Too Cute!

Lee was trying to get my attention while I was dealing with a stupid Chrysler person on the phone. After he couldn't get my attention completely he went and got reinforcements.

I turned around and this is what I saw. Seriously, it doesn't get any cuter!

My Dear Sweet Boy - Part 2

When you insist (and by insist I mean you drag a kitchen chair over to where I'm at and climb up on your own) on helping me bake cookies, please don't eat what we're baking. People do not enjoy eating food that you have licked/taken bites out of.

Thank you very much.

Love, The Mean One (Mommy)

A picture is worth ...

My dear sweet baby boy. When Mommy spends the time to get you nicely dressed, put on socks & shoes, does your hair, wipes your face, gets out her camera, sits you down and asks you to smile, COULD YOU PLEASE COOPERATE???? All I wanted was 10 minutes of your day to take a Christmas picture. I did get a few, but here is just a small dosage of what it was like asking you to sit still.

Lee: Ok, all done, you got a picture. Please pick me up!
Mommy: No buddy, just sit there and smile nice and then we're all done.


Lee: Ahh, I don't want (sniff) to sit (sniff) here any longer.
Mommy: I have a brand new Barney movie for you if you smile nice!!



Lee: Oh, Barney does "Wheels on the Bus" maybe Mommy will do wheels on the bus...
Mommy: Singing "The boys on the bus smile nice for Mommies"

Lee: That's not how the song goes, I'm not liking this one bit.
Mommy: LEE, for petes sake just SMILE!!!


Lee: Don't yell at me, I was just sitting here like you asked.
Mommy: (thinking: for the love of ducks, why am I trying to do this myself).

Lee: That's it, I'm out of here. It's been 4 minutes and I'm done.
Mommy: Ok, fine but you're NOT getting your Barney movie.





Somewhere between all that uncontrolable funness I did get a few shots and if you want a peek at one that's similar to the one on your Christmas card scroll down. Otherwise, it will be mailed to you shortly, well, if I know who you are reading this.
































Merry Christmas!

Love,
Steve, Sara and Lee

Update Coming Soon!

Sorry for the longest lapse in updating. I promise within the next few days I will have a post! Until then, here are a few adventures in Lee's world.

Climbing on EVERYTHING!

Stuffing things up his nose.

Animal Sounds

Lee knows the sounds to the following animals:
- Horse
- Cow
- Cat
- Dog
- Sheep
- Owl
- Snake
- Bunny (not a sound but he makes a bunny face)
- Duck

He will also do the sign for bird. I keep trying to get a video of him doing these animal sounds, yet once the camera turns on, he freezes and won't say them. Here he is hamming it up, NOT saying his animal sounds!

Please ignore my continued cackeling and singing. Everytime he makes that face I laugh.. errr.. cackel.

I love my Dada!

Wrestling on the couch!

New Art Easel

Here is a video of Lee enjoying his new art easel we got him today.

A favorite body part!

Lee has been infatuated with a certain body part lately. For instance, his ear. If you ask him where his ears are he will point to them right away. If you ask him where his nose, eyes, mouth or head is, he will pause and then excitedly point to his ears. That's all he cares about.

Corn on the Cob!

A boy taking after his Mothers heart. My absolute favorite thing to eat is corn on the cob. Lee is also a fan ;) I had cut some off for Lee to feed him but he didn't want to eat it that way. So I gave him what wasn't cut off and he took little nibblets here and there. He loved it.

PS - Don't worry, it's not a cut above his eye, it's just ketchup. That's what happens when you let Lee feed himself with a fork. It's in his hair, ears and eyebrows. It's a fun way to eat... everyone should try it!

14 Months Old!

Here are a few video updates from the past 2 months. It's crazy how fast he's growing and how much he's doing these days. Temper tantrums are at an all time high. He's really good about time outs now. He will sit there and just stare at you and say "all done".

I've started putting Lee down only 1 time a day for naps. It's usually around 11:30am. He's just too tired in the morning. Here's what his day looks like now (I am mainly just keeping this for future reference).

8am - Wake up/Breakfast
11am - Lunch/Nap
3pm - Wake up/Snack
5:30pm - Dinner
7pm - Bedtime

He loves to sleep. He will say "nye, nye" when he's sleepy and go to the gate at the stairs and stand there. Lee knows the signs for "all done", "more" and "amen". We're working on signs for milk and bath. He seems to not want to do milk, but he can do it. He says "nummy, nymmy, nummy" when he wants something to drink. He also stands by the fridge and stamps his feet.

Lee will bring you his shoes when he wants to go outside. He will also go stand by the door and point talking complete jiberish and looking at me like I should know what he's saying. Ha, ha.

