Celebrating the first year

It's hard to believe that in just a short year, this: Has become this:(Sorry for the nakey pic - but he's just got the cutest little tushie!!)

I could wax poetic about what a joy Justin is - but ya'll already know how I love my little man. So I'll just share some pics and a short narrative about his birthday parties.

On Sunday, April 13th we had a party here for him. Thankfully, the weather turned out pretty decent - so we could let the kidlets romp outside. See, I'm apparently a slow learner - I think I refuse to accept that I'm at the age where my friends have kids - and therefore I neglected to take into account their offspring in the head count. So it got a little nutty for a bit - but all in all, it was a wonderful party. And I didn't even cry!

Here's our friend Marc with his daughter Lena - figure we gotta get 'em started before the figure out the whole "cootie" deal.The cake - yellow cake with lemon filling - YUM!"What is this crap you put on me?!?""OK. I'll be cute for a bit.""What is this pile of sweetness?""OK...not so sure...""Maybe a little taste...""OH YEAH! BRING ON THE CAKE!!""All done!""Opening presents with Daddy and Jake is fun...""...but the paper is much more fun!"

The next day - Justin's actual birthday - we had a little gathering with Dana and Jen, and Mark, Hannah, and wee Steven. It was much quieter - but still filled with lots of smiles, laughs, and of course, cake!

I can't mention wee Steven without showing a pic - he's such a scootchy little peanut!Here's cake #2 - this one was the special "big brother" cake. Jake picked it out - marble cake with whipped cream frosting - helped me bake it, and helped decorate it (hence the "half a container of sprinkles" look to it)."I got this cake thing down PAT!""Finger lickin' good!""HUH? No seconds?"Playing with the train from Auntie Hannah and Uncle Mark.Here is the toy box we gave to Justin - I got it at the Mill Store - an unfinished furniture store. We got a similar toybox for Jake for his first birthday - and I was even luck enough to have some of the same stain left over!And here are the boys playing the the Castle Swing & Climb mom and dad got him - in the background you can see the playhouse they got Jake for his 2nd birthday.Although I'm so sad to see my baby grow up - I'm more excited to think of the boy he's turning into, and the man he'll become. We love you, Justin!

Note to self...

...Never give a bag of Goldfish to a one-year-old...

Spring Sprang

Mother Nature has been teasing us with some really nice spring weather - after a relatively mild winter, it's still a treat to have the warm sunshine during the day. However, being that we are in New England, I know it won't be long before a freak late-spring cold snap hits. So Jakers and I decided to try to spring some spring to enjoy all the time.

When I went to the Mill Stores to get Justin's toybox, I picked up a new birdhouse. We had one in our front tree - but it was so old and rotted that it fell to bits when Steve was trimming branches. Now we have a new one - ready for a new bird family! Every morning we can peek out the window to see if there are any residents. So far it's still empty - Jake insisted we put a snack in there for the birds to make them want to come home. We'll see how it works!

A few weeks ago I felt a weird twitch on my hand - and discovered it was the start of a little green thumb! It started with some clippings of my monster jade plant. The thing is massive - I got it when I started working at UConn, and it's taken on a life of its own. But it's a beautiful plant - and I hope to share it with others. Hopefully these little clippings will root!

The green thumb continued to some projects with Jake. First we made a "Tato Head" planter - I scooped out the top of a potato, which Jake then decorated with the parts of his Mr. PotatoHead. I added some potting soil, some grass seed, water, and POOF! A few days later Tato Head had some hair.

Once Tato Head was resting quietly in the front window, we moved on to some flowers. I thought it would be nice to show Jake how plants start as seeds - then grow into little sprouts that can be planted in the gound. I let him pick out what seeds he wanted - after much deliberation, we left Home Depot with packets of marigolds and hummingbird flowers. It's taken a bit of work on my part to actually remember to water the little pots - but as you can see, we're on our way to some pretty decent flowers!

The Return of Chef Jake

Much to my dismay, I don't have many pictures of my chef-in-training creating his latest treats - but trust me when I say, this boy loves to cook! We've moved from once-a-week cooking adventures to almost daily meetings at the stove. Any time I'm in the kitchen, Jake is right next to me. It doesn't matter what I'm making - scrambled eggs or apple cake - he's right behind me, scooting his chair next to me. And he has to give himself jobs - when we made some DELICIOUS Apple Streusel Cake on Friday, he designated himself the "egg cracker guy", the "flour dumper guy", and the "spoon licker guy".

Funny how he's never the "dish washer guy"...

New Wheels

There's been a new addition to our house - a 2007 Toyota Corolla. Yup - Steve's Civic finally died. Long story short, he brought it in for an oil change - and after a full engine check, it was determined the head gasket was shot. Sure - it could be fixed - to the tune of about $1000. So before the car was totally terminal, Steve traded it in for the Corolla. It wasn't exactly the timing we had anticipated, but we really do need 2 cars - and with Steve's travel schedule for work, there's no realistic way to get around it. Hopefully this will be the end of the major purchases for a while!

Stay tuned!!

Once again, the busy bug has hit! It seems as if I've been unable to get more than a snippet here and there of free time this past week. But there's so much to tell! Jake's turning into a master chef at 3 - Steve got a new car - Jake and I encouraged spring in our front window - and Justin turned ONE! If life ever slows down I'll be back to post pics and tell stories!

Feeling nostalgic

So it could be the complete exhaustion of today's burthday party - or the scary combination of foods I've eaten today - or maybe just the fact that my baby is turning a year old - but I was just sitting here, chatting with my friend Jodey, when I noticed the time. 945pm. And it was at this time, one year ago, that I was sitting here, chatting with my friend Jodey, when I noticed the time. And figured "Gee...I think it's time to have a baby!" It wasn't much longer before Steve and I were on our way to the hospital.

They say time flies when you're having fun - - - I must be having the time of my life, because this year has passed faster than I ever expected. Although I'm sad to see Justin's baby days pass, I'm so excited to think of the little boy he's turning into, and hopeful for the man he'll become.

I got some last night...

...SLEEP! SLEEP! I GOT SLEEP!

Get your minds out of the gutter...

Justin slept through the night - ALL NIGHT - last night. He's done something similar a few times, but it has usually required Steve or I to replace the bink every so often. So it's never really any relief for us. Well, last night, he slept from 7pm to 7am!! I think I got spoiled with Jake, who started sleeping through the night at about 8 weeks.

Seeing as Justin is a big jokester, I don't doubt that he'll be up all night tonight as payback!