Pictures I've Taken Lately

I just can't seem to make the time (or conjure the brain power) for clever blogposts with corresponding titles anymore. I'm doing this one with Frazier in my lap pulling my bracelets off so it'll be short, probably hurried and there will most likely be mistakes. But at least there will be some documentation of our life the past few days.Half naked is really the best way to dine. If you're eight and a half months old.This is what happens when you try to put Frazier in the carseat these days:It's embarrassing, I'm not gonna lie.

And speaking of carseats, it's really time to put in our new "big boy" seat...I just don't want to give up the option of taking him out of the car in it when he falls asleep en route home. Sometimes the 15 minutes or so he'll sleep after a ride in the car is the only time he naps.

Setting the Pack-and-Play up as a playpen may be the best thing I've done in weeks. He actually enjoys playing there as long as he can see me.

He'll walk along the edge or sit happily playing with toys for as long as half an hour sometimes. It's been an incredible relief to be able to, say, go to the bathroom without having to worry that he's doing this:...or this...The cell phone is still a favorite plaything, but yesterday he randomly called my friend, Lindsey. So we might have to keep it away from him!Since the time change Josh and the ultimate frisbee group have been out enjoying the long evenings and we've been out enjoying them! Every Monday we pack a snack and a sippy cup and spread a blanket on the field to watch them play.And speaking of blankets...this is one I made. It all started with the splat mat which you may remember from previous posts. It's adorable, but it's become a bit too small for both of us with toys and picnics and friends. Plus the bottom of it was getting dirty and that made me sad as it's a favorite. So it is being relegated to indoor messes only (it may, in fact, live permanently under the high chair) and I made this park blanket out of a vinyl table cloth I bought at Wal-Mart. It's the biggest one they had. I just folded it in half and sewed all the way around the edge. This way, instead of having one side that's felt and one side that's vinyl it's water repellent and wipe-off-able on both sides!We're still working on the sippy cup. Turns out that's a difficult skill to master.

So there's the briefing.

Happy Tuesday!

One Week, Two Park Days

The weather's been so beautiful this week it's been hard not to want to be outside. So we've been soaking it up! Twice this week we went to the park and we walked in the evenings when Josh got home. On Tuesday we met Lydia, Lynzie, Audrie and Adalynn at the park......then Thursday we had a playdate with Rebekah and Sadie and went to the park again Frazier loved the swings both places!

We had such a good time- I can't wait to do it again!

Here's to happy weather and happy outings,

Separation Anxiety

97.2% of the time, Frazier is the happiest, most good-natured baby ever. The other 2.8% is comprised of the times that a) I am not with him, b) he is not getting his way or c) any combination of a. and b. When, for instance, he is playing with my cell phone or the TV remote and I take it away...or when I set him down and he'd rather be held...or if he wants the computer or computer cord and I won't let him have it...or when he doesn't want his diaper changed...he literally throws himself on the floor and kicks and screams. I kid you not. My 8 month old. Fit throwing. I find myself looking down at him in disbelief wondering how this can be. Thinking to myself, "Seriously? Is that really my child? Where could I have gone wrong already?" Fortunately this happens rarely and is usually easily remedied. By giving him his way (she said sheepishly). I'm a push over.

What is more difficult to deal with is this separation anxiety we're experiencing. I have always been cheerful about the nursery. I talk it up on the way in-about how he "gets" to go play with his friends, etc. I greet the caregivers warmly, leave brief instructions, then bid him a happy, to-the-point farewell, explain that I'll be back soon, and go. Nothing long and drawn out, I don't exhibit anxiety, I don't sneak away while he's distracted. Yet sometimes less than 30 minutes into his stay they have to call me because he's screaming, sobbing, red faced...and it's terrible. I continue to try to leave him, and I continue to be called in to get him. And that includes at home, too! He won't even stay in the living room with Josh for any extended period of time while I'm in the kitchen or bathroom. I suppose it's something I'll just have to wait out. {They do outgrow this, right?} And in the meantime I'll cherish this time that he's so attached to me. It's nice to be so necessary sometimes. :)

And now, I'm going since -rightnow- falls into the 97.2% of time that he's content. He's sitting here in his walker happy as a clam and I don't want to miss any happy time!

The Year Of The Snow And Frazier Anderson

This is what we woke up to on Sunday, the first day of spring:This is the third time we've had snow this year.
We've explained to Frazier that this is extremely atypical,
but given this has been his only winter, I doubt he believes us!

