15 months Ezra

So we are jumping from first birthday to 15 month update. I would love to say I have lots of amazing pictures but I don't. Hopefully soon we will get some current shots of the little guy. For now just a few iphone pictures. So technically he is 15 1/2 months but we'll just go with what's going on now. He chats like crazy now. Not all is actual words but it's a jumble of different syllables and he really intends to tell us something! He loves to growl, roar, and make car sounds. He is repeating a lot of words. He says dog, dada, mama, hey, this, shoe, ball, bird, book and please on his own. There are a couple others I think I've heard but I'm not sure of.  Ezra is growing so fast. I think he weighs around 23 lbs give or take. He is getting tpo big for 18 month rompers and moving into 18-24 month pants. He still has lots of rolls and a belly which I love. His hair is crazy. It has grown a ton and the humidity combined with waviness makes for big hair.     He is a pretty good eater starting to try more and more each day. His new favorites are watermelon and kale. I never thought I would get him to eat a vegetable and then he go and loves a thing like kale. His favorite foods include hummus, grilled cheese, and most recently yogurt. I finally convinced him that ice cream is awesome and it's worth letting mama feed it to you. Usually he only wants to feed himself and if he can't he'll do without. But, he gave in and loves it! He has been wanting to eat with a spoon and fork with messy results. He loves to drink out of a cup and pretty much grabs for whatever I have. He doesn't get that toddlers can't have coffee. Ezra is learning his body parts. He also is observing how things function such as putting his shoes on if he wants to go outside, trying to put a hat on. Cute, smart things like that. He loves to dance and clap and recently started singing. It is the sweetest sound and he also replicates Emerson's Ariel impersonation. Ha! So some days I have both of them singing in unison. As far as toys Ezra pretty much plays with either a ball or a car. Or he will make whatever toy he has act as a ball or car. We got him little t-ball set and he is really good at it! We think he has remarkable hand-eye coordination for a little guy. He of course loves to do whatever his sister is doing. Which always makes him seem older than he is. He even gets on the tricycle! Perfecting climbing skills he now climbs on the couch too. He is such a joyful guy to be around. I would describe him as sweet, funny, cheerful, and pretty mellow. Unless heaven forbid you don't give him some food he wants, or hold him when he wants, or change his diaper. But, I guess we are little picky about food and hugs sometimes.

Happy Birthday Ezra Bean! Please don't grow up any faster. It makes my heart ache just a bit. 

Love, Mom. 

Ezra's First Birthday

 It's about time for first birthday pictures don't you think? We'll celebrate him turning 15 months today with a look back at his party! We had decided awhile back to have his party at Pullen Park. We thought it would be perfect with the train and carousel.  But, with my procrastination in reserving the shelter we had to shuffle around several dates before finally getting a Sunday 3pm shelter. Not ideal for a napping baby boy but it worked out ok. Although it seemed as everyone else in Raleigh was at Pullen Park as well. Talk about busy! I was determined to have a stress free party but of course got frazzled. Full of ideas thanks to pinterest I had planned a bright colorful chevron theme. His adorable one year onesie was my inspiration. I love it!

I found this chevron cake and was in love. I was going to make it rainbow tiered inside but in reality I had no time or skill to complete that cake. So I settled on just doing the banner. Which was relatively quick. But, thanks to some serious wind it didn't get the attention it deserved. For the snacks we had plenty of fresh fruit, rainbow goldfish, variety of tea sandwiches, and I made cheesecake stuffed strawberries thanks to pinterest. 

But, instead of a graham cracker topping I put on blueberry in each. They were super yummy. Luckily for me there were plenty left over to enjoy. For cupcakes I made a variety of kinds. One package of trader joes vanilla, a batch from scratch vanilla, from scratch chocolate, and banana from scratch. I had been reading about the effects of dyes on children so I wanted to do natural dyes for the frosting. I ending up making a blueberry frosting which tasted great but really was a light purple. Oops! For the other ones I wanted an orange color and I read that turmeric is the perfect way to achieve that. After I made I didn't think it tasted right. So I used the blueberry cheesecake icing for most of the cupcakes. A couple weeks later I realized why they tasted a little off. I hadn't used turmeric like I thought but taco bell seasoning that was unlabeled in a ziplock. So if you had a weird cupcake I'm sorry! All I could do was laugh. I made Ezra a banana cupcake since he loved banana bread. But, when his big moment came he would have nothing to do with it. Instead he ate my chocolate cupcake! We ending up not getting a single family shot, and I don't think I'm in any pictures except the back of my head. Oh well. That's how it goes.  I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. Next year I think we will go simple like Emerson's second birthday. Parties are a lot of work!

