In Print

Sometimes when you see something "in print" it becomes real. Today that happened for me when I saw something online. I went into our fall class schedules to check if the days and times for the freshman seminar that I am co-teaching had been posted. There is was: my name next to COR 1203. Seeing that made it more real. I have been interested in being some type of teacher on and off since I was around ten years old. Now I get to co-teach a college course (along with my regular job duties). It will be a busy fall semester!

Win $100 Cash?!

I stopped focusing on making New Year's Resolutions, but it is hard not to examine your life as a new year (and decade) begins. In January, I looked for some fugal living blogs. We are working to eliminate all debt besides our mortgage. The two items to pay off include a car loan and my student loan, and both will be paid off in 2011, maybe sooner.

In the past, I read some frugal living websites, but they did not totally fit us. I really want to strive for that balance of saving money and enjoying our lives. I want to find a balance between paying off debt and maintaining/improving our home. I have enjoyed reading The Ultimate Money Blog since January, and now the author is giving away $100. You can learn more about the giveaway here. The deadline to enter is April 15th.

I was here first.

Often they share the chair, but for some reason today Frida got the chair while Paddy laid on the floor. I thought that it was a funny site to see the smaller dog take over the chair. If Frida could talk, I imagine her saying to Alex and Paddy, "I was here first."

Productive Sick Day

I know it is an oxymoron, but I had a productive sick day today. Yesterday we received the dreaded call from daycare that Alex was sick. John picked him up late morning, and he was starting to keep food and liquids down by the time I arrived home from work. Today was my turn to stay home with Alex. He is getting better, so I was able to get things done today. I did laundry and cleaning. I am able to check my work email online, so I read some emails. I was able to finish and send an email that I started on yesterday. I am hoping that Alex is well by Monday. Have a good weekend!

Freebies

Rhonda Steed is giving away a cute apron and a custom designed blog header at her blog. I entered for the blog header since I blog more than I bake. She will have the drawings on Friday. I created my blog header a couple of years ago with my basic Photoshop skills.

Picaboo is giving away a 20 page photo book to new customers. (You just pay for any extra pages, shipping and tax.) The giveaway continues until the end of March, so I want to check it out. As a new customer, I do not know much about the site, but I do like photo books. You can check out more information at The Mom Creative.

Lessons Learned (so far)

A few other bloggers posted 22 Things Learned as a Mother. I have not been a mother for a long time, but I will take a shot at writing out lessons I have learned so far.
1. I did not know how much I would love and want to protect my child. Sometimes it is overwhelming.
2. I can lose the pregnancy weight, but it has taken time and persistence.
3. I really enjoy just hanging out with my son.
4. I don't need to buy my son fancy toys. He loves plastic cups, dog bowls, etc.
5. I was fortunate to be able to take twelve weeks of maternity leave.
6. Staying home with a little baby is not easy.
7. Being a "working" mom is not easy.
8. My house does not need to be super clean.
9. I love watching my husband be a father.
10. I don't miss eating out so much. Now I look for restaurants with with kids' menus.
11. I can get by with less sleep than I thought.
12. The first three months of babyhood can be hard but so worth it.
13. I should have eaten better when pregnant.
14. It is important to let go of guilt.
15. Sometimes your kid will have to "cry it out."
16. Each child is so unique from the start.
17. I need to make a little time for myself.
18. Do a little bit of laundry or cleaning every day.
19. Ask for help.
20. They grow so fast. Watch the height limits on things, not just the weight limits.
21. Try to stick to a routine but expect the routine to change as they grow.
22. It is important to enjoy the journey.
I hope that I remember to revisit this list in the future. I am sure that it will change.
Here are links to other lists:
Stacy Julain
Amy Krouse-Rosenthal (click on small films)
Leslie Ackman

Problem Solving

I miss my son everyday he goes off to daycare and I go off to work, but I do think that he has a good deal. His job is to play, learn, eat, and nap. Sounds good, right? Well, there can be some problems at daycare. He was crawling around the room with his buddy, who is a few months younger and smaller than him. He followed the little guy under one of the cribs. With the side down, his friend could crawl under it, but Alex is too big. No problem, Alex just crawled out under the next crib over, which did not have the side down and was taller.

12 Month Photos with Shrek

We wanted to wait until Uncle Shrek (aka Uncle Bubba) was in town to take his Alex's 12 month photo with Shrek. PSA: Do not wait until Sunday evening at 8:00 P.M. to take photos of your toddler. We had a cranky Alex until I started singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider. We did get a couple of shots, and Alex is wearing a t-shirt that Uncle Shrek brought as a belated birthday gift. It is a Metallica shirt that says "born to push you around." Doesn't every toddler need a Metallica shirt?

