Square One

April 24, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris Leave a Comment

I am back to making changes in my life. Changes in exercise, diet, and nutrition. And hopefully along the way a whole new mindset. These are changes that I have done before and have been mostly successful at. They carried through my pregnancy with Gabe but then he came and everything kind of went KABOOM! Not everything was thrown to the wind but in some ways it was. I was able to lose the baby weight and keep some movement in my life but not consistently. I stopped seeing Daniella which actually really sucks and had an obvious impact. Even though it was my choice to stop seeing her… exhaustion, pumping, logistical challenges, and oh yeah buying a house, it was both what I needed and didn’t need at the same time. Anyways, I simply didn’t have the support to really make a great postpartum comeback. The first year is something else. I was tired and felt like I had bigger fish to fry than getting back into shape. Thankfully I never strayed too far from the principles Daniella taught me. She fundamentally changed my view on nutrition, food, and exercise and I am forever grateful to her for that. Throw in some person struggles and I ended up right where I am. In real need of shaping up.

So I am starting at square one.

While I’ve needed to make changes months ago it has only been in the last month or so that things have been shifting. I’ve since started working on realigning many areas of my life and this is one of them. So I’m adjusting this, adjusting that. Doing this and that. Changing this and that. All of which I want to be momentum building in a forward direction. This time around, I really have experience to pull from. I know myself better. I know my body. I know how and what. And for the things I don’t I can go in search for the answer.

And for some crazy reason I kind of want to blog about it. I want to talk about what I’m doing. Things that are working for me. Things that are NOT working. I don’t even want to try and define all the areas I want to cover over time. And I want to talk about failing… Lord knows I do that quite often. I don’t know where the time will come for this either. Doing one thing means not doing another. But if it is quick, in the moment, and not too well thought out I might just able to pull it off. It is a whole lot easier to write about yourself than story tell for a recipe! It may be the accountability I need. Or not. I might just fall flat on my face after two posts and not bring it up again for another six months.

I’m not sure what is compelling me to do this so I’m giving it a go.

First Birthday Shoot

April 8, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris Leave a Comment

I wanted to have some fun and do a shoot of my own for Gabe’s birthday. I made a second cake and set the scene. While these photos are far from great, we had fun taking them. Littles have no interest in staying in one place for long and these photos show that. While I love taking pictures of my child I have no interest in ever photographing other people’s children! I’ll leave that to the professionals.

Gabriel’s One Year Photos

April 6, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris 1 Comment

Photo By: Smarrtypants Photography

A year later… walking, laughing, eating cake. No longer the little infant cradled in our arms. No longer the confident army crawler. But still the happy, even keeled boy who so easily nestled himself into our hearts. One year strong.

To capture Gabe’s one year photos, we worked with Michelle Smarr of Smartypants Photography. A friend who recently went pro and a local coastsider. I had a great time collaborating and shooting with Michelle. She is incredibly patient and carries a joyful spirit about her. There is no denying her heart and skill in working with kids. Consider this my recommendation to all you in the area who probably do need family photos taken.

I’ve talked a little about this shoot in the last couple of blog posts but wanted to recap it here a bit. We kind of tried to capture a few things in this shoot (probably too much in hindsight! I should have just booked two different sessions). First I wanted his first birthday photos. And secondly I wanted some updated family shots. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of doing a cake smash, but after some talking to Michelle about it we decided to do a cake smash a little outside the box. We did it outside! And I loved how it turned out. Not surprisingly, Gabe is not a cake smasher. It’s not in his character. Taking handfuls of buttercream and shoving it in his mouth is.

Photo By: Smarrtypants Photography

Checking in with Gabe #14

April 4, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris 3 Comments

Spring time photos

For once it doesn’t feel like I just wrote last month’s update. That probably has to do with the fact that I didn’t just write the last one two weeks ago! I’ve been keeping notes and March was good. We traveled and had new adventures and experiences. Bigger steps and longer arms. Week by week slowly shedding his baby traits.

Road Trip!

