For your viewing pleasure

Here are a few things that we haven't gotten around to posting, some old, some new. We just want to give you a quick view of some of things going on with us!

We dog sat Cosmo for the Bowmans again and took advantage of some

of their sweet dress up outfits. I think the cowboy get-up is

appropriate to go with the Chuck Norris shirt I'm wearing in the background.

Ezra was really good when we went shopping for some new pants at the mall.

He did a lot of walking there. We're just posting this because he is adorable.

Ezra may be the next star for the E*Trade ads.

Ezra is walking like a pro now. His physical therapist said he made 2 months of progress in 2 weeks.  He already walks better than this video shows. We're posting it so you can see his walking but it's also kind of funny because he just whines the whole time!

Ezra had a "bubble bath."

Ezra learned to face paint.

Daddy grew a thick beard (then promptly shaved).

Ezra looking homeless before his 2nd haircut.

Ezra being shy about his new look.

Daddy got a haircut too.  It's hard to believe his hair used to be lighter than Ezra's!

Ketchup

I don't know why, but at the end of each week I think to myself "Whew, we survived another one.". The trouble is I don't know why I feel that way. Nothing crazy or stressful is going on, I just think we need to get more sleep. Anyways, I guess me feeling crazy is to blame for our complete lack of posting for the last month or so, so here is a ketchup post.
Ezra got a stomach bug that had been going around and threw up twice in his sleep. The poor kid was so tired, but the first time he was so covered that we had to throw him in the bath. The second time we just wiped him down. Luckily we had plenty of sets of sheets to handle the situation. Ezra has also become a lot more confident in his walking, stands on his own when he falls, loves stairs, and has figured out climbing on and off things. He talks all the time and says his version of banana, fishy, daddy, piggy, goat, moo (for cow), ah ah (for sheep, he is trying to say baa), no-no, cheese, hi, hello, bye, diaper, and I'm sure there are others that don't sound enough like the real word for me to figure out. He signs flower, ball, mommy, daddy, eat, gorilla, all done, more, fishy, no, bath, and I'm sure more that I'm not thinking of. We have started to let him use utensils every now and again and he is pretty good.

We occasionally feed him spicy things, and when it starts to burn his mouth he just does this funny yell until we give him a drink and then he is ready for another go. It's just funny that he doesn't cry, just yells. Ezra has become completely obsessed with watching home videos of himself. We have started to limit his home video watching time mostly for my sanity. My favorite thing that he does right now is drive his little hot wheels around and makes sound effects. I will have to get video of it because he is so funny. He likes to count and yell out his abc's, but I am sure that if you are not Bob or me that you would have no idea that is what he is doing. He also LOVES to floss. I was trying to get ready one day and so I strapped him into his chair, gave him some floss and turned on home videos. When I came back in the room he had opened the floss and pulled a ton out. What can you do? I don't want to deter a good habit. I'm just much more careful about where I put the floss now.

Bob and I had some people over for FHE and did an Olympic theme. We did curling with tuna fish cans, made a track and raced Hot Wheels for our bobsleds, we had figure skating, and even did the bi-athalon, where we ran around the house and after each lap you shot rubber bands at a target. I think we all had a lot of fun, and it came together a lot better than expected. Especially the curling (my new favorite winter olympic sport).

This is a re-creation.  Bob actually never got that close to the middle.

Also, Bob got his externship assignment. For 10 weeks (late July through early Oct.) he will work in Holyoak, MA (western MA) and live there. We are hoping that Ezra and I can stay with him at least some of the time, but for 5 of the ten weeks I will be going to Utah (thank you tax return). It is going to be hard, but I think we are all excited. Especially my family. So there you have it. Nothing too exciting, but we are happy and that's what counts.

Ezra's new tricks!

Be leery of a dry diaper!

