Life with the Lunds

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Life as the Mom of a 1-Year Old

I thought I'd write a similar post to the previous one about life as a 1-year old. Here is what it's like to be me! Not even any pictures because it's early and I'm lazy. I tried to think of more, but life as a mom of a 1-year old is pretty normal I guess. :)

You buy all-the-snacks at the store (crackers, fruit snacks, cookies) for "baby" but secretly you just plan to eat them all because he needs fruits and vegetables of course!

You've now given up on keeping the tupperware cupboard organized, but actually you're happy about it because it's a safe toy! Plus, it is so adorable to see the baby learning to put things inside tupperware.

You love the new rug in the hallway, but what you're most excited for is seeing how the baby plays with it, walks on it, and treats it like a new alien in the house. The same goes for all new home decor - seeing the baby play stare at it is the best.

You consider all onesies "too small" now (even though they're not), just so you can buy adorable new big kid t-shirts and pants.

You still argue (not really) with your husband over who gets to keep the baby (but I want to take him to the store, he's the best!) - hopefully this argument will continue forever... :)

You are constantly amazed at how smart, talented, hilarious, and adorable your baby is. You hope he never grows up at the very same time that you can't wait for him to keep growing and learning.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Life As A 1-Year Old

It hasn't even been a month since Roy turned one, but I already feel like he's lightyears ahead of last month. This isn't an official 13-month post (will I even keep doing them now that the months are in the awkwardly-too-high-to-really-tell-how-old-he-is range? We shall see...), but here are some things about what it's like to be one. Also, I really feel like Roy just grew up overnight. Not like "it's gone so fast!" but literally like he learned how to do so many toddler things in a day....or a week at least!

Your dance moves become super awesome, including swaying, head banging, stomping, and some erratic crazy dances.
You think everything is a phone, including your bare hands and your sippy cups.
You no longer use a bottle. Sad day for you (you cry several days in a row hoping mom will give in and give back the bottles) but it is the happiest day ever for mom to not do bottle dishes any longer!
You think you are really strong and can carry around giant boxes, Tupperware, puzzles, books, and your toy riding car.
You get super frustrated when you aren't strong enough to lift the biggest things, like the "What to Expect" book. You throw the book on the ground in anger until mom gives you some light sci-fi to "read" instead.
You also get frustrated at other little things like: not being able to reach the deepest toy (computer mouse) hidden in your toy box. Also: trying to read your book in your crib late at night in the dark and not being able to see anything.
You are obsessed with putting things in containers. A book in the trash can? Yep! The door stopper in your crib? Yep! Everything is a container and everything needs to be "put away".
One of mom's favorites is that you can concentrate on things for a long time now. Like doing a puzzle or putting two blocks together - you won't take time to laugh at mom's jokes or be distracted. You just keep sitting there, concentrating away!
Most of all, you know you are hilarious and you know everyone loves you.

I call this picture "everyone needs a haircut". But also, Roy is obsessed with coming to sit in our laps. He just walks right up, turns around, and plops down as close as he can get.

He is also super good at doing the puzzle. He can get most of the pieces if I put them close to their spots!

Picture with mom because they are few and far between!

You concentrate on reading books, and you love to do the animal sounds. Currently every animal (including the neighbor's dogs) says "mooo", but you're getting there!

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Grandma Visits Baby Roy

Hopefully she came to see the rest of us too. :) Roy loved having his Grandma in town. She read books to him, fed him so much food (we all ate REALLY well for a week!), played with him, and brought him so many presents.

We went swimming almost every day she was here, and baby Roy loves swimming. We also went shopping and got some cute new things for the house and for all of us! We sure miss Grandma, and can't wait for her to come back.

Mom, how did we not get a picture of all of us together??

Roy loves the new car Grandma got him for his birthday!

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Roy at 1 Year

Roy is a year old!! It is crazy to think about, and yet feels exactly normal. He had a wonderful birthday...meaning he probably didn't even know it was any different. We served his favorite dinner (just kidding, he doesn't have a favorite so obviously it must be one of my favorites..) of fettuccine alfredo and breadsticks. And then he had some fishy cupcakes for dessert! I didn't plan to do anything too exciting, but we had plenty of fun.

I saw a poll on a baby website the other day and about 40% of people spent more than $500 on their baby's 1st birthday. WOW! I had fleeting desires to do something like that - even just balloons and streamers could have been cool, but then I remembered when Roy had a balloon for one day...and all he did was try to eat it. So we just kept it simple, but made some great memories.

Here are some things about Roy at one year:
-He keeps learning things and then unlearning them. One time he was obsessed with kisses - he would kiss me over and over and laugh. But he hasn't done it since! He also has said a few words (like "dad-dy") a few times, and then never again.

-He doesn't know any animal sounds or words, but knows a car goes 'vroom'. And he does it all the time! He has a few toy cars, and constantly goes 'vroOOooOOooOooOoOom' to his heart's content.

-He knows how to chase and be chased. His favorite game with Shenli is to be chased. He will run right to me (mom's base!) in hopes that dad will growl and stomp over to chase him and tickle him.

-Can climb up and down stairs. His little legs are so short that it's hard for him to go down especially, since it's a small leap of faith to reach the next stair. But he's a champ at going up! He likes to disappear while I'm in another room, and then I find him 3-4 stairs up just giggling, wanting me to chase him up.

-He can pull blocks apart and wants so badly to put them together, but he doesn't know how. But he loves pulling them apart!

-His favorite color is red (not really sure if they can have favorite colors at this age, but he always gravitates toward red things!). He also loves balls, reading books still, his puppy that he sleeps with, adult shoes, the pool, his stroller...and basically everything.

-He's still on the smallest end of the growth charts, but he eats and sleeps great as always! He is a joy to have every day. He learns so much, and I know this is just the tip of him really learning. We love him so much - happy birthday Roy!