Happy Holiday Craziness! Man am I feelin' it this year! I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that this is my first time experience the craze as a mother! I guess I should start accepting this new pace of life, huh? holiday madness or no holiday madness... I may as well get used to this! It is truly amazing how slowly life moves when you're a child - the days seem to last forever - especially during the holidays! We think Christmas will NEVER arrive! With every year of my life I've felt things speeding up - but these last 10 months feel like a blink. Zaiya will be a year old in 2 months - and I haven't even finished scrapbooking his birth! So much for that - now that I'm a full time working mom! I know I keep mentioning this blog after blog - but it truly takes my breath away every time I look at Zaiya and feel all the emotions of his birth all over again. I am still stopping to take it all in whenever I can - trying to remember that these are the moments that I can't re-create. Things are crazy busy at my job and I've been working a ton of overtime - which is great - but it just means more time away from the little one. We do what we have to do, don't we? It has really given me a great appreciation for the sacrifices parents make overall, especially mine. This Thanksgiving was particularly special for me because I feel so blessed to have had such an amazing childhood and parents who sacrificed so much for me so that I could have all the memories that I have. I hope that Zaiya feels the same way someday when he becomes a daddy himself! :) I also feel so full of joy (I've never used the word "joy" more than I have in the last year... it makes me giggle a bit, I must admit) when I think about how grateful I am to have such a healthy baby boy as well. In the midst of some huge changes and challenges as of late... I take comfort in this gratitude.
Zaiya is now a professional crawler - he can get anywhere fast and he's quite confident in his stride. Just yesterday I was watching him stomp across the floor with such determination - he seems to lift every limb with a bit of attitude - he slaps his hands on the hard wood floor as if to say, "Try and stop me, Mommy!" He holds his head high in the air and does not miss a beat! Speaking of beats...
Zaiya's new favorite activity with Mommy and Daddy is (perhaps this is not for the blog... oh well!) to turn on Michael Jackson and dance like no one's watchin'!!! I do not have a video of this yet, but stay tuned. Zaiya is all but standing on his own now and can hold on to anything close while bobbing one hand in the air and "gettin' low" with the best of em'! It is HILARIOUS to watch and he giggles and laughs right along to every beat. Our boy's got rhythm... now we'll leave it up to you all to decide who he got it from! :) HAHAHAHA! (Obviously, me.)
Zaiya is eating, eating, eating now! He had his first puffs this month and boy were they a hit! He loves feeding himself and trying new things. This past Sunday after a long day of traveling, we decided to give Zaiya some white rice to snack on... just to see if he'd take it. We were able to capture this on video, but I must tell you that the first few bites were unforgettable. It makes sense that he would "come alive" to the taste of some good ole' fashioned Haitian white rice, right? Sure, but to see him lick his chops and suck his fingers and "mmmmmmm mmmmmm mmmmm" right after the first bite was the funniest thing I have seen in quite some time (or, at least since the funny thing he did last month! lol)
Just some perspective as to how big I am now... one of my favorite toys is the laundry basket... lol!
You can really see how much I'm growing in this picture - I look like a big boy! Mommy says my face looks entirely too grown up in this picture!
I got to have puffs for the first time this month! Yummy! I love feeding myself!
This independence thing is prettty awesome! (So is my smile, am I right?)
I am so big and so good at crawling now!
On Thanksgiving morning, mommy made blueberry pancakes and I got to try them for the first time!
These blueberries are silly tasting!!!!!
It makes me make funny faces!!!
I finally decided that I really like blueberry pancakes... and boy am I cute wearing them!
I just love this life!
A Thanksgiving Kiss from Mommy!
I mean, could I be any cuter!??
All wrapped up for a walk with Auntie Kristen and Auntie Rebecca!
Here I am with my cousin Connor again, boy are we going to get into some trouble together!!
Sleeping in the car... so peacefully... mommy loves my face in this picture!
Playing at Christmas with Mom-mom's family!
Hmmm Hmmmm Hmmm....
Mommy gave me rice for the first time on my 10 month birthday and OMG...
This stuff is AMAZING!
Seriously. Have you tried this?
My daddy can cook some serious rice... I just can't get it in fast enough and then I lick all my fingers!!!
And, the grand finale...
the full effect of my first experience wtih Daddy's famous white rice!
the full effect of my first experience wtih Daddy's famous white rice!
We love you all! Until next month... try and keep calm during th Holiday madness!
See you in 2011!
