Info on Peyton's WILD party!

Birthday invitations went out on Tuesday for Peyton's first birthday party!  Planning is in full effect, with the theme being animal print / safari.

A few things I wanted to tell those who got an invitation:
1 - Lunch will be served
2 - I'll be emailing you with more specific directions to the park, as the time nears.  If you've been to my house before, it's the park right down the street with the tennis courts.  There's TONS of parks in Power Ranch, so a more detailed email about location will be sent out.

I hope you can make it!  We're super excited!

We've got a crawler!

Although Peyton's been army crawling for quite a while now,  he's finally traditional crawling!

Saturday, he took about 4 "crawls" on his hands and knees and by Sunday he was crawling across his big play mat!  As with the army crawl, he doesn't go much further than where he needs to - as in to his toy no further than six feet away.  If anything's much further than that, forget it, he'll just go to whatever's closer by.  Funny guy!

Here's a pic of him when he woke up from his nap this morning.  He's got such a sleepy face and I love that I found him sitting up. It's the little things!  =)

Corner.

This morning after Peyton woke up, I put him down on the floor to play while I finished something up.  I heard him playing with the door stopper thingie in the bathroom and after a few minutes, I realized I didn't hear him anymore.

I went in and found him sitting in the corner sucking his fingers, looking so pathetic!  It looked like he was in time-out!  I felt SO BAD and like the worst mother for "ignoring" him.  Here's a pic, sans fingers in the mouth.  Poor boy!

Swinging!

I finally found (after asking around) bucket seat swings at one of the parks in our neighborhood & took Peyton for his first ride today.  I've been so anxious to get him on a swing because I knew he'd love it.  And that he did!

While I was pushing him, I swear I felt like there was no one else in the world but us.  He was so excited, which got me so excited, and it was almost one of the first times I've ever felt so carefree.

Here's some proof of how much fun we had!

He met a few friends, and this little boy & 

his brother had fun pushing Peyton too!

My favorite video of him ever!

11 Months!

Is it really possible that we're 24 days away from Peyton's first birthday?!  Words cannot describe how this makes me feel.  Scared, happy, sad, excited - all these emotions mixed together makes for one confused mamma!  You sure have a different perspective of life when you become a parent, for so many different reasons.  But there's never a day that goes by where I don't feel incredibly blessed by this little angel. 

Now for the fun (& not so fun) stuff!

At the beginning of the month, sadly Peyton got his first ear infection.  After his ear infection (supposedly) went away, I'm pretty positive he got bronchiolitis.  He had a horrible, deep chest cough for a good week or two, that turned into a mucusy, broken up cough, just as I was about to take him to the pediatrician again.  We held out thinking he was getting better since his cough was starting to break up, and thank goodness he did.  He's been well with NOTHING for about two weeks and I hope he stays that way.

He started telling us when he's full.  He'll push the bottle away or shake his head back and forth when he's full, and I'm so happy for this.  We've always been told since he was a newborn that they'll just stop when they're full of milk or food, but this kid never refuses anything so I found that hard to believe.

He started pointing at things.  He's getting pretty good at putting the bottle in our mouths (he finds it funny when we "drink" from his bottle) and "sharing."  He likes to pick something up and hand it to you, so we call it sharing, although I'm not sure if that's what he's doing.  :)

He had his final cranial band appointment mid month.  Which reminds me, it's been about 3 1/2 weeks since then, so maybe we'll go another 3-4 nights with it and be D.O.N.E.!  Steve and I noticed that even since his final appointment, it's improved.  I'm glad we had it shaved down one last time and continue, because I do think it's gotten even better.

He started to finally hold his own 8 oz bottle.  He knows now to tilt his bottle and sippy back in order to get more out.  Around that time, he went crazy and started accomplishing a lot of milestones that I wrote about here.  He's going from tummy to sitting up like a pro and is starting to pull up on things, although he can't quite pull himself all the way up yet.  I'm finding him sitting in his crib, but not standing.

He's definitely responding to his name and "no."  He knows what words mean, when I say doggie he'll look for Ginger, etc.  It's gonna be tough for me to know when he's using his words though.  I think that's the one thing my motherly instinct is going to be challenged with.  He's been saying "mom, or momma" and "Daa (like dad) or Dah (like dog)" but really calls everything "Da."  I just can't tell if it's in context or not.


