Big

i feel like it just happened.  all of a sudden.  one day at the library, after story time, he just waltzed right up to play with the bigger kids.  and even though he was the only one putting the blocks in his mouth, he fit in.

then, on a snowy day when i needed to get out of the house, we went to walk around the mall, and he ran right up to these candy jars like he knew that they were full of sugary goodness.  of course, that was impossible because richard and i hadn't let a single grain of sugar pass through his little lips yet.  but he knew.

and then came drinking out of a normal cup.  i mean, he is still perfecting that skill, but come on.  a normal cup!  he loves my protein shakes, and anything else that isn't confined to a cup by a lid.

i feel like i've done a pretty good job of not getting sad about these things that make him seem like a big boy.  i'm trying to really enjoy these moments as they come because i don't want to be one of those moms that is always saying how sad she is that her baby is getting big.  i absolutely love watching him experience and learn these new things.  BUT i am starting to see why people plan (or try) to have their kids 2 years apart.

Spill-proof?

not so much.

i bought one of those "no-spill" snack cups thinking i was a genius, and that marty would be so happy with his new independent snack-eating abilities.  wrong.  he was, however, thrilled with his new mess-making abilities.  i don't think that "spill-proof" is even a real thing.

Counting down

we spent new year's eve with the bowman's, playing games and laughing a lot.  it was the first and only time we've ever left marty with a babysitter that wasn't my parents.  we asked our next-door-neighbor girl, bernice, if she would sit at our house while marty was sound asleep in his crib, and she said yes.  her mom, maria, wouldn't let us pay her, so we gave her a boat load of candy instead.

i love this guy, and i'm glad i got to count down to the new year with him.  i honestly can't remember if we made any resolutions, which probably means we didn't.  but with him by my side, i'm sure we'll do some pretty amazing things.

Ho ho holiday fun

our christmas holiday season usually starts the second thanksgiving is over.  sometimes before, depending on how motivated i am to get our christmas decorations up.  this christmas got its start at our ward christams party.  i wasn't aware that santa would be making an appearance, and when i found out i probably should not have reacted the way i did.  in my defense, though, richard reacted the exact same way.  yes, marty boy had very recently been scared to death by chuck e. cheese, but for some reason we felt it was important to traumatize him further by taking a photo on santa/spencer bowman's lap.  the very second that spencer walked into the gym in that costume, marty lost it.  we didn't let that stop us.  we just forced everyone to let us be the first family to take pictures so that we could leave with him right after.  looking back, i'm not thrilled that we did it.  i think this is our only real "mean mom and dad" moment, and my goal is to not do it again any time soon.  richard is completely on board.  even though we did get a couple of funny pictures out of it.

we really didn't spend a lot of time outside when it was snowy, but i did bundle up my little monster baby to help me deliver christmas cards to our neighborhood friends.

the night before we left to spend christmas in st. george with the smiths, we got together at my parents' house to make our traditional graham cracker houses.  i took notes on chelsea's past houses and loaded up the inside of mine with the candy i really wanted to eat.  i was also reprimanded by chow for using too many orange sticks.  she actually said to my mom, "see, i told you!" so apparently they talk about my chocolate hoarding behind my back.  i. do. not. care.

riard's house collapsed.  i think he was a little disappointed, but not enough to scrap it.  he was after the candy this year, too.

marty got new jammies and snuggles from grandpa, so it was a good night for him, too.

as much as i missed being with the porter side for the holiday, i have to admit that i really enjoyed our time in st. george.  we played lots of pickle ball, and spent quite a bit of time at the park.  the weather was fabulous, so we just wanted to be outside as much as possible.  parents of the year award went to richard and i when we found marty slurping up melted snow off of the ground in the corner of the pickle ball courts.  we just want to make sure that his immune system is good and strong.  clearly it is.

we could have withheld all presents from this boy and he wouldn't have cared for a second.  this giant bear at grandma and grandpa smith's house was just about the greatest thing he'd ever seen.  he laid on it and hugged it every five minutes, all week long.

marty boy had a rough couple of nights at the beginning of our stay.  on christmas eve, he wet through his diaper and none of us slept well at all.  luckily just the sight of this little stinker puts us both in a better mood.  even when the less-better mood is because of him.  parenthood is complicated.  did anybody tell us this before we were parents?  

