video blooper reel

Some of my personal favorite videos from a morning in December:



Did you notice that Aaron played the first few notes to Jingle Bells in rhythm? Complete accident, of course, but I'm impressed. Followed directly by finding the YAMAHA letterson the piano. Clearly he's a musical prodigy.



Aaron's favorite word is "hi". We all get several welcomes a day.



And that is part of why I have been blog MIA for the past two months. Grabber McFussypants.



Now this is the real blooper. Do you see what just happened there??
I just about died laughing when I figured out why Aaron was stuck at the piano bench.
Surprisingly, Aaron did not find it as amusing.


PS - Rosa, this is for you to get your video fix. I hope it helps.

christmas 09

I'm going to be straight up with you from the start. I did a woefully insufficient job of taking pictures this Christmas. Not only that, but then I completely forgot to bring a camera to North Carolina when we celebrated Christmas with Isaac's family.

Not like it's even possible to catch Aaron in pictures anymore. He's usually a blur passing through my frame or else it's a lovely picture of his rump as he runs away from me.

Exhibit A:
I'm still mourning the loss of my stationary baby.

But nevertheless, there are a few pictures to share for our diehard fans.

The day we set up our Christmas tree, we started the morning with a few Christmas carols round the piano.



Yes, he sings, dances and plays piano. And he does them all extremely well, as you can see. Unless you couldn't tell that the weird noise he is making is singing. In which case, you obviously can't recognize pure talent.

While Aaron took his first nap of the day, Isaac and I went to get the tree and set it up. Here he is seeing the tree in the living room for the first time.



During Aaron's second nap, we decorated the tree and set up this adorable Little People nativity scene that a friend of my mom's gave to Aaron last Christmas. I had a lot of fun setting it all up.


There was an inn, a manger, a well, shepherds, angels, animals and three wise men with matching tents, outfits and camels. I thought they were particularly wise, given their fashion choices.

Unto YOU a child is born!

Mary is inviting you in to check out her baby. Who never stayed long in the manger while Aaron was around. He preferred to put in him the donkey's cart. Baby Jesus' cradle did kind of look like Aaron's old car seat. Maybe we took one too many trips to Target in the baby seat?

Anyway, during Aaron's nap, we had set everything up, anticipating his face when we opened the doors so he could see the splendor.




Don't worry. I had just as much fun watching my adorable Nativity knocked to bits moments as it was to set it up.

Mainly because of THIS face the entire time:

He loved it!


On to Christmas morning...

Where's Waldo?

Aaron got a percussion table.

There was a big part of me that was wondering whether we'd regret that decision, but he loves it and surprisingly, it doesn't make too much noise. Lately, he's been more interested in carrying the table around the living room, but hey, to each his own.

He loved opening presents this year. He really got into tearing the paper off.


But he also had a great time playing with each toy after it was unwrapped.



And finally, a A Christmas Tale.

This is Aaron's cousin, Phoebe.
Stinkin adorable, I know.
But it's no secret that Aaron's not really a fan just yet.
Maybe he can't handle her level of cuteness.


It's been Phoebe's goal to make Aaron like her. It's been my goal to get them to sit together in one picture, both looking at the camera pretending to enjoy it.

I had big hopes for Christmas morning. They were wearing matching pajamas. Who can resist feelin' the love in matching pajamas?

It started out promising.

P: Hey, boy, can I read with you?

After the glow of some opened presents, I was hoping Aaron would feel charitable. It seemed that he was.

A: I guess so. It looks like a good book, huh?

He looked like he was about to read the story to Phoebe.

P: (YOINK!)

She stole it! Look at the look of OUTRAGE on his face.

A: Peace, I'm outta here.

And again, no dice. Maybe next Christmas?

the great snow of 09

We are just going to pretend like it hasn't been two and half MONTHS since I posted last. We are just going to jump right back in with several posts about what we've been up to in the last few months without a long indepth explanation for why I've been MIA. But for the record, it's a lot harder to post while chasing another human being. You should probably write that down. It's a pearl of wisdom.

The weekend before Christmas, we were blessed (afflicted?) with "The Great Snow of '09". Isaac has been predicting a very cold and snowy winter for about 6 months now. Apparently, he reads the Farmers Almanac, so he totally saw this coming. It snowed for about two days straight, and at the end, we were left with about 18 inches of snow. Tragically enough, the snow storm positioned itself perfectly across the weekend, so no work was avoided. Better luck next time, I guess.

My theory about this great snowfall is that it occurred primarily because we didn't own a snowsuit for Aaron. Since the great snow of '09, we've bought one, which pretty much ensures that there will not be snow again until 2013, at which time he will be too large for it. You can thank me later.

And because of the lack of snowsuit, Aaron wasn't completely thrilled with the snow. But he toughed it out (read : was pulled in a wagon by his father) for at least twenty minutes, so we'll call it a success.

Without further ado, Aaron's First Snowfall In Which He Could Participate.*


You can draw your own conclusions about his thoughts here.


