Christian update -- 15 months!

playing

Christian's first birthday! As expected, LOVED cake.

Family reunion hike -- too much for him.

Liked to sit there and spin the lamp shade -- also unplug vital cords.

Kate's tormenting him here. Look at those LONG lashes!

Cute! (He always has kind of crazy hair because I'm the one cutting it, and I have no idea how to cut hair! Especially on a kid that is constantly moving. I think my second try was better than the first, though. Hopefully I will keep improving.)

Hahahahaha!

One of Christian's favorite pastimes -- destroying Mommy's desk.

Eating a tire...?

Emptying the cupboards and sitting in a 9x13 pan.

Wow -- what a crazy, crazy summer. Things are finally settling down, and maybe I'll get to posting about this summer at some point, but I wanted to get a Christian update going-- because this little guy deserves one.

So much to say about this little man -- he is such a sweetheart.

First off, this guy will eat anything you put in front of him...or behind him....or under him...he loves food! And non-food items alike (rocks, dirt, pine cones, dried up chewed gum, etc.). In sacrament meeting we often sit by the same family because we are usually late and sit way in the back so that others can still enjoy sacrament meeting. We end up sharing snacks and books. Last week, she had brought Wasabi peas. Christian has never had them (I only had them for the first time a few years ago), and so she gave him one to see if he would like it -- as they are HOT/spicy. He put it to his lips and instantly looked confused as he pulled it away from his mouth -- like, "What? I don't like this? That can't be right." He tried again to put in his mouth, and quickly spit it out, again looking bewildered. He tried a third time with no success. I finally took it from him and was going to put the slobbery mess away. But he got angry and wanted to keep trying it. Finally, he got it in and ate it up! He gave me a big grin -- and was clearly pleased that he had mastered Wasabi peas. I mean, come on, this kid eats thorns for breakfast -- he won't let actual food go to waste! :)

As you can see from the picture above, he LOVES to get into things -- everything. Like food, he is not particular. He likes to open and disassemble, empty, or otherwise destroy any semblance of organization.

The Fourth of July was interesting -- deserves its own post -- but we were shocked to find that Christian loves fireworks! I've never heard of a 1 year old who enjoys being right below bombs, but whatever. It made the 4th much more enjoyable than I was expecting! He actually started laughing when they went off -- a little disturbing for my Mommy senses...

He can climb like nobody's business! Climbs on everything he can. Andrew has told me how he, as a young child, could scale door frames -- to the top! I see that in the future.

Christian started walking like crazy around 14 months, I think. After he saw Lindsay's daughter (near his age and size) walking -- he just watched her intently while she was over . Then that night he started walking tons! It's like he thought, "Well, if she can do it, I can do it, too!" He was VERY pleased with himself.

Christian has a 99th percentile head! Runs in the family...he is not as tall as Kate was at his age, but still in the 70th percentile or something. At the doctor's visit, he was running circles around the room. The doctor was like, "Wow, he's a busy guy!" That he is.

He's generally a good-natured guy, though sometimes likes to scream at the top of his lungs -- out of frustration. If he is always moving, then he is usually happy. Try to keep him confined in a grocery cart or stroller -- look out! He much prefers to be out pushing those things than resting in them.

He is crazy if he is let out of carts at stores -- and will RUN everywhere as fast as he can go, with Kate screaming at me the whole time, "He's getting LOST!!" When he sees me coming, he giggles and turns the other way and runs. Small comparison -- when I took Kate to stores as a kid his age, she would sit happily in the cart and dance to the music playing and wave at all the strangers. Now I have a little Houdini getting out of his strap and trying to jump to his death. Oh the stress.

I've let Christian develop a bad sleeping habit -- he sleeps with me! It's bad now, and I haven't yet found the will to break it cause I'm usually dead tired by the time I get to go to sleep. But it is time. As much as I dislike having him sleep in my bed, there are things I do enjoy about it, too. He is so cuddly and curls up on me -- I love it. He's usually too busy during the day to spend too much time cuddling, so I do love that time with him. But I know I need to put him in his crib! Argh. One thing that really drives me crazy is that he likes to lay across my neck! I have woken up in the night struggling to breathe because he's laying on my neck. That's scary. There have been times when he goes to sleep like that, and I have to tell myself not to fall asleep until I move him -- for fear of not waking up...This probably sounds crazy to most people who would never let things like this happen -- but I get so desperate for him to fall asleep sometimes that I will put up with almost anything. He just goes and goes and goes until he finally passes out!