He loves animals. He can make a dog, a cow, and a owl sound. We are working on cat and pig. That's all I have for right now. Here's a few videos that I have taken the last two months.

We have been deciding what to do with our flooring in the kitchen/dining room. Long story short, we are going to be doing a laminate flooring. Here is Lee dancing on a sample that we got from the floor store. This was about 2 weeks ago.


Steve was watering the trees and grass today and Lee was having fun running from the sprinkler. You can see him shivering from the cold water. He also does his "more", "amen" and "all done" signs.


Ha, ha, this is how we eat oreos in our house! Lee's 13 months old in this video.

Poor Fella... also an update!

I noticed today that Lee has bruised gums where his 1 year molars are coming in. On the top left side of his gums they are black/blue and very swollen. It's bruised all around where his tooth will be coming through. He seems to be doing ok, other than shoveling everything into his mouth again to chew. I forget what this is like until he's going through it. Once his tooth breaks through, he's perfectly fine and doesn't chew on anything. But during "teething", he chows... on everything!

He's walking really, really good now. It's pretty much a run at all times. He LOVES being chased. I have come to the conclussion that Lee will most likely be featured on Cops at some point in his life because he loves to be chased so much. He laughs and squeals when we (or a dog) is behind him. He also doesn't want to hold my hand anymore. He has figured out how to walk with his arms at his side (instead of straight up in the air), so now he walks like a little man and doesn't want his hand held. Although, if he needs to step up or down on something, he will grab it then. He doesn't like to crawl anywhere or up anything anymore.

He says "all done" perfectly clear. He will say this at the following times:
- First thing in the morning when he wants out of his bed.
- When he's done with a nap.
- When he's done in the bath (with a lot of coaching from me to get him out).
- When he's ready to go inside.
- When we finish reading a book.
Umm, he pretty much says it all day long! However, the only time I have really used "all done" is when we are eating. Do you think he uses it then? Nope, not on his own. He just throws his food on the floor and then I have to coax "all done" out of him. It's very strange.

When Lee goes to sleep, he still falls asleep with his blanket and binkie. In the morning, I will change his diaper, and Lee has gotten into the habit of holding onto those things while I change him. After he's rediapered, he walks to his crib and throws his binkie in his bed. Lee hands me his blanket and I throw that in with the bink. He then runs to the stairs (halfway giving me a heart attack) to go downstairs to eat. I think he's getting it, he is understanding more and more everyday.

Last story, I promise. I said before that Lee likes to be chased. Well, he learned that if he touches the fan in our living room (it rotates and scares me, so we don't allow him to play with it) I will get up and pull him away. So now, he touches the fan, while looking at me, and when I get up to go get him, he will take off running and laugh hysterically. I will try to get this on tape so you can see his little devilish laugh.

Here's the schedule we've been keeping as of lately.
8:30-9am - wake up/breakfast
11:30am - lunch
noon - nap
3pm - wake up/snack
5-6pm - dinner
7pm - milk & quiet time
7:30pm - bed

*He's not fully on 1 nap a day yet. Somedays he still does 2 but it's getting fewer and fewer. Oh, we are also 100% off the bottle. We only use straw sippy cups now. I haven't washed a bottle this whole week, and Lee could have cared less. YEAH! Next will be the binkie, but that will take me a few more years. I am still loving that and can't give it up yet. It's just too good when you need a plug ;)!

Sara

Walking and Clapping

Lee is really big on clapping his hands now.

Taking after Sara!

If you ever call us and we don't answer, this could be the reason!


Lee loves to walk around the house playing with the phone. He likes all the noises it makes. Notice how he says "hello" when he puts the phone on his shoulder.

My New Wagon!

We went for a walk again tonight after dinner (minus someones shoes), you can see how much Lee loves his wagon. He sits there with his feet up like a beauty queen (oh, hghm sorry, prince) in a parade. It's really cute!

After we got home from our walk we checked the mail and Grandma Lil and Jim sent a package. He LOVED it and kept looking at the book over and over till he handed it to Steve and he read it to him. Thank you Grandma Lil and Jim!

Happy Birthday!

Lee had his birthday party on Father's Day and it was SO nice! Thank you to everyone that came to help celebrate, and thank you so much for all your thoughtful gifts (Brooke you too ;) . Here are pictures from the party. He had a winnie the pooh party and actually kept his hat on the whole time. It was a lot of fun and Lee was exhausted by about 6 o'clock. We all had a great time.

Mmm, cake. The face above is how Lee felt about us all singing to him. He wasn't sure why 15+ people were all singing. It was really funny.

This is about all Lee did with the cake. Smearing cake everywhere and then throwing it on the floor. He wasn't interested in eating it at all. I did smear some into his mouth, but he didn't like it much and continued to throw it on the floor.

