we're sinking!

Trying to speed up the getting-ready process, which includes picking up and setting down Patrick multiple times as he refuses to self-entertine for the 5 minutes I need to put on my makeup, I set him in the sink and got ready right behind him. The result: I got my makeup, he got clean teeth.

eat that!

Eating like a big guy - so proud!

I don't remember the last time a year had so many moments in it

We were given the chance this weekend to reflect upon the past year - not because of the new year, but because of Patrick's birthday! A whole year has gone by - his entire life, 1/25th of ours, and it has been JAM PACKED. Possibly because we did so many fun things and saw so many people, but probably more because every day consists of hundreds of little moments that were never there before. I love to get big hugs from my husband, but a big hug from my son melts my heart like I can't explain. Maybe because mere months ago he didn't really know how to hug, so this is a cool milestone? Maybe because it's crazy that he loves me in spite of the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing? Maybe it doesn't matter why, I just don't need to explain it.

Everything gets stretched out as you grow up. Newborns have 12 days and nights every single day - every time they wake up it's a new day! 24 hours is just too much to handle, so they break it down into chunks they CAN handle and then sleep in between. As they get older kids take fewer and fewer naps because they can handle longer and longer hours; their activities become longer and more involved and those once-long days now seem quite short, those once-long years go by in no time at all. I have been SHOCKED at how time has gone back to standing still at 24 (now 25) years old. To be home and be completely absorbed in Patrick's world, where 24-hours means so much more than one day - it could be the day he went from sitting and staring to reaching and interacting! The day he went from stuck-where-ya-put-me to scooting around on his own! The day when he didn't need my hand to walk him across the room anymore! - THIS has made the days crawl by.... but crawl in a good way. When I think about the hundreds of moments we have had together, I would be in serious trouble if time DIDN'T crawl! It's gone by much too fast as is! The naps break it up nicely, of course, but those moments where my heart melts come right on top of each other; if life were going at its old pace, I would have missed half those moments (probably more if I'm honest with myself). So thanks, Patrick, for packing enough good times into every day to make it seem like three, and happy birthday to YOU!

Newborn

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months

Seven Months

Eight Months

Nine Months (nine up, nine down!)

Ten Months

Eleven Months

Happy Birthday!

For Kari, because she asked

Patrick sliding on his own! Kinda crashes at the end since I only have one hand to catch him, one hand for the camera.

Oh, the weather outside's delightful...

60+ degrees here in Fort Collins! On the days that it AREN'T outrageously windy we like to soak up the outdoors while we can. On the days that ARE outrageously windy we like to go the pool, but getting in and out of the car means either having your kneecaps broken from the door slamming you into the car frame or dinging the car next to you because the wind caught the door full-force the other way! So here we are, in January with no wind, playing at the park. I didn't get a photo, but Patrick goes down the slide by himself now! I just catch him at the bottom. What a STUD.
The park looks empty, but don't be fooled! We're just the only ones in this particular corner. It is actually has a bazillion day-care kids just out of view on the left. We're not the only ones enjoying the sun!
Shoveling sand to make wicked-awesome sandcastles
Is this what winter's like? If this is torture, chain me to the swingset!

Happy Early Birthday (to us!)

For Patrick's early birthday present we're going to re-train nighttime! Oh, JOY. I posted about our (very small) battle a month or two ago, complete with sad photos, but after 2 night he slept GREAT! We could leave the room while he was still wide-eyed and he'd fall asleep without crying, then he'd wake up twice a night, tops, but usually only once or (heaven preserve us!) not at all. Then Christmas hit, and hit hard, and we haven't had a decent night of sleep since. I think he's gotten somewhat used to us sleeping with him, but co-sleeping just doesn't work for me, so now that he's alone he wakes up so much more often - and more angry! Still, 6 nights out of 7 I end up in his twin-bed with him since I don't want to bring him to our bed (yes, I feel like there's a difference, and his bed is surprisingly comfortable!) but more than once I WAKE UP in his bed and don't remember getting in there! A sure sign I am delirious with fatigue. Since under-eye bags just aren't all the rage this year and we'd like to get some sleep before he turns 6, we've been working up the guts to try it again. He had a new tooth coming in and we took a trip to Pueblo, so it hasn't been good timing - UNTIL NOW. With one week to work out the kinks all engines are go for beauty rest for the entire family by the time he turns one! Wish us luck!

