Teddy is 17 months old!

and he is shrinking....

I couldn't resist the giant teddy bear at a garage sale one of our neighbors had. Here is Teddy with the little bear though:

Teddy is another month older and he seems to be changing and growing more quickly than ever. He is so much fun as his personality continues to emerge. He is talking more and more and surprises me daily with new words. He loves to poke at your face saying, "eye, eye, eye, nose, nose, nose," etc. and he keeps impressing me by recognizing and naming things around him. Some of his new words just this week were "camera, cookie, Judy (one of his grandma's) and Susie (the other grandma). And he will try to copy most words we say to him. He is starting to try to sing the ABC's although it sounds sort of like "A, B, B, B" (video to come soon). His sense of humor is coming out as well... it is so fun to make him giggle by doing something unexpected or out of the ordinary. He is running all over the place and he loves to play outside. He also loves all of his little teddy bears and he carries them around with him calling them his "babies." He is a big fan of Sesame Street.... while he likes Cookie Monster and will point to him and say "cookie" his definite favorite is Elmo. In fact he is a bit Elmo obsessed. (Most days the first thing he says after he wakes up in the morning or from a nap is "Elmo! Elmo!") The past few weeks we have dropped his morning nap and it seems to be going well (most days). After lunch he goes down for a nap that typically lasts 2-3 hours although today it was 3 1/2! I love the fact that we can now make plans and do things in the mornings (although there have been a few times he has fallen asleep in the car before lunch). I know it is cliche but it really is crazy how quickly he changes and grows. Just look at my big boy:

Anyway, here are lots of random pictures from the past few weeks.

Teddy meeting his new "baby" for the first time:

Our neighborhood had a huge garage sale so I had a great time finding "treasures" for Teddy. He seems to love the doctor kit I got him. Here he is checking his "baby's" temperature:

Dr. Teddy:

Your patient needs meds.. stat!

Dr. Teddy is such a great provider, he has patients lining up waiting to be seen by him. Here he treats another patient:

I had a lovely Mother's Day and it started out with some delicious pancakes:

We went to my sister's house later that afternoon. Not only were we celebrating Mother's Day, but also my niece Maggie was discharged from the hospital earlier that day. After two weeks and an appendectomy she was finally ready to go home. Thank goodness she is doing well.

Grandma Judy opens her presents:

The Hoscheks:

Teddy snuggles with Maggie:

Teddy admires the flowers he and his daddy sent me for Mother's Day:

The best part of Mother's Day weekend, though, was how the boys let me take it easy while they took care of the chores:

Teddy is very lucky to get lots of hand-me-downs from his cousins. He is also lucky that his father knows how to re-assemble them. Here they are enjoying our "new" slide (after Shae figured out how to fit all of the pieces together):

A little excited about the new slide:

Did I mention it is a LITTLE slide?

Summer is definitely here in Hotlanta, and so one needs a pair of stylish sunglasses:

I think the same person who picked out those glasses must have also styled his hair:

Teddy is very content cuddling with his new friend (now if that bear could just change his diaper and put him to sleep, Shae and I won't even be needed around here):

So this past weekend, my high school had an alumni football game. I am not sure which was more unusual.... seeing men ranging in age from 31 all the way to 41 suited up and playing full tackle ball at my old high school (men who were 18 the last time I saw them)... or this:
running into a girl I used to clog with, who now dresses up as a Star Wars character for fun. Teddy was not too sure about the characters, but he sure did a great job cheering on the Roswell Hornets:

Of course Teddy enjoyed seeing his cousins even more than the actual game.

Teddy also sported a new tattoo. (These are the same ones we used to sell and put on our faces 19 years ago. So strange to be putting one on my son!) By the way, not only did the game raise over $15,000 for ALS (a classmate passed away from this a few years ago) but the Hornets also won!

One last picture to wrap up this blog entry. The other day we were all sitting on our bed and Teddy crawled to the top and climbed under the covers and posed for this picture. I know I am biased, but isn't he adorable?

Pictures from my Phone

If you happen to read this blog then you are already aware that I take lots of pictures of Teddy. Lots and lots of them!!! But when I am out and about and I didn't bring our camera, or when Teddy does something I find extra cute and I just want to snap a quick picture, then I use my phone. But often those pictures don't make it to the blog because I usually just post from our camera. Anyway, here are some random shots that I emailed to myself from the phone.

Teddy and I went to visit Shae at work for the happy hour he hosted in celebration of his recent promotion. As Shae shows Teddy what he does at work all day long...

Teddy says, this seems vaguely familiar...