Miscellany

So I spent some time this week packing a few of Frazier's things away. All this stuff is going up in the attic for awhile. I have to admit that even though I hope to use all this again, it's still a little sad because we won't use it again for Frazier. I piled it all up...the bouncy seat, the swing, the Bumbo chair, the Boppy, three full plastic bins of outgrown clothes...and I can't believe that all of these things I so meticulously collected are already unnecessary. :( Naturally, Frazier wanted to be in the big middle of it all:

Here are some of the new things Frazier's moved on to in lieu of many of these items I just packed away...

...he loves this glass insulator I use a doorstop in our bathroom.

...and Gatsby's water dish, much to my dismay, is a favorite as well.

Wednesday we had a park day with friends. Here's Frazier in his St. Paddy's Day greenThis is our "playing-with-bananas" smock Oma brought us. It's like one of those capes they put on you at the hair dresser's, but it has sleeves. All kiddos should have one! It's the next best thing to a Teflon coating. :)

And, finally, it's belated, but I keep forgetting to post a picture of Frazier in his Super Bowl Champs outfit from Mae Mae. Frazier's first Super Bowl the Saints won! We went to an Eastman super bowl party, but since so many people are from Louisiana it was nonetheless overwhelmingly Louisiana themed...gumbo, king cake and crawfish dip! Frazier had sweet potatoes and was happy throughout the whole game! We were the only people there with a kid so I was grateful! (You don't know how many shots it took to get this one...and it isn't even that great!)

Who Dat!?

Confessions To My 8 Month Old

Frazier, my darling, you were 8 months old yesterday and while usually I say I can't believe you are another month older, this time, for the first time...I can believe it. Because you seem like an 8 month old to me and finally it does seem like you've been around at least that long! You're a fabulous 8 month old and I love 8 months old, but mommy really must confess:

Once upon a time I was better at this.

Like before you were mobile and ate real food. Before you pulled things off shelves and out of drawers and ate your books. 8 months old has not been Mommy's time to shine, I'm afraid. I have let you put the living room curtains, the dining room tablecloth and the breakfast room rug in your mouth. I've let you fall off the bed and out of your bouncy seat. I've let you get your arm stuck through the slats in the laundry basket and play in Gatsby's water bowl.

I am terrible at scheduling. And meals. Sometimes you get breakfast and dinner, sometimes lunch and dinner, sometimes all three and snacks intermittenly...sometimes you have green beans for breakfast and bananas for dinner. Sometimes I puree, mix and freeze an entire meal and let you eat it as a popsicle. I nurse you on demand and I have no idea how many times a day that comes out to be. Sometimes we get you in bed by 9. Sometimes you stay up until midnight. Sometimes a whole day goes by that we never read a book, and sometimes you go to bed without a bath.

Because you chew on electrical cords and tip over wastebaskets when I'm not watching you attentively, and because naps are few and far between, I get far less done than I used to when you napped often and stayed in one place when you were awake. The laundry piles up, there are regularly dishes in the sink, and I only dust if we're having company. I try to shower on a regular basis.

I find that dressing myself is almost as futile an effort as dressing you- what with the snot and drool and spit up and leaky diapers and oatmeal that ends up all over one or both of us throughout the day. So sometimes I do neither.

I think back on the days when you were a little baby. When I nursed you every three hours, showered every day, did laundry several times a week, read to you often and baked in my free time. When our house was always clean, I fixed dinner almost nightly and we put you to bed early every night.

And then I think of these days as I sit here with hair I haven't washed in three days, with applesauce on my shirt, three loads of unfolded laundry piled in the living room, trying to type as you pull aprons off the hooks in the kitchen...

...and I'd rather spend one day like this with you, up to my ears in laundry and dirty diapers than a million any other way.

And maybe one day I'll be able to say that I'm better at this again.

Until then, sweetheart, I'm trying.

Mommy loves you so very much.

Highlights

So here, at last, are the highlights of Oma and Opa's visit. My mom said it sort of seemed all a blur now and it does to me, too. Albeit a very nice blur. In a way, it seems like it happened a long time ago already. Weird, wild stuff.
We got in a lot of family time- immediate and extended- which was really really nice. I thoroughly enjoyed it and wish we did it more often!We also ate every chance we got, hence the high quantity of dining pictures.

Saturday before last my little brother graduated from COLLEGE. Magna Cum Laude. We were super proud. As usual.Somehow we didn't get a picture of my us, my parents, and Ross that day with my camera. But I liked this one of us with the in-laws pretty good. Ha! I thought it was sweet Frazier's looking back at Ross.

Graduation was followed by a big dinner with family and friends at Copelands:

Then, Sunday, we had Frazier's baby dedication and my parents, Josh's parents, Mae Mae and Pop and our good friends, the Lowerys were there to witness it. We did the dedication with our friends whose daughter Sadie is just a few weeks older than Frazier and one of his best friends. :)

A very happy (and busy) two weeks, but much too brief.