It's Christmas!!!! (18 months)

Dear Jericho,
 It's Christmas once again. This is your second Christmas and we get to have more fun!! Shopping for you this year meant the ability to buy some toys but get things that you could enjoy. Of course, just like with every child, the boxes the toys come in and the packaging materials always seem to be more fun then the contents. We were still able to have some fun, share some moments together and of course watch you grow before our eyes.

We saw Santa, played with the Christmas tree and shared our Christmas morning with you. Before Christmas Ms. Jen had a Christmas party where the kids met Santa and decorated cookies. You weren't really feeling group pictures or anything, so the only thing I have to prove that you were there was a tree-hugging picture which has become one of my favorites of you!

Christmas came and we were showered with presents. Grandma's and Papa and Aunts and Uncles spoiled you! We got lots of presents for you to open and play with.

You played legos and that quickly become on of your favorite gifts (we got it for you) Santa brought you a tent for you to play in and filled your stocking. One of your other favorite gifts was a fisher price toy that has cars and ramps for you to play with.

Funny enough, the thing that kept you the most entertained on Christmas morning was golfish crackers from Santa Claus.

Aunty Heather and Uncle Sonny outdid themselves and bought you a trampoline. You pretty much jump on it all the time.

Grandma and Aunty Heather came out to visit. Grandma put you to sleep watching Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which is your favorite video on YouTube and we went to the park!

Merry Christmas my love.

Love Mommy

Elections and Goofing Off (16 months)

Dear Jericho,
 November (16 months) was a low-key month. We had elections and Thanksgiving and just took it easy and relaxed for the most part. Mommy decided to start cloth diapering you as we worked towards potty training. Not really with the intention of getting you potty trained at 16 months, which is a tall order, but more for money saving.

I think touching on the election is mandatory, just because this was the first presidential election in your lifetime so far. :) Our existing president was running (and won) for re-election.I took the screenshot of the election results from my cell phone.

Overall, we just hung out. Enjoyed your company and watched you grow this month.

Love you!!
Mommy

Fall (16 months)

Dear Jericho,
 Fall was wonderful. We got to go to Apple Annie's Orchard on a field trip with Mrs. Jen and daycare as well as pick out pumpkins at the clubhouse and go to the fall festival they have there as well. It's always nice to be able to do things together with Daddy. Because Mommy and Daddy work different schedules so that we can spend as much time with you as possible, it's rare for us to be able to do things together (the three of us). I took the day off of work for the Apple Annie's field trip and we drove together to go play around there for the day, run around in the corn mazes, see the sunflowers and look at all the pumpkins. You can buy pumpkins there, but we didn't buy any.

 You really liked playing around in the corn kernels and running around the pumpkin patch. We had so much fun that day and it was nice to hang out with Daddy too!!

After the pumpkin patch we came home and went to the club house to pick out a pumpkin. We met Audrey and Barbara there. The pumpkins were sprinkled about in the mini golf area. You were more interested in the little putt inserts then the pumpkins. You took 5 years off my life when you poked yourself in the eye with the little flag on the insert. You started crying immediately and a couple tears came out with blood. I freaked out. Thankfully Audrey's daddy was there, he's going to school to be a doctor, and he looked at you and you were fine by then. We went back and got a pumpkin, you were fine and we went home. It was still a good day despite our little mishap!

Last but not least, IT WAS FINALLY Halloween!!! You were a spider, a very cute one (promise) and we took you trick or treating. Your favorite part of the night was handing out halloween candy to the kids.

Overall, October was a good month for you. You continue to grow before our eyes and we enjoy watching you be silly, learn new things and grow.

Love you always - Mommy

Sensory Play, and loving Numbers (15 months)

Dear Jericho,
 Barbara and I took you and Audrey and Alissa (In Barbara's Belly) to the park to do some sensory play. Sensory play is basically just normal play, but exposing you to different things. Big things, small things, bumpy things, bright things, dark things.. all the things that make your senses (sight, smell, hearing, touching) all work together while you are playing.
 You had a great time playing with Audrey, despite it being hot. You also surprised Mommy with your ability to build things (you've been doing great with Legos) and your LOVE for numbers. Especially the number 9.  There were big rubberish tinker toys that were blue that you loved to play with. Audrey loved to play with them too!!

Overall though, it was a hot month so we did a lot of staying inside, and being silly. This is one of your leftover hats from your birthday.

 

We also had some white board crayons that you could color with... on a White Board, not on the floor. Even though there was some of that too.

Finally we lounged around, were lazy and cuddled. You watched TV and played.. and grew in front of Mommy's eyes, some more. 

