Cady's mom received a very cool new camera for Christmas, and it lights a pre-flash thing (only scientific terminology used on this blog) when it focuses before taking the snapshot. Said light serves to prime Mr. Brooks for what's coming, which results in some very funny faces. Observe:

(Okay, the middle one is just cute. My child has a serious love of foam which I'm sure is perfectly normal in place of vegetables, right?!)

And just because it makes me laugh:

Yes, dear readers. We took Brooks (the one on the right) back to the doctor yesterday for the 12-month shots he couldn't get last week since he'd been a bit under the weather-- and he had packed on almost a full pound! So we're going to call his official 12-month weight at 21 lbs 15 oz, which is definitely somewhere above the 25th percentile line, thank you very much! :-)

PS-- That's Chubby on the left. Is he not just too cute? Our eternal thanks go to loyal reader Karen I for his arrival at our house!

"Wait-- where did this cold, icy stuff come from?"

"I could've sworn I was JUST shaking maracas on a tropical isle!"

...we're now supporting Auntie Polly with her love for the Washington Capitals! Apparently she has contacted the higher-ups and the Caps are not currently selling baby gear. So we settled for a color-appropriate generic hockey T for Brooks to show his love:

(He also loves the Chicco Talking Farm, as you can see here!)

PS-- HAPPY FIRST SNOW DAY OF THE YEAR FOR SETH!! What a wonderful treat! Now let's just hope for the actual snow accumulation they're predicting! This winter has been very boring so far.

Lest you think Saturday's photograph fully defines the father/son bond:



(Thanks for the suggestion, Emily2!)

As I'm sure you've noticed, this week has been lacking in the excitement department! Guess that's what being sick does. I am thrilled to see (and feel) sunshine finally after a really long string of cold and windy days. Brooksie walked with me all the way down the block to the mailbox yesterday...and then kept walking. Little bugger is fast. Guess we need to watch out for that one!

So alas, it's been an uninspiring week chez Kenton, but that isn't the case everywhere. I ask you for happy thoughts and prayers for the Carlson Family as Kevin travels overseas to serve our country. He will be gone for several months and we are honored to help be surrogate family for Lindsey and Cadence while he is away. I know many of you follow's Lindsey's blog anyway (STALKERS! heh!) but, even if you don't, they--and every military family--would undoubtedly appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Happy Friday!

I got 2 balloons (well, originally 3 but we lost one to the sky) last Wednesday afternoon in anticipation of B's birthday the next day. When the guy was blowing them up, I noticed the sign that said latex balloons should be expected to float up to 11 hours, unless they were filled with "hi-float" which could last 24 hours. I, of course, hadn't mentioned anything special so I was a bit bummed to realize that my efforts to have balloons Thursday were probably in vain. Typical Emily not understanding physics (or whatever...)

I took this picture last night-- one full WEEK after the balloons were blown up. I think my favorite local establishment has the corner on steroid-infused helium. Or maybe it's because we keep our house at a balmy 62-66 degrees (and spent 2 days without properly-working heat on the coldest days of the year, but that's another story). I don't know. WEIRD.


In other news, the Oscar noms were just announced and I've seen exactly 1 of the movies nominated in the major categories. (Frost/Nixon). I think 2009 needs to be the year of getting back to the movies!

I seriously thought this kid had stopped growing since he's been in the same size clothes for months. But no-- he's still shattering the 95th percentile mark with a height/length of 32 inches (at 12 mos). I guess the clothes are deceptive since he's so darn skinny that the pants hang low? Who knows? In any case, given that I lost 5+ pounds in my day of being sick, it's not surprising that he would've lost quite a bit, too. So I don't think his current weight is very accurate but he weighed in today at a paltry 21 lbs 2 oz, or 25th percentile.

The doctor opted not to do the vaccinations since, while there's nothing still really wrong with him, he clearly is not back to his normal self. We'll go back next week for the shots...and maybe we'll find a fatty on our hands! (HA!)