Because Ezra has been sick this week (see previous post) he has really lost his appetite. I feel like we bribe him with his favorites (yogurt, cheese sticks, banana's, etc.) and he still has pretty much no interest in any of it. He also was drinking a lot less. We even gave him milk in his bottle twice just to get fluids in him. (He has been bottle free for almost two weeks now!) I even made him some Carnation Instant Breakfast (chocolate milk) to encourage some liquid and nutrient intake to no avail. Anyways this all leads up to tonight.... Bob is undressing Ezra for his bath and shows me Ezra's diaper. He says: This diaper isn't very wet. In the mean time I hear some tinkling and look over to see Ezra peeing while he stands naked just outside the bathtub! We both just cracked up. Earlier today he peed all over during a particularly long diaper change...needless to say I think he is doing just fine. Enjoy the sweet hair pics!

Be careful what you wish for!

Last week I was going CRAZY! I felt like I finally knew why everyone always asked me if I was bored at home. Ezra and I were doing the same thing all day everyday and both of us were becoming quite bored. There just isn't much to do when it is freezing cold, yucky floors everywhere, and your child is one and still crawling. I tried to do some crafts with Ezra, but lets face it he would still rather eat all things involved than make anything. We did manage to get Valentines made and sent out to the Grandparents. Bob had been working and had the Yankee Dental Convention which kept him away for the last three Saturdays, and we had the coldest days of the winter (how does a high of 15, with the wind chill from 50 mph winds the news said it felt like 1 degree, sound to you?) so I was really starting to feel stuck in the house.

The Valentine aftermath. (It's hard to see but that water has a nice red tinge.)

I finally reserved library passes for the Children's Museum, we picked up Bob from class and enjoyed a couple of hours letting Ezra do whatever he felt like. It was wonderful. I think we all felt a lot better and it only set us back $6 (we found street parking). I think we will hit it up a lot more over the next couple of months.

Fast forward to 11:20pm...Bob and I are just saying our prayers and we hear this horrible sound coming from Ezra's room. Bob runs in there and Ezra is screaming in between gasps for air and trying to gag himself. I took him from Bob and pounded on his back while holding him face down and encouraged coughing thinking that he just had a lot of phlegm in his throat. Bob threw on clothes and then took Ezra while I got dressed. We flew (despite my order for Bob to drive calmly) to the ER and by the time we got there he was doing a little better, but still struggling. By the time we got a room and the doctor came in Ezra was breathing normally and had calmed down. As soon as they heard him cough they diagnosed him with croup (which is what we suspected), gave him a steroid to help open his airway, and kept us for a little bit for observation. They told us what to do if it happened again (turn the shower on as hot as it will go and stick him in the closed off bathroom, or take him out in the cold) and sent us on our way. It was a little frustrating because had we known what to do we would not have taken him to the ER, but breathing issues are not something to mess with so I don't regret our decision. We took him for a follow up the next day with Dr. Potee and he already did not have the "barky" cough anymore. So for better or for worse this week has not been as uneventful as the weeks previous!

Here he is smiling despite being in the hospital (as usual)!

Our funny little kid!

I know most of you don't get to see Ezra very often, but he is such a funny kid. Sometimes after we have put him to bed we will hear noises and go in his room to check on him, and he will hurry and lay down and close his eyes. He is trying so hard to trick us into thinking that he is sleeping, but he can never wipe the grin off his face. If you look at him long enough (which isn't long) he will start giggling but still be doing all he can to keep his eyes squinted shut. He is just so funny!

Some of the things he is enjoying right now are:

-Pounding on his chest like a gorilla.

-Holding a cell phone up to his ear (more like the back of his neck) and saying "hello" which sounds more like hola!

-He has started to help me blow on his food when it is hot. He has even improved and I think his food gets blown on more than spit on these days.
-He likes to bounce on his knees. (See video below) The physical therapist said that this is a very hard skill for kids, and most don't do it until after they have been walking for a while. She said he is very strong and has scattered skills. Basically he is still not walking, but can still do things that are above his age range.

-Whenever I get out of the car he just grins and waves at me until I pull him out.
-He points the remote at the TV and pushes buttons. He also likes to stand at the TV and push the power button and all the buttons on the DVD player.
-He pulls all the shoes off the shoe rack any time he notices they have been picked up, as well as all the DVDs.

