the big 1

the inevitable happened, and our baby turned into a toddler.  i was shocked when i could no longer find the answers to all of my motherly questions on my preferred baby website under the "baby" category after his birthday.  and a little offended, to be quite honest.  i now have to click the "toddler" tab and go from there to ease my paranoid mind when he has a rash, his sleep schedule goes berserk, or i need some fresh ideas for stimulating activities to help me teach/entertain him.  time never went faster for me than it did during these 12 months.  it has been the very best year of my life so far. but enough about me.  let's hear it for the boy:

of course one of the first things we did was a photo shoot.  just like we have on the 5th of every month since he was born.  he wore a new birthday shirt, and it lasted for less time than it ever has.  he knows what he wants, and it definitely doesn't include me taking pictures of him all morning.

we gave him this little activity table that sings, makes noises, counts, and lights up for his gift.  he liked it about as much as he liked the rest of the toys he's had since forever.  it was definitely more exciting for us to give him something than it was for him to receive it, i think.

during the day, richard had to work, but i still wanted to do something fun with him, so i took him to the tree house museum.  i love following him around as he explores when we go here.  he also took some steps (8 was the high number for the day) and showed off his new moves.

my mom and dad wanted to celebrate marty's big day with us, too, so they offered to bank roll a trip to chuck e. cheese's.  we aren't in the habit of turning down a free dinner, especially when it's in honor of our favorite boy, so we quickly agreed to go.  plus, richard has always wanted to go there.  

at first, marty loved it.  pizza for dinner, lots of lights, kids running around, and music.  what's a one-year old not going to love about that?

then, as our night was winding down, i had the brilliant idea to take a picture with this giant mechanical chuck.  marty's eyes were glued to it the entire time we stood next to him.  also, the mouse was rotating.  that is important to note.  because when he rotated back toward us, richard then had the brilliant idea of holding marty up to see mr. cheese for him to get a better look....

and that is when he lost it.  i'm sure he thought that we were handing him over to a giant rat, which even as an adult i would hate.

we felt so bad, and we certainly didn't want to end his birthday on that sour note, so we headed back to do some more rides.  the horse had been his favorite by far.

and he had his eye on this one quite a bit.  he loved it, and it made us feel much, much better.  almost like the whole scare had never happened.

until a guy in a chuck e. cheese costume came running out of nowhere, right at us, giving us absolutely no warning or time to get marty the heck out of there before the whole thing happened again.  only this time, marty knew he hated the giant dirty rat, and i'm sure it was much more damaging to his poor little heart and psyche.  my dad basically ran as fast as he could to the opposite side of the place, and of course i, like the mother of the year that i am, followed with my camera in hand to document it all for this very post.  which on the ride home i started to feel horrible about!

well, we absolutely could not bear to end on that low, so we headed back to old reliable.  this time, both of us stayed close - i think to comfort ourselves as much as to comfort our boy.

so, not the perfect night, but all in all it was a pretty good day.

the sunday following his birthday, we celebrated with my family out at my mom's house.  we were there most of the day, so part of the festivities included a nap.

then we got to opening presents.  the first one we/he opened was a crocheted elephant from richard's sister megan.  she is so talented, and he loved it.  almost immediately he grabbed it by the trunk and started swinging it around.

then i tried to show him what a trunk is really for.

we also did the cake thing, of course.  i made a strawberry/blueberry shortcake, because those berries are two of marty's favorite foods.  we got a bunch of video, but no still pictures, which makes me sad.  maybe my dad or sister did.  anyway, he was adorable.  he didn't know quite what to do.  we had him in nothing but a diaper just in case he made a holy mess, but he was so gentle with the cake and didn't make a mess at all.  i think he was shy with everyone watching him, and of course we don't usually just put a huge piece of food in front of him, so it was all brand new.  i loved it though.  i shouldn't have let myself, but i let a few comments from people get to me about how he wished it would've been chocolate cake, or he didn't like it because i never let him eat sugar.  well, i actually just thought he'd love it because he loves berries.  but yes, i've made sure that he eats healthy foods for the most part.  i wish i didn't let those things make me feel bad, but in the moment i did.  i actually went downstairs and cried about it.  i loved his reaction to the cake.  he is a tender boy, and he was tender with his cake.  i've prepared healthy food for him because i love him.  i love him more than anything in the world, and i want him to be healthy and happy.  i'm thankful that richard is totally on board with that, and i'm thankful for the people who support us in how we parent.

