One Year Old!

Indigo turned one last week. She is such a big girl! She started walking just a few days before her birthday. Today we bought her first pair of shoes. I didn't feel weepy about her turning one, but the shoes have me tearing up a bit. Here are some photos of Ms. Personality. Dress by Grammy.

Unfortunately, I have no photos from her birthday party, as I was wielding the cake. Granna will have to fill in the photo documentation. I made a kitty-cake from an Applesauce Cake recipe, but had a near-disaster with the icing. I was rescued by Jeff who begged new icing bags from the Alberston's bakery. As I said, photos of the Thoroughly Iced Kitty Cake will be here soon!

Almost One and summer stuff

So many things are happening for my kids this summer, and there is never time to blog about it. I'm getting lots of photos (thank you iPhone) and frequently posting to facebook, so the fam can stay up to speed. Although we haven't had much summer weather, we are still out and having fun whenever possible. So what if we have to wear long sleeves to the beach, less sunscreen used, and less chance of burning our alabaster skin- I say!

Indigo-she will turn one this month. The past year has been a whirlwind!

1. Almost walking. Will turn anything into her personal mode of transportation. Easel, trash cans, etc.

2. Has the cutest bent pointer finger thingy. Will try to photograph again tomorrow. Her finger is straight, the bend is at the wrist. She points at EVERYTHING!

3. Her loves: Birds, cats, babies, dolls, Nordy (a stuffed shoe horn toy from Nordstrom), giving kisses.

4. She enjoys finding her reflection in things: the trash can, the dishwasher, the mirror. Such a smiley happy girl most of the time.

Ryan

1. Transitioning to the big potty for poops. This has taken a lot of work on my part. He is not a fan of the noise it makes hitting the bottom of the pot.

2. Playing soccer. We had a major meltdown at one of the practices. But he came to enjoy his time running and playing with some new kids.

3. Creative play is starting to get interesting. He is making up stories about things, and is great at rhyming and making up songs. Gets that one from me. :)

Indigo's Affections

At 10 months, Indigo has developed a myriad of kissing techniques.

We have:

1) The nose kiss. She basically gives a raspberry using her nose. Sometimes there is an inhale with the nostrils attached to your cheek, and almost always, there is an exhale. With her current cold, I am enjoying this display of affection less and less. And my throat is starting to hurt. Darn petri dish children!

2) The real deal: This kiss is so sweet, she is trying to pucker her lips. So there is a suction sound as she makes an O shape with her mouth and touches it to my cheek.

3) The Lick: This kiss was an early form for her, and is becoming more rare as she gains skills. I'm starting to miss it. (weird I know)

4) The Head Butt. Just today I noticed her attempting to bonk people and things with her head. She mostly uses her forehead, but there was a reverse throwing-herself-backwards maneuver today that was a backwards head butt for sure.

Other milestone updates: She has FINALLY managed to say Mama. It's good to hear it. :) She is trying to walk. Using laundry baskets and toys for support, she is beginning the cruising stage. She will walk with me for a few steps with hands held.

Today also marks Ryan's Half Birthday. His big news is that the #2 training is going VERY WELL. It has been more than a week since his last party foul. He will be rewarded soon with a date to the new Cars 2 movie. My dad made him a fabulous potty chart to keep track of it all. We filled in spot 9 of 15 today!

Ryan's Questions

Let the Big Questions begin!

Ryan: Mommy, where was Indi when I was in your tummy?

Me: In heaven.

R: Was Daddy with her?

Me: No.

R: Who was with her?

Me: Angels.

R: Oh.

10 second pause.

Ryan: How do babies grow in your tummy?

Me: When I eat food, then they can grow bigger.

R: Oh.

No, there aren't any babies in my tummy. But Ryan has been expecting his baby to come ever since I announced my pregnancy with Indigo. When I ask him now about it, I getting varying answers such as "in 5 weeks" or "in 3 days". His labor is imminent. :)

Other cuteness from my oldest: "Mommy, I want Indi to enjoy us." (he meant join)

Where Have I Been?

You may be wondering. Too busy to blog would be the obvious answer. The literal answer, Hawaii, Georgia, Tennessee, renovating my house, and hosting grandparents are the more exclusive responses. Here are photos of the beginning of demolition, and a portion of reconstruction. Soon, I will have completed project photos.

The project: kill the ugly pink tile, replace with beautiful vertical cut carbonized bamboo. We did some demo and hired out the construction part. The plastic sheeting a la Dexter, is to prevent major dust from infiltrating the entire house. It did not work. I returned from a 10 day Hawaiian vacation to a beautiful floor, but had to vacuum my couch before sitting on it. Oh, and clean a 1/4 inch layer of dust off of EVERYTHING. Good times.

FInding my Grace

Alone with the kids for 3 days, I feel like my world is crumbling. I've scheduled a house warming party for Saturday (yes, I'm insane) and am trying to prepare one room per day this week, with the big rush when Jeff gets back on the main traffic areas. I'm going to focus on the positive things since so much has gone wrong.

