a WHOLE year!

Last week we celebrated Keith's first birthday! He is so sweet and cute and such a little tease.

He celebrated his birthday by learning to walk. This week he has been getting brave enough to let go and take a few steps on his own. It's cute to see the concentration on his face when he is balancing then the pride when he does it!

Here are a few pictures (yes, we replaced the camera. Couldn't miss the birthday pictures!!). This is also the first time I've posted any pics of his new haircut.


I made him a soccer ball cake, since he loves balls so much. It turned out cute. Not perfect, but cute. I baked it in a round mixing bowl and used licorice for the pentagons and hexagons (I never realized that soccer balls have both pentagons and hexagons on them before!).

Fun together

Today consisted of:

Puppet shows
Play Doh
Stories
Tag (or "chase" as we call it)
Block houses
Cookies
and (of course) catch (with one of Keith's "Bawl Bawl da Bawl"s)

Belle: "Mommy, we sure do have fun together!"

Project not done, house not clean?

Worth it.

The BOY in Buggie

At this point Keith's vocabulary consists of about 6 things. Momma, Da Da, Be, Uh-Oh, Hawww (for 'hot', but very growlly), Moo (which he will say if you ask him what a cow says, but really he uses it as a universal term for all animals), and Bawwl, Bawwl, Bawwl, Bawwl, Da Ba, Bawwl, Bawwl.

Yes, Ball was his first word and is by a long shot his favorite. When he wakes up and I go to get him out of his crib I am always greeted by choruses of "Baawl, Da BaBa, Bawll". There are several pronunciations going on here. This morning he was even reaching through the slats in the crib at a ball that was on the bedroom floor. He has gone to sleep at night several times holding on to a Nerf soccer ball he got for Christmas (much to David's dismay--he would much rather that the football were the favorite). So much for a soft cuddly puppy or tiger. Nope. The kid wants a ball. In short, he LOVES balls--and anything of semi-spherical shape is considered a ball, including Grandma Grover's wooden fruit set that came from Honduras.

This is not the only "boy" trait coming out. He also gets a HUGE kick out of tackling me, and it is not safe to lie or sit on the floor. Inevitably he will grin, grunt, and lunge. Full-body slams are his favorite. Yesterday my brand new (well, about a month old) glasses were a casualty of this. Luckily the eye Dr. is here in town and it was a quick two-minute straighten fix by the receptionist.

This leads us to the next "boy" trait. Belle is always calling him something new, but this week it was my turn to give him a new name. Destructo-Boy. Destroys EVERYTHING he can get his hands on, and loves it.

Maybe it's because Belle never actually crawled, but she wasn't big into climbing on things. Oh, BOY. Keith climbs. and climbs. and climbs. Despite all my insistence that he wasn't going to really crawl and just army crawl everywhere, in December he slowly started hands and knees crawling until he eventually left the army-style behind forever. This has enhanced his climbing abilities. One of his favorite games is to climb up on the little desk that is sitting at the end of the couch, and then slide down the arm of the couch onto the cushions and then climb down to the floor and go for another round. For the record--this activity started one day while I was teaching a piano lesson. I turned around to see what all his giggling was about and he was in the middle of one of these head-first slides. I panicked, but before I could get across the room he was already climbing to the floor to go at it again.

He's turning one in all of 6 days and I can't believe it! We are getting a kick out of all the BOY going on around here.

Night's Thoughts Edition #2

1. Grateful that David is a good pilot. They spotted a hydraulic fluid leak and spent all day in Cody instead of flying an unsafe plane.

2. Worked hard enough today that toys are picked up, dishes done and kitchen in decent shape, and kids in bed--all by 8:30 pm. This includes making cookies, bread, and beef stew. Belle and Keith were needing a little Mommy play time this evening!

3. Congratulations to K & B on their new baby boy!! This is one of the perks of living here at Mom and Dad's. WE get to hear all the news first!!

4. Speaking of Mom and Dad's--we are going to do it. Brave us. We are putting an offer on a house on Monday. The house is perfect for us, the price is perfect, the yard is just small. BUT the equity we can have getting this house at this price (instant) and the good condition of the home pros beat the small yard con. I think it'll fit a garden box, swing set, and sand box. That'll be good enough for awhile, especially with parks, and Grandma and Grandpa O's huge yard so close. It's a short sale and could take awhile--so just cross your fingers!! If we got one with a bigger yard at this price they are all fixer uppers that would mean more $$.

5. I am already planning furniture and decor and where our pictures will go in the house. Nesting I guess. REALLY hope we get it.

6. The neighbors at this place have a barking dog. Ick. I had said earlier it barked the whole time we were there--but that was an exaggeration. It was only for a few minutes while I was walking around outside, and then as we were standing there chatting with the Realtor it stopped. So hopefully it only barks at strangers. Belle was nervous about the barking dog while we were outside, but I think she would adjust. It's in a dog run, but it's on the SIDE of the house, not the back (due to the tinyness of the yards).

7. Camera still MIA. I think we'll have to buy a new one. Anyone with pics of our kids this Christmas please send them our way, as that is what we are bemoaning the most. The camera was a fossil anyway.

8. The World's Smallest 1000 piece puzzle is about half done. Thanks to David. I am way to impatient for such things. Don't worry Lewis'. It will still return to next year's white elephant game. Just used!! We might make it a rule that whoever ends up with the tiny tiny puzzle each year HAS to do it!! HA!

Tonight's Thoughts

1. Where or where is the camera? Last I remember it was in the diaper bag. The diaper bag has now been several places since I remember seeing it. If I had it I would post some pics of our Christmas. As it is you have to suffer through this post instead.

2. Happy New Year! WHERE did 2009 go? 2010 Calendar is already filling up, and will likely go by just as quickly.

3. Grateful for the fact that David is on his first day of a four day trip and he didn't have to go to Fresno last night, and that we will see him in only about an hour after he is done on Monday.

4. I'm ready to take the Christmas Tree down. David isn't. So we've agreed it leave it up for a few more days. I need to take it down so we can find room for a couple ginormous toys Belle got for Christmas. A kitchen and a barn big enough that the boy crawled through it. She loves them both, but the number of square feet that they take up is ridiculous. Keith's toys are much more manageable in size.

5. I feel like I'm in "nesting" mode. Not sure if this is due to the fact that we are finally getting serious about looking for a house, or because Mom and Dad are coming home and I want to have things organized and clean. Maybe both.

6. I have never learned the trick of "clean as you go". Anyone who knows me at all or has ever walked into a kitchen where I am cooking will attest to this. So I usually end up with huge messes that take a terrible amount of time to clean up. And I'm regularly too tired to get the mess ALL the way cleaned up. The result is several days of halfheartedly cleaning and little left-over bits of mess everywhere. It is driving me crazy. I hope to someday learn the trick "clean as you go". I have to make a conscious effort to tell myself that "if it takes less than 30 seconds to put (item) away, do it NOW."

7. I would really love a good chic flick movie and a comfy blanket right now. Must sleep, however. I tend to get rather cranky on less than 7 hours of sleep.

8. Started an impossible puzzle last night. I'll let you know if it's done by Valentine's day.