Happy 11 Months Old, Baby Clay!

Holy Cow! Baby Clay is 11 months old! I need this next month to SLOW DOWN! I don't want him to turn 1 because that means he's not a "baby" anymore (do I have to stop calling him Baby Clay?).

So what's going on with Clay this month??

Well... he's 23.8 pounds. That's a little over half a pound more than he was last month. I think he's getting taller instead of wider because he's quickly losing his cute chubby belly! He's still in his 18 month clothes and some 12 months. He's not walking yet, but is SOOOO close! He's getting braver and will hold on with one hand while cruising around. He still prefers to crawl and is pretty quick at it.

He usually will eat anything, but lately he's been P-I-C-K-Y! I don't know if it's the whole teething thing, the change at daycare, or just growing up that's caused this phase, but hopefully he'll grow out of it - SOON! The main thing he wants to eat right now is grilled cheese sandwiches or those Gerber cheese puffs. The kid loves cheese!

And speaking of teething... he's had 7 teeth for a while now and an 8th tooth is popping through on the bottom - so now he's got 4 on top and 4 on bottom. I also think his molers are coming in due to his fussiness and lack of eating.

He's picking up things really fast! He can tell you what a chicken says... "Bock Bock" and I think he's starting to realize that I'm Mama and Mark is Dada. He can clap, say "Bye-Bye", and can pick out a monkey, dog, duck, ball, truck, or Elmo if you ask him. He loves it when I sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "5 Little Speckled Frogs". One of his favorite games to play is "Where's Clay"... where he'll hide behind a blanket and pop out when we say "where's Clay".

Bless his heart... he's been through a lot this week with moving to a new class, then moving back to his old class, but with new classmates. Then on top of that he's teething and has had a cold and is now going through a bit of separation anxiety when I leave him at daycare (or even leave to go to the next room)! It breaks my heart to drop him off at daycare. He will wrap himself around my leg and not let go. I'm hoping this is just because he's not feeling well and all the changes that are going on. It does make me feel good to know that my baby wants to be with me :).

So one more month until he's 1... can't believe it! This year has flown by and I'm sure it's not going to slow down! I'm so excited about his birthday party coming up next month!! I've ordered the invitations and can't wait to start picking out everything for it! HAPPY 11 MONTHS, BABY CLAY!!!

And here are some pictures...

Trying a popsickle for the first time

You can't tell by his face in this picture, but he LOVED it! He was a little confused by it at first, but wanted more after he figured out it was food.

Look at those big eyes...

And you wonder where he gets those big brown eyes from???

Ha! This is me... I'm a good bit younger than Clay is in this picture, but he's definitely got the big brown eyes!!!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Tomorrow marks our 11 year anniversary! ELEVEN YEARS!!!! How crazy is that?? That means we got married when we were kids… or at least I feel like we looked like kids! It’s been a wonderful 11 years and I couldn’t ask for a better person to spend it with. This year we have the extra bonus of sharing our day with Baby Clay’s 11 month birthday (weird… 11 years for us… 11 months for Baby Clay), which makes it all the more special!

I was going through some old pictures trying to find some fun ones of us to scan in (gotta love a scanner!) and realized a couple of things… What kind of friends did I have back then that told me the stuff I was wearing looked good… and Why do I always seem to have some sort of beverage in my hand in every picture from college (as you will see below)? Anyways… it got me reminiscing about the “old days” when Mark and I first met. We lived in the same apartment complex in Auburn and he had just gotten a black BMW. Every day (Ok, every day is exaggerating a little bit… maybe every other day) he’d be out there washing it and I thought he must be a rich-kid snob. Come to find out... it was not true and I knew almost from the moment we started hanging out that I'd marry this guy! We started hanging out the summer of 97 and then starting dating not too long after that… then August 8th, 1998 (yeah… do the math… we only dated for a couple of months and were engaged for less than a year), I married my best friend!! I love him dearly and can’t wait to see what our future holds!