most of all, i'm thankful for marty.  he has changed richard and i in ways that we could have never imagined.  it has been a hard year in some ways (sleep deprivation is the first thing that comes to mind, financially - hello, i quit my job! -, we have no idea what we're doing most of the time, etc.), but the good things outweigh those hard things by such an incredible amount that you can't really even compare (the snuggles, smiles, laughs, milestone moments, hearing "mama" or "dada" and knowing he knows what he's saying and who he's saying it to, feeling like my heart will burst when i think of how much i love my boys, seeing him get excited about a dog, hearing him jabber about anything and everything and know that he knows exactly what he's saying even if we can't quite understand).

so, happy birthday, marty boy.  we love you, buddy.

1 month old

2 months old 

3 months old 

4 months old 

5 months old 

6 months old 

7 months old 

8 months old 

9 months old 

10 months old 

11 months old 

1 year old

things about marty:

• you jabber about anything and everything - you even started talking in your sleep!
• you have 4 teeth - 2 on top, 2 on bottom (all up front)
• you walk like a champ
• you point at things - food you want, places you want to go, people you want to go to
• you love blueberries!  especially the frozen ones that we put in your oatmeal in the morning
• you hate having your diaper changed
• you suck your left thumb while playing with your right ear with your right hand
• you love to play drums with dad
• you love to jump up and down in front of the mirror
• you can point to eyes and noses
• you love doggies - real or stuffed animals, it doesn't matter - and you even say "doggy" and "a dah" (which we're pretty sure means "a dog"
• you're great at crawling up stairs, but you haven't mastered coming down backwards yet - you still try to come down face first most of the time!
• you gargle your water (daddy taught you how to do that)
• sometimes you let us rock you to sleep, but recently you started liking to fall asleep on the floor and then to be moved to your crib (this started at grandma and grandpa smith's house)
• you love to help with laundry, whether it is pushing the laundry basket around the house, feeling the washer and dryer to make sure they're working right, or pulling all of the clothes out of any open drawer in our dresser
• you also love to play with mommy's pots and pans
• you have sweet dance moves that include a lot of head banging and big smiles
• you love to read.  currently, your favorite books are "good night moon" and "i love you through and through"
• you love to listen to and help daddy play guitar
• you LOVE to be naked
• you really like bath time, but you hate the part where we wash your hair
• your nick-names include: old mac marty (dad is worried you'll be confused about the song when you get older), marty boy, boobah, bing bong, buddy boy
• you're becoming so independent and a little less snuggly, so we cherish the snuggle time we get
• you do pull-ups with daddy in the laundry room
• your bedtime song is edelweiss
• you have an adorable crooked bum crack (a slight curve to the left at the top) that we're really hoping you never grow out of
• you can fit an entire walnut (shell and all) in your mouth, which kind of scares us
• you give yourself kisses in the mirror
• you love to swing on the swings at the park
• you love to be swung around, or thrown up high in the air by daddy (and he really loves to do it)
• there seems to be a special place in your heart for both of your grandpas because you cry whenever it's time to leave their arms, or even sometimes when they leave the room
• you love it when we "tickle" your legs and face
• you HATE to have your fingernails and toenails clipped, but they are considered weapons of mass destruction when they get too long.  victims have been daddy's gums and ears, both of our noses, and various other body parts.
• you enjoy a good game of peek-a-boo
• you play "catch" with us (grandpa porter first taught you to do this with a tiny stuffed animal)
• you are fascinated by any kind of tag
• we really can't wait for you to learn to blow your nose because you hate when we try to get those boogies
• you have two smiles: 1) a great big one that melts the hearts of all who see it.  it's incredibly contagious. 2) the nervous smile that you give to strangers or people you're unsure about.  very cute, and also funny!
• you get as much satisfaction out of a toy made out of a pill bottle as you do from your most expensive toy
• you don't generally like to get into your car seat, but you love to sit next to the stuffed dog that has now become a permanent fixture in the back seat of our car
• you don't seem to like people in costumes (e.g. chuck e. cheese and santa)
• your mom and dad are the luckiest parents in the world, and they love you more than any parents have ever loved their son.