The B-man had a healthy day yesterday, although he was generally more whiny than usual. I am glad we are headed to the doctor today anyway so we can make sure he doesn't have some sort of hidden pain we don't know about!

Many thanks to AKH/Adam and the Key Family for the mail bonanza we received yesterday! Packages are SO fun!! :-) Here, Brooks models his new (Syracuse-inspired) hat and one of the 2 fab toys from his cousins!

PS-- New post with a very short shelf-life so get your votes in!

PPS- I'd like to give a HUGE shout-out to the big guy who lives here. Seth took AMAZING care of his two sickies over what was supposed to be relaxing days off for him. I might tend to be a titch demanding/bossy even in normal times, so I imagine I might be insufferable when sick. Three cheers for him!! (Although he was probably THRILLED to go back to school today! :-)

Well, it's looking more like B's issues the other day might be bug-related after all. Unfortunately, the main way I know this is because I spent yesterday afternoon in stomach bug agony. I've now had two bad stomach events since Brooks was born and, amazingly enough, Seth had a day off of school both times. And he also gets off today for the inauguration so that makes everything 10 times better since I'm still not feeling super well. Poor B has had 2 more small vomiting episodes and had drunk no milk, so all signs are pointing to a bug! I'm eager for us to both be healthy again and we can give the whole milk another try.

From the "looks can be deceiving" file-- this pic was taken approximately 1 hour before I was down for the count:

Since Seth was off yesterday, he was able to come with us to our weekly Gymboree class! (Which I promise we would not have attended if we had any idea about the bug!!!)

Since the B-man is now 1, we decided we needed to transition into more of a "hearty breakfast with whole milk accompaniment" rather than the "bottle of formula followed some time later by some cheerios and banana" tradition of yore. Seth's mom has a great recipe for Oatmeal Pancakes, which I figured was a win-win in terms of being something easily eaten as well as being nutritious. As you can see below, Brooks (in his faboo new long-sleeved bib given to him by FAC) enjoys his pancake bites:

So, indeed, does his daddy:

I thought I'd pass along the recipe in case any of you parent-types are interested. Before we get to that, however, I have to say that I experienced tremendous pride in the Brookster with how well he went from a formula-bottle schedule to a milk-sippy cup schedule. He was a regular spitting image of his milk-loving parents. Unfortunately, it has become clear that his little body is less into being a spitting image and more into just spitting (or, more accurately, regurgitating). Basically, the poor boy threw up last night more than we even thought could even fit in a baby stomach. So we'll be going back to formula today and waiting until our 12-month appt on Wednesday to get some guidance. I fear that we're dealing with a milk allergy, although you'd think it would have shown up in the last 12 months of drinking regular formula. (Or cheese-- or the ice cream the other night, etc, etc.) As much as it sounds horrible to say, I am hoping desperately that it's some sort of bug but the timing just isn't looking good. :-( Apparently, after all the drama we had at the beginning with trying to get this boy fed, all things liquid nutrition are just going to be complicated!

But let's dwell on HAPPY and TASTY things!! Here's how you can make yourself some Oatmeal Pancakes:

2 C milk
1 1/2 C oats
1 C flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 T sugar
2 beaten eggs

Mix and cook! Makes approx 16 pancakes.

It hasn't been quite a year since the creation of this blog, but since we've recently celebrated the first birthday of the reason for its creation, I thought I would give a brief tour of my blog links!! I hear rumors about how easy it is to lose oneself in the world of linking from blog to blog (um, not that I would EVER do that myself!), so I figured it might help for you fellow stalkers out there to be able to put some history with each blog.

• A Day in the Life of the Cates Family: Rosemond and I lived across the hall from each other in Collins Hall our freshman year at Baylor. We succeeded in staying friends once dorm life had ended, and she was a bridesmaid in our wedding!

• Adventures of Bam Bam: I met Tammy in our New Moms Support Group back in March. When our group started, our babies were between 7-11 weeks old! CRAZY! Her son, Christian, is a week younger than Brooks.
  

• Bebe's Brain: Brenna is also a member of the New Moms Group! Her son, Amedeo, is about a month younger than B.
  

