One Year Old

It feels so weird for me to call you a one-year-old.  This past year has been a crazy one, but you have maintained your generally happy personality through it all.  Lately, you have started to throw some tantrums.  It is funny, because you react almost exactly the same way your sister did at that age.  When you don't get your way, you lean forward, put your hands down, and lay your face on the floor.  Of course, that action is accompanied by crying and hollering.  You are persistant when you want something though, so a tantrum does even mean that you will stop trying.  In fact, I think it is more of a diversion tactic so that your "oppressor" will soon forget what they were stopping and let you go on doing it.

The past couple of months, you have really started to engage in more social behaviors.  You wave hello and goodbye, sometimes.  You also say "hi."  You clearly now how to refer to momma, dadda, and Audrey and ask for us frequently by name.  Right now, momma is definitely your favorite.  You want me to snuggle you every chance you get.  I think that might be part of the reason you have not yet become a proficient walker.  You can take a few steps, but only if you pull yoursef up on something.  You get so excited though about the fact that you are walking, you quickly lose your balance, sit down, and revert to crawling.  You are getting so big that it looks a little silly for you to still be crawling, but your daddy keeps reminding me that with walking comes even more of you getting into things.  I am not so sure about that, because you already get into pretty much everything.  You open cabinets, climb on furniture, and grab anything you can reach. 

 

You are an extremely curious little boy.  You are always exploring.  You favorite toys aren't even toys at all; you want to play with cell phones and remote controls.  You also have an affinity for your sister's bitty baby, but I think that is because you know you aren't supposed to play with it.  I can already tell that you are definitely going to be an ornery little brother.   I am sure it is all out of love though, because there is no doubt that you love your sister.  The director of your school told me last week that she took you to Audrey's class one day to say hi, and she saw you smile bigger than she'd ever seen before when you saw your sister.  That is saying a lot, considering that you smile all of the time.  I love it when you and your sister play in the back of the car when we are driving to or from school.  You think everything she does is funny, which causes you to giggle, and when you laugh, it is contagious.  You have a great belly laugh; when you laugh really hard, I think you might stop breathing.  So, when you get to laughing, Audrey can't help but giggle.  Then I start giggling, and soon we're all in a breathless fit of giggles.  I love it. 

I should also mention that you have learned to throw.  You love your puppies so much that when you realized they like it when you throw their toys for them, you immediately wanted to do it.  I only had to show you a couple of times how to do it, before you learned how.  The toys still don't go far, but the dogs enjoy it.  Your favorite ones to throw are the squeaky toys; you are always sure to get in a few squeaks before throwing, too. 

Despite the occasional tantrum, you are still a pretty laid back little boy.  Not much ruffles your feathers.  When we were in Florida, Nora would take a toy away from you, and after the initial shock wore off, you would simply move on to another toy.  Because of that, you adapt well.  You can get a little off schedule, and you are still pretty happy.  I think your laid back personality is going to fit well in our household, but I do see it being a challenge for me.  If that is the case, I am sure God will help me learn a lot from you.  You've already changed my perspective on so many things in one year, who knows what the next 40, 50, or even 60 years will bring. 

I can't forget to mention how much you LOVE regular food.  You still get mad if someone else is eating something we have not put on your tray.  There isn't much that you have not tried.  Really the only foods you won't eat are ones that are really spicy.  Actually, that is incorrect; you still eat them, you just cry and fuss the whole time, and then drink a ton of water.  You are really proficient with the tippy cup and drink water every chance you get.  The challenge is going to be getting you to drink cow's milk.  I have given it to you a couple of times, and you have yet to really drink it.  As much as you love to eat, I don't think it will be too long before you are completely weaned.  You're still nursing, and I am glad for that.  With all of the craziness in our lives day to day, those are our special times.  Just momma and baby boy. 

I love you Barrett, B-dub, Mr. B, B-man...you'll always be my baby boy. 

Florida Fun

Wednesday evening we got back from a week-long trip to Destin, Florida.  We stayed with Adam and Ginna Siburt in Destin where we had a pool and the beach right outside the window.  It was amazing on several levels.  First and foremost, we got to spend some great family time together.  We also got to spend some quality time with friend (the Siburts, Hiltons, and Loom and Sara).  To top it all off, the weather was beautiful the entire trip.  I don't think it could have been more perfect.  I feel so blessed that we were able to go and enjoy the time together.

