Word of the Day: Icicle

I've been campaigning hard for Will to say his first word, repeating car and book and block and Lola and Mama and Papa to no avail. Yesterday, with some inspiration from our wonderful winter weather, I decided to make icicle the word of the day. There are some pretty impressive specimens that we have been observing from the breakfast nook, and I knew there had to be some more around the house. I briefly thought about bundling us up to go for a short walk around the yard, but then I checked the temperature on my phone (15 degrees) and decided just to peer through each window on the main floor to see what gems might await us. As you can see, we were not disappointed. Icicles on the gutters and icicles on the shrubs and icicles on the trees and icicles many places that I could not get pictures of without turning into one myself. After about ten minutes, the word icicle had pretty much lost all it's meaning, but I never got tired of looking at them, and Will never got tired of banging on the windows. So...even though he didn't repeat the word, I feel like it was a successful walkabout.

Also, I've been videoing Will completing various feats of strength (a clean and jerk of his block bucket; crawl-sprinting), and I feel like that footage combined with his first word being icicle would make for a great P&G Olympic commercial in about 20 years. Maybe today's word of the day will be halfpipe.

Happy Birthday Jam!

Happy Birthday to the woman who taught me how to be a Christian, a friend, a teacher, and a mom through her amazing example every day! I love you, MoM!

Also, from the Mister:

We Like To Party

Yesterday, we threw a "Fifty Is Fine When You Look Twenty-Nine!" birthday party for my beautiful mom, whose big 5-0 just happens to be tomorrow. After cleaning up all the food and doing the dishes and putting Will to bed, I decided that instead of taking down the decorations from the party, I would address the invitations for our next party, Will's first birthday. When I woke up in the morning and saw the partially deflated balloons in our living room, I knew I had made the right decision. All day, Will, Lola, and I have been enjoying the balloons and all the extra golden light that they and the other decorations have been casting about our abode.

I'm really excited for Will's party. I've been perusing my two favorite party blogs, Oh Happy Day and You Are My Fave, for a little inspiration. Pinterest is always a nice source, but I have found many easy, fun, cheap, and completely doable DIY ideas (like this and this) on both of these sites. They also have great ideas for themes like a Welcome to the World baby shower and random reasons to throw a party like Kite Flying Day. So check them out if you need some party inspiration!

Also, if your baby has a gigantic head like Will, you might be interested in the pullover he is wearing.  The head opening is quite large, which has been really nice when getting him dressed. The weight of the shirt is quite lovely too, lighter than a sweatshirt but heavier than a t-shirt, a nice transition piece for spring. AND! It's on sale! Now, enjoy some before and after hair pics and have yourself a nice sunny day.

We're Sick

The eau de Vicks, green snot, find random tissues in the bed, amoxicillin in the fridge, cancel the play dates type sick. Not the teething sick. And the irony is, a few days after Will started showing symptoms, when I started feeling crappy and realized that we both were legitimately ill, I actually wished that it was teething... because then at least we would have something to show for it at the end. The good news is that Will seems to have made the turn for the better, and I am just a couple days behind him, which is doubly good because we are almost out of tissues.

Also, in an incredibly scary moment, the morning after Will refused to drink anything for about 30 hours, I finally got to experience what a mellow, snugly baby is like when Will was basically in a stupor all morning. I'll take my perpetual motion machine every day if it means I've got a healthy boy... even if I'm running after him in my own stupor of sickness. 

An Anguishing Way to Start the Week

What's a baby to do? Cry, apparently. What's a mama to do? Take advantage of the photo op, unhook the pacifier, tell him, "you're fine," see if he settles down, then console. I've said before, and I'll say it again. Parent of the Year! Let me know if you have any other parenting quandaries that need solving.

In the meantime, while we're on the subject of anguish, maybe you can explain to me why this song was used for this commercial...and for that matter is even popular at all. I may be sleep deprived from caring for a sick and teething ten-month-old, but I'm pretty sure that the commercial is about best (animal) buds who will go to the greatest lengths to be together and the song is about a vitriolic person singing about some other person who is incapable of loving and has really bad timing. Again, I am spending a majority of my time taking pictures of and caring for my sick and teething baby, so maybe I missed the point or some one out there has already covered this topic. If so, please let me know so I can stop bothering Jason about it.

Happy Monday! I hope you only need the light when your batteries are full, only miss the sun when the weekly forecast calls for mostly sunny skies, only know your lover when you first see him or her like that puppy and horse in the commercial...

Also, I hope you only have a baby whose teeth magically appear without cold/flu-like symptoms and sleeps through the night every night.