{Not} Living Vicariously

Project Life - Weeks 38 through 42

Catching up guys - I actually finished these pages a few weeks ago but didn't get around to taking pictures of them. Starting off with Halloween:

The weather was atrocious on Halloween. Rutherford County changed trick or treating to November 1st. However we went down to my parents' house that weekend so no costumed kids for us. We still had fun dressing up as the Harold family! Tadpole also figured out how to balance on his own...

The next week we went to Arrington Vineyards to celebrate my second cousin's birthday. The biggest thrill was we actually got some photos of the three of us together.

Tadpole is fascinated by all things whirly swirly in the wind and would have spent "hours" staring at this piece. Sorry about the glare below. Some days I just can't get the light right in my room.

Oh the joys of the tricycle. This was great fun! I got dizzy by the end of us going in circles...We also hit nine months old and stayed about the same in terms of height and weight. I keep wondering when he is going to break the 22 pound mark. (Just so you know, even today he still hasn't!)

We did some fun nine month photos - I love the crazy kid one below... And the one of him in the stock pot... And the Christmas shot...

Next came our cookie of the month photo. Why yes he got to nibble on it. He looks so big sitting there in his chair. He also got to play with the kid who lives across the street from his babysitter. I work with his mom.

First big boy breakfast! Boy did he enjoy that...

And then we had Thanksgiving. Oh that was so much fun...

Turns out he was allergic to his Christmas tree :-( so it had to go outside on the porch. But that is okay also as it still looks pretty out there and we will still plant it.

That would be November...and Tadpole is up from his nap so December will come later.

Created by Becky Higgins, "Project Life provides an ultra-simple solution that helps us get those pictures into albums without draining our time, energy, and wallets." Learn more about it here.

Project Life - Weeks 34 through 37

This would be *most* of October...

Week 34 and we did introduce meat to his diet, however it was smushed up baby food meat. Even now he struggles to eat real meat. Would that be due to a lack of teeth? He also sported some ginormous mosquito bites on his head. They sure did swell up! Doesn't matter, he is a happy baby anyway.

Puffs were introduced to his diet as well. He *loves* them even more than he *loves* feeding the dogs...

We went up to Kentucky during week 35 for the annual family Octoberfest reunion. We took advantage of being together to have photos taken in the family christening gown. We also went to Boyd's Orchard for some photos and fun. We do wish the other "littles" had made it up so we could have had some cousin playtime. As it is, all the cousins who were there are "big kids" and they went off to the corn maze while we stuck with the orchard. Maybe next year?

We took height and weight, and we also planted a tree at the farm. It was a great weekend!

Week 36 was fairly low key which was good after all the excitement of the previous week. Aaron had fun with some movie references...

Tadpole gets better at the eating thing, but we still have to watch out for spillage. I'm sure the Red was very tasty, whatever it was.

During week 37 we enjoyed more quiet times at home and on playdates. I love the photo of him "driving" Nana's brand new car. He thought he was so special. Tadpole also watched everything "big kid N" did so he could practice it as well. I love it when he gets to spend time with other kids about his age.

I had major indecisiveness when it came to which cookie to buy for this month's photo shoot so I bought all four options. Then we had a mini-photo session in our front yard. They all turned out fun (and tasty!) And that sums up almost all of October. The rest will get posted when I get November up.

Created by Becky Higgins, "Project Life provides an ultra-simple solution that helps us get those pictures into albums without draining our time, energy, and wallets." Learn more about it here.

Project Life - Weeks 30 through 33

This would also be known as the month of September...

During week 30 we decided to bust out the kiddie pool and a swimsuit in this beautiful September Saturday. Aaron had been mowing the lawn so everything smelt wonderful. Tadpole had a lot of fun and we took video as well.

Just some quick shots throughout the week, including the one where we suffered through our first cold...

Week 31 and it was time for our monthly measuring. Tadpole is no longer interested in staying still while laying down for his height so we are investigating new processes. He is definitely getting big!

We also found a new toy over at a friend's house and decided we needed to ask Santa for one as well.

During week 32 we went to our very first Maker Faire at the Adventure Science Center. Mommy and Daddy had lots of fun. Tadpole watched all the people. He also enjoyed his very first popsicle at Las Paletas. Yummy! Maker Faires are becoming very popular all over the place and I hope we can participate in more of them as Tadpole gets older.

Time for our monthly cookie and they had no fall leaves. We had to make due with the football cookie instead. It still tasted great!

