One Year Old!

My baby boy is now a toddler! One year old today!

Here are some cute things about the toddler...

Words you are saying: Dog, Light, Momma, Dada, More, Cool, That, Car, Chair, No, Yeah, Hi, Hey

Your favorite foods: Strawberry yogurt, any meat with barbecue sauce on it, mandarin oranges, cheese puffs, and Colby Jack cheese

You can use a spoon to feed yourself. You can stand up. You can clap your hands. You love playing peek-a-boo around the couch or just by covering your eyes with your hands. You can’t fall asleep without Bear-Bear and Blankie. You love to point at things. You love being outside. You are very obedient. If I say “no-no,” you immediately stop what you’re doing. Your favorite thing to do in the world is to sit in my lap and be read to. Your favorite book is I Really Like Trucks. You love dogs. You are fearless—you’ve gone crawling into the ocean surf and you’ve also grabbed the neighbor’s poor dog after slapping it. You’ve swum in the Gulf of Mexico and in Greer’s Ferry Lake. You enjoy taking baths. You are early to bed and early to rise. You love making messes—dirt, food, or toys everywhere makes you a very happy boy. You are uninterested in television or movies. You are a bottomless pit—you never stop eating. You are playful and rough with other boys and always gentle with girls. You have six teeth and you smile all the time. You have the best laugh in the world, and you get tickled constantly. You hate getting your diaper changed. You love anything that is loud. One of your favorite things to do is chunk your toys around or smash them on the ground so that you can make loud noises. You love the dust buster. You will scream bloody murder until I let you hold the vacuum and turn it on. You love playing with your friends. You love swinging and going to the park. You are very well behaved in restaurants and stores. You are a people-watcher, so between that and handfuls of teddy grahams, you are quiet and content. You are freaked out by sneezes; anytime that we sneeze we have to grin really big and say, “Wasn’t that silly!?” You have been to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. You are my angel, and I love you more than you will ever know!

Video: Newest Word, "Chair"

In the past five days, the little one has added "cool," "car," "light," and now "chair" to his vocabulary. It is crazy to see how quickly he has started learning words!

Video: Mr. Bookworm

The little one is obsessed with books. He will sit and flip the pages of his books for half an hour by himself. I kid you not! It makes me so happy that he loves books. His favorite books (right now--it changes frequently)are Words, A Color of His Own, Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, I Really Like Trucks, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Video: Dump Truck Dancing

My son loves to dance. He'll dance when we're listening to music, when the television is on, and especially when one of his toys starts singing. :)

Step One and Beach Vacay

I am just now pausing to breathe (and not really, because I'm working while I type this post) after the whirlwind of a week we've had.

So, in case you're not one of the twelve million people I've been complaining to for the past two years (gotta' cut that out, I know), you may or may not know that my husband took the biggest test of his medical school years on Monday. Whew. Thank the Lord that it's over! All day Monday, I was just a huge ball of stress. We got up that morning, and it was one of those everything-really-needs-be-perfectly-smooth-before-this-major-thing mornings. You know.

So after I dropped my husband off (at 7:15 am), the baby friend and I ran about five errands and then came home for Momma to pack for baby friend, Momma, and Daddy, and then load everything in the car in an organized manner. Super. That was fun to do with zero help.

While I was waiting for my husband to come out of the test center, one person that I'd never seen before came out crying and then there were all these people pacing around. I nearly barfed in my just-cleaned and perfectly-organized car. I just wanted to see my man come out with a smile on his face. And then, finally after ten excruciatingly long minutes, he did.

Thank. You. God.

So then, we left for the beach! Woo hoo!

Not so fast.

We had one of those Mapquest mishaps, which led to a collosal argument and circling Little Rock for one hour. Yes, my friend, one hour. And yes, I have lived here since I was four. In all fairness, though, my brain just wasn't functioning on Monday.

So we got in at 1:45 am, and were all asleep by 3.

And we had an awesome time at the beach! We stayed in Gulf Shores, in this house...

We ate delicious Seafood...

And little man stuffed his face everywhere we went...

I propped my feet up a lot...

My son rode on a motorcycle...

Little man did a lot of coloring and screaming (when Momma would pull the crayons out of his mouth)...

We visited the USS Alabama...

And we had wonderful, sweet family time playing on the beach...

I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do, but I was just so overjoyed to see my husband and my son getting so much quality time together that I soaked every second right up. My little tiny was just elated. He was over the moon to get Daddy all to himself! It was perfect.

And then we drove home. You know the routine.

The hubbs suggests a different route home. We add two extra hours onto an already long car trip. A bit of shouting about purchasing a GPS (we've had that discussion forty million times). A ton of fast food. And a solemn vow that when my man starts bringing home a paycheck, we will be flying, and not driving, on family vacations. :)

Two Years Ago

Two years ago today, I married my sweet hubby. Best decision I ever made! :) What a wonderful, exciting two years we've had! Happy anniversary, love!

A Very Big Father's Day Surprise

Since I've known about this surprise since February, I have been so excited to give it to the hubbs and to show it off to my friends and family!

Several months ago, I commissioned Lauren Stuart--a local, Arkansas artist--to do an oil painting of my son. I grew up with oil paintings of myself and my siblings hanging around our home, and so I of course wanted the same for my children. My mom always used local artists to sketch or paint our portraits, so I was thrilled to get a chance to do the same.

True to form, I was way too excited to wait until Father's Day to give the painting to my husband. (And can I just be super honest for one second and say that this was totally a gift for me, too?) His reaction upon seeing the painting was similar to mine: shock. I mean, I was totally and completely shocked. It was the most beautiful painting I had ever seen. She captured my sweet angel perfectly. Perfectly. His fat, little feet. His non-existent wrists. His cheeks. His little square face. His smile. I am in love with this painting. So of course I hung it in our living room so everyone can see it that comes to our home. And every time I walk past it, I can't help but smile.

I am so glad that I did this. I will treasure this painting forever, and my husband is just as in love with it as I am! I am grateful to Lauren for doing this painting, and I will most definitely be contacting her (no matter where I'm living at the time) to paint each one of my children at this precious age. And by the way, the little one is seven months old in this portrait. Just a perfect, sweet age to capture forever!

If you'd like to check out Lauren's website, here it is: http://www.wix.com/laurenstuart48/studiolauren?ref=nf#!

Hilarious Mom Moment

Okay, I have to start writing these hilarious mom moments down, because they are majorly increasing in frequency. The little one is at that stage where he can make the sounds of most of the letters in the alphabet, so he does a pretty darn good job of imitating whatever it is I'm saying.

So, this morning I was in the living room and I needed the hubbs for something.

"Scott!" I shouted. No answer. "Scott!"

Next thing I know, the little one stands up and yells, "Scott! Scott!"

Couldn't. Believe. It. I just blinked at him. Then busted out laughing. Oh, how he keeps me cracking up!! :)

Biscuits in the Sunshine

Today, the little one and I finally put our $15.00 Walmart pool to some good use. We had so much fun splashing and playing with his football and buckets! And of course I didn't make him put on a swimsuit. One, because I just washed his swim trunks, and we're leaving for the beach in a couple of days. And two, because little ones are supposed to get some sunshine on their biscuits on warm, summer days. :)

At one point, he kept trying to crawl out of the pool to see our neighbor's dogs, and I said, "No, no" over and over. And finally, he turned around with a sneaky smile on his face, and put his finger on the tip of my nose. I busted out laughing! "Son, you know good and well that I said 'no, no.' I did not say 'nose'!" It was hysterically cute!!