Last Day of School

Momma has a new job title: full-time Stay-at-home-Mom (SAHM) (the short of it is that my contract ended and the government didn't have funding to renew it). I have mixed feelings over it. Of course I'm happy to be spending more time with my little man, but I think that I had a pretty good deal working only 15 hours per week. I got to do some real-world, adult things and Hayden got to have some quality time away from Mommy.


I was so sad the first day I dropped him off at daycare. I felt like I was abandoning my baby. And now, almost 5 months later, I had tears as we said goodbye on his last day of school. Miss Janice and Miss Liz have been wonderful. And I loved peeking into the room after dropping Hayden off in the morning and seeing him happily playing with a toy and watching some of the kiddos crawl on over to say hello. Then I could pick him up right after lunch and still spend the whole afternoon with just him. What a great deal!

We'll have some fond memories of his time there and some fingerpainting masterpieces for his scrapbook. These brave ladies put out paint for 8 little ones between the ages of 6 and 12 months. Glad I didn't have to be there to clean up! (sorry for the bad images. . . our scanner is out of commission, so I took a photo and it was already dark outside, so I had to be at the weird angle to avoid a big shadow)

Well, onto our next adventure. This time, we'll be at home, though!

Photo Shoot

I want a new camera. I've been thinking about it for a few months now, but I'm about 99.9% sure that a Canon EOS Rebel XTi is going on my Christmas list. It will be my first foray into the world of SLR. I've been blessed to have some amazing photographer friends, but since I can't just hop on a flight to Alabama anytime I need pictures and who knows where we'll be living after next summer, I'd like to be able to capture some great pictures myself. If I don't, any children that come after Hayden will feel slighted. . . why does our big brother have all these great photos and there are none of us?!

So, I have immersed myself in photography books (which come highly recommended by that Alabama photographer!), photoshop actions, and aperture and shutter speed settings. I set out last weekend to see what I could capture with my current little point-and-shoot, my trusty Canon A610 . I've been excited and frustrated! But I was pretty happy with these. . . of course, it doesn't hurt when the subject is so handsome and adorable! ;-)

I know I've got a lot of work to do, but hopefully Santa will check his list twice and I'll find a shiny new camera under the tree in a couple months!

Award-Winning Home Brew

We have an award-winning brewmaster in the household. . . Rich entered his latest brew, an Apricot Wheat beer, in the AF Academy's Home Brew competition and won "Best in Show" out of over 50 entries! He took home a medal and an authentic German stein. Congrats, my dear!

He started his hobby about a year and half ago and went in on the equipment with his friend, Brent. When Brent headed south to Alabama at the beginning of the summer Rich had to restock some of the equipment they shared. His new partner was eager to inspect the 5-gallon pot!

Since he won't get to actually taste his Dad's handiwork for many, many years, it's a good thing he's so interested in the pot. Think that will work when I send him off to college? C'mon, a big shiny pot will be way more enticing to an 18 year old freshman than a bottle of hoppy, yeasty suds, right!

The Toy Basket

Hayden has figured out where we keep all of his toys: the big basket at the end of the couch. The other day, he was sitting on the couch with me and started getting restless. As he squirmed around, he got a glimpse over the arm of the couch and his eyes widened. He grabbed the arm and pulled himself over to get a better look. Jackpot! He knew right where he wanted to be.

He's not crawling quite yet and he doesn't pull up by himself yet, but if you stand him next to something, he'll hold on for quite a while. So, I put him down next to the basket to explore.

Hmmm. . . so many good things. What should I choose?

Definitely not these. . .

Wait a minute. What's this down here?

Nevermind. I'll just go with this one.

Good thing, cause as you can see, his little legs gave out and he was back to the sitting position. Oh boy are we in trouble when he does start to get mobile!

Touchdowns and Snow (not simultaneously!)

Since Hayden started feeling better, we started gearing up for the Air Force football game. Grandma and Grandpa love college football, so they were excited about going to a game during their visit. On Friday, we went to the "football lunch" at the Falcon Stadium Press Box. The head coach gives his insight into the upcoming game and gets everyone pumped up for a victory. After winning this great AF hat, Hayden was predicting lots of touchdowns for Air Force:

Game day rolled around and it was time for Air Force to whup some Wyoming Cowboy butt. We enjoyed pristine blue skies and temps in the 70's. Hayden was pretty into the pre-game festivities. It's hard to beat a B-52 flyover (although we wish it flew a little lower!) for entertainment. Hayden made it until halftime, then he and Mom headed home for naptime.

Sunday, we woke up to a whiteout of snow! The temperature never got above 30 degrees and we accumulated 6-8" of snow throughout the day.