At the beginning of March Gabe and I headed down to Southern California for a week. There was a conference I wanted to attend and I thought it would be good for him to spend some time with my family. It was our first solo road trip and he did great. I chose to drive through the night and he slept through most of it. Gabe had so much fun playing at my parents house. They have so many interesting things for kids to get into. He got to run around the trampoline, push the wagon, play the harp, harass the little dog, and play with all kinds of random toys previously used by his cousins. We also got to spend some time with family and had some play time with cousins. The trip also proved to be a nice break for me. While I attended the conference my mom watched Gabe. It was great because it was his first time being away from me for extended periods of time without Will around. Even though I was back each night, it was good for both of us. Sometimes you just need a change in scenery.

Playing in the park

Development

It’s amazing how quickly Gabe went from crawling up the little steps at the park to trying to take big steps up the big stairs at the park. I kid you not. I’m holding his hand for support and he is stepping up like he knows what he is doing. On the smaller steps, if he can find something to grab onto, he will support himself and take the step up. He has come around to swinging… took him a little bit to catch on but he enjoys it now. He also loves going down the slides. Play is such a huge part of our day… solo, with others, with me, being challenged… it makes him happy.

He’s been expressing some of this happiness vocally. Especially in the tail end of March. He squeals with delight when we play… when I chase him or tickle him. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what the neighbors think! But it is all good to have an expression of joy. He’s also quite fluent in “ma” “da” and “ba” sounds. And those I can’t put words to. He can say “mama” and “dada” and I think he is slowly starting to associate the names with us. Because he hasn’t made the association, Will and I both agree that despite making the sounds he hasn’t said the words. I know that kind of doesn’t make sense but I’m going with it.

Swinging

Out of the blue he started “dancing a jig.” I’m not quite sure what it is but he will start stomping his feet up and down… especially when he stands on the side table. It’s like he realized how much more control he has over his legs or he’s excited or it’s just darn cute and it doesn’t matter why he is doing something. Another big thing he started doing is pointing. It was so out of the blue but you immediately knew what he was doing. He points a whole lot more than he jigs but it is neat to see himself express himself in this way. He also seems to have grown long arms. This kid can reach things!!! Standing up on his tip toes and all. Now I don’t think he has extra long limbs by any means, it’s just surprising in a way that I now have to move anything on the desk or a foyer table much further away because he can totally grab it. I really want him to lose interest before we have to hide the keyboard and mouse for the desktop.

Thirteen months into this and Gabe came down with his first set of fevers. Not really sure what it was but for four days he had a fever every 12 – 24 hours. Thankfully we were able to control them and didn’t need to go into the doctor. Though I did call and got some parameters to watch out for. He did get picky with his food but he still ate and still drank. Overall I think he weathered it well. Hopefully we won’t have a repeat anytime soon.

Books

I think we have finally reached a point with his books that I can trust him to play with them. Up till now he has mostly eaten them if I leave them with him. But I’m starting to notice a shift. He is tuning in a whole lot more when I read to him when he drinks his milk. I pulled out all his books and lined them up by the rocking chair in his room. Since doing this he enjoys running over there and pulling books out onto the floor. Sometimes turning pages, sometimes not. I’m just super glad to see him start to take an interest. Reading is so so so so so important. I also indirectly set up a little reading spot in his play yard. A pillow against the wall and his sheepskin rug to sit on. Wolfgang and a blanket to the right and a pile of Dr. Seuss board books to the left. Low and and behold, he randomly goes in there, sits down, and grabs a book… or a toy or plays with something he brought in there. I wholeheartedly approve.

Don’t mind me… I’m just going to push the play yard over.

Easter

Easter snuck up on me. I think it did more so because I wasn’t hosting it and I didn’t really have anything to prepare for it. So I totally failed in the “planning ahead/being intentional in how we celebrate holidays” department. It did though challenge me in how we will move forward with this holiday for us as a family especially in light of the history of Easter. I’m not sure what Easter traditions we will start but I do know some will revolve around food. Italian Easter Bread made an appearance this year. In any case, we celebrated with friends. Friends we’ve actually been celebrating Easter with for most of our time on the coast. It was wonderful. It’s especially meaningful when you have kids and they can play together. Gabe’s heart was so full from an evening of playing with Djuna. I did spend most my time chasing after Gabe and lost my drink I don’t know how many times. But tis the season right now. My consolation? The chocolate bunny Miss Liv gave him. :X :D

It makes my heart happy to see him so filled up.

