Monday, May 31, 2010

A Great Day to be a Mom

This day just has to be written about! I think that a lot, but then I don't. As I'm heading off to bed I've decided the 10 minutes (which has now turned out to be about 40) to jot the day down now are better than getting that extra sleep, and probably never getting around to summing up my day.

Today was a great day to be a mom! In all the days that something frustrating, exhausting, terrible, overwhelming, you name it happens, it's the days like today that make them all worth while. Bergen and I got up this morning and started our day with Egg Pampakes (that's pancakes). While we were eating, a dog started barking outside. Bergen paused, looked out a window, started patting his chest (his version of signing for dog) and looked back at me. Yes! You're right little one, that is a dog! And I guess you have been paying attention to me as I've patted my leg every time we've heard or seen a dog over the last week. He has repeated me before, but this was the first time bring it up on his own. Mommy Reward: 1 big one - he is learning from me!

We headed to the pool where we splashed and played. After an hour or so Bergen was content to snuggle up on my lap while we drank water and ate some Teddy Grahams before heading home. Mommy Reward: I love it when he just sits with me!

He was so worn out he fell asleep on the way home. As I pulled him out of the car he opened his eyes, wrapped his arms around me, closed his eyes and continued sleeping until I put him down. I didn't want him to take a nap in his wet swim clothes, so while trying to change him he woke up...and off he went to play :) So we got changed, ate lunch, read stories, and then both took a nap. Mommy Reward: I just love when he goes down for a nap unprotested!

After naps Bergen played with toys, explored the house a bit, and I started dinner. Three minutes before dinner was to be done, I put frozen strawberries in the blender to make us a smoothie. By this point Bergen was starving and just needed to be held to avoid any further meltdown (I'm thinking good thing it's almost ready). I push the start button and the frozen strawberries hit the lid like rocks, flinging the lid off, and spewing chards of strawberry all over us and half the kitchen! Bergen is scared and immediately starts an intense cry, and in all the chaos I try everything but hit the stop button. Why it takes so long to do that I have no idea! So can we say big mess to clean up! I sweep and wipe up the floor, all while still holding Bergen, leave the rest and finish getting dinner on the table. I know Bergen is oh so hungry, but he saw the smoothie being poured into cups and he wanted that! Forget the rest of dinner. No joke, he finished off his sippy cup of strawberry smoothie with only taking the cup out of his mouth twice! And I think that is just because his arms got tired of holding it up, and it was only out for maybe 2 seconds. I couldn't entice him to drop the cup for any other part of dinner until he had finished it off. After dinner I cleaned up the strawberry mess from the counter, underneath the cupboard, the stovetop, the back splash, the side of the refrigerator, and the top of the refrigerator. All this time Bergen just stayed at my feet playing with things he had pulled out of the cupboards. Mommy Reward: how nice he just wants to be near me :)

I decided the dishes could wait, they have been started and stopped twice already today, what's a third time. I got the sidewalk chalk and we went to the back yard to play. Bergen made a few marks with the chalk and I drew a bouquet of flowers among other doodles. Bergen crawled around keeping at least one stick of chalk in his hands at all times. We moved over to the slide and he worked on his climbing. He's now figured out how to climb up the 2 stairs and slide down the slide on him tummy, then he climbs back up the slide, and slides back down again on his tummy (still holding his chalk). We also played some peek-a-doo on the slide. His little laugh is so contagious! When Bergen got tired of this he crawled on his hands and feet (bum high in the air) to the trampoline. We were already covered in chalk so I pick him up and we got on the dirty trampoline. He loves crawling circles around the tramp. Surprisingly he knows there is an edge and stays away from it. I pretend to chase after him, or lightly bounce us around. Here again is his contagious laugh! Mommy Reward: When he's having so much fun how could it be anything but pure fun for me?

We spent so long out there it was then time to get ready for bed. I put him in the tub and wash off the day's activities...the smell of sunscreen, black hands, knees, and feet, and a layer of chalk dust. We quickly finished getting him ready for bed, read stories, and looked at an animal book. When I told him it was time for prayer, he lets go of his cup and puts his hands together to pray. Then he snuggles up on my shoulder and I hum him a song before laying him in bed. He gives me a kiss and I give him a kiss. I tell him mommy and daddy love him and lay him down. He snuggles up to his blankets and quietly falls asleep. Mommy Reward: do I even need to say?

See what I mean? Like two peas in a pod all day long! What a great day! I didn't really get anything significant done, but today I don't even care. I got to spend lots of happy time with my baby. Except he's quickly moving from being my baby to being my little boy. Baby, little boy, big boy, I'm just glad he's mine!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

A New Attitude

I first would like to announce that this blog now has 100 posts! And is the longest running, most consistent (even with my gaps here and there) form of journaling I've even had. I think I can give myself a little pat on the back for that - pat, pat. And I'll give you readers a pat as well for continuing to read and making me feel like I can't leave you hanging when it comes to the doings of our life - pat, pat! Let's hope for 100 more.

