2010 Family Pictures

So remember a couple weeks ago when I said I was crazy for getting family pictures taken? Well, it turns out that if you have a really great photographer, she can work magic with whatever she's given! And I mean, Garrison being as cute as he is sure doesn't hurt either :)

Take a look...

LOVE this one...

Family photo #1...

I love his expression in this one! I'm sure he's saying "Ball!"

Look how excited he is! He loved the water!

Family photo #2...

Me and my boy!!

We were watching Garrison (of course!)...

Photos by: Jane Foster Photography :)

Location: Discovery Green

Boys love their Mama's

When we found out we were having a boy I was so excited because everyone knows that boys love their mamas. Well, Garrison is no different except for the fact that until recently he was not the snuggly type AT ALL. Remember the micro snuggle comment a couple months ago?

Well, a few weeks back my sweet boy started wanting me to hold him more...and let me tell you, I LOVE IT!


Here's a couple pictures to document the progress :)


All I have to say is AWWW! I sure love him!!! Oh, and he gives kisses now too...big slobbery kisses! Love it!

Pony ride!

So yesterday Garrison's school had a petting zoo complete with pony rides. I really wish I could have seen it because I heard Garrison just loved it! That kid LOVES animals!! When I came to pick him up, I stopped by Trudy, the director's office to see how everything went. She said Garrison was a pro on the pony! She asked if he had ever riden a horse before! I told her no but then I started thinking and told her that he does have a rocking horse that my parent's gave him that kind of looks real. I've put him on it a few times so he must have used his skills on the real thing! Apparently he grabbed the reins and was kind of jumping up and down (while sitting on the sadle) and yelling "GO! GO! GO!" I seriously got the biggest kick out it!!
Maybe I'll have to take that kid out to a ranch when it gets a little cooler. I remember as a kid going out to Oil Ranch for field trips and it was sooo fun. They have all kinds of cool stuff for kids...and pony rides. I seriously gotta see this in action. It was too funny hearing about my little cowboy!!

Happy Father's Day!

Wishing everyone a very Happy Dad's Day!!

I am so very grateful that Garrison has such an amazing Dada! Check out some pictures of the pair that were taken a couple weeks ago...

*Pictures by Jane Foster Photography

Spaghetti!

I'll let these pictures speak for themselves...

I think he liked it...what do you think?!

Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks!

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to an Astros game with our friends Lisa, Colin, and their adorable son, William. It was so fun! We got to sit in a suite, which, if I had it my way, would be the ONLY way we went to a game ever again. Too bad those tickets aren't always available!!
Seriously though, it was so nice because the boys could run around and play on the floor and generally do a lot more than if we were sitting in regular seats. The free food was a nice touch too!
I was not very good about taking pictures, but here are a few cute ones. Heck, I think any picture with Garrison is precious!

G hangin' out on the floor...
William checkin out the action...

And my fav...

Pink

Eye! YUCK!! Poor Garrison woke up this morning with puffy, goopy eyes :( What a way to start of the weekend, right?! Good thing we had medicine left over from the last time he had pink eye so we started using the drops this morning. Hopefully tomorrow will be much better! I'll spare you a picture of the little guy today. You're welcome :)

New word...

While Garrison is quite a vocal little guy, he doesn't say many things that we can actually understand. Well this week he started saying a word that we knew! And it's not surprising that this word is one of his very favorite things.

Check it out...

Family Fun!

So this past weekend Bryan, Garrison and I headed down to Discovery Green to take some family pictures with Jane. I'm really interested to see what she got because I really don't think we gave her much to work with! "Family photos" with a 1 year old is kind of a joke! I know I had good intentions...but what was I thinking?! And I really can't believe I got Bryan to go along with it too. Lord knows he did NOT want to!! What a good husband :)

Pretty much all the pictures of Garrison include his new favorite toy - a basketball. Have I mentioned that Garrison LOVES balls? For his birthday we got him a sports ball set - football, basketball, and soccer ball. Well I brought the basketball with us in the diaper bag just in case we needed something to entertain him with. And what do you know?...he grabbed that ball out of there before we even started taking pictures and wouldn't let it go for most of the session! Oh well!

Despite the difficulties of getting a very independant, active 1 year old to cooperate we managed to have a good time watching him run (Yes, I said run!) around this really cool park we have right in Downtown Houston. He especially loved the area where the water shoots out of the ground. At one point he stood right in front of this one spray of water and let it just hit his chest as he laughed...sooo cute!

I really can't wait to take Garrison back to Discovery Green. It was such an awesome place to hang out as a family...and it's free!

Monkey See...Monkey Do

I just thought this was too cute not to share. So this morning on our way to daycare we were stopped at a light and I was messing with my hair and I look in the back seat and Garrison has his hands in his hair "fixing" it too. Ha! I just love that he's at the stage where he's trying to copy us. It is really cute!!

Lack of Vocabulary + Frustration = Tantrums

Well, we are officially in the tantrum phase. Not only have Bryan and I been experiencing these *fine* displays, but it was confirmed with an email from babycenter...subject: 5 tips for taming toddler tantrums. It's so hard because we hate seeing him get so out of control (i.e. back arched, screaming at the top of his lungs, whatever's in his hands being launched across the room) but then at the same time we totally understand that he's frustrated and has no way of really communicating that fact other than doing what I just described. Fun stuff, huh?!

Here's what babycenter says...

Why your child has temper tantrums
A temper tantrum is the emotional equivalent of a summer storm — sudden and sometimes fierce. One minute you and your child are in a restaurant enjoying your dinner, the next minute he's whimpering, whining, and then screaming at the top of his lungs because his straw is bent. Children between the ages of 1 and 3 are especially prone to such episodes.Though you may worry that you're raising a tyrant, take heart — at this age, it's unlikely that your child is throwing a fit to be manipulative. More likely, he's having a meltdown in response to frustration. Claire B. Kopp, professor of applied developmental psychology at California's Claremont Graduate University, attributes much of the problem to uneven language skills. "Toddlers are beginning to understand a lot more of the words they hear, yet their ability to produce language is so limited," she says. When your child can't express how he feels or what he wants, frustration mounts.

So this morning Garrison had a total meltdown when I was dropping him off at daycare. I think part of it was that he didn't want to be confined to the play area - he likes be be boundary-less. I mean, don't we all? And then the fact that I was leaving just excalated the whole situation. It was BAD. And SUCKY. And just NOT GOOD. Get the picture? The good news is that the episodes are short lived and then he's fine. Like it never happened fine. Don't ya wish that was still the way things were? That you get mad and then 2 seconds later, you're just over it? Those were the days that a shiny (insert object) could totally help you forget the "trauma" that just happened.

Just a few more, I promise!

And you just thought the birthday pics were done, didn't you?! Just a few more and I promise we can move on to different events/topics :)

Here we are opening presents!

Garrison was very excited about his cool dump truck Great Aunt Laurie and Uncle Bruce gave him...

And the construction worker guy...

Lookin' sharp in his special birthday outfit and new shoes...

Here's Garrison and his 2nd cousin, Charlotte. She loves him!

Garrison shared the birthday celebration with another May birthday...Layla turned 6!

Just hanging out that evening...

Me and the birthday boy...

All tuckered out after the big day!

The end!