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I missed 10 on Tuesday, I’ve honestly been too busy to even cruise over here the past week or so.  So, here it is.

1.  ‘Tis the season – for me to be sa-wamped at my 9 to 5, thus interfering with my regular blogging.  The nerve!

2.  P2 is now officially rocking and rolling in there, which is still just as cool as it was the first time.

3.  L.A. still hasn’t taken any steps on his own, but he is now playing a game called “No Hands” where he’ll suddenly throw his hands above his head and stand there for all of 3 seconds before plopping down on his tush.  The excitement on his face in those 3 seconds though is enough to light up a room.  I’ll try to catch it on camera for you.

4.  Since most everyone has received our holiday cards at this point, I thought I’d share our 2008 Official Family Portrait here.  If you haven’t received your card yet, close your eyes. 

5.  Do you see that BOY in the picture above??  Where in the world did he come from? 

6.  I’ve been on a never ending, not so fruitful search for a maternity outfit for a little Holiday Party that C and I are going to this weekend and can’t find squat.  Everything is either in some crazy pattern or covered in bows.  I mean seriously, who would in the world would wear this?

7.  If the above dress is hanging in your closet, I’m sorry for calling you out, but that thing is awful. 

8.  L.A. has recently started to do things he knows he’s not supposed to do, like go near the cabinet where are cleaning supplies are and look up at me with his arm out towards it saying “Mama, dis?” to which I reply “No sweetie, not that”.  Repeat, over and over. 

9.  In regards to this game, C and I finally got around to baby proofing some cabinets last night.  As we were elbow deep in the baby proofing, I had a hilarious blog post half written, but promised C I would keep SOME things to just us.  Sorry.  ;P

10.  That’s all for now, I have work to do, PEOPLE! 

I had a bad day today.  It was all job related (my 9-5), but it was the kind of day that makes you want to hide under your desk and just wish it all away.  I went to pick up L.A. knowing that he would brighten my afternoon, only to have him throw a temper tantrum upon my arrival because he was having far too much fun playing to be bothered with going home.  Didn’t do much for the ego.  Came home, looked around and realized I could stand to put a little extra effort in around the house too.  

Dinner didn’t seem to cook fast enough, and L.A. was ready for bed.  Finally, we went upstairs and decided to forego bath time since we were so behind schedule.  He fought me all the way through getting changed, and I spilled milk all over my shirt making his bottle.  

Eventually, I sat him in my lap in the rocking chair and nuzzled down against his head as I pulled out the Belly Button Book (a new fave of both of ours).  As I turned the first page and breathed in the first bit of relaxation of the day, I felt a small little kick in my belly.  It’s been worrying me that I’ve only felt P2 moving a little here and there, and I stopped for a second not sure if I imagined it.  As I opened my mouth to start reading again, I felt another little kick.  

Once again, just when I need it, someone upstairs points out what’s really important.  

1.  I’ve entered the phase of pregnancy induced insomnia, which for some reason seems to plague me longer and more intensely than most normal people.  As such I was awake last night from 1 to about 4:30 with a quick break in the middle. 

2.  The sweetest part about being on 3 1/2 hours of sleep today is that I have a huge presentation to give today to our senior management team and I look like I’ve been steamrolled by the train of death. 

3.  Yesterday the little guy had his 1 year checkup, and he had to have some blood work done.  Enter nursing student who emphasizes she’s “learning” and “a student” no less than 10 times in the first 2 minutes she’s in the room.  (We’ve had great luck with this type of situation lately).  

C was holding L.A. and I was trying my best to keep him distracted as she pricked his toe and got the blood she needed.  It was taking forever, and L.A. was getting more and more agitated, so I went across the room to get a toy from his diaper bag and on my way back I looked to see his little foot covered in smeared blood, and the nurse still trying to get more out.  (Who the heck invented those teeny tiny vials anyway??)

All of a sudden the room started spinning and the sound of a helicopter humming filled my ears.  I looked up at C and could feel the color draining from my face and in the distance heard him say “are you okay?” as I quickly sat down in a chair and put my head down.  After a minute or so it passed, and I went to stand up again, got another sight of his little bloody foot and almost fainted again. 

I’m praying that this queasy, wussy reaction is somehow pregnancy induced, otherwise I am totally screwed being the mom of a boy.

4.  A little bragging: We’re almost 100% done with Christmas shopping, with only 1 gift left to buy.  This is completely abnormal in our household and I’m on top of the world!

5.  I’m finishing up all my holiday print orders this week, and can’t wait to deliver them to clients.  They’ve been slowly trickling in, and there are some beautiful family portraits in my possession at the moment. 

6.  The fact that I’m on the decline of the holiday rush for the business means that you’ll be seeing lots more of my personal pictures, and I’ll be spending some time on fun stuff around here. 

7.  I’ve finally given into the hype and ordered all 4 books in the Twilight Series.  I’m hoping that I can snuggle up on the couch in these cold months and get through them. 

8.  This weekend I was able to wrangle my boys together for a family picture for our holiday card.  I’m not going to share it here yet, because there are several readers on my holiday card mailing list.

9.  When I uploaded said family picture, I was shocked to see a little boy sitting in my living room.  There was no baby to be seen, just a toddler through and through.

10.  In honor of that missing baby, I dug into the archives and pulled out this picture taken on my old point and shoot from about a year ago.  My sweet L.A., just fresh home from the hospital. 

