Our little sponge.

Our weekend kicked off with a trip to the after hours clinic Friday night. Oh how I hate going to the after hours clinic... I always feel like I am going to end up more sick sitting around with all the other sick people. My 'mother's intuition' told me that something was wrong with Adrian's ears so as much as I hated to, we went in search of a doctor Friday at supper time. We ended up at the New Maryland Clinic and were 11th in line. Ooooof. Adrian was playing in the toy area (I am sure there are some nasty germs there but what do you do?) and I said 'no' to something and he just went into hysterics. I laughingly thought to myself "people will get tired of his crying and push us to the front of the line". And then about 10 minutes later we got called in. The crying worked!! (I might start using this trick myself.) Sure enough he has a really bad ear infection. We got him a prescription and went to the drug store to get it filled. We didn't get back to the house until Adrian's bedtime (7:30) and he hadn't even had supper yet. He was a really good boy considering he was sick, tired, and hungry! He only had that one crying spell... he must have known what he was doing.

Adrian is starting to really pick up on things that Jamie and I do. (Uh-oh!) He wants to help us with little chores around the house. It just amazes me when he starts doing something out of the blue, like he has done it for years. As usual his interest is focused on the dog. He will pick up Barkley's bowl and waddle over to the dog food container, open it and dip the bowl in and get Barkley some food. (The problem is he wants to do it over and over again and Barkley only gets two bowls a day.) Last night he went over and grabbed Barkley's leash, pulled out the clip and walked casually over to Barkley and tried to put the clip on his collar, exactly where it is supposed to go. He is a little sponge! We have to be really careful what we do and say because we will start seeing him doing it soon. I keep telling Jamie his first words had better not be four letter ones! (-:

Adrian was delighted when he got to help Mommy water her flowers. A lot of water was spilled in the process but he sure was proud of himself.

"I think I know how this works... just have to get the pointy part in the flowers..."
"Maybe Mom would appreciate me picking her a few flowers. There are lots here!"
"Here you go Mom!"

Adrian Jones: Male Model

Being a working Mom is exhausting.

Naively, I thought my days of being exhausted would be over once Adrian started sleeping through the night. I wasn't prepared for how tiring it is to be a working Mom. I miss our afternoon naps!!!

That being said I wouldn't have it any other way. I really like going out solo and doing my own thing every day, knowing that Adrian is being well cared for. It's nice to have a life other than being a Mom. Sometimes I have a moment of longing for my baby during the day but it passes and I know that in just a few hours I can look forward to walking through the door of Lisa's and having his cute little face light up when he sees me as he awkwardly runs towards me with open arms, making happy grunting noises. That makes my whole tiring day worth it. I can't even begin to express the anticipation I have of that moment each and every day.

After we get home at the end of the day we have our dinner (I feel the pain of trying to figure out what's for dinner now) which gives Adrian his second wind. We then get to play for an hour or so which is a really fun part of our day. If we are lucky Daddy is home and the three of us get some great family time together. Then it's bath time followed by story time. Ahhhh... story time is my favorite part of the day. Adrian is usually relaxed and willing to cuddle for a bit while I read him his books. Jamie snapped a picture of us last night and I love it. Adrian looks so calm and interested in his book. Me on the other hand... well I just look exhausted but happy. I guess I'd better get used to it, eh?

Funny boy

Adrian is a funny little guy I am discovering. Although he likes his toys okay he is more obsessed with a few random items around the house. He likes pots and pans, loves Barkley's leash and collar and most recently has taken to dragging around an old video game controller that he found in our 'junk' box in the spare room. I keep putting that darn thing back in the box and he keeps dragging it out. As soon as we get home at night he goes directly into that room and gets it. It seems like maybe I shouldn't let my son play with electronics but I guess this one is harmless enough so I am going to just let this one go... it will get old soon enough and he will be onto the next appliance.



Not only is he funny 'odd' sometimes he is also funny 'haha'. He is turning into a little entertainer. As soon as he realizes something gets attention he wants to repeat it over and over again. Last night he figured out that if he takes a big huge mouthful of yogurt and then blows out the yogurt will go flying. I was the lucky one to be feeding him when he made this discovery and got a face full of yogurt. This is not the sort of table manners that I want to encourage and I sure tried my absolute hardest not to encourage him by laughing but I just could not help myself.... just look at the devilish look on his little face and I challenge anyone not to laugh! He is just so darn happy with himself, I couldn't ruin it for him.




Oh life is certainly more interesting with a little Adrian to keep you entertained!

Check out our refridgerator.

The last few days I have come home and unpacked Adrian's Thomas the Train backpack and found a piece of his artwork amongst the dirty clothes. What a nice surprise. I fully understand how a mother can look at a piece of cardboard with old leaves glued to it and think it's on par with a Picasso now. Our refridgerator is being transformed into his own personal gallery. I love that Lisa does crafts with him even though he is only one!

This fall weather makes for some pretty chilly nights. I am happy to report that I finally found some footwear that Adrian will keep on his feet. They are slippers that Jamie brought home from his trip to Montreal to watch a hockey game long before Adrian was born. I remember looking at them and thinking "These are never going to fit my baby!". Now Adrian runs around the house with them and sleeps with them on all night. It's nice to know his feet are cozy and warm. One less thing for me to worry about!

