Whole bunch of catchin up!

Um... hey there... how have you been? Sure has been a long time since I've come around this neck of the interweb... oopsies... just been busy, you know having fun, work work working, and all that kind of good stuff. We have a whole bunch to cover on today's edition of "What Have We Done" and I think I would prefer to do it as a photo medley... mostly because I love medleys...

Here we go! First stop, Halloween!

Why have one DJ Lance Rock when you can have a whole DJ Lance Rock family!!! We got to rock our costumes at Tallulah's second annual Tiny Tot Halloween party - it was much fun.

Instead of letting you loose with a sharp knife and a pumpkin, I thought it might be more fun (and by 'fun' I mean 'safe') to use craft paint and paint up our pumpkins this year...

Turned out pretty good, don't cha think?

17-months old!!! Something super duper major happened this month... you got promoted to the next room up at day care - the 18 to 24 month old room... the big kid room... Ms. Neicy is your new teacher and she's amazingly kind and good hearted. You've been having fun getting to know the older kids, participating in show and tell, drinking from a real cup, all sorts of good stuff.

We all went to Goblins In the Garden at the Wildflower Center. Here- you and Clo are having a secret baby conversation... wonder what you guys are discussing?

Paper towel rolls are the most awesome toy that have ever been invented. I'm not sure why I've ever bothered to purchase other toys, as this one is the best.

I taught you how to do knuckles and then how to blow them up. You are really into both.

Hanging with your cousin Logan at Fujiya! You two are hard to get in focus in the same photo at the same time...

Your GM Aubrey came to visit and I took a bunch of blurry photos of the occasion...

Such a good helper in the garden!

You and your bestest friend on the whole planet... puppy.

Thanksgiving 2010!!! Fredericksburg, TX

We were lucky enough to be invited to go to an awesome ranch house out in Fredericksburg with our family friends to celebrate Thanksgiving. We knew the house was going to be awesome, but what we didn't know was that there were tons of farm animals waiting for us when we got there...

Like Finn, the 5-week-old baby cow that slept on our back porch and let all of us pet him and some of us feed him with a giant baby bottle.

You and Clo both decided that homemade cranberry sauce was the total baby jam and that the canned stuff can just go away.

Here's a rare pic of the three of us together in the same picture!

Our Thanksgiving dinner - I took the pic, so, am absent from the table...

This awesome place also had 5 or 6 horses too - here you are bravely petting one of them... they wanted carrots real bad.

When we got home to Austin, we got to go and visit with Miss Weezy May!

You kind of mostly wanted to shake her bouncy seat really hard, poke her eyes out, and steal her bottle... which translates into complete love for a toddler...

18 months old!!!!!

I swear, the day you turned 18-months old, you started chatting up a storm. Most of what you tell us we can't understand yet, but you seriously have crazy intense conversations with me, Daddy, Puppy, yourself, your crib, pretty much any available listener.

We decided to take you to see Santa Claus again this year. We weren't sure how you would react to him - strange guy with large beard at the mall - but we wanted to make sure you had the opportunity to chat with him about Christmas presents.

Turns out you were ho ho horrified of Mr. Sandy Claws. Your father decided (on Santa's suggestion) that we do a 'drop and run' so that we could at least get a picture of you with the Jolly One...

Here's Daddy dropping and running.

Here you are with a 'Daddy, why did you leave me here' look on your face...

Look, Sandy Claws, I'm not sure what your game is, but I know I don't want to play it.

...and furthermore, I would love some new books, maybe a baby vaccuum, and perhaps a puzzle or two... and make it snappy.

...and then Santa threw you into my arms and started singing "Jingle Bells"...

Whew! Glad that's done... til next year... mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!

Last weekend, we took you to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live! It was pretty darn awesome.

You were mesmerized by your TV friends being all live and in person! I was pretty darn excited that Biz Markie and Leslie Hall were there too.

All in all, we've had a super fun, super busy couple of months. We're gearing up for your second Christmas and for a whole new year. I can't believe that it's almost 2011...

Love,

Mommy

P.S. If you ever wonder why there are less pictures of you in your second year than there were in your first, it's because most of the pics I take look like this...

...mostly due to the fact that you can't ever stop moving... not even in your sleep!

16 Months Old!

Dear Chuy,

You're 16 months old! What the?

Lately, we've noticed a significant change in how you perceive and understand the world around you. You are much more aware of stuff and you are starting to recognize and say what things are... "Puppy!", "Owl!", "Shoes!".

You are also more sensitive to things - like the never ending train parade that happens behind our house, or the day we scared the Grilled Cheesus out of you at Target by pushing the 'try me' button on the Big Foot display... sorry about that, it will never happen again...

Your Halloween costume is complete. I will not be unveiling it until we go to our Halloween party this weekend, but here is a pic of you wearing one of the key accessories...

You've always been a fan of puppets, but lately, you want to be in charge of them. They are no longer fun when on Mommy or Daddy's hand, but are a total laugh riot when you're wearing one!

