the weekend in review...

Friday morning swinging and breakfast on the porch...




Friday evening water balloon and sprinkler fun with the neighborhood kids
Saturday brought a new breakfast of scrambled egg and banana for this little guy...
and grass mowing with daddy was fun for this one..
a non birthday party party with party hats, a picnic, and leftover ice cream cups with sprinkles...

and a final peek at this little guy before he abandoned the nest his mommy and daddy had made for him...

Sunday was blueberry pancakes and bananas...
a death wish for this mean lady and her sac...

and family fun at Bele Chere...



wore this little guy out!

This made my day...

Since I didn't get those rockers off Craig's List that I wanted, this e-mail totally made up for it!


Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:35:36 -0400
Subject: Parents magazine- editor request
From: Rachel.Morris@meredith.com
To: caj317@hotmail.com

Hi Crystal,

I’m an editor at Parents magazine, and am doing a piece inspired by our “Babies by the Month” goody blog post that you replied to (about taking fun photos of babies to record their growth/age). We would love to include some reader photos in the piece, and was wondering if you’d like to share your pics with us and have them featured in the magazine if they are of publishable quality. (You mentioned that you use ABC blocks to spell out the month for your son.)

Please let me know if this is something you’d be interested in, and if it is please send along your photos. Many thanks in advance!

Best,

Rachel
--
Rachel Morris
Assistant Editor | Parents Magazine
375 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10017
212.499.2040
rachel.morris@meredith.com

Throwback

Mom sent me these the other day and I thought I would share. People can say all day long that Ben looks like me and Owen looks like Danny, but I beg to differ; I swear if you put Owen's hair on either of the above pictures, it would look just like him!

12 month check-up

I took Ben in this afternoon for his 1 year well visit. He received 4 shots and a hemoglobin test. He did really well for everything. I seriously thought he might scream with the finger prick, especially when she was squeezing his little finger to get the blood in that tiny tube, but nothing, he did great! He cried and squirmed a little with each of the shots, but I think he was more scared than anything. He did manage to get a little blood on his cute new outfit :(

Here are his stats:
Weight: 21 lbs 3 oz (25%)
height: 29.5 inches (25-50%)
head: 47.5 cm (75%)

Danny watched Owen while we were gone. He took him to work with him and I just met them back at the station when we were finished. Owen was having way more fun there than at home, and he didn't want to leave. They were throwing airplanes, playing with some contraption that "shoots" air and he was running all over the place. I don't imagine Danny got much work accomplished.

See Owen (here) at 12 months.)

something sweet

little baby birds
chirping in our spruce tree

sweet kisses

naps in mommy's bed

Not down as a clown!

Trying to get a good picture for Ben's thank you notes.

Sweet Ben

This little guy has had a pretty rough week since celebrating his 1st birthday. I noticed he had a rash on his back Saturday night when I was getting him ready for Bed. I assumed it was a heat rash since he was wearing long pants, shoes (for the 1st time) and was held A LOT. I dismissed any concern until Monday when were having lunch with Maggie. Both she and I watched his face swell from the time we arrived at her house until we ate. I got really concerned then and called Danny to make an appointment for Ben during a time where he could watch Owen. He was able to get an appointment at 3:30p, and this just seemed like a long time when swelling was involved, so I called back and spoke with a nurse about his symptoms and getting the appointment changed. She thought I may need to take him to the ER, but I suggested coming there first (who wants to go to the ER w/a baby if they don't have to?). She suggested giving him Children's Benedryl and a baking soda bath, and we rescheduled for 2:30p. Maggie kept Owen and Danny and I got Ben ready (meds and bath) and took him to the Dr. We didn't see our regular Dr., but we did get an appointment with the doctor that saw Ben in the hospital (thought that was pretty neat!) He felt Ben either had Roseola or Hives. We ruled out Roseola since there was swelling and he didn't have a high fever the week before. The Hives could be from any one of the million things he was exposed to for the first time on his birthday (sitting in the grass, cake with eggs, milk, wheat, etc, bug spray, laundry det, etc...) So, now it's trial and error to find out what the cause is!