1. Ryan has had no potty accidents YET today (it's 2:34 PM)

2. The downstairs bathroom is completely sanitized and all that was brown is now sparkling white. (Don't ask about the S&*^storm that caused the cleaning).

3. Indigo is no longer constipated :)

As I determined in school, the entire world DOES revolve around poop!

Photos from my phone

Since joining the current tech age, I have been taking photos with my phone. Most of them make their way to Facebook, but my mom complained, so here are a few gems from my collection.

Today's Quote-Ryan Style

"Mommy, you got to get some more milk in your boobies 'cause it's almost all gone. You gotta use your milking machine to get some more milk in there." (referring to my breast pump, which also serves as a gas station for one indoor push car). As frustrating as this kid is for potty training, he sure is cute when developing his own ideas.

6 Month Old!

Indigo is just a sweetie. Her personality blossoms more everyday. The clip below shows her temper, but she has that sense of humor with it. I can't help but laugh at the raspberries when she gets really upset!

She is sporting one tooth and a swollen spot for #2 on the bottom middle already! I haven't been bitten...yet. She has several nicknames: Tiddle Widdle, Baby Bird and Baby Buh-lee (sp?) bestowed by her brother, and Milk Breath, from Mommy Dearest. She flaps her arms like wings when she gets excited, the more excited, the faster they flap.

She rolled over a couple of times for her Granna this week, she gets really mad when on her tummy-still.

Indi has started reaching for me when someone else is holding her. We will be dealing with separation anxiety soon. She squirms with excitement for Daddy too and kicks her little legs very fast.

The bald spot is disappearing from the back of her head, but I've also found that all of her long hair is centered like a faux hawk down the middle of her skull. It's long enough to get in her eyes, so barrettes are becoming more of a necessity than just a fashion statement.

She's up from Nap #2, time to wrap it up!

Almost 6 Months

With Ryan, I was somewhat diligent about monthly updates on his doings. Poor poor second child, here's what's up with Indigo. She will be 6 months on the 19th.

LIKES:

Spoons, preferably large and metal for mouth exploration

Crazy dancing by Mom results in instant laughter

Loves her big brother, will watch him do ANYTHING

Tags on blankets, clothing, whatever. She is the baby that those Taggie toys got their marketing idea on. It's weird b/c her brother HATES tags.

Jumping on the bed and pouncing on Ryan. See above about sibling love.

HATES:

Riding in the car in the dark while awake (I have a theory that all rear-facing children go through this--mom inspired invention in my mind to remedy..)

Tummy time. Little Miss Thing has rolled over all of 5 times, and went on to sitting up. She really prefers to stand, but must have an adult assist in this maneuver. Will she skip the crawling? Only time will tell...

Celebrity Impersonations by Indigo

Maggie J Simpson and Cindy Lou Who. I found the camera, cord, and batteries, so you WILL be seeing some of what the Pavey family has been up to since November very soon. However, a shower takes priority today.

Snowballing Home Projects

Every homeowner knows that the list of home improvement projects is never ending. Here at Chez Pavey, the moving in has gone VERY slowly, and the problems/malfunctions seem to be multiplying. A quick summary: Prior to move in, water heater flooded daylight basement/family room. Extreme La Nina storms pummel master suite and sunroom, causing under door flooding in both rooms. Cost to clean carpets: nearly $400. First refrigerator water feature malfunctions, Home Depot provides free replacement with upgraded fridge. Cost savings: $1000 for fancier fridge than I need. (Scored Black Friday Deal!) Drain failure under kitchen sink after draining dish water. Immediately fixed by handy husband. Cost: free. Rodent invasion through unsealed surfaces. Lousy cat does not do her job. Cost: 2 cans of spray foam and dirty husband to crawlspace, plus 2 mouse traps set for any stragglers-no captures or further evidence of rodentia.

Now for my current Everest. The smallest room in our house is a full bath in the daylight basement. It is the "guest" bath, but also the main potty stop for those using the family room/playspace. Therefore it is seeing a lot of traffic from one little boy who loves to get potty prizes. The toilet paper holder thingy broke (replacement cost:$1.98), however, this has started the first major renovation in our new home. We discovered that the toilet was running too much so we bought a new flapper for the flusher. This did not help, the flapper could not freely swing to close. So Jeff got more of the mechanism yesterday. As he was installing it, he discovered that one of the bolts that holds the tank to the toilet was leaking. Now the back is totally off of the toilet, enabling me to paint the wainscoting a lovely shade of white (called Lamb).

Since the toilet paper holder broke, we decided to should replace all hardware in that bathroom. The builders of this house had TERRIBLE taste and installed GOLD HARDWARE everywhere! Hello 1980 (but the house was built in 2003, hence the taste issue). All walls/ceilings in this house are either boring beige or tan. So what better place to bring in some character that the guest bath, right? So, I've been painting.

When done, this bathroom will have a fully functioning toilet, beautiful paint (dark green above white wainscoting) and SILVER fixtures! If you visit Chez Pavey, please take a moment to notice this handiwork. I feel like we are rebuilding that bathroom!

Our first guests (Jeff's parents) are scheduled to arrive Feb 13. So I need to get back to paint prep while my family is still sleeping!