Doctor Visit

Even though Philip's one year well-baby check up was over a month ago, I still wanted to update the blog on his stats at that time.

The 12-months stats:

• You have 8 teeth
• You weigh 19 pounds 8 ounces, (9%) and you are 29 1/2 inches long (37%)
• You crawl everywhere, coast on the furniture from time to time
• You sleep (for the most part) in your crib every night.  Typically you go to sleep between 7:30 and 8:00 and sleep until 5:00 am, at which point you wake up to be fed, and normally go back to sleep in mama's arms. 
• You say dada, mama, drive cars on the floor while making vrumm noises, and try to bark like a dog when you see a dog.  You laugh a lot, are more personable, let other people hold you (not just mama)
• You sister shares nicely with you and you want to be involved in EVERYTHING she is doing.  Most mornings, if you hear her you practically jump out of bed to crawl to her room.

You are a sweet boy and we are happy to have you as part of our family.

Anniversary of Engagement

Six years ago Phil was away on a work trip and Christmas was fast approaching.  I was sad that he was going to miss Christmas with me and was really hoping he could get home before the holiday.  On Christmas Eve-Eve (or Christmas Adam), unbeknownst to me Phil had made it back to town.  He and my brother crafted a plan where I would meet my brother for a drink and Phil would surprise me by delivering it to the table, rather than the waitress.  Not wanting to go out, I begrudgingly met my brother for a drink at a crowded bar.  After I ordered my drink, a few minutes passed and my drink was delivered, not by the waitress, but by Phil.  To say I was surprised would be an understatement.  I was speechless.

Christmas morning came and Phil and I went to my parents house to open presents.  I am casually opening presents when I start to open one of two gifts Phil got me.  The first was an advent-type book which was illustrated by someone from his home town.  He said he thought it would be a book we could read every Christmas (which we try to do now).  The second gift was a DVD, or so I thought.  I opened it up and there was a gift certificate for a spray tan.  Strange gift, yes, until Phil announced that he got me the spray tan in advance of my real gift, which was a trip to Cancun.  Now, having Phil make it home from his work trip in time for Christmas was gift enough, but toss in a trip to Cancun, a spray tan and a book?  Okay, excited and speechless again!

We decided to go on our trip in February and again, unbeknownst to me, Phil was planning another surprise.  We left on a Sunday morning, getting to Cancun late that night.  After checking in and getting to our room, we went to one of the bars that had food so we could eat before going straight to sleep.  Well, that was the plan.  We ended up being lured to another bar for a competition.  A competition that I won, and at the end of me winning the competition, Phil dropped to his knees, grabbed the microphone from the host of the competition, whipped out the ring box and asked me to marry him.  Shocked, excited and almost speechless, I said yes.

Was it romantic?  Not so much, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.  Looking at all that has happened over the past six years and how happy we are now, it makes me excited about what the future holds.  Our love has deepened and grown and I can't imagine my life without him.  I guess it is a good thing I won that competition, otherwise, who knows where I'd be.  We will celebrate the anniversary of our engagement by hanging around the house so I can pack for a work trip I'm leaving for on Monday.

Happy Anniversary Phil!

Technology is awesome

I know that internet on airplanes inn't new, but this is the first time in all my flying that I'm using it.  I had to respond to some emails and get some work done, so figured the $12.99 was worth it.

I'm on my way to Boston for a quick, one-night trip.  Natalie cried when I left, although, I think they were fake tears.  She is working on her powers of manipulation, because it is like watching a soap opera, she gets a scrunchy face, blinks her eyes until tears start to form and then sort of whimpers.  If it wasn't so sad, I would laugh.

I'll be back tomorrow night at 9:00, just in time to find both kids (hopefully) sleeping soundly.  We shall see...

Farm

Before our trip to Phoenix, my mom took Natalie and Philip to the farm.  Even though it was very cold, they still had a great time feeding and petting the animals. 

Philip, One Year - take two

For Philip's birthday we were in Phoenix.  I had a work conference to attend, so Phil and both kids came along.  We flew down on Sunday and stayed through Thursday.  We stayed at the Arizona Biltmore, which was a very nice hotel.  We didn't see many other kids or families the entire time we were there, even though the hotel was sold out.  The weather was nice enough that Phil and the kids were able to swim almost every day, wear shorts and no jackets and play on the playground outside!  Coming from the freezing cold to the sort of warm was very nice - especially for Natalie who has been cooped up inside.

