Birthdays and weird weather

Bob and I have birthdays within a week of each other which is nice and convenient at times. It's interesting because even though it is winter our Oklahoma weather has a hard time making up its mind. Here is Blake on daddy's birthday playing outside.

Then the day after my birthday this is going down.

Although my birthday usually comes along with a little bit of snowy weather. Remember this?

This doesn't have anything to do with the title of my post, but this week we also got to go on our first trip to Children's hospital. Everything is fine now, but yesterday morning was a little too eventful to say the least.

Blake fell down and hit his head.  
His symptoms afterwards resembled a concussion to me so I decided it was best to take him in and get him checked out. I knew this was going to happen one day with my spirited child and it probably won't be our last trip to the ER either.

I'm not sure if this is how things go down in a children's ER, but they were really happy and kept saying, "oh, he's going to be fine." The doctor came in to check him one last time and said, "oh he's eating? He's fine." I guess they are used to dealing with parents who are not being very calm, but it just came across as if they were not very concerned. I'm sure they took good care of him and it is just the daily of occurrences in the ER that probably numbs them a bit.

This is where Blake hit his head :( Poor baby!

 Here he is afterwards eating some snacks I brought along. I'm glad I had those otherwise he would not have sat in the examination room while we waited.

After being cooped up inside due to all the snow, this was not my ideal choice of an outing. Oh well, life happens and Mr. Blake has already bounced back from this.

Containment

Ever since our little boy has become mobile there has been an ever increasing effort to keep him contained within a room and not be able to escape (get into things he shouldn't be getting into). We felt comfortable having the kitchen completely closed off and letting him have free reign over the living room and dining room area...until recently. The other night I posted this picture on Facebook.

Here is what prompted that set up.

  

 Keeping the chairs pushed in did not help at all. He would just crawl under the table, push the chair out, climb into the chair, and then climb on top of the table! When I first caught him I just thought he was having a good ole time pushing the chairs around in the kitchen and I went in there to check and there he was on top of the table. Our sweet monkey boy just wants to climb everything. Now it is just a matter of training mom and dad with the new system. One of us forgot to replace our chair after a meal and he promptly went over to climb in it.

Happy 1st Birthday!

Labor Day weekend we celebrated Blake's first birthday. It has been an incredible year of changes and firsts.

For his birthday we did another photo session at JCP and purchased the CD this time, so I can legally share the pictures here on the blog.

Here is a collage I had them make up. It's only 9 pictures. The first two rows are 1-6 months and the bottom row is 8, 11, and 12. I think 5 months old is the chunkiest he's ever been because he's always been so tall. Once he would start to get chunky he would grow some more in length :( We have tall baby problems over here at our house. Also, his jersey for his 12 month picture actually has a 12 on it. That was a lucky coincidence.

 And here is a new born picture just to compare some more.

 We invited both sides of our families over to eat lunch and watch a ceremonial cake smashing and present opening event. We opted for a banana pudding cupcake from a bakery in More called Baked! Bananas seemed safe since he likes eating them and anything super sweet he really doesn't care for and we were wanting a guaranteed cake smashing  to go down. And our little boy delivered.

It has been such a busy year. We can't believe our baby is one year old already. Happy birthday Mr. Blake!

From today's walk

On most days when the weather is cooperating I usually go on a walk in our neighborhood with my little man in his stroller. It has been a nice little routine that usually induces a nap for him during and afterward.

Today I went around noon and it was a very unseasonably cool August afternoon in Oklahoma. I noticed some girls at the end of our block playing in the front yard. What caught my attention was their art work of sidewalk chalk all over their sidewalk and driveway. I asked them if I could take a picture of it and assured them I was trying to not be a creeper, but I really did liked their pictures. Tomorrow will be their first day of a new school year. They seemed to be soaking up the last few hours of summer. They were really sweet and asked about my baby and I asked them if they had art class at their school (no, they don't...for shame MPS). I know they were just drawing doodles, but I thought the pictures were pretty good, cute at least.

