Goodbye Baby... Hello Toddler! Leyton is ONE!

Happy Birthday sweet Leyton Eliot Garcia! It was one year ago tonight I was holding a little 6lb, 3oz munchkin in my arms, so thrilled with the beautiful baby God had blessed our family with. He was just precious, and perfect in every way.

I'll update again tomorrow with his official stats and his latest "tricks," but I wanted to post some pictures and tell a little about his big day. Since it's Thursday, Leyton had school today. He's a little young for me to send special cupcakes to celebrate with, so we settled for birthday hats instead. His teachers of course made his day extra special (greeting us this morning with a big "Hi Birthday Boy!" when I dropped him off), and told me they took the hats to music class where they all wore them and sang Happy Birthday to Leyton.

After school, we went to pick up Britton and see Gigi, (who planted no less than eighty million birthday kisses on the birthday boy) then it was home for his favorite dinner - Spaghetti! He loved every bite, and we had to cut him off so he could save room for home-made birthday cupcakes. Leyton also received a phone call this evening from Grandma Cindy who sang Happy Birthday to the big boy!

So here's where I probably didn't make the smartest move... I thought it would be fun to have something other than vanilla or chocolate cake since we've already had that a couple times this week (between his cousin T's b-day yesterday, and Leyton's b-day celebration with PJ's parents earlier in the week). So what did I choose?!? How about RED VELVET? Apparently I lost my mind, and it dawned on me as I was making the very red cupcakes that they might create a small mess. Well, he sure enjoyed eating his yummy red velvet cupcake, (they tasted great), but he did sort of look like he devoured a small animal afterwards. :) Oh well, lesson learned, and the most important part... He LOVED it!

He's such a handsome one-year-old!

Yum... Spaghetti... (I love this picture)

Pre-demolition of the cupcake (he's focusing really hard on his plan of attack):

The aftermath... He's crying because we took the remnants of the cupcake away to clean him up. Clearly, he wasn't happy about that...

Comfy?

My Mom ("Gigi" to the boys) was nice enough to come over this afternoon to watch Leyton while I was at work. Apparently, Leyton wasn't interested in napping (it slows him down, you see). My Mom said he wasn't fussing, but she was watching him on the monitor as he stood in the crib, shaking his blanket and talking. After a while, he got quiet, so she went in to check on him and this is how she found him...

Apparently, he got tired while sitting up and just leaned forward and crashed (and stayed this way for the entire two hour nap). The real irony here can only be appreciated if you know how completely INflexible PJ is. As in, he can't even sit cross-legged on the floor, let alone with his legs outstretched in front of him (in a pike position). So I think seeing his child sleeping like this makes him a little queasy - this position would likely snap PJ's hamstrings in two. :)

Britton and the hair incident

So I sent PJ to get Britton a much needed haircut today, and it's a smidge shorter than I had planned. I was very specific on the instructions: nothing too short, maybe a 4 guard around the back, but NOT on top. Well apparently either PJ didn't listen, or the stylist at Walmart didn't, because Britton's hair is just a wee-bit short. So short in fact I'm not sure it can be brushed. Great. Boys are not to be trusted. Especially not with haircuts. On small children.


Before (Yes, I realize it was VERY long - hence the emergency trip to our local Walmart salon this morning):


After: (note the spike in front - Britton is so against having his hair spiked, apparently PJ bribed him with a candy bar to allow the stylist to do this)

Splish Splash

So bathtime is always the highlight of the evening at our house. Leyton makes tracks to get to the bathtub ASAP when he hears the water going. The more water, the better, as splashing water on every inch of the bathroom is his ultimate goal. And the second you get him out of the tub, the ear-piercing screams let you know he isn't happy about it. :) This picture just shows the fun they have together in the tub - I know Leyton's eyes are closed, but I love the expressions on their faces.

We're Back! (And better than ever)

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. It's been one of the craziest months of our lives, but lots of fun. It's taken some gentle prodding from Kristy (really, threatening to do the blog for me) to get me back in gear, so here we go!

My last post was January 29th. The next day we received an offer on our house (after having been on the market 3 days!), and after several days of back and forth, the house sold on February 3rd. Within the next 24 days, we found a house to purchase (which wasn't finished), moved out of our house, closed on the old and new houses and spent our first night here Feb. 27th! Whew! I'm tired just typing it out. :) Anyway, we are now in the new house and I'd say about 75% unpacked. Maybe more than that - but nothing is decorated, and I have a first birthday to plan for and host here in 24 days. :) No worries - I'll get it done somehow...

So an update on the boys... Leyton is ever so close to walking. He stands unassisted and can balance for quite a while. If you hold his hands, he takes off walking at warp speed. He is quite the chatterbox these days - he says 'mama', 'dada', 'uh oh', 'baby' and 'baabaa' (bubba - referring to Britton). He's into everything and is really in a fun stage! We are loving every minute with him. Britton is obsessed with letters and numbers. He can write almost every letter in the alphabet from memory (there's maybe 1 or 2 he's unsure of), and is working on numbers. He can write some words, and is working on sounding out words he sees. He's very inquisitive (as always), and loves school! He's eating more food than I think PJ and I eat put together, so I'm pretty sure we've hit a growth spurt!

So that's the latest! We continue to unpack, unpack, unpack. :) I apologize to anyone that's left me a message or sent me an email recently - I realize I've been AWFUL about returning calls/emails. I promise to do better once things settle (and I know that's no excuse)! Here's some fun pics from the last month:

Leyton's just pooped from all this moving!


Goodbye sweet house! Thanks for the memories! One last visit to our old house, the night before closing: (maybe I'm pathetic, but I cried)

Leyton loved spending the week at Gigi's between houses!

Mimi's world has been turned upside-down as well. She's handled it like a champ. :)


The boys received a tent for Valentine's Day - needless to say, it's been a hit at our house with both boys!