The only thing he really says at this point is "Uh oh" and "Oh wow!" Both are very cute. He is starting to make animal sounds, but can mostly just do "Mooo." Lately, he really likes monkeys (I think he can relate).

He is very opposite of Kate in so many ways, but he sure does adore her. She is generally very sweet and helpful with him. They are best little buddies sometimes, and seeing them play and laugh together warms my heart every time and sometimes chokes me up.

He cracks all of us up with his antics and the cute noises he makes (especially when reading), and he really enjoys driving Kate crazy sometimes -- doing things she tells him not to just to get under her skin. For example, she got a pillow out for him and one for her and told him NOT to lay on hers. Well, as soon as she sat up from her pillow -- he jumped on her pillow, laid flat, and rubbed himself all over it, giggling wildly. It was great.

Tonight at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries he learned how to dip his fries in fry sauce. He was good at just dipping a little and then eating, so I was surprised when I glanced over at him and he had the fry sauce cup tipped back and was chugging it! That gave us all a good laugh. He's definitely a character!!

PS Did I mention how I can't wait til he can go to nursery??

Like it and You're Entered to Win! :)

Hey, if you haven't "liked" Andrew's Photography page on Facebook yet -- go now! Here's the link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-Morrill-Photography/154174881322253. If you already have -- thank you!! We're going for 1000 likes and then Andrew will have a random drawing from the people liking it for a 11 x 14 color picture of his of your choice! It'll be printed on aluminum (it practically glows -- it's awesome) and ready to hang on your wall.

Thanks for your support, everyone!! Tell your friends! :)

Blog posts about kids and 4th of July coming soon!

Moab Arts Festival

Andrew's awesome booth at the show

We had a nice time in a peaceful meadow yesterday, after all the art show hubbub. Kate took a long nap on a blanket -- in the sunshine with the birds chirping. Christian crawled all over her, I stepped on her more than once (on accident of course!) and she still didn't wake up. I think it was the best nap of her life.

We had an exhausting time in Moab this past weekend. I am too tired for much commentary, but wanted to post a few pics since I haven't in a LONG time. This is basically why -- Andrew's art show stuff. It has been consuming our lives for the past while. Christian is cute, by the way! I will post some other pictures of him soon -- once I can catch my breath. I need to post his year update soon! (at the end of this month). Crazy!

Andrew has 5 or 6 shows this summer, so it's going to be busy! I will post more, though, now. I just got some software put back on my computer so I can upload my pics again. It's been too long!

Update

Not sure how this works in Google Reader, but I just changed the last post to include Chapter 2 as well. Not sure if there will be confusion or not. Oh no -- it was a last second decision! Ahh!

Memoir installment #2

I haven't put in pictures to my memoir -- not sure that I will. Maybe in the back or something. So here is a picture that goes along with the story. And I'm sure my brother Paul will mention that my brothers did most of the digging -- and I mostly did the playing. :)

Okay, so here is the second installment of my memoir (a link to the pdf so you don't have to click on the pages individually -- that was annoying). This installment includes the first installment (retitled Preface), a new prologue, and the first and second chapter. I have like a title page thing for the chapters with very crude drawings (I don't mean gross) that I'm not sure works, but this is obviously all a rough draft. I liked the idea of having drawings that looked like I drew them as a kid or something.

I would have waited to put the second chapter on, but Chapter 1 really flows into Chapter 2, so I decided to add it. Chapter 2 is a little depressing, and I was unsure if I wanted to have it in there at all, but there it is. I hope it works.

Christian at 8 Months

His sweet face! Can't believe it's been 8 months (today)! He's getting SO big!!

(Really. He is SO big -- it's killing me to carry this kid!)

Here he is practicing his new skill...standing/cruising.

This next section is meant to be like a flip book. I was too lazy to make a slide show or anything else. So -- here is Christian getting into the laundry -- literally.

"Look at me, Ma -- I'm standing -- AGAIN!"

"Mmm, smells great! I love fresh laundry!"

"I think you know what I'm thinking, Ma. I can't help myself!"

"Wahooooo -- wait a minute. This isn't so comfy. Hey -- you with the camera. Get me out of here."

"Ahh heck. one more smile for the camera."

"Now seriously. Get me out of here."

