Our flight to DC leaves late tonight! We are braving the red eye and hoping for at least a little sleep. I feel pretty confident that Cullen will sleep through the whole flight, but I know I’ll feel a lot more relaxed once we’ve landed on the other side.
This trip sort of popped up at the last minute, since it’s a business trip for Casey (Cullen and I are just crashing the party). I am so excited to go see our friends and our old favorite city! But there has been a lot to do to get ready. I’m certainly not one to complain about an awesome free trip, but the timing has been a little bit complicated. I am a procrastinator by nature, but since we’ll be out of town I have been forced (for once) to plan in advance!
Someone is turning ONE next weekend…
I can’t actually talk about that yet. He is still a baby for one more week!
Anyway, there won’t be much time in between our return and the beginning of birthday festivities (including my mom’s arrival!). So I’ve been running around this week getting everything together for his party. For someone with almost zero crafting skills, I have spent an absurd amount of time in crafting and party supply stores recently.
In fact, it has been SO long since I’ve done anything remotely crafty or creative, I even had to buy new glue. Mine was dried and shriveled, and possibly left over from the fourth grade.
I have also been doing a lot of BAKING. I’m testing out some recipes for Cullen’s birthday cakes (plural), and I really want them to be good!
There has been a LOT of sampling, and now I’m not so sure it was wise to have washed all my jeans this morning.
Last night was spent watching the debates and stuffing myself with cake, while cutting, gluing, and carefully measuring. I am by no means going to be one of those amazing crafty mamas, so I’ve been pretty low-key about this birthday business. I more focused on the friends and family coming to celebrate, and less worried about hiding all my pencil marks.
I finished up my projects last night, so today has been spent working, doing lots of laundry, and hopefully eventually – packing. It’s kind of gloomy here in Seattle today, so Cullen and I are having a rare day at home. We broke from playing catch and dancing to Caspar Babypants to have a mid-day lunch date.
Eggs and toast with coconut spread for me – eggs, squash, and spaghetti noodles for Cullen. He’s just recently started becoming very picky about his food. Fifty percent of what I offer is picked up, and then immediately tossed onto the floor for no reason. Like he will pick up one raspberry – throw it on the floor – and then pick up another raspberry and eat it. What?
I thought the dogs hovering below might be the problem, so I started removing them during meal time. Hasn’t made a difference – half of my precious meals still wind up on the floor. Very frustrating. He thinks it’s absolutely hilarious.
After lunch and before nap, we snuck in a quick neighborhood walk with the pups. We’re losing more and more of our evening light, so I’m trying to get them out more during the day. Not easy to take all three out together, but I’m doing my best!
Sleeping in the friendly skies, and waking up on the east coast tomorrow. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!
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If you can manage two dogs and a baby you’re a superhero. No really.
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Yay for Cullen’s last week of being a baby! Turning into a young boy before our very eyes.
You are absolutely amazing for doing all these crafts, baking more than one cake, etc. He is such a loved little guy. :)
Have a great trip!
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Safe, easy and full of sleep flight for you guys-we’ll see you soon!!
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Your son is quite normal. Both of my children had to be disciplined for throwing food on the floor at 9 months old. I like to say they take a “sin pill” around that age as their innocence begins to be called into question from time to time. :)
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It’s amazing how the crafty skills come out again once you have kids. It only gets worse! :) Have a safe flight!
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Welcome back to the east coast, hope the little guy enjoy’s it. And I have never been so proud to share my birthday with such a cute little guy, happy early birthday Mr. Cullen!
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Hi Emily! Do you mind if I ask where you got your coffee table in the picture above? I absolutely love it and I’m looking for one right now. And happy early birthday to an adorable Cullen!
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Awww I can’t believe how big Cullen is getting!
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Not sure this is what’s happening with Cullen, but with my son (who is 15 months old), if I put more than one bite of food on his tray, he will take one piece and put it in his mouth and then throw the rest to the floor while chewing. If I wait until he’s swallowed to put the next piece down, there’s a lot less to pick up at the end. I guess it’s kind of labor-intensive, but it’s worked for us. Except with noodles. I just accept that that will be a mess and put a big pile on the tray…
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That’s so exciting you are coming back to the DC area! I live here, in Arlington and work in DC. The weather is crisp, the Nats are winning in the playoffs and all seems right with the world. Enjoy DC and Alexandria now as a family of 3!
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I don’t even have glue. I’m going to be the least crafty mom ever!!
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I’m not very crafty either, but I enjoy trying occasionally. The cake sampling sounds more like my thing!
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I can’t wait for the final cake post! I’ll be baking the one year cake three months from now!
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Can’t believe you’re going to be in DC this weekend! Hope you have a lot of fun!!
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It’s always so funny to me how much Nitsah and Cullen are on the same page! She just started throwing a ton of food on the floor too. I’m just trying to be low-key about it, only give her a few things at a time, not put anything back after she throws it, end meal-time if she throws EVERYTHING on the floor, and not give her a ton of snacks to make up for it (that’s the hardest part). She hasn’t been eating a lot at meals, but she’s super chubby so this might not be a bad thing. :) (Who am I kidding, though, I think she’s making up for it easily through nursing!) I’ve heard babies naturally start to eat less at this age because they’re growing less… think of the dif in size between a newborn and a one-year-old vs the dif in size between a one and two year old!
