib screaming like you would not believe. I finally went to get him and it took a while to console him because he had worked himself up terribly. I thought the rest of the night was ruined because without an afternoon nap he would be very cranky and hard to entertain. Earlier the day we introduced balloons to him and he was very intrigued with them for quite a while which is unusual for his short attention span! The balloons would get over the air vents in the floor and float up in the air. Christian loved this but, could not figure out how it was actually happening! He would just sit there and laugh trying to catch them out of the air. When he was upset after not taking his nap, this is what entertained him and made him happy for a little while. Brian and I ate our dinner very quickly anticipating a quick exit because of is fussiness, but he must have gotten his second wind! We were able to stay and give my father his present as well as have some cake and ice cream! Christian especially loves this because he thinks paper is a toy for him to play with and eat? He helped with the opening of gifts and then enjoyed some cake and ice cream! We are getting him ready for his own cake here in a month! He loves chocolate (like his mommy)! I can not wait for his birthday to watch him dig into his own cake! We made it out just in the nick of time to get him home, bathe him and off to bed. He was tired from a long day with at his Grandpa's house! Birthdays are fun...just wait until he realizes he has one too!!!!

Pampers Cruisers helps him.....Cruise????

Sorry for the pun, but if I knew now what I just discovered than I could save parents across the world some money on walkers! I should patent this pampers box and make millions!!! I am sure that many moms already know this, but I sure never thought about it! For weeks Christian has been attempting walking and pulling up on everything and climbing the stairs. He has yet to venture out on his own and try it by himself! Brian and I have witnessed a few steps here and there assisted with a toy, but no consistent walking holding on to furniture or anything else for that matter! I had given up on the thought of him taking his first steps on his 1st birthday, but now there is light at the end of the tunnel!!!! On Saturday I brought in the empty pampers box that I had bought at Babies R Us and closed it up. The next thing I know Christian had pulled up on the box and was pushing it all over the house. He was walking as if he had been doing it for months! He was even going pretty fast at one point! We of course pulled out the video camera and took some action shots with the camera too! I am now working even harder to get him confident so he can do it on his own before or on his 1st birthday! Who knew that such a cheap cardboard box could be the best toy we ever bought????

On Top of Spaghetti.......

Alright....I believe that I have been cursed with one of the pickiest eaters on this planet! That are he is in the phase where he would rather play with his food than eat it! I have given up on baby food and just give him formula( which I believe he would be on a liquid diet for eternity if I would allow it) and anything else I can shove down him! If he did not have some rolls on his body I would be worried, but he hardly looks malnourished. I have tried the pasta route and what kid does not love mac n cheese??? Well I'll give you three guesses! Christian loves cheese so he sucks it off the pasta and then spits out the noodle! Crazy I know, but he does not seem to like the texture or just enjoys throwing it to our dog Jetta! Which by the way is my garbage disposal and helps me not only clean up Christian, but my floors as well!
Anyhow, back to the spaghetti and trying a new form of pasta with meat and sauce! Brian is out of town so much that I usually do not cook anymore for just myself. So...what was the special occasion? Besides the fact that I now have to find things for my child to eat my mother and sister came over to visit and have dinner. They have been out of the country in Ireland for two and a half weeks and were missing Christian desperately so they came to spend some time with us! I thought I would make a easy dinner and at the same time try a new meal for Christian! He is in this independent stage where if you try to feed him he will spit out everything, but he will eat the food he feeds himself! I have succumbed to just putting his food on the highchair tray and letting him go to town on whatever he has to eat! I knew tonight would be particularly messy, so I stripped him down and let him at it! I tried to feed him myself and as stated previously... out it came! So I poured it out on his tray and wow did he chow down! I would of thought he was Tony Soprano the way he scarfed down the Italian dish! When it was all said and done I had a huge mess on my hands, but luckily I had Christian, Jetta and my mom to help with the clean up!

Stairmaster!!!!

Since Christian became mobile the one thing he loves more than anything is the stairs! I have had a problem finding a gate for them because of the banister being round and having quarter rounds around the bottom of our baseboards! Needless to say...I never sit down for long because I am chasing him down from climbing every chance he gets! He has definitely mastered the up, but coming down would be horrible. He is so cute when he accomplishes a few climbs and turns around to see if you are watching. He has a very mischievous grin....wonder where that could have come from???? In some of these pictures he is with his friend Elijah who he plays with alot during the week and belongs to my good friend Susan Copeland. They are exactly one month apart in age and actually were within a few days of the same due date.

When he is not playing with Elijah, Christian likes to help me with daily chores. The dishwasher is one of his favorite things to play in, yes I said in! I load it and he unloads it! A game he thinks is really fun and jumps at the chance to help mommy! He climbs on up and in the dishwasher and proceeds to pull out everything he can get his little hands on! He is all boy and definitely keeps me on my toes!

Christian's First Beach Trip

During the week of the fourth of July we took a family vacation to the beach. I was dreading the drive down because I was not so sure how he would be in a car for four hours. Christian weighs twenty pounds now, so I turned his car seat around. This made the ride a lot better because I put Baby Einstein on the DVD and we were good to go!!! He slept for a little while, but was an angel the rest of the way!This was Christian's first time to see the ocean and the sand. Everyone told us that he would try to eat the sand, but he did not do that. Instead he played in it and found it somewhat intriguing? We took our nanny with us so when it was time for him to take a nap, she would stay with him. However, it was still a lot of work taking a young one to the beach.. no more relaxing days or sleeping in on vacations for me. The weather was overcast everyday and of course it rained, but that made it perfect for Christian to be out! I am afraid he has gotten a fairer complexion from my side of the family. He does not seem to tan easily like Brian and I do. He loved going in the water at the beach and it did not seem to bother him if he got splashed. I took tons of pictures and I can not decide which ones to post. Here are some more of the water and beach.

Party!!!

I am so sorry to everyone who checks this blog on a regular basis that I have not updated in awhile. Brian and I have been busy traveling back and forth to the beach for weddings and vacations etc...I now Debbie is ready to kill me!!! This first blog is some pictures of Christian at a party of some friends of ours who's son was turning three. They also have a son named Elijah that Christian plays with every week, he is a month older. They had some baby pools out back because it has been sweltering out here in Alabama. Christian loves the water, so of course he spent most of his time playing in the pool. He did however take a time out to have some cupcake from the party. Once back in the pool he discovered a little girl the same age and took a liking to her! She was not to thrilled with him, but he was persistent! He had a blast at his first Birthday Party!