13/52

 A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2013.

Just before nap time, Eddy spent a minute in the bathroom trying to figure out the exact point in the morning when he became a ragamuffin.


I know how it started:

**I posted a different picture briefly but changed my mind. After scrolling through some of Jodi's pictures, I decided that I wanted more of an authentic moment from the week. I will put the other picture in a different post soon!**


I adore the sweetness in each of Meryl's photos from last week. And I just can't resist a big baby butt. Just like in this photo from Being Mumma, I'm not too quick to put PJs on Eddy after a bath.


Keeping up with Jodi on this amazing photo journey and am constantly inspired by so many clever mamas.

Strawberry Fields

Let me take you down
'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields

nothing is real
and nothing to get hung about.

Strawberry Fields forever.

We went to a strawberry farm with Tim's parents and Eddy looooved it. There was space to walk in perfectly guided, straight lines and if he stumbled there were delicious, juicy berries to pick up and eat.

It was a sunny day and it was really, really beautiful. And we have a lot, a lot of strawberries so if you have any good strawberry recipes please shoot them my way!

And, would you believe it, there were wheels at the strawberry farm!

All that picking left this boy red-handed, red-cheeked and pooped. He napped almost the whole way home to Austin.


We can't wait to go back. Thanks, BonBon and Pops!

Say Thank You Sunday

We spent the weekend with Eddy's BonBon and Pops - Tim's parents - and had an awesome time eating, relaxing, and recuperating. The first day that we were there my throat was so swollen that it literally looked like I had a double chin so it was nice to be able to rest while lots of hands were around to help with Ed.

They always take very good care of us and when it's time to wave goodbye, we leave feeling loved.


This week, we are thankful for:

chicken fried steak as big as your head, or bigger!
BonBon and Pops
Uncle Mike
a cozy girl
Easter egg hunt practice
strawberries fresh from the farm
stinky boy feet
shipping out orders
normal bedtime
Lucy's healed eye
a very stylish little girl
helpful friends and neighbors
YouTube
happy texts from a friend
celebrating 24 years of Uncle Cory

post-nap grump // reward for peewee's bike // rainbow lunch on the go // bigbutt sighting // family bed // my little ewok // orders in the mail // freshly picked // cory's birthday

Mr. Ed has his FIFTEEN month well-check tomorrow. What?!?! How the heck did that happen?

12/52

 A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2013.

Eddy couldn't have been more than 3 days old the first time that Tim asked me, "So, when can we, like, throw him on the bed?"

Dreams come true, y'all.

We are visiting Eddy's grandparents in Houston this weekend and there is lots of space to throw kids out here.


People said really sweet things about last week's picture. It is my favorite yet of the series. Thank you!!

And after clicking around a TON, my favorite shots from last week are this one (note to self: bring a bucket on our next camping trip) and this one. Oh, how I long for a nap that looks like that. Giant bed, scattered blankets.

I have found so many amazing, new blogs through this little (big) link up and I love it. Thank you, Jodi.

Obsessed.

This week, I'm obsessed with little boy shoes.

They have little "Woody" station wagons with surf boards on top on the straps!

No one told me it would be this fun to shop for little boy shoes! For months, Eddy has been wearing several different pairs from a collection we have of tiny little leather booties like this. I love these little shoes because they are easy to slip on and off, they were a great transition between being a barefoot kid to getting used to shoes, and I think it helps them feel their little toes on the ground which helps them confidently take those first steps. We wore out many of these little shoes.

Shortly after Eddy started walking, we decided to graduate to some big kid shoes. His friend, Olivia, wore Keen sandals all last summer and I just love the little version of them. The instant we put them on Eddy, he began walking faster and more sure-footed over rocky terrain. The first night he wore them around the house, Tim exclaimed, "Look! He's practically running!"

He also has two adorable pairs of shoes that are just a bit too big. My mom sent him these navy blue TOMS and my sister sent him these Converse.

He is so cool.


