Dek-O is ONE!!

My little Dekle Bug turned one on December 29th! And he started taking steps on December 27th!! He has been standing for awhile now, but I thought it would be much longer before he started stepping. I screamed when I saw him. lol.

 We had a handful of friends over that evening for cake and ice cream. I gave him his very own cupcake and he inhaled it. (This kid has a worse sweet tooth than I do!! That is bad!)

You've gotta love those teeth! Everywhere we go people comment on his chompers. I hope he grows into them one day, but for now I call them his Goofy teeth and he wears them well!

He has this rough, raspy little laugh. He has always had sort of a raspy voice, but now he really digs into his chest when he laughs. It cracks me up. He's a social laugher too. He has to join in laughing whenever someone else is. 

Little Deklan is quite the eater. He is sick of baby food and wants to go straight for my sandwich. He devoured half of my sandwich the other day and was still screaming for more. Speaking of screaming... He has the most high pitched wail ever. It pierces my ears and tests my patience daily. It is embarrassing in public and just frustrating at home. He screams for attention, food, out of pain, when he's excited, etc. I love this little boy, but man oh man can he scream!

He still has a dairy allergy, but I am really confident he will grow out of it. I do not give him cheese or straight milk, but he does have things here and there with dairy in them and he will only get a couple of hives, but no swelling or wheezing, so it seems to be very minor.

He loves to poop in the tub. Drives me crazy. He poops all day long and just when I think it's safe to let him soak and play for a little bit, he pollutes the water. Makai refuses to bathe with him any more and I do not blame him. I don't know what it is, but it has become his thing. haha.

His favorite toy is a ball. His favorite food is still sweet potatoes. His favorite drink is still a smoothie. His favorite place to be is in the tub or outside. He loves wrestling and is perfectly content rolling on the floor all day. He hates being alone. He's becoming a great sleeper. He takes great naps and has started mostly sleeping through the night (I know, I'm late on this one, but you should hear this baby scream... it breaks my heart.)

He only has four teeth, but boy does he know how to use them! He does not like plain food. Give him some bread? uh uh. Give him some bread with jelly on it? Heaven. I even have to add salt to his rice before he will touch it. crazy baby.

He's the best. People always ask me if he is always so good and I have to admit, aside from his screaming, he really is good. I say he's the third child, so he has to be easy, but I think it's just because I'm such an amazing mom that I know just how to train my children. BAHAHA!

He melts us. James looked at him a few months ago and said, "How could we not want more babies? Just look at him!" So true.

I love the little noises he makes while he eats his food (especially bananas) and the way he snuggles me throughout the day. I love the way he giggles when I dance or make a funny voice. I love how he watches Makai and Ezra and follows them around. I love how much he enjoys making them laugh. If he does something that gets them laughing, he does it over and over and over again just to keep them laughing. It's the best. I even love his wiggles. I love the way he bounces while he's standing and how he reaches for me to get him out of his crib. I love the way he holds my legs while I do dishes and how still he will sit if I'm with him on the floor. I love how he falls down and then just decides to stay down for a bit just being still. I love him and every tiny bit of squishiness about him.

Happy 1st Birthday Dek-O!

Christmas

Yes, we're alive. I'm so sorry for any of you who have been checking and been disappointed due to my lack of blog efforts the past couple of months. Life is a little busy, here, but it still makes me sad that I haven't been keeping a decent record of our homeschooling adventures and precious milestones in the babies lives. I'll get to that stuff later. Really, I will!

Christmas!! This Christmas was different. It wasn't cold, it wasn't white and it wasn't super magical. Boy do I miss being the kid and letting my mom and dad be in charge of the magic. They did a much better job than I have been doing the past couple of years. I wasn't feeling very well this holiday season, so all my wonderful plans kind of flopped. Our adventurous advent calendar didn't go as planned. Each  day I'd watch the activity card pile on top of yesterday's and I'd say, "tomorrow, we'll try to do that one tomorrow." Ugh. I'm a failure :( I threw half of the activities away and the other half we rushed through and had to combine with other days. Next year, right!?

James had to work Christmas eve. He's on the night shift so that means he sleeps ALL day and then leaves for the night. The night shift is THE WORST because he can't get a good schedule so it literally feels like he is in bed the second he gets home until the second he leaves again. Anyways... He woke up early Christmas eve so the boys could open their "night before Christmas box" (jammies, hot chocolate, popcorn and a movie). I always have to get them matching jammies because they love it and I think it is adorable. Then daddy went back to sleep and then as I was finishing cleaning, wrapping, piecing together toys, and tucking the last gift under the tree James woke up and headed to work for the night.
He was still at work when the boys woke up in the morning so I locked the baby gate and made them stay in my room for 2 hours until daddy got home. It was torture for just about everyone, but we survived :)

When daddy got home we were finally able to peak at the tree and dig into our stockings. The boys were great about their gifts. They would open one, tear it out of the package and play with it for a little before moving on. It was fun. Makai mostly wanted candy and Deklan just wanted to sit on his ride on toy.

After all presents were opened we hung out for a little bit and then we released daddy to go to bed. That was sort of the end. The rest was just a normal day. I semi made Christmas dinner. I ate it alone and then wrapped it up for James and then I went to bed as James woke up.

That's about the gist of our Christmas. It was just fine and the boys seemed to have a great Christmas, so I guess I didn't totally fail!

Ezra got shampoo and Makai got candy. You'd be amazed how excited they got over those things! haha

He looks so big in this pic. This was Deklan's present from mommy and daddy. He sat in for quite awhile :)

I don't know why I love this pic. I think he strangely reminds me of my baby pictures. He is such a precious little guy.

The boys got magnet building tiles from Grandma and Pop-pop and they played with them for a good 10-15 minutes in between opening gifts. I was shocked they didn't just throw their presents aside to tear into another one.

Switch-n-go Dinos from their Aunt and Uncle!

They also got walkie talkies, movies, crayons, flashlights, planes, etc.. They are staying pretty busy post Christmas and Ezra has already marked his calendar for Christmas next year!

This is Christmas evening. The boys fought over Deklan's little riding toy from Nana and Grandpa pretty much all day (and are still fighting). It does 360's so it really is a sweet toy! But I have to remind them that it belongs to Deklan so any time he wants to play on it, they have to gently glide him along since he shares with them :) It works out great until he is pushed too hard and ends up on his back. Oh brothers... But look how happy they are!

I took down my tree on the 28th because I was just ready to put it away. Not like me. I normally have Christmas music going year round and feel sad taking it all down. Maybe it's because Deklan kept trying to knock it over and rearrange the ornaments daily :)

I STILL have Christmas cards sitting on top of my microwave that I need to send out. How embarrassing. They may not all get out, but I do plan on sending some since some have Christmas presents in them! AHH! Next year I'll try to be more organized. 

At least this year I have FOUR really good excuses... Can you guess what they might be? I'll give you a hint... 1.) Ezra   2.) Makai   3.) Deklan  4. ?