burgers and beans

Our little man is a definitely a mover and loves to be on the go. He runs, climbs, drives his cars and trucks, makes tall block towers, and throws a ball (hard). So he's really into kinesthetic things. He's not, however, so much into talking. He likes loves books and being read to, and babbles a lot of "nonsense" words (and relies on somewhat annoying uh uh/eh eh grunts to point out things he wants), but still is not very verbal. I would say he says about 15 words right now, and a "typical" 18 month old has 20+ word vocabulary.

I know that all kids develop at different rates (I'd say his large and fine motor development is on the more advanced end of the spectrum), but I just can't wait for him to say more words. At his 18 mth appt and at our monthly meetings with a Parents As Teachers program educator, we've been assured that B is on the right track and is not that far behind.

SO - we've been trying to be more intentional about building B's speaking vocabulary. Tonight as we were wrapping up supper, we practiced names of foods (hamburger and beans) - and he said them clearly! Made Momma so happy to hear that we had to break out the camera. :)

As always, ignore the goofy grown up voices . . . and B had almost lost interest in eating/talking by this point (and gets a little distressed when his fork is out of reach), but I take what I can get on film!

keep on keepin' on

Yes! We are still alive. Just have not had (any!) time to post or upload (or even take!) pictures. Whew. I love spring, but May is such a whirlwind and sometimes leaves me feeling like I have been run over.

So what's been up? Nothing terribly exciting . . . mowing (lots of rain means lots of mowing), grading and meetings (end of year - lots of paperwork and extra meetings), an ear infection (Braden, left ear), a trade in (the truck for a Murano - yea - I guess that is exciting! finally!), trying to squeeze in some exercise and walks outside when it's dry, Braden learning to climb on the dining room chairs (and table - yikes!) . . .

Hopefully I'll get back to blogging (somewhat) regularly soon when school is out in 9 days. Yep, 9 days of school.

That means: completing grading and report cards, lots of "special events" at school (which really are fun, but also just send the kids into even more of a crazy frenzy than they already are in), packing up my room/stuff that has been in my room for 11 years and moving down the hall to 3rd grade. Whew! Makes me tired to think about. But - in 2 weeks at this time I will be at our end of the year celebration at Carlos sipping something yummy and it will all be over and summer can begin. Bring. it. on.

today

yummy breakfast with Hartsock family in the Amanas

watching Alex play softball in the sunshine

while Braden played with Addie and Aidan

giggling and grinning

lovely afternoon reading . . . and napping

supper with Miller family - mmm, mexican

(both meals out - no cooking or dishes!)

snuggling with my boys and watching Sunday night tv,

Braden smelling sweet from his bath, cuddly and cute in

footie jammies, curled up on my lap

it just doesn't get any better than this

oh, and roses, chocolates, and a massage certificate

(way to go, B & B!)

= a marvelous mother's day!

We ♥ spring!

As I've mentioned, Braden just loves to be outside. . . soooo, our new after school/work routine involves playing outside and running off some energy before making supper. Today I grabbed the camera to attempt some shots of our busy boy.

It's a lot easier to get a good picture when he's sitting (sort of!) still . . .

As you can see, Braden has figured out how to climb up on the chair (just yesterday he couldn't quite make it up) . . .

. . . he's very proud of this accomplishment (and climbed up and down a couple of dozen times)!

But enough with the sitting "still" - time to get down . . .

. . . and run!

19 months

Today our little guy is 19 months old! (You know, before I had a child, it sort of irritated me when parents responded to "how old is he/she?" using ___months . . . I understood for babies - but come on, once they're one, just go with ___ years, right? But now I get it a little more -- as a parent you don't want to start labeling in years - that means your little one is not so little any more! Although I do think age two is a good time to transition to years, because "my child is 28 months" does sound a little silly, and people just mentally convert that to years - oh, so he/she is two.

Anyway, I digress . . .

Braden truly is a toddler - he's on the go - all the time!

Last weekend we enjoyed the beautiful weather and headed out to the ballpark to cheer on cousins Addie and Alex at their softball games (and Aunt Holly at her first umping gig!) Braden preferred to be allowed to explore the ballpark (and would have loved to get out on the field).

Alex at bat

Addie pitching

and Holly behind the plate (Addie is pitching)

Since this blog is sort of our on-line baby book (seriously, I sometimes check the blog archives if I don't remember when Braden met a particular milestone), so I give you (in no particular order) . . .

