18 months!!!

Well Remy has finally reached the ripe ol' age of 18 months. He is quite the little busy body and has so many funny things that he does. I wanted to use the chance to write some of these down. Things he loves: puppies, balloons, reading "Cowboy Baby" over and over, being outside, helping Daddy mow the lawn. It's funny to watch him riding with Shaun because he just smiles the whole time and watches me as they ride back and forth. I wave to him and he just smiles and waves back like he is the coolest boy with the coolest Dad ever. He loves to hold Mommy's hand, or anybodys for that matter when walking around. He loves Chappy, even though he constantly gets lick attacked. He also loves fries, rice and beans, Doritos (he takes after Mommy).

When the TV is on Remy will always point and say "puppy" when any animal appears on the screen. Remy will pant and woof, or combine the two whenever he sees a puppy or animal that he thinks may make that noise. Whenever food commercials come on he goes Mmmmm, MMmmm!! and points at the delicious food he sees. He is starting to become a hugger and hugs the nurses at my office before we go home. He loves to give high fives, blow kisses and occasionally he will shake hands and give knuckles. He is very smiley and talks all of the time. He says over 25 words that I can recognize. He likes to talk on the phone, well pretend phone. He uses his yoyo in the car, or the rubber blood vessel model I have in my office. He will talk on it and say Daddy and laugh and laugh.

He is a sweet boy and likes to come up and sit right next to Mommy and have me read him books. If he trips or does something that he thinks is a little risky he will say "whoa" and his eyes get all big and serious. Remy also says "uh oh", and "yucky" all of the time. He picked those up from me because I say them when he is doing something he shouldn't or trying to eat something that is totally gross. He loves to check the water bottles in Grandpa's office at work, point to pictures and say who is in them. He is also getting really good at pointing and knowing where stuff is. If I ask him if he wants something or where something is he will run and point or get what I need. He is getting very observant and will now fold his arms for a prayer all by himself. We haven't ever made him do it but he watches and will now do it by himself. He likes to play in the basement in his "fort". He runs to the stairs and points up to the light switch so he can see to go downstairs. I bought him one of those little foam couches that opens up into a bed with a sleeping bag. He loves it. He doesn't look to thrilled in the picture before but he had just woken up from a nap and was still a little sleepy.

I am entering that wonderful part of motherhood where Remy does everything that he sees, and yes, he watches us very closely. Well, you mothers know, that you don't get much privacy for anything. Yesterday when I was making dinner I turn to look at Remy and watched him pull his pants down and than sit on the bar of the oven like he was going " potty". Now either he is the youngest kid to actually understand potty or he just doesn't give Mommy any privacy and is now going to go about doing all of these things no matter how unfortunate that may be.

One of my favorite recent stories from Remy is when my Mom, Dad, Remy and Me were all heading to lunch one day. We were in my Mom's Yukon and she was driving. Now, for some background, we are always harassing my Mom about her driving because she is always the passenger that will squeak and ooooh and ahhh when you are driving like you are in the middle of a demolition derby. Anyway back to the story, we were waiting to pull out the office which is a nightmare during lunch because of all of the traffic. Well my Mom saw her chance and gunned it. Remy, having the perfect timing and sweetest little voice in the world said "WHOOOAAAAAA!!!" as we were pulling out. It was so funny. His timing couldn't have been anymore perfect. My Dad and I were laughing so hard and my Mom was grumbling to herself because how can you be mad at such a sweet innocent little boy.

Remy's 18 month stats

Height: 33 inches, 72%

Weight: 24 pounds 14 ounces, 37%

Head: 19 1/4 inches, 80%

A boy and his balloon

Remy loves so many things in life. Quite frankly it doesn't take much to get him excited but his favorite above all things are puppies and balloons. We went to Wingers Friday night and when he saw the balloons, well, to put it lightly he started screaming and basically tackled the seating hostess. She just laughed and asked if he wanted a balloon. Since he got that balloon he hasn't let it out of his site. He constantly carries it around, he even holds it while he eats. Every time he gets a balloon it is the same reaction. He keeps dragging them around till they are nothing but a small balloon raisin. He gets especially excited though when he has a new balloon that still floats. I spend a large majority of my day pulling it down from the ceiling because when it gets a rare slip out of his fist and floats away he goes around saying "uh oh!! uh oh!! uh oh!!!".

Remy also got introduced to fry sauce thanks to Aunt Mary. Remy usually doesn't like his food dipped into things. He will eat it and than pull it out of his mouth and throw it on the ground. That was not how it went with the fry sauce though. He really loved it. The silly boy got so consumed by the deliciousness of it he didn't even take time for a fry. He just kept dipping his finger in it and licked it off.

Today we went to a birthday party for one of my nephews. It was a swimming party at the Apple athletic club. Although getting into a swimsuit sounds about as exciting to me right now as getting kicked in the head, I knew Remy would love it and we definitely wanted to go to the party. He was such a natural little tadpole. He just loved it. He takes after his mommy I can tell. He was so brave that he would even let us throw him back and forth between Shaun and I. He would jump off the edge into our hands. It was fun and the only way that we could convince him to let us get out of the water is that luckily it was a birthday party and they had balloons to lure him out with. It was a fun day.