So, here's what no one tells you about toddler shoes - THEY STINK! He has stinky little feet at the end of the day. I guess I kind of figured that stinky feet came along with B.O., which happens sometime in the 3rd grade. I know this because in my years of teaching, things would be so normal after recess and would dramatically shift to terrible about midyear. I'd have to have my annual deodorant pep talk with a handful of boys.

But nope. Stinky feet start from the get-go. Thankfully, I can just toss these suckers in the wash every few days.

Now he loves to let me smell his feet and the end of the day. I plug my nose and say, "OOOOOEEEEE those are some stinky feet!" and he craaaacks up.


And this week, Eddy is obsessed with wheels.

I think this actually goes beyond obsession. He has been into wheels for over a month now. He got lots of big dump trucks for his birthday and would push them around from time to time until one day he turned one upside down and the rest is history.

He will find wheels no matter where we are and be perfectly content to sit and spin indefinitely. He has approached elderly people with walkers and people in wheelchairs and when I apologize as I pick him up they usually just insist that he keeps playing. They probably don't generally encounter people that find their wheels so exciting.

Skateboards, strollers (everyone's but ours), shopping carts, bikes, steering wheels, wagon wheels, cars, trucks. Any shape, any size.

As I did some yard work on Wednesday morning, I pulled 2 skateboards out of the garage and he was totally occupied for 30 minutes. He tilts his head down to look at them from all angles, inspecting the mechanics of how these marvelous things work.


Obsessed. With this kid, with his growing brain, with his constant motion. All of it.

SXSW 2013

I am such a sucker for the kids + music combo.

When I took Eddy to his first music class before he was three months old, I lied him on top of a giant drum and tears welled up as he squirmed like a cockroach on his back. He was feeling the music.

Every year that I was a teacher, a Jazz group would come perform for our students. During one of the performances, that kid that has to be close to the teacher at all times sat knee to knee with me on the cafeteria floor. When the kick drum and the standing bass played, he turned to me and said, "Ms. Case, I can feel it in my heart." Boom: tears.


Austin was the center of the universe for just a bit last week during SXSW. For the last 4 years or so, I've had the most gigantic, self-important, shiny badge that you could have - one of the perks Tim gets for working his butt off during the month of March. This year, I opted out of the badge knowing that my pace was much different than it was last year when I had a 2 and half month old chicken nugget that slept all the time and only needed a boob.

We moved at a much more relaxed pace this year, just fine with getting there when we got there. Our favorite spot to post up was Hotel San Jose, which hosts free shows all day. With the exception of Saturday night, there was always ample room for Eddy to cruise around the crowd and make friends. We also caught a few morning shows at the W and the Four Seasons. The entire time, Eddy did not stop moving, whether it was through the crowd or standing in one spot, bobbing up and down. He learned how to drop it pretty, pretty low last week and I have to believe that my former students would be pretty, pretty impressed (cue Larry David voice  ).


Every night, he dunked into his pre-bed bath covered in parking lot dust from head to toe. And totally happy.

My favorite moment of the week was captured in my 11/52 picture - he found the source of that sweet, sweet sound and didn't want to let go.


I think he felt it in his heart.

Look, Ma! I made a .gif!

OH! And I became a shameless self-promoter today and created a Facebook page. Click the link up there on the right if you like me, you really like me!

Say Thank You Sunday

Austin is busy trying to catch its breath right now with the close of another SXSW. We jumped in feet first and made sure that new sounds hit our ear drums everyday so we are also busy trying to catch our breath.

We lost our Roku remote (read: baby hid it behind a shelf) so we opted for conversations and early bedtimes this weekend rather than watching horrible live programming on network television. Tim and I celebrated a bit too much when I found it today. Now we're catching up on Community and Breaking Bad but those conversations and early bed time sure were nice. Time to reinstate Tech-Free 24?