Say Cheese

 Do you notice something here?

Something about this cute little face?

We have a cheeser on our hands!

The "cheese" face from the side. Excuse the wild hair.

Not only does he do this anytime I get out a camera but he says, "cheese!" Here is a more natural look than the nose scrunching. 

The End of Dance Season

A full year of dance flew by before we knew it and it was the last day of dance class. I wanted to document the occasion but of course I got no eye contact.

But, she did allow me to put a hair clip in.  It made it about half way through class so I was very impressed! On her last day we got to sit through the entire class and see what they had learned. Emerson got quite a bit of stage fright and didn't love everyone staring. 

Here is her final dance.  It made me very glad she wasn't in the recital this year. But, I'm hopefully that by next year she will be comfortable on stage. By the way it's hard to film with a steady hand and keep a certain toddler from rushing the "stage."

In her class when the stretch, the make a butterfly and go around the circle telling where their butterfly is going. It cracked me up because Emerson had the most elaborate, long response about princesses and castles. It was very creative I'll give her that!

It was a great year and Emerson loved her teacher. All the girls became good friends and we decided to register them all together next year in Ms. Kristen's class again! How fun! So Emerson will get to see her friends in September and will be sporting new tap shoes in addition to ballet. 

Dance Party

I've been terrible about taking pictures of the kids lately. So I made a point the other week to take some snapshots of our day. I had to document our dance party. Ezra has started to dance and join in on the fun. He gets low and swings his arms. Emerson does her interpretive dance as usual and runs around like a mad woman. 

We went upstairs and much to my surprise Emerson asked me to take her picture. She wanted to model and these are the poses she came up with. I was dying laughing. I can see us having lots of interesting pictures in the next year if she keeps this up.

The two of the them together. Both looking, not a chance! 

But, aren't they adorable! Emerson was very excited apparently. 

This is what I'm dealing with these days. An adventurous climber. Do you notice his nose scrunch growl?? He does this whenever he is excited or thrilled with himself now. 

Quarantined

 This has been the scene at our house the past week. Two sick kiddos. 

Therefore another blogging break.

Can you believe this guy is 14 months? I feel like he was just 9 months. Is it possible the second year is going by fast than the first? Ezra is growing into an adorable toddler. It's hard to believe that even at this age Emerson wasn't walking, and he has been a busy bee for 3 months. So he seems more grown up to me at this age. Finally after much waiting, he has four teeth on top, bringing him to a total of 6. Good thing for him since he loves to eat. He has picked up the sign for more and constantly walks to the kitchen and signs more over and over again. He likes big people food, not baby food. I would say grilled cheese and quesadillas are his favorite. Sometimes I can sneak some veggies in his quesadilla to make me feel a little better. He goes nuts for veggie sticks, crackers, pretzels, and cookies. (Who doesn't?) I made a fresh strawberry bread the other day and he ate no less than half of the whole thing. His appetite seems unquenchable. Not a fan of veggies or fruit though. He has found the occasional apple, orange, or watermelon slice tasty but not in excess. I'm not worrying about it too much. Because to be honest I'm thrilled that he is eating at all. If you know Emerson you understand what I'm saying. His verbal communication is growing everyday. Since Emerson has a new love for Dora, he responds and says, "map!" He is constantly saying hey but no bye yet. He says the word dog and is super excited about Mia. It's like he just discovered that we have a dog living here. The feeling isn't mutual. Ha! But, he loves to throw her the ball, and tell her it's a ball. I've heard him say duck, and other words that I can't recall. He is a big climber and will try to get on top of anything so I have to keep a close eye on this fast dare devil. The other day he climbed on top of the kids table for the 20th time, stood up and said, "sit!." I think we have a miscommunication about what I'm trying to tell him when I say sit.  He likes to  do what big kids do, thanks to his big sister. He really enjoys painting, coloring and seems to have good coordination. Recently he started smiling by scrunching his nose up and showing those teeth. It's so cute and really shows his enthusiasm! He also loves to give big kisses, hug, and roar like a dinosaur. In true boy form he will take any toy, even Cinderella, and push her around saying, "vrooom."

He knows a couple bodyparts. His belly, toes, and head. He really enjoys showing his belly off to us.