Speaking of "no," he's become a little stinker when it comes to eating and his Partner-In-Crime, aka Ginger.  Ginger knows she can get some yummy stuff when Peyton's in his highchair, and Peyton knows she's all his during this time.  So Peyton will take his slimy food filled hand, tease her, and then put it outside of his highchair so Ginger can lick the living crap out of it.  Who knows how long this goes on for before I notice, and in the meantime I'm sure that hand of his has gone in & out of his AND Gingers mouth repeatedly.

This is where it's gotten funny lately:  Peyton and Ginger both now know that this isn't okay.  I now know that this will happen every.single.time.  As soon as the scene is about to happen, I sit and watch... I sit and watch Peyton get all excited that Ginger's coming over to him, I sit and watch his little hand come out over his highchair for Ginger to lick, THEN I sit and watch him look up at me with the most innocent look on his face, WAITING for me to say, "NO GINGER!  EH EH EH PEYTON!"  Then I sit and watch him pull it back inside his high chair and carry on.  This boy knows what my reaction will be and he's testing me!  I need to start working on my poker face, because he's gonna crack me up with the things he does and I'm gonna have to stay strong.

 
When I was pregnant, I was in Border's one day reading pregnancy books, when an older woman came  up to me and we started chatting.  She told me about a book she swore by, and it's called Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline.  Just from the title, I knew that would be a book I had to get.  I haven't gotten it yet, but I think it's about that time!

 11 Months!

A new trick he learned - "if I hit my 

sippy on the table, milk flies out = FUN!"

Lunch with Grandma!

Loves to ride his truck & balances

very well on it.

Caught!  :)

A day at the park.

"Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world, a mother's love is not."

-James Joyce

11 month pictures!

My mom and I took Peyton to Sears yesterday to get some photo's of him, one... last... time... as a baby!  We picked out a cutesie outfit and off we went.  He has his 1 year photo shoot coming up, which will be more about toddler hood (big boy clothes & shoes) and figured this would be a fun way to capture him as a little baby boy, one last time!

We had no idea we would get so many good shots, we were hoping for at least one and walked away with 10+!  I feel like most of his looks were captured & Peyton had so much fun - he was squealing, laughing, screaming, and flapping his arms in excitement the whole time!  He started doing his squinty face afterwards, which he hasn't done it months.  Now I know for sure it IS the bright camera flash that makes him do that.  He's been doing the squinty face today too, I almost wonder if he's stills seeing stars from all those bright lights!

Thank you mom for everything!  It was such a fun day yesterday!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day 2011!

I hope you're all having a wonderful Valentine's Day today, no matter who you're with or without!

Let's go back in time:

I was thinking back on all of the V-Day's we've had over the years.  Of course I thought about last year, and how it was only exactly one month until I gave birth to Peyton (little did I know!)  Click here to see what I blogged about last year.

I remember our very first V-Day in 2002 (I was 20 years old), we had only been dating a month when Steve (who lived right above us at the time, in Desert Palms) had coordinated with my sister to come over early in the morning and drop off balloons, flowers, a card, a 6 pack of Smirnoff Ice (ha!) and a teddy bear on our kitchen table.  I woke up to this surprise and was the happiest girl in the world!

A tradition we started years ago but haven't done in a few, is to go to dinner at Rustler's Rooste.  That was always fun and romantic, with a great view of the city lights from the patio.  We spent many V-Day's there.

Valentine's Day 2008

Another V-Day, Steve gave me a diamond necklace that has 3 diamonds in a row, signifying the past, present, and future.  THAT was a nice surprise!  I also remember one year he set up a treasure hunt in his apartment, that led me to an iPod.  I'm also looking at a fake flower on my desk as I write, that he gave me that year.  :)

Another one that sticks out in my mind was when he came to my car at work and left me my very first Coach purse in the drivers seat.  That was also the V-Day where I was hoping for an engagement ring (HA!) and was almost for sure the Coach purse was just to throw me off.  I (obviously) didn't get the ring, but was still a happy girl.

One year we were on a Baja Cruise for Valentine's Day with a group of friends.  He surprised me with a Guess watch I had been eyeing on the ship.

Valentine's Day 2007

2007 Baja Cruise

Valentine's Day dinner on the cruise 2007

And another year we had decided to not do much for V-Day, but I got him something anyway.  He hadn't gotten my anything and felt super bad.  The next day, he left flowers and candy in my car, which was totally unexpected because it was the next day.  haha!

