Spaghetti

A eats spaghetti on his own.

Made it to Jersey for Christmas

Today, beyond even our own expectations, we finished putting our windows in (more in that later) and cleaned the house (HUGE thanks to Sarah and Andy). We left at 2 and drove to New Jersey for Christmas.

The PA turnpike has these awesome mommy and me stalls where you can take your kid into the stall with you. I put A in the koala care baby seat and he thought it was so fun swinging his feet and looking at the toilet plumbing. I've only seen these seats on the PA turnpike and at Sheetz. I wish they were more common!

Hiatus

Right now we have 3 of our downstairs walls completely open.  Thank the Lord Jesus it is 45+ degrees today.  Soon we will have windows.  Big, giant, beautiful windows.

Needless to say, we're not planning on posting anything for awhile.  Life is too crazy here.

So instead, enjoy our friends blog.  If you don't remember, Melissa and Zach are our friends, Melissa is A's daycare provider, Brynn, their daughter is 11 days younger than A.  She took some pics of them being silly.

http://brynnadaryn.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/love-our-little-girl/

Ball Pit Birthday

I have officially updated the Videos Page on this blog.  There are now somewhere in the range of 150 videos of Attison on my youtube page, which is private.

This amazing video has ZERO views, which means I have not shared it with you yet.  It is a video of Attison playing in his ball pit on his birthday. Happy 1st Bday Attison!

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1st person informal

So yesterday I addressed Attison in the blog, I think for the first time.  I have wild expectations that he will someday see this masterpiece of memories that we have created, in all of its sarcasm and glory.  Hopefully the internet doesn't blow up before then.

We could make a book out of it, they do that with blogs, right?  That is unlikely because we already have 443 posts.  A 443 page book would make a pretty good memoir, but he is only 1. Doing some simple math, if each year we post 400 times (unlikely) and he lives to be 90 (jury is still out on life expectancy for his generation), then that equals, 36000 pages. Ain't nobody gonna read that crap.

That also assumes I live to be 118 and stalk my child, taking photos of his every move and continue to fight off dementia enough to create blog posts.
Also, I'm having another child, who I'm bound to like just as much as this one.

You can see how this continues to be complicated.
(You can also see how I am an INSANE person who is taking advantage of a captive audience to ramble on without reason or logic.)

In summary:

My darling Attison,

The first year of your life your dad and I wrote this blog about you where we updated your out-of-town relatives with your daily development and activities.  Then it kind of became a chore (mostly because we stopped carrying our camera everywhere) and we didn't update as frequently, as you will see in the future (if you are reading this chronologically).  We still love you just as much as we did that magical moment you were born.

Baby #2 [and other babies to come],

We love you each unconditionally.  I'm sorry we continued to use the same web address after you were born.  The blog is only named after Attison because he was born first. Since none of you are born yet, I can tell you honestly that I hope to continue posting frequently for the first miraculous moments of your lives.  I can't make any promises though, because I'm already tired and when you get here I'll probably be tired-er for awhile.

Dedicated followers, friends and family,

Thanks for checking every day.  Or once a week.  Or whenever you remember. We love sharing A's adventures with you and can't wait to show you how he is going to be a great big brother to his sibling [s]. Go ahead and keep telling us to keep posting, but know that we'll probably slow it down a bit.  I'm sorry for setting the expectations so high by posting 443 ties in the first 407 days of Attison's life.  (I used a calculator for that math). I'm also sorry that I'm not sorry that if you are actually reading and not just looking at pictures you are getting a direct line to my mental processing, which is sometimes "a bit loopy" to say the least.

With love,
Ma
Steph
slypr

Magnetic Letters

A plays with letters at his grandma's house. 

That cat is special.  It has wheels and scampers around saying "catch me!" and singing a little song.  It has a sensor in it's face so when it gets close to a wall it turns around.  Very clever.  When caught, the cat giggles and says "catch me again!" Eventually, the boy gets tired of catching the cat, but the stupid feline doesn't have a timer and keeps spinning circles around the universe singing and shouting "catch me, hehehehe!!"

I hate cats. 

But alas, I like my kid and he likes the scampering cat, so that is fine. Attison: you can't get a real cat while living in our house.  Maybe when you graduate from college and have your own apartment then you can do whatever you schmoo. 