First Meal at Rudy's

Alex got his first taste of Rudy's Bar-B-Q tonight. He had some beans and peach cobbler. They were out of chopped, so he did not get to try that yet. Alex enjoyed going to restaurants this weekend, especially the people watching.

Ut-oh

Yesterday Alex learned to say "ut-oh." Sometimes he will drop a book or a toy and say "ut-oh."

Alex's First Trip to the Riverwalk

The Riverwalk can get crowded, and we had not taken Alex there yet. My brother is visiting and it is a gorgeous day, so it was time for Alex's first trip to the Riverwalk. We started our trip Downtown with lunch at Pico de Gallo. Alex ate a little refried beans at Pico, but I figured that the mole would be too spicy for his tastes right now. (The mole there is quite rich but good.) We put Alex in the backpack and walked to the Riverwalk from there. After walking around the Riverwalk for a little while, we headed to Pat O'Brien's to have a drink with some of John's friends from work who were also hanging out Downtown on our day off. Alex did great and it turned out to be a fun afternoon.

Pictures from top to bottom: The fountain at Pat O'Brien's, Alex being a ham at Pat O'Briens, me carrying Alex in the backpack, Alex wearing Uncle Bubba's sunglasses while John tests the backpack

Alex @ 1 Year

Alex seems to be growing everyday. He is babbling more and more, and we hear lots of da-da's. He will pull up on things and cruise the furniture. I wonder when he will take his first steps.

Alex's favorite food seems to be yogurt, and he loves his milk and juice. He is slowly trying new foods and textures. Sometimes he wants us to fees him and other times he wants to (attempt to) feed himself.

He likes it when I sing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider," and he likes to look at his board books. He smiles at the colorful pictures and likes for us to read to him.

He can be shy and does not want Mommy and Daddy to leave the room most of the time. Sometimes he is too busy playing to notice us though.

He does get upset at times and has no problem expressing his emotions. He understand his name and the word "no."

He is still a happy kid overall. He usually is a good sleeper, but he does not always want to take a nap at daycare. He does not want to miss out on anything.

Lucky

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Yep, I'm part Irish.

I am a lucky person! I have a great son, husband, family, friends, job and life.

CASED

I find a lot of inspiration to make cards from blogs and classes. Pictured above are some recent cards I've made.

The medallion card was cased from making cards at Tiffany's stamp club and open house.

The bunny was cased from Sophia at andreawalford.com. Her video was really helpful. I had to modify it a little bit to use the punches that I have, and I used a cotton ball for the tail.

The butterfly card as cased from Kristina Werner's blog. I originally purchased the butterfly punch after seeing it on Ali Edward's blog.

Baby Card

You can see a baby card that I made for Tiffany on her blog. I forgot to take a photo, so it was nice to see it on her blog (the first card on the post with the butterfly paper).

Parental Worries

Alex had a good 12 month check up at the pediatrician this week. He weighs 21 pounds and 14 ounces, and he is 31 and a half inches long. If he keeps going at this rate, he is going to be a tall guy.

Alex has not taken to table food as fast as some other kids, which has led to various conversations about table food with his daycare teachers. As a parent, I think that it is easy to focus in on these kids of things and forget all the things that are going well.

I asked the pediatrician about table food. He told me that he looks for three things to happen 12 and 15 months.
1. Drink whole milk (check)
2. Drink from a cup instead of a bottle (check)
3. Give up pacifiers (not applicable)
4. Eat table food - basically be able to eat what the adults are eating.

He is already accomplished three out of the four things at 12 months, so we just need to work on the table food now. That's not so bad. Alex can feed himself things like yogurt with a spoon, but usually he still wants us to feed him. He is not too into eating with his hands or chewing food yet. He may have gotten some picky eater tendencies from me...

Alex is pictured on February 28th when he did not want to feed himself. He will tell us when he is mad!

Alex's First Birthday Party

The pictures are from Alex's first birthday party on February 28th. I ordered an ice cream cake with primary colored icing. As you can see, the red icing got everywhere. It took a couple of baths before all of the red was gone.

Alex is pictured with his Grandma B, and he was quite tired by the end of the party.

Catching up on some Pictures

These pictures were taken on February 26th while Alex was eating dinner.

Happy Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN & ALEX!!!

When I was pregnant with Alex, I joked with John that he was getting a baby for his birthday. I did not think that it would actually happen that way!

Alex ate some of his yogurt with his spoon tonight. I am happy to have some progress with table food.

P.S. Alex and John share a birthday with Dr. Seuss. Also, Texas declared independence (from Mexico) on March 2, 1836.