Happy Anniversary

Today James and I celebrated our two year anniversary. The second year was harder for us than the first, but James says that's because we had Ezra. I think it's because the honeymoon stage lasted all through the first year and by the second we had to make an effort to love each other. Maybe it was both. However, I will say that having Ezra brought us more joy and happiness and we are much closer because we have him. Also, making an effort to love makes you appreciate each other a lot more. So all in all, the second year for us only made us stronger and we are both so grateful for our trials.

Here was how we celebrated: In the morning he took me and Ezra out to breakfast where he had a bouquet of flowers and the sweetest note waiting for me on the table. Then he and I went to get a couples massage at Sage Day Spa (we each got a gift card there for mother's day and father's day.) Neither of us had ever had a professional massage before, so we were a little nervous about it. Aside from getting oils all over our face, head and body, we loved it. Then we tried to go play laser tag with our friends the Brassells, but the dumb place was closed until 4. Sorry guys :( Why do they decide to change their hours only for the week (starting on the day) of our anniversary? I was sad, but we got over it quickly. The remainder of today Ezra spent sleeping and I spent packing and cleaning. Luckily James got home from work early tonight to help me pack and clean.

We're going to Maryland tomorrow and we can't wait! I have a huge soccer bag full of toys, books and treats for Ezra, so hopefully he does okay on the plane. We have been looking forward to this trip and it's so exciting that it's just a day away!!

A Moment to Vent

Let's talk pet peeves for a moment... I really don't like when people pretend they either don't know you or didn't see you just to avoid simply saying hello. I can see you talking to the boy next to you while he is turning around staring at me saying, "what?" That's a little obvious. And a simple hello might have made my day.

Another thing...bugs! I was just kneeling on the ground and felt something crawl across my toes. When I looked down I noticed a rather large black creepy crawling thing on my carpet! YUCK! The other day I was cooking and dropped some food on the ground. When I bent down to pick it up and throw it away I put my fingers about an inch and a half from the biggest, ugliest spider I have ever seen and it was IN MY HOUSE! BLECH! James gives me a hard time for kneeling on my bed to say my prayers, but hello? Now you might understand why. Why can't bugs just live in the woods and never leave?

Okay. The end. I promise to be more complacent tomorrow. Good night.

Rigby Lake

Today Ezra and I went to Rigby Lake. This is Ezra's first time wearing a life jacket. He had a hard time walking in it. It was too funny. Oh and my piece of advice, get swimmer diapers. If you use the regular kind, it might explode and you might be finding gel goop all over your baby and their outfit which also ends up getting all over you, your towels and your car.

It took a little while for him to get used to the cold water, but once he did we had a blast.

He enjoyed the water and the sand, but his favorite thing was ...

The park! Of course he spotted it forever away and bolted over to go play.

He enjoyed the slide, but mostly he enjoyed playing with the bird poop on the slide. I soon realized why he wasn't coming down the slide and I cleaned him up, no worries.

It's always an adventure with this boy. Sorry we usually have to leave daddy out of it :( Poor James has to work all day while we just play (and make breakfast and lunch and dinner and clean and do laundry and change diapers and grocery shop and pay bills and give baths and hold a crying, needy baby while trying to do all of the above and etc etc etc... :) Yeah, poor daddy. But we really do miss him on our adventures.

FuN with ET (cell phone pics, sorry)

Ezra is getting so big now he can sort of dress and undress himself. Clearly the "sort of" is completely relevant. He did start crying after I took this picture. I'm sure he didn't appreciate the shirt stuck on his head or mean mommy laughing at his struggles. Poor Ezra.

One of Ezra's favorite things is to climb. People warned me about this, but I personally think it's really funny to watch him try. I realize that with climbing comes more bumps, bruises, tears, and broken things, but every new trick he learns is just so fun for me to witness and for right now I am always able to be right there to catch him.

For his birthday Grandma Ilene got him a rocking horse. He loves to ride it, but he especially loves when daddy pushes him on it all over the house. This is also where Ezra and I both sit together at night to rock. We don't have a rocking chair, so it's the next best thing and it is quite comfortable to cuddle on (for Ezra and me. James and me? Not so much)!

His latest pose is what we call his "butt pose". Why? Well, because he poses with his butt of course. He puts his head on the ground and looks between his legs smiling. The upside down world must be intriguing to a child because he does it often.

Today we went on a LONG walk to the river. It was so beautiful outside and we love our walks! Ezra had never been to the river before, so he was in heaven. I took him to a bridge and he would run from one side to the other pointing at the water saying, "ahhh". He learned the word for "water" and "tree" today. Tomorrow, perhaps he'll learn "ducky".

He is becoming more helpful and he is learning to communicate a lot more. He'll bring us almost anything we ask to him bring and he is learning to tell us what he wants. He begs for "daddy" when he's happy and cries for "mama" when he's sad. He really likes "very vanilla soy milk", long walks around the park, dancing in the kitchen with mommy, bouncing on furniture with daddy, and extra long afternoon naps. Everyone always says they grow up too fast, but so far I am loving every stage. We feel like we have really cherished every stage of his first year of life and we have no regrets. We love our baby boy more than any parenting book or "experienced advice" could have ever prepared us for. (We say that all the time, but it is so true.)

One Year Check Up

So I took Ezra to his 1 year check-up and guess what? He's normal! Of course I don't need a doctor to tell me that.

He was 30 inches tall which means he is now in the 56th percentile. He's no longer in the 8th which is so exciting! However, he only weighs 19.1 lbs and is in the 5th percentile for weight still.

And unfortunately that means he is still too little to face the front even though he's finally one. Poop. Oh well, I was planning on keeping him rear facing for a few more months, it would just be nice to know that it was an option.