Cupcake Smashing

OK. I think we're going to go in reverse order with these posts, because I finished these photos first.

A few more shots of Nolan's cake smashing experience.

He was a little confused at first about why he was allowed to just dig in an make a mess. . . especially with everyone watching.

But with a little prompting, he got into it.

And when I finally put him in his high chair, he knew EXACTLY how to handle that cupcake.

I think we're going to let him go at another one this weekend on his actual birthday too. . . because it's so much fun to watch what he does.
(and I'm a sucker for the pictures)

Let the Pros do it. . .

I STILL have a ton of catching up to do. . .

BUT, in the mean time. . . I also have pictures!

We had Nolan's 1 year old photos taken last weekend. And unfortunately, he was having an out of sorts kind of day, thanks to a stupid cold and a skipped nap.

But Lauriann managed to get some great shots anyway. She must be magic! These are just a sneak peek of what she's sending, and I can't wait to see the rest!! (there are a few more on her blog, check them out!)


Thanks, Lauriann!! I love them so far!!

Tease

I have TON to post on from our crazy weekend. . . But I don't have time right now. The insanity isn't quite over yet. In the mean time, enjoy a little photo from Nolan's early birthday celebration we had Saturday night. And I will catch up SOON!!

SALE!!

Oh my word. . . I just got the best deals ever.

There is a huge sample sale at the Barn at Thanksgiving Point today. . .

J. Crew at HUGE markdowns

I got 6 sweaters for $76

And 3 of them are cashmere.

I have never owned a cashmere sweater in my life.

(It's an even better sale if you are on the small side. Both girls and guys)

The End

Countdown

I'm stealing this list from Emily. . . it was actually harder to complete than I expected. But it was a fun stress reliever to go back to throughout the day. And I needed that today.

Ten Things I Wish I Could Say to Ten Different People Right Now:
1. You have a warped sense of self. . . and that makes me sad for you.
2. You are amazing. And I don't deserve you.
3. You are wasting your time here. You are far too talented to still be where you are.
4. I want to jump in and save the day. . . I just can't.
5. You are my hero. How did you do everything you did?
6. Are you really that dumb? Or are you just pretending so people will do your job FOR you?
7. You are more amazing and talented than you will EVER give yourself credit for.
8. Stop talking. Please just stop talking.
9. 3 tickets to Jamaica, first class, please
10. Hi, monkey!

Nine Things About Myself:
1. I CANNOT let any container sit out without the lid on. Especially milk on the dinner table.
2. I have 179 blog feeds in Bloglines. And I can't stand to leave anything unread, so if I miss a day or two, it takes me a LONG time to catch up.
3. My biggest fear is drowning in a car. I HATE bridges over water.
I have lots of other irrational fears too. . .
4. I would eat air popped buttered popcorn for every meal, if it wasn't so very bad for me
5. I have an OCD need to check my email. . . ALL the time.
6. I love salt. There is seldom a meal that doesn't require more.
7. I love games like Dr. Mario and Tetris. I think it's the same spatial relations part of my brain that loves puzzles and quilting.
8. I LOVE movies. And TV. And plays. When they are done well, there is nothing better.
9. I love nothing more than making up new cupcake recipes and watching people enjoy them.

Eight Ways to Win My Heart:
1. Tell me you love me
2. Clean a room I just haven't gotten to
3. Find new music for me.
4. Tell me I did a good job.
5. Bring me a Coke when you think I might need it.
6. Talk to me like I'm an intelligent person
7. Sing along to show tunes
8. Laugh

Seven Things That Cross My Mind a Lot:
1. "Crap! I need to call . . . Why did I forget that again? DANG IT!"
2. "I hope Nolan is being nice to Tamera today"
3. "Ugh. I should clean up the kitchen"
4. "Focus. Focus. FOCUS!"
5. "I want a Granny Bs sugar cookie..."
6. "Dang, he is adorable! How did he come from me?"
7. "How long until bedtime?"