• Best Baby Books: My friend Karen (see Good News of Great Joy below) started this blog to review books she read to her son. It has been on hiatus for some time now, but is still a great resource.

• Confessions of the Carlsons: Yet again a member of the New Moms Support Group! Her daughter, Cadence (Cady for short), is one of Brooksie's birthday-mates!
  

• Cooking Light: LOVE.

• Family of Four: Natalie was a year behind me at Baylor and we were Zetas together. I love reading about her family because her husband is a teacher and football coach, as well!

• For Evan's Sake: April pledged Zeta with me and we later served on "Exec" together as officers. She created this blog to tell the story of her second child, Evan.

• Glen Mar UMC Young Adults: The virtual home of our church group. "Young Adult" is a liberally-applied term-- we range from recent college graduates to, um, non-recent college graduates.

• Good News of Great Joy: Karen and I grew up together in Corning, and always felt like we had so much in common that it was kinda crazy! We were bridesmaids in each other's weddings 3 weeks apart in the summer of 2001, and now wish NJ and MD were just a little closer together!

• Hayley and Todd's Little Worlds: Shelley was a year ahead of me in Zeta and we ended up sharing a special Rush (ugh) bond as she was the Asst Chair the year before I was the Rush Chair (ugh again).
  

• I Make Stuff: Mandy married my first cousin, Andrew, and continues to blow me away with her craftiness. Check out her blog and be sure to click on the links for her 2 Etsy shops as well!

• Little One Originals: Jen is a friend from church who makes fabulous hair bows, appliqued onesies, and embellished burp cloths!

• Loving Our Claire Bear: Cathleen was a year behind me in Zeta and served as my assistant the year I was Rush Chair. Ah, the memories! ;-)
  

• MKB Family: My mom claims that she talked to Kelly's mom the day Kelly was born (or was it the day I was born?) making her one of my oldest friends. We went to preschool through 2nd grade together in Houston before my fam relocated to the Empire State. After keeping in touch all the way through school, we ended up at Baylor together!

• Mom's Memories: Melanie is yet another mother in the New Moms groups, although she didn't start out that way! Even though Jillian was born in the same hospital also on January 15th, Melanie wasn't free on Thursdays when the support group met. Sometime after the 8-week session had ended, the group was at the mall having lunch and randomly befriended Melanie and Jillian, inviting them to join the crew!

• Our Life: Courtney was pot-luck roommates at Baylor with another of my longtime Houston friends, Fran. Since I didn't know very many people when I arrived at school, I'd go hang out in Fran's room where I got to know Courtney. To make the story crazier, she grew up across the street from Lindsay (see The Spice of Life below) so I got to know Linds because she would come visit Courtney in her dorm room!

• Sogn Central: Gen and Drew are friends from church and one of the 4 couples making up BabyFest2007 (or BF2K7 for short). This site doesn't get updated too frequently but is a must-read for hilarious photo captions!

• Sydney's Story: Ali was in my Zeta pledge class, although I don't think we've seen each other since graduation. Through the wonders of blog-stalking, we got reconnected and it's been fun to catch up on her life!

• Tales of Fruit and Cake: Emily"2" is yet another mother from the New Moms group! Her son, Jack, is 2 weeks younger than B.
  

• The Carpenter Family: I met Rachel because we pledged together, and then we became roommates for the remaining 3 years of Baylor! She was a bridesmaid in my wedding, as well as a beautiful soloist, and is looking forward to welcoming Audrey Faith in just a few short weeks!

• The Crownovers: Jill was also in our Zeta pledge class and was roommates with April (see For Evan's Sake above). (It all connects!) I can't wait until she updates her blog! :-)

• The Elkridge Hollerer: Travis and Kerry are also members of both our church group and BF2K7. One night several years ago, Kerry mentioned something about "Tyler" and I almost fell over when I realized she had grown up in East Texas with my cousin, Paula!