Yesterday, I noticed his left eye had become really red (along with the swelling he has been experiencing.) I am thinking it may be pink eye caused from either the allergy or picked-up from one of the kids he was around that day. Who knows. Now I am trying to decide if I should take him back to the doctor or just wait until Monday when he goes for his well check...

It's not slowed him down, which is a good thing!

Ben's Carnival: the details

On the Menu

• Hamburgers and hotdogs
• Veggie Burgers (that we forgot to cook)
• Homemade Pesto Pasta Salad
• Baked Beans
• Chips
• Cotton Candy
• Popcorn
• Ice cream cups (that we forgot to bring out)
• Cupcakes
• Animal Crackers
• Watermelon
• Sweet Tea (for us Southerners)
• Freshly Squeezed Lemonade (well, squeezed right from a can, added water and a few lemon slices)
• Soda and Bottled Water

Entertainment

• Photo booth (with clown wigs, big red noses, silly glasses and hats)
  
• Bowl-a-Ball
• Bag Toss
  
• Hole-in-One
• Sit-n-Spin
• Color-a-Clown
• Moon Walk
• Clown Cars
• Parachute (that it rained too early to get to use)
• Ben's Birthday Playlist on Danny's ipod
• and a little rain dance (about an hour too early if you ask me!)

Extras

• 4 dozen balloons
• Bucket of beach blankets for family picnics

The Best Part

• 1 seriously adorable and sweet ONE year old!
  

Online Shout Outs

Super cute invitations by Vanessa Cavaco
1 birthday t-shirt from Head over Heels
Retro popcorn bags from Hey YoYo
Red and white striped cupcake liners for popcorn cupcakes from Bake it Pretty
Balloons, popcorn and cotton candy made fresh and delivered by Party Blvd

Credit where credit is due (I'm not that good)
Caroline Armelle
Michelle Thorton
No Fuss Fabulous
Cake Central


** Final head count: 54 + 2 dogs**

12 months

This month in review...
- 6/23 stood by himself unsupported
-has his own kitchen drawer (formally the cupcake liner/icing and sprinkle drawer.)
-Can open and close doors and cabinets. He's the child that climbs in the cabinets and dishwasher!
-lets you know if he likes and especially if he dislikes something. He gets really upset and his feelings hurt easily. He's generally pretty happy unless Owen upsets him by screaming or if he wants us to hold him and we set him down
-has his own little language. He is making some very deep and interesting sounds these days.
-grinds his teeth
-brushes his hair...this reminds me of Owen at this age!
-claps when you're clapping or if you sing "If you're Happy and You know it."
-LOVES music and to dance with me and Owen to the Doodlebops!
- is a big Blues Clues, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Baby Einstein fan
- get super tickled at Alton Brown on Good Eats!
-favorite books are: Mimi's Toes, Water Water Everywhere, What Floats, Mirror Me, That's Not my Truck and That's Not My Puppy (really likes all the books with texture pages!)
-celebrated his first 4th of July
-has 8 teeth and his molars are working on making their debut
-can say mama, dada and dudududu for duck. He'll also point to a duck if you ask him where one is at.
-pulls on blinds
-can throw a ball. This is an understatement. This child can chunk a ball. He's going to be our athletic one!
- he LOVES balls!
-looks for his toys under the furniture
-6/24 climbed stairs ...he's a MASTER stair climber...very, very scary!
-LOVES looking out the windows
-will imitate us singing
-If we're lying on the floor he'll crawl over and flop down beside you and look at you so lovingly!
-LOVES to play chase and gets tickled when we catch Owen.
-has great eye hand coordination! Does really well at putting toys in and out of containers. And the Pound-a-ball is one of his favorite toys!
-throws things down the steps.
-waves hands in front of face when he's finished eating
-tries to share his toys and his food with you.
- plays with buttons on the stove. Thank goodness there is a child lock safety option!!!
-loves to play in the bathrooms (on the scale, beating on the tub and shower and unrolling the tp!)
-likes for me to hold his foot when he nurses.
-still nurses a lot! 4-5 times a day.
-ate tofu, avocado, pasta, carrots, bagels, BBQ tempeh, grapes, pumpkin muffins and many other new foods. Is showing much less interest in purees!

-wears size 3 diapers, 12-18 month clothes and size 4 shoes

Happy 1st Birthday Sweet Ben!