Yes, that would be Ariel, the mermaid and a Canadian flag. They also had a British flag on the sidewalk and lots more drawings, but I was trying to not come across as a creeper, so I did not get an incredible look at all of it.

Speaking of walks. Our little man is taking a few more by himself these days: from couch to couch, and across the room. Here is our best video of him walking from the couch to the rocking chair. This was taken on Tuesday and he has even gotten better since then.

Mom World

I love being a mommy. Yes it has been lots of change and adjustment being a first time mother, but I really do enjoy it. One thing I don't feel I was fairly warned about was Mom World. (Yes I totally made that term up). Mom World (to me at least) is where you encounter other moms whether it is in real life conversation or merely observation via the internet, Facebook, etc. Mom world can be okay sometimes and at times pleasant. I do enjoy having friends who are going through some of the same things and who share ideas and advice that has been helpful to them.Then there are other times where it is down right scary. The scariness mostly happens on the internet through people I don't even know (thank goodness!).

I understand the need to talk with other moms and ask about things they are doing and what works for them in certain situations. But the other day I was scrolling through a new mom group on Facebook that someone I hardly know added me into it. And no, this is not the same group that some of my readers on here are a part of, I promise :). I found a thread of someone asking for a pediatrician recommendation and the comments were getting pretty ridiculous. It was to the point where I couldn't tell if these ladies were being sarcastic or if they were being dead serious. I really need to just remove myself from that group because if I really want help or advice, a social group of people I don't know on the internet is not going to be where I get my information.

Besides the internet crazies out there, Mom World isn't that bad, but it can sure sneak up on you and catch you off guard sometimes. I know moms tend to talk a lot about what they do with their little one because that has totally consumed their world, therefore that is what they tend to talk about. My thoughts ran away with me the other day and I started pondering: what if we talked about the way we cleaned our bathrooms the same way we talk about what we do with our children? For one, people would think you are strangely excited about cleaning your bathroom or they might pick up on some good cleaning tips. I began to think that Mom World can kind of be like that at times. We are really involved and consumed with our children and people may not understand that, or they might pick up some helpful tips.

 I did get a break from Mom World and being a mommy a few weeks ago. I went to the NKOTB concert when they came to OKC at the end of June and I invited a non-mom friend. We had a wonderful time reliving some old childhood memories. Since Blake was not feeling well for most of that week I forgot to even post about it.

Of course I can't end this post without sharing something from Mom World. I thought Blake was finished with the packaged baby foods we had been feeding him. His pediatrician even warned us that one day he would just stop eating baby food and only want table food, probably right after we go to the store and buy him a bunch of the baby food :) I was having a difficult time getting him to take his baby food and he would get really upset and frustrated! Turns out he just wanted to hold the spoon too!

Now Blake continues to eat squash, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, and carrots...as long as he has a spoon in his hand.

Family Night & Date Night

We had a lot of weekend of fun this past weekend.

Friday night Bob's medical group had family night at a Red Hawks baseball game. Normally, I think I would not have just decided: Hey, let's take a 9 month old to a baseball game at seven o'clock at night! Since Bob does have a little bit of a leadership position at work we decided to try it and show up for a bit.

Since we were headed to Bricktown and it has been a while since we've been there we decided to eat at Fuzzy's Taco right before the game. Blake is enjoying some beans and rice on the left. Then on the right you can see a nice lady behind us (in the gray shirt) photo bombing us! LOL! Bob says she must watch the Ellen show or something since they make photo bombing a sport.

Anyway, I think we only managed to stay through the 4th inning, but it was fun being in Bricktown on a Friday evening.

Saturday night we had a date night out while Mr. Blake went to bed for the night. We did actually pay a babysitter. It was nice to just go out and be the two of us again. We kept it simple and ate at a local sports bar, Louie's.

Then Sunday was Father's day and the two boys shared a nap on the couch. Overall a very enjoyable weekend.

Friday Funnies

I feel the need for a more light hearted post.

Here are a few picks of our boy having a good 'ole time in his high chair.

