Teddy is 19 Months Old!!!!!

Another month has flown by and I almost forgot to take Teddy's monthly picture with his bear. We were at my parents' house having dinner with my aunts who were driving through when Shae reminded me Teddy was 19 months that day!! We didn't get home until after 9pm but subjected poor Teddy to a photo shoot before he could get on his pajamas and go to bed.

Over the past month, Teddy has continued to expand his vocabulary. He has started speaking in more sentences (he says "I dropped it" or "I got it" about 10 times a day) and he is learning more and more people's names. He even identifies himself in pictures now as "baby Teddy." He has gotten really good at making different animal noises and he has started trying to sing some of his favorite songs. He still loves Elmo, but seems to be broadening his love to all of the Sesame Street characters. For the past week or so, the first thing he says in the morning has changed to "Books! More books!" (sorry Elmo) and he loves to have books read to him. He also really likes helping me out around the house- he continues to help unload the dishwasher, and yesterday he "helped" me with the laundry. He is still very affectionate and loves to give kisses and hugs. He is very friendly and says "hi" and "bye" to everyone and everything around him ("Bye flower. Bye ball. Bye camera" etc...) He is such a fun little man and I love to make him laugh. The other day I found an easy new way to entertain him.... I had a piece of gum and when I blew a bubble he just about went nuts!! It was a great way to keep him happy as I walked all around the grocery store. So what if every two seconds he was yelling "More BUBBLES" right? He is funny too because while he has learned to say please, when he really wants something he will sort of yell the word "PLEASE" in a not-so-polite tone. We'll have to work on that. By these pictures you can probably tell he continues to grow bigger and bigger. He may even finally outgrow these size 12 month clothes he has been wearing since he was 7 months old!!!

Teddy is SOOO big:

I caught Teddy singing some of his songs:

Beating the Heat

It has been ridiculously hot here in Atlanta this month, and we are trying to beat the heat any way we can...

Teddy LOVES his new water table:

Obviously the only way to be outside these days is if it involves water! Teddy had fun swimming in the kiddie pools at cousin Violent's 2nd birthday party:

He also enjoyed hanging with his Grandma:

But I think he liked the cup-cakes best:

Violet blowing out her candles:

We have also been trying to beat the heat by staying inside when we can. We went to a very cool play place in Cumming last week where Teddy got to dig in the sand. I just wish there had been an ocean...

The sand was OK, but Teddy really enjoyed playing with the orange ones (making Grandpa Bud proud I am sure)
Teddy also has tons of fun dancing in our kitchen. Here he jams to his new Elmo camera:

We were very excited to have Uncle Matt (otherwise known as Finley and Harper's Daddy) come visit us on Sunday night. Teddy immediately brought him a stack of books and Uncle Matt became his new best friend as he read story after story to him:

After dinner we had more time to visit... and read more books!

Teddy also showed off his drum skills. At least he shared his Elmo doll with Uncle Matt.

Lastly, Teddy enjoyed the Weinstein "go-to"... STEAM ROLLER:

Surprise!

On Monday nights I go to clogging. It is a great release for me. It is something I have always loved doing, it is also a great work out, and it gives me some much needed "me- time." It also gives Teddy and Shae some boy time to bond. Sometimes I wonder what they do while I am gone. This week, as I was driving to class, my friend called to tell me it was cancelled that night. So, I turned my car around and drove home. Shae and Teddy didn't know I would be home so soon. Check out what I found in my living room when I walked in:

Yes, that's a boat. Shae's new inflatable kayak. Along with 90% of Teddy's toys. (I had only been gone about 20 minutes).

and this is our kitchen....

But, at least I know my boys are having fun as they bond!

(And at least they weren't at Hooters... or the Tilted Kilt).

Teddy's First 5 K

One of the bonuses of being a stay-at-home mom is that I rarely (if ever) have to wake my child up in the morning before he is ready to start the day. Now, he only "sleeps in" until about 7 or 7:30 every day, but still it is nice to allow him to sleep until he is ready to get up (on the right side of the bed). Last weekend, though, we had to wake him up early. Why? For his first 5K race. Here he is, groggy, but ready to go:

Teddy did fabulous in the Etowah River Run! We had a great time and I found out that my running pace is a perfect match for:

1. Shae when he is pushing a stroller carrying an extra 24+ pounds and

2. my 68 year old father.

I know, I really should slow down.

