Painting with Pudding

This last week has been an interesting/hard week because little muffin Gage has had RSV. We have been inside all week and it's not getting any better because we are in the middle of an ice/snow storm right now. Gage and I are getting a little cabin fever so I knew that we were going to need something to entertain him today. When I use to teach we did a teddy bear unit and we use to paint teddy bears (printed on paper) with chocolate pudding. So, today I used that same kind of idea with Gage except no teddy bear. I just gave her a container of pudding and taped a paper to his high chair and let him go for it. He had a lot of fun and it entertained him for a good thirty minutes!!

Gage's One Year well check and some fun videos!

We had Gage's one year well check today, finally, after being rescheduled three times. (Just a few days shy of being 13 months) He is doing fantastic according to the Dr. He weighed in at 24 pounds exactly which is in the 50-75%. He was 31 inches long which is in the 75-90% and I don't remember his exact head circumference but I know he was in the 75% for that too. He has been pretty cranky lately and not wanting to eat so I just assumed it was teething. But after two very long days of fussiness, no eating and serious diaper issues (these details I will gladly leave out) the doctor said he could have caught a minor stomach bug, or he could be teething but didn't seem to be worried about it at all. He is cutting tooth number five (I know, a little late) but don't you worry only having five teeth doesn't keep him from eating like a champ. He is growing up so quick and changing everyday. He can now say momma, dadda, and dog and points and makes sounds at lots of things (He tries to say nana for bananas but isn't quite there yet). He loves to play peek a boo, flip through books (for hours), dance, and be outside (any outside activity is good to him.) His favorite song is "The Wheels on the Bus." (He loves it!!) He also doesn't take a bottle anymore. He was only getting one at night, and shortly after he turned a year, we made the transition from bottle to sippy cup at night. He did great and really didn't even seem to miss it. His favorite food by far is bananas. He can't seem to get enough. We try to limit him to one banana a day. It's so funny when we go grocery shopping and he sees them, he gets so excited and wants to eat one in the cart. So now, I have to try to sneak the bananas in the cart which is very hard to do without him seeing the huge display. Gage also has no problem sleeping (thank goodness.) He goes to sleep at 7pm and typically sleeps till between 7-8 everyday. One day this week, I had to wake him at 9. (Growth spurt much) Anyway, He is an amazing little boy and we thank God everyday for the blessing he gave us! I will leave you with two videos of the Gage man showing off some of his latest tricks. The first one is a quick video of him dancing (before my battery died) and the second one is of him saying dog (kinda hard to hear) and showing off some moves from Gymboree class.

Childrens Science Museum

Saturday was a cold yucky day and we were starting to go stir crazy. So after Gage's afternoon nap, we headed out to the Children's Museum. We knew that most of it was still going to be over Gage's head, but they have this area just for children 0-3 that is all hands on activities, right up his alley. His favorite by far, was the huge water table. (Along with all the other kiddos in that area.) We spent probably a good hour in that area alone, just letting Gage go where ever his little heart desired. After playing in there, we took a quick tour through the rest of the musuem, letting Gage walk/run/stroll while also enjoying a little snack. He also loved watching this hot air balloon go up and down. He would sit and point to it and make this funny noise like he was trying to say balloon. He was mesmerized!! We were only there for a little over two hours, but boy was that money well spent. Gage was so tired by 6:30, we gave him an early bath and he was "lights out" by 6:45! I can't wait to spend many more Saturday's back at the Museum as he gets older. I took a few pics, but forgot my good camera so had to use the IPhone. Sorry if some are a little blurry!

(You can't see but we were in a space ship, hence the awkward way I am sitting.)

Practicing with my new Lens!

Daniel got me a new portrait lens for my camera for Christmas, so I have been playing around with it. Of course who better to take pictures of then Gage! Here are a few I took last week after he woke up from his nap and was in a great mood. For some reason that day, he was really feeling the need to pester our dog, Macie, which made for some great pics.

Play Date!

We had a small play date at our house today. I have met some very sweet moms and kiddos through Gymboree and we had a few of them over for lunch and socializing. Stella was the only girl but she kept those boys in check and I know Meacham and Gage enjoyed having another playmate. We had some yummy soup and then played inside for a little bit before bundling up and heading out to go on a little walk in the wagon and Cozy coupe. It was lots of fun and Gage and I can't wait to do it again soon! Thanks for coming guys!

Meacham-1 year, Stella-14 Months, Gage-1 year

He is officially walking well!

Gage has gotten so much better at walking!! It is so weird to see this little baby, come around the corner walking!

Gage taking his first steps!

Here is a video of our little man taking some of his first real steps. Sorry for the horrible camera work and the dog. It was hard to try and do both!

Gage's Winter ONEderland Birthday Parties!

