Payback

So I felt like I've been a bad mother lately, what with the moving, and the trips and the whole I'm-tired-and-I-need-a-vacation thing. And our trip to NYC, while awesome, was not exactly relaxing, or long enough, so Tuesday was not a pleasant day for the G-Man.
I do yoga every morning and on Tuesday he got two time-outs for ripping the glasses off my face during my 20 min. yoga workout. And the day spiraled down hill from there.
So on Wednesday, I decided I'd had enough bad mothering. So when I was doing yoga in the morning and G went for the glasses, I dodged and decided to address the real problem: attention. I stopped for a minute, asked him if he wanted some attention, and put out my arms for a hug. He gave me the longest, sweetest hug he ever has.

And it was sweet payback for all the bad days up to that point. So miracles do happen. And mommies do get paid, just not in

First Birthday

Yeah, yeah, I know I have a lot to catch up on. I have a bagillion dress pictures to post. And pictures of the house. And vacation stuff. Oh yeah, and I'm now cooking through a cook book, so there are pics about that to post about as well. So to start all that off, and for those who still care (hi mom!), here is a summary of G's first birthday.

We went to the Dallas Aquarium

G got lots of love from his uncles

And from Grandma

And got lots of practice walking

We saw fish, of course

Manatees

An octopus

A turtle. And look, he's happy to see us.

More fish.

And a river otter. Not exactly the same as Otto Von Sea Otter, but a cousin.

G almost got eaten by sharks,

a leopard,

then in retaliation, tried to eat the uber cute gift shop toys.

I decided to make him a clown fish cake with the help of G's Aunt Jennifer.

I think it turned out great.

And here's G enjoying it. He got the bottom fin all to himself.

And here's some stats about G:

Likes:

• pushing buttons, flipping switches, and figuring out how stuff works

• putting things in baskets, bins, or cupboards
• doing stuff on his own, without any help

Prefers:

• being wet
• being naked
• what's on my plate to what's on his
• new things over old
• bananas, cheese, and cookies

Dislikes:

• not being able to do what he wants
• coming out of the bathroom
• when Daddy leaves for work
• when anyone closes him out of a room

So I guess he's a normal 1 year old. He's still super sweet and happy, and I think if he continues to feel like he's not ignored we will weather the toddler years without any deaths.

Walking

Okay, and now for some long awaited videos . . .
G stars in: Learning to Walk

Step One: One-handed Walking

Step Two: First Steps

Step Three: Trial Runs

Step Four: Walking!

Step Five: Practice

Welcome to VA

While I continue to not have much time for blogging (2 1/2 days and counting to finish dress #4 by hand), I will take a moment to say something I've noticed about Virginia, or maybe it's just small towns.
Though people have been very nice to us for the most part in the other states we've lived in, I normally experience this niceness in the form of overheard conversations. Meaning that I'll be in line at the store and hear the people behind me say, "Oh, what a cute baby." "[Insert person's name here], isn't that baby cute." "Look at his eyes/smile/face, etc." And because of strange social etiquette I am supposed to pretend that I don't hear these comments, because that's what humans do in confined spaces like elevators and grocery store lines.
Here in Virginia, people say "Hey, you're baby is so cute." "[So-and-so] tell the lady what a cute baby she has." Subtle, but different. This will take some getting used to.

This picture is what G got into tonight. We pack the toys away, he cleans out the box and sits in it himself. Awfully cute. Also, if you know whether this new niceness is a regional or a rural phenomenon, please feel free to comment.

What we're up to

Sorry I haven't gotten any videos up. I have so many fun ones. I just haven't had much luck converting them to forms that don't take days to upload. So one day soon, there will be a veritable Academy Awards-worth of videos.

In the mean time, here's some of what we've been up to. These are just a few of the pictures to come, hopefully soon.

G picks a dandelion and decides to eat it.

Hmm , , ,

Yuck!

What should I do next?

Move some dirt around!!

I could play in the grass, but I prefer the dirt.

Future Cow Whisperer

Mr. Blue Eyes

I love it in VA!

I know where this goes.

Crawl and climb so I can be . . .

King of the Mountain.

Momma Said . . .

No. of times I've said no: 1,000

No. of tantrums thrown: 10

No. of times I lost my temper: 1

No. of naps: 2

No. of times child played nicely alone: 0

No. of calls about appointments to see the house: 0

No. of times I swept the kitchen: 4

No. of plates broken: 1

Loads of laundry done: 2

Time it takes baby to realize I'm not around: 1.5 secs.

Time it takes baby to unravel an almost-full roll of paper towels: 2 mins.

Amount of time spent outside the house: 2 hours

No. of times I've sung "Momma Said There'd be Days Like This" to myself: 3

No. of times I've made you sing "Momma Said There'd be Days Like This" in your head: 2

No. of big rain storms: 1

Finally putting the baby to sleep? --Priceless

Also, I learned today that the "I Really Want to Do that and You Won't Let Me" cry sounds almost identical to the "I'm in a lot of Genuine Pain" cry. Of course.

Have I mentioned I hate Wednesdays?

The reason I haven't posted in so long is . . . well there are many reasons

1) It's been a rough/busy few weeks. We've (finally) learned when and how our move to Virginia is going to work and I've been stressed out thinking and planning how to get everything done.

2) In addition to planning and working out cool stuff for Primary, I started teaching piano lessons this month. Twice a week for 30 mins. But despite how insane this sounds, it has actually been a blessing, and as I learned as an undergrad taking 18 credit hours, I do some of my best work when a busy schedule forces me not to procrastinate.

3) I've already finished March's dress. 11 days in and it's done. That's because I won't be able to use my sewing room shortly, so I had to move fast. It's my favorite so far and I will post pictures. But Feb.'s first. So that's been eating up a lot of my free time.

4) Also I took up knitting this month. As if I need another hobby, I know, but I can do it while watching tv and hanging out with Johnny, so I justify. Plus I already have the yarn . . .

5) Also we've been working frantically to put our house on the market, which means cleaning, boxing, packing, organizing, cleaning some more, staging, and maintaining all the cleanness. It's been a whirlwind.

6) Oh, and did I mention G's been sick. Just a cold, but when he was really starting to fight it off, he got bit by fire ants, so it took longer. And he's teething.