Today we went to a kid guided tour of the Leach botanical garden.  It was just featured in a kid calendar so I think that may have contributed to the size of the group.  I think there were 30 kids.  It was slow moving and hard to hear the guide but I think B and Satchel had a lot of fun.  I know Brighton really enjoyed scooping up the little rocks on the gravel pathway and seeing the various things.  We saw a wild bunny, frogs, tadpoles, honey bee hives, and banana slugs. At the end, the guide led everyone down to the river and played a little banjo song about things in the forest.  Pretty fun outing for mamas and boys!

Poor little boy got his first shiner today. We were sitting outside and he was eating a popsicle on his little lawn chair. It tipped over and he banged his face into a wrought iron patio chair. Instantly it turned black and blue. I felt so sad for him.
Today we also went to our weekly music class. He’s really starting to open up and not be so timid. He was super into picking up all the instruments and cleaning up. He’s my little helper around the house too. Likes to sweep, vacuum, wipe the counters, put the clothes away. It may take twice as long but I try to have the patience to just let him “help” even if it’s not really that helpful!

Here is a picture of his sad face…

So I’ve been really wanting to start our blog up again.  I’m a terrible record keeper and I’d like to look back on this someday when Brighton is older as a keepsake.  I’m really inspired by my sis in law who has a new baby, and an older boy but still manages to blog fairly regularly.  She has kept a sweet little record of their lives.

I could try and catch up for the last year and do a little re-cap but that’s probably too much pressure.  I’m just going to start as if I’ve never left off.  Ironically the second to last post was about pickathon 2010.  Well we just returned from pickathon 2011.  We went with our dear friends and their little boy who is 12 hours younger than Brighton.  The boys had a blast!  The festival has grown in a major way in the last several years.  This was my 8th year and when I started going it was just a sweet little family friendly, mellow, roots music fest.  This year they sold almost 5000 tickets and next year they are going to increase it by another 2000.  Unfortunately that is totally not my scene!  We had the unfortunate luck to camp next to hardcore middle of the night partiers they last two years.  Last year it was banjo picking and singing until past 3 in the morning, this year it was drunken yee haas till not sure when…  Tara and I decided this will probably be our last year for a while.  Here are some pictures from Pickathon 2011..

This will be a quickie cause im not really in the mood to write much but I have been taken over by the guilt of not writing for so many months.  Our son is AMAZING he owns me and everyday we fall more and more in love.  He is a year old now (can you believe it!!?) and as beautiful and charming as ever.  A lot has happened in the last several months and I promise I will try to write about those things sometime soon.

For now I will leave you with a vid or two….he a big boy now!!

posted by bebebaba

Our little man has been really working on his standing (unassisted) skills.  He will stand for 30 seconds at a time sometimes with no help what so ever.  So, last week I sat on the floor and stood him as far away as my arms would reach and after standing on his own for several seconds he would then stumble/walk back toward me.  I was trippin! He is totally going to be one of those kids that skips the traditional crawl (up on hands and knees) and go from army crawl right to walking.  He is getting better every day.  Yesterday we went to i.ke.a and got his this cute little cart that he can push around and walk behind.  Its just exactly what he needs for where he is in his early walking development.  In one day he went from needing quite a bit of assistance to not really needing any at all.  Im so in love with this kid and every new thing he does makes my baba heart so proud…I would be lying though if I said I don’t feel a little worried about what walking is going to mean for our household but I know its inevitable so here we go!!!

B will be 9 months old tomorrow…

Ever since N and I started dating we have been going to PICKATHON together. This year was my 4th year and it was her 7th. We usually stay all weekend and camp and soak up as much music, people watching and good food as possible. Last year she was quite pregnant and it was SUPER hot so we didn’t camp like we normally do. luckily, the drive from our house is only about 30 to 40 minutes so we went home every night to shower and sleep in our own bed.

This year we decided to be super brave and take the baby to his first PICKATHON. We usually buy our tickets as soon as they are available which is usually around february. This year we had the added bonus of camping with some wonderful new friends the Steins…you can find them here. They have become fast new wonderful friends to us. Our sons are 12 hours apart in age and the story of how we met is quite a good one so remind me to tell it sometime. Anyway, we had such a fun weekend with them. I think we were all quite glad to have each other at times because it sure was a lot of work camping with those boys…but totally worth it!!

The boys were both really great all weekend. Of course they had their moments of cranky but who can blame them? We totally took them out of their normal routines and into a crazy world of nonstop music and fun. We seemed to switched nights of good sleep. Friday night was little Satchels night to give his moms a run for their money and Saturday Brighton decided to give Satchel a break and be up in the middle of the night. All in all we all had a great time and will totally be doing it again next year and for as many years as we live here and PICKATHON exists.

A few PICKATHON highlights…

So we are not quite there yet but I have a feeling this kid is going to be an early walker.  B just celebrated his 8 month b-day on the 17th.  He has started army crawling a few weeks ago and has immediately gone to wanting to pull himself up on everything.  In doing this he has stood for several seconds unassisted and yesterday he took a few steps.  He doesn’t have the balance yet but I give him a few weeks to get that perfected.  This kid is crazy strong.  We joke that he is training for the baby olympics.  It’s amazing to me that he started out so tiny, a meer 5 pounds 12 ounces, and is so huge now!  Sometimes when I’m breastfeeding him I look at his body and he’s all legs sprawled all across me and over the chair.  He looks more and more like a little boy everyday.  It makes me sad how fast time goes.  I just want to slow it down, and savor each changing moment.  I feel like once I finally get used to something he’s moving on to something different.  I guess that’s what everyone warns you about.  It goes so fast, so enjoy each moment.

This weekend we’ve tried some more solid foods.  I admit I’m a total paranoid freak about choking so I’ve been very reluctant to give him finger foods beside the yogurt melts and puffs that dissolve quickly.  Tara jumped right in this weekend by sharing her toast with him.  He loved it!  We’ve tried tofu, cheese, watermelon, cantaloupe, and cherries. He loved it all.  This is exactly what I’m talking about.  I’ve just gotten used to making his food and then we move on to big boy food.  Sigh.

We had a great weekend.  Ordered a tent for our upcoming camping trip to pickathon, and assembled it in our backyard.  It’s amazing and huge!  We needed a bigger tent to accommodate B’s pack and play.  I think we managed that and then some.  We then met up with our lovely friends who have been gone on vacation for far too long.  Got the boys together for some sand castle sculptures,  chicken wings, and beer.  A lovely time was had by all.  And now picture time…

mmm toast

sharing

testing out the tent

getting ready to walk

at the sand castle sculptures

hanging with my buddy while moms eat wings

busy boys

hey

The boy and i passing the afternoon with some frozen mango

Hi all, this week in the life of Brighton we bring to you…

1. blame it on the boogie

2. the army crawl

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!!