we felt pretty bad that it was taking the boy awhile to warm up to liz, so we caved and let him have cinnamon rolls with everyone on christmas morning.  and grandma got to feed them to him.  the warming up went lots better after that.

the presents were good all around.  richard got me a book, some new running shoes for weber in motion coming up, and other good things.  i gave him some stickygram magnets made from our instagram photos for him to put in his new office, a picture with maps of our favorite trips, and other good things.  but the best part of it all was watching marty have fun that morning.  fun with his toys, fun with the wrapping paper and boxes, and fun with richard's side of our family.  christmas is so different with a kid, but i think it's a better kind of different.

more time outside called for a walk to the duck pond with grandma and grandpa.  i went to begin with, but ended up leaving the three of them alone to do some bonding.

i don't think he missed me at all.

some of our time was also spent doing our new workout program: focus t25.  it is a beach body product, and i got sucked into doing a challenge group that an old friend was leading on facebook.  i even signed up to be a beach body coach (which fizzled quickly, just like i knew it would).  however, the workout program hasn't fizzled for me at all!  richard even got on board for a little while.  i seriously think i'm in better shape now than before i had marty boy.  they are only 25 minutes long, but they are hard.  i love them!  richard got austin to do some work outs with him, and liz even did one, too!  austin even got us the bonus package of dvd's to keep us going strong.  it is my soul-mate of workouts.

i came out of rook retirement.  and it didn't even kill me.

dale took us all to austin's favorite sandwich place before we left to come back north.  so we got to stuff our faces together one last time.

when we got home, my mom delivered all of the gifts that she gathered from family members while we were away.  again, the best part of opening them was watching marty, who struck christmas gold!  he got a couple of sound-making books that he still reads multiple times a day, super cute jammies, and a snoopy dog that he probably loves more than me.  we tried to get him to pose with all of his gifts for a picture to send to everyone to say thanks, and it wasn't easy, so this is what we ended up with.  this is the best one.

and speaking of the best of things, i know that last christmas was one-of-a-kind because we'd just had marty boy and it was our first as our little family, but this is right up there with that one in the rankings.  being a parent is complicated, but it is the very best thing in the world.  it makes all of our experiences with him the best we've ever had.  so yes, it is mid-may as i sit and write about our christmas, but not because it wasn't worth writing about.  because it most definitely was.

Thanks a lot

before marty's birthday, we celebrated thanksgiving.  we ended up being able to stuff our faces with both sides of our family, which involved a bit of travel, but was totally worth it.  as we were eating those meals and spending time with our kin, i was making some mental notes about the things that i'm most grateful for.  they include, but are not limited to...

this little barrel of laughs.  i'm grateful for a happy and healthy boy, who keeps us laughing around the clock.  i love the perspective he's given me on topics ranging from patience to body image.  he gives me a sense of purpose i can be proud of, and he makes me feel pretty special...even in the moments when i'm sure i'm screwing everything up (which is quite often).

i'm grateful for this guy, who gave me my marty boy.  he works so hard to take care of us now, and he's always thinking about our future and how he can make it one to look forward to.  he supports me in pretty much everything i want to do, whether it is a craft, a new workout routine, something to do with the boy, or doing some work (i'll get to that in another post, soon).  i know that he loves me, and our son, and that he will always be there for us.  he's my best friend.  he makes me crazy, and then he brings me back to normal.  he is handsome, and talented, and i'm glad he's mine.

i'm grateful for family time.  it is in those little moments together that you realize how much i love them, and that always gets me to thinking, "we should do this more often!"  i love having a family that gets together all the time, even if sometimes i feel like it's an inconvenience because i'd rather take a longer sunday nap.  sometimes those family gatherings result in arguments, but we are usually over by the time the next birthday rolls around.  i'd like to think it's because we are so invested in each other.

i also love the funny things that happen at our family get-togethers.  like when my dad and his dad put my grandma to sleep at the dinner table with their stories.

i'm grateful for snuggles.

i'm grateful marty has cousins close to his age.  and i'm grateful for the example of good parenting we have in scott and megan.  i've called her a few times about things i'm worried about, and even though we do some things completely different, she always makes me feel better.

i'm most grateful that i'll get to be with these guys forever.  and ever, and ever.