Yes, I have coined a new phrase. Watching Robbie toddle around the house lately has given new meaning to the word “toddler”. However, seeing him in a little onesie today (as opposed to the khaki pants and button-down shirt he wore to church yesterday), reminded me that he is still a baby. That’s when it hit me! He’s a boddler…somewhere in that transition between baby and full-blown toddler. Of course, he’s working very hard on the transition. Just last week, while I got ready to vacuum, I ran into my room for a minute. When I came back into the living room, lo and behold! Robbie had taken the vacuum cleaner cord, dragged it across the living room, and was attempting to plug it into the outlet. Needless to say, I was impressed. He followed that impressive feat with going into the laundry room, getting the broom, and carrying it around the kitchen. And all this time I thought I should do chores while he was sleeping!
He’s also finally figured out how to clap his hands…of course, it could just be that he’s known how and hasn’t wanted to. It could very well be that he is merely following in the footsteps of his parents and loves applause. This coincides with how we’re learning to fold our hands when we pray. Sometimes he gets so overcome with joy that he claps instead of clasps…it’s all cute, though.
Today at lunch he surprised me by not only eating a whole bowl of mixed vegetables but half a burrito as well. As I write this he has alternated between playing with my ponytail, coaxing me to come play with him, and is now sitting on the edge of the couch turning the fan and lights off and on. I love being his mommy!
On Monday the weather decided to cool just enough for me to justify turning on the oven and baking chocolate chip cookies…something I really miss when it’s too hot to bake. Robbie happily pulled pots and pans out of their drawer and banged them on the kitchen floor until I had almost finished mixing up the batter. And suddenly…he noticed mommy doing something that looked more exciting than what he was doing! So I put him up on the counter so he could “help”. I gave him one of the beaters to lick and the next thing I knew he was trying to re-dip it in the bowl! He quickly decided that sticking his whole hand in the bowl gave him even more cookie dough, and before I knew it, not only my baby, but also my kitchen cabinets and counter were smeared with cookie dough.
Over the last two days we have both more than satisfied our cookie cravings. Robbie enjoyed having a cookied tacked onto breakfast, lunch, dinner and anytime inbetween that he could get his hands on one. Here’s some pictures of my little cookie monster.
What a difference a year makes! Last year at this time I was in the hospital looking at my four day-old baby hooked up to an IV underneath a blue light, and today he is a happy healthy one year-old. Praise God!
Last year at this time I never imagined the joy it would bring me when he crawls into my lap and lays his head on my shoulder, to see him gaze in wonder at an object and then reach his pudgy hand out to grasp it. To hear him laugh hysterically when mommy or daddy tickles him; to see a huge smile spread across his face when I walk into a room. Ahhhhhh…I love being Robbie’s mommy!
In honor of his first birthday he got scrambled eggs for breakfast, taco bell for lunch, birthday cake, presents, phone calls from family, and tons of attention from mommy and daddy (wait–he gets that all the time!).
I’m sitting here, starting to feel exhausted. After Robbie woke us up I made a casserole for a funeral, went to the dentist, came home, cleaned the house and packed, went to an Open House at WOAK, came home, napped, did more cleaning and packing… In spite of all that, I feel remarkably on top of things considering that I’m leaving on a trip tomorrow. Usually I always feel somewhat panicked the day before a trip because of all I have to do and the more on my to-do list the more I procrastinate until I’m hastily throwing half my wardrobe into a suitcase at 10:00pm. Yes, I’m tired, but feel so incredibly peaceful (house is clean, laundry done, packing almost done), that I can’t help but wonder, what am I forgetting to do!?!?!?!?
I can’t say for certain the first time I saw a $100 bill, but one clear memory I have is when I was about seven years old and my family was going to Disneyland for the day. We had to go pick up the tickets at a friend’s house (they must have gotten a good deal on them or something), and I remember sitting next to my dad in the car while he held the $100 bill he would exchange for the tickets. Nowadays, it’s impossible for a family of five to go to Disneyland for $100, but at the time, I gazed in awe at the bill…humbled and amazed that my dad had that much money and we were going to use all of it to go to Disneyland.
Times have changed…I had to pay bills the other day. It’s a very bittersweet process. Bitter because I have to watch money leave our checking account (and hope that my horrid math skills will keep our checkbook somewhat balanced), but sweet because it means I’m on top of my duties as a housewife and we no longer owe anything (until the next month). I dashed off checks for the house, credit card, power bill, etc., writing them out for a few hundred here, several hundred there. After everything was finally signed and stamped and I collapsed on the couch next to David, I thought of that time when I saw that $100 bill my dad held and wondered when $100 started to seem like so little. I wish I knew!
I am hoping that Robbie will inherit his granddad’s monetary skills, and he’ll always be a good steward of what the Lord has blessed him with…and be much better at math than his mommy!
When I was a little girl, and my sister Rachel was an even littler girl, mom had dad put child-proof locks on all of our kitchen cabinets because she got tired of dealing with the after-math that came from allowing Rachel to “explore her world”. I’m beginning to feel the same. However, Robbie has one-upped Auntie Rae…he can get into my kitchen cabinets that already have child-proof locks! I don’t mind being the mother of a genius, but somehow, this is not exactly what I had in mind. Here’s what my industrious little guy has been up to:
On Friday I got my bi-annual haircut. I usually get it cut at the beginning of summer and sometime in the fall. I always spend a lot of time pondering what I’ll get for my new do, take a picture with me to the salon, chicken out, and wind up with the same cut I always have. My sweet husband gave me the okay on a rather short cut this time, so I took my picture of Reese Whitherspoon in “Sweet Home Alabama”, determined to go for it. In spite of my strong desire for something “different” and the permission from my husband, I still wavered after I showed the picture to the stylist and said, “Maybe can you make it a little longer than the picture?”
All things considered, I do like my summer style and am starting to realize that maybe this style just looks good on me…I just don’t want to start looking dated!
At the ripe old age of ten months, Robbie has decided that sitting on his bottom while riding his motorcycle is much too blase. Here’s a clip of my little daredevil. I can’t imagine what he’ll be up to when he can actually walk!
“Cinderella Meets Her Fella” has been finished for over a day and so far, I don’t have any affects of stage-loss! Wow! Either I’m getting more mature, or I’ve just been so busy getting my house back in order that I haven’t had time to sit around and mope. Considering that my house had been suffering through my recovery/maintaining stage after a bunch of company and a trip, I think it’s the latter. Here’s some of my favorite pictures I got of the production.
Last night after my fourth performance of “Cinderella Meets Her Fella”, I rushed off-stage with the rest of the cast, feeling incredibly giddy. There is always an adrenaline rush after a performance that seems to come from the cheers and good-will of the audience during a curtain call. In college, as soon as production would finish we would exit the stage, rush out of the theater, down the hall, and wait in the lower art gallery for friends, family, and fans to come through the receiving line.
After I bounced off the stage last night with a bunch of screaming, giggly, little girls I realized that there was no one to meet after the play. It’s not that there was no one to congratulate me and tell me how well I did…there was just no family or friends to cluster around me, take pictures with, and share hugs. It was actually a sad feeling realizing that my parents, sisters, and husband had already all seen the play and now there was no one left I knew to come and see it. It made me realize how supportive my family has always been of my dreams, and how much it meant to me to know they were out there watching me, and would be waiting for me afterward. In college David would come to see me for almost (if not every) single performance and come through the receiving line upwards of ten times just to shake my hand…okay, he had an agenda, but STILL…I did like it!
Anyway, last night just made me love and appreciate them even more. You guys are part of what make my dreams mine. I love you and I’ll miss seeing you out there tonight!