We're avoiding you

Okaaaaay.... not really. But if you happen to call Joe's phone and it is no longer in service, don't panic! We MEANT to do that. You can still call MY phone, which is now OUR phone (guess I should change the voicemail message so when other girls call they KNOW not to leave scandelous messages.... since THAT HAS ACTUALLY HAPPENED). Or feel free to call our home/business phone. Although I post every other little thing about our life on here I feel weird about actually posting FACTS, not just spur-of-the-moment ravings about my celebrity crushes and new year's resolutions, so if you need either of those two numbers... email me. I will also not give out my email on here, so good luck finding us!

But seriously... we're not avoiding you.

Let's kick things off right

I am not one to make New Year's resolutions, since I think it's either a bad idea or it's procrastinating; a bad idea to make a resolution you are not ready to keep simply because December turned into January; procrastinating if you waited for December to turn to January just so you could finally get your rump (yes, I said rump) in gear and do what you should have been doing months ago. Instead, I make resolutions as I go along. This year, though, my resolution happened to coincide with the beginning of the year, so I suppose it is my New Year's resolution. Yup, just one, because it's that important. I am resolved to be more careful. Let's look more closely at this overly generalised topic and see what we can see.

I don't like to think of myself as careless, per say, but sometimes you need to face the music. Overweight people resolve to lose weight, messy people resolve to be more organized, and careless people resolve to be more careful. I never MEAN for things to happen - the time the fire department got sent to our apartment because I left the pot boiling and ruined all those bottles (and half my breast pump)? The time I cooked a turkey in a too-small pan so the juices dripped onto the oven, which I then didn't clean, and said juices caught FIRE next time I cranked up the oven? Or how about the time I "lost my wallet" and, in a panic, cancelled all my credit cards (hassle!!!) only to find I had stuck it in the shopping bag with the things I'd bought instead of in my purse? OR when Patrick "ate a button" so I went to the doctor so they could check him out and the button fell out right on the exam bed? WELL. Looking at those, I am quite lucky - the apartment didn't really catch fire (either time), my wallet wasn't really lost, Patrick didn't really eat the button.... but how many times should you tempt fate? NOT THAT MANY. So now I am really working on being more careful. Always double-check the stove (and curling iron) before leaving! Keep those buttons (and any sewing parephenalia) completely out of Patrick's reach! If I THINK it's out of his reach, put it even further away! Keep all liquids away from precious papers, keep all bills away from the "stuff" stack that papers will never return from, keep sharp objects pointed away from you when opening packages... common sense of that sort. This is what I need to do! Take a few more minutes of my day to be careful - leave early to get to appointments, get ready even earlier than that so I can do the double-check thing, etc etc. I must admit I've already slipped a few times (fortunately this is not a resolution that can be broken, just horribly bent and/or forgotten along the wayside) and we don't need to go into details, but we should note that I am the World's Worst Liar, so any slip-ups I make simply cannot be hidden from Joe. From you people, sure, but you don't live with me. But you know what you can do? You can give me ideas on how to be more careful! Safety conscious, careful with money, how not to lose my wallet (again)... whatever you've got.

Have a happy - and careful - 2009!

...and my apologies to that old holiday ghost

Before posting it, I read and re-read the "ghost of christmas past" blog looking for spelling/grammar mistakes and I feel SO RETARDED that I wrote "prosperity" instead of "posterity." Seriously, English was one of the few high school classes I excelled in! I have a great vocabulary! Don't write me off as uneducated! (Heaven knows I certainly went to enough college!) It was one of those times when your brain thinks one word and your hands type the more-familiar-yet-wrong word, and then an oversight in proofreading. Ohhh, the shame... and my apologies again.