 I'm loving the cheerio stuck to his face.

And here he has rubbed chicken in his hair!

Loving our silly boy!

April Showers

April showers...bring May flowers. That could be true this spring. Oklahoma City is officially out of a drought with the 7th wettest month on record ever.

But that's not what this post is about...We have been busy with baby showers this April. We have several people in our lives expecting little ones of their own this May/June.

The first shower this month was for a dear friend/couple (B&C) at our church. I enjoy hosting showers, but it gives little opportunity to take pictures of the event. Plus having my baby boy in tow, gives even less opportunities to take pictures. But it was a fun time and even the babies seemed to enjoy themselves.

My cousin whose mom is my mother's twin sister, is due with her baby in May as well. She had a shower thrown by her college friend last weekend.

I did bring Blake to the shower and he is in most of the pictures that I took using my cousin's camera :) This was the only picture I managed to get on my phone.

My husband's cousin's wife is also expecting and I went to her shower on Saturday in Edmond.

 

At that shower they had each guest make a hair bow for the baby girl. They had a craft table set up with headbands, bows, flowers, etc. and hot glue. Every guest made a hair bow or band and hung it on a tree. A very cute idea that I had not seen before in person. (I may have seen it on Pinterest!)

Then the finale was our family triple baby shower which consisted of my sister and two cousins. My grandma has three daughters and they each have a daughter who is pregnant and due in May. It was decided at our family Christmas Eve party that a triple baby shower would be thrown for all of the mommies. Little did someone in the room know that they would turn up pregnant shortly after Christmas. Another one of our cousin's is pregnant and due in September. It has been a fun and exciting time in our family.

Pregnant sisters!

 Three pregnant cousins! (Picture "borrowed" from my Aunt's Facebook page).

My little man played and played and played...

....Until he had too much.

 That finishes up our April showers, but we have one more at church next week! Then we will have a break, at least until my other pregnant cousin's shower at the end of the summer.

Firsts in Florida

Our trip to Florida was a new adventure for our family of three. Our little man also had a few exciting things happen during our trip. The previous post documents Blake's first plane ride, which he did remarkably well with. Thank goodness! We also got to enjoy more first experiences with our little man.

We were in Orlando, FL after the OK/TX Spring Break, but unfortunately it was Spring Break in FL plus Easter weekend. Which, by the way, Good Friday/Easter is the busiest weekend for Disney World. No kidding. We were there for a cousin's wedding, so we could not help this unfortunate timing. So long story short. We didn't bother with going to Disney World and we went to Sea World instead. However, Sea World was quite a zoo anyway, I don't even want to know what the crowds were like at Walt Disney.

Here we are, Blake's first trip to Sea World.

 Lucky us, Sea World gives free admission to military and their dependants and Blake's admission would have been free anyway since he is under two years old. Well, now I understand why some places do not charge you for your child under a certain age. There were not many things that Mr. Blake was able to do inside the park except for watching the animals. In the "kid friendly" area of the park there were rides that he was not old enough to enjoy. But mommy found a slide and was able to give Blake his first ride on a slide. There he is chewing on his jacket sleeve. You can tell he is "thrilled". (Ha ha! I don't even think he knew what was going on).

 At our hotel we were able to let Blake have his first experience in a pool. I think he wasn't sure what to think about that either. We just stayed near the edge of the pool where he was able to sit up and splash. Please excuse my "mom swim suit".

We did get a small Disney experience. Our hotel was right by Lake Buena Vista and Downtown Disney was within walking distance. It is a nice area outside the theme parks with shopping and restaurants. It gave us something to do and was nice to walk around. Here are some photo opportunities we took in that area.

We really enjoy getting to do new things with our son. It has been fun watching him grow and become ready for all these new experiences.

We flew with a 7 month old. You should too!

Before our son was even born we knew we were invited to a cousin's wedding in Orlando Florida. It was not until the end of February when we had to make the final decision. Should we go? And how: drive or fly. We took the plunge, RSVP'd, and booked plane tickets. We were really going to do this.

