Friday, September 20, 2013

Ballon Glow

We got adventurous tonight and decided to head out to St. Louis' annual Hot Air Balloon Glow. Tomorrow afternoon, the balloons take off on a race, but tonight they were all lit up on display. The park is about a mile from our house and we knew traffic would be insane, so we decided to walk it. The balloons were on the far side of the park, so I think we ended up walking a total of about six miles tonight with Rhett in tow. So we're exhausted! But we had fun experiencing another aspect of St. Louis life--and they were so pretty! 






Saturday, September 14, 2013

Rhett's Room

Since we moved this summer, I took the opportunity to decorate Rhett's room up a little bit more. I did some decorating in our old place, but it was kind of lame because the room had been painted as a GIRL'S nursery. And ugly one at that. Also, Rhett only slept in his room, because it was on the second floor, and we like to do most of our living on the ground floor. But now we have some fabulous white walls to work worth (ok, not fabulous. But not pink! So it's an improvement). And since we're on one level now, Rhett can really enjoy his room. The theme I went with morphed from Eric Carle in the early days to Children's literature in general (with a heavy emphasis on Eric Carle because I love him and I already had the stuff).  Sorry the pictures aren't great, they're from my phone.




This little display shelf holds some treasured toys from Josh and my childhoods


The crib! Hungry caterpillar sheets. The bed skirt was made for me by a friend







Overall, I am very pleased with his room. It's a happy little place and he spends a lot of time in there now. He loves being read to and looking at all his books, so I think a literature theme is right up his alley.

The quotes above the changing table are: "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be" (from Love you Forever). "Some days are like that. Even in Australia" (from Alexander and the Horrible, Awful Terrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day) and "Listen to the musn'ts child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never-haves then listen close to me. Anything can happen child, anything can be" (from Shel Silverstein).

A Big Boy

All of a sudden, things are starting to change with Rhett. He's understanding a lot more of what we say and do. He'll bring us things if we ask for them by name. When we put on his shoes, he walks over the door and starts to turn the handle. He's starting answering our questions with "yeah!" or (more often) "NO!". In the last month or so, our little baby has really started to grow into a big toddler! It's kind of an unbelievable thing to watch. He's such a happy, inquisitive little guy. He loves to walk around the house, pointing at objects until we name them for him. Then he moves on to something else. And the walking! After months of trying to convince myself that I shouldn't worry, Rhett is finally walking full time. 
The sad thing is, all he wants to do is walk away from us. In fact, his first steps were to walk away from me instead of towards me. He likes to explore and walk all on his own. Sometimes it's sad. But mostly I cheer him on and he claps for himself right along with me. 
Right now Rhett has a scraped elbow, an egg on his forehead, a scratch on his cheek and a bruised chin. All reminders of the battlefield of new toddlerhood. He doesn't mind falling at all. He face planted directly onto the concrete sidewalk today and just hopped back up like it was nothing. I practically had a heart attack. I'm already foreseeing monthly trips to the emergency room in our future. He was such a careful baby but now that he's walking, he just doesn't care how much he hurts himself in the process--he WILL figure out how to get where he's going and nothing will stand in his way. 
We're really enjoying life with a big boy. It has it's challenges, but it is also so much fun. 


Monday, September 2, 2013

16 Months--Photos

We took the opportunity for Labor Day to head to Forest Park. It's a whole new experience now that Rhett is walking around. We didn't take the stroller at all this time and let Rhett roam around at his leisure (except, of course, when he wanted to dive into the lagoon to get the ducks). It was a beautiful night and we really enjoyed ourselves. We've been having a lot of fun with our little family of three.