I hate cake! Get this atrocity away from me!
I do, however, like my new lemur.
Ladies love me.
A laptop!!! SWEET!
Cookie Monster is so ticklish.Monday, December 29, 2008
Present time!
Not the prettiest cake, but the kid does like vehicles.
His smash cake got a little smashed on the way to the party. Thank goodness it did, because Paxton certainly didn't do any part in helping the cake live up to its name.
Paxton's friend, Henry, has the cutest smile ever.
Chris and his adorable family.Paxton's First Birthday Party!
Paxton's first birthday party was a success.
Frankly, I'm shocked. I had nightmares the night before that we were half-an-hour late to the party and hadn't brought the food or games or any of the decorations. We were rushing around the house like maniacs, trying to grab everything and run for our lives to the community center where all our guests were waiting.
As it was, it wasn't quite that bad. I planned to get to the community center by 11 to set up and I made it by 11:30. My mom wasn't thrilled with my tardiness, but we scurried and got everything set up with the help of our friend, Joan, who arrived a little early. The only reason I was late was because I put off doing what I dreaded most until the last minute. That was the music. I haven't updated my iPod in a year or more, and I didn't look forward to jumping back into it and facing whatever monkeywrenches had developed in that time. There were indeed a few. But with Chris' help, I downloaded (and uploaded) a slew of fun kids' music--Trout Fishing in America, Sara Hickman's kids' album, Paxton's cd of songs to "sign to" from our sign language kit, Brave Combo's kids' album. Then I added some songs that I thought kids in general (and Paxton, in particular) would enjoy, including the Beatles and Beyonce's "Single Ladies". That last one is Paxton's favorite. As Andrea said, Paxton would definitely "put a ring on it".
I was prepared enough to make all the food I was responsible for the day before. I made a double batch of hummus (my specialty and my favorite), although I frantically sliced the bell peppers at the community center. And I forgot the carrots. And I nearly forgot the flat bread, but thankfully grabbed it on the way out the door. I also made these labor-intensive sugar cookies which I haven't even tried yet, because they're so ugly. Joan loved them so much, though, that she came over to tell me they were the best she'd had. They were actually a mix. And the frosting was Duncan Hines. I'm sure you wonder how that could be labor intensive. To me, though, they were. I had to roll the dough. Cut it with the cookie cutter. Then, later, frost them and decorate them with the number "1" or the letter "P" plus oodles of awkward-looking confetti and other decorative designs. Hideous. But apparently delicious. I also made a batch of delicious pizelles--a novelty in Texas, but par for the course in PA, where I come from. Another somewhat labor-intensive cookie, since you use a pizelle iron to make them--but I've got that down pat.
I ordered a sandwich tray, and a fruit tray with dip. And ordered Paxton's construction-themed cake, as well as his "smash cake".
My mom did the rest--chips, pinwheels, cheese and crackers, yet more cookies, drinks.
Thank God Joan arrived when she did, because my mom and I don't have the magic touch when it comes to decorating. Joan did an awesome job. Everything looked so cute.
We brought our area rugs from home and put them in the middle of the floor for the kids to sit on. We also brought the Step 2 Playscape Nick and Mindy gave us, and let the kids crawl on that. I brought several of Paxton's toys from home for the kids to play with, too.
I was worried that no one would come, because I was getting cancellations left and right in the days before the party. But we had a wonderful, fun group. In attendance: my mom, Joan, McKenna and Stewart with their 3-1/2-year-old, Ceilidh, Andrea and Berto with their 7-month-old, Henry, my doula and friend, Jessica, with her two nieces, Autumn and Sam, Kathy, Bree and Texas (14-months), Chris' family--Isabel, Bob, Keith, Craig, Kendall (7), Nikki (7), and Cayden (10), Megan, and, of course, Chris, Paxton and me. So we had a total of 27 people.
I had nothing firm planned, which sends me into a blind panic. I also am absolutely awful at keeping track of time, and we only had the room for two hours, so that concerned me. But it all worked out. Everyone visited when they arrived, then they ate. Then we got out the parachute I'd bought for the party and the kids had a blast using it to bounce a ball around. Paxton has never looked happier. His face was all smile. It was so cute. After that, we blew bubbles and sang the Gymboree "bubble song".
We only had about 30 minutes left after that, so Paxton opened presents (well, Chris and the kids opened the presents and Paxton marveled at his loot). And then we had cake. Paxton has no love for sweets. He probably gets enough sweet stuff from my breast milk and all the sweets I dine on daily. He wouldn't even touch the cake for the longest time. Autumn tried to coax him, and he ended up getting a little on his hands, but he had no interest in taking a bite. He was getting tired by this point, so the cake incident had him scowling.