Spring time photos

Moments

Often when I write these posts I either write the text first and then go collect and edit the photos. Or vice versa. Along with keeping small notes about the month, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned in the past, photos really help jog my memory. As in the case of this month (writing first, photos later), my memory has been jogged a bit.

Sometimes the photos I take have a story behind them, other times they don’t. Post bath photos? No story there, I just think he looks ridiculously cute wrapped up in his fox towel. Peeling the paint off the door? That one isn’t his fault. I expressed a condensed version of my frustration over on Instagram. Socks behind the crib? That is simply a mom’s never ending journey to find all the socks! But the photos out amongst the green mustards? That was my attempt to take some better pictures. Albeit, not so great pictures that I didn’t get a chance to go retake with some adjustments in mind. But I was inspired by watching Michelle during Gabe’s one year shoot. I know if I actually put some thought into it (wait there is time for thought???) I could be taking much better pictures. I also finally changed lenses. Yeah, should have done that a while ago. Different subjects/settings have very different needs. I also wanted some decent photos of him in that shirt. It’s my favorite and he is quickly growing out of it. There is a story behind the one of him sitting behind the tv console and sorting the spice drawer. If I didn’t have these pictures these moments would be lost. I don’t know if it will really scale in the long run. I know I’ll forget. We can only hold so much information. But they are there and I can smile at them.

“Hi mama!”

Strawberry Lassi

Sorting the recycling

Sorting the towels

Snack time

Eye bag toss

Breakfast thief

Don’t mind me…

Fun toys at the park

Swinging

Hat taker

Post bath cutie

Spring time photos

Shoddy work = Gabe peeling paint off the door

Don’t mind me… I’m just going to push the play yard over.

Missing socks

Carrying the broom around

Modeling his new jacket

Post bath cutie

Can’t be left pants-less otherwise this happens

Excited to climb on furniture

Pajama pants & straw fedora

“Hi mama!”

Playing in the park

Getting into trouble

Sorting spices

Post bath cutie

So grown up

Checking in with Gabe #13

March 7, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris Leave a Comment

Last month most of the focus was on his birthday. Though because he was born at the beginning of the month, the two weeks leading up to it and the week after it was all about his birthday. At least for me! As I learned with the holidays, I really need to be planning ahead if I want to be intentional and enjoy these things… and pull them off!

Happy Birthday!

Anyways, we chose to not do a big birthday party. Despite the some “mom guilt” creeping in, I’m glad we chose to not do one. Next year… probably so. We had fun the days leading up to his birthday and the days after. For starters we had new family portraits done. We had a blast working with Michelle Smarr (pics forthcoming). I wasn’t intending on doing a cake smash but with a little nudge from Michelle we ended up doing an outdoor one. It was great. I made the cake for the smash. Pulling from the woodland critter theme we’ve had going on, I made a birch stump. It was awesome. I should probably do a blog post about the cake itself but I don’t realistically see that happening. Anyways, he didn’t smash it at all. Instead, once he got a taste of the buttercream (swiss meringue) he kept eating it. One piece at a time. We had to assist in the “smash.” He liked the cake too once he got into it. Not bad for a someone who had never had cake before.

A beautiful collage of our family portraits/first birthday shoot with Michelle Smarr.

He received a slew of wonderful gifts. One of which we still don’t know who sent it! We chose though to not give them all to him. He received several and then put the rest away to save for a rainy day. I was also excited to FINALLY give him a whole scrambled egg. Of all the restrictions of what babies can’t eat in the first year, this one was really hard for me. I do scrambles all the time and not giving him some of mine was kind of annoying. But he totally digs scrambled eggs and whatever else I put in them. He has also started “helping” me sauté his spinach. We will be #cookingwithgabe before we know it. As another treat, when we were at the farmers market the next day, I got him his first croissant. There is a lovely Italian bakery there that has a smattering of amazing pastries, cakes, and of course breads. We don’t do wheat often but if we do, I want it to be quality. Needless to say, he devoured it. When there is almost as much butter as flour in there, how can you not love it?