Wow, Christian has been developing by leaps and bounds lately! Last week, as I was rinsing dishes and loading them into the dishwasher, Christian was crawling around the kitchen (on the search for anything life-threatening no doubt), when he took interest in the open dishwasher. He started grabbing at the door, and the next thing I knew he had pulled himself into a kneeling position. Surprised, I congratulated him. He had never done that before. I continued rinsing dishes, only to look over next and find him standing by the washer clutching a knife (from the washer) and wearing a very large grin.

This kid doesn't stop. He is not interested in sitting. He still doesn't even sit very well, actually (meaning, he still flops over sometimes). He just has no interest in remaining stationary. I'll sit him down (which is really hard to do in the first place because he always sticks his legs straight out and won't allow himself to be seated), and then about half second later he's gotten himself down to the ground to go exploring again (and, of course, stuffing dangerous objects into his mouth as fast as he can). Getting him to hold still long enough to change his diaper is a true feat! (And just forget about trying to change his diaper at church.)

It is clear that walking is his goal. Now that he can stand, he will race over to the couch, pull himself up with ease, and start "cruising". He is very happy and proud of himself when he is standing tall. He looks SO little to me still, though. It seems very unnatural for my little infant (in my mind) to be standing and trying to walk around. I guess he takes after Andrew -- from what I hear Andrew was walking (and very shortly thereafter -- running) at 9 months. I would not be surprised to see Christian walking by next month. I thought Kate was an early walker at 11 months. Man. (Hmm...just checked earlier blog posts and realized that Kate was cruising at 8 months, too. I guess he's not that far ahead of her!)

Christian is generally very happy. He gives big sweet smiles, and will often (when he's getting sleepy) lay his cheek against mine, and we'll just sit there "cuddling." Despite his love for exploring, he still loves to be held, and he will almost jump out of my arms in excitement when I pick him up (if he's been crying for that). He loves to yell (happily) and bang his arms on the ground while kicking his legs up and down. It's really funny.

He sleeps all night long now, which is so wonderful I can hardly stand it.

He has two bottom teeth with no sign of others.

He lets me feed him for a few minutes before wrestling the spoon away from me so he can play with it. It's really not a fair fight -- the kid is strong!

He loves his big sister, and he will even tolerate her cleaning between his toes (a compulsion of hers -- she has to clean out her toes after taking her socks off before she can do anything else. Now she has to clean Christian's toes, too. Not sure how long I will let this go on...) I will come into the living room sometimes, and Kate will be smacking his chest and stomach way harder than I think she should be. I start to scold her, but she'll respond, "He likes it!" And sure enough he'll start laughing hysterically. Who can argue with that. She is always watching out for him and making sure he doesn't put (too many) little things into his mouth.

Christian makes a great travel/errand companion. He just loves to get out of the house and rarely complains. We were in the light section at Lowe's the other day, and I think he thought he had died and gone to heaven.

I would be posting more pictures, but since my computer crashed a few weeks ago I don't have Photoshop set up on my computer (and am having problems getting it to install). But he's a beautiful, beefy boy -- and oh do we love him!!

A Child's Prayer

Kate's prayer tonight was the sweetest thing I've ever heard. It's taken a while for her to grasp what prayers are. She has always rushed through them, making it as short as possible, saying, "When I'm a teenager I'll say long prayers." For whatever reason, that has changed in the last couple weeks. Here's her prayer from tonight--

"Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the world.

Thank you for the earth.

Thank you for my body.

Thank you for my spirit.

Thank you for my heart.

Thank you for my family.

Thank you for my mom and dad.

Thank you for my little brother.

Thank you for my happy family days.

Thank you for Valentine's Day.

Thank you for my new big bed.

Thank you I can go to heaven.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

A couple nights ago we read the intro to the New Testament stories book, and it was all about the Plan of Salvation. She has been very upset at the thought of dying -- for quite a while now. As we read, she cried and cried, and said that Heavenly Father needed to make Earth prettier (so there would be no need, in her mind, to go to the Celestial Kingdom). We talked at length about death and the resurrection, etc., and I thought she was feeling better, so I continued reading. Then she'd start crying again, and would hug me, saying, "I want you to go to the Celestial Kingdom with me. I want to go together." SO SWEET.