A few weeks ago, while the mommies had a book club, Teddy and his buddies were busy in the kitchen:

We had a get together in our neighborhood a few weekends ago. Teddy had a great time with his friends, but the highlight of the party was definitely the watermelon slices. I think he had 4 of them!

Our Moms club did a "park crawl" during April to celebrate Earth Day. One of the moms brought a bubble machine and Teddy went crazy over it. He immediately started dancing around saying, "bubble, bubble, bubble." It was so cute:

Teddy dressed up for Mother's Day, swinging at the park:

Although we not ready to start potty training yet, we recently took out Teddy's singing/talking potty to put in the bathroom. He cracked me up when I saw how excited he was to sit on it (with all of his clothes on!):

I just love taking pictures of this sweet face when he is asleep. I mean, don't you just want to pinch and kiss those gorgeous cheeks???

Favorite thing to play with at the park- sticks:

When Maggie was in the hospital last month one of my sister's friends with connections had Princess Belle come to visit her. Teddy was not so sure about her at first but I tried to explain to him that he better enjoy the visit... because this is as close to Disney World as we are going to get (at least for a long time)!!! He wouldn't pose for a picture with her, here's funny shot of my mom trying to assist me in getting a good one:

Shae has planted a lot of food in our garden, but Teddy and my favorite so far has been the yummy peas. In fact, the best part of our morning walks together is when we return and to house and eat the peas straight from the garden. Here Teddy does NOT want to pose for a picture, he wants "more peas":

Lastly, here is one more adorable sleeping shot I could not resist!!!

Road Trip!

By Shae

Teddy and I took a road trip together to Nashville over the weekend of April 29 - May 1. It was supposed to be a family trip that included me running the Nashville half-marathon with my sisters Shelley and Samantha. But alas, it wasn't to be because unfortunately our niece Maggie an emergency appendectomy on Wednesday April 26 (after multiple mis-diagnoses and the doctors abandoning their protocol of choice to do the surgery at a later time). Lisette stayed in Atlanta to help her sister with Maggie's post-surgery recovery and I took Teddy with me to Nashville. Maggie update: She is recovering now and doing well.

So Teddy and I hit the road on Friday afternoon. We got out of Atlanta fine but hit some traffic near Ringold, Georgia because people were slowing down to look at tornado damage at one of the exits. We stopped at a park next to Nickajack Lake in Tennessee and ate some grapes and crackers. Teddy was awesome in the car both ways and was very patient as we had to wait 35 minutes to get my race registration packet once we got to Nashville. But we finally made it to Aunt Sammie's apartment where Teddy got a little scared at first by Sammie's dog Oliver (although being tired probably contributed to his crying) but at last he was happy when he got some food and attention from Grandpa Steve, Aunt Sammie, Aunt Shelley, and Shelley's friend Nina:

After going to bed way past Teddy's bedtime, I got up the next morning and left Teddy for Grandpa Steve to baby sit. We have no pictures of Teddy and Grandpa Steve's time together but Teddy was a happy baby when I came back 7 hours later and Grandpa Steve was more than happy to give Teddy back to me. It should also be noted that Grandpa Steve was also dogsitting Oliver, too. Thanks Grandpa Steve!


Well, to the race! We all finished. A big congratulations to Sammie for completing her first half-marathon (13.1 miles) and to Shelley for running a personal record (PR) and beating her previous PR by 6 minutes. Great job girls!



Nina and myself at the finish line. Nina spotted me at around mile 12.

The famous Slovakian Hoschek Runners!

After the race I headed back to Sammie's apartment where Teddy had taking a liking to a toy monkey that Shelley brought for Oliver. Who says dog toys are just for dogs?



Lisette made an awesome sign that Teddy was going to hold up during the race but that could also be used after the race. Below are some pictures with Teddy and the sign.

The road tripping partners:

Then it was off to the fancy Loews Vanderbilt hotel where Teddy had more fun with the ladies including steamroller with Aunt Shelley!

After everybody else went out honkytonking in Nashville, Teddy, Oliver, and I stayed back at the hotel. Oliver was my assistant babysitter:

It was a fancy hotel with "room service" and "breakfast in bed."

Aunt Sammie reading to Teddy and also cuddling.

Teddy enjoying another dog toy.

Well the weekend had tocome to an end and we headed back to Atlanta after a lunch at Pei Wei. Teddy was awesome again on the drive back home and our first stop was at the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Hospital to see Maggie. Below is a picture in the parking lot. What you cannot see in the picture is about two gallons of spilled Cherios cereal and Goldfish crackers that Teddy kept spilling out during the trip.

Last and most important, Teddy reunited with Mommy!

Thanks for a great trip Teddy!