Six Things I Do Before I Fall Asleep:
1. PJs (if I'm not already in them)
2. bathroom & brush teeth
3. turn off the light and bathroom fan (Nolan's white noise while we're still up)
4. arrange my nest of pillows (5)
5. do a crossword puzzle on my phone
6. tap off the light

Five People Who Mean a Lot:
1. Ben
2. Nolan
3. Mom
4. Nat
5. Em & Stef

Four Things I'm Wearing Right Now:
1. Houndstooth Ann Taylor pants
2. Brown wool Tommy sweater
3. Brown socks
4. Brown Danskos

Three Songs I Listen to a Lot: [at the moment]
1. Fidelity-- Regina Spektor (Nolan's favorite to sing along to)
2. You & I -- Ingrid Michaelson
3. I'd Rather Be With You -- Joshua Radin

Two Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
1. Have a successful cupcake business
2. Be completely and utterly out of debt

One Confession:
1. I have a degree in theatre, but I don't enjoy Shakespeare.
If it's done REALLY well I can like it a little bit, but generally, no thanks.

Sleeping and Eating

Nolan's nap schedule got all screwed up today, thanks to a glaucoma screening up at BYU that fell at a weird time of day for us, and lasted longer than it ought to have. . .

So Nolan was a little sleepy when it came time to eat his late lunch. Sesame Street was on in the living room so he would sit contentedly for a while so I could work with one hand and feed him with the other. . . He was hitting the tail end of the pear, the goldfish, and Auntie Em's pumpkin cookie when I looked over to find him like this:

Poor kid. A nap followed soon afterward.

More Climbing

Nolan decided that one of the ottomans HAD to be scaled today.

He fell several times, but he wouldn't be deterred. He HAD to climb. So I moved the coffee table and let him do it. And took his picture, of course.

The Quilt

I'm more than a little embarrassed that it's taken me this long to take a freaking picture of this quilt. I started it BEFORE Ben and I got married (more than 2 years ago), finally finished the borders and had it quilted about a year ago. . . and then it sat. It was waiting for binding. The sides had been trimmed, the binding pieces had even been cut. . . but it sat. it's a HUGE king sized quilt. I knew the hand work for the binding was going to take me forever. And it did. . . But not as long as I thought it would, really.

It's been on our bed for about a month, and this was the first time our room had been cleaned and the bed was made to take pictures. . . (thank heaven Ben decided the mess in our room was just past the point of decency. I may never have gotten to it on my own)

And here is the finished product:

Closer up

I'm not even 100% in love with it any more, to be honest. The batik thing is probably just over. . . and in reality, I'd like something a little less busy. . . BUT, I am proud of myself for doing a quilt with circles (or partial circles). It was a fun little challenge for me. And it will do for now. I spent enough time and money on it. . .

Perch

Nolan has taken to finding a seat on his truck while he watches Sesame Street. He also likes to find his way up to a standing position on the seat, but we're discouraging that habit, to say the least.

Video Time

This is another ridiculously long and indulgent video. . . mostly because I can only be bothered to buckle down and edit every 4 months. . . And this is stuff I want to remember. Kudos to those who actually make it through the whole thing.

I'm simply amazed by how quickly kids learn and grow. I cannot comprehend absorbing that much so quickly (though I obviously did at his age)

It begins with him singing along to his favorite song. . .
Enjoy!

Happy Mail

I came home from work on Friday to find a wonderful package waiting from Stefanie. We've been swapping "happy mail", otherwise known as packages of fun little goodies for no particular reason.

Stefanie's package was AMAZING. CD after CD of awesome music, a beautiful blown glass light catcher ball, a fun book with advice about parenting from kids, a wonderful home made board book featuring our sweet little boys, as well as chocolate. . .

I was giddy. It was such a wonderful gift.

Nolan was giddy too. He got to play with the tissue paper she had used to wrap the books and CDs. I don't know when I've seen him have that much fun.Thanks, Stef! You are awesome!

Guilt

I have been thinking about the concept of guilt lately. . . we all carry some around with us for one thing or another. Even if it's not serious stuff. . . just the little "I should have called so and so back", "I haven't sent that thank you card", "I spent 2 hours on the internet tonight instead of cleaning the kitchen". . . it can get to you.

I have gone through times in my life when I had really legitimate reasons to feel guilt. But lately, it's been less legitimate things, like those I just mentioned. And things like not appreciating motherhood enough. . . And the fact that I'm a WORKING mother (oh, the horror!!)

President Monson gave a talk in conference about finding joy in the journey NOW. . . And rather than actually ABSORB that message. . . I felt GUILTY for not doing that.

And today, after speaking with several different people, and reading several blogs, the ridiculousness of that finally hit me. This is a great example of what I mean, from Chris of Notes From The Trenches:

"I think of a conversation that I had with a friend recently. How middle class mothers have taken to manufacturing things to feel guilty about. Our children are fed, clothed, have all the things that money can buy for them. They are safe and loved. Our days aren’t spent toiling away at some sort of horrible job. We have choices. Choices our grandmothers didn’t have. Something that is both a blessing and a curse.

