Happy birthday Jude!!

Wow. I cannot believe you are 1 already. This year has been so fast and so full! I was a little disappointed when I found out you were a boy... I only knew "girl" and felt like I was getting the hang of it. But man, I would be missing out on SO much if you had been a girl. I am so thankful to have you, my sweet smiley Jude!

You make everyone smile - me, Daddy, Liv, other kids, every lady in the grocery store, the electrician, friends at Liv's dance class, your grandmas, the checkers at Trader Joe's... literally everyone!

You are laid back and easy going, content to take in the scene and enjoy life as it comes at you. You LOVE your sister. She makes you laugh and is so protective of you. You like to chase her with your funny little army crawl - I keep telling her that someday you will catch her! You love to lay on her bed with her while I sing before naptime... she loves it too! You look for her when she's not around and I love that you two are already great buddies!

You LOVE your Daddy! When he calls and you hear his voice you do the funniest high pitched/almost silent squeal and start flapping your arms. You watch everything he does and love being with him. He adores you too.

You are a great snuggler! You burrow into my neck or chest and get as close as you possibly can. You pat the arm or back or leg of whoever is holding you in a sweet "I really like you" kind of way.

You love Row, Row, Row Your Boat (with the two of us rowing back and forth!) and Trot Little Pony. You especially love when I flip you upside down at the end.

You love the swings, wind in your face, putting food in your hair, bathtime, being tickled, music of any sort (you have impeccable rhythm!), zippers, buckles, straps, strings and food of any sort.

You have the Hilmerson ability of being able to raise one eyebrow and you do it a lot - at the perfect times!

You can be a little impatient when it comes to food - if you're in the high chair, you are very vocal about asking where the food is! I love the way you spit your plug out after a nap when I'm about to give you a bottle.

You are a great sleeper - 11+ hours at night and two good naps during the day. We just gave you a little elephant to sleep with and you were in your crib singing to her the first night. :)

You have a funny sense of humor and laugh at your mama all the time (thanks for that!) :)

You say dada a lot but not really about or to anyone in particular. You also hoot a lot - "hoo, hoo" - you are our little owl.

You are crawling (mostly army, but you started on all 4s yesterday) and you are fast!

You look like both of your grandpas. I wish they could both know you as you grow up.

You have a twinkle in your eye and scrunch up your nose when you smile.

I love you Jude. I am so happy to be your mama. I wish I could keep you little and snuggly forever but I am looking forward to all the new things this next year will bring!

Happy Summer!

Words

Liv is talking more and more everyday. She hasn't completely mastered sentence construction yet (she frequently sounds like Yoda!) but hey, she's not even 2 so we'll give her a little more time.

Today she was in the bathroom giving the (closed!) toilet a pat and saying "Mommy potty chair!"

Yes, we have gotten out the potty chair and Liv is in love with it. She somehow knew just what it was and told us all the proper steps of using the chair in the correct order the first time we let her sit on it! She hasn't actually done anything on it yet but she is excited about sitting on it and that's a start, right?! Potty training tips anyone?


Oh, and did I mention that she's in LOVE with this skirt? She'd wear it all day everyday (and night!) if I'd let her!

It's been awhile...

I know I've been a huge slacker... sometimes I'm just not in the blogging mood. :) Here are some pics to catch up on the last few months!

Eilee got this cute little kitchen set for her birthday. Liv thought it was pretty cool and they had a fun morning playing together!


In March our friends Jason & Janeen and their son Ethan came to visit. Kurt grew up visiting his grandparents in New York every summer and got to know Jason while he was there. Their moms are friends, their grandmas are friends and their great-grandmothers were friends! Ethan and liv are the 5th generation of friends in these two families! It was fun to have them here and show them around southern California! Liv really liked Jason... especially when he read to her! :)


Liv & Ethan at the fountain in the circle.



We went down to Balboa for a while one day. We rode the ferry across from the island, then played a bit on the beach and finished up with lunch at Ruby's on the pier.



We had fun showing Ethan Liv's favorite rides at California Adventure. Here are the daddys and kiddos waiting in line for something in Bug's Land (Liv's favorite!)


Janeen had never been to California and Jason had never been to Hollywood so they wanted to go up and check it out. You can see the Hollywood sign up on the hill behind us if you look closely! I think this is the first pic we have of the three of us with Liv actually smiling! Yay!


The day Jason & Janeen left we went to our neighbors' wedding out in Temecula. It was at the Wiens' family Cellars and it was beautiful! We wished that we could have been stow-aways in their luggage as they left for their month long South American honeymoon!


Liv loves the tea cups at Disneyland!


The day before Easter we went down to Carlsbad with my parents to check out the beautiful flower fields there. I've wanted to do this for a long time and am so glad we finally made it happen. It is absolutely incredible. I LOVE ranunculus and there are so many there... and they are so stunning!


Liv refused to look at the camera but I love this shot anyway.


The beautiful flower fields!


Running through the sweet pea maze.


Checking out the poinsettias with Grandma! I never knew there were so many types!


Kurt has a new hobby... golfing. Figures that he would pick it up after we've moved away from one of the nicest courses in Orange County! Anyway, he's been going to the driving range at lunch with a couple guys from work and wanted to show off his skills to me & Liv one night. We had fun hitting (is that the right word?) a bucket of balls at our local cheap driving range. I have a feeling we'll be doing this again! :)


This is what Liv looks like after her nap with two crazy pig tails. She rocks some awesome bedhead!


Finally, Kurt and I were so excited to be able to go away for a weekend by ourselves! I got a great deal at the Westin Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage. It was SO lovely! We haven't had a trip like this since before Liv was born. We spent time relaxing by the pool, eating, walking, napping, planning for the future and enjoying a diaper and toddler-free weekend! They have an awesome pool there...



Dinner out at "the River"


We had a great weekend! Thanks Mom & Dad for taking such good care of our nugget so we could have some much needed time together!

She's always liked Will Smith...

Today I am...

funny how that doesn't really seem that old anymore. :)

Liv's favorite friend

Liv & Wallace don't have any choice in the matter... they basically HAVE to be friends and they HAVE to hang out. I'm sure there will come a day when Liv would rather play with a little girl but for now her favorite friend is Wallace. She LOVES Wallace. She says his name probably 20 times a day and whenever we are getting ready to go somewhere to play with anyone she asks if Wallace will be there. They don't even play together that much yet but I know Liv likes having him around... good thing, because they have years of mandatory play dates ahead of them!