Inner Dialogue of a 1-yr old

WTF do Mommy & Daddy have me dressed in?!?!
I look like an elf.
I will NOT smile with this stupid hat on. I will not.
Even if Santa is watching.
I’m just going to sit here and try my hardest not to look cute. But that’s going to be hard… because I’m adorable even when I’m not smiling.
I’m not bragging.
It’s just the truth.

1st Birthday Pics

Landry's 1st birthday was a lot of fun and yes, a lot of work! (side note for future reference: actual date of party was Oct. 30th) But let's face it, parties those first couple of years are more for us as parents than for the kid. Landry had NO idea why all those people were in his house, making noise, acting crazy, etc. He thought it was pretty cool, but had no clue they were all there for him :)

These were little party favors I made (I totally stole the idea from a stranger's blog). They were little "s'mores" with tags reading things like "A baby no s'more, our little boy is 1", etc. I felt I needed to do something "crafty" for my baby's first b-day. Speaking of which, I could NOT find invitations I liked, so I ended up making them. It was fun and they turned out great, if I do say so myself. I even used stick glue. If you know me at all, you'd know that's a huge accomplishment ;)

Landry didn't know what to think of the smash cake... he hardly messed with it. His one chance to go crazy and he didn't take us up on it. He'll regret it.

Side note #2 - Landry started taking steps right before his 1st birthday! Took him about 2-3 weeks to turn into a full time walker, but he's officially a Toddler now. sniff. sniff. This is a pic of him after he took a few steps to me the night of his birthday party.

So much to blog... so little time

Just a few updates (pictures will follow... at some point... in the near future... I hope)

Landry
The baby will be 11 months old tomorrow! Which is absolutely crazy because it feels like just yesterday I was pregnant with him... and I loved being pregnant! I loved being able to feel him move inside me and I loved having him all to myself (selfish I know). But I absolutely love having him here to love and hold more than anything! And I'm sharing him with others pretty well :) He'll be ONE in just one short, tiny, it'll-be-here-before-we-know-it month. Very exciting and yet just a little sad. Where does the time go? He'll be off to Harvard or Yale or LSU before we can blink. So, I'm going to stop dwelling on it right now and focus on the present.

* Landry's first tooth finally surfaced about 2 weeks ago. It only took about ten and 1/2 months! I was starting to worry if our health insurance covered baby dentures...

* He had his first stomach flu about a month ago. Fun times, let me tell you. Blair was out of town for the projectile vomiting, but came back in time for the 5 days of diarrhea diapers. And I am still totally shocked at how fast diaper rash comes on! We sometimes were literally changing his diapers every 10 minutes and the poor baby still developed a bad rash. On day 5, things started getting much better, including his little bum. Sidenote: Ireland & I also got sick, but ours lasted only about 24 hours. Bad thing is that Ireland's sickness started at 4:30am at a friend's house. Kris received "the call" and had to go get her, poor thing! (that description is for both Ireland and Kris).

* Little man started eating solid foods just this past Sunday! Doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is. He actually has an Occupational Therapy evaluation on Monday, the 4th. At 9 months, we had started giving him puffs, mashed potatoes, rice, etc. but any time he felt something solid in his mouth, he would start gagging and eventually throw up. Since he hadn't made any progress, until a few days ago, his doc thought it was time to help him out a little. We love Dr. Aimee and trust her 100% and if she thought it was time to intervene, we were all about it. We're keeping the appt on Monday and will see what the OT says.

* In case I hadn't blogged about this earlier, he has been crawling, pulling up on everything, and standing by himself for a few months. Ireland has predicted he will be walking before his first birthday - we shall see!

* He has been saying "dada" for a long time, but since I don't think he equates it to Blair (everything is dada!), it doesn't count as his first word. He has starting saying "bye-bye" and waving his hands at the same time, so I think this will go down in the record books as his first official word. We think he is also saying "ball" and "uh-oh", but there is still no hope in sight of "mama" :(

Ireland
* Ireland is back in school (3rd grade) and loving every minute of it! Having an incredible teacher like Mrs. Moore helps :)

* Cheerleading started back up just this week and she was so excited! Her teacher has told her she thinks she is one of the best and moved her to the All-Star squad with the older girls :)

* She is riding her bike w/o training wheels - Yahoo!! She had learned how to ride last Spring, but hadn't practiced much throughout the summer. Now that Fall is here (hallelujah!), Blair took her back out last week and she is doing great!