We don’t have many valid worries and so we manufacture them. We worry about plastic water bottles, excessive high fructose corn syrup consumption, toys made in China, their fragile little psyches. And crafts… we should be doing more. . . crafts. At least that is what all those parenting magazines tell us. We worry about being perfect. When probably, hopefully, in the end none of it is really going to matter.

At least that is what I am telling myself this morning."

Go to her blog and read the whole thing.

I know it probably sounds stupid that I have to consciously talk myself out of feeling guilty. . . but I do. There are so many people out there sending us messages about what is important, I feel like I need to sit down and make a list of what's ACTUALLY important. . . Maybe I'll do that tonight.

But if I don't, I'm not going to feel bad about it.

Shrek The Musical

Ben and I are unabashed musical theatre fans.

Don't judge us.
There is great joy to be found in random people bursting out into song every once in a while.

Along those lines, I'd like to share Ben's latest find
in his own words
(because he doesn't have a blog of his own)
-------------------------------------------------------------
"It's terrifying to me that they have to make everything into a movie, a TV show, a board game, a video game, a book, and a Broadway musical these days... but there was a free download of one of the songs (it's Fiona growing up in her tower) and I hate to admit that I like it:

www.shrekthemusical.com

Also, the script is by one of my favorite modern playwrights, David Lindsay-Abaire, and it workshopped in Seattle. Nothing bad comes out of Seattle. And if it's good enough for Brian D'arcy James and Sutton Foster, I'm willing to give it a chance."

Growing Up

I put him in this outfit the other day, and suddenly he looked SO much older. . .

How did this happen?

Conference Weekend and Nolan

We got some great shots of Nolan over conference weekend that I needed to share:

I put the red hat on him out of a bin of stuff Natalie brought for him to use. I was SHOCKED that he left it on that long. He sat with Jeremy and played with his phone for about 20 minutes without taking it off.

He also spent a good portion of the weekend carrying around a wooden spool in his mouth, breathing through the hole in the middle. . .

Spinning on grandpa's office chair

His new favorite thing to do. . .
it fits up there just perfectly!

Swinging in the backyard after the rain

Today

Things I like today:

-- Redeeming Best Buy Bucks for an itunes card

-- the beautiful weather outside

-- A long baby nap

-- better than expected news on refinancing our house


Things that bug me today:

-- getting emails from Facebook every time someone ELSE comments on a photo I commented on

-- 11 month olds don't understand logic. . . or even the word "no"

-- this fabulous economy of ours, and the anxiety it causes me, despite the fact that it does not yet directly effect me

Cleaning the Carpets

So. . . I'm really not TRYING to be such a loser about posting. I keep MEANING to blog. I'm not sure what the deal is. . .

Oh no, I do know. . .

Work is CRAZY busy getting ready for convention, and we haven't had a normal weekend (or week night, it feels like) in weeks, and we won't for a very very long time. . . So I'll do my best. It's all I can promise. I've taken a bazillion photos lately, I just need to get them organized.

Friday night, before leaving for conference weekend in Syracuse, we decided it was really really TIME to clean the carpet in the living room. We moved all of the furniture (save the entertainment center) into the kitchen so we didn't have to work around anything.

I did the first pass with the vacuum, and Ben did the rest. . .
because he's good like that. . .

Nolan found the vacuum highly fascinating. . . which is a step, because he went through a stage of intense fear of it. This time, he wouldn't move while I vacuumed. I literally had to pick him up and scoot him over lest he be sucked in. . . because Kirbys are powerful beasts, you know. It could have happened. . .
But he didn't seem scared so much as awed.Then, being a new expert on the Kirby, he helped dad figure out how to attach the carpet cleaner and get this project DONE!

11 months old

We had a breakthrough of sorts on the day Nolan reached his 11 month mark.

He drank formula.
Straight.
From a sippy cup.
While I was sitting right next to him.

I have been trying to wean him during the day, as a transition to milk and for my sanity. . . (pumping at work was about to kill me off) He was being a little pill about drinking the formula. He'd rather go without, even when he was home with Tamera.

But Tuesday, she said he drank quite a bit, so I thought I'd try. . .

And he drank 2 full bottles.

And that's giving me a pretty awesome sense of freedom. . . even if he's still a mama's boy morning and night. . .