Bike Rider Juliet

At some point in the last month, Juliet has fallen in love with riding a bike. The problem is that she didn't own a bike. Someone had given Aidric a small (maybe 10"?) bike without training wheels and that's what he learned to ride on. After mastering no training wheels on that, he has since switched back to his own bike. So, Chris moved the training wheels over to the small bike for Juliet. This bike was a hand me down hand me down. It was in bad shape...a half of one pedal was missing and the training wheels weren't stable on it. We started talking about getting Juliet a bike for her birthday and then one of the wheels on the hand me down bike actually fell off mid-ride. (happened to be mid-ride when I was out with Aidric and Cormac And it was time to move up the birthday gift.

I talked to my mom about it and she said she and my dad wanted to get her the bike for her birthday. They don't get to be here to see the kids open presents on their birthdays anyway, so we thought it would be fun to facetime with them and then have them "be there" when she first saw the bike. It was so fun- they (along with my niece Ella) even sang her happy birthday first!

We go for walks/bike rides pretty on a daily basis and she's thrilled now to be riding her own bike...she has 3 lalaloopsy dolls and she very fairly switches them out each day so everyone gets a turn to ride :)

The morning she got the bike, we took the kids down to the beach for a walk/ride on the strand.

 I took these just to document her first bike :)

This one cracks me up...she still loves snails :) 

Mac | 1 year | Take Two

So, the day after our failed attempt, Juliet, Mac and I headed back out to try again. I needed at least ONE wall worthy shot.

And this is what I now have hanging on my living room:

A few more keepers. 

My little ham 

Finally doing what he wanted to do the whole time- digging in the dirt :) 

Silliness

Mac's One Year Photos!

From his very first photo shoot at 6 days old, this child has not made taking his picture easy on me! I had such big plans for his one year shoot. Knowing we had a family session with an amazing photographer planned for the following month, I figured I'd handle the one year on my own. Oh, this boy had other plans.

Sit in the rocking chair? Nope. I think I'll practice my surfing stance.

Oh, a picture with this pretty bouquet of balloons? Waaaaay too windy for a bouquet of balloons. There were tears (from our other children) when the whole bunch got away from us.

Look at the camera while I sit in this cute green rocking chair? No thank you. Not even once.

Oooh, sticks! Way more interesting than mommy's camera! 

SUCH a stinker!!! He really is lucky he's so cute :)

Juliet's First Day at RUMP

Juliet's first day of preschool at RUMP. She went to a different preschool last year, and I had a hard time deciding where she should go this year. Aidric went to RUMP for two years and I love that it is a coop. It is so nice to be part of their first school experiences. On the other hand, she loved her first school and loved her friends there. Luckily, I knew no matter which one we chose, she would be fine. She has such an easy time making friends and she's pretty easy going about change. Three months into the school year, she is loving it!

la, la, la, la....la, la, la, la....Cormac's One!!!

Can.not.believe.it. A year????? Quite possibly, this was the fastest year of my life. I remember sooo well everything about September 8, 2011...it just doesn't feel like a whole year ago. This little boy has brought so much joy into our family. His personality is already so strong..it's easy to see he'll be the class clown. He looooves to make people laugh. He'll do certain things just to get a smile or laugh and then once he sees he's done it, he'll repeat over and over again, laughing right along with you.

He's super sweet and cuddly, but has a definite ornery and defiant side as well. He still hates having his diaper changed, so we battle multiple times daily on that. Have I mentioned his first word was No?? He is the most adventurous of his siblings at one year. Aidric wasn't a true walker until after 13 months and Juliet was content to scooch until around 17 months. Cormac took steps just after 11 months and is now what I would call a walker. He can make it all the way across the room and chooses walking over crawling most of the time.

He loves to climb stairs and furniture. He loves to explore in general. He does not like recent efforts in babyproofing that have happened around here :)

He loves Aidric and Juliet and the feeling is mutual. Juliet tends to sit and play with him...whatever he is playing. They are very sweet together and she shows a patience with him that she has never exhibited for anything else. If I'm combing her hair, she shrieks at me for EVERY tiny pull. Cormac, however, can grab a fistful and yank her head back and all she says is, "no, no Cormac..ouchie!"

Aidric and Cormac already roughhouse like brothers. Aidric's favorite game to play with him is "mac attack". Aidric puts something Cormac will want down on the floor and then he lays on the floor between Cormac and said item. Cormac crawls right over Aidric and then Aidric moves as fast as he can to remain in Cormac's way. Cormac has officially moved in with Aidric now. That's right people...he no longer sleeps in our closet :) He's been in his crib for about a month now. For the most part it's working out OK. There have been a few nights Aidric has had to come sleep in our bed b/c Mac was keeping him up. 

He is still a pretty big mommy's boy and I'm not complaining. He's generally happy with whoever has him unless he sees me. At his birthday party, if someone was holding him and I needed to keep my hands free for a little longer, I had to avoid a direct route past him. If I walked by, even in a 3 foot radius, he'd stretch out of their arms to try to grab me. I'm not going to lie, it is nice being so loved.  (Chris would like me to add here that Cormac gets SUPER excited to see Chris from across the room. Seriously, he does. His little face lights up and he shrieks in excitement!)

He's a big fan of nursing and I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to wean him. I'm not in a hurry to be done tomorrow, but I am looking to slow down and at least see an end in sight. I've just recently got him down to 3 times a day and am working hard to drop the afternoon feeding, but he is not in agreement on that. We continue to negotiate that, depending daily on how badly I want him to take that afternoon nap :)

I'll post birthday party pictures soon. (promise!) For now, his final monthly shot! I need to get these all posted next to each other soon!

Favorites:
Food: meat - loves chicken, meatballs, even veggie burgers/veggie chicken nuggets, etc.


Toy: He's a big fan of a few hand-me-down toys we've gotten out for him, namely those with balls to either hammer down or just place in the chute. At "Under the Sea" (an indoor playplace) last week, he loved playing in the Step 2 Push Buggy cars, so he got one of those for his birthday!


Book: I hate to admit that he's not a book lover.....yet. This is one of the things I feel guilty for b/c he's a 3rd child...we just haven't gotten into the habit of reading to him the way we did with the other two! I'm hoping that changes and we can ignite the love of reading soon. Of all the books he has, he seems to like "HUG" the best. Interesting that it is the book with the least amount of words :)

Cormac's First Birthday Party

Finally! At least I posted pics of him ON his birthday...now, the pics from his party. We had a great day with family and friends. Served a taco bar with homemade salsa and guac (thanks Sarah and Mary, respectively). I made his cake and rather than do an Elmo shaped cake, I made a two layer round cake and decorated it with different colored polka dots to match his invitation. Sarah dipped some oreos in chocolate and attached these cute elmo tags I had found free on-line! Chris did a balloon run that morning and that pretty much sums up the party prep!

Kids enjoyed a painting activity and running around like hooligans. Adults enjoyed adult beverages and food. Cormac enjoyed being in the spotlight and all of his fun new toys.