Home Depot

Another late night at the Depot buying stuff to build our house.  This trip was electrical stuff, so lightswitches, outlet boxes, wire, etc. A was having a grand old time dropping the switches out of the cart and saying "uh-oh!" Unable to grasp that this was not, in fact, a hilarious game, we came up with a temporary distraction.  Grab a Homer Bucket, and teach him to put them in the bucket.  

Then this happened. 

Then he tried to eat the bucket.

Eventually we just put all our items in the bucket, put the bucket under the cart and let him play with my cell phone.

Ribbons and Church

At Church of the Ascension they have ribbons for the kids to twirl around with during the processional.  Attison played with them for the first time this past week. He held his Da's hand, walked around a bit and then made a bee-line for the baptismal font.  He then proceeded to crawl circles around it.  Elliot joined him for a few laps, but then slipped, bumped his head and cried.  A got confused and decided it was time to go get some bagels. 

Since we don't have a kitchen, we kind of, maybe, usually, maximize the term "coffee hour" and stay for over an hour, until practically no one else is there and help "clean up" the leftovers. The Raufers might translate "coffee hour" to "free lunch in a warm dining hall where we don't have to wipe the sawdust off the table before using it." Maybe. 

Kids and cameras

This is what happens when you have three children with different photo taking interests.

Child 1 is too young and completely oblivious to the camera

Child 2 wants his picture taken desperately, but sometimes decides at the last minute he wants you to take a picture of him not facing the camera, because that is funny.

Child 3 also wants her picture taken desperately, but has no concept of how long it takes and is constantly moving and changing her pose. 

So this is what you get. 

Breakfast in bed

This happens pretty often.

Little Rocking Chair

This chair is at my grandma's house.  We used to sit in it when we were youngsters.  Sometimes when we go to visit my grandma sits in it because she is silly and says it really isn't that uncomfortable. 

Cars and holidays

So, I'm pregnant.  And I have a 13 month old who weighs 24 lbs.  I also often have a 5-10 lb diaper bag.  It is hard to go places. But it is quite rewarding to go places, so we often pack up our crap and go dog go!

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, after we had a lovely week with Regina, Dennis and Carolyn coming to McConnellsburg again to celebrate Thanksgiving at Linda's House on Cooper Ln, we made our rounds of town saying goodbye.  I dropped the boys off at my Grandmas to go get gas (and coffee and have 5 minutes of alone time).  When I got back Sarah and Andy had arrived and my cousin Adam's car is usually parked out front also.  Not feeling like parking in the driveway in the back, nor across or down the street, I made a parking spot of my own, in the front yard. 

The neighbor was quite confused when he pulled in and saw the shenanigans happening across the street. 

I got a $60 ticket once for parking facing the wrong direction in front of my gram's house a few years ago.  (Yeah, really, there was 1 police officer and so little crime that he took the time to give me a stupid ticket for visiting my grandma. Jerkface. It isn't like he didn't know who I was and why I was there and couldn't have knocked on the door and come in for some pie.)  These days there is no longer a police force in the burg' and the state police don't have time to worry about holiday parking shenanigans.  So park wherever I want? ok!

What is the point of this post anyway?  I don't know.  I think it is funny. And if I come to visit you before February and there isn't a convenient parking space maybe I'll put put my car on your front porch.  I have all wheel drive now.

Eating out

Why would he sit in a high chair when he can "take a knee" in the middle of the table like this?

 He literally sits like this on the table all the time, ready to spring into action if someone puts down a spoon he can throw on the floor.

The table also gives him instant access to awesome toys like sugar packets, salt shakers (that are great for banging) and sometimes mirrors (for when we're in our favorite, never-classy, cheap, greasy, and delicious diners).

And then real quick before dinner is over we start the "throw everything on the floor under the table" game.  I feel bad for Tim because I've crossed the threshold of being able to 1. bendover and 2. fit under the table with my giant pregnant belly.

Words

We have some words!

A's favorite things to say are:

Ba-by!
He often says baby with a short a (like apple) instead of a long a (like ape).  He kind of yells it in succession "ba-by-ba-by-ba-by!"  We sometimes ask him where the baby is and he points to my belly.  If we're sitting or laying down he will nuzzle his face into my belly.

