Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Mess

This past weekend Layton had a runny nose so we were constantly wiping his nose and had the kleenex handy in each room. Somehow he managed to get these off of his dresser and he had a little fun while mommy was in the other room. He came to me carrying one saying "mommy mess mess" and I went to his room and found this:

It was a brand new box and he was so proud of himself he just kept pointing at it saying "mess mess" I called my mom and told her what he did and she said she has a picture of me with a pile of kleenex next to me when I was a baby. She said "You did the same thing Amy." Layton definitely makes me laugh everyday :) Our life would be so boring without him.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Happy 15 Months Layton!

Happy 15 months to my sweet baby boy! Layton is growing up and learning so much everyday I am making myself sit down and document everything he is doing these days before I forget it all. We took him to his 15 month checkup last Friday and his stats are:

Height: 33 1/2 inches tall 97%
Weight: 27.8 oz. 84%

Besides the allergic reaction discussion at the doctor, we got a good report. Layton's vocabulary has increased so much in the last three months the nurses and doctor were impressed. The nurses walked in to give him his shots and said "hey guys" and then of course Layton repeated and said "hey guys" back to them it was really funny. He is asking for stuff or telling us what he wants and using some small sentences these days. He says "I want _____. He is also associating people with places now. The other day we passed the gym as we were driving through town and he started pointing and yelling "Tanner Tanner!" I always meet my friend Juli at the gym and her daughter Tanner is always in the Playcare with Layton so I thought it was funny that he noticed the gym and remembered Tanner's name randomly. He associates church with Papa because we always see him there and he also said Bible the other day when we mentioned church. He tells us mommy's car or daddy's truck and lets us know whose stuff is whose.

He loves to play in the bubbles so bath time is always an easy thing for us. As soon as we mention bubbles he starts running to the bath tub screaming "I want bubbles" over and over again. When we brush his teeth we must let him do it first and then mommy or daddy helps him finish otherwise it is a really big fight. As soon as we start drying him off in the tub he starts saying teeth and Elmo because he has Elmo toothpaste. His two favorite things right now are Thomas the Train and Elmo. We have some books of both of these characters and he has really gotten into them and notices when we see Elmo on random things. He also says choo choo every time we drive across the railroad tracks in town.

We have also had a fair share of fits these past few weeks. He is stubborn and knows what he wants and he wants it now. He periodically goes through the screaming thing too which is annoying to say the least but we are diligently trying to break him of this. Many times he will scream and then tell himself no no which isn't funny but sometimes it is hard not to laugh when he does stuff like that or like the other day he obviously repeated what I said and said "you hear me" after I told him no. Lately he has been attached to mommy and wants nothing to do with daddy unless it means going outside. I think it is a phase he is going through but right now if I walk out of a room he is whining and following me.

He still loves his paci but he is only allowed to have it at nap time and bed time. He now tries to sneak it and if we leave them on the edge of the bed that isn't against the wall he will stick his hands through the slats in the crib and grab one. Then he comes and shows us like he is so proud of himself. We make him take it out and give it back to us and then he always says "bye bye paci." I'm not looking forward to weaning him from the paci soon. We have finally made the transition to one nap which is nice because it usually is two to three hours in the afternoon when he is at home. Layton continues to be a great eater and will taste anything. His favorite things are any kind of fruit, cereal bars or animal crackers but he is really good about eating his meat and veggies first so he can have his "dessert."

He can say and point to his nose, eyes, ear, mouth, teeth, belly, toes, foot, finger, hand, hair etc. He can now say and point out puppy, kitty, duck, octopus, cow, horse, turtle, frog, goat, sheep, and for rooster he always says cock a doo which is funny. He is also very attached to his cousins Cooper and Kyleigh. He thinks every baby is Kyleigh and he is so sweet to always love on her when he sees her. He can now actually say "Cooper" and no longer says "Pooper." He also points out Daniel and Lauren in pictures now and if I tell him we are going to Cooper's house he will start naming off all of their names. Layton is really going to miss them when they move to College Station.

He is a social butterfly and loves loves loves attention from anyone. He will wave and say "hello" or "hi" to anyone in the store. He very rarely acts shy around strangers. His personality is really developing and he loves to talk. When we are in the other room and he is reading his books in his room he talks in his own little language really fast and then all the sudden he will raise his voice while he is reading. I wish I could catch this on video. We read books all the time to him and he can't get enough of them. He brings them to us and it is usually the same one we have read 10 times that day :) We read at least five books before he goes to bed or he just isn't satisfied and at least one of those has to be a Thomas the Train book. I noticed the other day when we were around his cousin Mason that he tries to steal all the attention when the two boys are together. He will do anything to get the attention on him. Mason is so laid back he just rolls with it. Layton still gets really excited on Monday and Thursdays when he gets to spend the day playing with his cousin Mason.

