Little Drunkard and The Nakey Nap

I would not say that Roscoe is "walking" yet, but I would not say that he isn't either.  He has taken steps here and there to get from table to couch to person, etc., but I would consider that more slow-trustful-falling than steps.  BUT.  I think tonight qualifies as his first few official steps.  He took two from Ray to me and then two back to Ray.  Of COURSE he decided to start now.  Because a cross-country flight, a first birthday, hanging out with his 6 cousins, 7 little friends and Christmas was not enough excitement for one week...  Heaven help us.

In other news, when Ray went to get him from his nap the other day he was naked from the waist down.  He had stripped off his socks, pants and diaper and thrown them around the room.  I have been wondering if he would try and take off his velcro diapers, but these had SNAPS.  We may need to channel Mitchel and Heather and start duct taping him into his diapers one of these days.

Oh, Birthday Tree, Oh, Birthday Tree

Thanks to Tom (who shares Roscoe's birthday) and Traci (who shared her tricks with us) and Frances (whose birthday is right after Christmas), we have (hopefully) enough arsenal to make Roscoe's birthday special and separate from Christmas.  No travelling on his birthday.  No "combined" gifts.  No Christmas wrapping paper on birthday gifts.  Check, check and check.  Even though he is only 1 and will not likely remember this birthday celebration, we are setting the standard now.  Last year Traci sent us a photo of Tom's "birthday tree" all decked out with presents underneath.  Roscoe's baby birthday tree may be small, but it is full of love and good intentions.

We celebrated early with his West Coast entourage at Goat Hill Pizza, which is filled with family memories.  Here is the invitation:

Roscoe first year has brought... a 3am arrival on Christmas Eve (8 days late) after a month of "false" labor, melt-your-heart gummy smiles, The Colic, up-the-back diaper explosions, endless sleepless nights, spit up perfectly aimed for Daddy's mouth, belly laughs, a scary fall from his swing, a home renovation and move, 6 teeth, a few hairs, countless bruises, 2 nannies driven out of the country, a trip to Colorado, 1 call to poison control, the right elbow/left toe speed crawl, tipsy attempts at walking, sharing food with the dogs, sharing dog bed with the dogs, daily attempts to escape through the doggy door, camping trips, Tahoe trips and a break-down or two on all sides.  Let's celebrate Roscoe's first blissfully chaotic first year!  

And did we ever celebrate!  We thought maybe a dozen people would come.  MAX.  Yeah...so Roscoe's 35 closest friends ended up taking over Goat Hill and showing him (and us) how much he is loved.  Ray got him a balloon (huge hit - who knew how many hours of fun he could squeeze out of that thing?) and party hats and kazoo things.  Oh, and there were only 4 kids including Roscoe, so this wasn't for them...

My little Mister:

Both of my Misters:

Roscoe at the head of one of our tables:

Eating his birthday Veggie Muffin (Aunt Karen's recipe) with banana-applesauce glaze:

I had another one of those moments where I realize this Mom thing is still uncharted territory.  It never even crossed my mind that people would bring gifts.  I've only been to adult parties for, like, 20 years so I am rusty on the kid party stuff.  Check out his birthday booty:

His favorite toy - the Wheely Bug we got him (I wish you could hear the chucklin'):

Still pushing around that balloon (attached to the dog food container...): 

Paparazzi Post

I bet Roscoe thinks he is the rich and famous the way I follow him around with the camera some days.  I just want to capture what it was really like, the little every day things and his expressions and interests.  This is what we do around here:

In dog bed.  Roscoe thought bubble, "OMG, this is SO not allowed, I can't believe how fun it is to disobey" *Mama watches his obvious joy with sheer dread*

Christmas shopping:

Aw!  I mean, seriously, can this be any sweeter?

Front patio adventures pulling weeds and putting them in the planter:

High chair lounging (with pretzel).  