Once we stood him up, he started channeling his inner baby model.

And he was even happier once we plopped him in the wagon. I appreciate his love for being pampered. Mush, Daddy, Mush!

There they go, wandering down our street. Bye guys!

And while we're at it, here's your first glimpse of the new house covered in snow.
I know, landscape is a bit bare. I hope we'll be able to plant some trees soon. Ha.





*This is Aaron's Real First Snow.
November 2008. As you can see, he was not a big fan. So I'm taking some creative license with this "first". Especially since I seem to be running short of them. Is this kid seriously almost 1.5 YEARS OLD? How is that POSSIBLE?

the evolution of walking

Aaron is officially walking!

So here is The Evolution of Walking:

Aaron started pulling himself up onto objects around June, just before he was 10 months.



Doesn't he look like a really chubby oversized infant here? This video is from the end of June. Nowadays, he looks like a little boy. I can't believe how much he's changed!

Anyway, he started creeping along furniture not too long after that. Everyone kept saying, oh boy, he's going to walk soon!

Not so much.

Aaron was (is) an extremely proficient crawler, so although he LOVED walking along furniture, he preferred racing across a room on all fours to stepping out on his own.

Since his first birthday, we've been pretty convinced that he was fully capable of walking, he just lacked the confidence.

This video is him walking about a week before we moved. (Hi old house!) He liked using his walker, but man, that thing would FLY over the hardwood floors. He still just kind of gets drug along behind it. Entertaining, but not so helpful with the walking.



I am so thankful that screeching phase only lasted a few days. Good gracious.

For the past two months, he will walk with our hands and even would take a tentative step or two on his own, before crumpling down and crawling across the room. He can make some serious tracks on all fours.

On Saturday, he started taking a few steps at a time. Here's some videos from Saturday morning.



Escape! He LOVES to be chased.



And he loves playing the piano. With his Daddy. He's basically a musical prodigy.




That startled look on his face is THE new face of the week. Our little hambone realized it's funny and so he makes it all.the.time. When he's genuinely startled, when something falls (or is thrown) to the floor, when he does something he thinks deserve praise, basically whenever. And he's right. It IS funny.

Here's the progress on Saturday night.



Do you like our state-of-the-art fireplace hearth cushion featured behind Isaac? It makes quite a statement, no? Yeah, we've got a lot of babyproofing in our very near future.

And, finally, here is this very morning.



This isn't really his BEST walking. He busts out his long distance, steady walking for the moments when he thinks no one is looking or when I don't have the camera. You'll have to trust me.

Or wait for another video post in a week.
Of course, that title will probably be "Running". Sigh.




PS - For those of you who are trying to get glimpses of the new house in these pictures and videos, have no fear! I am working on a "Moving" post, complete with pictures of the new place. Including a new living room paint color since that video taken on Saturday. Ha.

pumpkin pickin

Brace yourselves.

There's gonna be a lot of pictures in this post. But that's the way the grandmothers like it, so that's the way it's gonna be. (Hi DeeDee!)

The day that we all moved out of my mom's house was a beautiful (windy) day. The moving guys came early in the morning and the house was empty by lunchtime. Poor Aaron had been confined to my lap for most of the morning to keep him out of the way, so we decided to head over to Linvilla Orchards to visit Pumpkinland and let him roam free.

It ended up being a great decision because he LOVED it. He loves pumpkins, he loves climbing, he loves animals, he loves to eat... basically it's his idea of the best.day.ever.

Without further ado, Aaron's Pumpkin Pickin.

At first he wasn't entirely sure about it.

Then, Isaac gave him an Aaron sized pumpkin and that seemed to cheer him right up.

Is this for me??

He is such a hambone. He really started to get into it. The kid can't resist striking a few poses when the camera is around.
Have you ever seen anyone so happy to be surrounded by a bunch of pumpkins?

Of course, it wasn't all smiles and giggles.
Of course, we had to take a few bites.
Okay, more than a few bites.

Like most things, I let Aaron taste it in the hopes that it will be gross enough that he'll stop gnawing on it. And, like most things, I grossly underestimate his taste for nastiness.
His poor pumpkin had actual chunks missing by the end of the day. Aaron apparently enjoys the taste of raw pumpkin. Ew.

We also spent a good bit of time pointing. Because that's what we do these days. We point. At everything.
It was very exhausting work.

Oh Mama, I'm so weary of being adorable.

So we headed to the petting zoo.
Aaron really loves animals, so he was having a blast.
Got in a little more pointing.

Then we visited the Farm Market (yum) and were ready to leave.

But not without our pumpkin!
That poor pumpkin didn't stand a chance, so we tried switching it out for an apple.
He agreed the apple was tastier but still has a special spot in his heart for the pumpkin. He still carries it around our family room like it's a toy. You know, a toy with a few chunks missing.

If you remember, we made this same journey around the same time last year.
Aaron was 26 days old. Good grief.

I just can't quite wrap my mind around how much he has changed.

We are so blessed.

Happy Fall!