Like all parties I have a part in hosting, I missed out on the food and cake, but made up for it when we got home. Paxton went straight to bed and took his usual hourlong afternoon nap. He woke up happy and ready to play with his new toys. He scored in that department. I want to put some things away for him to enjoy in a few months, but I can't decide what he wouldn't miss. He has already embraced everything. His baby laptop. His baby guitar. His multiple trains and cars. His lemur. His instruments. He's one lavished toddler.
Speaking of the little prince, I hear his stirring from his nap. This is the first day in a long time that the only thing we had on our to-do list was his second flu shot. I'm sort of beside myself with idle time. But not enough to bathe and venture outside of the house to face the world. I think we'll just enjoy our greasy hair, leftovers and toys and hunker down for a long winter's night.
Frankly, I'm shocked. I had nightmares the night before that we were half-an-hour late to the party and hadn't brought the food or games or any of the decorations. We were rushing around the house like maniacs, trying to grab everything and run for our lives to the community center where all our guests were waiting.
As it was, it wasn't quite that bad. I planned to get to the community center by 11 to set up and I made it by 11:30. My mom wasn't thrilled with my tardiness, but we scurried and got everything set up with the help of our friend, Joan, who arrived a little early. The only reason I was late was because I put off doing what I dreaded most until the last minute. That was the music. I haven't updated my iPod in a year or more, and I didn't look forward to jumping back into it and facing whatever monkeywrenches had developed in that time. There were indeed a few. But with Chris' help, I downloaded (and uploaded) a slew of fun kids' music--Trout Fishing in America, Sara Hickman's kids' album, Paxton's cd of songs to "sign to" from our sign language kit, Brave Combo's kids' album. Then I added some songs that I thought kids in general (and Paxton, in particular) would enjoy, including the Beatles and Beyonce's "Single Ladies". That last one is Paxton's favorite. As Andrea said, Paxton would definitely "put a ring on it".
I was prepared enough to make all the food I was responsible for the day before. I made a double batch of hummus (my specialty and my favorite), although I frantically sliced the bell peppers at the community center. And I forgot the carrots. And I nearly forgot the flat bread, but thankfully grabbed it on the way out the door. I also made these labor-intensive sugar cookies which I haven't even tried yet, because they're so ugly. Joan loved them so much, though, that she came over to tell me they were the best she'd had. They were actually a mix. And the frosting was Duncan Hines. I'm sure you wonder how that could be labor intensive. To me, though, they were. I had to roll the dough. Cut it with the cookie cutter. Then, later, frost them and decorate them with the number "1" or the letter "P" plus oodles of awkward-looking confetti and other decorative designs. Hideous. But apparently delicious. I also made a batch of delicious pizelles--a novelty in Texas, but par for the course in PA, where I come from. Another somewhat labor-intensive cookie, since you use a pizelle iron to make them--but I've got that down pat.
I ordered a sandwich tray, and a fruit tray with dip. And ordered Paxton's construction-themed cake, as well as his "smash cake".
My mom did the rest--chips, pinwheels, cheese and crackers, yet more cookies, drinks.
Thank God Joan arrived when she did, because my mom and I don't have the magic touch when it comes to decorating. Joan did an awesome job. Everything looked so cute.
We brought our area rugs from home and put them in the middle of the floor for the kids to sit on. We also brought the Step 2 Playscape Nick and Mindy gave us, and let the kids crawl on that. I brought several of Paxton's toys from home for the kids to play with, too.
I was worried that no one would come, because I was getting cancellations left and right in the days before the party. But we had a wonderful, fun group. In attendance: my mom, Joan, McKenna and Stewart with their 3-1/2-year-old, Ceilidh, Andrea and Berto with their 7-month-old, Henry, my doula and friend, Jessica, with her two nieces, Autumn and Sam, Kathy, Bree and Texas (14-months), Chris' family--Isabel, Bob, Keith, Craig, Kendall (7), Nikki (7), and Cayden (10), Megan, and, of course, Chris, Paxton and me. So we had a total of 27 people.
I had nothing firm planned, which sends me into a blind panic. I also am absolutely awful at keeping track of time, and we only had the room for two hours, so that concerned me. But it all worked out. Everyone visited when they arrived, then they ate. Then we got out the parachute I'd bought for the party and the kids had a blast using it to bounce a ball around. Paxton has never looked happier. His face was all smile. It was so cute. After that, we blew bubbles and sang the Gymboree "bubble song".
We only had about 30 minutes left after that, so Paxton opened presents (well, Chris and the kids opened the presents and Paxton marveled at his loot). And then we had cake. Paxton has no love for sweets. He probably gets enough sweet stuff from my breast milk and all the sweets I dine on daily. He wouldn't even touch the cake for the longest time. Autumn tried to coax him, and he ended up getting a little on his hands, but he had no interest in taking a bite. He was getting tired by this point, so the cake incident had him scowling.
