Bins are the best!

Aspen has discovered the joy of binning! (Alas this doesn't seem to make less of mess.)

Sproutin' around!

Every day our sprout seems less like a baby and more like a little girl.  It has been fascinating to watch how walking has freed her hands and how that has changed her interaction with the world.

Probably her favorite activity is walking around the house hugging stuffed animals.  We end up with stuffed animals in every room because she will carry a lovey into one room, and then swap it out with a different one. Pictured below are two of her fav's, a seal finger puppet and a fuzzy blue monster that makes a hideous chittering noise when the heart on it's chest is pushed.

Aspen also loves loves loves dogs and cats (and turtles...the ecstatic cry of "DURDLE!!" is often heard around our house...long story).  When the real thing isn't available she clutches (and chews on) these two magnets. We actually have a whole passel of animals magnets, but these two are definitely her favorites and as a result are rarely found on fridge.

Another substitute for real dogs and cats can be found in books and I adore that she has started pulling books of the shelf and looking at them.  The trick is finding the right book whose pages she can separate and turn alone, even most of the board books are currently a challenge, but she'll get there soon enough.

Lastly, a dose of music is almost always in Aspen's daily repertoire. This is the household's most recent musical acquisition....a mini piano (which everyone in the house plays with).  Sometimes she slams the keys, but often (as in the video) she prefers to use her pointer fingers to hit one key at at time.

What does all of this equal at the end of the day? A very tired sprout. (Who, incidentally, sleeps just like her mommy and hogs the bed....poor Jamie!)

What a year!

It boggles my mind to think how much our life has changed in the past year.  It has only been one year out of my 34, but it has been the most dramatically life changing year to date.  I knew motherhood, or should I say MOTHERHOOD, was going to be a "big change".  And it is, no shocker there.  However, I didn't anticipate how encompassed in that "big change" were going to be a million small changes all summed up together. I knew that a wee being was going to take over my world and my focus, but I didn't yet understand how that would permeate into all aspects of life, even silly ones.  For example, did you know that we always have frozen blueberries in our freezer now? I had never bought frozen blueberries in my entire life until 6 months ago. Now when eating out I often request a straw so I can give water to Aspen, for years I spurned straws as a waste of plastic! (Fortunately she is has now moved on to sippy cups so I can resume my straw snobbery.)  Snuggle time with Jamie in the evening?  Well 80% of the time there is an Aspen sprout in the bed...who, at less than 24 lbs, somehow manages to hog more than a third of the bed. Also, lets not forget the poop.  I knew I would be changing diapers. I knew that since we were going to cloth diaper I would be getting more intimate with poop than some. What I didn't expect is the amount of time I would spend inspecting her poop and fretting about it.  Was there enough poop or to much poop? What is in the poop? How many different skins of fruits and vegetables come out in the poop? (Not to be gross, but for the curious out there I can attest to bean skins, pea skins, grape skins, blueberry skins...pretty much the skins of everything.)

However, I am getting off track.  The original point of this post was to show pictures of sprout and how in one year she managed to grow from this:

Aspen at one month...we miss her mohawk!

To this:

Aspen two weeks ago!

To celebrate Aspen turning one we decided to have a pool party on Saturday in our backyard with some baby friends and some adult friends.  Nana Margie also came out to visit and help us celebrate, plus her birthday is the day after Aspen's so we had double celebrations!

Saturday was a busy day. First we ate a yummy breakfast for Nana's birthday.

Then we headed back to the house to prep for the pool party!

As usual I mostly forgot to break out the camera. But I did get this picture at the start of the party when the kiddos were testing the waters...literally. Shortly after this much nudity ensued, as what is the point of having a pool party in your own yard if you can't run around naked?  

For a cake we had tres leches cake, although it was delicious Aspen mostly just wanted to pick off the blueberries and eat them so we didn't have a "smash the cake" moment.

However, we did have a messy yogurt feast later (still naked, of course).

All together, everyone had a great time!

One other momentous change has emerged in the last few weeks. Aspen transitioned from unsupported standing (well unsupported other than her legs, of course), such as this:

To walking! She still falls down a lot. But in the last few days she preferentially chooses walking over crawling. It is fascinating to watch!

Daddy's little drummer!

Parents often each have their own special activities that they do with their children.  Jamie and Aspen have a shared activity that I really get a kick out of...drumming!  When Jamie watches Aspen I will come home and ask what they did together that day, and more often than not drumming is incorporated into the day's activites.  In fact, Aspen now periodically wanders over to hit the hand drums and she frequently manages to get a hold of one of the drum sticks to hit..well anything really!

In this first clip Aspen shows off her "tricks"...hitting the drum with both ends of the drumstick!  You may  also notice that as part of her performance she occasionally abandons the drumstick all together to try and whack the drum with her hand.

More of the same, but in this clip you can also see how she decides to lean over and try to hit the hand drums on the ground with the stick too!

Disclaimer: Jamie would like me to mention to everyone that he knows he is speeding up and slowing down inconsistently with his drumming.  He also would like me to mention that he knows it is very basic drumming. (Apparently it is hard to drum one handed while holding a mobile small child.)  I told him not to worry, no one is going to be paying him any attention at all in these videos! ;)


Second Disclaimer: Jamie would also like me to add that it really isn't that loud, they don't hit the drums that hard, and that he is pretty sure no eardrum damage is occurring for anyone.

What a weekend!

Down at the creek!

It's that time of year where the weather heats up, the trees flush their leaves, and we pack up and start heading to nearby riparian areas.  One of my favorites is Wet Beaver Creek, a mere 45 minute drive away and an absolutely fantastic place. The valley walls show spikes of dark volcanic rock, but the creek itself has whole sections that are red sandstone.  Add in brilliant blue skies, the lovely greens of cottonwoods and arizona sycamore (one of my favorite trees), and the presence of clear running water. It is just beautiful!

Essentially, I am always excited to go. But this time was extra special because we were bringing Aspen for the first time.  Hopefully she would like it, or at the very least not hate it.  However, it turns out she didn't like it, she LOVED it! 

Our little monster all ready to go!

The section of creek we were at. The red sandstone creates all kinds of pockets of different depths, not to mention some fun rock waterslides for the older kids (uhm, that would be Jamie and I). 

We started out exploring the edges. For the first 30 seconds she was mad about having a cold butt...

...however, she quickly rallied and started poking at rocks.

Then with daddy we got in some slightly deeper, flowing, water. That was really fun!

Our own personal outside whirlpool tub at the top of a rock waterslide!

We took a break for lunch on the beach.

Then it was back to exploring only this time she decided to go mobile!

Ready to charge out into the water!

Finally, it was time to go...but what a great morning!

Lastly, I couldn't help but think of the last time I was here. It was late May, I was hot, I was tired, and Jamie and I were both impatiently waiting out the last few weeks before we would get to meet our baby girl. We had a great day then, but an even better one today. I love this creek!

Cheesy mom haiku

Being a mom is

stretching all my boundaries

in all directions.

Continuously

cycling from wonderful to

completely worn out.

I sway and bend, no

breaking, so I re-label it

"dancing" in the storm.

Being a mom is

still absolutely worth it.

I love my daughter.