Much of our free time these days is spent like this:

Walking laps around our house with the little guy.  He’s just so excited to be walking, notice the tongue… it’s always out like that in a combination of concentration and sheer joy.  It’s so much fun to see him developing so quickly, but any parent that has done this for 20 minutes straight knows that it’s a killer on your back to lean over and support a person who is all of 2 foot nothin’.  

Unfortunately, L.A. doesn’t really understand that and crumples on the floor in a fit of frustration when C or I need a break.  Despite the fact that he has at least 5 different types of “walking toys”, apparently none are as good as Mom or Dad’s hands.  How can you say no to that?

Just so that I can thoroughly embarrass my teenage son when he reads through these entries one day, how about Tongue Exhibit part 2?  Despite the fact that these pictures were taken in almost the same location, it should be noted that this was on lap 38 or so.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! 

Going in for the kill.

Here are a few other pictures from the little dude’s day.

Look at him going in for the big smooch… that’s his cousin, and one of my favorite little girlies around.

L.A. and I at the end of the day.  Both of us were pretty tired by this point.

and lastly, the much alluded family shot courtesy of our friend and neighbor.  We actually had to call her to come over after the fact because I realized the whole day had gone by and we didn’t get one family picture.  Thank you E!

1.  I give L.A. about 3 weeks before he’s walking.  He’s trying so hard, I really think it’s on the horizon.

2.  Yesterday we had a Dr’s appointment to check up on P2 and there was a medical student shadowing the Dr.  She wanted to try to find the baby’s heartbeat on the Doppler, and gave it a shot.  Seconds turned into minutes, and my own heart leaped to my throat.  At about the 4 minute mark she gave up and handed it back over to the Dr. who found the heartbeat immediately.  I have never in my life heard a sweeter sound.

3.  Christmas music has already started playing in our house, and I’d forgotten how purely happy it makes me.  Yesterday I was dancing all around the house with L.A. singing him Christmas carols while he shrieked with laughter.  (There’s a good chance he was laughing at my inability to carry a tune, though!)

4.  I’ve been so busy photographing other families for their holiday cards, I haven’t even thought about doing ours yet.  I need to get cracking.

5.  I shocked myself by only shedding one little tear as we rolled past the 1 year mark.

6.  I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving like a little kid anticipates Christmas.  Stuffing, mashed potatoes, pies galore… heaven!

7.  Bonus points for me, because this is the second year in a row that I’ve been in maternity pants on Turkey Day. 

8.  L.A. was hysterical when eating his birthday cake.  He decided he wasn’t crazy about how the frosting felt on his hands, so he just leaned down and dug in like a pups at his bowl.  Pictures to follow… I promise.

9.  I’ve felt all along that P2 is a girl, but at yesterday’s Dr’s appointment, the heart rate was in the 140’s which is boy territory.  This has me second guessing my “intuition”.

10.  If P2 is a boy, C and I are in for MONTHS of name debating.  We are on two opposite ends of the spectrum with boy names, and therefore haven’t even broached the subject thus far.  Yikes.

My Sweet L.A., 

I could write you a book to tell you how much you have changed my life in the past year, and in doing so I’d probably soak my keyboard with tears.  In some ways, I suppose this is my book to you, and your (future) sibling(s).  One day, you’ll be able to read through my thoughts and as much as I love you today, I can’t imagine how much I’ll love you the day you come across this entry.  

You see, as you’ve grown, my heart has grown.  The day you were born, I thought I could never love you more, but as each day has passed there is more and more there.  Sure, there are moments of frustration and there were months of exhaustion, and I never would have imagined that I’d smile when being summoned from my cozy bed at 5 in the morning on the weekend.  You are so worth it all though… every sleepless night, every moment where I wonder if I’m really cut out to be your mom, every early morning when I see you beaming at me – so excited to see me – I wonder how in the world I got so darned lucky.  

This morning on your birthday you slept in, a rare treat for your Dad and I, and when you finally woke up and I brought you into our room so Dad and I could say Happy Birthday to you together, I glanced over at the clock and it was 8:24.  Exactly the time you were born one year ago today… and as the three of us snuggled up together I closed my eyes and thanked God for every minute of this past year.  

I love you little boy, and even when you’re not so little anymore, you’ll always be my baby.  

Today is L.A.’s first birthday party, though his actual birthday is tomorrow.  I haven’t shed any tears yet, though there’s no guarantee they won’t come tumbling down as I tuck him in tonight for the last time as an “infant”.  Tomorrow morning when he wakes up, officially 1 year old, he will be a toddler.  

On the eve of his first birthday, I’ve found myself reflecting… especially back to this day 1 year ago.  It was Black Friday, and I had no clue we’d be meeting our child early the next morning as I ran around doing all of our holiday shopping.  When C and I were relaxing on the couch that night, we had no way of knowing that it was our last night just the two of us.  As we drove to the hospital in the early morning hours, C held my hand and we rode in silence both taking in the enormity of the moment.  I’ll never forget the guard as we walked into the hospital, stopping along the way as I was left breathless by a contraction.  He looked at us with kind eyes and said “I may not be a Dr., but I think I know what the problem is.”  If you want to read the entire birth story, you can click here.

For now though, I need to go finish getting ready for the little dude’s party.  So far, the balloons are a big hit.  In fact, C and I are wondering if we should have just gotten him a bunch of mylar balloons.  If you have any “it’s okay that your baby is turning one” strength to send my way, I’m all for it!