An apple a day

Waiting for the pediatrician is always fun. Yes, I am the type of mother who will give my child a closed Tylenol bottle to chew on if it makes him happy. Here is Holton doing just that while waiting to see his doctor.


We went in for Holton’s 18 mth check up. Here are his stats:

• Weight – 24 pounds
• Height – 32 ½ inches
• He is still rocking the 50% for height and 25% for weight.

Holton is at such a fun age right now. I wish I could freeze time. He is talking more and more. He says "o" when he wants to see his "show" which includes the Backyardigans or Wonder Pets. His vocabulary also includes - biscuit, bubbles, Gus, a mumbled version of Somba (our outside dog), go away birds (something I often yell at the terrible birds on our patio that leave lovely presents behind and eat the dog food) uh-oh, hi, and he just loves to say da da over and over.

At this stage Holton laughs a lot, loves to blow kisses to everyone, gives the best hugs, dances to almost any music, claps his hands when people do the same on t.v. (he loved the American Idol finale), and he is just growing up so fast and it's so much fun to watch each new thing he does. He is the best thing in our lives and we adore him. Even when we take him out to eat and he's done after 5 minutes, we still love being with our little Holton.

Our Canada Trip

Sorry it's been a while since our last post. Adam and I just returned from such a great vacation.....without our precious little Holton. We spent the week in Canada with our friends Annie and Adam. We have to call the other Adam "Greg" because it's just way too confusing.

We started our trip in Calgary and then went over to the beautiful resort town of Banff. This place was so amazing and pictures truly don't do it justice. Now, if you know me at all, you know I am not an outdoors girl at all. I am what you call a city girl. But, I would go back to Banff in heartbeat. I highly recommend it. Just bring a lot of money for food...they are very proud of their culinary skills.

Although we dearly missed our baby boy, we had such a nice time being kid free. It was great to have long dinners not having to worry about high chairs and the ever lurking threat of Holton throwing food - ha. A big thanks to Holton's Na Na and Pa Pa for watching him while we were away.

Getting to know the locals

Really? Is this necessary? Must be a hot issue in Calgary.

Poutine - have you had this exquisite treat? I loved it!

Annie and Greg

Our first day in Banff.

Adam and Greg in front of our hotel. Kind of romantic, huh?



Adam wants to sell screen savers to Microsoft



We're about to go into the hot springs

The manly mountain men

The good old gondola ride. I wasn't even scared.

Banff's first patio day of 2008


Another pic of downtown

The fantastic Fairmont hotel in Banff. If you have a cool $650/night, you are set.

Hanging out at the Fairmont....pretending we have a lot of money :)

The views were just amazing!





My Vana White pose

Patio Time

One thing I love about our house is the upsairs patio. It's so nice to sit outside and enjoy the view. Around these parts we have about a one month window to avoid the 100 + temparature and this was one of those perfect weather nights.

Here is Holton sitting on the patio with us in his own special chair.

















This is when he got he a little crazy with his chair. That was our clue to promptly put him to bed.

10 Things Tuesday

In my stalking of other blogs, I’ve seen people post a “10 Things Tuesday” list. It’s a list where they include 10 things they are grateful for in their life. A good way to not be so Debbie Downer. So, I thought I’d create one of these focusing on Holton.

Ten Things Tuesday – Holton Style

1. I am very grateful that Holton is healthy
2. That he is now blowing kisses when he says good bye
3. That he grabs your face (I mean grabs your ears and pulls you to him) and gives you the sweetest little kisses
4. Holton loves our dog Gus, which allows me to tolerate him more (the dog, not Holton).
5. I’m grateful he’s only bit one kid at school so far!
6. I’m thankful that Holton loves his daddy and looks for him when we come home from school. He says da-da, da-da.
7. It’s so much fun to watch Holton attempt to play baseball with Adam. He even says the word ball.
8. Right now I’m grateful we only have one child – it’s easier to spoil him ;)
9. I’m grateful that about once every week and a half, Holton will sleep through the night
10. I do love it when Holton sleeps with us and we wake up to a very smiley Holton saying "hi" over and over

Karma

We've entered a scary new stage with Holton.....the biting stage! Last Wednesday we got a note from Holton's schoool saying that he bit another child on the arm. This was a first for us, so we were very surprised. I tried to talk to Holton about this problem on the way home, but I don't think he was taking me seriously.

















Well, karma got Holton back. When I pikced him on Thursday, I immediately saw this large bruised area on his cheek. He apparently got bit on the cheek by aonther little friend in his class. He didn't look quite as confident that day when we talked again about how biting hurts everyone.



















And the culprit that bit Holton.....it was a little girl! Don't let that get out or it might ruin his tough guy reputation.

Let's go racing boys!

A couple weekends a year Adam and I put on our best t-shirts, put batteries in our scanners, load up our coolers and we head out early to watch a good ol' NASCAR race. Adam had been going to NASCAR races for years. He begged and begged for me to go and one year I reluctantly gave in to his begging. The first time the cars went around at full speed, I was hooked! And, can we talk about the people watching? Where else can you see this type of quality action???











This year Adam and I were joined by a great crew. My little brother Patrick, his fiancé Amanda, Adam's crazy cousin Zack and his lovely wife Kelli, and Patrick's fraternity brother, Nikolas (who is just the sweetest, cutest things you single gals). We had so much fun even if Dale Jr. didn't win.

Don't let the picture fool ya, he's great.




Adam and Zack by our version of the porto-potty

Patrick and sweet Amanda


We had great seats


The start of the race, so happy and hopeful.

As the race came to an end, Adam's mood changed. How thrilled does he look with me smooching him...

Good times

Do you see this? Proof that Holton does smile in pictures!

















Last weekend we attended a birthday party for our good friend who turned 30 (Teresa) and she was smart enough to provide entertainment for the kids. Holton loved the slide and he enjoyed pretending he was one of the bigger kids. We got some great pictures, thanks to Amanda.


















Just to give Adam a good laugh and have even more reason to make fun of me......I am including this horrible picture of Holton and me going down the slide together. Can I just say it was so awkward getting me and Holton up and over that dang slide. I'm too old for that kind of thing. I don't even know where to begin with this picture. I could say so many things.