another milestone

as of today, sullivan is weaned! i've been gradually working in some formula feedings for a few weeks, in preparation for a trip we are taking (we are leaving sullivan with the grandparents) to the central california coast later this month, and i had just, within the last few days, gotten down to one feeding a day. then today, when we were getting ready for his nap, i thought i might as well just make a sippy cup and see if he'll take it. i thought that he might be attached to that feeding because he almost always falls asleep while he is eating, but he happily took the sippy cup and drank it right down. then he sat quietly on my lap (a rarity) while i read him the poem the cremation of sam mcgee. before i finished, i looked down and he was fast asleep.

i am a little sad, and i do feel a twinge of guilt, but i am definitely happy to have a little more freedom, and i am elated to pack my pump away for a while! i am also pretty proud of myself; after all my trials and tribulations, i made it (almost) a year! not many people can say that, and i am so happy to have given that gift to sullivan.

and since i feel a post is incomplete without some photos, here are a few i took on the last day of july. those pajamas are for you, pappy!

mammoth 2009

last week was the annual woodward family vacation to mammoth. usually we are only able to make it for the tail end of the week, but this year we drove up on tuesday night. It was awesome to have the extra few days up there, but packing was crazy! and now that we have sullivan...well, it was ridiculous the amount of crap we brought.

Here is ryan getting ready to pack the cooler:

the first day we were there the boys went hiking and i took a nap. sullivan loves the backpack! also a fan of drinking out of a water bottle.

i had to get a shot of the insane amount of camo going on here. oh wait, you can't see who is in the photo, right? because of all the camo. well, that is sully, uncle brett, and aidan.

grandma ginni got the boys matching outfits that they wore most of the day until, amazingly, sullivan and not aidan had a diaper explosion that necessitated an entire outfit change. we got some great photos though. :)

next year, mammoth will be CRAZINESS. a two-year-old and a one-year-old will be tearing out the place. i can't wait!

early career possibilities?

The owner of the bakery by our house couldn't get enough of sully when we went in there last time. he said that when sully is a little bigger he can have a job stocking the bottom shelves. i told him that if he needed any shelves...UNstocked, then look no further! sully is a pro. he used to exclusively work with books, but he has recently expanded his services to diapers as well.

pool fun!

our neighbor jim gave us his kids' old turtle sandbox, which is the exact sandbox i remember having when i was little. we have been using it as a pool this summer, and it is the perfect way for sully to burn a little energy before his afternoon nap. he loves splashing in the water and will only get out willingly when his little jaw starts to shake.

sullivan and his treasures

lately, sullivan has been finding things he likes and toting them around. it is ALWAYS a non-toy item. today it was the house phone.

the tv remote. he carried this one around for at least an hour and had a small meltdown when i had to take it away for bathtime.

he LOVES the drumsticks, which are of course the items with the highest potential for injury. now he knows where i've hidden them (which i suppose means that they aren't really hidden at all), and tries to get at them every chance he gets.

other items he has toted around that i have yet to photograph: ryan's shoe horn, a bottle of baby lotion, my cell phone (he holds it like a sandwich), and a tube of baby sunscreen. there's a whole box of toys begging for this attention...

colorado trip

after a long illness, my grandmother passed away and so sully and i (and later, ryan) flew out to colorado to be with the family. i had forgotten how much i love colorado in the summer; the heat, the afternoon thunderstorms, the cottonwoods in their full, green splendor.

sully proved to exactly what the doctor ordered to raise everyone's spirits. he is pure joy, packaged in the body of an active, wiggly, chatty 10-month old baby.


my parents bought him some toys, but of course his favorite thing was tupperware.

ryan and i were thinking he wouldn't be as opposed to my parents grass because it is a much softer variety than what we had in our yard, but no, he wanted as little of his body touching it as possible.

we lowered the temperature in the hot tub to 93 degrees and sullivan loved it. he sat in the little turtle innertube and kicked his way around, and loved splashing. he could have stayed in there forever and was MAD when it was time to get out.

all though the purpose for our trip was sad, it turned out to be a really lovely visit. hopefully we can get out to colorado in the summer more often. :)

a brief visit to heaven

we have been to hollister several times and the beauty of it never gets old. i keep telling ryan to hurry up and make our millions (although maybe it will be me who makes our millions...) so we can buy a 100 acre parcel and live there. rolling hills, horses, cows, chickens, coyotes, wild pigs, citrus groves, eucalyptus and oak trees, the milky way...i can think of no better place to be. to exist in this world. i imagine sullivan growing up learning the names of all the trees and plants, collecting eggs, racing down the road with blue and playing hide and seek in the barn. catching frogs and watching spiders spin their webs. learning the constellations and the stories behind them. *sigh*.......



an idyllic day on the ranch.

there are few things better than a velvety horse nose.

a three-week-old colt with his momma.

sullivan crawling on the grass. he doesn't like his feet to touch. :)