* Little Miss has more of a social life than we do. She is constantly invited to her friend's houses for play dates and/or sleepovers and vice versa. I think she is having the time of her little life this year!

* Most importantly, Ireland continues to be the BEST big sister to Landry! It's so great to see how much they love each other.

Blair & Beth
* My mom finally set up the camera we bought for her computer - back in March for her b-day - so we've been Skyping for the past couple of weeks. It's actually really easy and has been really fun being able to see the family and for them to see Landry & Ireland. Now we just have to get Tammy, Blair's sister, on board...

* Football Season is here! Which is Blair's favorite season. 'Tis the season of Purple & Gold, beer drinking, friendly wagering, yelling at the TV hoping that Les Miles will finally get a clue, and trash talking between good friends. Merry Football Watching to All and to All Who Follow College Football, May God be with their Wives! (don't get me wrong. I love watching football. Or at least the teams I have an interest in. Blair has an interest in EACH & EVERY game being shown)

* Fall TV Programming is here! This is my favorite season. Except now that Mr. Landry is here, I don't have time to catch up on everything I have recorded. It seems as though I'm going to have to let some shows go, but I'm not ready to say goodbye quite yet...

Wow. Sorry this post is so lengthy. That's what I get, and my few readers have to endure, for waiting so long between posts. I will try very hard to get on here more often. Hmmm, how many times have I made that promise? I'll probably break this one too. I suck.

The Locks-Less Monster (daddy's title, can you tell?)

Our precious baby now looks like a little boy! We were trying to go an entire year before cutting Landry's hair, but we just couldn't wait (ok, a few months ago we did cut the mullet that had been growing, but that doesn't count). His hair was in his eyes and covering his ears - he was totally rocking the Justin Bieber look... but since no one in this house is particularly fond of the Bieber, it was decided the hair had to go.

Blair put his video editing skills to work again to share little man's first haircut experience with everyone. I was amazed at how good Landry did - see for yourself!

Father's Day... 2 Months Later

I can't believe I didn't find time to put up a Father's Day post back in June :(

Because I have absolutely the BEST husband and Ireland & Landry have absolutely the BEST dad! I already knew what a special dad Blair was by witnessing his bond with Ireland. But once Landry came along, I was able to experience first hand what a "hands on" dad he was going to be from the beginning and how much he adores his children.

Blair, thank you for exceeding all of the expectations I had of you before we even started our parenting journey together. Thank you for taking care of ALL of Landry's diapers for the first week he was home (and the hundreds that have followed!), for always having to be the "bad guy" and suck out his nose & get the boogies, for everything you've done to make my life as a new mom easier (whether it be a nap on a Sunday afternoon, a glass of wine & a hot bath, sleeping in on a Saturday morning, washing bottles, kicking me out of the house to get a pedicure, etc.) - THANK YOU! I love you and am grateful every day you're the one I'm on this journey with.

Everyone else, sorry if that was a little sappy to read, but I want my hubby to know how much he is appreciated! That's the only way I can be sure my naps and pedicures will continue :)

Below are some pictures taken of Landry at daycare for Father's Day. They gave Blair a black & white photo in a little frame - too cute!!!

Random Pics - Part 1

The Verrette Household remains a busy (and pretty fun) place to be this summer! Ireland & I have made notes on several items that need to be blogged about, but until there are at least 30 hours in each day (I wish!), here are some pictures to hold everyone over. Enjoy!

The Humpty Dance hits a new generation!

Landry will at some point learn his own "moves", but at this point he's stuck with daddy's dated dance style... poor kid :)

Ireland's Cheering Debut

Kris found a wonderful start-up cheerleading program for Ireland & her step-sister, Samantha, to join. They spent the last 12 weeks of the school year learning the basics of cheerleading & dance. The squads performed for family/friends on May 25th. The attached video is a clip from that night. Ireland & Samantha are the best in their groups! (I'm not bias, they really are!) Both Ireland & Samantha received their next set of pom-poms, which means they get to move to the next level - we are so proud of them both!