Busy week!!

Big holidays are always fun and busy!! We had so many plans and things to do that it is almost hard to remember all what we did. I started the excitement off early by going to the Eclipse premiere with some friends. I do have to admit that I loved it!! It is fun going opening day because you have all of the excitement and people who really wanted to wait in line to go. It was funny because the first time that Jacob appears with his shirt off there was a lot of whistling and clapping from the audience. It was fun.

The next day we went to my 10 year high school reunion. It was definitely a hard pill to swallow that I have now been out of high school for 10 years. It was fun to see friends and get to see their little families and hear what they have been up to these past 10 years.

My sister and her family came up for the fourth of July weekend. We ate a lot of food, had Mary put on a glitter-toe party for the girls. We even played badminton which we are totally awesome at (cough cough). Our badminton consists of a hose on the ground for the net, rackets whose strings are held together with duck tape and birdies that look like they have been used as a nest for a small group of rats. It sure is not going to be considered for a special on ESPN anytime soon but we love to play. We are legends in our own minds and that is all that really matters isn't it?

Remy also got to go fishing for his first time up by the ranch. He loved it!!! I helped him reel in his fish and he was just screaming and laughing when he saw the fish jumping in the water and flopping on the ground. We went out in a little boat to get to a new crop of fish and Remy spent most of his time splashing in the water. I know, I know, I am a bad mother and didn't put Remy in a life-jacket. My mom kept yelling at us from the shore at how irresponsible we were and that we were sure to capsize the boat. To be fair, I am a good swimmer and the water is shallow enough that you can touch. Sure we would have been a little cold, and sure we would have been eating our words about how safe we are but whatever, we are rebels.


With all of the excitement Remy was so worn out!!! He really actually stayed awake the whole way home but he did also keep his blanky over his head. Sweet little boy :-)

Since we were all together we took the opportunity to take some family pictures. I will upload some of those later but here is one with the three little rebels. It is so hard to get them all looking at the camera and not trying to bail off of the swing. This was the best picture I could get. I also included one of Remy's individual pics.

Hooray for Summer!!!

Summer has finally decided to show itself just in time for July. We have been enjoying what we can of the weather. We went to Peterson park for a neighborhood play group. Remy really loved playing in and of course eating the rocks, and bumming Cheerios and chips from the other mothers. I am such a rookie, I totally forgot a hat, sunblock, blankets to sit on, and snacks. I did bring him water though. :-) He also loved me sliding him down the slide. Later on in the day we blew up Remy's little pool and let it sit in the sun to warm up. He really liked his pool. He wouldn't sit down in it but he liked to stand in it and splash the water. He also thought it was hilarious that Chappy kept coming up for a drink out of the pool. Remy would grab his little plastic shovel and try to get Chappy to lick out of it.
It was also jolly good fun to bounce on the side of the pool and let the water drain out. It is like a trampoline really. The only trouble with kids and pools is that they get used to all of this freedom. Not having to wear a shirt, not having to wear a diaper. Well, quite frankly Remy also felt as though this freedom should include not having to wear his swim trunks. I spent a lot of my time trying to keep his little pants pulled up; however, I spent a lot of my day looking at Remy's little crack. It is a cute little bum though.

We have been doing so much that it has been hard to write in our blog. Shaun and my Dad recently got back from New Zealand, where they were hunting. Shaun also went bungee jumping, much to my disapproval. He jumped off a cable car for a 450 foot free fall drop for 8 1/2 seconds. I didn't realize that bungee jumping was started in New Zealand and the place he jumped from is one of the 4 highest in the world. It is called Nevis, I watched a YouTube video of it and it just about did me in.

The giant rock

Recently we have been wanting to spice up our landscaping around our house. We decided what better way to spice things up than a giant rock. Giant rocks don't come at a cheap price at the landscape places but luckily for us we were able to get this beauty from my parent's ranch. It has been sitting at my parents house for a few weeks while their rocks were being placed. Finally the day came when our rock was to be delivered. I know that when you first see this picture you may be thinking, hey that rock is right in the middle of their lawn. It wasn't supposed to be there but let me tell you what happened. The landscapers brought over the rock. It is huge as you can tell and they estimate it weighs 4-5 tons. Of course with all of the wonderful rain we have been getting our grass was wet. I thought the lawn would be dry enough to handle it but just when they pulled onto the lawn they started sinking. The heister was so loaded down with the rock that the back of the heister basically wasn't on the ground anyway and 3 guys were hanging on just to keep it from tipping over. They kept sinking and eventually left about a 2 foot hole. They weren't able to move the rock anymore so there it will sit, until the grass dries enough for them to finish moving it. Remy loves the hole in the yard. He thinks it is just the perfect size for chillaxing in. Everytime we go in the front yard he wants to go and sit in the hole.