Like all parties I have a part in hosting, I missed out on the food and cake, but made up for it when we got home. Paxton went straight to bed and took his usual hourlong afternoon nap. He woke up happy and ready to play with his new toys. He scored in that department. I want to put some things away for him to enjoy in a few months, but I can't decide what he wouldn't miss. He has already embraced everything. His baby laptop. His baby guitar. His multiple trains and cars. His lemur. His instruments. He's one lavished toddler.
Speaking of the little prince, I hear his stirring from his nap. This is the first day in a long time that the only thing we had on our to-do list was his second flu shot. I'm sort of beside myself with idle time. But not enough to bathe and venture outside of the house to face the world. I think we'll just enjoy our greasy hair, leftovers and toys and hunker down for a long winter's night.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
This was from last year on Paxton's first Christmas Eve.
And here we all are exactly one year later. 
This picture makes me happy. My mom was cracking Paxton up, showing him how the teeter-tooter in the display goes UP...and down. 
This is also from last year. Chris asked if he could just lay Paxton on the straw and we could take the picture. I vetoed the idea, so he help him for the shot.
But this year, we not only were able to let Paxton be in the picture himself, but he is big enough to point out the pretty lights.
Here is the giant tree that Chris brought home for us. If you look closely, you can see Paxton at the foot of it, playing with his trucks on the slide.
This was a gift from Chris' co-worker, John. It was an adorable plush monkey and a big ol' dumptruck. Paxton collected the bows from the presents and pushed them around in his truck. Then he cuddled his monkey when he took his nap.
Daddy and Paxton wait to open the piles of presents.
At the Trail of Lights last night, Paxton wanted to practice his walking. Oh, how he loves to walk.
I was supposed to be in this picture, but someone had to hold Paxton and coax him to put his head in a wooden hole. Not easy. Chris got to be a goofy elf while our son had to be a female photographer. Weird.
Christmas night.
Even though the holiday season always seems to go by too quickly, I feel like we took advantage of lots of opportunities to celebrate this year. We went to the Wimberley Trail of Lights twice--once with my mommy friends and once with Mom and Chris on our traditional Christmas Eve visit. We went to 37th Street in Austin to see the fun and funky lights. Paxton got to have Breakfast with Santa when we were in Pennsylvania, and he got to sit on Santa's lap again at the Trail of Lights. We had our typical madhouse of present-opening this morning, with Mom's delicious fruit salad and sausage bread (faux for me). Then, tonight we had Christmas dinner at Mom's house with a very entertaining group of friends and family. I feel completely satisfied tonight as I sit amidst sleeping, peaceful cats and piles of Christmas presents yet to be put away in their proper places. It was a holiday well-done.
We have been completely slammed lately with oh, so much. Besides the holiday and Paxton's actual birthday, we also have been planning Paxton's Sunday birthday party. We have Chris' family coming into town to celebrate with us. We've also had a wave of things going awry at our house. Our water heater went out yesterday morning. Our guest bathroom toilet is leaking. And there was a mysterious and disturbing smell coming from the other guest bathroom. With family coming in town, you can imagine our stress. God is good, though, and Chris found and solved the problem o' the stink. Our friend, Greg, is going to help Chris change the heating elements in the water heater tomorrow. And the other guest bathroom toilet will just have to wait until later days, I think. It's an easy fix, but it's a bit time consuming.
Anyway, I think I'll tell the story of our last couple of weeks with pictures. View them above and enjoy!
Even though the holiday season always seems to go by too quickly, I feel like we took advantage of lots of opportunities to celebrate this year. We went to the Wimberley Trail of Lights twice--once with my mommy friends and once with Mom and Chris on our traditional Christmas Eve visit. We went to 37th Street in Austin to see the fun and funky lights. Paxton got to have Breakfast with Santa when we were in Pennsylvania, and he got to sit on Santa's lap again at the Trail of Lights. We had our typical madhouse of present-opening this morning, with Mom's delicious fruit salad and sausage bread (faux for me). Then, tonight we had Christmas dinner at Mom's house with a very entertaining group of friends and family. I feel completely satisfied tonight as I sit amidst sleeping, peaceful cats and piles of Christmas presents yet to be put away in their proper places. It was a holiday well-done.
We have been completely slammed lately with oh, so much. Besides the holiday and Paxton's actual birthday, we also have been planning Paxton's Sunday birthday party. We have Chris' family coming into town to celebrate with us. We've also had a wave of things going awry at our house. Our water heater went out yesterday morning. Our guest bathroom toilet is leaking. And there was a mysterious and disturbing smell coming from the other guest bathroom. With family coming in town, you can imagine our stress. God is good, though, and Chris found and solved the problem o' the stink. Our friend, Greg, is going to help Chris change the heating elements in the water heater tomorrow. And the other guest bathroom toilet will just have to wait until later days, I think. It's an easy fix, but it's a bit time consuming.
Anyway, I think I'll tell the story of our last couple of weeks with pictures. View them above and enjoy!
Friday, December 12, 2008
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