Moving

Friends, I know I have essentially disappeared from writing on this blog. (Sorry mom :)) 

I am having a hard time keeping up with being a mom and wife and restoring furniture and managing the blog for that. So I am officially moving all family related to post to 551 East. Come by and see what we're up too! 

Love you all! 

Do you know what this means?!

It means no more backpacks by the front door!!!!!

And a lot of other good stuff. :)

P.S. The first guy I ever kissed was sitting in front of me at Jake's graduation. 

Kind of awkward but some how it felt like everything had come full circle. :)

Month 13

Dear Rhett,

You have turned into a handful. You are SO independent. SO head strong. SO stubborn sometimes. But it gives you so much personality. You are a busy little man. When you wake up you insist on me pulling your stuffed animals off your shelves and giving each one a snuggle and a kiss. We'll play in your room, read a little of every book and then we go knock on our bedroom door to go see dad. He's your favorite in the morning.

Since it's so ridiculously hot here we go play outside almost right when you wake up. You can go down the slide by yourself now and you love swings. Swimming is your absolute favorite. You love to jump in and play on the stairs. You dunk yourself like to drink the pool water.

We watch Blues Clues while we eat breakfast. We take showers and you take a nap. When you wake up we have to kiss all the stuffed animals again and we eat lunch. We discovered that you'll eat anything if it's on a fork. We went to P.F Changs last night and you inhaled fried rice. Inhaled it.

You don't walk anymore, you run. You say hi to everyone when we're out. You insist on pushing the cart and the grocery store and picking out your snacks. Although sometimes the decision between Nilla Waffers and Teddy Grahams is too hard for you. You LOVE shoes. You carry one around most of the day. You take them from our closest, from other kids and the park and from shoe stores at the mall.

You're favorite word is "No"...which drives us crazy. You run away naked and hate being dressed. You've learn to take your diaper off and you seem to have a stash of cotton balls somewhere because you randomly have handfulls of them.

You give us lots of kisses, you dance to every song, you share your food and sippy cup with everyone-even strangers.     

We love you little man so much. 

( And we apologize for apologize for all the timeouts lately. :))

Rhett's 1st Birthday

For Rhett's 1st birthday we chose the theme "Rhett's Favorite Things."

Because a birthday should be everything you love! 

So we had carmel apples.

Strawberries  

Dirt cups

(The fingers in the background are because Rhett loves to point)

Fig Newtons

(We go through a pack a week. Easy.)

We used toilet paper as decorations.

Rhett loves to unroll it. He gets a roll of his own every other week or so. 

And we brought a special guest.  

A dog!!  

He was a happy happy happy boy. :)

He didn't hesitate at all with the cake. 

But probably his favorite thing was banging on the shed doors. 

Sometimes I wonder why I planned so much. :)

Month 12

Dear Rhett,

You are one year old. 365 days ago you were born.

I've thought a lot about what I wanted to say in this letter. 

What would mean the most to you when you are older.

So your dad and I have a list of 52 reasons/memories of why we have grown to love you so much this year.
One for each week you've been our little man.

1. You refused to sleep in your crib until you were 3 months old. You only would sleep in your swing.

2. You will only eat strawberries whole and won't touch them if I cut them up.

3. We loved how you would coo in the car seat when we were driving around. 

4. You dance now. Love.

5. You have always had a thing for toothbrushes. Especially mine.  

6. We would prop your bottle up with blankets when we couldn't hold it for you.

7. And because of that you love to rub a blanket on your cheek.
8. You love to carry a pair of shoes around, one in each hand.
9. When you get excited you wave your arms like a little bird.

10. You love to stand in front of the air conditioning when it's blowing.
11. To get our attention in the morning you bang your bottle on your crib.
12. You can say "Hi dad!", "What's that?", dog and ball. Sometimes we can make out other words too.
13. You are entranced with Sesame Street.
14. You can get the giggles and you can't stop.
15. You love to be chased and chase us.

16. You used to love to hold our hands and toddle. Now you do it all by yourself.
17. You defiantly have an opinion.
19. In the shower you love to take the scrub brush and scrub the floor.
20. You always try to eat the dirt I sweep up in the kitchen. Yucky.
21. Your favorite little friend is Jo Barlow. We hope (fingers crossed) you guys get married one day. :)
22. You know where everyone's nose is. And you like to grab it.