Whole scrambled eggs for the first time!

To top off his birthday we did a photoshoot of our own. Which meant a whole lot of planning and making for that set! I made another cake… I know, right? And reused a lot of the same stuff from the shoot with Michelle.I also made a first birthday sign. Whoa Nelly! It was a project and a half to create. But I did it and I did it by hand. I’m really proud of how it turned out. We didn’t quite get his height and weight right but ehh, not a big deal.(W:21.7 lbs H:31″). So we took some pictures, I fought against the light and my limitations, had some fun and more cake. I hope to make this something we starting doing each year for his birthday.

First birthday sign

Gabe had a great first birthday and I don’t feel like he missed out on anything.

Now, for the rest of the month.

Play

If I fits, I sits.

I’ve seen a steady increase in his need for physical activity. While he is still a bit wobbly at times and still falls over, he has become such a confident walker. Sometimes his fast walking almost seems like running. We also discovered/taught him how to climb on the couch. We may regret that one in the long run! Oh the fun that has brought. With one cushion removed he is up and all over the couch. We toss things back and forth over the back of the couch. He climbs onto the side tables and stands up! And he can get off the couch as well. We have fun with it.

Spinning the wheel at the playground!

I have also started taking him to the park. We are blessed to have a really nice one 5 minutes from us. He loves the slides, walking around, playing with the wood chips, playing with others, trying to chase after the big kids, and exploring the big kid area. It’s been neat to see him tackle some really big obstacles for his age. As fun as it is, going to the park can sometimes be a bit challenging. More often than not the park is busy and is filled with lots of older kids. Gabe so badly wants to play with the big kids and gets mad when I don’t let him. It’s just not safe having him trail behind much older kids whom we don’t know. We’ve only met a few kids close to his age and he has done really well with them. It’s fascinating to watch them learn how to interact with each other.

Tickles from dad.

We are starting to spend more time in the back yard now that he is walking and balancing so well. Because of this I’ve actually been able to mow the yard and pull weeds and you know, do general maintenance. He likes to sometimes help too.

Naps

The increase in physical activity has helped tremendously with his naps. For a while there it was seeming like he wanted to go down to one but I could tell he really wasn’t ready for it. Our pediatrician reinforced the need to try and keep him at two. Insert several weeks of frustration. But it was a good in that it forced me to change some things up that have ultimately made my life a little bit easier. We are loosely following the 2-3-4 rules: 2 hours after waking, first nap, 3 hours after waking, second nap, 4 hours after waking, bed. In addition to adding in active play (not that he wasn’t playing before but the energy expending/tire a kid out play), I figured out the best nap windows (9-9:30 & 2-3) and have stuck to them. And I have also stopped rocking him to sleep. Yeah, don’t ask… not something I recommend doing for as long as I did. This means when I put him down, 98% of the time he is still awake and ends up walking around and playing in his crib. But I leave him. Sometimes he falls asleep quickly, other times he doesn’t. And if after a certain point he isn’t asleep, I get him up (especially with the afternoon nap, no sleeping past 4!). So now with nap time I get a break whether or not he actually sleeps. Score one for mama’s sanity! While it is great, it still can cause wonky hours and sleep times and sometimes messes up his ability to fall asleep at night. I do still find it challenging to do life around two naps as well. But I believe a well rested baby is important. shrugs I can’t win sometimes.

Bath & Other Things

Full size bath!

Gabe recently got an upgrade in the bath department. While we probably should have done this sooner (didn’t to conserve water), we moved him out of the baby tub and into the full size tub! I can now officially say that he loves taking a bath. He could probably spend an hour in there if you let him. Now we can play in full capacity with his fishing boat that we got for Christmas. Though we’ve been playing with it out of the water for a while too… great for taking things out and putting back in.

It has been really interesting to notice how he is to respond to us. I can say, “Come on, let’s go” or simply walk out of the room, he will (50/50) follow after me. With that he is starting to follow me around. I find it really neat to see the understanding and acknowledgment of what is going on.

Tossed out the window.