Ap-a, Apple
A few times he's said apple, like when you offer him an apple and say apple 100 times.  Usually he just says Ap-a.  Sometimes when he is playing alone, usually in the car, he kind of gets a little chorus of what sounds like "Happy apple!" going.  (also kind of a hap-a-ap-a-hap-a-ap-apy)

Uh-oh
This is a favorite.  He knows that uh-oh has an association with things falling.  Our most used application of uh-oh is when he is in a chair, on the bed, etc. He says "uh-oh," waits for me to turn around and drops whatever he is holding on the floor. Not quite the right idea, but we're getting there.

Da
A says Da most of all when "talking on the phone."  He'll take any phone, or really any object (a shoe, a cord, his empty hand, the other night at a friend's he had 1/2 a wooden carrot as a phone) and put it up to his hear and say "Da!"  He also calls his Da by that name sometimes.  Or maybe he just always talks to his Da when he is "on the phone."  Who knows.

Ma
Ma is an easy one, which unfortunately kind of leads to it just being a noise and not meaning anything.

Ma-me
This is a new one!  Sounds like Mommy! Not as frequent as the ma-ma-ma-ma-ma of yesterday, but still multiple times a day!  We're trying to associate his use of Mommy as if he is addressing or looking for me, you know, like you're supposed to try and teach your kids stuff.

I don't think I've officially said this for the record, but we've totally given up on sign language.  There is some pretty good evidence that because we are of the socio-economic status of families that would be inclined to teach our children sign language before word language development is possible, our children will already have stronger language skills than those of other socio-economic groups that do not (because of time, knowledge, skill, etc.) attempt to teach their kids sign language.  (Woah, NERD ALERT!)

In other words, when the kid starts throwing his food on the floor and feeding the dog directly from his hand to her mouth, we know he is "all done."  When his food is gone and he looks for more, occasionally pounding his fists on his tray and yelling, we know he would like "some more please."  Non-verbal communication skills? check.

Snuggling

British Bizzy Bear

Bizzy Bear is British!

Tim and I watched this video on YouTube before sharing it here on the blog and one of the suggested videos was for the Bizzy Bear App! Unfortunately it is only available for Apple Products, of which we have none :( sad face. Maybe someday they will come out with an Android Version, wouldn't that be lovely?
If you'd like to hear Bizzy in his native tongue, click here!
If you'd like to hear Bizzy as read by Tim Raufer, see below :)

Birthday Videos

We recorded A opening the first few birthday presents he received for the big #1 b-day.  We didn't continue recording, tearing paper off of boxes kind of looks the same after awhile.



1st Birthday Cake!  Gram Beulah and Pap Pap Paylor came to visit the day before A's birthday and brought him a cake!



Gram watches A open her present.


A also got a car transporter from Aunt Sally.  It sings this song:
Driving down the highway, loaded up with cars.  Beep beep!  Honk honk! I am on my way!
We also have a book about trucks that has a picture of a car transporter in it.  So every time we read the book, we sing the song the car transporter sings.

Tim's parents got A a little man named Jake who rides a skateboard and helps the boy learn how to tie, untie, use buttons, zip, etc.
My mom and John gave A some Steelers gear and a few toys for the car and their house.
My dad gave him some crayons and a coloring pad, plus a subscription to Highlights Magazine.
Grandma Raufer gave A a big tow truck and a little car (which go with the theme of the car trasnporter, coincidentally).
Christine and Matt gave A some pj's, which you have already seen in previous pictures of him. (red with dogs!)
Katy left a secret package outside his bedroom door one day with some wicked awesome books in it.
Kara and Dan gave A a BRAND NEW lift the flap book.  He was the very first person to lift the flaps! (Actually Kara and I lifted the flaps because they were kind of hard.)

Thanks to all that gave presents to A, but also to all those who love our little precious boy!
I hope I didn't forget anyone, if I did, sorry!

I hope I didn't set a precedent about blogging thank you's to all birthday presents.  I'm now realizing that when baby #2 turns 1, I'll be turning 30 and maybe not nursing anymore so hopefully we'll be celebrating in style.

Lentils Video

Here is the boy playing with lentils.


At 2:10 A makes a bold move.
Around 3:20 he helps clean up a bit.

Perhaps this video isn't as exciting as you may have thought it was going to be. 

NJ Sink Bath

Attison takes a bath in the sink in Palmyra.