Wednesday, October 27, 2010

15 Months

Ezra is 15 months old today! We just got back from the doctor and he is 21.5 lbs and 31 inches long.

A LOT has happened in the past month. For starters, he is finally walking! He is able to be steady on his feet for a while before losing his balance. We're still working on getting back up without pulling up on something.

At 15 months...
--He is a lot more verbal. He can identify furry four-legged things as either "daw" or "kee kee," repeats "thank you" and Chad and I are pretty sure we heard him say "NO Ezra" this afternoon...wonder where he got that from? He also says "milk," "dadDY", "mama," and "hieeeee" (you'll see that in one of the videos). He "talks" pretty much constantly, from the minute I get him out of his crib in the morning. He is also great at giving kisses on request.
--Along with the talking, he points at everything. Many of the pumpkin pictures I took last week were of him pointing at something. It's cute to watch him point and talk, like he is really trying to show us something, or get us to take him somewhere.
--Ezra is a GREAT sleeper. He still usually takes two naps a day and sleeps for 12 hours a night. He is also much better about his flexibility. We can run errands or be out later at night, and he is so interested in everything that he tends to not notice that he is tired.
--I am 90% sure he is left handed. In the videos you can see that he holds everything in his left hand, and when he eats or if you hand him anything, he almost always uses his left hand. I don't know how early you can tell something like that though.
--He is so sweet and friendly. He always smiles when people talk to him when we're out in public and today he started waving and saying "hieeee" to strangers. In the past month he has stayed with two different sets of grandparents and has loved every minute of it. He loves Bible class. We still haven't gone through much separation anxiety or stranger anxiety, and for that I am thankful.
--He's still pretty picky about what he eats, but if you serve him non-suspicious food, he is a great eater. He eats pasta and string cheese at least once a day, lots of fruit, green beans or corn, waffles or pancakes, and scrambled eggs on a regular basis. If you offer him a food that he doesn't want, he will squint his eyes and put his fists up in front of his face: a formidable barrier to getting that weird food in his mouth.
--He is so fun to play with and read books to, but he is also great at playing by himself. His favorite things to do are pull all the tupperware out of that cabinet, play with his magnets on the refrigerator, and put small things in other, bigger things.Ezra in the morning...this is my favorite time of day with him. Ezra is a hamburger for halloween. This was a costume I found that didn't have a hood or anything he had to wear on his head, and when I tried it on him, he was okay for a little while...It's really a very cute costume. :)
Today I put Ezra in a sweater that my dad got for him right after we found out we were having a boy. I remember thinking, "It will be FOREVER before I will be able to put my little boy in this 18 month sweater!" And yet, here we are.

I take a lot of videos...most aren't worth sharing, but I thought these were funny. Apparently, Ezra thinks I talk on the phone a LOT (which I don't, because he is constantly trying to grab it from me) and that when I talk I say "Hiiiiiiii." So lately, he'll pick up pretty much anything and "talk" on it. Makes me laugh. He is a lot more into imitating us these days, and I guess being on the phone is what he picks up on from me. The third video is just one of Ezra playing with Chad. He gets so high-energy when he plays with Chad, and it is the cutest thing. He loves to be "gotten" and chased, and in this case peek under the chair. Enjoy!

Talking on the hair dryer plug from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.


Talking on the diaper bag from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.


More playing with daddy from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.



Month 15 was the best month yet...I can't wait to see what happens in month 16 with our precious little boy.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

We had a good day taking pictures in a pumpkin patch at a church here in town. Compare with last year, where I took approximately 80 pictures that were a variation of this: And here are this year's pictures. I took almost 200 and I realize I have a hard time narrowing down. I also realized I have a hard time putting the subject of my photo anywhere other than the left 1/3 of the frame.

Random pictures from October

Aiden and Ezra didn't want to share Ezra's chair.
This is okay, I guess. I love these "Life is Good" PJ's that Ezra got as a hand-me-down.
Granny came to take care of Ezra while we were at our race. He loved having her read book after book to him.
Buds at the park during play group.
Tall enough now to snack all day long if we leave any food on his high chair tray.
Dressed up like a true Texas boy: Sleeveless shirt and jeans tucked in to his John Deere boots.

"Helping:" Yard work edition










This is what happens when Ezra "helps" Chad with his yard work...