This week, we are thankful for:

New blogging friends!
breakfast with friends (that pay!) from the far east
Music and music and music
seeing our friends everyday
A Monte Cristo from a stranger
new big boy shoes
time with family
Cap'n Crunch Berries
South By San Jose
rest for Papa after a long week
Sweet big sister Lucy
green food coloring
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
camping!

captivated by the sounds, sunshine oli, early morning live music, little laundry love, feeling the bass, buds sharing (empty) beers, sun rays on our last day of sxsw, st. pancakes day, head in the clouds

It was a great week and we are so thankful. What are you thankful for this week?

11/52

A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2013.

You weaved your way through a thick crowd on your wobbly legs, approached the giant speaker with both hands, grabbed on, and found your groove. 

Live music everyday this week. You are such an Austinite.

Joining Jodi on the 52 photo project. 

Obsessed.

This week, I'm obsessed with turning around and seeing this:

It took you, like, 2 days to figure out that your feet really did know what they're doing and now you rarely crawl. For the first few days it would startle me to turn around and see your little (big) head at my hip. And you, well, you are just so cool. Like Oh hey yeah I'm walking. What?

These walking feet are serving you very well this week, taking you on an exploration of our campsite and around countless shows during SXSW (post coming soon!).


And this week, you are obsessed with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

When it is time for bed, you grab this book and say, "Buh buh!" We read it up to 3 times a day and you get the sweetest grin when we saw, "Boom! Boom!"

Obsessed. Obsessed with you. You obsessed with growing up.

We are staying very busy around here.

Babes in the Woods

My best friend, Sara, and I took our two babes camping for the night earlier this week. We went in with the mindset that if things went terribly wrong, we would pack up no matter the hour and head home. 2 moms, 2 kids, 2 whacky sleepers, 1 tent, what could possibly go wrong?

Oh - and Rosita and Zoe came too.

We joined 5 other moms with all of their kids - ranging in age from 2 to 10 - at this gem of a campsite that is only 30 minutes outside of Austin. Escape would be easy if necessary.

Just snapping pics of an empty tent.

Psych!

We got to our campsite in the afternoon, set up our tents, and then explored the grounds. We were a stones throw from Lake Georgetown and there was a paved road between there and the tents. The big kids rode scooters and bikes and Olivia and Eddy shuffled around, sharing a snack.

She had her tiny friends, he had wheels. Happy campers.

One of the big kids brought a pogo stick and I really think I could've paid him to babysit Eddy for at least 3 hours and he would have been totally content. He sat on his knees, wide-eyed, and bounced right along with his new found idol.

In the wild.

These women know how to camp. They had a central kitchen set up and did a family-style dinner every night. The night we were there was taco night and it was delicious. Not just camping delicious but really delicious. What was for dessert? Roasted marshmallows. Duh.

After dinner, we watched the sunset over the lake.

Temperatures dropped in to the 40s so we put on double pajamas and knit caps and settled in as a cozy family. The kids slept pretty well and the mamas were pretty cold. We woke up with the sun, played a bit, and ate breakfast.

Attempting to play peek-a-boo around the slack line. Terrible hiding spot, kid.

The trouble with camping for just one night is that one night is how long it takes to figure everything out. And setting up a tent for one night is kind of a pain in the butt. So we drove home and planned our next trip which will hopefully happen in a few weeks.

Kids riding their bikes and collecting rocks. Moms sitting in chairs chatting and watching. Charred marshmallows. Big and bright stars at night. It was spring break happiness.

We made it through the night and woke up happy. Success.

Dear Eddy, Month 14

Dear Eddy,

Sometime before your first birthday, your Uncle Matt was over at the house hanging out and he said, "Eddy's gonna be, like, the really nice kid in your 3rd grade class. The kid that everyone wants to be friends with. Remember that kid?"

Yep, I totally remember that kid. Through my years of teaching, I met a few of those kids. They're the ones that made me Christmas ornaments that I still hang on the tree every year.

I'm not sure exactly why your Uncle Matt said that. I'm guessing that he saw good character and a big heart beyond your chubby baby face.