Oh, and I totally made a trial birthday cake this past weekend… and I’ve been eating all of it. Is that avocado icing? I tried to make that but my avocado was unripe, so I dumped it in the cake batter instead along with grated beets and pumpkin puree.I ended up mixing black beans, cocoa powder, and sugar in the food processor for frosting that my husband thought was gross but I thought was fudgy and delicious. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!! (For her birthday itself I’m probably going to wimp out and make a more crowd-friendly cake…)
By the way, you’ve inspired me lately to eat less dairy and more veg, and it feels great!
And so ends the longest comment ever… :)
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I recommended this dog walking belt before but Cullen was still in a carrier then. It is so helpful for walking multiple (strong) dogs and leaving hands free for other tasks.
In case the links don’t work google “high sierra walk-a-belt”
HTH and enjoy your DC trip!
http://huskyreview.blogspot.com/2008/01/walking-belts.html
http://www.whitepineoutfitters.com/catalog_page_detail.cfm?queries_index=index10&recordno=2&Product_CatalogID=170&ProductNumber=MBS-L&ProductCode=4&ProductSubCodeID=146&NewProduct=0&title_bar2=High%20Sierra%20Walk%2DA%2DBelt&title_bar=HIGH%20SIERRA%20WALK%2DA%2DBELT%3Csup%3Etm%3C%2Fsup%3E%20Heavy%20Duty%20with%20Carabineer
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You can totally get all of this done! Hope your flight was safe and that you have an amazing time!!! Can’t wait to see the recap of your little man’s birthday party!!!
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Thank you thank you thank you for the comment about sampling and not washing your jeans! I made me feel better about the 2-3 pieces of pumpkin pie I “sampled” yesterday!
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I made the cakes for my nephew’s 1st birthday party. I found a sugar free carrot cake for my nephew to eat while I made a regular carrot cake for the adults. My nephew’s cake was pretty dense, but surprisingly he loved it!
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This made me giggle. For real. I remember my daughter doing this and I was so frustrated that my well planned and tediously cooked dinner would be thrown on the floor. It will pass – promise.
I came to see what Cullen was up to because my daughter will turn FOUR (gasp!?!) on the same day he turns one. It goes by way too quickly. On the day of his party, don’t forget to 1. enjoy it, but 2. take sometime, off to the side, for just you and him. There is so much hustle and bustle, but I promise you won’t forget it.
I was still nursing my daughter, although not for too much longer, and one of my favorite memories with her of her life so far was going into the back room of the fellowship hall at the church and nursing her. That one on one time, on her birthday, watching her nurse on the same day she was born, a year later, knowing that our nursing time was almost done (she was showing signs of wanting to wean)…whew. I still get teary eyed thinking about it.
It goes way too fast, and nothing is quite like his first birthday :) enjoy!! I can’t wait to see pictures!!
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My daughter is 17 months and still throws food on the floor. Drives me nuts for the same reason you mentioned. We think it might have something to do with tiredness levels. She also sees it as a game. Watch mummy pick up my mess! So she is now part of the game and has to help me clean up! I don’t think the amount on the floor has gone down but it is teaching her to clean up after herself.
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I’m so glad other comments admit to “throwers,” too! It’s so hard when I think so much about his healthy meals and he’ll refuse and request yogurt for the 3rd time that day. You are such an awesome Mom, prepping so much for Cullen’s big day. Happy 1 year to you, too, and enjoy those cakes- forget about the jeans! ;)
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I can’t believe he is about to turn one!! I say he is still a baby though, because if you notice all of the 12-18 month clothes are still in the baby section, not the toddler section…so he is still a baby until he moves up in the retail section:)
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We have a similar issue with my son spitting out food. Not because he doesn’t like it or isn’t hungry. Just because he feels like it and thinks its funny. Aren’t toddlers fun? :)
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Love the pic of your puppy on the couch!
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I can’t believe Cullen turns one next week! Omg time flies! Have a great time on the East Coast, it is beautiful right now with all the changing leaves!
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I can’t believe he’s going to be 1!!! It really feels like just a few months ago you were blogging about going to the hospital to have him!
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Re: baby/toddler eating, I have to recommend the book Child of Mine by Ellyn Satter. It talks about how babies and kids learn to eat, and It’s really helped me relax about feeding my kiddo, who seems to live on air much of the time these days, and it demystifies a lot of these bizarro baby eating behaviours. Highly recommended!
Best of luck on your redeye, and happy almost-birthday to Cullen!
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What is up with the ads now?
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Emily Malone Reply:
October 15th, 2012 at 7:24 am
I had to move one of the ads up top due to some new specs with my publishing network. But other than the top placement, they should all still be the same! Hope it’s not annoying or intrusive, and if it IS, I hope you guys will let me know!
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That picture of Cullen smiling is amazingly cute.
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Oh my goodness I can’t believe he is almost one! I am not crafty with paper, but give me some yarn and knitting needles and I’m great.
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My baby got super picky about food right around the same age…or maybe about a month earlier, I can’t remember. All I know is that she used to eat absolutely everything happily and now (at 13 months) she flat out refuses almost all vegetables (save for carrots and sweet potatoes), and would live off fruit and yogurt and cottage cheese if I let her. It’s so frustrating to prepare yummy, healthy food for her only to have her turn her nose up and throw it on the floor, but I figure she’ll eat if she’s hungry and as long as what she does eat is healthy, I’m not going to stress myself out about it too much. Haha, my husband might tell you a different story about my stressing:)
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The jeans statement slayed me. Safe travels!
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