-We moved his fish into his room and he is obsessed with the thing. I can even get him to sign fish now!
-He loves to help unload the dishwasher but we limit him to the silverware.

-He loves to do our Mario Mix DDR. He always fails, but never tires of "dancing" around on the pad. He even gets a few perfects every now and again!

-He loves to wrestle his daddy! I can never decide who enjoys it more, Bob or Ezra?

-He loves to eat lemons, even though they make him make crazy faces. (I think that is the real reason he likes them, because we all laugh at him!)

It's a bad picture but it is the best one I got of his face.

Unfortunately Ezra is not one to perform so it is hard to get videos or pictures of him doing all of these wonderful things. All in due time I guess!

Ezra comes from the land of the ice and the snow....

...but he sure doesn't act like it.

I could convince you he liked it based on this picture...

but then you would just see this picture and know I was lying.

We took Ezra sledding shortly upon returning to Boston. It was cold and snowing and he obviously didn't enjoy himself. I'm not sure if it was because he was already in a bad mood, or if he is just too much of a California boy at heart. I thought we could let Bob have a little fun at least, but Ezra cried when Bob went by himself too. So sledding adventure #1: ten minutes. Hopefully we can expect more out of him this winter considering he got an awesome snow suit for G&G Bowling for his birthday.

Christmas in California

As most of you know we went to California for Christmas this year. Believe it or not, it was actually our first time going home for Christmas since we got married. It was really nice to be with family, and to share in their testimonies of the Savior. Ezra did well on all the flights and we are really glad that we went. We just wish we could have spent more time with all of the family!

Ezra spent most of the first day exploring Grandma and Grandpa's.

He really enjoyed the balls on the tree, or should I say off the tree!

Modeling Grandma's glasses; not a bad fit.

Hanging with Lily. (He even enjoyed a bath with Lily.)

This is the only picture of the two of us so eat your hearts out!

The first thing Ezra did Christmas morning was brush his teeth.

He just wanted to make his daddy and Grandpa proud.

Santa brought Ezra some cool bouncy balls in his stocking.

He also enjoyed a tangerine from Santa.

Ezra was obsessed with Parker and followed her around like a lost puppy. Even if she made him cry, he still wanted to hang out with her. He and Ava did enjoy a little time together, and they play really well together, but if Parker was around, he was usually more interested in torturing her. Ezra also enjoyed Luca A LOT. He wouldn't even sit down for Christmas dinner with us because he wanted to chase the dog around. The rest of the day was spent with people feeding Luca to try to keep him in one place so that Ezra could have his fun. I don't know where he got such a love for dogs, but I would prefer this over him being terrified of them.

Parker was kind enough to make sure Ezra knew how his toys worked.

He also wanted to know how her toys worked.

Bolt stood by to do any necessary rescuing.

This Princess piano book was one hot comodity, even for the only little boy around.

Enjoying some alone time with Ava! They were so cute together.

By the end of the day they were doing bottle swaps.

I think Ava's milk consumption went down while Ezra's went way up.

We really want to thank Grandma and Grandpa Bowling for letting us share a wonderful Christmas with them.   Thanks to the McDowell's for spoiling us (I love the adjustable waist pants for Ezra) and for not getting sick of playing with us. Thank you Keian for the awesome farm, and Grandma and Grandpa Lundin for spoiling us even though you had to ship it all. Thank you's also go out to Cory and Natalia, GG&GG Denos, and Ron, Brooke, Trey and Tate for the great gifts. This post is getting long so thank you to all the people I am not mentioning. We had a great Christmas, and the best part was we didn't think about Santa much at all!

Unposted Random Happenings

I feel like there have been a lot of pictures/things that I wanted to post this month and haven't so enjoy them all now!

Ezra has been attending a music class the last couple of months, and although he was a little young he loved it. The last class was the day before his birthday. We were a bit sad to see them end because he was just starting to get really into it!