I've always felt it important to talk to her about death while she is young so that she will be as prepared as she can be for when someone she knows dies. You never know when it might happen, and I want her to understand it as best she can before it does. I've wondered if maybe she was too young to talk to about it, but I just feel that she should know -- it's just a fact of life that you can't get around. I couldn't have dreamed up a sweeter little kid!

installment 1 -- a prologue to my memoir (read my post below first)

Okay, now before you start reading...let me say a few things. This is the prologue I've written for my memoir I'm working on (that I mentioned in my New Year's post). It is, I think, overly dramatic (and maybe taking myself too seriously). But sometimes that's how I roll, so I don't know what to do about that. I was feeling overly dramatic when I wrote it. Keep in mind this has not gone through much revising (and I don't really know if it will end up working as part of the whole -- since the whole has not been written yet). The second part of the prologue, I hope, does not sound controversial to any of you. I was not trying to be.

I'm also not sure if I will write the past in present tense or not -- I haven't so far.

I've only written about one chapter of the memoir -- and it's completely out of chronological order, so I'm not sure when or how I'll get to the beginning of the story. I just wrote what I felt like writing at the time. So, with Larson's suggestion, I am posting this on here, but I don't know if/when I'll be posting more. And if I do, it likely won't be in order of how it would actually appear in the book.

So...with that -- here's what I have so far. You'll have to click on the images of the pages -- you should be able to click on it again to enlarge it to a comfortable reading size. (Okay, this is kind of scary putting this out there...)

For comparison...

Kate at six months...

I was browsing through old photos of Kate the other day, and I was shocked when I came across this one. She looks like she should be on a starving kids infomercial! I guess she's never had much on her bones. Geez!

Christian at six months...

Christian on the other hand...I realize the two do not look very much alike in these pics, but I have seen some baby pics of Kate where she looks a lot like Christian. I'll find some -- mostly for grandparents that are interested. :) They do look quite different really, but there are times when you can definitely tell they are siblings.

I found an old video of Kate "crawling" -- it is just like watching Christian. It's the exact same crawling style.

6 months and counting...

Well, apparently I've been a little lazy on the picture taking front for little Christian this month. So here are a couple I took this morning. I was in the kitchen when I heard Kate yelling, "Mom! Christian's eating your desk!" I didn't get him gnawing away on the leg of the desk, but I got his cute "bitter beer" face at least (which he has on most of the time) -- in the second one.

Took Christian to the doctor today for his 6 month check up finally...he's 19.5 lbs (75th percentile) and 27.75 inches long (also 75th percentile), and of course 95th percentile for head. And he has eczema -- poor kid.

He's not sitting up yet, but he's close. He can sit for a second on his own before tipping over. He doesn't quite crawl yet, but he gets around. It's kind of hard to explain, so I took a video of it (also taken today...). It reminds me of an injured person clawing their way to the phone ... or something.



Christian seems to have been teething for the last two months (still nothing to show, though) -- drooling like crazy and trying to eat everything. It's really quite humorous watching him straining for everything at all times. If...only...I...could...reach...that...and...put...it...in....mouth... I'll be playing Go Fish with Kate, and he will try so hard to grab my hand and jab the cards in his mouth. The amount of saliva this kid produces generally dissolves the cards within seconds.

I have to watch him like a hawk. The other day he started choking, and I ran in to find him with a magic wand half way down his throat. Man. Kate is a big help to me and is good at monitoring him and keeping wires and cords out of his mouth. Kate was not like this at all. She didn't get in to anything really. We never had to baby proof anything. Such is definitely not the case with Christian.

Christian loves to explore new places and look at things around him. It's sometimes a trick just to get him to look at you because he is so interested in everything going on around him.

Just this morning, I put him in his car seat (without buckling him yet) and ran outside to try to help push Andrew's car out of the snow. When I came back in, Christian was on the floor! He was happily playing with something. I was shocked. I asked Kate why Christian was out of his car seat and what happened. Kate just said, "He wanted to get out. He rolled out." Kate would never attempt to move him, so I know he did it on his own somehow -- and without hurting himself. Gees.

Christian loves baby food and is not picky like Kate was when it came to veggies. He gags on green beans, but will eat everything else. He even seems to like veggies more than the fruit ones.

Christian is not sleeping through the night now. He was there for a while, but for some reason (I think the teething) will wake often in the night lately. It is rough on me, but I'm sure it will get better soon...

My favorite time with Christian is when we're alone at night before bed time. Oftentimes (not all the time) he will sit there contentedly in my arms and just sit and stare at me while he coos and smiles sweetly up at me. He'll reach up sometimes and even touch my face gently. It's just about the sweetest thing I could think up for him to do. After he does that for a while, then he just drifts off into a peaceful sleep. Oh man -- melts my heart!

He is too cute -- we are all crazy about him!!