this little boy of mine sure keeps me on my toes, but he is pure joy to be around. always quick with a smile or a kiss, he keeps this house happy and full of light. a favorite new game is to get wrapped up in the curtains and play peek a boo.
{this might be my new favorite picture}
b-man is turning 2 at the end of august, so i’ve recently been thinking about birthdays. like kids room’s, i’m not into the whole character thing, but i do enjoy having a fun theme. i mean, it’s a kid’s birthday party. i have an idea that i’m leaning towards, but these darling photos have me keeping my options open.
{hot air balloon photo booth}
{super heroes – he’ll appreciate this one more in a few years}
beckett is really into baseball at the moment, so this could be a contender. between watching jared play softball and having the royals’ game on nearly every night, he has picked up on how it’s done. he will use anything as a bat (remote, toy, decorative object), hold it up like he’s about to swing, drop it and run. it’s pretty hilarious.
{circus party – it would be so fun to have kiddos dress up}
{for the little reader – how darling are the mini-milk glasses?}
{sweet and simple zoo animals}
we had a great day yesterday. we were with jared’s family, and the weather was so great that we were outside a ton.
first, a family picture. we usually forget to do this, so i’m really happy that we made it happen. we’re all even looking at the camera! with eyes open! and no gnawing on fingers! the poor short guy is cutting some molars, and they are giving him a pretty hard time. he has been constantly chewing on his fingers, not eating a ton, and his nose is like a little river. hoping that these teeth pop up quickly.
little b played some soccer. and it’s possible that, while he was sleeping, jared, my sister-in-law heather, and i played a little too. we kind of felt like kids running around in the backyard barefoot. unfortunately (or fortunately) no pictures of that. and get a load of those seersucker pants! cute, right?
there was a lot of playing with helicopters (or whirlybirds, as some call them)….by all of us. it was a day to act like children, i guess…and it was pretty fun. 
b is working on his poses for senior pictures already. i think he’s ahead of the game.
i had the great pleasure of taking pictures of my good friend, natalie’s, beautiful boys this past weekend. natalie and i bonded during our stint at the university of missouri j-school, and i’m lucky to have her here in KC. now we’re bonding over mama stuff, and it’s amazing to see our babies grow up together. i hope they’re all good buddies one day.
these boys both have amazingly blue eyes, and we had lots of fun playing in their backyard. here’s a sneak peek of sweet parker and bennett.
{parker}
{bennett}
beckett is turning from a toddler into a little boy before our very eyes. here’s what he’s up to these days…
the short guy’s language is really taking off. all of the sudden, it’s like his speech switch got turned on. he is trying out most of the words we say to him, and learning new ones all the time. a few favorites are ‘no’ (more on that in a bit), ‘car’ (as previously mentioned), and ‘outside’.
he and miller are very best buds. miller lets b lay on him, bounce on him, prod and poke him in exchange for a few bites of his every meal. beckett happily obliges, and thinks it’s pretty hilarious.
the climbing has really increased – chairs, stairs, and everything in between. he comes by it honestly, though, as both jared and i were climbers as wee ones. i think we’re in trouble. when he’s not climbing or running, it’s book-reading time. he will sit and let us read to him (if he’s in the mood) for a quite a while. b is still a pretty great eater (knock on wood!). grapes, avacados, yogurt and tortillas are current favorites, but he’s been known to like spicy buffalo chicken too. that’s my boy!
our darling beckett has learned the art of ‘no’. in fact, that was his first word to me this morning – yay. the protesting has also begun – arched back, crying and all. i’m just waiting for it to happen in public – yikes. unless it was his idea, he’s thinks it’s the worst one he’s ever heard…unless it’s watching for cars or going outside. it looks like he’s getting a jump on the terrible two’s – dang! i thought he might be the one kid who would skip them. :)
but with all that is spicy, there is so much that is sweet. oh, he’s so darn sweet. he is blowing kisses and giving spontaneous hugs and flashing a toothy grin and running to daddy when he comes through the door. it’s all just happening too darn fast.
i was running through target the other day and decided i needed new nail polish. i had a bottle of pale pink at home, but i haven’t been able to get the lid off for about a year, so i figured it was time to move on. i snagged this one up – literally. anyone who has shopped with a toddler knows that you must keep the cart moving at all times. commit, and move on. i did, and i like this color very much. mostly, because when it starts to chip, you don’t really notice, and i can’t keep a manicure pretty for longer than 48 hours.
in other news, beckett has totally gotten into cars. it’s hilarious to me because he has a few cars, but we’ve never made a big deal about them. i would love to know what’s going on in that little head of his. he carries his cars around the house, makes them go ‘vroom’ on the floor, and most recently, wants to stand at the front windows and watch for cars coming down the street and then exclaim car! car! it’s pretty darn cute.
our unusually warm weather gave us the chance to play outside a few days ago, and we jumped at the chance. these were taken moments before he face-planted into the glider on our porch and scored himself a big fat lip. there was a lot of blood, and i was moments from panic mode (does he need stitches!?! is his tooth stuck in his lip!?!), but thankfully the bleeding stopped, and after some well-deserved crying, all was well. i’m sure this will not be the last injury for this adventurous little boy. his own father had stitches like 3 times before he was 4! i’m a little scared.
we had a yogurt party later in the day, and i swear this child could eat his body weight in chobani. you can see who was in charge.
