Birthday Party

Yesterday Leyton went to his first birthday party for my nephew Ethan. As you can tell he is the life of the party! Can you believe that it took almost 7 weeks for a shot of Leyton and his mommy?!

Holy Tomatoes!

The tomatoes in the backyard are crazy right now. It is going to be a serious bumper crop. I cant wait for them to turn red!!! The ones in this picture are bigger than my hand!

Another Fav!

I have a new favorite baby item to share! The Cloud 9 Constellation Turtle. I'm not sure if Leyton likes it as much as I do. This guy projects a starry sky on the ceiling. It is the perfect amount of light for the late night feedings and gives us both something to gaze upon.

The Gift

While not the greatest picture of this pictures, I wanted to share what I had put together for the hubby for Father's Day. This were by far my favorite two shots during the photo session. The blocks are just cute and the feet just remind me that he was pooping right there! Ha!

Hey buuuuuuddy!

Whisky has really taken to the baby. When he cries he is right there, when there is a diaper change, he is right there, when a nap is to be had, he is right there. I've started called Leyton "Buddy" when I talk to Whisky. I try not to use the word baby since all of Whisky's toys were called babies and I don't want to encourage any gnawing on Leyton's thunder thighs. It's so nice to have a dog that loves his little buddy already!

An important conversation!

Man, if I had an actual video camera that went more than 10 seconds you people would be in trooooooooouuuuuble!

I miss you thrift stores!

I had a chance to go to a thrift store today and it was a new experience. Instead of browsing the housewares first and then shoes and books...I headed straight to the baby section. I think I picked up five different things but by the time I got towards the front of the store I had put everything back. Then I walked past the shoes and something caught my eye.They are by Lands End and so ridiculous but SOOOO FREAKING CUTE! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they fit Leyton around Christmas time!

Smiling

Leyton is really starting to become animated and has fun playing with mom and dad. I've been trying to catch this in a pic or video and this is the closest I've gotten so far. He was excited that I was blowing on his mobile.

Grandma Made It

Here are a couple more things made by my mom on her visit.
We found this blanket at Target and thought it was cute. My mom turned it into a changing pad with just a little elastic! I seriously could use about 10 changing pad covers with the amount of times Leyton pees all over them.

Next up, shade for the car seat. My biggest complaint about the Graco carseat is that there is no shade options in the front. My mom made this great cover that velcros to the handles. It also works as a great blanket in a pinch!

Mooooo

It's official....Leyton is a formula baby. Sadly it's not due to nipple confusion or lack of latching. If I offered him the breast right now he'd take it. There are two problems. The first is my milk supply started depleting. I produce about 4-5 ounces a day no matter how much time he spends on there. Secondly my milk makes his stomach very upset. I even started pumping again, which I hate, in order to get what I could and give him an ounce a day. One ounce and his stomach was not happy. So, I called it quits. I miss it some, but make up for it by snuggling more. Know what? I think he's happy and not bothered by it at all.

Happy Father's Day!

I always knew you would make a great Daddy!

BIG BOY!

One of Leyton's most favorite places in the whole house is on his changing area. He can be fussy and crying, but you can put him on his changing pad and he will go quiet. He can spend an easy hour there playing and cooing. Per Grandma's suggestion we got a second changing pad that could be moved around the house to try and mimic the changing area. The first place I tried it was the crib. Know what? That little bugger went to sleep! Slept there by himself for hours! He's getting too big on me!

Bye Grandma!

For the past two weeks Leyton's Grandma, otherwise known as my Mommy D, has been here. I cannot express how WONDERFUL it was having the help around the house. Plus, she loved Leyton and he equally loved her. She had the Grandma touch and was always quick to get him soothed. She even discovered that the highly annoying squeaky rocker could quiet him in an instant.

Tonight she boarded a plane to return to Florida. When my mom moved to Florida I was happy for her. She'd been in the state of California for most of her life, aside from Texas as a young child. I thought it was going to be a great adventure for her and a great change of pace. It was. Selfishly though I'd like for that adventure to be over. So mom, I know you are reading this. Please come back. I want my child to know his Grandma and be with her all the time...not just every four months. Don't move to Texas, don't move to Oregon, don't move to Washington. Come home. The taxes are high, but the love is BIG!

The verdicts out!

When you have a baby it is impossible to not look at your child and try to find out where he/she looks like you or daddy. With Leyton it has been pretty obvious that he looks a TON like his daddy. The only thing I thought he had of mine was my lips. This past weekend I scoured Bill's parents for baby pictures of Bill. I got the youngest one I could find and put it together with shots of Leyton and myself. Now that they are all together I think Leyton is the perfect mix of both of us!!

Date Night!

