Stepping up

This little guy started taking several steps in a row today!  When he did it this afternoon he put his back on the entertainment center and stepped away taking five or six steps before tipping over.  I clapped and said "yay!!!!", and told him how proud I was.  Then he showed papa his new skills today after dinner.  I feel like this is huge for him!  Hooray Sullivan!

~Megan

11 Months (9.23.11)

Sullivan,

Sweet baby boy this month has been so much fun.  You are so smart.  For example, yesterday I asked you where your books were and you went straight to them.  I also tell you to put things away and you do your best to...haha!  I love watching you do your thing throughout the day.  You help me take your shirt off for bath-time,  you love to lift things up off the ground, and both your papa and I saw you take a couple little steps over the weekend.  

You wear size four diapers and a pretty big range of clothes.  In some things you wear 12-24 months and others 2T.  It just depends.  I have so much fun dressing you because everything looks good on you.

You still give wet kisses and sometimes bite.

You love your crib for the first half of the night still and we are working on keeping you there all night.  But...I do love cuddling with you.  Oh how I love that.

You are a people watcher like momma.  

I love that you clap your hands so perfectly and that you say "ball" one hundred times a day.  As soon as you hear the dishwasher open you come crawling as fast as you can.  We always race to load and unload it or else all of the utensils will be on the floor :)  

At the grocery store this month I handed you a box of spaghetti for just a few seconds, that's all it took for you to chew a nice hole through it resulting in a large pile of spaghetti noodles on the floor of the Italian section.  I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I did my best to pick it up.  I made a note to never give you a box of noodles again :)

You are still nursing like a champ.  Baby carrot sticks are your favorite.  You nibble on them and shave off small pieces.  You also like grapes.

You love to take a nap in the jogging stroller.  We make a good team.

This is how you play peek-a-boo.  Right here you are hiding.

This is you not hiding, and I'm saying "peak-a-boo."   Its one of our fav games to play.

Sully you have captured our hearts.  My words don't properly express the love we have for you.  

~momma

Fun Stuff

I made this Christmas card holder wreath a few weeks ago but I finished it up last night.  I can't wait to use it!

I had the wire hanger, felt, and clothespins on hand and just had to buy the red beads.

My inspiration came from this green one below on Pinterest.  I didn't feel like spray painting mine but its still turned out great.

Source: craftinessisnotoptional.com via Megan on Pinterest

At the beginning of the summer I showed you guys the pots I made filled with basil plants.  Well, those died while I was in Arizona so when I went to Lowe's I scored these succulent plants for $1 each!  

Pretty right?

Today Sully missed his second nap.  He normally takes two but sometimes likes to skip that early afternoon nap normally from (2-4ish).  Probably skipped it because we were having too much fun playing.  He started say "ball"  a few days ago.  I never knew that ball could sound so cute.  He also just started reorganizing things his way.  Now I find things in curious places.  He also sometimes puts things back were they belong when I ask him to.  Of course I think he's a genius :) 

These are my favorite kinds of laughs, the one's where you throw your head back because its just.that.funny.  He is sooo ticklish and I love it!

Momma and Sully cuddles.

Happy weekend!

~Megan

Recent Crafts & Random Thoughts

I've been quite crafty so far this week.  I am mostly trying to put together things for Sully's one year photos that I'll take NEXT month.   I added the number 1 with fabric I had on hand to a plain white t-shirt I got at Target on sale for $1.25.  I also want to make him a pair of pants with the fabric.  I think it will be adorable on him.

I wanted the edges of the fabric to fray for a more distressed look so I sewed a little bit away from the edge.

Haha I made this felt number one.  Its about 12 inches tall.  Sully already wants to get his hands on this one, pun intended :).  I am also making various kinds of garland to hang and a wooden sign.  Both are in progress right now but I'll post pictures of the finished product.  By the way would anyone ever want to see tutorials on how I do some of this stuff?  Let me know!

I also found a bunch of cute free printables to hang in frames around the house.  This one is from here.  I also have this one too.  I got the frame at Michael's for $4.99 and it fits an 8x10 print.  Pretty good price for art!

 Now for a few randoms:

• Tonight after dinner we went to the DQ as my family calls it.  I got a mini oreo blizzard.  It was delicious! 

Sully and papa tonight having fun outside at DQ :)

• I have given Sully an extra week to recover from his cold before we attempt the Mom's On Call Sleep training again.  I am dreading it already.

• I ate this kale salad two days in a row.  I love it!

• Sully has started to stand up in the middle of the room now and sometimes walks while holding just one of my hands.