I remember my first V-Day being engaged, and feeling some sort of relief.  I didn't feel like we had to "win" each other over anymore.  And the first as a married couple was even better.  Now, it's my first V-Day where I have TWO Valentine's... Peyton & Steve.  It's the best one yet!

Flowers from 2008.

When I was growing up, my mom & dad would always have cards and gifts for us in the morning.  I loved that so much and is such a fond memory I have.  I can't wait to start doing that for Peyton!

Tonight, we're planning on another home cooked meal and who know's what else!  Maybe next year we'll start back up the Rustler's Rooste tradition.

Happy Valentine's Day!  XoXo!

Gifts from either 2004 or 2005.

Our first with Ginger in 2008.
We had gotten her a month prior!
She's wearing a V-Day bandana.  ;)

Our V-Day picture for daddy!  ;)
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO!

"If you live to be 100, I hope to live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you."

-Winnie the Pooh

Ducks!

We went on a long walk yesterday and before I knew it, we were at our community lake.  There were tons of ducks quacking away and Peyton loved it!  He sat as far forward in his stroller as he could and "talked" to them the whole time.  Luckily I had some cheerios with me, so I was able to keep the ducks interested in us for quite a while.  We'll have to make this our new route every time we take walks now, and I'll remember next time to bring some bread!

On a side note, I realized that my baby really looked like a toddler yesterday.  He's grown out of all his hats so I had to use this "Toddler Colts" hat that I honestly didn't think he'd wear until he was two!  He had his sippy and snacks with him, I just couldn't get over it.  :)

Big Boy in the making.

Here's a video I took!  Listen closely and you can hear all the ducks quacking away and Peyton talking back to them!

Drummer Boy!

Peyton loves Steve's drum sticks.  They were laying on the floor one day when he stumbled upon them and it was love at first sight.

Steve loves to sit with Peyton and drum on the floor, then Peyton tries to copy him, and it always ends in a "sword" (drum stick) fight.  It's super cute!

I swear Peyton already has good form and is a natural.  He'll start dancing when Steve gets a rhythm going.  I think he's gonna be a musician.  After all, it runs in both of our families BIG TIME!!!

This video especially cracks me up because Peyton pulls the drum close in to him and then drums off to the side, as if he's on a big drum set.  I'm thinking I birthed the next big drummer of our time!

Full Speed Ahead.

Peyton is back from his sabbatical & has decided to move full speed ahead in the milestone department!  He seemed to take a 2 month break from any sort of advancement, but is back in full force.  (yaay!)  The last time he had a big developmental month was around 5 months, when he seemed to do something new everyday.

He started holding his own 8oz bottle, which happened overnight.  He had the sippy cup & 4oz bottle down, but decided to finally give in and hold the big bottle.  It seemed to just click.  Now when I hold him and feed him, he'll grab the bottle and won't even let me hold it.  Can I get a YAAY?!

He's been army crawling for a few weeks, which also happened overnight.  He's getting pretty good at it.  He'll also bounce onto his knees (pretty funny), scoot forward, but won't move his two hands forward!  What's he thinking?!  Once he figures it out, he'll be off.  I used to think he's gonna skip crawling, but he's this close, that I'm starting to rethink.

As previously blogged about, he started "walking" while we hold his hands.  Again, came out of nowhere!

He's been going from sitting position to his tummy for awhile but is pretty graceful at it now.  And just today I saw him go from his tummy to a sitting position!  He actually did it on Monday in front of Steve's dad, but I saw it with my own two eyes today!!

Lastly, when in the baby bathtub, he will turn in a 360 degree circle while grabbing for all his toys outside of his baby tub.  He tries to get on his tummy, and would succeed if I weren't there to stop him.  Eek!

These are all of the things Peyton's done within literally two weeks of each other.  It's fun to see a spike in the developmental department, especially when there was such a lull.  I think he will be the kid who crawls, starts pulling himself up, and starts walking all within a day!  :)  Oh how could I forget, he also got his first ear infection during this time period.  HA!

On a side note, here's a pic of Peyton on his walk tonight.  It's darn cold here in AZ!

This is him afterwards.  Zonked out!

And here's a cool pic I took the other night, right down the street from us.  It's been FREEZING here lately, just as it's been all around the country.  But this is big news for us Arizonians!

I hope you all enjoy your Sunday and the Super bowl tomorrow!