falling, falling, fall

we had a most eventful autumn season, and in my mind it was one for the history books.

we made an exceptional effort to show my ute pride the weekend of the holy war between the university of utah and bypoo.  and when i say "we," i mean that richard helped me to vandalize the bowman's property in spirit of the game at hand.  spencer is quite possibly the biggest cougar fan i've ever met, and before i knew what was happening he'd convinced richard to cheer for the y.  i wasn't pleased when i found out, but i then convinced richard into helping me take this rivalry to the next level.  something we all learned in this experience is that richard makes a great double agent, and is also easily persuaded to do things for/to people he cares about.  richard took care of the driveway...

and i took care of the walkway.  and also wore head-to-toe crimson to support the winning team.  sara made a great spread of tasty cougar-blue treats to eat while we watched the game, and even though i left pretty early to put marty to bed, it was a really fun night!

we had a special visit from our bff's, sam and melissa (and jenna!) bates, for a quick overnighter one weekend when they came up for a wedding reception.  it was so fun to stay up late talking and laughing, and then to have richard make breakfast for everyone the next morning.

it's always fun hanging out with these guys, and it's fun to move through the same stages of life with them, too.  we met in the married student ward (that i will never stop mourning the loss of) and had lots of fun serving on the activities committee together and going on double dates when either of us could find a good deal on sushi.  we loved visiting them in hawaii, and now we're so glad they're back on the mainland, in a place (st. george) where we'll get to see them at least a couple of times each year!  little jenna is the most darling little girl, and i feel blessed to have all three of the bates in our lives!

one weekend in october, i went to the general relief society broadcast in salt lake with my mom, and it happened to fall on the night that richard and his friends from work do their monthly "fight night."  so marty got to be one of the big guys and went to fight night with daddy.  he mostly hung out eating snacks and playing with his toys...

but he also made the rounds and hung with most of the guys man-to-man.  it looks like he even decided to take his shirt off to show them his muscles.  he can hang with the best of 'em.

we'd been wanting to take marty to the zoo for a long time, but didn't know if he was too little to be interested at all.  when he had a day off, we decided just to go for it, and we weren't sorry even a little bit!

he may not be able to speak english, but he does speak his own little language.  part of that language are the faces that he makes.  his expressions are priceless.  and this was a day FULL of really fun faces and sounds from our boy.  i know that we had way more fun watching him watching the animals than we did seeing the animals ourselves.  

even though it was a really cold day, it was one of the best family outings we've had so far.

another outing i'd put on that list (if there was one) is our trip to black island farms in syracuse.  i bought a groupon for the hayride and corn maze, and we cashed it in on my birthday weekend.  unlike the day we went to the zoo, this day we had perfect jacket weather.  my favorite kind of autumn day.

there was a little animal farm that was a riot.  tina was our favorite.

and richard took marty down a few slides.  we couldn't tell if he cared one way or another about the experience because his face was completely expressionless on the trip down, but he always smiled once they were walking away.

after walking around to see the animals and other kids' activities they had, we wrangled someone to take a family photo.  classic.  marty looks miserable, sad face, pouty lips and all.  we really were having a great time!

the last thing we did before we headed home (because the corn maze sounded fun at the beginning, but it was getting close to nap time, and we were all kinda tired) was take a hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

where we got to pick our very own pumpkins.  it felt very festive and seasonal, and i loved every minute!