There's no better excuse for spending a day in your jammies, so that's just what we did! During one of our play sessions, I put out some bait (pacifiers, books, toys) to encourage crawling. Hayden is such a laid back, content little guy. . . he's just happy to sit and play with his toys or watch what's going on. He hasn't shown much interest in actually moving around to get anything. So, I offered up some encouragement. Using some innovative rolling and inchworm-like techniques, he actually managed to get around pretty good. It wasn't graceful or elegant, but it was effective and pretty funny to watch!

After our lazy snowy day inside, we're looking forward to a few more warm fall days. Thursday is forecasted to be in the 70's again. Gotta love Colorado weather!

The Pink Stuff

It's making an appearance at our house again. We have a sicky-poo in the house. It started with a light cough and a runny nose several days ago. By midday Wednesday--unfortunatey coinciding with the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa--he had a low fever. At 3 a.m. Thursday, he had a higher fever and couldn't sleep. Thursday afternoon the diagnosis came in: ear infection.

Now, a little more than 24 hours after his diagnosis, with plenty of time in his jammies, lots of TLC, and several doses of that thick, pink, gooey infection-fighter, I'm happy to report that he's already on the mend. I think that Grandma and Grandpa's healing touch have helped with the speedy recovery. And hopefully they'll be able to enjoy their pride and joy as his happy, healthy self before the end of the weekend!

"Mama" boy

Hayden has uttered his official first word. And as if the boy hasn't already stolen my heart, "mama" is what he chose to say. He's been jabbering for a few weeks now (you probably remember the video from last week) but he's been speaking his own language of um's and ba's and da's and ma's and eeee's. But last Friday, and now 3 more times since then, he has said "mama" with the express intent of getting my attention. Each time, he was sitting on the kitchen floor playing happily while I was cooking dinner, with my back to him. He started getting a little cranky and I heard "mama". When I turned around, he was looking right at me with a big grin, as if to say "mama" play with me!

Now that he knows my "name," he's also starting to show a strong case of separation anxiety. We're talking a separation of just a few feet. He seems to have a need to be within arms reach of me. . . all the time. And when I hand him to a friend (of mine, that he doesn't know all that well) or sometimes even when his Daddy picks him up, he gets panicked, looking to be sure I'm still close by and reaching out his arms for me to hold him again.

It seems to be all about mama, all of the time. Unless I'm trying to take his picture. He conveniently picks those times to NOT look at me, despite me making goofy noises, calling his name, and fervently waving an arm around. Glistening aspen, adorable sweater and this is the best shot I got yesterday:

Part of me is saying "ahhhh," he needs me (or at least is now showing that he needs me) and part of me is saying "ohhhh" he needs me. I always have been, and always will be, there for him. I'll be happy when he realizes that. And realizes that Mommy's quick trip to the bathroom does not equal abandonment.

At least I found a sweet treat to indulge in while my child is clinging to me: Dreyer's 1/2-the-fat Pumpkin Ice Cream. It's a limited edition, so seek it out before the season is over. I highly recommend it with those molasses cookies on the menu here last week!

My Little Pumpkin

Saturday afternoon finally felt like fall around here. Rich's boss hosted about 20 kids, plus their parents, for an afternoon of pumpkin carving, hay rides, pinatas and a treasure hunt. Oh, and I can't forget the marshmallow roasting, yum! And the mid-70 degree temperatures we've been having finally broke, revealing pleasantly crisp air suitable for a comfy fleece jacket. Or a comfy fleece halloween costume, in Hayden's case.

pumpkin carving

hay ride

pinata

treasure hunt

My little pumpkin even won a prize for the best costume. He was quite proud of his ribbon!

Preppie

I know that I'm officially a mom because I haven't bought a new item of clothing for myself in ages, but every time I go out I find something cute for my child. I guess when the only stops are Gymboree and Children's Place, I'm not likely to find anything in my size. Needless to say, Hayden's closet and drawers are stuffed with adorable outfits.

This little ensemble is actually courtesy of Grandma and Aunt Laura. Grandma sent the pants and Aunt Laura found the seersucker jacket (which also has some matching shorts). When she sent the jacket, Laura said that Hayden was going to be a preppie baby. I think this U of F alum and mother-of-alum are trying to subtly nurture another Gator fan. I'll allow it, but only because he looks so darn cute!

On a different note, I added a new feature to the blog. In the last month I must have gotten the "Recipe Exchange" e-mail from 5 different people. Basically, you e-mail a recipe to the person at the top of the list, add your name to the bottom of the list, then forward to a group of friends. Couple this recent desire for good recipes from numerous people, my love of cooking, my organized weekly meal-planning, and the fact that most of what I cook comes from Cooking Light (which has a fabulous on-line archive of recipes), I thought I'd share what's on the menu at our house. So, if you're looking for some inspiration for your own dinner, check out "What's Cooking at the Shertzer's This Week" over on the right side of the page. Click on any of the titles to view the recipe!