We made you your first P, B, & J sammie. You loved it. It was peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat at our house...

This is your most favoritest book on your most favoritest subject ever in the history of books about subjects. You are a man obsessed with puppies. Seriously. It's kinda crazy. I'm not sure if we've mentioned this to you yet, um... but... we're CAT people. No dogs in our house.

Your GM Aubrey made you your very first dookie chain. It was a little hard getting photographic evidence of you wearing it, but here's the best we could do...

You've decided that walking was cool, walking on tippie toes was awesome, and walking backwards was the shiz... but climbing stuff is off the baby chain!

Here you are climbing Mount Laundry Basket.

You are going to give your poor mother a heart attack.

I would love to be able to remember what we were discussing in this pic, neither one of us looks pleased...

...and then you hauled off and smacked me square in the nose...

...and laughed about it...

I love you too,

Mommy

15 Months Old!

Dear Chuy,

You are 15 months old this month and you are rocking and rolling! Your walking has turned into running, and your babbles have turned into crazy words and almost sentences. When Daddy left for school the other day, you looked out the window, waved, and said 'Buh bye puppy baby!'...

You've been getting better at eating with a spoon as well. Most of the time, the item that you scoop up actually ends up in your mouth. There was one day in particular however that we seemed to take a step backwards... spaghetti day.

They feed you spaghetti at escuela and you never come home covered head to toe in it, so, they must have some sort of magical day care trick that I don't know about...

I'm not sure why Daddy decided that you needed a giant plastic fork, but he gave you one, and here's what happened...

Granted, you seriously enjoyed yourself, we got an awesome video of it, and I'm still thankful that we took your shirt off first, but the amount of spaghetti consumed versus used to 'decorate' the kitchen was not what I was looking for that day.

You've really been into pillow forts lately - which I think is so cute! I used to be way into pillow forts too - like Mommy like Son I guess. It's so cute how you want us to build them around you. You'll just sit and play with your puppy or Mrs. Hoppel inside the fort...

You've realized in the past few weeks that walking is fun, running is more fun, but climbing things is most certainly where it's at. Here you are trying to scale the arm of the couch with assist from the Lego bucket...

...here's a seriously dangerous move wherein you not only balance on the back of the Wheelie Bug, but you take it a step further by trying to stand on it's teeny tiny handle... yikes... seriously kid, you're going to give your mother a heart attack.

...and last, but not least, you've figured out how to conquer the ottoman cubes... all by yourself... with ease... we're so doomed...

Last weekend, we celebrated Sylvia and Penelope's 2nd birthday party at LocoMotion - one of those crazy bouncy house places. You LOVED it and thankfully didn't catch any viruses! Yay!

New raincoat! You hated me stuffing you into it, but it's SOOOOOO cute...

Having snacks with Logan at your Bachan's house. She got you two that cute little table to sit and eat at... like big boys!

All in all, we had ourselves another super busy but fun month. I can't believe how much you are talking and using your sign language - it's so crazy to be able to communicate through language with you. I'm not sure I'm ready to have full blown conversations yet (tender Mommy heart and all), but I'm down with talking about where Daddy is and if you can get into the bubbles (bath)...

Love,

Mommy

14 months old!

Dear Chuy,

Today is my 35th birthday! That's right, your Mommy is officially an old lady. "Middle Aged"... sounds dreadful, doesn't it? Thankfully, I don't act like I'm a grown up very often, so, at least there's that.

You, my son my son, are 14 months old this month! Crazy! This time last year, you were recovering from a battle with some pesky viral menengitis and I was questioning the whole 'day care' decision and feeling bad for my sick little baby. This year, you're happy, healthy as a horse, and thriving at your escuela - thank goodness!

So, what have we been up to lately? Well, we've been holding off getting your hair cut because it's never been cut before... and they're your sweet little baby hairs... and I couldn't bring myself to admit that my tiny little baby is a big bad toddler that has some crazy Bill Murray hair going on.

We decided on just a trim, just around the neck and ears and that our buddy Stacy was the lady for the job!

Turns out, one out of one babies agree - haircuts are super scary! You were not a fan. I think that you were upset in anticipation of the scissors hurting you... but then seemed confused when they didn't hurt at all.

Thankfully, it was all over quickly and Stacy let you play with a comb and help sweep up hair.

In other news, you've really been into reading your books lately - especially if they are peek-a-boo books. This particular book is a farm peek-a-boo that makes animal noises when you lift the flaps. It's pretty darn entertaining. You're even starting to make the animal noises along with the book. Too cute.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I'm so thankful that your teacher at escuela, Miss Jasmine, likes to take pictures as much as I do! Here you are at school finger painting...

I think you might be enjoying yourself just a little bit... :)

I can't believe how fast you grow. I can never believe how big you are. I am never surprised at how smart you are - you're my super baby genius. It is so much fun watching you learn and explore.

Love,

Mommy

P.S. This pic of you and Daddy is too much - I love both of my boys!