that night, after we got the boy to sleep, richard gave me some beautiful flowers for my birthday (which was the next morning).  we had a pizza for dinner, and watched some netflix.  a nice, relaxing at-home date.

and he also had our friends, the bowmans, show up to surprise me with a cake.

the next morning, not wanting to wake up quite yet, i brought marty boy back to bed with me after feeding him, and he kindly fell right back to sleep and snuggled with me for a little while longer.  the PERFECT way to start my 28th year of life.

there was another federal employee furlough (lucky, us!), so on one of the days that richard wasn't allowed to go in to work, he came with us to the tree house museum.  it was fun to let him see one of the things that we do every week, and watch him experience those fun things with our boy.

this fall was also a season of change.  after a year (or more) of planning and preparing to move to l.a. for college, my little chelsa chow finally did it.  in october, she packed it up and moved it out to hollywood to be a big kid.  marty and i went over the morning she left and said our goodbyes.  we both miss her a lot, but we love facetiming with her, and we're pretty stoked to see her over the christmas break.  i'm so proud of this girl for following her dreams.

so, yes, there were a lot of big things that happened during my favorite season of the year.  but there were also some little things that felt like big moments, too.  like when our friends, the lakey's, gave us this humongous banana squash.  it was bigger than marty, and we had fun playing with it before we ate it (almost every meal for a week!).

sarah and shae came up to visit.  they brought their dog-kids, and marty loved it.  i loved it, too.

richard gave marty his very first bubble bath.  it was a big, big hit!

my dad helped richard replace our front and side doors.  i'm pretty lucky to have such handy men in my life.

while they worked away, we played in the back of grandpa's truck.

we had a picnic dinner, just as it was getting dark, one night at beus park.  i'd taken marty there for lunch that day, and i knew richard would love it, so we picked up some food and hurried back before it got too cold.  we had fun stuffing our faces and horsing around.

halloween is one of the reasons that autumn is my favorite season.  it's the funnest holiday, and this year i'd say it was the best ever.  i was really excited to plan a family costume, and i think that it turned out pretty great.  richard and i were pirates, and marty was our parrot.  we dressed up for our ward party, and we ended up winning best family costume.  marty also won "best baby."  i'm sure they meant "best baby costume," but the award just said "best baby."  i whole-heartedly agree.

last year for my birthday i made my whole family do the zombie crawl on 25th street in ogden.  this year, with plenty of notice, more than one of them told me that they would not be participating in it again this year, just in case i was getting any crazy ideas.  so instead, i asked them to take me to dinner on 25th street where we could watch the fun-loving freaks who did do the crawling.  i chose roosters.  marty tasted his first french fry, and we all had a great time.

we finished up with dinner just in time to be a small part of the festivities.

i normally don't love carving pumpkins, but i was looking forward to it this year, just to see marty's reaction to the experience.   this is how it went down:

he started out as interested...

thought about what was actually happening...

and decided he hated it.

he may look more like richard, but it's moments like these when it is obvious that he is my son, too.

i carved marty's baby pumpkin (because it was all i could force myself to do), and richard did the big one.  he also toasted the seeds, and i think that this was his most successful batch yet.

we ended the halloween season by attending our stake's trunk-or-treat.  earlier that day, we dressed up and went in to richard's office to trick-or-treat, and show off our cute little parrot.  by the time this even rolled around, however, marty had had quite enough of his parrot costume, so we just bundled up and headed out.  jeremy and samantha met us there, and richard carried marty around to collect his/our candy.

i can't remember an autumn that i haven't loved, but i have to say that this was my favorite by far.  they say "it's different when it's you," for a lot of different things.  i'm mostly referring to it when they say it about having kids.  everything is more fun when we're experiencing it with marty boy.  i love halloween, but i love it more with him as our parrot.  i love my birthday, but i love it more with him eating french fries next to me.  i love hayrides and pumpkin patches, but i love them more with both of my boys by my side.  i love life, and i love it like i do because those boys are mine.