Keeping in mind that our son is very active and not content to just sit around, I did my research. I read every article on Pinterest which gave advice and guidelines on taking an infant on an airplane.

After all of our research and efforts, I am proud to say that our airplane travels went very smoothly to and from Orlando. All of the advice from Pinterest left us overly prepared for the entire situation.

Security was a piece of cake, we were even more efficient and faster than some fellow travelers who were flying alone. I was able to wear our son in our Ergo baby carrier and I did not have to take it or him off to walk through the metal detector. They just had to swab my hands afterwards to "check" for bomb residue.

All the information I read recommended feeding your baby during take offs and landings. Great idea in theory and I understand feeding babies on demand, but can you really feed a baby on your demand? We found that a pacifier did the trick. So, if your baby doesn't take a pacifier very well then you better hope they will eat on your demand :)

On the way to Orlando, we had a connection in Houston. Our first flight was at 6 am and when we got to Houston, we had about an hour and a half to kill and Blake was perfectly happy playing on a blanket on the floor while we waited. On the way home we had a direct flight that left at 3pm. 

Here is daddy and Blake during the landing of the 6 am flight

 Mommy and Blake

Lucky for us, flying with our infant was not a traumatic experience. We were blessed with flights that were not entirely booked, which allowed us to have a row to ourselves each time. All of the flight attendants were very helpful and attentive to us. On the 3 hour flight home Blake started out taking a nap and then woke up and watched Elmo for most of the flight.

I know every child and family is different, but this worked really well for us. Blake enjoys new experiences and he also loved it when the flight attendants would come and talk to us and he would flash them his killer smile. What can I say? My son is already a ladies man.

Weekend Fun!

Last weekend Sesame Street Live came to Oklahoma City and since we have an Elmo fan in the house we took Blake.
 Here our little Elmo fan is watching me get ready before going to the show and sucking on his feet.





I realize people may wonder why we would take a less than 7 month old to such an event, but this little man is something else. Watching Sesame Street on television is one of the few times during the day when he is still and not restless. Initially, I guessed this would not be an age appropriate outing but, our little man made a concerted effort to stay awake without being grumpy. He watched the first half of the show and then fell asleep ten minutes into the second half after the intermission. Overall it went fairly well. Here he is after the show all tuckered out.

On the way home, Mommy and Daddy were hungry so we ate lunch at the Chick-fil-a by our house. Blake was happy to sit and play while we ate.

Then we made it home in time for him to play and take a nap.

It was such a beautiful day outside, that we decided to grill turkey burgers for dinner and let Blake play outside.

We even managed to go for a walk that evening.

Weekends are surely different for us than they were a year ago, but it has been a good change.

However, this weekend has been totally different. Our weather has reverted back to a wintery state and it has been cold and rainy. Plus the Easter bunny came to our house early. Both grandmas brought Blake his Easter baskets which allowed Mommy and Daddy to go out on a date alone.

We ate at the Mule which is a gastro pub like sandwich place in the Plaza district of OKC. Then on the way home we stopped for a yummy, sweet treat:

Thank you grandma for watching little Blake!

Hungry boy!

Blake will be turning 7 months old in about two weeks. That means he has been on solid foods for about a month now. Since everything I had read and researched said the order of introduction of solid foods does not matter, I decided to be "mean mommy" and start him out with green beans!

He would open his mouth and eat them, but he seemed very less than thrilled. On about the fourth day he started opening his mouth for more. After green beans he had squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes, and pears. With each new flavor his first initial response would be a face of uncertainty, but then he would always open his mouth for more and finish the pack. Until...we got to the prunes. He really liked the prunes and did not make a face of disgust like he did with all the others. Silly boy!

Here is my little prune loving man.

 He has also been a very busy little boy lately getting into things. He's not fully crawling, but he sure does a good job getting over to the toy that he wants to play with. He gets on his knees and holds himself up with is arms and lunges toward where he wants to go.

And just for fun, here are additional pictures from a Thunder photo shoot the other day.
 

Happy Friday !