For a little bit of humor I share this. For the winter we decided to take the screens off the windows in the living room because of the lack of need to open the windows thus creating a clearer view. But summer decided come and to do a quick stay. So I opened the windows part way, enough to get some air but so that Kitty can’t squeeze through. Late one afternoon Gabe notices the open windows and checks them out. I see him sticking his hand through. No biggie. He’s safe. I go back to doing whatever. Five minutes later I notice him trying to put his sippy cup through the window but it wouldn’t fit. I ask him what he is doing and walk over and see this. His red hammer and a vacuum attachment on the driveway. He was quite proud of his work. I couldn’t help but laugh. Because you know, why not drop something out the window.

Tobbles!

Sautéing some spinach

Whole scrambled eggs for the first time!

Hmm what’s this?

First taste of croissant.

Stole the maple syrup from the fridge.

Another thing to push along.

First birthday sign

Happy Birthday!

Tickles from dad.

Always reaching for the lens.

A beautiful collage of our family portraits/first birthday shoot with Michelle Smarr.

Over exposed baby!

Pushing the big broom.

Sharp dressed baby.

Kitty not amused.

Entertained with a wooden spoon.

Seaweed.

If I fits, I sits.

Butter taster.

Testing the window.

Tossed out the window.

Full size bath!

Happy baby.

Spinning the wheel at the playground!

Scaling down some big steps.

Hi there!

Gabriel and mama.

Zonked out.

Making it over our very sloped lawn.

Face meet glass.

Banana monster.

Stacking food in his cup.

It’s such a delight.

Bathroom selfie.

Life with Gabe: Year 1

February 27, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris Leave a Comment

About a month after Gabe was born I started posting pictures of him with the hashtag #lifewithgabe over on Instagram (my social media of choice. There’s even a widget over on the right side of your screen with my latest photos.) They are exactly as it sounds, life with him. They are the in the moment/yes that did just happen, oh my goodness isn’t he cute! kind of photos. I’ve collected the year’s photos together and am compiling them into a small print book. It’s my way of doing a first year kind of album that I hope to continue doing each year. For posterity’s sake I wanted to post them to the blog.

In the process of gathering these photos together I learned a few things.

< Insert a bunch of text about searching hashtags on Instagram> Apparently things have changed a bit in the last couple of weeks and now the search works a bit better than it used to. 0_o
Because I’m doing print I need the full size photos this means going through Lightroom and pulling out the Instagram shots into a single folder. This also means I lose the filter it was posted with. Not that big of a deal but filters do cover a multitude of sins.
Quality of the photos. I love most of the photos I posted in the series. But what I don’t love is the quality of the photos. They simply aren’t good. I knew my MotoX was showing its age and I fought to keep it. And the result are low quality pictures. Having a good camera on me is important. Especially when talking about capturing the important moments of our family. In a lot of respects, my phone IS my point and shoot. All that to say, I am soooo much happier with the quality of my photos from my Nexus 5X.

This ended up being a very manual process to get all the pieces of data together: photos, date, and the caption. All of that is saved in two places, Lightroom and a google doc. I need to find a better way to collect this data for next year.

Anyways, here is a look at my life with Gabe.

So much deep thought is exhausting.

Giving our new carrier a test run.

Gabe in his “off roading” vehicle.

Like a true Californian, Gabe already has hanging out by the ocean down.

Eating…again.

Milk drunk. Now to get a burp out of this guy.

Diaper change by the sea.

Eating on the go.

Post bath & massage.

Someone likes his giraffe.

Happy 12wks little guy!

Lunch in the back seat if the car? Why yes, I think so.

Made it to the open space bluff top. Haven’t been up here in months.

Play time on the play mat.

Waking from the first nap of the day.

“Pinch me I’m cute.” Great find at Costco the other day.

Sitting up waiting for dinner.

My grilling partner.

This how Gabe does the park.

Having fun sitting up in a chair.

Finally getting around to decorating Gabe’s room. Decals are time consuming!

Ninja training.

Having something custom framed is one of those things that make me feel like an adult.

On nom nom. Pandas are yummy!

Calm snugglesaurus.

Trees are finished!

We are fans of second breakfast around these parts.

Enthralled with his discovery cube.

Cheeky little guy.

Picked up some used books at our fav local bookstore.

Oceanside napping.

