sully's new game

here is sully's new game:

variations of this game include sullivan giving me the utensils one by one, and sullivan carrying around several spoons like a bouquet of flowers. i was hoping he would start to enjoy putting them back into the container, but we haven't gotten that far yet. :)

day at the beach

for our outing today, we went to the beach. the conditions were not ideal; it was high tide and overcast. it sounded fun though, so i put sully in pants and a fleece jacket and we were off!

when we got there, i made sure to roll up sully's (and my) pant legs. nobody wants wet pants! i filled the front pocket up my hoodie with the camera, my phone and the car keys. with sullivan on my hip i headed to the sand. sully was squirmy and eager to check out all the fun stuff on the ground, so i put him down and dug into my pocket for the camera. i fiddled with it, trying to decide if the 'beach' setting would be better than 'kids and pets,' or maybe something different since it was so overcast? i looked up from the camera to see sullivan toddling like a little penguin towards the water. he was pretty far down the sand, and as i walked toward him the water came up the beach and swirled around his calves. he wavered a little and then...fell on his butt.

we had been out of the car for, literally 30 seconds.

i scooped him up just in time for the second wave of water to get me up to my calves. lovely!

i squeezed the extra water out of his pants and set him back down, pointing him away from the water. he quickly found some rocks to bang together. since he was having fun and didn't seem freezing, i thought we might as well stay for a little while.

he ended up having a lot of fun. i let him do whatever he wanted, even when that meant laying on his belly and scooting backward like an inchworm down the sand. he was pretty good about not putting sand in his mouth, so that was good. i'm hoping we're moving past the put-everything-in-my-mouth stage. he did try and gnaw on a rock, but since it wasn't a handful of sand i didn't mind.

here are some pictures and some video of our beach adventure:

sully was a sandy DISASTER when we got back to the car. i brought a change of clothes and the diaper bag, but i didn't have a towel, which really would have come in handy. he was also getting tired and kept trying to rub his eyes with his sandy paws. it took me at least 20 minutes to de-sand him in the parking lot, and he ended up going home in just a diaper in his carseat. we had a lot of fun though, so we will definitely be going back soon. i'll just be a little more prepared next time!

more walking

here's another quick video of sully walking. notice his shirt; isn't it weird??? i didn't realize it when i bought it, but that looks like a baby's skull, right?

now the real trouble begins

here is sully walking like a drunken sailor! he is getting better at it everyday. there is nothing better than seeing him walking towards me, arms in the air, squealing with delight.

the captain's chair

here is sullivan in his new car seat. He seems to really like facing forward, although, despite my expertly placed window screens we have run into problems when the sun is in his eyes. I can't get over how old he looks in this picture. He's such a little boy!

wow. WOW!

I am writing this post on october 5, even though i will not post it for several weeks.

when we got home from hollister a two weekends ago, i started to feel a little stuffy in my nose, but mostly my right nostril. it is ALWAYS that nostril. i don't know if it is allergies or what, but i go through this every year or so. my sinuses swell and my nose becomes simultaneously runny AND stuffy. it will be barely noticeable in the morning, but as the day progresses it gets worse and worse, until i dread going to bed and trying to fall asleep while i am getting the equivalent of a coffee swizzle stick's amount of air up my nose. ANYWAY, i thought it would clear up on its own, but it was being stubborn, and i was afraid it was going to turn into a full blown sinus infection. i was on the fence about going to the doctor until last wednesday, after i came inside from playing with sully in the backyard, i got crazy hives on my legs. they were huge and horribly itchy. i put my feet up, and they seemed to go away, until i woke up the next morning COVERED in blotchy red patches from the knee down. so i finally broke down and went to the doctor, who of course had no explanation for the hives, but prescribed me some sort of oral steriod and an antibiotic for my sinuses. as i was waiting at the pharmacy, i wandered the aisles and came to the 'family planning' section. i thought, you know what? i should probably take a pregnancy test just in case. i am suprised this thought occured to me at all. ryan and i certainly weren't trying to get pregnant. but it wasn't exactly an impossibility either, and i wanted to be sure before i started taking all these crazy drugs. i really thought it would be a formality, that i would pee on the stick, it would say 'not pregnant' and i would go on with the rest of my day as planned. and it almost turned out that way. the first line appeared right away, the line that says the test is working, the line that, when it appears alone, says you aren't pregnant. so i balanced the test on the trash can, finished my bathroom routine, and looked at it again.



i gasped and my heart started racing. the second line was faint, but it was there.



i stared at it in disbelief. my hands were shaking. can this be true? i started thinking about the test and how it might be wrong, but quickly dismissed that idea because a pregnancy test might give a false negative, but NEVER a false positive. i tried to calm down but i was really stunned and buzzing on adrenaline. ryan was home and amid all these thoughts i was trying to decide if i should tell him then, or wait and think of some creative way. i went to feed sullivan lunch and ryan came into the kitchen asking me about the wording for a voice mail he was trying to leave his new reps. he was talking to me, but i could not focus on what he was saying. so, when he asked me what i thought, i just blurted it out. i wish wish wish i would have had the forethought to have the camera nearby to be able to take a picture of the look on his face. it was complete shock, and then the side of his mouth curled up into a smile and he said, 'really?'



so that is the news. i'm pregnant, and by my calculations due in the beginning of june. i'm still kind of digesting it myself.

the big birthday party

sullivan's first birthday party was quite an event. grandma and pappy flew in from colorado and meredith came down from san fran. all in all, i think there were about 20 people there. we barbecued and just hung out. sullivan did pretty well; he had a few meltdowns due to over stimulation and noise, but for the most part he had a great time playing in his pool and opening presents. i knew he would cry during the birthday song, and sure enough, he did. i was telling someone about this and she said, "i'm sure he was thinking, 'why are all these people yelling at me?' that must be what it feels like to him," and that makes perfect sense to me.

*update* at meredith's request, i have added the below picture of post-crying sullivan. she says he looks like me here, when i was a little girl on the verge of tears.

ryan was also hoping that he would dive face first into his cake and icing, but he didn't do that at all. he didn't seem to like the feel of the icing, and i thought maybe once he tasted it he would be into it, but that wasn't the case either. he eyed it suspiciously for what seemed like forever and then ate a few fingers worth of icing. maybe next year?

sully got to play in his pool at his party. playing in the pool, or bath, is his favorite activity. we just had him go naked instead of wasting a swim diaper. he didn't seem to mind.

by the time we got around to presents, he was getting really tired, but a nap was an impossibility so we pressed on. the toy lawn mower he got from brett and jenny was a big hit; he loves pushing that thing around! annie bought him a puppy costume and we tried the hat on for size. we could not stop taking pictures of him in the hat because he looked so cute. my cheeks hurt from smiling at his cuteness. and he tolerated the hat surprisingly well!

everyone always says this, and it is definitely true: kids will inevitably like the box the toy came in more than the toy itself. while the men put together the ATV sully entertained himself with the box.

and here he is riding the ATV. he has gotten a little better at it and now he likes for me to push him around the backyard. he also really likes to stand in front of it, put his hands on the handlebars and push it around. that is a great way to tire him out before naps or bedtime!

he also got a plastic slide from my parents which he climbs all over for a good part of every day. he is going to get a lot of use out of that.

all in all, it was a very successful day, and it was so great to hang out with all our friends and family for what may be the last time at our house.

everyone kept asking us what we got sully for his birthday, and honestly it hadn't crossed my mind to get him anything at all! but we did just get him a new car seat, so i guess that is his birthday present. happy 1st birthday, little guy! i can't wait to see what the next year brings.