Monday, October 18, 2010

Our half marathon

I have a lot of pictures I want to post but I figured I'd start with the most recent thing. We ran in the "Marathon to Marathon" last weekend. Chad and I both ran the half, a first time thing for both of us. The town of Marathon is tiny. More about that later. It's close to Big Bend, east of Alpine if you know where that is.
Proof on my GPS watch that I actually went the full 13.1 miles.
At the finish line. Chad ran a lot faster than I did...under 10 minutes per mile. The marathoners started 26.2 miles outside of Marathon 30 minutes before our race started. I was crossing the finish line just as the first marathoner was finishing. That means he ran twice the distance I did in 30 more minutes. That is impressive. The best part though about finishing at the same time as the first marathoner is that everyone made a big deal out of him (sirens, cheering, etc.) and I just pretended it was for me because I was right before him.

We stayed in the Gage Hotel, which is a cool old historic hotel in the town. Our room was in the "historic" part of the hotel which I guess meant "no bathroom in the room." Lovely. There was one restaurant that stayed open for dinner. Here's a funny dialogue from the night that we went to eat dinner there (the same day as the half marathon). One thing you need to know is that when we walked through the patio to go to the hostess station inside, the patio was almost completely empty, as were the tables in the restaurant.

Us: Table for two please.
Hostess: Name?
Me: We didn't have a reservation. Did we need one?
Hostess: Yes. What time would you like to come in?
Chad: Now?
Hostess: (looks at reservation list) How about 6:30?
Chad: (looks at watch, which says 6:27) That would be great.
Hostess: Follow me please.

It was totally a "Seinfeld" episode. I am sure I didn't do it justice but it was really funny. The hostess wasn't trying to be funny at all.

So, that was our weekend. Although at the time the half marathon was really hard, and I told Chad it was physically the hardest thing I have ever done, including giving birth, I would like to do another one soon.

Friday, October 08, 2010

And...he's off!

Ezra walks from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Ezra has finally started walking! He is 14 months, 1 week. Many of his friends around his age (and younger) have been walking for a while now. I like to think that this is an indicator that he will not give in easily to peer pressure. :)And here's just a random picture of one of Ezra's newest pastimes, sticking a utensil in his mouth and crossing his eyes to look at it. Goofball.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

We are glad that fall is here! The weather is getting cooler...cool enough for long sleeves, although Ezra's intolerance for sleeves just means that I end up rolling them up pretty early on in the day (see the following pictures). These are just some pictures I've taken over the past few days. Ezra's buddy Aiden and his parents came over for dinner the other night and they had fun playing together and pushing each other on Ezra's Toy Story walker. They were very cute pushing each other back and forth. I love the determination on Aiden's face.
Deer in the headlights? I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot of these looks over the years.I love this sweet face.
Being shy.
Blueberries galore
Ezra and Chad reading...and yes, this was the best picture pose I could get from both of them.This baby was so tired after a morning of playing that he kept laying down on the living room floor, and when that wasn't comfortable, he would crawl a few feet and lay down again, I guess trying to find a comfortable spot. It seems like Ezra has been watching more TV lately. Maybe it's because he has learned a new skill...That's the power button that Ezra now turns on and off constantly. I have had to unplug this TV or he would be standing in front of it all day long, turning it on and opening and closing the DVD tray.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Random pictures & video

Sometimes, he just looks like such a little boy...not a baby anymore.
...and sometimes he just looks like an old man. Here, we were at the apple orchard with friends and Ezra was hot and ready to go.Ezra does not like to be constrained. These days, he kicks his leg out of his high chair while he's eating, and today I got lots of strange looks as Ezra refused to sit in the front of the basket facing me at Target. So I tried to strap him in, which I've never had to do before...he just wiggled around and stood up, then freaked out because the strap was still around him. I thought that at least he hadn't started standing up in his high chair yet, and then sure enough, today at dinner, I look over and he is standing up. The other night I put him in pajamas that were long-sleeved and the sleeves bothered him so he pulled half of his shirt off. He's done the same thing with jeans and overalls (pulls at them like he can't stand to be wearing them).
Visibly distraught because his mean mother has strapped him in. (IE Making a scene)Freedom!And here are some random videos I've taken over the last month or so. The first one is kind of long. I started recording it when Ezra was pretending to talk on the phone, which he has started doing lately. So I got a little bit of it, and he did it a little bit, but the rest of the video is boring. So, now you're warned.

Shhh, I'm on the phone from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.


Peek-a-boo! from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.


Screaming contest from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.