Post bath attempt at a baby mohawk.

Didn’t find some of the things we need but instead found lots of clearance! These are all 9 months :x

Bottom decals #1.

Bottom decals #2.

Bottom decals #3.

Another midday oceanside nap. If only I could nap as well.

Elf shoes in June? He wasn’t too thrilled w/them. These & accompanying items won’t make it to Christmas.

Feet up!

Cloth eater!

New jammies! Happy to have figured out that 12mo pj pants will fit over a super diaper (fleece liner, hemp liner, fitted diaper, & wool cover.)

Officially 5 months old! Can now roll from back to tummy. This is how we found him after his first nap today.

Gabe choose crab legs for his fourth of July eats.

Gabe’s way of helping with laundry. Hanger inspection.

Zebra feet are so yummy!

Walking through the forest.

Second breakfast

OSPO baby!

Nummy nummy giraffe hooves

Playing with his toes on a regular basis.

Playing on mom.

Someone got into the toy basket.

Rolling around in receiving blankets.

All ready to take daddy to the airport.

Uh-oh he is on the verge of learning how to escape the bouncer.

Homeboy enjoys being covered with shirts and then having them picked up and dropped on him.

Just like Kitty, wants to play with the basket rather than the toys. (Though he has since moved onto the toys.)

Chilling before bed.

Tickles with family.

Figuring out Ticket To Ride Europe.

Avocado face.

Six months and one day.

Meet Diffy: The kung fu code review cuckoo.

Uh oh. Homeboy just undid one side of his diaper cover.

Little beach dude ready to go to the beach.

Being silly with his pacifier.

Being a goober during a diaper change.

Hanging in the bouncer.

Starting to be a bit more interested in his blocks.

Morning snuggles

Having a drink at the coffee bar.

Bought some new bottles & decided to sanitize everything, pump parts & all.

Just hanging out in a side plank.

The spoon is just as yummy as the avocado.

Smiles.

Playing in his inner tube on the back deck whilst I clean out the fire hazard that grill has become.

Learning how to stretch out in the inner tube.

Someone has decided he likes avocado and has figured out that i will feed him some of mine for breakfast.

Crawling around with his diaper cover around one leg. 0_o

Breakfast in his new highchair.

Discovering the fun of a laundry basket.

Gabe wants to take pictures too.

Balancing on knees with support of the couch.

“Oh don’t mind me, I’m just hanging out eating my pants.”

“And while I’m at it I must climb over mama & fuss about it until I’m over.”

Back carry FTW! Loading & unloading was interesting but we will have it down in no time.

Water bottles are great fun… Till they roll away!

Swimming in a sea of cotton.

Not so sure about watermelon.

Playing with daddy.

9/15/15

Watermelon has moved up I the world. At least for teething purposes.

He often prefers tags to the toy itself. That’s a spotted stuffed pig by the way.

Up up and away.

Look who graduated from the car seat in the jogger! He loved the front facing view. The car seat adaptor served as a great foot rest for him too.

I’ve gotta admit, I’m a fan of boys fall clothing!

Giving him a taste of something he shouldn’t have till the one year mark. Needless to say, Gabe loved it.

His current favorite “toy”, my flip flops. :/

This little guy just devoured my homemade beef bone broth after eating spinach & sweet potatoes w/a side of butternut squash.

Packing peanut play.

Watching friends load up the truck.

Well that happened fast. Climbed up the stairs!

Happy good morning!

8 months old today! Made his first visit to Farmer John’s pumpkin patch.

This kid loves his bone broth! Now if we could get him to drink it from a cup.

The car sometimes has a way of putting him to sleep when you don’t want him to sleep.

Just holding a cup holder in his mouth.

Mowin down on some chicken, carrots & broccoli.

Raspberry blowing all the day long.

Happy birthday to… Wait… No… :/

So much more room in his new ride!

Cottage cheese and blueberries.

Falling asleep 10 minutes before arriving at your destination? Why yes, I think I will.

Loves him some hummus!

New bib? Must eat.

Somebody has learned how to take off his socks.

Father & son drinks.

Decked out in dinosaur duds.

Chillin at church.

Learning to play with Kitty.

Gabe in a box

Smoothie eater.

