Well, winter in Colorado sure sucked. No real snow, at least where we live so spring is in full effect and it’s only mid-march. The all-mighty farmers are predicting the worst drought since 1894. Yikes. So, with spring here, I decided to do an “all-in-one” blog. I am quite the blogging freak, blogaholic, what have you. I wanted to put all of my ramblings into one so I wouldn’t loose my mind ( and so others didn’t think I was crazy!) My other blogs can still be found, just without updates. All blog posts from now on will be posted in categories such as: Life, Love and Photography…hmmm wonder how I came up with such a catchy blog title?!? haha Ok, on to the good stuff…writing my NEW blog!

Every morning after I turn off the shower and get into my terry cloth robe, I hear a knock on the door, enter Cody. He is repeating the word “est” over and over again. Yes, Cody, mom needs to get dressed! So, he takes my hand, leads me to my bedroom and points out the drawers that I need to open in order to get out the clothes I need. Today, he decided to choose my pants (they were black Columbia thermal underwear…NOT work appropriate! haha) Cody seemed to know I wouldn’t wear them because he crooked his head to the side, looked at me and said in a question…”no?” So, instead of mom wearing the black silk-like thermals, Cody proceeded to put them around his neck like a cape…hence, Super Cody. I mentioned to him that he should put his arms up in the air and fly around like an airplane, which he did, and loved! His father followed him around as his airplane/super Cody sound effects. What a fun morning!

Its times like these that make me take a step back, smile and realize how lucky I am and that I am going to have a great, unstressed day!! Thanks boys, I love you!

Cody is 21 months old now and is quite the young man! He is doing better with his attitude (although I’m sure it’s just the “calm before the storm”). After he doesn’t get his way, he usually proceeds to give me, his father, or the nearest piece of furniture a head-butt or three. Now, he just grabs/pinches really hard and doesn’t head butt. I’ll take the pinching over him hurting himself any day!

After Barack Obama was sworn in as the new President, NPR will always throw his name out there 20-30 times in a broadcast so Cody is used to hearing his name and walks around saying “Bama, Bama, Bama”. Ask him who the president is…”Bama”. Ask him who the president is when his Grandpa is around and he says “Papa”. haha.

He is really into painting. Lovvvvves his watercolors! He can even say the color that he wants and then dips the paint brush into it! He knows all of the colors, even the hard ones like black, white and purple. (We’re still working on gray!)

Favorite toys are trucks, elmo and a select few books. Mostly about trucks, the moon and Where’s Waldo!

Every day we work on the potty. Where it is, what it’s for, what we do… He knows what to do but not WHEN he’s supposed to do it.

We are already in the planning phase for his 2nd Birthday. We’re thinking Diego theme! He loves my watch so I want to find him a watch like Diego’s. Also a “Click the Camera!” He’s quite the photographer!

February also was the month that all of his teeth finally arrived! The four k-9 teeth took forever!

Love love love this site! I’m pretty sure I looked at it about a year ago but I think it has improved by leaps and bounds since I last saw it! Very cool tips on fun activities and I just LOVE their”Browse activities by age of baby” section! Great job mommas!

Well, this year Cody is 19 months and can understand a little bit more about Christmas! Its awesome! I feel like a kid again because sharing all of our Christmas traditions with him makes our family remember how fun it used to be! (Lately Christmas has lost a lot of it’s luster!) Anyways, with Cody so aware, we have made it a point to try and explain what Santa is and does. We have already had lots of practice opening gifts and he even left out cookies and milk for Santa! Whats cool about all this (and a little silly) is that I feel a little bit excited about Santa! Even though I am technically  “Santa”… I guess the exciting part is the whole spirit of the season and the fun I have pretending! Both of which is too easily lost as adults. I’m so excited to be a kid again! Even if it’s only at heart!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Santa's Gift to Cody

Here are a couple of fun things I did for Cody!

I made some “Santa Stationary”, nothing fancy, but cute! I wrote a little letter about how he is a good boy but needs to stop head-butting his parents and the furniture!

I also tracked Santa with the help of NORAD. I took a screen shot of “where Santa was” when Cody went to bed. I’ll also try to get one when he’s in Colorado. (Geeze I feel like the biggest dork right now!)

At our Christmas craft day at school, I was the helper for the “staple-less paper chain” craft. I was reading the instructions and noticed that they were printed from a mommy blog. When I got home, I looked up the blog  “World Preschool Mom” and really liked it! There are detailed instructions on how to make tons of crafts, science projects and learning activities! Plus you get to join their family on a trip around the world. Currently I believe they are in Fiji!! How cool! Just wanted to share!

After searing the internet for a while I came across a pretty cool site that has some links to Elmo videos! The coolest thing is that they are on Itunes so Cody can watch the videos on our ipod! Sweet!!! I also wanted to show the Elmo stuff that we got Cody for Christmas. I thought I was out of luck finding him an Elmo that didn’t talk or move but then we saw this one in Boarders book store and he is soft and QUIET!!! Wo-hoo!! I can’t wait till Christmas!!! I feel like a little kid waiting for Santa to visit ME! haha! I’ll post the photos of Cody meeting Elmo for the first time AFTER Christmas! (if I can wait that long!)

I found this great idea in Parenting magazine and just had to share! What they did is converted a 4-compartment formula container into a savings bank! They labeled each compartment with something different “Toys, crafts, snacks, books” etc… and then the child gets to spin the top and open it to a compartment where they put the money in! It’s so cute! Of course theirs was decorated a little cuter then mine, but my label maker works just fine! Cody loves to spin the top around, open it and sometimes the money goes in!

Well, ok, so they might not be NEW uses but they are to me! Here are a couple of ways I reuse Cody’s burp cloths:

1. To dry his hair after a bath. Instead of using the large towel, I keep him wrapped up in it and use a small burp cloth for his head. It dries his hair in minutes!
2. As wash cloths in the bath tub. We ran out of his wash cloths…plus they were to small anyways!
3. As a dusting cloth for the house.
4. As a bib or lap cover
5. Perfect for his stuffed animals when they need a blanket!

Since funds are tight in our house and we really don’t want to spend money on Hallmark cards, Cody and I decided to make our own holiday cards. Now, I’m not much of a crafty person besides being a photographer so these cards aren’t as cool as they COULD be…but I think Cody’s coloring adds the perfect touch!