First!

Yes, we are blessed with two boys born in December.  So we get to have two birthday parties (and Christmas) all in one month.  Fortunately, Edward's party was pretty low key. We just baked some banana muffins and let him open like 4 presents. And even that was a lot, he would have been fine with just one. We had to pull presents away from him to get him to even consider opening the next one.

This was Edward's first birthday, so I thought it would be an appropriate time to talk about the other first things he's been doing lately.

I'm actually going back a ways on this one but Mia has agreed that Edward's first word was "Da" when referencing his dad. He still gets so excited when he sees me coming home from work and just chants "Da Da Da Da Da" It's a great feeling.

Another first is taking his first tentative steps. He will occasionally, when he forgets, let go of whatever is helping him stand and take a step over to something else. Or he'll stand for a second, then realize he's not holding on and sit down. We're getting there. We want him to walk but at the same time we don't really mind waiting for it.

First wave was recently. He did it in imitation first (naturally) but now he'll wave when he knows you are coming or leaving. He gets excited about waving.

Beyond just his first word, he's know really doing his first attempts at talking. He can say 'Ma' and signs 'All done.' And, after getting a lion in one birthday present started saying 'Rar' back to Mia when she would roar for the lion.  That is very cute and we are going to get some video of it.

He is also trying to feed himself. With a spoon. I was giving him rice cereal this morning and after he was done taking it from me, if I got some on the spoon and put it in his hand, he'd move it into his mouth. Then he'd try to scoop some more, often with the handle side.

We have a very active, very smart, very fun 1-year old boy.  We love him.

Birthday Party

Ethan had a birthday party yesterday. It's his first real one in four years. In the past, we've done a low-key approach, mostly just the family and maybe some neighbors. But never really did any decorations, or themes, or large groups of friends.

But, now that he's old enough and been going to parties for his friends so we decided to host one as well.  It went surprisingly well, everyone played nicely, no one had any meltdowns.  We had a superhero theme and made red felt capes for everyone with blue ribbons to tie them on.  We had an obstacle course, did some races, decorated some train cakes, and opened presents.

Ethan commented that he wanted to play with his friends presents all week. So I'd say the party was a success.

Here's a video of one of the superhero races the boys did.

Seriously?

Ok, seriously? Seriously?

(If you can't tell, yes that is snow in Austin.)

Thanksgiving Update

I've been quiet this week on my blog because Mia and the boys have been out of town.  There hasn't really been much for me to say unless you want to hear about how boring the house is without any kids.

But, fortunately, the monotony was relieved yesterday when my Dad and I went down to have Thanksgiving with family in San Antonio.  It was very nice of them to invite us down, especially since we didn't have to bring anything!  (But we did bring some chips and dip to munch on during football.)

We have a very nice meal, delicious turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and green bean casserole and pie (lots of pie).  It was also nice to get to see my grandparents (maternal).  

I have a lot to be grateful for this year. 

My amazing family.

A safe move to Texas.

Finding a job now that we are here.

A house that is big enough to fit us all.

A yard behind the house.

A mild winter.

The list could go on and on.  

Audio: Dropping off the family at the airport

Mobile post sent by jljohansen using Utterli.  Replies.  mp3

Sleep-Over

I'm on my way to a sleep-over. It's with Ethan.

He's been asking me to sleep in his room for the last few nights, mostly because he doesn't want me to leave after the bedtime routine (a stall tactic). But, he's also been coming into our room early in the morning and lying down on the floor next to our bed.

So, I agreed to have a sleep over with him. He is on his air mattress (his typical bed when he's sleeping at someone's house) and I'm going to be on my air mattress.  Ethan said that when I came in, he wanted to hold my hand the whole night.

I'm really looking forward to this.

Ethan writing his name

3EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Commentary on the process included:

"Where is that silly H"

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Fro-Go

I have had a few observations from the family on my goatee recently.

Mia told me that my goatee is "like a fro-goatee" because it's getting a little bushy and needs to be trimmed.  I've dubbed it a 'fro-go'.

Then, today she pointed out that "With your goatee like that, you notice your face." I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or what. So I asked for some clarification. It got complicated and went something like this:

Mia: "I don't know, you just don't notice your face when it's shorter."

John: "What? Like you don't see me at all, or my face is just too hideous to look at directly?"

Mia: "No! It's just that... the goatee doesn't seem out of place"

Which was actually the heart of it. She's gotten used to the goatee that it's not a separate feature of my face. But when it gets long, then it's like a chunk of hair stuck to the bottom of my face and you do notice it.

Following that conversation Ethan said: "You have a hairstyle on your chin Daddy."

My family is hilarious.

Isolated

We've done it. We have joined the time-shifting revolution. But... not with TiVO.

Nope, we did something even more drastic. We un-hooked our television set from the cable in the wall. It's now in our front-room where there are no wires to give it content-rich nourishment.  Now, unfortunately, the arrangement of our furniture hasn't altered our lives in any dramatic fashion. Mia and I are still both sitting on the couches with our laptops doing some blogging, uploading pictures, and watching TV.

Wait... what? This is where we come back around to time-shifting. We haven't completely given up on TV shows. Now we just watch them on Hulu.com.  In fact, we'll often be watching different shows while sitting in the same room.  We try not to turn up the volume in an audio version of mutually-assured destruction (though sometimes I'm tempted).  

Oddly, when I'm watching shows on my laptop, I feel more able to get other things done. I put the player window down in one corner and keep my other apps or sites open around it. Of course, it would be even better if I tore myself away from a screen of any variety and started going to the gym.

I wonder if there's a wire for that.

Bite-sized Love

Mia loves me. She went shopping yesterday and picked up a bunch of snacks for me to take to work. I've not been eating so well, so having these makes me feel happy.

It's the little things in life that keep us going.