Back in Action

Woo hoo!!!  My wonderful, amazing, handsome husband returned from travel today and after picking up the duder from daycare, came home and fixed my laptop!!!! 

So, now I only have to catch up on a month and a half of blogging!  Woo hoo?

In order to get everything in and not be behind another month and a half, I'll be making a some abbreviated postings. 

Ok, here we go!

Shutterfly Cards - Coming Soon to a Mailbox Near You!

As many of you know, we use Shutterfly all the time for our photo books and Christmas Cards.  Their photo books make fantastic gifts and they are so easy and fun to make and depending on which shipping option you choose, you can get it in a matter of days!  I even made one for the baby's birthday party to celebrate his first year of life :-)  They have an entire online store of photo gifts that are great for the holidays!  I think these mugs are so adorable and a great gift for Grandma and Grandpa to drink their morning coffee or tea out of.  Let’s be honest, all the grandparents want for Christmas is pictures of the baby and Shutterfly makes it easy to get creative!

So I am finally starting to look at putting our Christmas cards together.  I know it's only December 3, but I feel like I'm behind!  We always do photo cards since most of our family is on the east coast and our friends are spread out all over the country.  It's a great way (besides our little bloggie) to give them a snapshot of our year.  I really prefer to have multiple photos on ours, because I feel like we are so busy during the year, it's hard to sum it up in one photo.  Normally I do the flat stationary cards, but this year, I'm also looking at some of the folded greeting card styles.  These are a few of my favorites.  Look for one of them soon in a mailbox near you!

This one is "Seasonal Chic" has a nice collage layout on the front with space for a larger family portrait on the inside

I love the large photo on the front and inside there is space for 6 smaller photos on this "Joy Sage Story".

I love the simplicity of this one and the poignant message - "Rejoice Lord King"

Again, simple, simple, but I love the layout of the "Simply Memories".

I also love the full picture spread of this "Starlight Joy" one (plus these littles laughing is too cute!)

Happy Holidays to all!

 *** Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are strictly my own. Yes, I absolutely do love Shutterfly this much! For writing this post, I'll be receiving a promo code for 50 free holiday cards. I am not being compensated in any other way and this did not alter my personal opinion of the company. If you're interested in receiving 50 free holiday cards, click  here to enter! ***

Last Night

Every night, right before I go to bed, I go in and check on the duder and make sure that he's warm and breathing and just get my little fix in before I nod off.  Last night when I went in, he was super restless - tossing and turning and rolling all around.  I pulled his blanky up and stroked his head and he woke up a little and started fussing, and I know this will sound bad, but a part of me was so happy that I got to pick him up out of the crib and go sit in the glider with him for awhile.  As soon as I held him, he went back to sleep, but I sat there for probably thirty minutes, just holding him and rocking and thinking about how I used to do this in the middle of the night when he was new.  It got me thinking about how much he has grown.  I used to be able to hold his little form on one arm, tucked up against my chest and now his little baby body has transformed into a little boy body that covers half of me when he lies lengthwise against me.  It amazes me how quickly he is changing and growing and so I will shamelessly take advantage of these little moments where I just get to snuggle him.  And I won't apologize for it either ;-).

Dear Computer

Why must you torture me?  Why must my operating system lock up on the week that Jason is on travel and I have an entire week of evenings to myself to blog and load pictures while he's gone?  Why do you hate me???????????

Love,
Shilo

12 Months

So I do realize that I have yet to post any of my Halloween related pictures and videos.  They are coming, I promise, but between the ear infections, ear tubes and birthday parties, we've been a little crazed to say the least.  In the meantime, I though I would post a little bit about what the Duder is doing these days.

At 12 months:

• Weighs 20 lbs (15th % - woohoo we've jumped out of the tenth!), 30 1/4" (25th%), and his head is in the 75th percentile - he's a very smart munchkin ;-)
• He loves bath time.  Absolutely loves it.  He plays with his little bath toys and kicks his little chubbo legs and slaps the water.  I feel like I'm having as much fun as he is!  And he loves to try to drink the water out of his cup when I try to rinse his hair!  We also recently got this Boon Flo Deflector and Spout Cover and at first he was a little unsure, but now he thinks it's hilarious to stick his head and arm under the little waterfall.
• Is a little walker.  He started taking steps a couple of weeks ago, but all of the sudden this past Saturday he just decided that he would rather walk instead of crawl.  It's amazing to watch this evolution!  And he laughs hysterically everytime he gets from one point to another.
• He has always been all boy (he loves being thrown up and held upside down and wrestling) and it is definitely continuing in his toy choice.  He loves playing with cars and trucks and balls.  He loves throwing the balls, especially if the dogs are there to fetch it.
• He has 5 teeth with another one trying desperately to make it's way out of his gums.
• He finally said mama on his birthday, but is very sparing in his use of it (little stinker!)  and we're pretty sure he's saying Ellie.
• We have been working on sign language, but the only one he will do regularly is dog (wonder why?)
• He had to get ear tubes put in on his birthday - yes, his actual birthday.  Not what we had imagined as a birthday gift, but in actuality, is probably a better gift than anything else we could have gotten him.  The little man has suffered horribly with ear infections over the last few months and after talking to several doctors and specialists, we realized that tubes would be his best option.
•  Will eat anything.  Literally anything.  He still loves Cheerios, but his favorite by far is string cheese.  Anytime we bring it out he starts saying "na-na-na-na!" and jumping up and down.  There really isn't anything he won't eat though and isn't afraid to try new things.  For now, we've escaped any picky eating tendencies (knock on wood!)  He even loves vegetables!
• Is working on the sippy cup.  He will drink a whole cup of milk, but it takes about two hours instead of the ten minutes with the bottles.
• Has gotten into the habit of throwing something when he is done with it, whether it be his bottle, his sippy or his paci.  We're constantly on guard and have gotten very good at diving for things.
• Refuses to wear a hat (although this has not stopped me from buying hats)  He just pulls them right off.  Not sure what we're going to do through the winter months.
• Hates having his nose wiped.  He acts like it's the worst form of torture.
• Absolutely loves music.  He got a guitar for his birthday and "plays" it while dancing to the beat.
• LOVES his books. 
• Loves being tickled and playing peek-a-boo
• Is still not a great napper.  He is sleeping an average of 12-13 hours at night, but fights the nap everyday.
• Still gets comments about what a happy baby he is.  People are constantly asking "Is he always this happy?"  And lucky me gets to answer YES!  He really is a mellow, good-natured little dude.
• Is the most amazing baby I have ever met, if I do say so myself!  :-)
  
  

Deep Breath

The first birthday party is over and it was quite the success if I do say so myself!  Of course, I consider anything a success that brings our friends and family together to fill a room laughter and the sounds of little squealing and giggling and screaming and running.  I promise pics will be coming.  I'm just taking a moment to breathe :-)

One Year

One year ago today my world was completely rocked.  From the moment Elijah entered my life, I was changed forever.  I cannot imagine ever feeling worthy of this amazing and beautiful gift that God has given me.  I thank Him everyday for entrusting me with this precious life.  I have never felt more joy, fear, pride, compassion, exhaustion, awe and above all love, than I have these past 12 months.  Happy birthday my beautiful boy!!  While the weeks leading up to this day have been filled with emotions ranging from excitement to sadness, today I am so completely joyous at the blessing of your first year and so incredibly excited to watch you continue to grow and learn and spread your joy to others.  xoxo