• The Ellis Family: Amy was a year ahead of me in Zeta but I actually knew her way before that. I remember calling Sheils after fall rush parties my freshman year to tell her that Amy Ford was right in the middle of the Zeta pledge songs! :-) Her family had lived in Houston at the same time we did and our families were friends from church! Too crazy!

• The Four Prices: Staci was actually in my philosophy class my very first semester at Baylor, so I think she was officially the first Zeta I ever knew! She had come to Waco from New Hampshire which was so nice to hear since I'd just arrived from New York!
  

• The Jorgensen Journal: Jessica is yet another Zeta pledge sister (and fellow Exec officer) whose blog I am looking forward to being updated! (hee hee!)

• The Kretz Family: I have told the story of how I know Emily in these very blog pages. We were at Baylor together although we never met. When my parents moved to Dallas 9 years ago, they bought a house down the street from Emily's parents. We finally got 3 generations (grandmothers/moms/baby boys) together this past fall when I visited!

• The Parker Family: Jeff and Stacey were both members of the service organization to which Seth (and Geoff) belonged. I know Jeff is a favorite of both "my men" and I was happy to get to know Stacey during my years at Baylor!

• The Sellers Family: Chad and Jen (of Little One Originals) are church friends and the charter members of BF2k7 with the arrival of Molly in March 2007!

• The Spice of Life: As described earlier, Linds and I met because we both would go hang out in Fran's and Courtney's dorm room and, before long, we were signing a lease to live together-- and then soon found ourselves in the same pledge class, as well. We shared a bedroom for the next 3 years and had enough adventures to fill many blog pages-- and she was my maid of honor! If you're a regular reader, you know that she and Jason welcomed baby Grant this fall, a month earlier than expected, and we are so thankful that he arrived safely!

• Welcome to Zafereopolis: Judy was a year ahead of me in Zeta (and Ali's--of Sydney's Story--big sis!) and is another one for whom I am so thankful for the blog world connections!
  

Didn't see your name on this list? Perhaps it's time for you to start a BLOG!!!!!! Seriously!! Do it!!!

Utterly amazing, this boy. The day before his birthday, he's just a certified babbler. Syllables, etc. Then yesterday, suddenly, the spirit of language came over him and he looked at me very seriously and said, "Dearest Mumsie, might we go please to Sushi King to celebrate the day of my birth?" Good gracious-- how COULD I resist that?

So off we went. The ladies there seemed tickled that we chose their establishment for the birthday celebration. They even brought Brooks his own bowl of tofu:

He wasn't really down with the tofu, however. He wanted to play with the fake grass (or the shrimp tails):

We were completely shocked when the women brought out this treat:

And SOLD to the boy who had his first taste of ice cream and LOVED it (and when I say "taste", I really mean "half the scoop"):

On a side note (well, it would actually be a below note), Brooksie here models his new kicks. The grandmaternal guilt was successful and B and I had a lovely trip to Stride Rite yesterday to get him measured and to get some real shoes. Of course, he can't figure out how to lift his feet with all that new weight so there's going to have to be some walking retraining!

And while those shoes were dangling under the table, we were feasting also on this beauty: the Vegetarian Delight ordered in honor of our Sushi King benefactors, Gabe and Helen!!!


The takeaway from this blog post?? If you're local, go to Sushi King for all your sushi needs!!

BIG PS: HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY TO AUNT NICKI!!!!!

(Initially, he was a bit stunned by the balloons in his crib, as you can see below. In order to achieve the right effect, I then decided to change his clothes into something a bit more birth-like! ;-)

Ever the affectionate one, B gives his balloon a hug and kiss:

So a year ago right this very minute, I was lying in a hospital bed hooked to an IV. Seth took very careful notes about what time every single thing happened on 1/15/08....and then we promptly lost them. Eh-- what can you do? We know he got here safe and sound at 4:31 pm-- just 11 days late!!

Happy birthday greetings also go out, of course, to Cadence, Jillian, and Guinness the dog!

Question: How many of you out there remember reading this book?

