For Dash at ONE!

My Dearest Baby Dash,

You're not so much a baby anymore I suppose! I am absolutely incapable of wrapping my mind around the fact that you are a year old. A YEAR?! It doesn't seem possible that this time last year I was staring at a ginormous belly and wondering if you were ever coming out...

For your birthday we had your little friends, Leila and Zach, James, Mommy's friends Mark and Joanna and their son James, Katie, Monika, Kindra, Elise, our neighbor Gladys and Dorothy and her sister Val (who are Mommy's friends from Highschool). We had all kinds of munchies and you had a blast playing with eveyone there. You even got some really neat presents :) We ordered cupcakes from a local bakery and they were wonderfully tasty! You weren't too sure about the "mess" factor and preferred to have everyone feed you bites. The party lasted into the evening and by the time the last guest left you were fast asleep in my lap (and Fin was asleep on Daddy's lap!)

We are getting ready to celebrate your second Halloween, but of course this will be the first one where you're more than a lump (you were an ADORABLE lump, but a lump none the less.) You and Fin are both going to be dressed as bumble bees and Daddy will be the bee keeper. Yes, Mommy is that cheesy. You and Fin love to sneak the costumes out and wear your antenna around the house. Next month we'll take you to Nashville for the first time for Thanksgiving and in December we'll be in DC for Christmas. It's amazing how often you've flown for such a little man!

Speaking of travelling, you are quite the crawling ninja. You move so fast that mommy sometimes loses you in the house. Lucky for me, you always answer when I call you so I can hunt you down fast. You're taking your first few tentative steps and standing well on your own. I know you could just take off walking but you have to build your confidence and believe it yourself. I have no doubt that one day soon you will do just that and there will be no stoping you. You talk constantly and I can tell you are desparate to communicate with Fin. You say Mama, Dada, GO, Up and a few other words appropriately and refer to Fin as "BAAA!" (said VERY loud). You can wave and your new favorite thing to do is to point to what you want or where you want to go. You have eight teeth (four top and four bottom) and you use them to eat ANYTHING IN SIGHT! You're still only a hair over 16lbs so I have no idea where you put it all. You're a whiz at feeding yourself anything you want - which is pretty much anything that isn't green. You've just ended your breastfeeding days and are now totally on whole milk. I'm a little proud to say that you never in your life had a bottle, but of course that didn't make things very easy on me :)

Our days are pretty busy with Fin going to school. Mondays and Wednesdays we walk in the mornings - usually with James and Monika - and play at home in the afternoons. Tuesdays and Thursdays Fin is in school till noon and we get a little time alone together. It's nice to have a little time to play with you and snuggle you a little. Fridays we usually have lunch with Katie and go on some kind of fun adventure. This past Monday I took you to My Gym for the first time. The Monday evening class is small and the children all around your age. You loved it just as much as Fin did the first time I took him. I think we're going to have to work that into our regular routine too - it's good for you to have your own friends as well as that mommy time.

Well, that's all for now my dear. I love you more than you can know and I hope you had a wonderful birthday!

Mom

I designed these invites and got them printed, but forgot to mail them, oops :)

Confessions of a Target Shopper

So honestly, I can be something of a label whore. I know, you're shocked. Yes, I like to shop a lot and attain said labels at bargain prices, but still I do like my labels. And even more than I enjoy having fancy duds myself, I enjoy them even more on my boys.

And then Fin went to school.

The first few days I had him all dressed to impress. Another mother even noted how handsome and well dressed he was. Then she snickered something about how he clearly must not have gone near the paint yet...PAH! I never met a stain I couldn't handle.

Until Fin went to school.

On his fourth day of school, Fin came home with his shirt COVERED in black paint. It's ok, I like a challenge. Did I mention it was one of my favorite little Le Top outfits (see, label whore). So home we went so I could treat the stain immediately. I SWEAR they use some kind of industrial strength paint there! I feel like I should look into it to paint my house! Needless to say, my stain removal attempts were totally fruitless. So I downgraded to some cute Gap outfits. When I saw that mother again, I asked her about the staining. She told me that the teachers found that washable paints weren't "vibrant" enough and that these indestructible paints were better for them to laugh at stupid parents who dress their kids nicely the children's creativity. More staining, downgraded to Old Navy. Then I went to Target... How do you beat the $2 tee? With the $3 matching track pants of course! I didn't even know that they made stuff that cheap!