Since my mom is here she wanted to make sure that Bill and I got to go on a date. Not only that but she wanted to treat us to that date. One of our favorite places to go on special occasions is McCormick and Schmick's. Seriously delicious seafood and since I didn't get to eat alot of it during the pregnancy we knew we were headed there. When we arrived we had a little surprise as my mom had the top of the menus customized. We have a menu from when we got married, our first year wedding anniversary (which was our 10 year anniversary) and now the baby. Such a cute tradition!

Oh Poop!

Today Leyton went to have his first professional pictures taken. Like I expected as soon as we sat him down he started screaming his head off. So, I used a back up bottle to give him a little extra food and calm him down. The bottle would go in his mouth, then we would count to three..pull it out and snap the shot. I know, what a tease. Needless to say it worked and he calmed right down. We had two outfits and wanted to try and get some naked shots in between. By the time we got Leyton naked, my baby that LOVES being naked, he was calm and collected. In naked shots you remove everything...even the diaper. This seemed dangerous, but these people know what they are doing! We were just taking the final shot, Leyton was on his back and the photographer was getting a close up of his feet when we saw the face. The one that looks like the face a weight lifter makes when the weights are going over his head. The face that says "I'm taking a dump now." As you can imagine, our photography session ended there on a shitty note.

One Month!

I got the idea from Making It Lovely to do a shot each month of Leyton so we could see how dramatically he changes. I can't believe it has been a month since I gave birth to him. I can see how time is going to go by quickly. So, here is my little bugger at one month! Happy little fella isn't he?

Favorite Item

I've purchased one or two things since Leyton has arrived home. One of them I registered for, but then thought it was ridiculous and removed it from my registry. I figured, why did I need a drying rack for bottles when I would just throw them in the dishwasher. Ha! Little did I know how many bottles I would need to use since the breast feeding thing isn't panning out...more on that later. So, I got this gem and have to say it's one of my favorite baby items. You can find them online and at Target and I highly recommend getting one for anyone having a baby!

Love It!

My mom got me this bag at the UC Davis bookstore and I'm in love! I needed a good purse that was easy to carry with the baby. The color is awesome, the compartments inside fantastic and I can even throw a bottle on the outside when I need to feed wee Leyton! These are made by Lug and apparently part of "Oprah's Favorites." I mean if that doesn't sell you, what will?

Shelf Cover

My mom got my shelf cover fixed and I love it! Gives me a nice space to hide junk while keeping everything spic and span looking! Thanks Mom.

Tattoo

Every time I get a new tattoo I think I'm done. On that note there is always one tattoo that I knew I wanted to get when I had a child.Leyton had this done in the hospital and I'm thinking of having it put on my foot. I mean, I can't have the amount of tattoos that I have and not get some tribute for my child!

Diapers!

There are two things that I think I should buy stock in right now. Diaper and batteries. When you have a baby it is inevitable that you will go through a TON of diapers and a TON of batteries. So, when I saw that Natalie's Sentiments was having a diaper giveaway I was 100% on board. If you need diapers, go here to enter. Or if you don't need diapers go and enter and give them to me cause I sure as heck need diapers!!

Wish List

When I got pregnant I knew right away that I wanted a boy. I know that sounds selfish and trust me like all others I would have been happy with whatever I got and ultimately wanted a healthy baby. I did have a gender preference though. I think it's because I was a twin with a brother that didn't make it. Perhaps I felt having a boy of my own would fill that void. Either way, it was what I hoped for. Then I also got selfish and hoped that my boy would look like his daddy. I wanted him to have his eyes, his hair, his long limbs, strong square jaw and coloring. Only I wanted him to have my lips. Guess what? My prayers were answered. The one place you can see me in my son is his full lips. All the other parts are 100% his daddy. I love his hair most of all. It's full like his daddy's and also has wave to it. Then I got it wet and realized just how much wave it has to it. Seriously, it is bordering on an afro. It's an afro mullet! I will say that since he was born his hair has lightened considerably and I'm thinking it's going to be closer to my color. I truly think he's the most gorgeous baby I've ever seen. Don't all moms say that?

Crib Skirt

My mom made an excellent crib skirt to go on the crib. Actually the whole theme of the room was designed around this skirt fabric. It's hard to tell from the pictures but the color is the same as the walls and it has a vintage feel with ABC's and 123's on it. I absolutely love how it came out and am impressed again by her talent on a sewing machine!

Thanks Mom!

Tomato Garden!

The tomato garden we planted in the backyard is kicking butt right now. We are going to have tomatoes coming out of our ears and better start gathering all the good tomato recipes. If you have any you'd like to share, please send away!

Grandmas

Grandmas are great and it's amazing what you can get done while they are here!!