This is typical Ezra. Cheesing with food stuffed in his mouth.

Love this boy! Doesn't he look aqua and plaid.?

Ezra is 14 mths…so here are his 12 mth pics

After a long blog break with lots of busyness I figured I needed to post
Ezra's 12 month pictures. It just so happens he is 14 months today. Seriously?!?! Where has my baby gone. Anyways aside from my moping here are pictures of the scrumptious little boy. I did a 15 minute session and he was ham as usual. Emerson was an excellent assistant. I told her to make him happy and she certainly did! In a couple years I think she will be a big help on shoots.

I was worried to take his pictures since he is so active and at this point was already walking. But, for some reason he loves little furniture so he was happy as a clam to sit in a chair his size. An orange, or "ball" to him helped too.

Isn't he dreamy??

My favorite pictures. He was just bursting with excitement!

I asked Emerson from the beginning, do you want me to take your picture. She adamantly said, "No, no!" So I let her keep her outfit on. Otherwise I would have tried to coordinate a bit. But, she couldn't restrain herself when she saw him getting all the attention. Her facial expressions are priceless. I'm not sure Ezra knew what to make of it. In the top right, I told her to act like Rapunzel and this is what she gave me. Ha! I love it.




On dramatic b&w. Wonder what they are thinking about?? I bet, how great their Mom is!
(In reality they were looking at the neighbors dog.)

Miss E.

This girl is growing up fast. She seems to grow a half inch a day and you would have never known that she use to below 5% in height. Now she is a whopping 15% thank you very much. Three has come with lots of challenges, by far the toughest year yet. But, her silliest and quirks are the funniest yet.

I just wanted to share a few things she has been saying lately. Whenever I go to the store she always ask me for everything she sees. To avoid the temper tantrum of a full out no I tell her she will have to ask her Daddy. So when we went to Target (Really do we go anywhere else?) I spotted a bathing suit that I liked. So I asked Emerson what she thought about it. I trust her fashion sense most of the time. She turned around and told me, "Yeah, but you'll have to ask your Daddy." I about died, people walking around us about died too. She has also start to piece together that you get special things for your birthday. She'll see something she loves, or wants to do something and will say, "I can get this for my birthday!" Although it's 9 months away but she doesn't know that. Might as well be tomorrow. She also showed me every princess that she wants for her birthday. About 6 more in all. We'll have to work on that materialism. :) Her conversations are really funny. She has to tell everyone she meets about her latest boo boo as if it happened 5 minutes ago. She chats with her friends from our patio when they are on their porch and I wish I could record these conversations. Her new thing is talking about when she gets bigger. If I eat this, "I'll grow bigger and bigger." "When I get bigger I'm going to wear a ring like mommy." Lastly when she looked at my wedding picture she saw that I had a long veil and said, "Mommy you had long long hair like Rapunzel!" If I'm equivalent to Rapunzel in a 3 year old's eyes that must make me pretty cool.  She has changed so much! Just to think this was her just two years ago!

Looking at these I realize how much lighter Ezra's hair is than hers!

Upon seeing these Emerson wanted to know what she was wearing of course and about those shoes.

Ezra 13 months

I've seriously slacked off the blog updates. I had every intention of finishing up Easter, maybe updating on Emerson's party (which was gasp in February),  Ezra's party, one year pictures, etc. But, life got crazy with daily chores, activities, and busyness that I had didn't have the time. When I realized that Ezra was 13 months old two days later I knew it was time for a small update. Mark and I both agree that Ezra has grown up faster than Emerson did and it really seems all of the sudden. He imitates so many things we do and really seems to understand how things work. The other day he took the trash can out of the bathroom to play with. When he was done he carried it back and slid it into the exact same location it was. He's a smart cookie! His walking has reached a near running pace and he is always on the go. Whenever he eats something he finds tasty he lets out a little giggle. I just love that giggle. When I change his diaper he sticks his toys up so I will tickle them. He's full of affection and gives me real hugs. He loves to lay his head down on my shoulder. His vocabulary is starting to build. The other day he said, "ball dada," and has finally started saying mama! He is full of surprises and really absorbs what Emerson does. He painted last week on paper with a paintbrush and loved it! Not finger painting but real painting. Ezra was very controlled and specific about putting the brush in color then painting. It was amazing! 

He has gotten two more teeth in the last week and his smile is adorable. So we are at 5 teeth total. 

He is such a funny, and sweet little guy. We couldn't love him anymore!