I felt a tad guilty as I dressed him this morning, but he's so cute I think he could rock a paper bag. And the best part? When he came home COVERED in orange paint I didn't even flinch :)
























Fin on Target - If you see Fin and wonder where all his nice clothes are, it must be a school day!

I Caught A Moment

I got this shot at today's pre-Halloween playdate and dressed it up a little. Such a nice moment of two friends having fun...

2 going on 12

We had our first parent teacher conference for Fin this morning. It went as expected...He's extremely advanced verbally (read: never shuts up) and can be a challenge when he doesn't want to do something. His teacher remarked that we must all sit together at the table at home to eat as he does that extremely well while most of the other kids can't stand to sit still for snack time. I had to stifle my giggles - yeah, we eat at the table together alright, RESTAURANT TABLES. Oh yeah, and he has impeccable manners. Yay! We asked about when to start him in Kindergarten, I know some years off but still on a mama's mind. She said she personally feels that all cusp children should "be given the gift of a year". I was already leaning that way, but I think I'll definitely keep him out of the school system an extra year. He can do a Jr. K class at St. Stephens as a warm up. Now I just have to figure out how to curb his 'tude a little. Oh, and I signed up to be a helping parent for the Halloween parade day. Which means I get to help all the kids get into their costumes and ready for the parade. Yah, like I'd miss my kids first school Halloween or let anyone else get him ready for it!

And just to leave you with a laugh...You have to get through two latched metal gates to get onto school grounds (then they go into their rooms and the playground is on the other side, only accessible through the buildings - very safe!). As we were entering the first gate last Thursday, Fin informed me that I could drop him off there. Um, no way! I reminded Fin that I had to sign him in and he sighed and told me that it would be ok if I took him to the door. I thought this wasn't supposed to happen till at LEAST gradeschool! He's 2!! Am I really that embarassing?? Wait, don't answer that. I guess his assistant teacher heard this whole exchange and it came up at the parent teacher conference. Fin's teacher told us that everyone there just loves him and that he keeps them all in stitches. Honestly, behavioral issues aside, that's probably one of the nicest things a parent can hear.

The Behemoth

...Is what I call a TV larger than the downstairs Monstrosity.

A long time ago in a land without children, Woob and I were on an uninteresting Best Buy run when he suddenly SNAPPED! If you know Woob, you know he's not so much the "snapper", that's my job. But snap he did, and launched into a seemingly unprovoked tirade against our bedroom TV which was apparently far too small and poor in quality. So we bought a new 50-inch rear projection TV. And remembered we were in Brooks' Z, then it didn't fit in the Jeep, and finally my old X-Terra came to the rescue. A mere six or so hours later we arrived home with a giant rear projection TV for the bedroom. Being forever practical and untrusting of modern electronics, Woob insisted on the pricey protection plan.

Whew!

The TV started having "issues" almost a year ago and we started on the treadmill that is Best Buy's repair system. Somewhere around June, the technician came out to repair the whirring and occassional pixelation and something poped. The dern thing never did turn back on. Of course, that didn't stop them from sending a technician out so many times that Fin knew him by name. And did I mention that he was only ever available right at naptime? Somewhere in there our warranty ran out...Sigh.

After all these months of dancing, Woob finally persuaded them to give us a replacement. And compensate us for our trouble. So today we brought home our shiny new Samsung 52 inch LCD TV. Oof. Did I mention it was 52 inches? FIFTY TWO EFFIN INCHES!!! I would take a picture of it, but I like to keep our bedroom out of my blogging. Ok, so that's a total lie, I'm just way too lazy to get up and do it, so you'll have to bear with my description. Being a flat panel, it takes up almost no space on the dresser that once held the gigantic rear projection TV. But it's HUGE! It has a pretty red tinge to the frame, makes a pleasing noise when turned on, and I have no doubt that my friends on the Young & the Restless will look fabulous come tomorrow. But did I mention that it's FIFTY TWO INCHES?!? In a way I feel like our bedroom has been invaded, almost by another person. I used to love having a giant TV in the boudoir, so what gives that I'm now all bummed out about our new addition? I suppose I feel a little like my calm, quiet space has been reclaimed by it's previous owner. I'll let you know how it goes...