(Sidenote: Mrs. Lewis, Ireland's 2nd grade teacher, attended the performance, which is just so cool. I can't think of any of my teachers growing up that would have made that type of effort for a student, especially since the activity wasn't associated with Ireland's school in any way... so easy to see why Ireland loves Mrs. Lewis and will miss her next year!)

Also, the morning of June 5th, the girls competed in a competition against three other programs. Only two girls from Ireland's squad showed up, so Ireland & the other little girl competed by themselves... and won 1st place!!! Blair & I missed it because we were out of town, but wished we could have seen Ireland out there for ourselves, we heard she did AWESOME!!!

Even babies have crazy hair days!

Oma & Opa's Visit

When Landry & I made our trek to Amarillo for Mel's baby shower, my mom wasn't even there to greet us... the nerve! :) She had made previous plans to spend a week in Colorado Springs with some of my parent's oldest & dearest friends, Dale & Linda Stodden. My dad left the day after we arrived to head up to CO to play golf with Dale... and to bring my mom home.

Oma & Opa were already planning to visit us the next weekend, so I guess it wasn't a Huge deal that they weren't around to see their eldest daughter & her 1st born baby boy... (below are some pics from their visit).

Mommy & Landry's 1st Trip w/o Daddy

One of my good high school friends, Melanie, is preggo with her first baby (Liam), so Landry & I made the trip to Amarillo for her baby shower the weekend of May 7th. I thought the easiest way for us to travel without Blair was to fly. If little man did awful, at least it was only a 1 hour flight! BUT, Landry was a little Rock Star! He did amazing and pretty much entertained everyone around us. Thanks little man for making the trip so easy on Mommy!

Landry patiently waiting to board the plane



Aunt Nona meeting Landry for the 1st time





SHOWER PICS:

Sarah & Rachel



Melanie (the new mom-to-be)






Pat, Tasha & Camden came to Canyon for a night to see us. Let's just say that the cousins are still getting to know each other...

Does Landry like Limes?

LDV's Six Month Stats

Landry had his 6 month check-up on May 13th. Our little guy is 26.5" long and almost 19lbs. He started rice cereal around the 5 month mark (which he loves) and has moved on to veggies after we received the go ahead from his doctor. We started with green beans, which didn't go over so well, moved to peas, only a little bit better, and started carrots a few nights ago, which were a big hit! I promised him once we get through all of the veggies that Gerber has to offer, we'll start with the good stuff - fruit! Not sure if he believes me at this point though.

Landry is rolling ALL over the place and sitting up really well on his own. Still waiting on his first tooth to arrive, although the drool sure did arrive about 3 months ago...

Ireland Meets iCarly

Miranda Cosgrove (aka iCarly from Nickelodeon) had a scheduled appearance at a local Wal-Mart on April 30th to promote her new CD. Ireland LOVES the show iCarly!!! So... we decided to surprise Ireland by taking her up to the store in hopes of meeting the one & only iCarly! Blair picked up Ireland a little early from school and she, Landry, Blair & Kris headed to Plano to meet me for ice cream, or at least that's what she thought they were doing.

The Wal-Mart that was hosting the appearance was about 2 miles from where I work, so I headed there as soon as I got off. No where had we heard that they were passing out wristbands at 10:00 that morning and that the only way you were guaranteed to meet her, you guessed it, was to have a little yellow wristband. Long story short... Blair had a few connections and a wristband found its way onto Ireland's wrist. BTW - she was extremely surprised when she arrived at the store and found out what was going on. Did I mention that she LOVES iCarly!?!

Our surprise was a total success and so much FUN! Blair put together a short video of the event - enjoy!

Ireland's Supermodel Birthday

Ireland's 8th birthday was back on Feb. 3rd (I am so behind on blogging!). She invited about 7 or 8 friends over for a big birthday slumber party... at her mom's house thank goodness! Kris set up a "runway" for them to model dress up clothes and they had a blast!