And here are some fun pictures I found! I tried to go in chronological order starting with college...

Trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. Mark had been given a weekend in a condo for "voicing his opinion" over less than stellar hotel service in Daytona (note: I was not present on the Daytona trip... thank goodness!).

Tailgating at an AU football game... I think this might be in South Carolina...


Another AU football game (I am so glad those light colored jeans are not in style anymore!)

And now for the wedding photos...

And here are a few pictures of us on our honeymoon to Freeport, Bahamas (which I do not recommend... although, it may have been our crappy resort).

Happy Anniversary, Mark!!!

You've made me so happy over the last 11 + years and I can't wait to see what the next 11 + years hold for us.

I mean, who couldn't love a guy in a pink feather boa and a Lizzie McGuire mask...

I would also like to say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my parents!!! We share the same anniversary (how cool is that?!?) and they have been married for 37 years!!!!

He's a Genius!!!

I see bright things in Baby Clay's future! We may have a future nuclear physicist on our hands (and that is in the genes... really, it is!). We've been working on object recognition (sounds so technical) using some blocks he has and he's picking it up really quick! Pay careful attention to the precision he uses in determining his answers. Brilliant, I tell ya! Brilliant!

Ok... so maybe not a nuclear physicist... maybe a Veterinarian since it seems that it's only animals he can recognize (although he can pick out Elmo... what does he count as?? Isn't he a monster??).

Slowin' It Down

I had been stressing all weekend over Baby Clay moving to the Toddler class... I didn't feel he was ready. I had asked his teachers a couple of times if they thought he was ready and they did. So this weekend we went shopping for his "school supplies" and were all ready this morning to start his new class.

Baby Clay did not wake up in the best of moods... in fact, I decided at one point that I was going to keep him home because he acted like he didn't feel good. He wouldn't eat and was ill, ill, ILL! I got him out of his highchair and let him play and he acted like he was fine so off to daycare we went!

When we got to his new class, something just didn't feel right. Even though most of the kids were from the infant class, he still seemed such a baby in this "big boy" class. The next youngest child was 15 months... and he's not even 11 months yet! I scanned the room to see if it was "Baby Clay proof" and I was just hoping that the teachers kept a good eye on him. He's still at that stage where everything goes in the mouth... EVERYTHING! I was worried that not everything in there was age-appropriate for Clay... and it wasn't their fault... he just wasn't ready.

I decided that maybe I was being an over-protective mom and was going to give it a chance. Before I left, I talked to his teacher and let her know that I was perfectly fine with him going back to the infant class if she felt he wasn't ready. When I came to pick him up and asked how his day went, they let me know that maybe the Toddler class wasn't for him... just yet. I TOTALLY agree! So, tomorrow he's back in the infant class... where he can still be a baby... still sit in a high chair to eat... AND, most importantly, sleep in a crib whenever he wants! And I'm happy... happy that my baby gets to be a baby just a little longer :).

When he got home, his daddy put together his first birthday present... a small swingset from his Nan (Mark's mom). It's so cute! It has a slide and a little swing. He LOVES to swing! Here are some pictures of him trying it out!

He was feeling AWFUL, so we didn't get very many big smiles. I think he's cutting some more teeth (at least I hope that's what is going on).

We're So Proud!

We went to pick Clay up from his last day in the infant class on Friday and we were presented with this certificate:


The part that makes us the most proud is his nickname:

And, of course, I can't argue with that :)!

I mean... who wouldn't think this is the most good lookin' boy in the world (I'm not biased or anything):

This is how he's smiling these days. We're going to have to work on that before 1 year pictures!

This is much better...

Kicking and Screaming

Me... not Baby Clay.

Today is Baby Clay's last day in the infant class at daycare and I don't want him to move up to the Toddler class... but he has to. I have to let him grow up and be a big boy.... but I don't want to!!