He is learning everyone's name and will point to pictures and tell us who is who in the pictures. He has a really good memory because we tell him things one time and then he repeats it and remembers it. He is so much fun these days and we are truly enjoying this stage we are in with him. At times he challenges us to say the least but I know someday we will look back on these days and wish they were back. I'm truly trying to spend every chance I get in the evenings playing with him and just spending time with him. It is still so hard for me to be away from him all day while I'm at work. I thought it would get easier but sadly I think the older he gets the harder it is because he can interact with me so much more now. I'm thankful for my long weekends and cherish every Friday that we get to spend together hanging out. Here are a few pictures I've taken recently of our very active little toddler.










Saturday, September 25, 2010

Allergic Reaction

We have discovered that Layton is allergic to amoxicillin which has penicillin in it. He has been on it for 9 days for strep throat. Friday morning he woke up with tiny red dots on his body. I didn't think much of it because I thought it might be from the high fever he had the week before. As the day went on he got more and more spots all over him. We were scheduled to take him to his 15 month check up that afternoon so I was just going to ask the doctor about it. She told us right away that it was an allergic reaction to the antibiotics and then it would get much worse before it would get better. Last night we thought he looked pretty bad but then this morning when I saw him I was shocked. Poor baby has big red bumps covering every inch of his little body. It hurts me to see him this way however he is in great spirits and acting like nothing is wrong. I just pray that he doesn't start itching all over. I was told by a nurse this morning when I called the nurse's line that it should last about 3 days so I hope we are through the worst part.

Here is Layton this morning in the bath tub.

Here he is making faces and being silly

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Date Night

Saturday night Clifton and I finally got to go on our anniversary date to the Melting Pot. Granny Leigh and Grandpa Corky were so nice to keep Layton for us while we enjoyed some time alone. Dinner was amazing and I can't wait to go back. We enjoyed being able to talk without being interrupted and just spending time together. I think Layton had fun playing while we were out. I had to wake him up at 9:45 this morning because he was still sound asleep so we could make it to church in time.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

First Happy Meal

Layton has been sick again this week poor baby. He managed to get strep throat of all things. I had it two weeks ago and Clifton had it last week so it was only a matter of time I guess. He started running fever Wednesday at my mom's so thankfully she called me right away and we were able to get him in to the doctor that afternoon. Wednesday night and Thursday he was pretty miserable and just wanted to be held and you could tell he felt terrible. Friday morning he woke up really happy after a good nights sleep and has been his happy little self ever since. Friday I was ready to get out of the house so I took Layton to McDonald's to get his first happy meal. I haven't eaten there in years because it is not my favorite fast food but Layton really enjoyed it. I introduced him to ketchup and he had fun dipping his fries in it. Here is a picture I took of Layton enjoying his dinner.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Wine Tasting Party

Saturday night my friend Juli and I hosted a Wine Tasting party at our house. My college friends in Dallas do it every year and always invite me but I never actually made the trip up there for it. They have always told me how much fun it was and I've seen all the pictures from it. I asked my friend Natalie for all the details on how to throw the party and she was so helpful. Juli and I both like to try new and different wines so we started talking about doing this months ago and the timing was never right for one of us. We finally decided just to plan it and go for it and hope that a few girls would show up. We were really surprised that we had a great turnout and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. Juli and I had so much fun coming up with the menu and dividing up who was doing what with all the preparations for the party. Juli and I both really enjoy entertaining and throwing a party.

We told each girl to bring two bottles of the same wine. We used one bottle for everyone to have a taste and then the other bottle was given away at the end of the night. After we tasted all the wines we drew numbers and got to choose which bottle we were taking home so each girl was sent home with a new wine. We had lots of wine leftover at the end of the night but I think everyone had fun. We had lots of yummy food to eat too while we tasted wine. We also played two different wine trivia games and had two drawings for door prizes. Everyone was given a wine grading sheet so everyone could rate the different wines as they tasted them so at the end of the night it would be easier to choose which wine you wanted to take home. It was so nice to spend time with my girlfriends and hang out and laugh a lot. It is very rare that we take time to do this. Here are a few pictures I took Saturday night.




