Dear Beckett: 38 Weeks

Dear Beckett,

I don't even know where to begin.  To be honest, I have been so overwhelmed with your enormous developmental and physical leaps you have made over the past two weeks that I am behind on my letters to you.  I have been chasing you all over!  Yep, you are now a crawler.... and a fast one too! 

 It seemed to happen in just a matter of days.  You went from going a few steps at a time to suddenly making it across the room.  You make a B-line for many things - the fireplace, outlets, cords, dog bowls, lamps, and the oven just to name a few.  Toys are out and "no no's" are in.

I have tried to distract you with new toys and fun things to chomp on, but you are pretty determined to get into as much trouble as possible.  

One of your favorite discoveries are the rugs.  You are constantly looking under them.  

I have been SO proud!  You will often mimic me doing all sorts of activities.  For instance, when I tap two toys together, you will do the same.  Or if I drop an object and say "uh oh" you will drop it when I say "uh oh" again.  That and peek-a-boo are two of your favorite games!

We have stayed busy with other activities too.  You LOVE swimming lessons.  Our first class was a success.  You  had a great time splashing your hands in the water and watching other swimmers splash and kick.

Skills we work on are getting into the water safely, blowing bubbles, doing the "monkey crawl," splashing, kicking, laying on your back, and going under water.  I am pretty amazed that you are actually making progress in all of these skills!  After three lessons you will put your face in the water and not cry when going under.  

We have also tried some mess free finger painting.  

And a play date with Hattie.

I love this picture!  This was the first day you were really crawling all over.  She was faster getting to a toy than you and you did not like it one bit!  Look at that face!  I see a bit of your dad's competitiveness there.

All of this crawling has also made you a very hungry boy.  You have suddenly gone through a huge growth spurt.  You wear mostly 12-18 month clothes, especially in onesies and shirts.  Your pants tend to be 6-12 month sizes.

You love to feed yourself - baked potatoes and avocados are a new favorite.  And two more top teeth help you with your eating!

Water is delicious!  You are learning to use the sippy cup by yourself, but it tends to end up all over your clothes instead of in your mouth.

We celebrated your first Valentine's Day a little early.  You got to open presents from both set of grandparents.   Ribbons are lots of fun!

You are also doing a lot of babbling.  You love to say "guh, goo, geh," etc.  On several occasions you have repeated what I've said to you "goo goo gah gah" and "hi!"  Your dad and I both heard it as clear as can be!  I'm not ready to say that "hi" was your first word yet (although you have said it twice), but maybe if you do it again I will.  

You also like to make silly faces when you are talking!

Funny boy, you keep me laughing.

Your daddy also keeps me laughing.  He loves to play and be silly with you.

He says you are his best accessory.   According to him you complete any outfit.  Here's my models:

I'd say he's right!

But the past two weeks haven't been all fun and games.  For 5 days you ran a 101.5 temp.  Without any other symptoms, we worried that you had a UTI (which in your case would lead to a kidney infection and additional scarring).  Per doctor's orders we went to the Children's Hospital to do testing.  THANKFULLY, the test was negative!  We were so relieved!

We love you so much, sweet boy.  We can't believe how fast you are growing up!

We love you.

Love,

Mom

Happy Valentine's Day!

We hope your day was filled with lots of love!

Fuzzy Headed Boy

It was an exceptionally good crazy hair day today.  

Midweek Randoms

And here we go for this week's randoms....

* This is my 101st post!  Wow!  That's a lot of writing :).

* We officially have a crawler in the house.  For weeks now he has been doing a few rocks, scoots, and crawls but now he is on the move.  He doesn't venture far, but he can definitely get where he wants to.  Gone are the days when I can sit him down and just snap, snap, snap pictures of him.  Here's what I got today:

* And in reference to the above, I have been working on baby proofing the house - mainly working on the lower cabinets and clearing out all of the cleaning supplies and other unsafe items.  It will never be completely baby proofed.  I am keeping plenty of things around that aren't harmful, but I don't want him to play with.  Gotta start setting boundaries at some point, right?

* I need to figure out how to set "boundaries."  How do you "discipline" an 8 month old?  He knows words like momma, dadda, mum-mum, all done, loud, uh oh, etc.  He seems to ignore the word no though.

