Christmas Gifts

This year, gift giving was easy thanks to Oliver.  Everyone got very personal gifts from us.  I've been excited to share my most favorite though... and now that everyone has received their gift, I can post pictures!!!

We went to a paint-your-own-pottery place and thank goodness teeny tiny was asleep because it was so helpful during the process.  We painted 8 plates and 4 mugs assembly style.  My sister met me there and she was in charge of both rocking the boy so he would stay asleep and keeping track of which plate/mug had which layer of paint so we'd know which one needed to be painted next.  

When Oliver woke up I let him finger paint a plate - so. much. fun.

Without further chatter... behold, our penguin plates!  I. love. them.  They turned out so much better than I'd hoped!  The white was really hard to work with and a few ended up a little wonky like the one below, but overall I was SO pleased with them.  I kept adding to them, i.e. black rim, snow in the rim... a little part of me wanted to write something cute like 'Happy Feet' or something, but I decided to stop while I was ahead!  

(pic taken from my phone - will try to get a better one later)

... it seemed only fitting to have footprint bags for the plates. :)

They were a hit and I think everyone loved them as much as we did!  We will definitely be doing something like this every year.  It was so funny at the paint place, so many people looked at me like I was a nut since I was painting black footprints.  One lady even commented that she'd seen another person make a plate but they used a light blue for their baby - I had to laugh before telling her that I was making it into a penguin.  I showed her the picture I'd seen on Pinterest that someone had done on paper and she then said, 'Oooh.'  Ha!  

As I was painting, I did have to wonder - at what age is a footprint not cute anymore?  Maybe when it's too big to fit on the plate?  I plan to move on to hand prints as soon as he's old enough to understand what it means to 'keep your hand open,' but until then I'm stuck with the feet.  And don't even try to tell me that foot prints are never not cute because I highly doubt my mom would be excited about a platter with my foot print painted on it!  :)

Ten Things - Miscellany

For no reason at all other than I need to muster some motivation to pick up the clutter that covers our floor counter couch garage entire house right now.

1.) I don't like to walk on carpet that I just vacuumed.  When I'm vacuuming and you walk on the fresh lines, I feel a strong need to vacuum where you just walked (again).  This also applies to a crawling baby, despite how cute he may be.

Side note, we got a Dyson Animal in July (Merry Christmas to me from Chandler) and it is every bit as good as what people say.  I love it.  I use it no less than every other day.  The stairs attachment is dumb though, with three animals, we use the regular head and don't bother with the silly attachments.

2.) When I'm loading dishes in the dishwasher I turn the water on and keep it running whether I need to rinse things or not.  I know it's a horrible waste, but I feel like I need the water.

3.) We signed up for Amazon Prime in April because I needed a stroller that the car seat could snap into ASAP.  We thought we'd cancel the free trial, but decided we really liked it.  We use it a lot.  In the eight and a half months we've had it, we've placed 68 orders.  36.8 weeks in 8.5 months - about two orders each week.  CRAZY!  We love it.  I dare you to try it.

4.) These are the best fingernail clippers ever.  Buy them.  You won't be sorry.

5.) Lots of friends posted mobile pics of their sweet babies at Christmas and when I clicked through the pictures some would loop back to older pics from the previous Christmas.  They had gotten so big.  When I think of that being us next year and Oliver being almost two, it makes me want to throw up.  Seriously, time needs to stop.

6.) Nola often throws up yellow stomach bile - I don't know what causes dogs to do this.  Did that gross you out even more than me wanting to throw up because my baby is growing so fast?  I'll stop with the grossness.

7.) Sunkist and Cheezits are great together.  Keebler Giant Fudge Sticks and Ocean Spray Cran-Tan(gerine) are also great together.

8.) I devoured The Secret Life of the American Teenager when Oliver was teeny tiny and wanted to nurse all.day.long.  I am sad Netflix is behind on the seasons.

9.) I spend way too much time on the computer when I should be cleaning up the house.

If you haven't ordered those fingernail clippers, you're missing out.  They are soooo good.  Way better than the Revlon ones at the grocery store.  That link is not an affiliate link or anything, I just really love them.

10.) I talk to my friend Katie just about every day and Chandler thinks we are ridiculous because he doesn't understand.

Off to pick up the junk that is scattered around................ I know your day is much more complete after reading this! :)

Then & Now - Green Shirt Edition

There have been only a couple things I've loved enough to buy two sizes in, but this is the same shirt (3-6m) in each picture.  It feels like he never wears my favorite things for long, but then I look back and realize he did get a good six plus months out of some things and I don't feel so sad. 

 An exception to the norm for most babies, but I love it.

 4 months - June 3rd

10 months - December 15th

First Christmas

Love this! So glad we ordered it.

Merry Christmas

...from my phone to your screen!

Mr. Personality

This about sums it up right now. Silly, silly boy.

(P)inspired Pictures

I posted a Pinterest inspired picture of Oliver in lights last week and thought I'd post a few more.  The first two are from the first session we tried originally and the others are from our second attempt when my parents came to town.  I've not edited any so I may be able to get them looking better.  Maybe one day when I have some extra time to play.

We gave him a couple of presents early.  Mainly, his keys.  I found a cute key set at Barnes and Noble after Thanksgiving and scooped it up on sale.  I also ordered him a set of Kleynimals.  They're stainless animal shaped keys that clink like car keys.  He loves them!  I am SO glad because they were a little pricey for what they are.  He shook them for no less than forty-five minutes last night.