My, my... how random

I was cleaning out some old things around the house, getting ready to donate them, when I thought "why not give selling them a shot?" So I posted various items on craigslist.com with pics, info, and how to get a hold of me should the price be right. Apparantly you also need to post COMMON SENSE on craigslist as well because one of the items, a highly-sought-after xbox that is older than dirt and selling for $10, had us getting calls at 11 P.M. All the calls were from males, most of the callers sounded distinctly juvenile, but that 11 p.m. caller was an adult! Who are you, Mr. Adult, that think it's cool to call that late at night for a crappy xbox? You are no friend of mine, that's who! I revised all other posts to ask that caller please refrain from being stupid and phoning after 9 p.m. Funny enough, the guy who actually bought the xbox had his mom pick it up for him after she dropped him off at school. How sweet :)

Another item for sale is my old camera. We have 2 old cameras, this one being the not-s0-good-one of the two. While getting all the necessary info about it from it I had the excellent idea to make sure I wasn't selling it along with the highly-prized memory card (because while cameras are quickly being replaced by more awesome, more colorful models, they all still use those tricky little cards). And hey! Look what I found! Funny old shots for you to enjoy. Now please buy my camera, it'd be great for your kids so they'll leave yours alone.

An extra-large rubber-band around the forehead. No reason. We just DIED laughing!

Helping mom take out the trash

Learning-to-crawl-faceplant. Bad mood: obvious.

Ahh, the leisurely passtime of reading. Up next: War and Peace.

To all our friends at church - we'll miss you on Sundays!

...but we're still here the rest of the week, so don't write us off! We officially moved out of the Terry Lake Ward boundaries when we moved into our new apartment in August, but since we thought we would be moving out of Fort Collins entirely mere months later, we decided to keep going to TL, seeing as we LOVE everyone there and would miss them terribly, if only for a few months. Neither of us relish making entirely new friends (because we're lazy, not because other people aren't wonderful) so we were settled on settling in 'til the move. Then, a few weeks ago while talking to his boss, Joe found out he will definitely be staying at the job site here in Fort Collins until it's completed this upcoming summer. We like our apartment, the rent is reasonably low (certainly lower than a house payment), it's very close to the job site so there's no commute... so here we are, still! Since we have more future months at our current place, which is still definitely not in the TL ward, we're admitting defeat and heading to the Prairie Ridge Ward. I'm sure, as soon as we climb out of our comfort-zone bubble we'll meet nice, new people, but I know we will miss all YOU nice, old people that we could always count on to sit next to in the back rows at church or roam the halls with while Patrick was antsy. So we're coming to church one last time to say goodbye, next week we'll be going to church to say hello. A whole new year, a whole new ward. Wish us luck, and tell anyone you know in Prairie Ridge to be nice to us :)

What a way to start the new year!

From Joe: Finally! Walking! This is my first official post on this blog (or any blog for that matter) but I think that this is as valid a reason as any. Kirsta and I think that Patrick just wanted to give a preview of his big plans for 2009 by waiting until today to walk. He has pretty much been able to walk for a few weeks now, but earlier this morning he walked away from a chair in the dining room without any destination in particular before sitting down after a couple of steps. Then tonight, he was standing by the green tupperware while Kirsta and I were by the kitchen and he decided to make it a party by walking on over. Now we are working out his new skills and he is probably regretting unveiling his talents. Hopefully soon, he will be helping Kirsta cook and clean and take out the trash for us too. Happy New Year to everyone. Hope your day (and year to come) are as enjoyable as ours was and will be.

*little clarification from Kirsta: Patrick has been taking steps by himself for a few months now, but he could only get 4 or 5 at a time, and would only walk to either Joe or I. We tried to not jump the gun to say he was walking because he really wasn't, he was falling with one foot in front of the other and it just kinda looked like walking. But starting today he has been pulling himself up and simply walking away! Out into the middle of the room with nobody there, 10 or 15 steps! The video doesn't quite capture that since Patrick will gravitate toward the camera no matter what else he was doing, and I wasn't that far away with the camera, but you can see how good his balance is now! Soon he will be cruising solo all the time, we're sure of it.