I have been replaying this day a year ago in my head for the past few days and over and over last night while I was trying to sleep. Every time I look at the clock I think about what I was doing at that exact moment last year. It's so crazy how vivid it all still is; just like it was yesterday.

Last night we took Ben to have his picture made at Picture People (I'll share those later.) I had a free coupon and another free sheet with the "Portrait Club" and a $10 off. So we got a 10x13, 8x10 and a picture frame for free. I stopped and got balloons on our way and the lady had already counted her drawer, so she said they were free and her gift to the birthday boy.

I guess Ben was excited to celebrate his birthday, so he woke Danny and I up bright and early at 4:49am ready to play!

This morning I made Pumpkin Bran muffins for Ben and Owen for breakfast. I thought this would be better than giving him more cake than he really needs.
He seemed to like it.Owen had two mufcakes; as he calls them.
Ben playing in the party drawer.
Bethany stopped by on her way out of town to tell the boys bye.

Ben has already received several cards and Ella brought him a birthday balloon this morning. What a lucky little guy!

They grow so fast!

This one will be ONE tomorrow...
and this one turned 32 months yesterday...

Happy 4th!

When I looked out this morning someone had lined the streets of out neighborhood with American Flags; it's so beautiful! I'll have to get out and get a picture sometime today.

We had such a nice 4th of July! Danny and I spent the better part of the day doing things in preparation for Ben's party; Danny worked on the yard and I worked on my homemade photo booth. Our neighbors invited us over for dinner and then we all headed out to our driveway to watch the fireworks. We have an awesome view of fireworks from 2 separate locations; I guess that's one perk of living on the side of a mountain. Just before the shows started, Bethany, Maggie, Justin, Miles and Liam came by with some of Bethany's friends to watch the fireworks with us. It was a busy and festive holiday!

Happy, Happy Birthday America!





*note to self... get Owen's hair cut this week!*


Here is a picture of me (and Ben) last year on the 4th. I had no idea he would be joining us in 5 days.

Little Bird, Little Bird

fly to my window...


(I noticed the Blue Spruce shaking the other day. Danny and I peeked in yesterday, and this is what we found.)

In search of...

On Sunday Danny and I took the kids to Bruegger's (sp) Bagels for breakfast and from there we went to Lowe's to look at paint for a little cabinet I found on Craigslist. Somehow, we decided we wanted to paint the dining room too.

We are quickly learning that making decisions after Bruegger's is not a good idea (this is also where we were when we decided to build this house ans "sell" our other one.)

At Lowe's, we found several yellows that we liked and that looked great in the store. We decided on Carolina Inn Crossroads Gold and black and cream curtains with a chunky black curtain rod; it looked great in the buggy and we were so excited to get started!

We ended up with French's mustard yellow....Both of us hated it and knew it needed to go QUICKLY!

After looking through a Sherwin Williams Fan deck for about 5 hours, getting suggestions from anyone willing to share their favorite colors and Googling dining room images with all possible color combinations, I finally e-mailed a friend about a color in his house...Uncertain Grey... We actually picked one shade darker, Foggy Day, and viola!

We returned the curtains, but here is what it looks like.

Yesterday I took the kids out on a mission for the perfect polka dotted fabric and wrapping paper for Ben's party. We went to CVS, Walgreen's, k-mart, Toy's r Us, Ingles and Hallmark to look for wrapping paper (I had already been to Target and Walmart and called all the local party stores.) I found way too many cute fabrics at Foam and Fabric and actually felt overwhelmed; I'm not sure I picked the right one, but I guess it'll do.

When we got home, an old neighbor came over and brought her little Kaitlyn (who I used to babysit) and she an Owen played for hours!

Today Bethany came over and we played in the pool from 11:30 until almost 4pm. Ben slept for almost all of it, but I think Owen really enjoyed having Befaney all to himself!

At one point Owen locked the house door and closed it, with all of outside but Ben who was sleeping. I panicked and was trying to use a piece of paper to break in. Thank goodness my neighbors son was walking outside and he let me use his license to break in.

As soon as I opened the door, the phone started ringing. It was Danny and he was coming home early. Whew, it was good to know that even if we couldn't have gotten in, at least Danny would have been home soon.