Lee and Daddy. Happy Father's Day honey! Steve has a sucker in his mouth.

Grandma and Grandpa Shoes with Lee! They were so excited for you to turn one and have a party.

Mommy and Daddy with a crabby Lee.

Lee in his new radio flyer wagon! Thank you Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kelly and Aunt Jackie! We have gone for a walk everyday with it and Lee loves it. He also likes to throw things out of it, like his shoes today. Steve had to walk back all the way to the house to find them. Ooops.


A few days before his party Lee had his actual birthday and we did presents at home with just me and Steve. We also opened Auntie Brookes presents that she sent. Here are some pictures from his actual birthday. It was about 9pm. Steve had just walked in the door, I had kept Lee up that night so Steve could see him. He was a little slap-happy.

Thank you to everyone again, Lee had the best birthday! We had a great 1st year and hope that year number two takes a lot longer to come. We love you so much!

Lee's 1 Today!

Lee turned 1 today! YEAH! It's so sad that a year has gone by already, but exciting all the same.

You've been so good lately, really a trooper because Steve's been gone a lot. You're talking more and more. You say mama, dada, uh-oh, done, doggy, baby, bubble, moo and down (although, done and down sound exactly the same). You're walking a lot more too. You take about 8 steps all on your own. Still not comfortable to walk to a toy, but you will walk to a person if we are there to catch you.

You are completely weened off bottles except for the rare few you drink when I need you to lay down. Otherwise you use a straw sippy cup.

You have baby food occasionally, but mostly eat big people food. Your favorite is spaghetti. You can eat a lot of spaghetti. Grilled cheese is a close second.

You put your arms through your shirts and tucks your arms through his seat belt all on your own.

I made a video of the past year. It's a picto-video. All pictures. I had way too many to choose from, LOL. I also added your 1 year pictures at the end. Auntie Brooke sent you 2 gifts today so we waited for Daddy to come home and we let you open those. Lee's party isn't until Sunday so we waited for everything else (more pictures to come Sunday). The gifts he opened tonight are at the very end, it was right before bedtime, so Lee was slap happy and hyper. He LOVES his Elmo and Train Station! Thank you Auntie Brooke, Russell, Ryan and Aimee!!!

One Last Video

Here's one last video for Steve. Nothing major, just Lee... being... Lee.

Waking Up is Hard To Do

I woke Lee up from his Afternoon nap. It was going on 5:30 and I didn't want him up all night. I thought I would tape it so you could see how sleepy he is when he wakes up. Again... another video for Steve.

Misc. Lee - 11 months old

Steve's been out of town for the last few weeks only home for a few days here and there. I've been posting videos of Lee for him because he misses him. Here's a few more.

Nobody will probably enjoy these except us, because they are rather boring... sorry. It was mainly for Steve. Lee moving his new truck around from Grandpa and Grandma Shoes. Also you can see him take his toys and throw them around.




Video of Lee "helping me" with laundry. His arms weren't long enough or strong enough to put some of the clothes back in the basket so he would just take more out.

Climbing

Here's a video of Lee climbing up and down the stairs. He could do this for hours if I let him, he likes to avoid going up for a nap doing this too.

Trucks!

I bought Lee his first truck yesterday and he LOVES it. He's such a boy! He rolls it everywhere, crashing into everything. He's even started putting things in the back of the truck too. He normally will destruct/tear down/tip over anything that is standing, so this is something interesting to me to see him do. Also, he is obsessed with the wheels. I took a video of him playing with his truck. You can see him get all frustrated with it, because it was right before nap time.

Also, Lee has mastered going upstairs, and has figured out how to go downstairs. This is something new for him in the last 2-3 days. He is understanding how to get down off the couch too all by himself. He will turn around and then put out his feet and slide the rest of the way.

The little flirt!

Yesterday I met with a friend and her two kids at our mall. We decided to let our kids run around the play area so we could talk. This is my new obsession since Lee isn't walking yet. I like the park, but he gets so dirty and everything goes in his mouth. So the play area is safer. I go as much as possible, because it's safe and clean and he has a blast.

Yesterday was the first day that there was a little girl his age there. She was SO cute. She had the longest black hair in pig tails. SO ADORABLE! Anyways, she was crawling around and Lee went full speed toward her. She sat up and watched him (I'm pretty sure half scared) to see what he was doing. I jumped up and ran up behind him just in case he decided to bite her. He's big on biting everything and anything lately.