I can not believe that our little baby boy turned ONE on December 29th. I know every time I write a post reflecting on his life I always say, "Time Flies" or "It went by so fast" but it's amazing how true this is. I don't know where the last year went.
We wanted to do something special to celebrate the special day so we set up a party. Well let me rephrase that, we set up three parties. To make a long story short we have a very big and complex family situation (divorces, remarriages etc.) so getting everyone together for one big party is kinda hard, plus the fact that we live out of state and want to celebrate with our friends and neighbors here also added a wrench in plans. So we decided to use the same theme and decorations for all three parties and just do them at different times.
The first party was thrown at our house here in Oklahoma before all the holiday hub bub began. We had his party on December 19th. There were lots of friends and neighbors here to help Gage celebrate.
The next two parties were in Houston. One we had at my Dad's house with lots of family. It was great to have his Grandparents(on that side), Great Aunts, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins around for the big event. This party was on December 28th, the day before his actual birthday.
The last of the birthday extravaganzas was on December 29th. We had another Winter ONEderland party at my Moms. She did an amazing job with all the decorations and food, and I know she worked so hard to put it all together. Thanks Mom! It was great to see lots of old friends with there precious little ones, and friends and neighbors I grew up with.
We are so very blessed to have all the family and friends that we do. We had such a great time celebrating our little guys special day. Can't wait for birthday number two.
I decided instead of posting a bunch of different pics, I would just put together a slide show of all three birthdays. They are in order of which they happened. (It's a little long but worth looking at. There are some great pics with him and his cakes.)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We go for Gage's one year well check in two weeks. (I know-a little late) so I will post all his stats then but for now I will leave you with a few one year milestones.
One Year milestones:
-Started walking three days after his first birthday.
-Eats pretty much all big boy food now. (Some of his favorites are peanut butter and jelly, whole wheat waffles, nutri grain bars, strawberries, bananas and soy yogurt.) However, he is not really picky and will at least try everything. (except does not like avocado)
-Only takes a bottle at night filled with 4 oz of soy milk. (Still has a slight lactose issue.-Breaks out into a rash, not near as bad as it use to be however.)
-Doctor said to start trying to introduce a little bit of milk products to see if it still effects him, so we have been giving him a little bit of cheese here and there and he seems to be doing ok with it.
-Loves his white blankie that Ms. Peggy made for him and when you go to pick him up from the crib in the morning or after nap time, he always has it in hand and has to bring it with him.
-We are starting to only let him use the passi during sleep and nap time, however it has been kinda hard to enforce this during the traveling and teething times that we have been going through lately.
-He loves books. He will pull all the books off his book shelf in his room and sit for a good 15 to 20 minutes just flipping pages. (Doesn't sound like a long time but to entertain a one year old for that long is amazing.)
-He will wave bye,bye and loves to point at things, especially lights. He will clap, raise his hands to get a high five and loves to play peek a boo. He has just started "dancing" a little when music is on. (His dancing consists of kinda bobbing up and down to the beat.) He says Dada like crazy but only says Mama when he is upset, or crying.
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Gage's first Christmas

We had a very nice, quiet Christmas in Oklahoma just the three of us. We decided to stay here, to kind of start our own family traditions, plus we wanted Santa to come to our house. I can honestly say this Christmas was one of the best Christmas's of my life. I think it is just as much fun being a parent on this special day as it is being a child. I think Gage knew it was Christmas because he was up bright an early (6:30 am) When he came out to the living room, he noticed his Santa presents and stocking and dug right in. We let him open his stocking and then we took a short break for breakfast and much needed coffee for Daniel and I. After that, it was time for presents. Gage was real into the first two or three and after that he was over it. Daniel and I basically opened the rest of his for him and then exchanged presents with each other while he was playing with some of his new toys. The rest of the day was spent putting together toys, admiring the pretty snow, and being lazy in our PJ's all day. It was an amazing Christmas and we can honestly say we live the BLESSED life! God has truly blessed our family. We left for Houston the day after Christmas, so next post will be of our visit there and Gage's Birthday Celebrations!

Blizzard Christmas Eve 2009

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted! It has been a busy couple of weeks between, Christmas, Gage's first birthday, and traveling to Houston. We are back now so I am trying to catch up. I am working on posts from Christmas and his Birthday and I will try to get those done tonight. For now we are going to start with the Blizzard that hit Oklahoma on Christmas Eve.
When we woke up that morning, it was only lightly drizzling with a freezing rain. Both Daniel and I made some comment that I am sure the weather men are wrong and we will probably only get a few flurries. Well boy were we wrong. It quickly turned from rain, to sleet, to snow within about an hour and it snowed from about 10am until 10pm. I have never seen anything like this. It was a complete white out. We couldn't even see the neighbors house across the street because of the blowing snow. Needless to say, we had a white Christmas but it was also about 19 degrees so it wasn't really snow we could get out and play in. When it was all said and done, we had a record breaking 14 inches with snow drifts between three and four feet. Christmas Morning, the storm had stopped and the sun came out for a while, so we were able to get out and take a little walk around the neighborhood to take some pictures. It was so cold but so pretty to see all the snow. Daniel attempted to shovel some of the snow, but soon gave up when our friend came by with his bobcat and plowed our drive way. It was so beautiful but made for a very interesting drive to Houston the next day. (More on that to come in future posts.)
As I am typing this, there are still probably 2 inches of snow in our back yard and in some places more. Here are a few pics from Gage's second snow storm. (It snowed last year when he was only a few months old and it was probably only 2 or three inches.)