Helping mama by sorting his laundry.

Fingers have already been smushed twice.

Planning & measuring for my Christmas mantle project. Rolling up my DIY sleeves & going to make a large wooden Christmas sign to go on center & cover up the vents. Also playing around with some decor ideas to complete the mantle.

New shirts for @willnorris

“Picking out” a shirt for bed.

Clam chowder eating!

“Helping” daddy baby proof the kitchen.

He would rather eat them than wear them.

Wrapping with a 10 month old. I was able to get 3 things wrapped!

Thirsty boy.

In the nick of time.

Discovered some of the baking pans.

He then fell into the 8″ pan and wasn’t too happy about it.

“Oh, you’re posting on Instagram? I shall pull all the napkins out.” :)

Someone thought it would be funny to put a piece of duck on his head. It wasn’t us.

While apple cinnamon oatmeal is nice, avocado & chorizo has all the flavor!

Family bluff top walk. We finished just in time. As soon as we got home it started pouring down raining.

First time in a shopping cart too!

Trying sardines for the first time while at Costco? Sure why not!

Just folded a load of laundry. Where did they go!?

Something is not where it belongs.

It’s been a rough day. Upset at church, late nap short nap, one nap, falling into the coffee table, and a new set of teeth working their way in. It’s time to say goodnight to this day.

Wave watchers.

This is one way to deal a teething.

Bye bye carpet!

Learning to sweep.

To work on one project you let them create another. :/

Sat there for 20 minutes playing with my purse, taking the keys in and out.

Really glad I let my type-A traits out with this one. So happy with how this cake turned out. Now to go smash it!

Sous chef training has begun. Before you know it we will be #cookingwithgabe

Enjoyed his first taste of croissants. If we are going to do wheat then we are going to do it right! From an Italian bakery no less.

I seriously need to stay away from projects that require hand writing. But its finally done!!

And that’s a wrap! Looking forward to eating this guys cake. :D

Happy First Birthday

February 9, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris 3 Comments

We made it. We’ve reached a huge milestone. Not so much for you, but for us as parents. One year ago today (February 3rd actually, not the day this was posted) I birthed you into this world after God knit you together in my womb. It is a miraculous process. It’s also a terrifying process as well. It is probably one of the most life altering things you can choose to do. Getting married, going to college, or even getting that job have nothing on the change that bringing a life into the world can do. Everyone says things will change but you don’t quite know what that change will be until you are in it for yourself.

Your first year of life was truly the longest shortest time of my life. It’s a time where time stood still. Where God equipped us to do superhuman things so that your needs were met. There were indeed challenges but we overcame them. Including the emotional challenges, they too were great. Yet somehow a week passed and then another. Three months… six months, nine! Time simply doesn’t stand still and as a result we are here now, twelve months later.

I can’t begin to expect you to ever understand my journey in this. But you should know that it has been one for me. A challenging one at that. Where God asked me to trust Him and as a result He gave us you. Our God is so kind and understanding. In my “Yes” to Him, you became the blessing. Yes, I had my own challenges to overcome and your first year was hard for me but it was never because of you. You were just as you should have been. Happy and even keeled. I couldn’t have asked for anything more than what you are.

So we stop and celebrate you. You bring so much joy and laughter into this house. You also bring various forms of crying and whining as well but you get a pass on that because of your age. We smile a whole lot more than we ever did because of you. You require us to get out of ourselves and be other focused. Even at such a young age it is incredible to see an inkling of the kind of person you are going to be. I pray that we guide you wisely in your life long journey to becoming the man God has called you to be. Know that you are a child of God and that you are called to a greatness that only God can define.

Words cannot express how I feel about you. Saying “I love you” doesn’t even come close to the deepness that is there. You are a ray of light. A light that shines so bright that even in the dark times there is always a glimmer of hope.

Happy first birthday Blue Eyes.