Week 33 was Mom's favorite! She loves going to Walden Farm and the pictures we took turned out great. Next year will be even better!

Our pirate baby has started wearing diapers from The Honest Company. While I prefer to shop local, I love what this company is trying to achieve and decided their philosophy deserved my support. Besides, how cute are those diapers?!?!?

That closes out the month of September. I have October completely done and photographed and November done but not photographed. However naptime is over so I must go back to being Mom...

Created by Becky Higgins, "Project Life provides an ultra-simple solution that helps us get those pictures into albums without draining our time, energy, and wallets." Learn more about it here.

Easy Advent Calendar idea

For anyone who is interested for next year...here is the super easy advent calendar we did this year.

I had pinned multiple images from pinterest, none of which actually had any instructions with them but this was so easy we made it up ourselves. We took sheets of construction paper and used the width of a ruler as our measurement to draw and then cut straight lines. We have one yellow, three brown, five red, and sixteen green strips. If Tadpole had been a bit older we probably would have "built" the tree over the course of the month but as it is easier to destroy than create at this age, Daddy and Mommy built the tree and he tore one strip off (with help) each morning until there was just the yellow "star" left the morning Santa came.

We used tape to hold it together and it was so easy to build. Even though I'd like a different type of calendar next year, we might still make a few of these for decorations as they are cute AND not breakable. If you have any questions, just let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.

Project Life - Weeks 27 through 29

Welcome to weeks twenty-seven through twenty-nine. Yep, they would be August spreads. And this is the end of December. I know I'm not the only one this far behind...

We did have our six month checkup and the doctor's figures are not too far off from ours. He keeps growing... He also spent quite a bit of time smiling and practicing his standing skills.

I did not take enough vertical photos for this week and so channeled my inner storyteller to do some journaling. I just wish my handwriting were prettier. He has his favorite nursery rhymes we do at bedtime and any other time he'll sit still. We got another book from Imagination Library. And he figured out crawling as well...while his parents were off on a camping trip and missed it.

We cut our first tooth in week twenty-eight. Bring on the chamomile teacloths. This calms him down and makes him more content than the commercial medication we tried (organic clove something or other) and so we stuck with it. Dip a baby washcloth in some weak chamomile tea, tie a knot in it, and freeze it. We went through a lot of them this week and it made cutting the tooth so much easier.

We have a new game to play. It is called roll the coaster. I will never understand why this is so entertaining however he will watch it and giggle and try to help for several minutes, which is a pretty good attention span at this age. He also loves to play with shoelaces and is teaching us to put away our shoes. What a good lesson for us to learn!

The picture on the lower right is from his baby dedication at church. The only blood relative we had here that day was my mother and when it came time for family to stand up, Tadpole's babysitting family also stood up with Nana. It was a special moment for all of us because it brought home to everyone how intertwined this little boy has made us - all through love.

During week twenty-nine we headed down to Decherd to hang out with family again. It was the end of summer and cousin Audrey would be heading back to school so we needed one last visit with her. All the kids adore her and she loves them back. Tadpole also showed off his straw drinking skills with whatever bottles he could find. We need to start paying attention to what he grabs to drink on.

Last we show some developing motor skills. Not really. Mommy has fun building the tower and knocking it down. Tadpole just wants to stick the smaller blocks in his mouth. Oh well. Soon enough...

So that sums up August, and I do have a few more spreads "this close" to being finished. Maybe later today?

Created by Becky Higgins, "Project Life provides an ultra-simple solution that helps us get those pictures into albums without draining our time, energy, and wallets." Learn more about it here.

Project Life - Week Twenty-Six

Oh boy! Six months old . . . and such a big boy. He was 21 inches and 9 pounds, 10 ounces at birth. I never realized I could love someone so very much!

Such a stinker, he choose his six month birthday to sit up by himself for the first time. My overachiever! We also did some more six month photos with him in the oh so adorable VHC outfit loaned to us by Aaron's cousin. How stinkin' cute is he?

Having my parents' dog Shiloh (a black lab mix) here for several weeks, Tadpole also decided this was the time to start crawling. He needs to slow down this growing up thing and let me enjoy it a bit more. Last we showcase this month's cookie. Doesn't that ice cream cone look so very tasty? His Nana was very happy to help him eat it. Luckily he was willing to share.

So, I've now completed and posted his first six months. While today would be his nine month birthday. How the time does fly . . .

Created by Becky Higgins, "Project Life provides an ultra-simple solution that helps us get those pictures into albums without draining our time, energy, and wallets." Learn more about it here.