{remembering the fat lip}
i’ve got to hand it to the land of nod. they have finally risen to the occasion and produced some sophisticated (but still kid friendly) room decor. the ‘character’ kid room is not really my style, so i’m glad to see some fun use of pattern, texture, and color. i don’t think a kiddo’s room has to have mickey mouse everywhere to know that a kid lives there. make sure you sprinkle in their personality so they can feel like their stamp is on it – that might be artwork, awards on their shelves, or a car track in the middle of the floor (let’s be real here) – and everybody’s happy.
{jenny lind bed – a classic}
{zig zag baskets – with lids, hooray!!}
{tuffet}
{in the mix crib bedding – where was this 2 years ago!?!}
i have been informed by certain family members (ahem, celeste) that i have been delinquent in my short guy updates. for that i am sorry, and i plan to assault you with lots and lots of pictures.
i can’t believe that my little nugget is 17 months old! he is doing so much, and just absorbing everything! today, he ‘read’ a book. it caught me so off guard that i had to do a double take. i was putting on his shoes, and he opened a book about first words, and casually rattled off ‘uh-oh’, ‘dog’, and ‘whee.’ he had memorized it. holy cow, what else is he memorizing!?!
this guy is not walking much anymore. he’s running. everywhere. we mostly keep baby gates up in our family room so we’re not up and down the stairs 97 times a day or making laps around the first floor constantly. this is one active kid, and there is never a dull moment – just the way we like it.
this little guy is not going to be anti-social, i can tell you that. he is jabbering all the time and still loves to tell everyone ‘hi.’ i tell ya, the ladies love it. his other favorite word is ‘uh-oh’, and he uses it generously. he has also learned ‘no’, but at the moment, he’s not using that one too generously – thankfully! he is a champ at making animal sounds and can tell you what a cow, elephant, tiger, dog, and monkey say. when asked, he can show you his leg, knee, foot, toes, arm, hand, hair, nose, eyes, ears, and teeth. i know that’s a lot of detail, but i’m writing this for me too. :)
ok, now for the onslaught of pictures…
{enjoying our amazing winter weather}
{why do the boys get the great lashes?}
{enough with the pictures, ma!}
{running….}
{and running….}
since i have babies on the brain, and i have a ton of friends who are either pregnant or thinking about it, i thought i’d share some of my very favorite baby items.
but before we get to that, a little side note. i think there might have been a little confusion about the picture of jared and me in my last post. that is not me right now. that is when i was 9 months pregnant with b – i mean, he came out 14 days later. if i looked that way right now, i would be scared that i’m gestating an elephant.
ok, on to the baby stuff. a fair warning that this is a little long.
moby wrap – i think this wrap is perfect for the tee tiny baby. it is super soft and holds that sweet baby so close. i am a huge fan of baby-carrying. i loved having beckett so close to me, particularly when he was brand new. i would like to recommend black since it will disguise a complete blowout diaper, as i experienced while standing in the middle of the bloch building of the nelson-atkins museum.
ergobaby carrier – i love, love, love this carrier for the bigger baby – maybe 6m and up? you can use it as a front pack, on the hip, or a backpack. i was still using this with beckett as recently as this spring. unlike a lot of carriers, it has great shoulder padding and has a strap for your hips to help distribute your kiddo’s weight. it is super comfortable, even for long periods of time. it’s also great for traveling through airports instead of hauling a huge stroller (unless you’ll need one on the other end). their website says you can use this with a child up to 45 pounds, but if your kid is that heavy, i say they need to be using their own two feet.
boon highchair – this highchair is a bit on the pricey side, but we decided if we were going to have to look at it every day, we wanted it to look cool. kind of vain, right? well, it has actually turned out to be great. this puppy is super easy to wipe down, and the seat is right at miller-height so he can lick out everything beckett’s mouth missed – hey, i’m just bein’ real. we actually ended up taking out the orange cushion all-together to make it even easier to clean. the one downside is that the tray is a little small in comparison to other chairs out there, but i would still buy it again.
aden & anais swaddling blankets – pretty much every mama i know has one or ten of these. they are the perfect lightweight blanket for swaddling, laying baby on the floor, or using as a nursing cover. now that b is older, it has morphed into a security blanket, and beckett sleeps with three…of course. these are a great gift if you know of any parents-to-be. i’m adding this bright collection to my own wish list.
bumgenius cloth diapers – cloth diapering isn’t for everyone, and i definitely had to talk jared into this one. the main reason we did this is that we saw how much trash we were producing, just with diapers – it was amazing, and not in a good way. it has been so much easier than we could have ever expected, and we are so happy that we took this route. i recommend the snaps as opposed to the velcro option. ours have been washed hundreds of times and they still look brand new. i’ve heard that the velcro doesn’t wear quite as well.
pottery barn hooded towels – these are so soft, and the characters are darling. another great gift idea.
sleep sack – once baby is done with swaddling, but too little to throw a blanket on them, the sleep sack is a great transition. it keeps them cozy, but they can’t get tangled up – genius.
and this card that i recently received from a great friend, is amazing. it’s definitely going in a frame for the new baby’s room.
so what are your favorite baby items? anything new out there that i need to add to my must-have list?
chasingshinyobjects.com 