The first day we arrived, we checked in, got sort of unpacked in the room and went for lunch (got to love the $16 small salad).  After lunch, Phil watched a little football in the bar and I took the kids back to the room and put them down for a nap.  By the time Phil got to the room, I had to leave to meet a colleague, so I tried to keep Philip asleep, but didn't work.  Unfortunately he woke up and would not take a nap for Phil.  I came back to the room for a little while before having to leave again for the evening festivities.  I finally made it back to the room around 8:30 (which was over an hour later than I was expecting), Philip was only mildly upset and Natalie was quietly watching a movie in the corner.  We decided to push one bed against the wall and Philip and I would sleep there and Phil and Natalie would take the other one.  Well, that was what we wanted, what Natalie wanted was both beds pushed together against the wall - so she got what she wanted.  We moved the nightstand, pushed the beds together and all crashed at 9:30.

I was up early on Monday to attend some conference activities, only stopping back in on the kids and Phil every few hours to feed Philip and say hi.  Monday night, Phil and the kids ate left overs for dinner and went evening-swimming and I went to an off-site event.  I returned to a sleeping Philip (on Phil's shoulder) and a happy Natalie.  I got ready for bed and again - we all crashed in the giant bed.

Tuesday was Philip's birthday and I had arranged to stick with the family for most of the day to celebrate.  Best laid plans...I ended up having to attend another off-site event for most of the morning, followed by an afternoon presentation.  I finally made it back to the room at 3:00, just in time for Natalie and Philip to have a nap.  When Philip woke up, I took him on a walk and had some mommy and me time with him.  At 5:00 we all caught the shuttle to the local mall.  We needed more water, beer and lottery tickets, so we left the mall and walked a few blocks to the 7-11.  We walked back to the mall so we could catch the 6:00 shuttle ride to the hotel.  When we got back, I quickly changed into my party dress, fed Philip and left again for the last evening event.  Just as I was getting ready to pass Philip over to Phil, the alarm on Phil's phone went off reminding us of the exact minute that one year prior we welcomed Philip to this world.  I guess you could say that me leaving at that moment was my reward for a year of hard work!  I went the work party and stayed way too late!  I finally got to the room around midnight, and found Phil had both kids sound asleep in their own beds.  Yea!

Wednesday Phil decided to get a nanny service for a few hours so he could go golfing.  She came to the room at 9:00 am and the kids weren't too sure about it.  Everyone got ready and went for breakfast, I left them at 10:00, and Phil shortly after. Phil decided he wouldn't pay over $200 to golf, so he just enjoyed some time to himself after a few days of daddy time, it was deserved!  I met him at noon in the bar and we ordered some lunch.  We met the kids back in the room a little while later and relaxed, took a nap, went swimming and went back to the mall for dinner.  Dinner that night was the best of the entire trip, we went to True Food and it was AWESOME!  Philip fell asleep at dinner and didn't wake up when we left, during the drive back to the hotel, or walk to the room.

Thursday was our last day, we got up, packed the suitcases and had some breakfast.  After that, we walked the grounds, played a round of championship miniature golf and left for the airport at noon.  The flight home was uneventful, and after being picked up and brought home, we enjoyed a mini family party for Philip's birthday.   My mom brought a small cake, we sang, blew out the candle and went to bed early.

It is hard to travel for work, hard to be away and hard to have babies with you; but for this trip, at this time, I'm so thankful that we were able to bring everyone, that Phil was able (and willing) to take care of the kids full time and make this all possible.

on the flight down to Phoenix

The kids taking a stroller nap.  

Phil put them in the stroller and walked them around the hotel room until they both fell asleep

 

In the evenings when I was at work events, Phil would take the kids to the Wright Bar.  On the patio, they had large fire pits and Natalie would get a hot chocolate and Phil would get a vodka tonic and enjoy some fire time.  She looked forward to it every day (and I'm sure he did to)!

Classy Bathroom Glamour Shots...Me prior to the final event at the conference

 

Natalie at the playground 

 

Hotel grounds

There were orange and lemon trees all over the property - so here I am stealing some oranges

Birthday cake

Party with the family

 

First bite

For his third party for his one year birthday, Natalie and I baked a cake and we invited Melinda, Darin and Kai over for dinner.  Although the cake was slightly dry (we made it the day before), it was so much fun to celebrate again with friends and Philip even got a chance to touch the cake this time.  

 

One Year

Wow, Philip, I can't believe it has been a year since you joined our family.  I joke that this year has been the longest and shortest of my life.  You were a complete shock to our system and a total change to our routine, but don't know what we would do without you now.

For the first 10 months of your life, mama and you didn't sleep very well - you better than me, but still not great.  Because of that, I feel like I spent a lot of those early months in a fog and honestly, wishing you older.  I would imagine that if only we could make it to six months, you would start crawling and things would be easier, and then six months came and you were happy to stick close to mom and not crawl, so I thought, if only we could make it to seven months, eight months, nine months, or, or, or...things would be easier.  The longest and shortest year of my life.  It was easy at times and hard at others, but in the long scope of things what a short year it has been.