Adrian's nasty rash from his needles is starting to clear. We took him to the doctor and she said it would just pass on it's own. I guess he is pretty special seeing as he is in the 1% of kids that have a reaction to their immunizations. (I always knew he was special.) I'll be glad for the return of his petal soft baby skin.

Our Little Canadian

We took this picture to send to Uncle Jerry as he sent Adrian the shirt for his birthday. I don't know why I find this picture so adorable (it's probably because I am Adrian's Mom and think pretty much everything he does is adorable) but I do.

Adrian seems to have had a bit of a reaction to his shots last week and has a nasty little measle like rash all over his back and chest. The doctor thinks it is nothing to worry about since he isn't acting any differently than usual. He looks quite the little mess right now with his rash, fat lip from last week, a cut on his tongue from falling and biting it and any number of mystery bruises from all his recent tumbles. Now that I think about it he sort of looks like a little hockey player, well minus the rash!

From crawling to running in under 7 days

Adrian went from taking his first few shaky steps to chasing the girls at the sitter's in less than a week. Lisa doesn't know what to do with him and his sidekick Abby as they are trying to run all the time and aren't totally steady on their feet yet. I just got a call from her saying that Adrian took a little nose dive into the coffee table this morning and that I should expect a fat lip when I pick him up at the end of the day. Do you think I get a discount on her services if I pick up 'damaged goods' at the end of the day? (Just kidding.)

I tried to capture some of his walking at Grammy and Grampy Underhill's on the weekend but the pictures don't do it justice.




Yesterday was Adrian's 12 month needles. Boy are we both glad that is over with for another 6 months. Each needle session gets progressively worse because he is that much older and that much more aware of what is happening to him. I was fighting my urge to pick him up and run the whole time. He went into a 'super cry' that only happens when he is really hurting that could just break your heart. Luckily it only lasted a few minutes. We brought Daddy along to do the holding as I can't handle it. While Daddy was holding him down and Adrian was wailing Daddy made a big discovery... Adrian has 2 new teeth on the bottom! I was so focused on the top teeth that I never even checked the bottom. (Not to mention Adrian will happily bite your finger if you try to stick it in him mouth to explore.) So he will have 4 new teeth shortly... 2 on bottom and 2 on top.

Adrian's newest obsession is climbing into stuff. If he sees a box, pot, basket or anything else he may be able to fit in he wants to climb inside of it. We have an old diaper box in the living room and he will happily sit inside of it and play for an hour in the evening. He really likes climbing through our stash of diapers in his closet as well. It's a good way to keep him entertained while I am getting his clothes ready for the next day or sorting his laundry. The downside is it results in more mess for me to clean up afterwards. Oh well, such is life with a curious 1 year old!

All in a day's work

Sometimes Adrian gets rather exhausted from all of the playing at daycare. On this particular night he ate a whole sweet potato and fell asleep waiting for his next course. (Look how cute his fat little belly is!) He probably would have slept there all night if Mommy hadn't woken him up.

He was extra tired last night from all of the walking. He can now take about 10 steps, stop, turn and then take 10 steps back to his starting point. It's crazy to watch him do this all of the sudden. Daddy isn't going to know what happened when he gets home from Quebec! It's amazing how much a little one can learn over the course of a few days.

Come to Momma!

I went to pick Adrian up from daycare yesterday. I walked through the door and Lisa (our awesome babysitter) and Adrian were standing there waiting for me. She said "Show Mom what you have been doing all day". And sure enough he picked up his fat little feet and took about 4 steps right into my anxiously awaiting arms. I was so surprised and proud of the little guy. He had taken a few steps before but never that many and never with such confidence. It was like he had been walking for months not days. He is still pretty shaky and you can see a look of concentration on his face but he is definitely on the move with no turning back. He has to keep up with all of those girls at daycare!

This is one of my favorite quotes as it really sums up motherhood for me thus far, and is now more true than ever... my heart really is walking now!

"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body." ~Elizabeth Stone

A busy Saturday morning

Saturday mornings aren't the lazy affairs they used to be. No more rolling out of bed at 10AM and going to Fred's for breakfast/lunch for us anymore! We are usually up around 7:30AM, eat breakfast and start in for some serious playing by 8AM.


This Saturday morning was an interesting one because first Grampy Jones came to visit to help Dad cut down a pesky tree in our front yard that kept messing up Mommy's new car. Adrian is very interested in power tools it seems and was enthralled with watching his Dad and Grampy out the front window as they used the power saw.

Then Grammy and Grampy Underhill showed up for a visit and brought along Smelly dog as well. Adrian really likes Smelly because she is old and slow and he can get away with alot more with her than Barkley. Barkley just runs away when Adrian gets too touchy for his liking. We looked over and Adrian had just decided to get on top of Smelly and try to go for a ride. Smelly didn't seem to care at all and just sat there calm as could be and let him do his thing.

Adrian got pretty tired out with all the action and was in a very rare mood where he actually sat still and read a book. Grampy Underhill had the good luck of catching him in this mood and they read a few books before we had to get packed up to go to the Jones' family corn boil in Stanley.