Friday, September 10, 2010

Playing with Mommy

I woke up early this morning and went running and then cleaned most of the house before Layton woke up. I'm usually not that ambitious on my day off but it was nice to get up and get moving. I have discovered it is too hard to try and clean house and entertain a toddler all day. Everything takes twice as long :) Today Layton and I played tractors off and on all day long. He can not get enough of it. I was playing with my camera trying to figure out all the settings while he was playing so here are a few pictures I took this afternoon. I opened all the windows in his room and there was a lot of natural light so I decided to try to use my camera in the manual setting. I still have so much to learn and I'm totally lost when it comes to using Photoshop Elements. I haven't made any pictures look better yet so I won't be posting any that I edited. I'm determined to figure all this stuff out.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Labor Day Weekend

I should just stop making plans all together because lately life has not been going as planned. Friday we were supposed to go to the lake after Clifton got off of work just the three of us and stay in my parents RV well needless to say that didn't happen. I started feeling really bad Thursday afternoon at work and by the time I got home that evening I was running fever. I felt terrible that night and decided to sleep on the couch so I wouldn't get Clifton sick. I was hoping it was just the virus Layton had the weekend before but I woke up Friday morning with a horrible sore throat and knew I probably had strep throat. I got in to see the doctor Friday morning and they confirmed that I did have it. Clifton's mom was so sweet to come and watch Layton while I went to the doctor. They gave me a shot and some antibiotics and told me I should feel much better in 24 hours. I still felt horrible Friday when I got home from the doctor so I called Clifton and told him there was no way I could go to the lake and I needed to get some rest. My mom was so nice to come pick up Layton for us that afternoon and keep him over night so I could sleep and get better. I told Clifton to go on Friday night to the lake without us so Daniel and Cooper went with him up to the lake. My parents, Layton and Amanda and Jerrod all went up to the lake on Saturday morning. I ended up going late Saturday afternoon after sleeping until 10:30 which was amazing and staying a few hours so I could pick up Clifton and Layton from the lake. It was really quiet at our house Friday night by myself. I hadn't been alone that long in such a long time. I rented three movies that I wanted to see and just laid on the couch and slept. I was feeling much better by Saturday afternoon so I felt like I could go join everyone and I was really missing Clifton and Layton. We had fun we took a ride in the boat and went swimming and then ate dinner with everyone. I was thankful I got to go for just a little bit after all. I really can't wait until next summer when we get to go back to the lake and stay in the RV again. It seems like every time this summer we have tried to go stay something has happened. I'm glad we got to go the few times we did though. Here are a few pictures from my quick trip to the lake. I stole most of these from my sister Amanda :)


Cooper was so tired he took a little nap in the boat.Everyone in the boat
Layton's crazy hair

Jerrod jumping from the cliff
Riding back in the boat to the RV park
Sunday and today I have been pretty lazy. I've played with Layton a bunch which has been nice and Clifton shredded today around by the creek. It has been a nice long weekend after all.

Mommy - Tractor

Call me a bad wife if you want but I have never ever mowed the yard since Clifton and I have been married. The yard work besides planting flowers and watering them has been all on Clifton until now. He does all the outside stuff and I take care of all the housework inside. Since he has been hurt the past few weeks Cody Shearrer (Justin and Natalie's son) has helped us a little by moving sprinklers and doing some of the yard work. Cody was out of town a couple of weekends ago and Clifton really wanted the yard finished so after I got back from a run one Saturday morning he taught me how to use the lawn mower. I was really nervous because Clifton has a really nice and BIG lawnmower and I didn't want to mess anything up. After a few practice runs around the yard I was ready to give it a shot. Surprisingly it was so easy to use and besides the dust in my face was not that bad. I had my music to listen to and a shade over my head so I really couldn't complain.

Meanwhile Layton and Clifton are in the house watching me mow and Clifton said Layton kept looking out the window confused saying "Mommy tractor?" I'm glad I can use the lawn mower now but will be really glad once Clifton can start doing it himself again :) Clifton took a few pictures of me from the office window because I'm sure he knew this would be a rare occasion.

Layton watching mommy on the tractor.

I want song. . . .

seems to be Layton's favorite phrase to say these days. No matter what we are doing or what is going on if he knows there is a radio, computer or phone that can play music he is asking for a song. This morning he walked up to me sitting by the computer and said "Song pease" and I said okay just a minute and then he said "Jesus song." I have been singing Jesus Loves Me to him every night for a long time and he is now trying to sing with me. I know the Grandma's have been singing and playing music for him too. He is like a little sponge right now just repeating and copying everything we are doing. Here are a few pictures I have taken of him recently.