I, for one, remember that my second-grade teacher, Mrs. Tees, had several of the books in our classroom and I soon was hooked. (That would have been in the 1986-1987 school year, and I just checked-- it was first published in the summer of 1986!) I will not mention that a certain fraternal relative of mine enjoyed himself a BSC read and probably still can name at least 10 titles in the series. Anyway....

When I was at the library earlier this week, something caught my eye on the shelf of New Children's Books:

I know-- you're thinking, "So they changed the cover. Big deal!" But no, my friends! It's not 1986 anymore. Now the kiddies read about Kristy and her Great Idea in GRAPHIC NOVEL FORM! How crazy is that?

While it stuns me to think about 2nd grade being 22 years ago, it's the past year that has really flown by. As we prepare to celebrate a big day tomorrow, I tried to get some self-portrait shots yesterday.

You know, like this: (aaack! unruly eyebrow warning!)

Or this:

Or, funniest of all-- the accidental video I took. I thought I had it in regular camera mode and didn't realize for a few beats that it was recording. It CRACKS ME UP how Brooks is posing so well for the camera!

Why does Brooksie look so sad?

That darn balloon tied to his arm. It just won't go away!

"Maybe if I close my eyes, it'll be gone by the time I open them."

Well, that didn't work. Guess he just has to learn to take control of that balloon...

In honor of my love for the library (and maternal librarian types), I've added a virtual bookshelf on the blog margin. I'll update each week the books we check out of the library for Brooks to "read." As you can see, I am nothing if not random with my selections. If there's any kind of connection to a book that catches my eye-- for example: Hey-- parsnips! We had those in our CSA box! I should get that book!--then I scoop it up and bring it home. Because of the width of the blog margin, it's currently only showing 3 at a time so hit the "next" button to see the other 3!

And PS-- Seth pointed out that my obsessive nature totally fell down on the job with my poll options. I have no idea why I capitalized PONS in one answer and not in the other. It has nothing to do with the choice!

This mother hen flew the coop on Saturday to attend a baby shower for Cait, who moved to Corning our senior year of high school. The party was held "on the other side of the Potomac" (trademark Eric) and was a fabulous excuse to get out and see how the Virginians do it. Answer: fancy! It was a beautiful shower held in the parlor of a historic hotel in Old Town Alexandria and I had a great time celebrating the mother-to-be:

I'm not embarrassed at all to admit that I was soooo excited to find out, upon my arrival, that I would be able to taste the winner of The Washington Post's Cupcake Wars, a story I'd been following in the paper for several weeks last fall. I give a huge thumbs up to Georgetown Cupcakes! (Please excuse the poor staging in the picture-- I was taking it hurriedly before I seemed any weirder than I already am)

Brooks didn't seem to get the message about the weekend being full of class, however. In fact, he downright refused to have a diaper or pants put on him!

"Whaddya mean I have to wear pants?"

Good thing this mother hen has her chickadee in line! (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.....yeah right!)

I'm not surprised that 'apricot' with a 'short a' experienced a resurgence there at the end. For awhile when it had so few votes, I was wondering what was going on since I've spent many years around people pronouncing it that way. (Me, I'm a 'long a' kind of girl, having learned it in my formative Texas years!) I did notice that the pronunciation changed when we moved to Corning, so I'm going to stick to my idea that it's a North/South split unless you tell me otherwise.

I hesitate to put this next one up because I fear that I (and my parents) might be loners in one camp. Even Geoff has crossed over to the dark side for fear of teasing from his peeps out in LA. Help me out, especially if you pronounce it MY way...

(see post below for explanation!)

(I just realized that, while it was great that I finally remembered to clear the pictures off my memory card yesterday, it was not so great that I did it AFTER I took the pictures for today's blog post. Oops.)

Actually, Grammie Sheils will probably be relieved since she was to be the star-- and like Norma Desmond, she was ready for her close-up. Here's the scoop: my child appears as of this week to have carried his anti-spoonfeeding crusade all the way to his breakfast oatmeal, which heretofore had still been acceptable to him. Now, however, he wants no part of the spoonfuls of glop. That is, unless Grammie takes a bite first. How exactly does she do that when she's so many states away?

