We Went to the Zoo ....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!

Michael found a dump truck to drive while at the zoo. He was pretty excited to be able to sit in something like this all by himself.

Waving to his fans out the "window"

Ahh, the leaf he found on the ground ... he just wanted to taste it and see! After we got home, I found a piece of leaf stuck to the back of one of his teeth. Dirt and leaves, the breakfast of champions! (well, lunch!)

The peaceful Bubba ... well, he was actually running around and exploring on the lawn at the zoo, but for the moment he stopped just long enough to capture a picture. On another newsworthy note: HE HAS A MOLAR! We've been wondering why he's not been sleeping well, eating well and well, just been sort of a "not so nice of a person to be around". Now we know ... he's been working on getting one of his molars through his gums. We've been so focused on another tooth that is taking over a month to come through that we didn't even see the molar. Poor little guy!

"What is that?" you ask ... well, it's one of the walls in the kitchen. I happened to walk by and something caught my eye. It's one of Michael's snacks. Of course, when I pointed it out I got Michael's attention so he came and ate it. Does it remind you of places we'd put our gum to save it for later????

This is Michael's play area ... where we throw all the toys at the end of the day. He figured out how to climb in there several months ago, but just today decided to get back in there. He was quite proud of himself too! Then he decided to try to get out ... head first doesn't work very well. (no children were injured in the filming of this story!) He got up from his little stunt and clapped. Now ALL of his toys are out of there in the middle of the floor, and he's rolled my computer chair into the middle of his toys.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!

No, we didn't get to the zoo this week. Darn. It was yucky, rainy weather so I didn't feel like getting all bundled up to go. We'll go next week though ... the penguins are back, we want to see them! Okay, it's really me that wants to see them. Michael couldn't care less probably! Yesterday I had an "ah ha" moment. Michael hasn't had a very good week ... he's been teething and not sleeping well, so he's been REALLY cranky! Our plan for yesterday was to pick up a friend at the airport and go to lunch with her. She was going to hang out with us until around 4:00 when I would take her to the train station so she could get on a train to Fresno. For some reason, I thought to feed Michael here at the house before we left. The last thing I wanted was a screaming boy in the restaurant because he was starving. So I gave him his lunch early ... and he was great! Apparently that's what most other moms do because when I mentioned what I did to other people, they said "yes, we do that too!" So from now on ... if I'm going out for a meal with him, he's eating here at the house FIRST! The funny thing is that he ate about 3 slices of that yummy carrot bread at Mimi's Cafe and several fries ... as if he hadn't eaten a meal before going to lunch! I guess that's what is meant by "he's a growing boy". Anyway, we had a nice time with my friend and she was looking forward to her train ride to Fresno (which I'm told was great and a really nice and inexpensive way to get down there!)

We don't have much planned for the weekend. Aunt Shelly and Uncle Tom and the boys are coming over tomorrow to visit so that will be fun. Maybe I'll have fun stories to tell after that.

Mommy, may I please have that bottle I see sitting
on the dresser behind you??? Please, please, please!



These pictures were take after we spent an evening at church with "Bubba" screaming bloody murder most of the evening. We went there for a special dinner, and Bubba went into the nursery with all the other kids of parents attending the dinner. Apparently he was on overload with all the kids running around (they were older kids too) and I got up from the table to go use the restroom and heard my son screaming! The poor guy ... he was just tired and overstimulated and not in his normal routine. Fortunately, Rose was there. Rose coordinates the helpers in the nursery at church and LOVES babies. She loves Michael and knows that he is usually all smiles and very playful. But boy did she get an earful tonight! We got him calmed down for a little bit so I could go in and enjoy the yummy flan that was for dessert. Did you know that El Pollo Loco makes flan? It was one of the better flans I have tasted! Who would've thought? Maybe it's just our local El Pollo Loco ... but go try it! Oh, and as soon as we put Bubba in his carseat to come home, he was playful and happy. We played our "momma .... Bubba" game the whole way home. He says Momma, I say Bubba and we laugh together. Then he says Momma again and I say Bubba and then we laugh again. Do that for 10 minutes and you're sure to change your frazzled mood into a happy mood!

Back to my last posting .... Tony and I had a GREAT time going out to dinner alone. We didn't have reservations, so we showed up at the restaurant at 5:15. We were seated immediately and the place was empty. By 5:30, the place was packed and people were waiting for seats. It was nice to get in early on that one! We forgot what it was like BK (before kid) when we'd just go cruise Target and meander through the aisles checking the clearance stations. So that's what we did ... meandered. So a big THANK YOU to Robyn and kids for blessing us with a night out! We didn't even worry about a thing here at home!