So, he stops right in front of her and leaned in with his mouth wide open and slobbered/kissed her on the mouth. It was the cutest thing! Now, I will not be saying this when he's 16, however at almost 11 months old, it's adorable. The little girls mom thought so too, because she whipped out her camera so fast and took a picture. She goes, "that was her first kiss!". After about 30 minutes of Lee following her around and chasing her she went crawling to her Mom crying. Her Mom picked her up laughing and said something to Lee. I wasn't sure what it was, but he just sat there with his finger in his mouth and the expression on his face like "Hey, I wasn't done playing with her yet. Put her down!".

Sign Language

Lee has started using the signs "more" and "all done". They do not look like what we do, but finally at dinner we realized that he was asking for more (by signing) and saying the sound "mo". For the word more he will basically hold his one hand with his other hand. It's really funny.

Waiving or Waving... which is it?

A few days ago I saw Lee start to raise his hand like to waive and then look at it. Here's a video of me running to get the camera to see if he would do it again. Nope, wouldn't do it. He only wanted to dance.



Tonight at dinner Steve was trying to get Lee to waive and he lifted his hand and waived. Just like that. So I once again went and got the camera and here's what we got. His version of a waive. He's been doing it all night now. It's really cute!

10 Months Old

Dear baby boy,

I can't believe that you are 10 months old already. You are growing up too quick and it is starting to make me really sad. I wanted to write a quick note to you so hopefully when you're 16 and hate me, blogger is still around and you can read how much of a pain you were, ha, ha. The most wonderful, amazingly special and joyous pain ever!

Lets see, what's new these last 2 months (since I didn't post last month).

You're favorite thing to do is read. The ladies at church can't believe how well you sit for books. We on average read about 15 books a day. As long as you're not too tired, you love quiet time to sit on someones (anyones) lap and read. You also like to turn the pages faster than we can read.

February 21st was the first time you took a few actual "crawls", March 6th you started crawling full time. You woke up that morning and got on your hands and knees and took off. You have not army crawled since that day.

You make the sounds "w", "b", "m", "l" and "d" a lot. You use "de, de, da, da, du, du" all the time. Everything is da, da, da.

You dance all the time. Whenever there is music or a beat (ex: daddy hammering) you will rock back and forth, side to side to dance. It's really funny.

You love to feed yourself anything. I have found with slippery food you can get a fork in your mouth by yourself. I just spear the food and you can get it in your mouth. You always smile all proud of yourself. You've have had: cheerios, goldfish, oyster crackers, puffs, cartwheels, bananas, peaches, pears, noodles, mac n'cheese, hot dogs, lunch meat, cheese, cottage cheese, lemons, oranges, apples, mashed potatoes, ice cream, chicken and ham.

You've been pulling yourself up on furniture for quite awhile, but now you like walk around holding onto the furniture. You also like to go from one piece to another too. You have not figured out how to climb stairs yet, though I think it's just around the corner. You will stand at the bottom and lift your leg to try to get it on the step, but it doesn't always work. So that's the new thing you are working on. Daddy and I are not about to show you how to do that either, so take your time, no hurry coming from this end.

You love to give kisses. With all the drool going, people LOVE to get kisses from you too ;) Corey and Grandpa Shoes are the 2 people which you LOVE to kiss most. Here's a picture of you giving Grandpa Shoes a kiss. I love that picture ;0) Last week we had a game night at Crystal's house and you came with. You must have given Corey about 20 kisses. You loved her.

Last but not least, you threw your first official temper tantrum. Steve has about 3,000 electronics below our TV and Lee likes to get into all of that and mess it up (aka - knock it over and punch buttons). Lee, you used to listen to the word "no". Well, last Friday you threw your head back onto the floor and screamed/kicked and made a huge fuss. I picked you up, put you on the floor by your toys and walked away. You didn't like that at all and decided to follow me around crying and whining.

Dinner for Grandma Shoes Birthday

You and Grandma Shoes.

Your love of books. Grandma Lil loved reading to you!

9 Months Old!

Helping Momma with laundry. This is the shirt that Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa got for you for Easter!

This is the funny face you make all the time.

Until next month, please stop growing! We love you!
Momma and Dadda

Waiting for Daddy!

Lee had his first bad dream tonight, at least that's what I think it was. He was babbaling in his sleep (something that he does most nights) and then he started this high pitched screaming. I went in his room and he was crying so hard and shaking. Is that normal? Now I can't get back to sleep.

Well, onto a more happier subject. Lee and I agree that you should do whatever you like, even if it means wearing a bucket on your head!



Below is the cutest picture, I just love it. Steve had just walked in the door from work and the dogs ran over. Lee looked really quick to see what was going on and scrambled over to Daddy as fast as he could get there. Then they all sat there waiting for him to "pet & pay attention" to them.


And this would be Steve trying to get to Lee, and the dogs fighting for attention.

Have a good Wednesday!!