19 facts about Braden at 19 months:

1. Favorite fruits: strawberries, melon, bananas (he eats at least one 'nana a day!), and lemons (he loves to eat them when they come as garnish on a restaurant drink)

2. Favorite veggies: green beans, corn, broccoli, stuffed mushrooms

3. Favorite snack: goldfish or teddy grahams

4 Favorite book: Opposites by Sandra Boyton (this changes frequently)

5. LOVES to be outside

6. When outside, he still loves his swing,

7. but also really likes his little mower, especially if we have the real lawnmower out too

8. Wearing size 18 mth clothes and size 3 diapers (and we finally switched from our very favorite Pampers swaddlers to Target brand)

9. Has the BEST giggle, and loves to play hide and seek (you can find him by his giggle)

10. Is starting to talk more - he picks up a few new words each week! Off the top of my head, words we hear consistently include: ball, car, shoe, cheese, down, yum/mmmm, light (ight)

11. Words we've heard: hot, toes, cow, truck, tree, train, go, up

12. Has figured out that our drinks are usually tastier/more interesting than his drinks, and will beg for a sip, especially if said drink has a straw

13. Continues to work on those 2 year molars . . . therefore still has a runny nose/drool much of the time

14. Can throw a ball overhand (hard!), and (to Daddy's pleasure) often uses his left hand to throw

15. Still loves water/bathtime - and showers! (It can be hard to shower without B trying to join you at our house!) . . . he loves to stand in the tub and let the shower spray him right in the face

16. Can almost open a door - yikes!

17. Can go quickly up and down steps on his tush (learned that quite awhile ago) and is now starting to step up and down a few steps at a time without help

18. Takes one afternoon nap (1-4 hours, depending on when/where), and sleeps from (avg) 9 - 7 at night.

19. sleeps all night IN HIS OWN CRIB!!!! A couple of weeks ago when B was sick and would not stop crying (day or night) no matter what we did, we finally plopped him in his crib and let him "cry it out." After a couple of nights, he'd just lay down at bedtime (no rocking needed) just like he used to, and go to sleep. I haven't mentioned it because I didn't want to jinx it, but we're now 3-4 weeks in, so I think it is safe. Whoo hoo! We sometimes have to do a "binky check" in the middle of the night, but that's it - he's back to sleep. Billy and I are LOVING this!

photography 101

I've always been a big fan of pictures (maybe it runs in the family? my dad seems to be too!) . . .I have albums and albums of high school and college photos, and a sizable stack of scrapbooks too (there was that Creative Memories phase, and now I love to make photo books online with digital pics). . . If we ever were to have a fire, photographs & albums would top (after people, of course!) my list of "things to save."

I don't really think I actually take great pictures, but have learned a little about cropping and digital photo editing/enhancement, which helps improve the final product. (Praise the Lord for red-eye removal! My mom, sister and I always have red-eye!). I've thought about taking a photography class, but never have.

But now I really want to. Billy got me (squeal of delight!!!) a dslr camera for Christmas, and I am having a lot of fun trying to figure it out. I have read quite a few online tutorials, and have tried to read through the book manual that came with the camera. But I think I am more of a "learn from someone" kind of a gal vs. a "learn from reading about it" kind of gal. So I am looking into taking some sort of class or maybe finding someone to "tutor" me on the use of a dslr this summer (anyone? anyone?). Now that I have a good camera, it's time to take good pictures.

Anyway. From my reading, I figured out that to take the kind of pictures I've been wanting to take, I needed a lens with a low aperture capability (I still need to figure out a LOT more about aperture and how it works) - this will allow me to get pics with crisp images and blurry backgrounds. Last week I finally splurged and purchased said lens (it was actually very reasonable and was highly recommended in my readings) - and I got it this week! Yippee!! So today I practiced on the spring blooms in our yard (they stand still better than Braden!).

So here's a lilac pic taken at a "normal"/auto setting - with a higher aperture. Nice, but not that great.

And here's a lilac with the new lens and a low aperture (and I did boost the color). Much better! I love blurry backgrounds!

Again, a flowering plant of unknown species from our yard with the higher aperture . . .

. . . and now with the lower aperture and - yep - a blurry background! . . . and yeah, I know - a kinda blurry flower too . . .oops!

I am so excited to play around more and try to figure out what I am doing! This lens is a little trickier to get used to because it is a prime lens (doesn't zoom - gotta move your feet to zoom in), and is manual focus only - so I am still learning. Good thing summer vacation (and extra free time!) is just around the corner. ;)

And one last pic - because you know there has to be a Braden picture at some point in my posts! Apparently it is also a good thing that we have hair cuts scheduled next week - check out that hair!

every day we love him a little "mower"