I'd love to show you........oops. Imagine a picture of me holding a spoon of cereal in the direction of my laptop's webcam, and on the laptop screen is a giant open mouth. Yes, my friends, I "skype" with my mom most days while B sits in his high chair and eats, and her fabulous idea of "give Grammie a bite; give Brooksie a bite" actually works. It's amazing. I gesture the spoon in the camera's direction; she opens her mouth, and Brooks will then open his when I move to feed him.

Too bad she, you know, has a life and stuff and can't be around for all meals. I bet she could market this. Grammie Gourmet?

Yesterday was just another rainy, yucky day in a long line of them. Ugh. Social duty called, however, so B and I ventured out to meet former colleague, Eloise, for lunch. We worked together for a couple of years before she left to go on adventures far more exciting than what I could offer! She's now in business school in Boston and made time for a visit before she returns to class. The last time we had lunch, I was about 4 months pregnant, so a LOT had changed! Poor E-- Brooks decided to be at his most boisterous and sat in his high chair exactly 5 minutes before he started climbing out of it and standing up. In the high chair. The Burmese restaurant where we met is the first place I've ever seen with a sign on the door that says "Children under 12 are not allowed to roam around the restaurant unattended" so I was a little frazzled that B decided to be so, um, lively in this particular place. We still managed to have a wonderful gossip session and a tasty lunch (thanks, Eloise!), and it wasn't until we were on our way out that I noticed a second sign in the entryway: "You may not bring into this restaurant food purchased anywhere else. Exceptions will be made for our infant/toddler patrons." Well, thank goodness that Brooks could eat his cheerios, etc!

Anyway, you can't see it, but Mr. B is standing in his high chair in this pic:

Later in the evening, it was time to make a Year of Fitness exception for what may be our final Half Price Margarita night (due to impending schedule changes with some husbands)!! Emily2, Lindsey, and I were joined by Em2's childhood friend, Susan, as well as Emily3, whom we hadn't seen in a long time. We, of course, had a fabulous time gabbing for hours about all things motherhood:

We had a faboo time at Fuddruckers yesterday:

Oh wait! That was our first high chair picture in August at Bob Evans. My bad! Hmm... here we go. Do you think they look any older? (PS-- We're glad you made it this time, Amedeo!)

What's the next line of that song??? (I know at least one particular graduate of Holy Spirit Episcopal School should know the answer!)

ANYWAY...

I scored a great deal (as in FREE) the other day on a tags-still-attached Gap toddler hat. Brooks, however, was not as excited about my steal:

He much preferred the tres chic chapeau that Auntie Polly wore to come over and play with us yesterday:

I'm all for safety measures, but it sounds like the world of secondhand shopping is about to come to an abrupt end:

http://babycheapskate.blogspot.com/2009/01/govt-says-sorry-no-more-reselling-your.html

The original article cited:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,2083247.story

1) Find friends who just bought a fabulous new house (in this case, David and Alison) and go hang out in the awesome attic room, what with heat rising and all:

2) Snuggle up to a furry friend. (Wonder if B was confused that the canine's name is Jack since he has two human friends with that name...?)

We had such a fun send-off from Austin yesterday, and I totally owe Facebook for it. There is just nothing like reconnecting with old friends! Abbey and I were Zetas at Baylor together (although I am a year older and wiser) and have kept in touch only sporadically through the last 7 years. Thanks to the wonder of social networks, she is now a loyal blog reader (HI ABBEY!) and was so nice to move into a house only a few minutes from Seth's dad! We got up early yesterday to go see her for the first time in years and years and it was just such a special time to get to visit and catch up on life. It also happened to be her birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY A DAY LATE, ABBEY!) which made it even more fun! That she is also a loyal Cooking Light fan and made a dee-licious french toast casserole is entirely beside the point! :-)

(Please be sure to admire the couch and edge of coffee table below-- they were delivered as we were finishing up breakfast! Super swanky!):