• My aunt bought me the most delicious smelling and luxurious feeling sugar scrub at Wholefoods last weekend in Baltimore.  I am really obsessed with it, and will be sad to see it get used up.

• Any suggestions on natural lotions for babies?  I think Sullivan has super sensitive skin, he broke out in a rash when I put a little Burts Bees buttermilk bath soak in the tub.  I am looking for something with few ingredients, even just oils I can put on him after his bath.  So throw your favorites my way please!

Well I think that's enough random thoughts for one day!

~Megan

Day trip to Baltimore

Yesterday was so much fun.  It started early, like 3:20am early.  We packed up the car and headed to Baltimore to visit my aunt and uncle who are there for work/fun this week.  It was about a three hour drive and totally worth it.  We met up at their hotel and then walked to get breakfast at the Blue Moon Cafe.  Here are some pictures along the way.

Beautiful ship in the harbor.  I like to use the word "harbor" as much as possible. :)

Gorgeous scenery.

Arty.

Aunt Tammy.

Ahh this place totally lived up to the hype online.  It was featured on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" and the food was fantastic, plus we didn't even have to wait in line.

My uncle and I both got the multi-grain pancake special.  I think we would both agree that they were yummy however, the side of bacon we both got was hands down the best bacon I have ever tasted.  So smokey!

Arty and my aunt got the "Sweet Baby Jesus" special.  It had hash-browns, crab, eggs, and hollandaise sauce.  I think that's all that was on it but I'm not 100% sure.  All I know is that this completely rocked my world.  So did the cinnamon roll that we had to-go.  It was unbelievable.
  

Sully with Tammy.

Sully, Tammy, and Scott.

Let me tell you a little about how this is made.  Do you see that tiny picture hanging on the right?  Well on it is a picture of a 180 pound grouper caught in Cabo.  Basically the artist puts ink or paint on the fish and stamps the canvas.  Then I think he wraps the canvas on frames.  It was incredible!

Sully and Arty.

Uncle Scott and Aunt Tammy!  Thanks for a great day in Baltimore!

There is a World Trade Center Institute in Baltimore.  In front of the building is this metal from the World Trade Center in New York.

Around the wall that this is mounted on are the names of people who died in the World Trade Center from Baltimore.

Another boat...there are lots.

Here we are.  I look exhausted, which I was and this picture is a little blurry.  Thanks honey.   Truly a great time though.  I can't wait to go back.

~Megan

Mom groups

I went to MOPS (mother's of pre-schoolers) today and it was funny.  I dropped Sully off in the nursery and checked back to nurse him.  Not even fifteen minutes later I hear "Sullivan's mom" on the microphone again, yes this happened at the last meeting too.  So I go and nurse him put him down and watch him crawl swiftly and happily away so I quickly walked out of the nursery and back to the room where all of the moms were chatting.  Then I feel a tap on my shoulder because my baby boy was climbing into the built-in shelves and bonked his head, though I couldn't see a mark.  I took this as a sign that my sweet boy was going to hang out with me for the rest of the time.  We played games with our groups and one mom held Sully while I did a jogging stroller "competition" and to my utter shock he fell asleep on her shoulder.  Poor lady's arm was probably numb when he finally woke up, I only say that because sometimes mine goes numb too.  We had a great time.  It's so nice to have a place to go and meet other mom's in similar circumstances as you.  I see lots of play-dates and fun in our future.

~Megan

Our Tuesday

Yesterday started at 7am with home-made nonfat latte.

Delicious.

Sully pushing a little toy across the kitchen floor in his pajama shirt and fresh diaper.  This is what he does 

multiple times a day almost always with a different object though.

Morning snack.  This blender was a birthday gift from the hubs a couple years ago.  I finally decided to start making smoothies in there.  It is addicting.  Here's what I like in it:

-Frozen blueberries

-Spinach

-Banana

-Almond milk

-Sometimes ground flax seed too or a scoop of vanilla protein powder

You can't even taste the spinach and it tastes so good!

Went to the same park again but this time I noticed cute painted birdhouses in the trees.

We explored the park a little more and discovered a small creek and walking trail.

Sully loved the leaves yesterday.

He was especially focused on the crunchy ones.

Haha he was coming at me fast in this one.  Love those out-stretched arms.

I'm not sure what kind of tree this is but it had fruit on it.

It was a great day.

I know I mentioned in my last post that I got the white noise machine that Moms On Call recommends and tonight is the third night we've used it.  I really like it because it blocks out other noises from around the house.  I have it on the "white noise" setting but there are lots of other modes to choose from.   I think Sullivan likes it.  He seems more content in his crib so that alone makes this momma happy.

~Megan