Project Life - Week Twenty-Five

Ah, week twenty-five. This was a fun week. Tadpole got to feed the puppy (who is twelve plus years old!) treats. We got a semi-decent picture of him playing itsy bitsy spider. He is getting pretty good at using a straw. And even though mushy peas are out, mushy green beans are okay!

I didn't take enough vertical shots this week so I have filled in with one of part of his nursery. Every time I walk in there I fall in love with it all over again. It is actually pretty sad how happy it makes me. I should care more about other things but I can't. It is everything I dreamed of for our baby . . . even if I didn't get it done on my timetable (by his six month birthday).

Short and sweet, that is week twenty-five.

Created by Becky Higgins, "Project Life provides an ultra-simple solution that helps us get those pictures into albums without draining our time, energy, and wallets." Learn more about it here.

Project Life - Week Twenty-Four

Newest trauma? We had our first splinter today and had to do "surgery" but Tadpole was a trooper. He was actually sort of fascinated with what was going on and didn't flinch much. That's my boy!

Most of this week was being excited about hanging out with family so there are several pictures of cousins interacting with our boy. Additionally there are a few of the professional photos in here. I'm sure you can guess which ones those are!

We did discover the first food our boy does not like. However we did not like them either. Mushy peas are the worst!

I'm constantly finding myself referencing book titles, authors, or plots while interacting with Tadpole and I decided that I wanted to document those along with the song titles and lyrics his daddy throws around. Klassen's titles about hats have adult humor (or is that horror?) as well as appealing to children so whenever I see him playing with a hat, I immediately think of Klassen. I'm looking forward to sharing those two (so far) titles with him when he is a bit older. And that about sums up week twenty-four. (Is it bad that I'm only at week twenty-four when we just started week forty???)

Created by Becky Higgins, "Project Life provides an ultra-simple solution that helps us get those pictures into albums without draining our time, energy, and wallets." Learn more about it here.

Project Life - Week Twenty-Three

The baby is sick and we are exhausted. He has caught a cold and it is WW3 to keep that poor little nose cleaned out so he can breathe at all. We spent much of the night taking turns sleeping in an elevated position with him on our chest so he could get some relief. I completely feel the emotion of "please, I'll be sick, just let my little fry guy feel better because he just doesn't understand . . ."

Anyway, here we have Week Twenty-Three:

This was a fun week. He is learning to use the potty already. While we don't expect to give up diapers any time soon, my understanding is that potty training will be much less stressful as he will already understand the concept. He is also putting everything in his mouth from his toes to his toys.

Below you see his first trip to the "zoo" - actually we went to the pet store to pick up dog and cat food and while there cruised by the reptile section. Tadpole was fascinated! We also finally got a photo of the zerbert in action. That is still one of his favorite things to do . . .

And there you have it - a quick look at week twenty-three in the life of Tadpole.

Created by Becky Higgins, "Project Life provides an ultra-simple solution that helps us get those pictures into albums without draining our time, energy, and wallets." Learn more about it here.

Halloween Costume - 2013

As we started to think about Halloween back in August we quickly narrowed it down to three choices: Harold (and the Purple Crayon), a Tadpole (with Princess who kissed the Frog parents), and a Very Hungry Caterpillar. Even though in August it feels like one has all the time in the world to do any crafty stuff for costume creation, we did decide to go with Harold as he was the simplest and it would be the only year in which we could guarantee he would look like Harold. I mean, look at the cover of this book.

So, rather than invent the wheel, I turned to trusty Google and found that Generation T had already created a Harold and family costume for her baby. Since her directions are well written, I'm just going to point you to the expert . . . Megan Nicolay's Harold Costume. If you don't already know her stuff, I recommend you check out her blog and books. However, enough about her, let me show you some pictures of us!

Daddy with Harold

Mommy with Harold

The Harold Family

I was the page in which Harold drew the hot air balloon and Aaron was the page in which Harold drew a boat. And for those who are curious, the ways in which we deviated from her instructions were "glue is my friend" especially when my sewing machine gets cranky. We used craft glue to put everything together and didn't sew any of it. Additionally, for those who are looking at her instructions and can't figure out what t-shirt cord is, it is when you cut strips of t-shirt material and stretch it slightly to get a piece in which you can "draw" with as we did here. Apparently you can also knit with it.

Special thanks to my friend Gretchen of Faery Farts for the dying of of Harold's sleeper since we couldn't find a plain blue one anywhere for his costume.