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.

Ezra's Swing

Ezra just loves his jumper! However, he doesn't like jumping in it. He only likes it if we raise it about a foot above the ground and push him in it. I think he's just excited we don't ever really have to leave the park now!



I'm just hoping the trim around the doorway can hold up okay while he's swinging away!

Ezra is 1

Ezra turned 1 on July 17th! Since James had to work that night, we decided to celebrate on Saturday, the 18th. We first took Ezra to Sears to get his picture taken. That didn't go over too well. He didn't want to be still and when we kept putting him back in the tub or on the rocking horse, he just got mad and cried. Oh well.

Then we went to Barnes and Noble and got him a few new books. Books are his favorite things! He loves to be read to and he loves to read. I catch him telling his own stories all the time.

After that James and I took him to the zoo! I was so excited! We went to the petting zoo first. Ezra liked this until one of the goats charged him and scared him. James is quick though, so he saved Ezra before the goat could knock him over. Although it did step on James' toe which he wasn't very happy about. Then we just walked around looking at the rest of the animals. Ezra especially loved the monkey's and the birds.

Later that evening we had a birthday party for him. Since James wasn't too excited about the idea of throwing a party for a 1 year old, I decided to throw one while he was at work. There was a great turn out. I was so happy to see how many friends came to celebrate with us! Ezra had his first taste of cake, which he loved. However, there was milk in it, so he did get hives. I knew this would happen though. I hope Ezra thought it was worth it. Next year I'll try harder to find a cake recipe without dairy.

All in all, it was a great day. Ezra already looks older too! We love our pre-toddler more than we ever imagined we could.

Our Growing Tressler Boy

Ezra is getting so big! Sometimes James and I go into his room while he's sleeping and we just watch him. It seems as though he really does grow right before our eyes. He's the sweetest most loving baby in all the world and we feel so blessed to have him in our family.

He found his dream car on one of our Wal-Mart walks. Wal-Mart is now Ezra's favorite place to walk. He hates holding my hand and he especially hates leaving. There are people everywhere and toys to explore.

He had an encounter with a very large lollipop. James and I enjoyed his lollipop adventures a little more than Ezra did I'm afraid.

"Now how do I get out?"

What do you think Grandma? His birthday is in a little over two weeks! Plenty of time to have it shipped! JUST KIDDING!

A Bunch of Sickies

Ezra and I have been sick for over a week now, so my house has gone up in smuckeroonies. I had about 4 loads of laundry shoved off my bed onto the floor just so we could sleep at night, 3 days of dishes piled up in the sink and toys and books scattered all the way to Hong Kong. I came home from school on Monday to a clean house, a happy baby, and a very attractive husband finishing his last dish. The laundry had been done, the bed made, the toys picked up, the floors vaccuumed (how do you spell that? pft.). Oh boy, James is the best. I didn't even have to ask him! I was even stressing during my class about the pile of laundry I was coming home to. How silly of me. He was so loving to me because he felt so good serving me and I was so loving back because I felt SOOO good being served! He's so good to me.

Oops!

So for Ezra's dinner this evening I decided to try Lasagna, which he did not enjoy months ago. After we were halfway through the jar I decided to read the label. Low and behold ... this baby jar has milk and cheese in it! Ugh! I can't believe I missed it. I am so careful about reading every label because Ezra is allergic, but I must have been slacking at the store my last trip. The good news is, he might be growing out of his milk allergy!! Or at least getting used to it. His face looked a little red, but I didn't see hives and I certainly didn't hear wheezing. He was throwing up a little more than usual, but that might be a result of a full tummy and a playful mummy. I would be so excited if cheese can stay in my meal plan for our family. Not to mention the fact that I could finally share my ice cream with him and not have to make him cry while I hand him a dairy free cracker. I'm praying that fearing milk will be a thing of the past for Tressler boy. Then again, maybe it's not so bad. What a great diet. I think I should try pretending I'm allergic to dairy, or at least to ice cream. Then again... maybe not.

Tressler Summer Beginnings...

I'm back in school full-time. I haven't gone full-time since the semester I had Ezra, so it's a little overwhelming right now. I just hate leaving poor baby Ezra to go to class. Although, we have been blessed with schedules that work out so James can watch him in the morning and then go to work 2-11 when I am home to watch him. I hardly ever see my husband any more though, so there's the downfall. James is also enjoying his weekly guy time playing airsoft every Saturday afternoon. I'm such a good wife for letting him go. Lucky for him, he agrees with me.

Ezra is now walking. He also has 4 teeth which just look so weird on him if you ask me. He's still, of course, the cutest baby in the world according to his parents, but his teeth make him look like a big kid in a little baby body. He's changing so much and it's so fun to watch him. He'll be 1 in a month and a half. I can't believe it. He loves pointing, cuddling, walking, whistling through his teeth and his favorite hobby right now is cabinet exploring. If you can't find him, he's probably hiding underneath the kitchen sink.

Life has been throwing us some curve balls lately, but we're trying our best to swing on. We usually handle things by wrestling (my favorite) or throwing food in each other's face. The other day James came home late from playing airsoft, so I made sure to let him know that isn't okay with me by throwing a can of corn in his face. Sister Hinckley said she'd rather laugh than cry because crying gives her a headache. I'm on her side with that. As long as James makes time to take me out on a date and to the temple every week, all is well.