They even already had the hole dug out where the rock is supposed to go. Remy thinks it is also a fun place to go and eat dirt. Hopefully the rock will get to it's final home soon and I will have to post some pictures of it.

Here is a photo of the "Remy TTF&F" that I talked about in my previous post. I have decided that he can only have limited access to it because he is constantly wanting to throw more stuff down there. Below you see him wanting to go down in the TTF&F rather than go to church. Luckily I already had the baby gate up.

Remy's TTF&F

The past few weeks have been very busy for me. I know that every mother has moments of craziness in their lives, these past few weeks have definitely been for me. I just seem to be running every minute. I go to work, take care of the Remster, go to golf league, try to clean (try being the key word there). And than this week Shaun and my Dad are gone hunting for an entire week, leaving Remy and I to our own devices. Needless to say, all of this stress has added up and yesterday it finally hit me like a ton of bricks. Remy woke up around 7:30 and I was so tired and did not want to get out of bed. I got up, fed him and than layed down on the couch while he was running around playing for a while. I just needed a few minutes to "rest my eyes" yeah, that was the plan. Anyway I wound up slipping in and out of consciousness pretty much all morning until 12:00 noon. I would hear Remy running around, Chappy following close at his side eating any scraps that may have happened to bounce off of Remy. Remy must have sensed my coma like state. He would come by every now and than and pull a goldfish cracker out of his mouth and try to put it into mine. A couple of times it startled me so bad that I jumped and it scared Remy so he would start crying and I would pick him up and cuddle him for a moment than he was on his way again.

Remy did however put himself to good use while I was in my coma. He pulled all of the Tupperware out of the cupboard that he felt needed to be washed. He removed the stick out of the door hinge. I don't know how he figured that one out but I woke up and he was covered in grease and carrying it around. naughty. He loves going up and down the stairs which is how he created the "Remy TTF&F." Otherwise known as the Remy toy testing facility and fort. This basically consists of him testing the strength of all toys, Tupperware, a golf club, anything basically that he could drag and throw down the stairs. He than went down to the bottom of the stairs and was playing with all of those things. I know what you are thinking, how did I not hear him throwing his dump truck, or a golf club down the stairs. I did wake up a little bit, but as long as he was still standing and not crying I figured, whatever. (it's those good mother of the year skills I've been working on)

He also has become quite the little climber lately. He loves to get up on the couch and as seen below and wedges his little feet in the cracks and turns on and off the lights. He is so proud of himself for being big enough to do it.

Momma said knock you out!!

Well, I don't think I am going to be nominated for "Mother of the year" anytime soon. With Remy feeling so sick this week there are a few things that will cheer him up. Of course his various games with Chappy always bring a smile to his face. In fact they have come up with a few new games.

1. Cheese buns: This consists of Remy sticking his cheese pieces to my backside and Chappy jumping up to bite them off while I am cleaning the kitchen. It is similar to "Pin the tail on the donkey" except I am the donkey and my backside is the target. Rebels. I always have to check my pants to make sure that they got it all off, I would hate to be walking around with crusty old cheese stuck to my buns.

2. Ball scrambler: I have joined a women's golf league with my Mother-in-law. I am really excited but haven't golfed in almost 2 years so I bought some golf wiffle balls to practice in the back yard. I have to at least be able to hit the ball when I get to the course. Anyway, since they are wiffle balls I don't worry about hitting Chappy and Remy because they aren't going very fast. I also figure if I aim at them then they won't get hit. Anyways. Those rebels, when I was hitting my balls, I started out with 15 but by the end I only had 2. Why you may ask? because both Remy and Chappy were racing to see who could get the most balls. Chappy would chew them into a small pulp and Remy would run and throw them in the window wells. I had to eventually lock Chappy in the house and wait for Remy's nap so I could get something done.

These games however are not the reason I am not going to be nominated for "mother of the year". That came today. I went to my parents house to visit my sister and her mutual girls. They were having a barbeque outside. Easy enough one might think. Poor little Remster was walking along next to my mom's pond and he tripped in a little crack and fell and smacked his face on the iron fence. I picked him up to console him and noticed that he hit harder than I thought. Yep, he has a black eye. Shaun of course was proud (after his sorrow of course). I mean black eyes really are the ticket to boy-hood.

The next hit to my motherhood medal was when I called Shaun to tell him what had happened. I heard my mom shreiking with horror. I turned around and saw that Remy had found someone's cup and was drinking the pig water. Yes, you read that right, pig water. My mom has pot bellied pigs and they have a nasty, pond-scum covered, fungus-that-ain't-been identified-yet bowl to drink out of. Apparently Remy recognized this as the "watering hole" and chose to participate. Seriously gross. Below is a re-enactment by Shaun and Remy of my Motherhood medal slipping away. The pictures don't do the black-eye justice but you get the idea.

Caveat: No actual punching occurred during the photos, and yes, Remy thought it was hilarious. Must have something to do with being a boy, who knows.