It feels like just yesterday that you were born, that we were in the hospital, that I held you close to my chest after we welcomed you to the world.  It seems like yesterday that we came home to a welcome home baby brother sign from your very excited big sister, that we were greeted by family dinner at our house for days and days to make the transition from one to two easier.  Seems like yesterday that you fit comfortably on my chest, like it was a shelf made for you, that you slept almost all day, only waking to eat and look for mama.  Seems like yesterday that I thought I might pass out from exhaustion - oh, wait, that was yesterday!

In this short year of your life, you have made many trips with mom, traveled many miles in cars and planes.  Seen many new places, met new faces, seen the cottage for the first time and visited the castle a few more times.  We have found what you like and what you don't.  What makes you smile and what makes you cry.  We have found how to work our routine and your routine together and how you are SO much different than your big sister.

This next year will bring many more firsts and we are so excited to welcome them together.  I miss you being small, but can't wait for what being bigger brings.  I love you more than you know. 

Christmas

Christmas came so quickly this year, in fact, this whole year has flown by!  

We started by decorating the tree right before we went to Boston.  

Philip playing under the tree, up to this point, he could only crawl backwards

Natalie decorating the tree

A few weeks later, it was Christmas eve.  Every year since we had Natalie, we have taken family photos in front of the tree.  As she grew it got harder and harder to get a photo with everyone looking at the camera at the same time.  This year was probably the hardest.  

Almost everyone was smiling and looking at the camera...

Thankfully we got a few, although, we might try again, to see if we can get a better one. 

Christmas eve, Natalie spread the Reindeer food all around the yard, we put out cookies and a mug of Sprite for Santa and three carrots for his reindeer.  Well, it worked and Santa came and there were presents for everyone to open.  

Here are the presents after Santa wrapped and arranged them under the tree.

Christmas morning, Philip woke up at 7:00 and Phil took him to play downstairs until Natalie woke up.  Natalie woke up at 8:30 and was happy to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer until the rest of the family showed up to watch the unwrapping. 

Opening presents

Philip was SO tired by the time all the presents were open and passed out on Phil's shoulder. He has turned into a total cuddle bunny.  

There is Christmas in a nutshell

Ballet

The last day of November, Natalie had her big holiday dance performance.  We got her dressed in her jingle bell costume and made our way to the festival she was performing at and waited for it to start.  She had a great time running around the open space while we waited and was very excited to get to wear lipstick and blush for the performance.  

pre performance

sort of dancing during the performance

It was so fun watching her get up on the stage.  She saw us sitting in the front row and immediately ran over to us and tried to sit with us instead of being on the stage.  The teacher got the girls lined up and the music started and Natalie was mesmerized by the audience so she just bounced up and down instead of doing the dance.  Then towards the end of the dance, she sprang into action and finished the dance with the other girls.  It was so funny, and because it was so funny, the video we have of it is too shaky because I was laughing so hard watching it. 

Can't wait for the spring performance!

Christmas DIY

For holiday gifts this year, Natalie and I made a few different things.  Last year I did a lot of baking, this year, very little baking, more use of the hot glue gun.  

First up is the Tea Wreath.  I cut circles out of cardboard and Natalie and I covered them with scrapbook paper.  Then we covered clothes pins with more craft paper and glued them to the circles then added little holiday-ish decals and added tea to every clothes pin and a bow.  

Tea Wreath

Next up was vanilla cranberry vodka.  I took a big bottle of vodka and split it between three smaller ones.  I decided to add a little sweetness to the vodka, so I made a simple syrup, and added the cranberries and vanilla beans to that to soak up the sweet.  Next I put the cranberries and vanilla into the vodka and shook it up.  Put the label on it and tied a bow - bam, gift.  Oh, and it is yummy.  Christmas morning my brother made a delicious drink by adding some of this vodka to crushed ice, orange juice and a peach from some home-canned peaches and stirred it around.  So good!

Vanilla Cranberry Vodka

I also decided to make S'more's kits too.  I put a can of sterno, a bag of marshmallows, bag of graham crackers, two bars of chocolate and a few skewers into a box and wrapped it up and added the tag to "enjoy S'more holiday time together".

Lastly, Natalie and I mixed up a few packages of reindeer food that we gave to a few friends, and forgot to give to a few others...Natalie enjoyed sprinkling it around our yard on Christmas eve to lure the reindeer to our house, and it worked!

**Side note - the vodka and wreath photos were taken with Phil's iPhone...the others? our camera.  Remember when photos taken with a phone were deemed "crappy phone photos"?  no longer