Happy Birthday to Adam!

Adam celebrated his 1st birthday on Friday! We had a party with pizza, presents, and cake and it was crazy but fun! I had a barnyard theme and made a cow cake that was gigantic and a lot of work! Adam was overwhelmed with presents but loved trying everything out. Now that Christmas is less than a month away, I think this child is going to have toy-overload!

Getting ready to open presents

All his helpers....aka cousins

Opening a present all by himself

Cow Cake (that took me 2 hours to bake and 4 hours to torte, fill, & decorate!)

"What is this? Should I eat it?"

"Let me get a closer look"

"Yum!"

He was a very tidy eater and didn't eat much past the frosting! Maybe that had to do with eating an entire piece of pizza shortly before?

After we put Adam to bed that night, Nat and I talked about how lucky we are to have such a wonderful little boy and how we couldn't imagine the past year without him. I'm sad my baby is moving into toddlerhood but I'm looking forward to all the fun things we'll be able to do with him and watching his funny personality blossom!

Walking!!

A few days ago Adam took his first difficult little steps and now he is taking 7, 8, 9 or more steps at a time! It's always a struggle to try to capture it on camera because the minute he sees the camera, he wants to grab it. But we were able to get this video using the camera as a lure! :)

Adam will turn 1 in 10 days and I have a feeling he might be totally walking by then if he keeps this pace up!

Early Birthday Present

After Grandma and Grandpa Shurtleff came to visit the other day, they decided that Adam couldn't wait another 2 weeks to get his birthday present because he is constantly standing by himself and has even taken a few steps! So, now he has a shopping cart to push and walk behind! It is so fun to see his little legs moving so fast to keep up with the cart! Plus he loves taking the items in and out and of course dancing to the music. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!!

Here is a picture of Adam doing what we call "No Hands!".

Happy Halloween!

Adam celebrated his first Halloween by dressing up as a lion and trick-or-treating with his Aunt Annie. I found out that I didn't get a single picture of him smiling in his costume so I'm hoping my Mom did and I can steal some of her pictures. But for now.....here are the best ones I could find!

My little lion cub

I found these socks literally the morning of Halloween in his drawer! I'd forgotten about them and they were perfect for his costume. There are lions at the top and "ROAR" written on the bottoms!

Aunt Annie the Farmer Girl and Little Lion (Annie got a kick out of painting freckles on her face and making fun of me who has lots of freckles....I take great offense to the stigma that girls with freckles are farmers and hicks!!)

He was fascinated (and a little scared) of this skeleton that sang and danced on the front porch of a neighbor. At one point it clacked its teeth together....he didn't like that much.

Playing with his loot

Visiting the Ducks

There is a park by our house that, unbeknowst to me, has ducks! Lots and lots of ducks....and geese....and swans!! Since my discovery, I have taken Adam there several times for long walks. I'm not quite sure what Adam thinks about the ducks though!

On a side note....this is the tree in front of our house and it has been the most amazing shade of red the past few weeks! I'm pretty sure it's a maple tree and I told Nat that we HAVE to plant some in our future yard someday.

Excuse This House

I sometimes watch a quirkly little local TV program called The Home Team (on KJZZ 14 for those who live in Utah). The other day, one of the hosts read this poem and I really liked it. I am guilty of wanting a perfect house and often have to remind myself that I should be on the floor playing with and reading to Adam instead of worrying about cleaning. I thought I'd share it with all my mommy friends.

EXCUSE THIS HOUSE

Some houses try to hide the fact
That children shelter there-
Ours boasts of it quite openly,
The signs are everywhere-

For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges on the doors;
I should apologize, I guess,
For toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with the children
And we played and laughed and read;
And if the doorbell doesn't shine,
Their eyes will shine instead.

For when at times I'm forced to choose
The one job or the other;
I want to be a housewife-
But first I'll be a mother

Author Unknown

Kid-to-Kid Germ Sharing at Its Finest

I have officially entered the world of kid-contracted illnesses! Adam threw up his "Thanksgiving" dinner (yes, Thanksgiving....Nat's cousin Jason is home from Iraq for a few weeks and his family wanted to make him Thanksgiving dinner since he missed last year and will miss this year too) in his crib in the middle of the night last night. Then, as I was putting the sheet, blanket, and bumper in the wash, Nat heroically made it into the bathroom to have Adam throw up in the sink. About an hour after getting Adam back down to sleep, he threw up again in his crib. So far this morning he has not thrown up but now I'm getting the pleasure of dealing with diarrhea! I love being a mom.

We had lunch last week with my friends and Katie's baby was sick a few days later so I'm going to bet that's where he got it from. So thank you Lexie for spreading your germs to Adam! I guess their mothers shouldn't have been trying to make them kiss. Serves us right.

Murrini Glass Class in San Antonio

Last week I went with my Mom to San Antonio for a glass class where we learned how to make Murrini canes to include in our fused glass pieces. Murrini is difficult to explain so a basic version is this: You take glass and heat it in a torch until it is molten, then you wrap, spread, and layer more glass onto it, then and twist, roll, flatten, shape and then finally pull to get a long piece of glass. Once this piece cools, you saw it into pieces and inside is a miniature version of what you created prior to pulling. It is very hard and very hot!! Unfortunately I never thought about taking a picture while I was working so I don't have any of me, but here are a few pictures of our instructor, Milissa Montini working on a piece.

Heating the glass

Using another strip of glass to "paint" or stripe it onto another piece of glass. This picture is purple because I took it through my special glasses to avoid the yellow fire showing.She stuck another rod onto the other end of the glass and is now rolling and shaping itPulling the glass piece into a rod

The finished rodThis is an example of what the canes turn out like. These patterns were made on a larger scale and then pulled into thinner rods to create small patterns. Each slice of these canes will have the image on it. Pretty cool huh? These are WAY beyond my skill level however.
My Mom and I had a great time together and although I missed my baby, it was so great to be an adult and nothing else! Most of our time was spent in class, but we did squeeze a little time in for sightseeing.

The Alamo
The River Walk in downtown San AntonioThese umbrellas are part of a mexian restaurant we ate at that night

My Little Houdini

When I went to get Adam up this morning, this is what I found.....

I have no idea how he managed to get his arm completely out of his sleeve!

And this is him saying "Why are you standing there with a camera and not getting me up??"

Eskimo Kisses

I just added a new picture to our header and thought it needed a little explanation. My Mom took this picture of me giving Adam "Eskimo Kisses" on his nose. This was taken about a month ago and everytime I would rub his nose and recite the poem he would open his mouth, scrunch up his nose and eyes and smile so big! Sadly, he no longer reacts that way and I miss it!

I think this is one of those pictures that perfectly captures a moment of my baby's life and will be something I treasure! Thanks Mom!!