Ok so Bergen has a new attitude. And by that I mean he has a new sense of "I can do it!" Maybe it's the short haircut, maybe it's being 1. Whatever it is, it's crackin' me up!

There are some things I just simply have a hard time capturing on video...you'll see why later. Here's a picture I managed to get with my phone (sorry for the poor quality) of Bergen's big boy haircut.


He's doing much better at taking steps, but only when he wants to. Sometimes I can coax him into it, but he does his best when he's decided he wants to practice. He will stand up next to something, make sure we're watching, let go and get his balance, and then go for it! He ALWAYS dives for us when he gets close. This will happen several times in a row. When he gets tired he drops down and crawls off to play with something else. When he's done, he's done! There's no one more time despite our efforts :) So far, this is the best I can get and it's not even that great...it wasn't his idea so he wasn't that interested.

So I'm wondering if I should actually be more worried about his advanced climbing skills than the things he'll be into once he's running around. Wonder what I'm talking about? This is what I found him doing tonight!
(At least he can get down on his own, right?!?) And this is why I have a hard time capturing anything these days. As soon as he sees the camera, forget what he was doing, it's a bee line to it! :)

One last one I almost forgot. Just another day working in the craft room with me while I sew. He looked SO CUTE sitting up there coloring! Too bad it only lasted a few minutes.

Friday, May 28, 2010

My Not So Little One Year Old

I wanted a couple of cute pictures to capture Bergen being one (and his long baby hair). So I thought I would try a little mini photo shoot. Easy enough, right? We combed his hair, used the hairspray and went to the backyard. He had other ideas. The main one being HOLD ME! He did not want to be put down and spent most of the time crying his little eyes out. I finally called it quits when I began to wonder if the neighbors were wondering why that baby was crying for so long. I managed a few cute ones...but mostly crying ones.
I love love love these cheeks!
This is a squinty face I see a lot when we are outside.
He's so "in to" things. Always trying to figure stuff out!
This is another classic Bergen expression. I love it!

It's SO sad and the tear on his cheek just kills me, but I couldn't resist.

A Very Happy Face


Yesterday we went swimming. I was trying to get Bergen in his swimsuit to go, but he was just having fun.
He also followed Daddy outside to water the trees. I've never seen him crawl like this before, but I guess it works better this way on the grass :)
Bergen took a few minutes to warm up to the idea of the water, but it wasn't long before he was crawling around in the shallow end, playing with little fountains. He even let us sit him on the side of the big pool, and he would reach for us standing arms length away. He totally trusted us to catch him every time! He's quickly becoming a little fish. I think swim time this summer is going to be lots of fun!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Coloring

For Mothers' Day I thought it would be cute to have Bergen color on the cards for the Grandmas. He has a magnetic writing board he scribbles on, but I hadn't had him color before. While I did manage to get him to scribble a few lines, he was mostly interested in "a box of lots of little items." It was taking much longer than I anticipated to get visible markings on the card, only one of the four cards actually got a picture from Bergen on it. Better luck next year :)
He showed me lots of crayons as he was pulling them out of the box.
He also did what he does best...throw them!
I think he's got a pretty good arm!
We'll have to keep working on the actual coloring part of using crayons.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Happy Birthday to my Bergen!

As my sister put it so well, I've got to chisel away at the things I have to catch up on. In the meantime I better not get further behind...

happy birthday to my bergen!
Tuesday he officially turned 1. Looking forward things can seem to drag on forever, but looking back it doesn't seem long at all. I will admit, some moments seemed longer than others, but overall it's been a lot of happy moments that just fly by. There are a lot of birthday pictures so brace yourself!

Grandma and Grandpa Linton came to visit over the weekend so we did birthday presents and a trial run on the birthday treat on Saturday. Bergen actually did very well at opening presents.

He got a book...
...a BIG doggie, (Now dad can't say Bergen needs a dog. He already has one!)...
...BIG doggie also makes a great wrestling partner.
He also got a bucket with digging tools...
...and a bright blue ball.
And since he's 1, he's advanced to a big boy car seat! Hooray!
Our trail run with dessert.
He chowed down on the brownie but didn't like how cold the ice cream made his hands. Although he's always been a fan of the ice cream we've spoon feed him :)
So Tuesday was his actual birthday. I was crazy and made a crazy cake (another post is coming dedicated just to the cake). Since we had a big cake, we had a few friends over to share it with. I think we came to the conclusion that after a while Bergen was really overwhelmed with all the attention from the kids around the table. He cried a lot :(
But got happier with the taste of yummy blue frosting.
"Do I really get this whole thing to myself?"
"OK, if you say so!"

The 6 kids started going crazy laughing at Bergen. And the messier he got, the louder they became. He had fun with it for a while...
...but once he figured out no one wanted him to touch them, I think his feelings got really hurt and then he just wanted mommy or daddy. Doesn't this just break your heart? It did mine!
And he didn't want us to let go, even to rinse him off in the tub.
Having a birthday can be rough!
Despite it all, I think it was a great little birthday for Bergen. He's had a lot of fun playing with his new things and getting to spend special time with his family.