Peacefully you are sleeping
Silently you dream
And I cannot help but feel blessed
While watching you

Your eyes, my eyes
Your smile, my smile

Your love, my gain
Your hurt, my pain
Your laugh, my joy
Every time it’s mine
You are my child

I will always protect you
Oh and I will even let you go
I’ll spend the sweetest time holding you
And I will let you grow

Your eyes, my eyes
Your smile, my smile

Your love, my gain
Your hurt, my pain
Your laugh, my joy
Every time it’s mine,
You are my child

Don’t ever be afraid, don’t ever be afraid
‘Cause I am here and if you start to fear
Just close your eyes and hear me say

Your love, my gain
Your hurt, my pain
Your laugh, my joy
Every time it’s mine
You are my child

~ My Child by Plumb

12 Months

February 3, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris 2 Comments

Yes?

Ahhh! 12 months is here! Happy birthday blue eyes! It’s been another wonderful month of play, laughter, and discovering the world. And walking. Lots and lots of walking.

His biggest development this month has been walking. At the end of last month he had just started taking more than a couple of steps. Now, a month later, he is walking between rooms. With walking came new ways of tumbling but it never ceases to amazing me at how fast he learns from those falls and adjusts accordingly. It only took him a couple of falls before he corrected and caught himself so he wouldn’t eat it. He can still be wobbly when he walks. He holds his arms up by his chest and extends as needed for balance. He can also often be seen holding something while he walks. Thankfully he hasn’t impaled himself with whatever he is carrying. And he is happy to be walking, you can see it in his face. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what he is thinking when he walks to point A, then comes back to me, then off to point C, and on to B. I think it is more of a, “Oh I can go here and here and there!”

Shoes are so much fun!

All this walking has made him able to push his cart at a much higher rate of speed. Lots of pushing it right into things. And it is funny, once he hits the wall or the couch, he will stop for a second and then keep trying to push it. Because you know, if we just push a little harder it will go, right? So there has been lots of following along behind and adjusting as needed so he can make the loop in the living room. But now he is starting get that he can maneuver the cart and is doing so! When he wants to, he can loop the living room all by himself.

With this mobility, play time has changed a lot. Play actually feels like play to me. I can now “chase” after him. It makes him giggle like nothing else to look back and see me coming after him. Sometimes he tries to “run” too fast and ends up falling but it just leaves ample opportunity for me to devour him up. Also “chasing” after him and simply grabbing at his leg makes him laugh. We circle the couch and he hits the cushions with his hands. When I am on the floor he likes to come up to me and “push” me over. I comply and he laughs.

Only minutes of entertainment

Earlier this month we started doing this thing where he becomes my “turtle shell.” I would kneel on the ground and he would come up behind me like he was going to push me over. But instead I would reach back, hold him against me and bend over. We have since upped the game. When he is on the couch he likes to crawl onto the side tables. So I kneeled down and backed up to the edge of the side table. He knew what I was getting at and scooched up to my back and got on. And like that he is on my back and we are running around the living room.

Flying saucer

He loves all this interactive play. He still likes to be tossed up in the air and hung upside down. Likes to be tickled, raspberries, and noms. So much delight in play time. He is also delighting a bit more in snuggles. He likes to bury his face in a blanket as well as burying himself into us if we are on the floor.

A look that will never change

He experienced his first cold this month. It wasn’t anything major but mostly a whole lot of snot and stuffiness. Thankfully it only lasted a week from start to finish. He absolutely hates the nosefrida but man does it make a difference. He also pushed two more teeth. These ones were a bit more painful than the others. An upper and lower lateral incisor… because you know, I knew what teeth those were before this! His 5th & 6th if you ask me. The others are following. He also started crossing his legs/feet this month. It was one of those small things I first noticed while he was in his high chair and now he is doing pretty regularly. Lots of chatter (and whining). He discovered his tongue in a new way too. It’s cute to see him lick his lips. He is still doing a great job with eating. Sardines, lobster and steamed milk foam are the notable ones for this month. Loves ‘em.

Big fan of daddies foam (steamed milk for latte)

Finally got around to getting him some shoes. I didn’t really worry about shoes before he was walking and I know barefoot is better for foot development. But with all this walking and winter weather something needs to be one his feet. So we got his feet measured and learned what styles fit his feet best. Starting out with a couple of pairs of soft soled shoes. He’s done really well with them. Had to restrain myself from buying more pairs than he needed! I tell ya, this kid is way better dressed than I am.