I think about your future a lot, as all parents do, and I hope that you see a lot of success. When you're busy tinkering with wheels - your favorite thing to do right now - I always remark that maybe you'll be an engineer. When you play in your kitchen I wonder if someday you'll have your own restaurant. And when you throw me a ball with laser accuracy, I wonder if you'll play baseball.

I would love for any one of these scenarios to play out. I would love for you to be great at lots of things and to win awards and to know victory.

But there is something else that I want for you even more.

I hope that someday I go hoarse from cheering you to an exciting first place finish at your swim meet but more than that, I hope that you are nice to all of your classmates.

I hope that someday I get to snap pictures of you all dressed up for your first formal dance but more than that, I hope you are the kind of the person that will sit next to the new kid at lunch and turn them into a friend.

I hope that you are brave enough to try something that scares you but more than that, I hope that you are brave enough to stand up against a bully that is picking on someone that can't stick up for them self.

I hope that you know how to play an instrument so well that it makes people dance but more than that, I hope that you never make fun of people because they are different than you.

I hope that you have no fear as you stand in front of a crowd to deliver a speech but more than that, I hope that you never follow the crowd when the crowd is doing something wrong.

I hope that you are cool because you are nice. I hope that you are well-liked because you are kind. I hope that you know how happy it can make you feel to help someone else. There may be times when this seems tough, when you feel pressure to act otherwise. Stay strong. It will be worth it and I will be proud of you.



I hope you are fast and sharp and funny and cool but more than all of this, I hope you are nice. I hope that you are the kid in 3rd grade (and beyond) that everyone wants to be friends with.

You are loved. You come from love and are surrounded by it at all times. That won't change.

Love,
Mama

mamacase prints on etsy

10/52

A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2013.

In an attempt to pull a fast one on Daylight Saving, I snuck out of bed early to wake this one up at "normal" time (clock says 7:30, body says 6:30... or is it the other way around? I always get mixed up.)

Just as I positioned the camera, I caught a precious sleep smile. Like a Bigfoot sighting.

And my plan was working until nap time when everything went foul. Bed time is going to be an adventure.

Joining Jodi on the 52 photo project. And it was hard to pick just one, but my favorite photo from last week was this one. Lovely light, lovelier curls.

Hoof Arted?

How does he know that farts are funny?

He was a breath away from solid slumber when he ripped a good long one and flopped over in hysterics. I lie in our dark bedroom next to him, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from joining him in laughter.

So how does he know that's funny? I don't recall teaching him this or modeling fart humor for him.

Is it really possible that when my DNA zipped up with Tim's DNA that the tiny nucleotides checked the Finds Farts Funny box (totally just Googled "what is DNA made of")?

But, I mean, c'mon. They really are funny.

Must just be because he's so dang smart.

Say Thank You Sunday

It's been a few weeks since we said thank you and that's just crazy, y'all!

Things are good over here. We have a little walker now that is so obsessed with his new found skill that he skipped his nap today to practice practice practice! AND he thinks his new bedtime should be 10:00 so that he can make the most of each day. Weeeeeeeeeee!!!


This week, we are thankful for:

our walker
Franklin Barbecue - I don't often salivate looking at pictures of food but I am right now.
blue skies
kite-flying wind
Lucy's health
big dreams
Skype bedtime stories
packages in the mail
wide open spaces
running into friends
new t-shirt designs - coming soon!

playground date with aunt katie, poor lou post-op, sunburst//sweet sweater, all in one hand, walkin' y'all, franklin bbq, handsome boy, family friday, growing boys need their rest

It's March! Yahoo!

9/52

A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2013.

Photo snapped by Papa

 

Eddy: Taking a little break from his new skill.
Lucy: The girl with the sun in her eyes.


Participating in the 52 photo project.

Obsessed.

This week, we are all obsessed with OUR WALKER!!!





There was barely any hesitation and he is oh so proud of himself.

Tongue out, hands up, big boy.

Monumental.