Surprise!

Lately, Preston's favorite thing is hiding and running out to surprise/scare us. Except for one thing. He is really bad at hiding. His spots are under the dining room table, behind the bathroom door, and one corner of his bedroom. In all three hiding places, he is completely visible, yet thinks he is being so sneaky. The other night, I caught him running out to surprise us. So funny.

28

My birthday was last week. But before I mention that, please look at these sweet pictures of Preston. Oh, he is the sweetest before bedtime. 

Brushing his hair before bed

Toddler tummy!!!

I throw my hair up like this for bath time :)

On Thursday, I turned 28. Brian arranged a nice dinner for us at Paulette's and my in-laws watched P. It was nice dinner, and we enjoyed adult conversation. On Saturday, my family came over to celebrate with a cookout. Also, a few of my friends from high school stopped by, including Astrid who was in Memphis all the way from Germany. She was our foreign exchange student, and I hadn't seen her since Amber's wedding, so it was great to catch up. Michelle brought Avery, and I got to meet Amber's little boy Bennett for this first time. He is so cute! My mom made me a delicious trifle instead of a regular cake, and Brian cooked a fabulous pork tenderloin.

P was a huge fan of the trifle. And spoons.

This might have been one of my highlights of the day. I guess Preston was watching my dad and brother get beer out of the cooler they brought. So, he walked over to the cooler and put his sippy cup with milk inside the cooler. Then walked into the living room, walked back to the kitchen and got the sippy cup back out and drank it. It was so funny! Of course, I had the camera out.

I had a really great birthday. I definitely never thought that at 28, I would have a one-year-old but I must say it is pretty special :) Thanks to friends and family for making my birthday sweet!

Rain Rain Go Away

How Preston spends a rainy day....


Looking out our new storm door

Petting his dog, Brother

 Helping mom with laundry

:)

Parenting Milestone

We've experience a significant milestone in parenting.

Our first 24-hour, projectile vomiting, stomach bug. Our 13-month-old woke up from a dead sleep to a vomit soaked crib in a matter of seconds last night.

Prior to that, over the weekend, he had been acting kind of wimpy, and was running a fever off and on. I should have known something was up. I was thinking... molars? ear infection? Well, it all came to a head last night and it was terrible.

Friday night, Preston was playing hard in the playroom. Out of nowhere, and about 30 minutes before his bedtime, he walks over to Brian laying on the floor, and he puts his head on Brian's knees and falls asleep. If you know Preston, you know that he has only EVER slept in two places - a crib and the car seat. I see people posting these pictures of their sleeping baby on Facebook on couches, the floor, the johnny jump-up, the walker, etc. Forget it, P won't even sleep in our bed! So, the fact that he did this was very weird, thus making it picture-worthy.

Here are a few pics I got of him and his daddy on Saturday. He was off and on that day, but had a rough night. Which means, we had a rough night.

Then last night came. Three loads of laundry later, I think it's passed. I have to say, I am so thankful for Brian. He mopped the kitchen floors, did all the laundry, and Preston threw up on him at midnight last night when he was trying to save the pack-n-play from the same peril as the crib endured just an hour earlier. He seems to have a better tolerance for puke than I do (I am one of those people that sees/hears it, and I immediately get sick), so he really took one for the team. Don't get me wrong, I was still washing it from my son's face, hands and clothes, but he handled the tough stuff.

Sometimes my friends at work and I have talked about how, before you get married, you should really talk about things like this BEFORE you get engaged so that by the time you have kids, you know if you really can work as a team. :)

I stayed home with P today. He slept a lot, so I was able to get a lot of work done, but I was also able to take some pics of him playing after his afternoon nap. He finally started to perk up and wanted some Cheerios.

He loves to cram as many Cheerios into his mouth as possible.

I look at these pictures and I can tell he doesn't feel good. Poor guy. But I have to admit, I love the extra snuggles that sickness brings. There is always a silver lining. That, and Brian and I can now say we have experienced projectile vomit at midnight :)

The Great Outdoors

With this beautiful February weather we have been having, we've been spending a lot of our time outdoors. Preston loves to toddle around the backyard and swing on the swing set. Brian grilled burgers the other night, and Preston enjoyed his first burger with daddy. He loved it! 

He's walking so well now. Outside is great practice because he is learning to step up/down and watch where he is walking. He normally just barrels through whatever is in his path, but he is showing great improvement.

He cannot get enough of the swing. He screams and laughs with delight. I think he'll be in it a lot this Spring and Summer.

Brian got on next to him, and Preston just died laughing.

Feeling the grass beneath his Toms :)

Oy. This is what he does when I say "Ok, time to go inside!" He pitches such a fit. He wants to be outside all the time. Even when the weather is bad, he always cries and reaches in the direction of the swing set until we get in the back door. It hurts my heart, but sorry Preston, if it's pouring rain, we can't go swing. :( Any other time, we stop and swing. Life is short!

Sunday, after going to church and playing in the backyard, P took a long nap and when he got up, we took him to the zoo! 

Dinos are coming to the zoo in March. We can't wait. See how excited!

It was the first time we've been to the zoo since he started walking, and he walked all around the different exhibits. We are still working on him following paths, or staying with us, but I often remind myself that he is a little boy and he may never follow the path or stay with us :) After the zoo, our little family of three went to Central BBQ and had a true Memphis dinner. Brian said he wanted to bottle him up to keep him the way he is now. Me too, but I can't help but be excited for whatever tomorrow might bring. Days like today are the ones I dreamed of when I was pregnant. Parenting is so worth the work. Wouldn't trade it for anything!

For the first time ever...

Preston, by his own choice, hugged me. Without any prompt from me. Best part? It was Valentine's Day.

We were in the playroom, and he came up to me with his favorite dinosaur book and sat in my lap. I opened up the pages, and started reading. Then, he took his little arms and wrapped them around my waist, and laid his head on my chest. He stayed like that for 20 whole minutes. That is a lifetime in Preston's world.

Best Valentine's ever.

I try to keep up with developmental milestones in terms of walking, talking, eating, etc. But these are the milestones that blow me away the most. The fact that he is developing socially and emotionally is so fascinating to me.

Such a sweet boy who loves his mama. :)

In case you noticed, yes, those are labradors on his pajamas.