Happy 30th Birthday Bro

Saturday was Ian's 30th birthday. It was a fabulous time.

We ate cake.

We had pork verde, black beans, and rice burritos. We drank beers. We played at the park. Oh and there were dogs, 7 in all. All of them piled on top of eachother didn't equal a Selma.

One Year - Can You Believe It?

One year ago to the hour (as I type this) I was pushing with all of my heart and soul to birth that bambino. At 10:23 PM he will be exactally 1 year old, and probabally awake and wanting to come to bed with us. In the last year we have experienced the most intense and exhausting love.

Today is his first birthday.

We spent his first birthday at his grandpa and grandma's house eating hamburgers from RB Drive-In and cake. Jr. fed most of his hamburger to Cindy and Rocky. He did not drop a crumb of his cake.

The big party is on Sunday.

One Year Ago Today

I was massive, I was excited, I was scared and I was checked into the hospital.








































The next 24 hours plus was going to be the wildest ride of our lives.

Tomorrow is Ed Jr.'s first birthday. We are pretty darn proud of the little man he is becoming.























His nanna came to visit last weekend to help me take care of him while daddy was gone rafting.























We celebrated his birthday a little early.

Adventure Boy

It took Jr. weeks of practice to get brave enough to go out the front door. Enjoy the videos.

Happy Easter (Day Late)

I hope everyone had as great of an easter as we had. We got up early, went over to grandma and grandpa's house and hunted for easter eggs with Faith.






















Jr. found one egg and then he was done. He wanted to dump Faith's eggs on the ground and bang them together. He got $4 out of easter eggs, thanks to Uncle Ian. Obviously the eggs are a way bigger hit than the money was.



After the morning nap, it was outside all day long to work in the yard with his parents. He spent most of the day strapped to my back while I cleaned out those poor sad excuses of flower gardens. This year I think I am officially going to throw in the towel on that south side mess of a flower garden, rip out the lilly's because I love them and plant grass or put down pavers and get a cute little bench. The side flower garden only looks good because it is over run with iris. The flowers are basically weeds, and look good for about a week, but leave behind nice greenery all season that allows me to pretend that I know what I am doing.



Uncle Mikey came over and finished our new doors. We splurged and bought two new doors for the side and back of the house. They are SO LOVELY. Now all I need to do is paint them. Paint them, the shed, our bedroom, the kitchen. . . This is why I don't start painting projects, because the list of things I have left undone is unrelenting.

Okay, back to easter. The day was so fabulously warm and sunny we put sunscreen on the baby and his sun hat. He also got a new swing. It is pretty much the best swing ever. Sorry no photos. During Jr.'s unprecedented 2 hour late afternoon nap, I raked the front lawn. It was so warm and nice out, I was able to do it barefoot. I felt energized and tired all at the same time. Today my back and arms hurt, but it is a great hurt. Winter is so long around here, spring is love.



Then back to grandma and grandpa's house to play in the backyard in the walker. Their concrete patio and nice flat grassy yard makes the perfect place for Jr. to run amok in his walker, Rocky barking and chasing him. It is little boy heaven.





















Oh and on Saturday we went to GF to Ian and Brandi's baby shower. We will be getting a new cousin, William in just over a month or so. We are so very excited to have a new baby to love on.

Bonus

Last weekend Jr. got his first haircut. He no longer has a mullet, or as his uncle Ian called it, the Tennessee Waterfall. Uncle Ian captured this vid on his camera.



We saved some hair in a baggie for his baby book.


















He has returned to the evilness that is night waking. I am frazzled beyond belief, I used to think that he wasn't a very good sleeper, but I crave those days now. This 4 AM party time is for the birds.

It feels so spring like around here and Jr. and I have been trying to make the most of it by going outside to play on the lawn. It is still crusty and brown, but there is some green poking through. The other night we went down the street to watch the neighbor girls play. Jr. loved every second of it. He tore plants out of their flower garden, tried to eat sticks, soil and bark and tried so so so hard to crawl into the street. He loves being outside so much it is a crime to keep him locked up any longer.

We have some big plans to turn our gravely mess of a backyard into grass for him to be able to play play play to his heart's content. I am honestly looking forward to the hard hard hard work of digging up gravel, resurfacing the yard and placing down topsoil and sod. Then comes the swingset, sandbox, kiddie pool and sprinkler. Oh how I long for the days. . . I have this vision of us taking Jr. over to the Moogs after work and let the kids play in the yard while the parents kick back, drink some Natty Light and enjoy the Helena summer.


















Many of you know that Ed and I have been looking at houses. The one we live in is great for so many reasons, but is limiting in so many other. So far we have only found crap on crap. I don't know why the selection is so awful, but it is. We are looking for at least 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and it must must must have a decent sized garage. While the thought of moving into something new is so exciting, the thought of leaving our cute tiny little house is hard to grapple with. I love the location, I love the yard, and I love all of the work we have put in it. It is were we lived when we got married and had our #1 baby, but damn I hate that kitchen. I wish we could just pick up this house and move it and replace it with something nicer and a little bigger. I guess stay tuned. . .

Video Day

Happy Thursday, it is video day.

Stand Tall Baby

Suddenly, like he has always been doing it, Jr. stood up this weekend. Aided by the coffee table he just stood. Now anything taller than him is a potential standing aide. It makes him seem less and less like a baby and more and more like a little boy.

It is the step before taking steps. Today I was thinking about the time before he was born and I would dream about the day when Ed and I would watch our little bundle of joy take his first steps, we would clap for him, smooch and be all blissed out by the wonder of life in the background music would play and angels would sing. . . False. Ed and I are shaking in our boots, Jr. is busy busy busy and walking is going to make it harder for us to keep up with him and keep him out of trouble. On the other hand, when he walks, we can start to take him outside to play.

I am going to walk that kid around the block until he is totally pooped.

We are all looking forward to spring. The winter was long and we got some spring tease with some warm weather, even walks without coats on, now winter is back. We really really need to get outside. I mean I knew how small our house was, but it is getting smaller and smaller as winter drags out longer and longer.

Enjoy some cute photos of some really handsome men.