We had a much smaller birthday slumber party at our house the next weekend :)

Our New Nephew! (or at least he WAS new in February)

Camden Robert Yarbrough was born on February 16th, 2010 - we are so extremely happy for my brother and sis-in-law, Patrick & Tasha! They are incredible parents! I'm so proud of my little brother and sometimes can't believe he's now a father... I feel so old.

Even though we don't live close to each other, I hope that our little boys will grow up being close cousins & great friends! And I can already tell that my little red-headed nephew is going to lure my son into a heap of trouble...

My Gram

I realize that I eluded to sad news in a previous entry and I apologize for just now writing about it. I knew it would be a hard blog to write.

My grandma (my mom's mom) passed away on February 3, 2010, which also happened to be Ireland's 8th birthday. My Gram had been extremely healthy & active for most of her life, even in her 70's she could run circles around my lazy butt. She raised 6 kids while moving every 2-3 years as a military wife, and was one of my favorite people.

She moved in with my family when I was in elementary school while we were stationed in Kansas. I still remember how she was the one to give us baths at night and that she would tickle our feet while drying them off. One of her favorite stories from that time was when she had rented a video for us kids, based solely on the cute, cuddly creatures she saw on the cover. When she came into the living room to check on us, she said we were all hiding behind the coffee table, covering our eyes. She had rented Gremlins for us! I know that sounds like nothing much now, but in the 80's, it was considered a horror flick! Gremlins were being microwaved & blown up, etc. - very traumatic. I also remember that whenever I wanted her to, she would braid my hair before school...

My Gram was 80 when she passed away, leaving behind 5 children, and so many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, I can't even count! I am just so sad that she was not able to meet Landry, although very grateful she at least saw pictures of him. I am also grateful that we traveled to Atlanta last summer to celebrate her 80th birthday, although extremely sad that I didn't spend more time with her. I know I took for granted that she would always be around and I hate that.

Love you bunches Gram ~ your Bethy Bee.

Why can't I learn to like coffee?

Landry has been sleeping through the night for quite a while now (yea!!!). And I don't mean just 4-5 hours at a time (which is technically sleeping through the night, which is just crazy to me)... I mean he has his bedtime feeding around 9:00pm, he's sleeping in his cradle by 9:30-9:45, and he doesn't wake again until around 5:00am. He's also had quite a few mornings where he's slept until 6:30ish, even 8:00! We've been really blessed so far, so I'm not complaining below... really I'm not.

So having said all of that, we're not used to getting up in the middle of the night anymore. Since I've returned to work Blair has been getting up with Landry for his morning bottle (I love my husband!), so he offered his services at 3:00am when Landry decided, for some strange reason, to be wide awake (he had been pretty restless all night). But I knew that Blair wasn't feeling well so I got up with my baby, which was actually pretty nice because I don't get to see him before I leave for work each morning. Blair takes him to daycare...

Anyway, Landry was back down by 3:30, but I'm definitely feeling it now that I'm at work. I NEED coffee, but I HATE coffee. That's a problem.

Pics, Pics & More Pics

I'm back at work and have found that I have even less time than before for blogging (what a shocker!!!). Below are just some cute pics that I wanted to share. Some have captions, some don't.

There are some important life events which have occurred over the past few weeks that I need to blog about, so I'll make time soon to sign in again and talk about both the joyous and the sad moments. But for now, I hope you enjoy the below pics :)

This was taken the first day we brought Landry home from the hospital and placed him in his cradle, which Blair made. He was so tiny when we brought him home. He's 3 1/2 months now and definitely about to out grow the cradle. He's going to have to make the transition to his nursery soon... :(


Look closely at Landry's little face. Poor little guy looks terrified of Apple! (you may need to click on the picture to enlarge it in order to fully appreciate the look on Landry's face)


Landry with Blair's mom, Alice (aka Mawmaw). Alice and Tammy came to visit during Thanksgiving.


Landry and Blair's sister, Tammy (aka Nanny)


Landry's first time in the snow! Taken on 12/29/09









Bath Time! (Landry loves bath time, except at the end when Daddy has to wash his hair) And try not to judge our chubby guy - he's a good eater & just a healthy little boy!