We decided to drive down, because the only thing less appealing than a 12 hour drive with two kids was trekking through the airport with two kids and all of the stuff that accompanies them.  At the start of the trip (literally 5 minutes into it), Audrey spilled her entire bottle of water on her seat, so it made me extremely nervous about the next 12 hours. Fortunately, it went by relatively quickly.  Audrey was great on both car-rides.  Barrett had a tough time on the way down, because he didn't want to sleep in the car.  He was much better on the ride back though.

 

  
We spent a lot of time in the pool, because Barrett was scared by the waves in the ocean.  Despite the amount of time we spent in the sun, all of us managed to avoid serious sunburn.  We went through a lot of sunscreen, but it was well worth it. 

 

Audrey loved playing in the ocean.  At dinner one night, she sat silent for 15 straight minutes watching the waves roll up on the sand outside the restaurant window; for those of you that have ever spent much time with a 4 year old, you know this is highly uncommon. She loved being in the ocean and playing on the beach. 

 

It was fun to see Barrett and Nora Siburt together, since they are only 3 months apart in age.  They got really comfortable around each other by the end of the week, and they didn't have too many disagreements over toys. 

By the last day, however, Barrett had gotten pretty comfortable with being on the beach.  I think his favorite part was eating the sand.  I seriously think he would eat just about anything.

 

 

One morning, we made trip to the aquarium.  Audrey really enjoyed the dolphin and sea lion shows that we saw.  She also like the sea life "petting zoo" where she got to hold a starfish, touch a horseshoe crab, and feel a sea urchin. 

Florida was a great diversion from our hectic daily routine. 



Time to Connect

It feels like we have been on the go constantly.  We haven't had much downtime lately.  We are enjoying ourselves, but we have just had so much going on that it feels like we haven't had much time to connect with the people in our lives.  We haven't seen Bill and Lana in over a month.  I saw my sorority sisters Saturday morning for breakfast, but had to leave a little early and didn't have as much time to visit as I would have liked.  Jamie watched the kids for us this  past Thursday so Billy and I could go to the Blues playoff game, but we only got to actually see each other for a few minutes.  The list goes on, but I won't.  I just wanted to illustrate my point. 

So, what keeps us so busy?  I can sum it up in three words:  work, kids, house.  During the week, we are working full days, and then coming home to eat dinner, play with the kids, give the kids a bath, and then bedtime.  Most nights over the past couple of weeks, Billy and I are both logging into our work computers after the kids go to bed to try to catch up on emails.  Oh, and don't forget the travel.  I was in DC two weeks ago, Billy was in Vermont this past week. 

Then, on the weekends, we are excited to work in our yard to make some improvements to the lack of landscaping.  Yesterday I finally let Billy cut down the evergreen shrub that was hiding our entryway.  I now wish I'd let him do that weeks ago.  The kids and I put flowers in some pots for the front porch, and we planted a tree in the front yard a couple weeks ago too.  With all of that, the front of the house is looking much better. 

Now for the kids.  What can I say about them?  They are both growing so fast.  Audrey never ceases to amaze us with her ability to comprehend.  She picks up on everything, and holds us accountable. This week at school they focused on art, and she came home telling us about artists I didn't know anything about.  She is also learning to play games, which is fun.  Candy Land is her current favorite, but she does have a little trouble losing gracefully still. 

Barrett is getting around very well these days.  He has even mastered going up the stairs.  Yesterday, Billy and Barrett were downstairs, and Audrey and I went upstairs to get dressed.  Billy went to the back door to let the dogs in (which requires drying off their paws since it has been raining for the past 3 days).  By the time he got done, Barrett was at the top of the stairs scurrying down the hall to find me.  I think it is time to break out the baby gate.  Barrett has also been taking steps.  He can take a few steps in a row, but then gets nervous and sits down. I have never seen a baby get so excited about mobility; he is happiest when he is walking with a push toy or crawling up the stairs. 

I think that pretty much sums up life in the Nance household.  We are looking forward to summer, boat rides, Florida trips, weddings, babies and all the rest.  I think the downtime away from home and work will be really good for us.  We need time to reconnect, not just with all of you, but with each other too.