We're hoping to make it to the zoo later this week, so maybe we'll have something fun to post! Last time we went, there was some monkey screaming/singing. We found the monkey's "home" and Michael sat there watching him and then started singing back to him. It was kinda cute. Now that he's walking everywhere (which he wasn't when we first went to the zoo) he might see more things ... like the duck poop on the lawn, the leaf in the middle of the walkway, the piece of gum stuck under the bench .... lots of fun stuff!

The things that make Michael laugh!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Here are a few photos of Bubba to share with you on Valentine's Day. The greatest part of my day is having a friend come over to watch Bubba tonight so Tony and I can go out to dinner ALONE!!!! WOO HOOOOOOO!

Michael's cousin TJ was playing with him the other day and decided to share his hat with him. He was only ok with this the first time. The next time TJ put the hat on him he cried. I don't think he could see, so he didn't like it. But TJ had fun!

"Speedy Bubba"

The Lawnmower

We're rotating toys! Michael got this lawnmower for Christmas, and since I'm rotating toys so he thinks he gets new toys all the time (do you think this trick will last until he's 18???), it's new to him today! I brought it out for him and showed him how he can walk with it. When he walks with it though, it makes noise. Loud noise. He was a little surprised by that so decided that he shouldn't push it ... but that he should carry it instead. Unfortunately I wasn't wearing my camera around my neck so I didn't get a picture of it! It was cute though ... this lawnmower is about as tall as he is when he picks it up by the handle! Now he's figured out that it will sing songs to him when he pushes it so he's okay with that ... he LOVES music.

I figured it out! Thanks Robyn for showing me how to add that badge of photos on the blog! (See the new square of pictures on the right hand side of the page)

Michael and I were at Target by 8:30 this morning! Quite early for us, usually we're just getting breakfast around that time and I'm definitely NOT ready to show myself to the world! But, today Michael woke up early and I had errands to run. I figured I should do them while he was in a good mood! I had forgotten how nice it is to shop that early ... no one is in the store! It's great! We went grocery shopping too and Michael had fun talking to the produce guys and giving them his big cheesy smile where he wrinkles his nose and shows them his teeth. Once we got home, he took a nap ... running errands wore him out I guess.

Advice from Michael ... Just say "DaDa"

We were having some fun with the camera today! Michael cracks up when he sees the camera come out.

Our day consisted of meeting a friend for lunch at the mall. Michael went to bed late last night, so it was good to have a slow day so he could get a good nap in this morning. We had fun at the mall... Michael likes to "people watch" there. It was nice to catch up with a friend of mine from work too. We were saying our goodbyes when some guy came up to us and practically joined our conversation. It was really weird. Then he says " I wish I had a baby". I'm thinking "you're not getting this one though!" He just stared at Michael, asked Cecilia why she doesn't have a baby and then walked over to his friends and walked away. Ahh, the people you run into on the K Street mall! Fortunately, my paranoia of him taking my son away because he "wishes he had a baby" were just that, me being paranoid!

Michael has now figured out how to open and close his door to his bedroom. By open, I mean when he doesn't shut his door all the way he can then open it back up. It's when he shuts it all the way that he stands on the other side of the door and calls me. I'll bet it will be fun when he can reach the door knob ... open, close, open, close, open, close ..... oh joy!

Okay, Okay, I've given into this "blogging" thing and I'm giving it a try! It seems to be an easy way to share our Michael (AKA "Bubba") pictures and little stories I call my mom with almost every night. I will try to keep this updated every few days, hoping that I won't have to remember to email a bunch of pictures to everyone when I think it's been a while.

Tonight's Bubba story goes like this:

I'm standing in the kitchen, cleaning up. Michael is sitting in his Daddy's lap playing with him on the couch. He sees me grab one of his bottles and he points to it and says his typical "uh". "uh, uh, uh". I said to him, "I've already made your bottle to go night night, it's in your bedroom for when Daddy puts you to bed." He immediately gets up off of Tony's lap and starts walking down the hall to his room. Tony and I looked at each other as if to say "he couldn't have understood all of that!" Michael stopped half way down the hall and turned to look at Tony, and said "uh" again. (yes, that's pretty much his favorite word right now even though he can say "all done", "mom", "dad", and others) He proceeds to turn back around and head into his bedroom and walks around in there for a few seconds. Then he stops at the rocking chair and giggles and points up to his dresser ... where the bottle is! He stands there pointing and laughing/giggling and bouncing up and down so excited that he has found his bottle. So ... off to bed he went ... happy because he found his bottle.