Being in the Toddler class means he doesn't have a high chair to sit in and eat... he's got a little short table and chairs. He doesn't have a crib to take a nap in... he gets to sleep on a napmat (which I might add is super cute - I'll take pictures of it next time he brings it home). He has a structured class... they do this at this time and this at this time. His supply list includes glue sticks, big fat crayons and lots of paper towels... yeah, I'd like to witness craft time in the Toddler class. And the biggest change in the toddler class is that he only gets to take one nap... which makes for a REALLY crabby Baby Clay (they've been practicing this in the infant class for the last few weeks and it is not going over really well once he gets home).

I know he'll miss his teachers, but one of them is moving up to the next class!!! She is so sweet and I'm glad he'll have a familiar face moving up with him. They are moving his whole class up, so he will also have all his little friends with him. I'm sure he won't really even notice he's in a brand new class... and won't realize how "big" he is moving to the Toddler class... but I will!

I had to go back to his First Day of Daycare post I did back at the beginning of December (Blogs are wonderful!!) and look at how much he has changed... Look at how little he is:

I LOVE this picture! That hat was my favorite!!!

He was only 12 weeks on his first day of daycare... I was a mess and now I'm a mess all over again because he's growing up so fast!!


Here he is today... shiner and all! (Actually, the eye is looking MUCH better! I don't feel like Child Protective Services would be called on me if I took him out in public.)

Looking so big in his big boy carseat!

Such a big boy, but still my little baby!

The Heavy Weight Toddler Champion Is...

BABY CLAY!!!

You should see the other guy! Actually, the pictures don't even do it justice.

Here it is from another angle:


Today Baby Clay got in a fight with the window sill at daycare... actually, he was standing at the window sill and lost his balance and banged his face on the corner. The daycare called me and I happened to be right down the street, so I headed on down to see the damage. At that time it was all swollen and puffy and he looked pitiful! This happened at lunch and I was afraid that when I picked him up, it was going to look even worse... but it really didn't. I'm sure he's going to have a nasty bruise tomorrow morning!

And, of course, he's still smiling!

If it's worse in the morning, I'll be sure to take more pictures!

I Love Paul Frank!

If you don't know who Paul Frank is, he's the cartoonist that is responsible for this monkey:

This is Julius the Monkey and I think he's adorable! Which is surprising since he's somewhat "clownish" and I'm scared to death of clowns. Anyways... back to my love of Paul Frank. He has a clothing line for infants and kids called "Small Paul" and his stuff is too cute!!!

This past weekend when we went into town, we stopped by Dillard's to look through the baby clothes and came across his stuff. I was showing Baby Clay the t-shirts and he would - straight up - cackle at the monkey on the front of them. Clay has always had a thing for monkeys (or rather his mommy has kind of forced him to have a thing for monkeys since the only stuffed animal she has allowed in his crib has been a monkey). We picked him out a t-shirt and I think it's his favorite one (and I know this because he cackled again when I got it out for him to wear and then hugged it... yep, it's his favorite).

Now that he has one Paul Frank t-shirt, I feel like I need to get the whole collection! Target is also now carrying a few Paul Frank items. Mark has been sent on a journey to acquire the yellow Paul Frank rain jacket from the Target in town... he's got 2 to go to so he better not come up empty-handed! (Just kidding, Mark! I know it's obviously a hot comodity since it's already sold out online! Just be ready to work your ebay magic if you don't find it!)

Clay wore his ultra-cute t-shirt to daycare yesterday and (of course) I got some pictures of him in it! (I also had to google Paul Frank to make sure he wasn't some Satan worshipper or felon since Clay goes to a church daycare... AND he's not - from what I read.) He looked pretty darn cute in his Paul Frank shirt!!!

And look at this smile! He used to NEVER smile for the camera! Now he "cheeses" it up! I hope he keeps this up for his 1 year old pictures coming up in September!