Thursday, June 30, 2011

18-months

Seth, you are 18 months old...a year and a half! You are such a fun, sweet boy. I love the summer that we are having together.

Your stats:
Clothes size - 18-24 months
Shoe size - 6
Weight - 25lb 4oz (45-50%)
Head - 18 3/4" (50%)
Height - 33 1/2" (75-80%); if you continue on this percentage, you will be taller than your Daddy!

We went to visit Dr. Lisa for Seth's 18-month check-up and she had great things to say about Seth, with no concerns at all. Seth was quite the ham in the check-up room. Happy, interactive and busy. He even pointed out the window at the cars in the parking lot and said, "Car!".

Seth's bank of words is starting to increase. His favorite word is "ball!" whenever he sees a ball or something that looks like a ball. But it always accompanies an exclamation point and wide eyes when he says it. It's the cutest thing how he gets so excited. He has also said "truck" and "rock" when he's seen either of those.

Seth is starting to become an affectionate little boy. When we were at our friends' home the other day, we were leaving and I encouraged Seth to say good-bye to his little friends, K and N. He went up to each child and gave them a hug! I couldn't believe it. He also tends to wrap his arms around my neck when we're sitting in his nursery chair and when I'm changing his diaper. He just squeals.

Seth is not afraid of strangers. He goes to church nursery so easily now. There was a period of 3 months when I'd drop him off at the nursery and he'd just scream at the top of his lungs. He's definitely gotten better the last two times we've taken him there. When we see strangers out and about, he'll do one of two things - study them with his serious look or flirt. It's so cute to see him flirt. He always gets comments on his long eyelashes and blue eyes. Oh, dear. This will be a girl problem for him when he's older!

Seth is so playful. While I was sitting on his bedroom floor folding clothes, he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulder so he could have a piggy back ride. He also loves to be chased, thrown up in the air by his daddy and loves to dance to music.

Rocks are Seth's favorite things. When we walk outside, he goes straight to the garden edging and picks up a rock for each hand. Jason laughs when he mows the yard, because he's constantly picking up a pair of rocks scattered around the yard and he knows exactly where they came from.

This next part is really my own notes for what our days are like right now as Seth is an 18-month old. Seth sleeps until 8am-ish, then we wake up and have breakfast. Seth loves my special concoction of toddler oatmeal with applesauce. He also has either pancakes or fruit. Then, we play for a little bit and most days we run out on errands. Either we go on a playdate, grocery shopping or just errands. He's a trooper and a fun little companion.

Then, we always make it home by about 11-11:30am for some playtime outside and then it's lunch. I've started letting Seth watch Sesame Street, so this is his special treat while I'm making lunch. He gets to sit in the highchair and watch 15 minutes of that show. He giggles, laughs and squeals over the show. It's so cute.

After lunch around 1pm, Seth takes a nap that lasts 2-3 hours. He so needs it and typically never fights it. I busy myself with cleaning, organizing and more cleaning and some dinner prep. I try to sit down and relax a little bit during that time.

Nap time ends around 4, so I get Seth up and we play outside for a little bit before I start dinner. While I'm prepping dinner, I let Seth play on the upstairs deck with his picnic table and toys. He loves it. It's nice for me because I can see exactly what Seth is doing, so I'm okay with letting him play there. It has a sturdy gate, so I have a little security know he won't go down the deck stairs. Well, there you have it!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Sleepy mornings

Quite honestly - these are the days that I was praying for and it is only by God's provision that I am experiencing them. I'm going into my second week of being a stay at home mom with Seth. Someone asked if I missed work.

Nope. Not at all. Sure, I miss my friends at work, but I really do not miss the heart struggle of wanting to be home with my son and taking care of our home. I really feel that I am in my element now that I'm home. I like being able to get the home stuff (like laundry, dinner prep, organization) out of the way so we don't have to do them on the weekend. This past weekend was great because I was able to get my chores (grocery shopping and laundry) done on Friday, so we just did fun family stuff over the weekend.

I've kept up my normal of routine of waking early, going to the gym to work out, showering and eating before Seth gets up. I've also added in the time to read the Bible and read some devotions.

This morning I had a little extra time because my sweet son does not want to get out of his crib and start his day! Seriously - I'm looking at the video monitor and here Seth is, just cuddling with his blanket in his crib. Not a care or desire to start his day. Oh, well. He can have that. :)




Saturday, June 11, 2011

It's hard to say good-bye

To good friends that are moving out of state! Our friends, M & K, are friends from Jason's Bethel days. They've been so dear to us over the years - during college, standing up for us in our wedding, visiting Jason in the hospital. They have a big adventure awaiting them in Texas.

Tonight we went to their open house to say good-bye, to reminiscence, see each other and just plain visit. It was a gorgeous summer night and such a perfect outing. There must have been 20 kids running around M & K's fenced backyard, which is like a forest with paths and trails all over. Seth was in heaven! He played alongside other little toddlers and started learning the concept of sharing with his little friends, Kayla and Alec. Oh, it warmed this mommy's heart to see how Seth interacted with the other little toddlers. Sometimes he would just go off and explore something, like a corner of the patio or the sandbox. Other times, he'd follow the other little kids to see what they were doing.

We sat around the kitchen table to eat dinner and Seth clearly remembered that's where the food was later on, because he found his way back to the kitchen where all the goodies were and asked for food! Aww - a child after my own heart. He knew exactly where the treats were!

Seth got the obligatory, "He's so intense - look at his furrowed brow!" Yes, at times when he's around lots of people and he's getting a lot of attention, he would rather study the person instead of showing off.:) I love that Seth is so observant.

The rest of our weekend so far has been soooo perfect. Our babysitting swappers watched Seth on Friday night, so we went to a movie at the cinema grill. So fun to go out to a movie!

Saturday morning was perfect. We slept in till 8am, had a delicious pancake breakfast and went to the park before Jason went to play soccer.

I'm so thank for days like these!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Our Memorial Day Weekend

It was so nice to have a 3-day weekend! We kicked Friday night off with dinner at Perkins. Saturday was a beautiful day, so we used it to work around the house and yard.

We visited with Brian, Kay and their son, who is the same age as Seth. Those boys know how to play! We spent much of the time in their backyard where they're working on an addition. A huge mound of dirt was perfectly placed in the backyard, perfect for two little boys to play on. We had not been in the backyard for more than 5 minutes when Seth tripped, landed all fours in the mud and proceeded to eat a handful of mud! Oh, dear.

I knew at that moment that as mommy to a little boy, I had two choices: 1) bemoan the fact that I'd need to give my boy a deep cleaning, or 2) say, "How was that mud pie?" and laugh it off. I choose #2 and proceeded to enjoy watching Seth conquer the mud mountain. After dinner and more play, we gave the boys a bubble bath and got them clean. Seth's dirty clothes are still wadded up in a plastic bag waiting to be cleaned. :)

We had friends over from church on Sunday night. Seth was so energized having two of his friends, K & N, visit. I loved the scene playing out in our home: the adults gathered around the kitchen table while the kids were playing back and forth between the living room and Seth's bedroom.

Memorial Day was a fun day. We tried out the bike trailer and went for a bike ride to Joyce's house. It's debatable if Seth liked it or not. He did NOT like his helmet, as you can see below.:) It was fun just to get out and go for a ride. I'm looking forward to many more of these rides this summer!

What made this weekend so great was that it was leading up to my last days of work. It would be the last long weekend of mourning the fact that I'd need to go back to work.