* I wrote our last health insurance check this month.  I shall not miss that enormous bill!

* For some accountability, I thought I would record my best run for the week.  Here it is:

Ran with Beckett 3.00 miles, 11:41 avg. min/mi

I'm not claiming to be fast, but I am happy to have done 3 miles with the jogging stroller.  Plus, I can't go too much faster because the sidewalks all have bumps that are too jiggly for B.  Also, here are 3 of my favorite running motivators..... 1.)Runkeeper app for the iPhone: You select the type of workout (running, walking, etc.), choose your iPod playlist, and it will record your distance and pace using gps.  Very cool! And it's free :).  2.) Rockmyrun.com: This is also free (and legal).  You can download different play lists of mixed songs.  It's nice to have some variety 3.) Old Navy Workout shirts: In the stores they are on sale for $10 right now and are a good length and fit.  

* I made Martha Stewart's Butter Pecan Sweet Potatoes for the Super Bowl and they were very tasty.  I love anything broiled.  Yumm-o.  I only used 3 potatoes and just guessed on the other measurements, but here's the recipe.  It's super easy and good.

Ingredients

• 8 medium sweet potatoes (5 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Coarse salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup pecan pieces
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel potatoes and halve lengthwise; slice crosswise 1/2 inch thick. On a baking sheet, toss potatoes with olive oil; season with coarse salt.
2. Transfer half the potatoes to a second baking sheet; cook both sheets until potatoes are tender, tossing occasionally, 25 to 30 minutes.
3. Sprinkle with butter, brown sugar, pecan pieces, and cayenne pepper, dividing evenly. Bake until sugar is caramelized and hard, about 10 minutes. Gently toss; serve immediately.

A few pictures (if you can imagine that)

I love to take pictures.  I even love the process of trying to get a "good" picture - finding the right light, background, clothing, camera settings, and trick to capture the right smile.

These pictures, for example, were done for Valentine cards.  I think they are adorable.

Of course it took about 50 pictures to find the few that weren't out of focus or with strange expressions.  I was having a hard time trying to get Beckett to look at the camera that day.  He was interested in licking the fuzzy white cloth.  But that's ok.  

 Some of my favorite pictures are out of focus,

with terrible backgrounds,

interesting clothing choices (or lack thereof),

and serious expressions.

They might not ever be printed as an 8 x 10 for my mantel, but I love capturing the day to day life with Beckett.  Time is going by so quickly and it's ok if it's not all perfect.  That's life!

Midweek Randoms

I decided to start doing some "Midweek Randoms."  Probably not every week, but I do think of things I want to blog about, and this is a short and easy way to do it.

So, here goes.....

* I found a new shower curtain at Home Goods this week.  I love that store.  All of the colors match the bathroom really well and I like the print.  That combo is hard to find!  What do you think?

* Apparently I have a fear that whenever Beckett starts using dishes I won't have a way to feed him.  This.is.ridiculous.  He has more cups than I do!  And, sadly, I found even more stashed away.

* There is a new baby shop in Highland Village called "Addison June."  They have some very cute things.  I found this baby popsicle mold that I thought B would love, especially when teething or this summer.  I haven't tried it yet, but I will soon.

* You can call me DIY Missy from now on.  The drill and I have become good friends.  This week I re-hung several curtain rods that were never as far out from the window as I would have liked.  It's amazing how much better it looks when you fake having big windows!  I actually do have big windows, but now they look really big.  Me likey.  I'm also rearranging the wall decor in there.  That is a whole other story.

* I broke down and started to watch "Downton Abbey."  It's really good.  If you like a good period piece a la masterpiece theater style.  It's interesting to learn about the class system in the early 1900's.  I know, I sound like I am 50 years old.  Come to think of it, everyone who suggested it to me is over 50.  Hmmmm.

* I have been hitting up some of the end of season sales.  Mostly for Beckett.  I'm just trying to get him some good basics for the summer and a few things for the fall/winter.  Here's my model in his new shirt:

* And, finally, here's my attempt at this week's photo challenge in my photography group.  We were suppose to show "light in motion." I used a flashlight to create some stars.  It was actually kinda hard to do!  (But fun!)