All my love
Mommy

Mommy Works.. We play (14 Months)

Dear Jericho,
 Happy August! This month we got to take a family trip to Palm Springs, CA. Mommy had to go there for a whole week and knew she would miss you like crazy if she was away from you for that long. So, thankfully since it was a work trip we were able to all go share a room and drive to Palm Springs.
 Fun little story, when Mommy was growing up she went to Palm Springs every year with her Aunt, Uncle, Cousins, Grandma Peggy and Auntie Heather. We would stay there for a week too, and I never imagined that I would one day bring my little guy to Palm Springs to experience the summer heat (Which is WAY different then Arizona heat!!)
 Mommy had to work during the day but we still had a lot of fun after I got off work. We even met up with Auntie Jen, Hailey and Brandon with Grandma and Babs too. Since Palm Springs was just 2 hours away from Whittier, it was a lot easier for everyone to come up and meet us. Grandma and Grandpa Muhlbach also came up for the day one of the days but I didn't get any pictures of that.

 One of the nights we let Alexis decide where she wanted to go, she chose to go to the miniature golf course nearby our hotel. (Again, I played mini golf here, rode the boats, drove the cars... the whole 9 yards here when I was a kid) We spent most of the night there, and had fun. You even ran around a bit and Loved playing with the golf balls and golf clubs.

 I took some scenic pictures too.. The moon was pretty that night. I also fell in love with this pinecone.

Overall, it was a good family trip. Aside from you having some difficulties sleeping. You also fell out of the bed one of the mornings, it was on Daddy's watch though.. So make sure you blame him for any memory loss, headaches etc. you have in the future.

When It rains... (13 months)

Dear Jericho,
 Happy July. :) You are now a month past a year old and still growing faster than Mommy can keep up. We had a great month, which has been consistent since you came into our lives. Everything seems better viewing them through your new eyes, as your experiences still have mostly never been done before.

 We had a low-key 4th of July but still managed to get some sparklers in. Mommy managed to not have a heart attack with you near fire. I even let Daddy hold you while he held a sparkler in his hand. Although I'm not as crazy about fire as Aunt Heather is (you probably won't ever learn that on your own.. but Aunt Heather is Terrified of fire) there's something about watching your baby be held close to fire that makes every Mommy nerve in your body want to jump out of it's skin and grab the baby.. So, this is a big deal :) I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of Daddy holding a sparkler with you, this as close as we got. That's Alexis' arm in the picture too.

I'm Not really sure what was happening here, but I want to say you were trying to catch bubbles. Only because I don't remember but the floor looks pretty clean behind you, and I know it's now destroyed because we blew bubbles in the house. These are too cute to not include :)

 Although this isn't your "1st" official Monsoon season, it's the first one you are able to enjoy. Pretty much without fail we have a 4th of July that either starts or ends with rain as it falls smack dab in the middle of monsoon season. You do pretty well, with the rain, thunder and lightning and now that you've been walking for a while you eagerly run to the windows to yell at the rain.

 You also came home with one of your first art projects from Daycare. I'm trying to take pictures of them, but i'm sorry I can't save every one. :)

Oh!! And this happened. The next day I called Arrowhead to get a child lock on the cold water (we always had one on the hot, I knew this day would come eventually) I think I earned Mommy points by letting you play in the water.

Love you
Mommy

365 Days old.. Round 2!

Let the balloon bash continue!! You loved these balloons. We had them in every room of the house (including the kitchen and bathrooms) and you at least had a balloon every where you went. The party continued after you got better from your Hand-Foot-Mouth and we invited everyone over to party with us.

This party was themed Elmo, because well.. You LOVE elmo. (AKA "lala") We had a bunch of kids over and you had a lot of fun running around with them. Mommy rolled out all the stops and created as many things "Elmo" themed as I possibly could. The cookies (which you didn't eat.. sorry) were great. They were chocolate dipped oreos with Elmo candies on top. There were also Elmo goodie bags too filled with Elmo themed goodies!

 and everything else was red! We had the food (Subway) on red platters and the drinks were in a red bin. It was pretty awesome.. and did I mention there were a lot of kids there?

You can even see the fruit platter with elmo sticking out of the fruit! Ms. Kaytee, who was your baby sitter when you were first born and I had to go back to work (she was over on Mondays) also came to celebrate your first birthday, but she loved you so much then and she loves you now.

and of course, Barbara and Audrey were there too!! Audrey wouldn't miss your first birthday, since you were there for hers!

and then there was cake!!! Lots and lots of cake. We ordered a plain white cake from the grocery store and Ms. Jenn (Your baby sitter.. who loves you lots!) made the elmo on top. I will admit, sadly, it's now September as I write this and your left over elmo cake is still in the fridge.. It's still cute!

We all sang Happy Birthday to you, and you ate the cake and loved it. You also loved the red bin that the drinks were stored in. With ice.. You like Ice, and it's cold!

so your party was filled with Kids, Elmo, Cake and.. Ice.. cold cold ice!!

Hope you had fun. Even though you won't remember this special day. Mommy will, and hopefully you will look at these pictures and know Mommy loves you so much, she threw you a big boy elmo bash :)

Love you lots
Mommy