23. When you see a dog you go "Oooooo! Ooooo! Ooooo!" and lunge for it.
24. You love swings and especially slides.
25. Home Depot is one of your favorite places.
26. You are usually pretty grumpy when you wake up from your afternoon nap.
27. You say the words "No" and "Don't" the most.
28. You LOVE to swim.
29. You recently discovered you are a boy. Good job.
30. When you were a little guy you would kick your legs so fast when you got excited.
31. You love to be naked.

32. And you have learned to take your diaper off.
33. You like to feed us your food and sometimes you pretend to hand us a piece and then you put it your own mouth and giggle.
34. You love to bring us your shoes to put on.
35. You love to doorknobs and light switches.
36. You know when you've done something your not supposed to because you look and then run.
37.  You are scared of squeaky toys.

38. Although you loved veggies in baby food form you won't touch them now.
39. You love the picture of the temple we have right outside your room.
40. You are always pointing at everything. Even when it's not politically correct.
41. You have managed to ruin 2 of my phones.
42. You will only poop a little in your diaper, wait to be changed, and then poop more.
43. You always try to eat out of the garbage.
45. You have a secret stash of cotton balls somewhere because you randomly have handfuls of them.
46. When you get so angry you arch your back with amazing flexibility.
47. All of your toys become cars.

48. You love empty milk cartoons.
49. No matter where I put my bras you seem to find them.
50. In public you'll wander off and never look back.
51. You have developed an ear splitting shriek for when you are super happy. 
52. You love us and we love love love love love you.

We are so so so so lucky to have you. 

We adore you, love you, are amazed by you and can't wait to see who you become.

Happy birthday Mr. Man!!!!

Owie

Door frame meet Rhett.

 Rhett meet door frame.

Holy goose egg right?!

On the move

 Rhett's been walking for over a month now.

Little stinker. 

He's so fast. 

I was getting shoes the other day and I looked up to find him pulling men's shoes off the rack. 

On the other side of the store. 

 When he want's to run (power walk) he sticks his arms out behind him.

Little penguin. 

And we finally found a pair of shoes that he will keep on. 

And Rhett LOVES to play chase. 

And be chased. :)

P.S. He spend most of the day half naked. 

Waking up from Sunday naps

 First we hear Rhett babbling. 

Then him banging his bottle on the side of his crib.

Soon to be followed by, "Mamamamamamamama!!"

And then we see this happy face!

Month 11

Dear soon-to-be-not-so-little man,

You are 11 months old. You are a walking machine. We call you the tin man because you are so stiff when you toddle around. Your knees don't bend. And it's adorable. We love when you you flap your arms as you wander and when we hear you babbling in different rooms of the house. You will just take off and not look back.

You love to take walks outside. You LOVE all things dog. When you see one, your little body goes ridged with excitement and you start bouncing and pointing and saying "dod, dod, dod!" We want to get you a dog as soon as we can because you love them so much. But for right now you have your stuffed animals. Which you also adore. I love when you squeeze them and bite their noses. I think you're trying to kiss them...in your own way.

On our daily walks you love to collect treasures. Sticks are your all time favorite but leaves and rocks also make the cut. You all so have a knack for finding any and all garbage littering our path. You're such a little squirle, gravitating toward any shiny wrapper.

You've started throwing tantrums. If we take something away or say no you go limp or stomp your foot and scream through your teeth. Love it. Especially when we're in public. Or better yet at church.

A few more little details. You fell in the tub in Florida and got a nasty gash above your eye. Poor little man. You hated the ocean at first, but loved it at the end. You must eat a whole strawberry at once and won't touch it if I cut one up. You love to look at pictures of your dad when he's at work and when he get's home you are attached to him. During the rest of the day you follow me around telling your stories. You think you're pretty funny because I hear you giggling to yourself when I'm not with you.

We love you more now than ever Rhett! And I'm SO excited for your first birthday...you're going to have so much fun.

Love, Mom and Dad