We put up our Christmas tree and Ezra has been so good with it. I was worried that he would pull it over, but since the ornaments are out of reach he usually leaves it alone.

Ezra got for real sick for the first time in his life this week. He had fevers for a few days, runny nose and a cough. The nice part was that he wanted to be held all the time, and he would just lay on me while we watched signing time. (That is very much not him, he is not a snuggler, so I really enjoyed it.)

One of the down sides was that his appetite went from leaving him looking like he does below to basically only bottles for a few days. (So much for weaning from the bottle, I guess we will save it until after the flights we have coming up.)

I got my haircut this week and it is more stylish than I usually cut my hair. The plus side is that it is short and thinned enough that doing my hair with its natural curl has become soooo easy. Now you will all see me with my hair done a lot more, no more ponytails and braids.

Ezra and I started packing early for our trip to California. We didn't want to forget anything, but mostly we are just really excited.

Ezra had couple of doctor appointments this month. The most exciting one being that he is done with his helmet. His head is not perfect, but definitely better and we are happy with the result. (They said that we could keep it on longer, but that it would take a while for us to see more results.)

His other doctor appointment was his one year check up. He weighed 20 lbs. 7 oz. and was 31.2 inches long. Which is the 25th and 90th percentiles respectively. He got four shots given by 2 nurses in rapid succession, which he did not like. We were all excited to get to see Dr. Potee again. She is the BEST DOCTOR EVER. I really want to talk her into moving to Gridley with us.

Here are a few things Ezra can do at 12 months:
-He crawls a lot, climbs and cruises on furniture a little, and enjoys walking if you hold his hands.
-He likes to help unload the dishwasher (whether the dishes are clean or not) and "fold" laundry.
-He likes to wave. He signs "more" and "all done" regularly. He has even said "all done" a few times (not what we expected his first words to be).
-He still loves to watch Signing Time and basically nothing else.
-Can point to the eyes and nose of his stuffed animals when requested.
-He has a great sense of humor and loves to make us laugh.
-Still loves anything that plays music and lights up.
-Still does not call us Mom or Dad or any variation of those names.
-He loves to hand you things so that you will say "Thank you" and sometimes he will even kind of say it himself.
-He loves to sing along to songs, especially the intro's to songs when no one else is singing.

Bob likes to help Ezra relax and calm down for bed time, so after his bath this is what they usually do:

The Finished Product

As many of you know I have been working on a quiet book for Ezra for a few months. I got it mostly done for his birthday, but did the finishing touches tonight. I want to give a special thanks to my Mom, Annie, and Bob for their help (and patience) and to the Bunker and Russ quiet books for some inspiration! I know my Mom especially wanted to see how it turned out, so here it is....

The Prophets have velcro so you can remove and try to replace.

The flowers are buttoned on and can be mixed and matched.

You weave Joseph's clothes and there are animals in the ark.

The apples are magnetic and can be moved around.

You can untie Ammon's bag to find the arms he has collected.

Obviously you can put the armor on the man.

You lace baby Moses into the basket and the basket moves up and down the river.

Jonah, a finger puppet, goes inside the whale and it's mouth zips shut.

You connect the string from the map to the person that matches with snaps.

Pioneer board game

You can pick various eyes, noses, and mouths to make faces.

If you pick the mustache nose, the frowny mouth, 

and the scary eyes it looks like Hitler.

Bob made me change it for the picture. 

You can also redo the hair. (It's pipe cleaners.)

The note page is fairly self explanatory!

Likes:

-I can take the rings apart and give a few pages to each kid. Hopefully this will lessen the fighting.

-I can add more pages down the road if I feel so inspired.

-That it should entertain kids of various ages.

-Bob REALLY likes the Ammon arm page. Thank you Sandy for the idea, and Tina for the arms!

-That it is done.

Dislikes:

-The world page was so awesome in my head, but it just didn't work like I wanted. Not to mention that I made the most stupid mistakes on that page. Oh well!

-How often I didn't pay attention to what was on the page before I ironed stuff on. Hopefully it's not too noticeable.