I think Teddy had a great time too... in fact he LOVED it and wants to do more races. But it may have something to do with the sponsors:

That was his 2nd or 3rd cookie (thank you Publix and Grandpa) after 2 packs of fruit snacks and a banana.

After the race, we stayed as they announced all of the winners and gave out door prices. It took a while and we had to find a way to keep Teddy entertained. Anyone notice a potential future career...?

You can tell the early rising, the race, and the garbage man training wore him out:

By the end of the morning he was covered in grass and it was already really hot. So he rode home barefoot and shirtless. Yee Haw!

Picture Time

I took Teddy for his 18 month pictures a couple of weeks ago. It was the worst experience! Our appointment was at 10:10 but it was about 11:15 before they even started with us. For an hour, as we waited, Teddy was happy, cheerful, adorable, hugged his bear, and wore his hat I brought for him. But by the time they were ready for us, he was hungry and tired and I was very very irritated. We got the following pictures in the span of about 5 minutes, and Teddy has goldfish in his mouth in most of them. After this fiasco, It took another TWO hours to get everything printed... the correct way... and when I got home I realized they didn't even give me all of the pictures we bought. Needless to say, I was angry. When I expressed my opinion on the phone to the store manager, she hung up on me! It's safe to say I would NEVER recommend the Picture People.... but at least we got a few cute shots of Teddy out of it, right?

This next one would be my favorite... except for Teddy's "Flashdance" look:

In this next picture I am trying to get him to stop crying and smile by telling him I am going to get his belly:

chewing goldfish:

The one prop they provided... for one picture:

Notice the crumbs on his lips:

Any guess what he is pointing at....

yep... goldfish. And the only shot holding his bear:

Don't worry Teddy, I will never make you go back to that place again! At least it wasn't hard picking out only a few pictures to order!

July Fun

We hope everyone had a very happy 4th of July. It is one of my all time favorite holidays and this year we had a great one. We started it off by making the flag cake. I did the cooking but I got some help taste testing:

Look how pretty it looked...

or at least how pretty it looked until....

Oh well, I think they liked it anyway:

We went to my friend's lake house for a 4th of July celebration. Can you guess what Teddy was saying in this next picture?

"DOWN PLEASE!" over, and over, and over again. Until we took him off the raft and put in him in the water. That is when he started saying "Up please!" At least he has manners, right?

Much happier on the dock!

And even HAPPIER on the deck having a snack with little Cam.

And of course it wouldn't be the 4th with out our family tradition of going to Wills Park to watch the fire works in our matching flag shirts! Here are the Hoscheks:

Teddy and cousin Violet ate dinner together. Violet waited until after eating to put on her new flag shirt.

Teddy checking out his new "Bear Chair"

Grandma brought yummy cupcakes.... but we didn't want to get our new white shirt dirty:
Who brought the redneck baby to the fireworks?!!! All was going well until it started to thunder, lightning, and pour rain. Good thing Grandpa's tailgate makes a great shelter:

I heard there was a strange man going around the park though and he was flashing people...

Or maybe that was just my dad in his goofy trench coat.

My sister must get her fashion sense from him!

Cousin Maggie tried to help Teddy stay dry:

but it kept pouring. So we moved the party to the car:

(above) Cousin Maggie with Aunt "Mirmo" (as Teddy now calls her)

Maggie made us all laugh as she jammed to the music!

(above) Grandma Judy and Maggie

We were having a great time despite the rain! And then we got to see the fireworks:

Teddy LOVED the show!

We gave the Gibsons a ride back to their car and we got to use the third row seats in our car for the first time. Look at that- 3 little Giblets fit so nicely back there:

Overall, it was a great holiday!

*

It had been over 3 months since Teddy's first haircut and it was time! Luckily he had a great time with Mrs. Rosa again:

Here's the handsome boy after his hair cut:

Friends originally from Iowa came to visit relatives in Ga, and Teddy and I got to meet up with them. We went to Play had a wonderful time.

Teddy plays with the twins Caroline and Noah:

Teddy and Noah in the ball pit:

Lastly, here is a little video to show you how much Teddy enjoyed his first brownie. (By the way- when I first gave it to him he said, "Fork! Fork!" and refused to eat it until I gave him one. Weird kid!

The other funny thing is I forgot there was peanut butter in the brownies. I had been really cautious about not giving Teddy anything with peanuts in it because his doctor really stresses waiting until they are at least 2 because of allergies. I didn't even realize it until later that night when Shae ate one and he was surprised I had given it to Teddy.

Good news is he must not be allergic! Bring on the peanut butter!