We had to get him a new one because the one we picked up off the curb at our old house didn't have a seatbelt and well, yeah, that didn't work out.  Strapped in tight:

Dropped pretzel:

Sharing his spaghetti with Ikaika:

Ikaika waiting patiently for scraps, unaware that Roscoe has already shared some:

Spaghetti face:

Pure joy at the messiness of it all:

What he does when I turn my back for 2 minutes to wash dishes:

Snow Baby

I am a little behind, but here are some pics from when we went to Tahoe the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I especially love the last 4 where Roscoe is wistfully watching Ray and Lolo shovel the balcony.  You can see the absolute adoration he has for his Daddy.  

These Are a Few of Roo's Favorite Things...Lalalala, Lalalala, LAAAA...

Roscoe's personality comes out more every week and we are having fun getting to know him better.  Here are some of his latest and most favorite adventures:

Playing his instruments.  He particularly likes pounding, er, playing, the piano.  He also plays the ukulele, the Peruvian flute, the classic recorder and the "drums" (i.e. pounding on anything that makes a very loud noise).

Attempted escapes through the doggy door, putting toys in and out of the doggy door, putting newspapers and logs from the fireplace in and out of the doggy door... you can see this brings endless hours of entertainment.

And...me surprising him from the other side of the doggy door:

Pushing things around the house.  His high chair, his trucks, baskets, boxes, you get the idea.

Laughing at Lala's nutcracker collection.  Every Christmas Lala displays her nutcracker collection on the stairs.  She has to tie each one to the railing because Ikaika has knocked so many over and broken them throughout the years.  Roscoe hasn't shown much interest in actually playing with them, but he chuckles when he walks by and sometimes even points and laughs.

Bath/shower/pool time.  He loves splashing around so much that he will actually throw a baby tantrum if someone tries to bathe without him.  His loves of putting things in and out carries over into the bath, which poses a problem for me when he dumps his bath toys outside of the bath (including his bath cups full of water).

He is definitely a "shoe-man" (this must be genetic) because he loves playing with Ray's shoes.  He puts them inside the laundry basket and inside his box and inside his basket and swings them around and drags them all over the place.

Flushing the toilet.  Too bad he hasn't figured out how to use it before he flushes.

Hadleigh's Here!

I am a little slow to announce Laura and Jesse's newest addition, but little Hadleigh is here!  She arrived last Saturday, the 4th, and she is healthy and really quite cute...

See?

Congrats L & J and big sister Tessa!

Hi.

It's just me typing away with nothing in particular to say.  I haven't been writing as much because I don't know what to write about.  Not that there isn't anything to write about, just that I can't even sort all of the swirling thoughts in my mind, let alone on paper.

The top 3 things I could be writing about:

1.  The House.  It hasn't sold and I am pretty sure we are taking it off the market in a couple of weeks.  What now?  We either keep it on the market, rent it out or move back in.  None of those options is the clear winner here, so we'll just have to wait and see which direction we decide to go.

2.  Ray's Career.  As you know, Ray planned to take over his dad's company last June.  And then it was pushed till December/after we bought a new house (mortgage reasons).  So... now what?  We don't know.  He did just get another promotion at his current job, but it is still only a matter of time before he leaves.  Now?  In a few months?  In another year?  We don't know.

3.  My Career.  I am considering doing the "employee thing" again.  Being self-employed has great perks, but so does being an employee and I have a part-time opportunity that I think could work out fairly well.  But, it will change things and I am not sure it would be best for our family.

The bad news is that everything depends on everything else to a degree (not to mention the other details like the fact that we HAVE to find a new babysitter and we need to know where we will be living and how many days we will need her).  It makes it all kind of overwhelming and paralyzing.  Oh, plus you know that pesky busy time at work getting in the way.  And the whole holidays / Roscoe's first birthday / trip to Chicago business.

The good news is that everything depends on everything else.  How many times in your life can you really make a big change to make your life what you want it to be?  In a few months we could both be self-employed, working from our Sportsmobile van while we road trip the country!  THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!  Or we could just freeze up and let the chips fall where they may and hope we don't mind what happens in the end.  (This appears to be the default option in my experience).

So, nothing is really happening on the outside, but on the inside (and the Excel spreadsheets) the wheels they are-a turning...