Conner and Benji

Today while my little boy napped and my husband stayed home, I headed to a friend's house with my camera in hand. My sweet friend Kate just had her second son. Benjamin (Benji) is just six weeks old and such a cutie already. And that red hair he got from his Mama? Love it! (When I was pregnant I was secretly wishing that James would be a red head).

Benji is a lucky man, with an adorable older brother and such a great little family.

Vintage 2002

E and I have been together for 12 years this month. Amazing.

I found some CDs of photos my mom burned me years ago. I've been meaning to look at them for months. Today I finally sat down and went through them.

The oldest photos on these disks are from 2002. What I would do to get some photos from 1999, 2000, and 2001. Three years into our relationship, and I only have a handful of photos of the two of us.

Thank goodness I have some from '02. Here are my two faves:

I love this photo. Looks like we are on my family's annual trip to Southern Utah. E still wears that hat and sweatshirt hiking, and the gray sweatshirt I'm in is still a favorite in my closet. I was 21 years old in this photo and already sure that I wanted E to be my husband one day.

I adore this photo for lots and lots of reasons. Yes, it makes me laugh. I have always loved to bother E. I'm always trying to tickle him, snort on his neck (snorttles is the term for that, fyi), or be generally annoying, as you can see. But I also love this photo so much because the roses are in full bloom at our Deer Creek house, which is a home I miss so much.
There are very few things in life I regret, which of course I'm quite happy about. One of the few things I wish I did sooner is to start this blog. This blog was started in October of 2005, but if I had started it just months earlier I would have documented Africa. If I had started it just a couple of years earlier, I would have been able to document a time in my life (college years) I look back on so fondly. If any of you reading have thought about starting a blog, please do. Even if you never share it with anyone. I wish I had done so earlier.

15 months {slow down kid!} Photos with Wolfy

How did we get here so fast? 15 months? It seems like just yesterday that I was huge and pregnant and wanting this baby OUT.

James is adorable and damn smart, if I do say so myself. It must be his huge baby brain, his head circumference in the 80%. Just two nights ago, while James was in the bath James started standing things up on the tiny lip inside the bathtub. He grabs one of his Playmobil people and twists them around to make sure they are not only standing, but also facing forward. Then he ever so carefully places them on the half inch lip inside the bathtub. It is awesome.

He also knows so many dang words. He's not talking much, but I swear, he knows most of what I say to him. He easily knows upwards of 100 words.

He is mobile and fast. He crawls, walks, twists, dances, climbs (not onto anything super tall yet) and pretty much never falls. When he does fall, he catches himself and stands back up easily. No more head bonks and big cries, thank goodness.

He is getting his molars, which is not fun.

He is also moving from two naps a day to one nap a day. This works much better for him since he's been fighting his afternoon nap for ages. Now I'll keep him up until 11:30 or noon on most days and then he'll sleep two or so hours. This also makes bedtime a little smoother, but he's always been pretty damn fantastic at bedtime, which I'm grateful for.

His favorite activity these days is unloading everything. In the kitchen he'll unload all the drawers. Then he'll move the the bathroom and unload all the drawers in there, then he'll dump all his puzzles upside down. The house is always in a state of disaster because a 32" hurricane moved through. Puzzle pieces in the bathroom, my blow dryer in the middle of the kitchen and all of my tupperware lids in a pile in the bedroom.

One of the only things we are struggling with (other than molars) is eating. James has decided to become the most picky eater known to man. He now only eats/drinks cow's milk, ketchup and ranch dressing. Oh wait, and Easy Mac, which has absolutely no nutritional value. His doc wants him to gain weight faster, since he's slowed quite a bit. So she said I should be adding butter to all his meals and protein powder to his milk. Awesome. Let's hope he decides to start eating again (and doing less of this).

Now, without further ado, Wolfy!

In the last photo he is trying to flee.



And from month 1 until now:

Black and White Wednesday

The other day when James was waking up from his nap he just was looking so cute. Sweet and perfect. So I grabbed my camera.

He always sleeps with his Angle Dear lovey (he has the boy bunny) and he is so attached to lovey. Really sweet.
James and his lovey.

Winter Garden

What a weekend... it was a three day weekend and it wasn't all smiles and rainbows. Not even close. James is getting his molars. All four. At once. What does this mean? Lots of crying, lack of naps, not eating much, a diaper rash so bad it hurts to just look at, and swollen ouchy gums. Yuck.

Also, we had a trip planned this weekend.

My Grandma gave my entire family a trip down to Bryce National Park for a winter weekend. The plan was to snowshoe, eat amazing food and enjoy the stunning Utah winter. That didn't happen. A huge storm moved into the state on Saturday. We had packed the winter clothes, packed the baby, packed the food, packed the travel crib and were two hours from home when we decided to just bag it. So Saturday was spent in the car without actually going anywhere. Not fun.

So finally yesterday we decided we needed to do something, since it was a long weekend after all. It was cold and windy outside but we decided we didn't care and took a trip up to the University Garden.

We all loved it.

We were the only ones there (nobody else was crazy enough to go out in the 30 degree weather) and the sky even decided to clear up, so we had some sunny moments. We listened to the birds singing, played in the snow, and let James lead the way.

This was the first outing that we didn't bring the stroller. Instead we let him walk wherever he wanted to go and E and I simply followed. My little baby is not so little any more.

Like the zoo a few weeks ago, we had the garden to ourselves.
This expression is brand new but James does it all time time. Like 200 times a day. Whenever he sees something he likes, his little mouth goes into an "o" and he says "oooohhhhh". Cutest thing ever.

My boy with gorgeous lashes.



Stairs are no obstacle. He climbs them easily, and once he's at the top he lets out a victory yell. He's so funny.

The sun even came out.



Last shot of the day. He didn't want to leave, so E finally had to pick him up and carry him to the car. I love that he looks slightly pissed here. :)

More Oliver

I hope you enjoy this handsome little man.