A date in the park

Today was a wonderful day! Warm temps made us ditch the indoors tonight after work. We decided rather then heating our house any warmer than it already is, we grabbed a couple of pitas and hit the park. I have dreamed about picture perfect nights like these. Surrounded by my boys, enjoying the outdoors and watching my little boy smile with not a care in the world. He makes my heart fill with joy and all my stress and worries of the world go away just watching this little boy absorb his surrounding and everything that's new to him.

Our first trip to the park was great. Sullivan had his supper before we left so Mike and I enjoyed our yummy pitas while taking turns playing with Sullivan and showing him around. He wasn't to sure of the swing at first but loves it as well as the slides. I'm sure there will be many more dates in the park once Spring and Summer decide to stick around. Until then it looks like we will be back to coats, hats and umbrellas for the rest of the week. 

Button flowers and first words

This week is starting off better than last week. My new job is going great and Sullivan is staying healthy. Although we are having a tough time in the mornings when I drop him off at daycare. My boy is a bit of a mommies boy and gets very sad when I have to leave him at daycare. I think this may be a little bit of separation anxiety setting in. I love that he loves me very much but it breaks my heart when he's crying out for me and I have to leave. 

On a much happier note, Sullivan is saying his first word! Can you guess it? It's not momma or dada, even though he does say dada. This, I believe, is his first word because if you say it, he will say it. And if he does something he says it correctly. Take a look at the video to find out what this word is..

I also want to share my latest creation. I saw these a couple of weeks ago when I went to Mike's art show in Iowa City. Since I have a desk now, I thought these would be perfect. I love them and they are so easy to make. Check out my button flowers.

Spring are you there???

This week has been a doozy at our household. For the second Monday in a row Sullivan was sent home early with a fever. We were unsure of what could be causing it and thought maybe it was teeth, that is until this last Monday night he started to throw up. Here we go.....Mike stayed home on Tuesday, fever still lingering a bit so I stayed home on Wednesday. I thought all was good until Wednesday night the fever came back around again. A trip to Urgent Care confirmed we had ear infection and a red throat. We decided to split Thursday, so I stayed home in the morning and Mike stayed home that afternoon. FINALLY, Friday Sullivan was ready to head back to daycare. With antibiotics and nebulizer treatments I hope we can finally fight this bug off for a very long time. 

We are so ready for spring as I'm sure many of you are. During this past week we resorted to bring Sullivan's red wagon indoors to entertain him when he was feeling up to it. He absolutely loved wheeling around the house. I am most looking forward to spring so we can be outside, grill, go for walks, work on the yard, and hopefully NO MORE ILLNESSES. 

This week is the week I begin my new position at Waterloo. I feel like it's been a long time since I told you all I accepted a position as Loan File Management Specialist. I've been spending my time training my replacement and getting things ready for the transition. Tomorrow is a new day, with new routines, new things to learn and new opportunities. I am excited and nervous!

Hope you all had a great weekend! 

Battle wounds

This weekend was a busy one for us. I had Friday off of work so I could get some appointments out of the way before I start my new position next Monday. I am so ready to this change, I just hope the transition goes smoothly. On top of my appointments, Sullivan had his 9 month check up. To check out his stats look under his growth chart on the right side of this page. Our little boy is healthy and growing like a weed. He used to be in the top percentile for his height and low percentile for his weight. Now he's in the 61st percentile for his weight and the 47th percentile for his height. He sure does love his food.

Saturday, my cousin Melissa had her bridal shower in North Liberty and Mike had an art show in Iowa City for his t-shirt business with one of his good friends, Bryan. Sullivan and I traveled to the shower and then decided to hop over and check out how the show was doing in Iowa City. We had a great time despite our first battle wound. Sullivan is getting more and more daring now that he can stand well and pull himself up. As I was sitting down at the shower, Sullivan decided to pull himself up on me but missed and fell in between me and the folding chair. End result was a scratch by his right eye and right side of his head. 

Mike's show went pretty well for being such a cold day. If you'd like to check out the t-shirt him and Bryan have created go to redpiglet.com. You can also follow them on facebook or twitter for all the latest happenings.

Today the boys and I are hunkering down at home. We have a clean house and a house full of groceries. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Here's to my last week as a teller!

9 months

It's been 9 months since our little boy joined this world! He has been the best gift God has ever given us. He's an energetic, stubborn, independent, funny, cuddlier, goofy, shy little dude. I love everything about him, from his chubby hands and feet to his snorty little laugh.

He's what Sullivan has at 9 months:

• 4 teeth (2 top, 2 bottom)
• starting to get hair (looks like sandy brownish blonde)
• bright blue eyes

He now can:

• army crawl all over the place
• sit from laying down or crawling
• pull himself up on almost anything
• dance (he loves to move his booty to music)
• step to the side when standing next to the couch
• feed himself (loves to eat puffs!)

Sullivan loves:

• WATER!! (drinking it and playing in it)
• Bennie (his blanket)
• his Big boy carseat (upgraded to a convertible carseat)
• Puffs (mentioned above)
• Milk
• Paper (not sure if he'll ever stop loving this)
• Momma and Daddy
• Music
• William (his best friend at daycare)
• stroller rides
• sitting in the cart when shopping

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

It's starting to feel like spring! Our snow is melting and the temps are finally getting warmer. I have been itching to take Sullivan out for a stroller ride and well....go on a walk. Tonight was the perfect night. After a hectic work week finally coming to an end and Sullivan having an abnormal day at daycare, it was just what we needed. The fresh cool air and the sound of the birds chirping kept my little boy quiet as a mouse during the 35 minute walk. He absolutely loved it!! 

Here a couple of shots of our little stud muffin....

We must have both worked up an appetite because when we got home, Daddy had dinner all ready to go and we were hungry. As Sullivan is getting older he is becoming more and more independent. The last two nights he's insisted on feeding himself. Kind of hard to do with baby food so I've done some looking around to find him "finger foods." 

I forgot to mention in my previous post of another milestone for Sullivan. On Easter weekend he not only figured out how to sit from crawling but he also learned how to pull himself up and stand next to things. Might I add that he's pretty much mastered this new skill and feels the need to stand up next to everything, examples: bathtub, couch, chair, toilet, laundry basket, refrigerator, and closet. His teachers at daycare think he's becoming quite the dare devil. He stands next to everything as well as tries to turn around and hold on with one hand. I'm sure we will have a little walker in no time.

Scrub-a-dub-dub

Baths have been quite interesting lately. Now that Sullivan can sit, stand, and pull himself up on things this makes it difficult to get baths done. It seems lately I get more water on myself than Sullivan. Ok, maybe not but my shirt is usually totally soaked. I have a squirm worm on my hands!! The other night I think I found a solution. He no longer want to sit in his baby seat he had for baths and although I have a picture of him in a tub chair my sister gave me, that only lasted for about as long as it took to take the picture. The solution: put towel on the bottom of the tub. fill tub with about 3 inches of water and plop Sullivan on towel. He stays put and the water in shallow enough that if he does start squirming he can lay down and not be submerged in water. His new thing, to stand next to the tub and watch as I fill it up. I love the chubby legs and little butt!!