Maris is 1!...and more

I knew I would be a terrible blogger.  I always think of things I should be blogging about and then never get around to it.  Or I start the post and save it to edit later only to never come back to it.  Well tonight is one of those nights that I can't sleep so I thought I would catch up.  I'll start with Maris's birthday. 

I can't believe my sweet baby turned 1 ten days ago.  What a year it has been.  It seems like only yesterday I was enjoying those many sleepless nights... Oh wait, that was only yesterday.  Maris I have had a wonderful year with you.  I have to say, you gave me a run for my money with your sleep issues though.  You have only started sleeping well in the last couple of weeks.  Your daddy and I decided to "sleep train" you after you turned a year.  Really your daddy has been pushing for it for months but I wanted to give you some more time.  I just couldn't handle you screaming (incredibly loudly) for me at night.  We let your brother cry it out when he was still small but he was always a good sleeper.  You have given me a fit about sleeping since you were 3 weeks old.  It has been several months since we tried to get you to sleep against your will so I told your Daddy I would go for it last night.  You were still getting up twice a night as of your first birthday (a great improvement from your 4-5 times a night when we first moved to Georgia).  We (well I since your dad was ready to let your cry the whole night if needed) decided to let your cry for 10 minutes after you woke and if you didn't settle back down I'd get up and nurse you.  Well I'll be damned if you didn't fuss for 5 minutes one time and slept straight til 8:30 the next morning.  You were apparently finally ready to sleep.  I sure hope you continue this in the future.  Despite my joy over your sleeping, I am already feeling nostalgic for those middle of the night cuddle moments after you fell asleep nursing. You are growing so fast and I still want to hold on to your infancy.
 Another big year accomplishment was you started walking the day before your birthday.  You have been standing on your own since you were 9 months and taking a few steps since 10 months but you seemed to lack any interest in doing it consistently.  I have been saying since you started standing that you will walk by your first birthday but I was starting to have my doubts the week before hand.  The day before your birthday you decided you wanted to be a big girl and gave up crawling.  You have been walking every since.  Again, I miss your crawl.  I miss you running your head into my legs to get me to pick you up.  Its hard to believe that in just a little bit of time I will hardly remember your crawl.  I will just remember that at one point that was the way you got around, but it will soon be second nature for you to be walking.  Along with walking you have gained a lot of confidence and independence.  Prior to those steps you needed me by your side all day.  You were scared of strangers and all new situations.  Let me just tell you that I have to chase you down now because you are causing all kind of mischief.  You have destroyed several rolls of toilet paper, have learned how to climb in the tub (muddy feet and all), love to play in the toilet (are you catching your love of all things bathroom going on here), have tried to jump in the pool by yourself, and much much more. You luckily have a great big brother who keeps an eye out for your when I am not.  I always get Maris reports of what you are up to at the moment.
 Your final birthday milestone is you are cutting 4 teeth!!! Four at one time Maris. One day when you have kids of your own you will know what torture that is.  You have been snotty, cranky, and especially snuggly and cuddly for your mama.  Really the worst was over after the first 3 days.  Now you just have the snot thing going on since 2 of those teeth have yet to cut through the gums. 
So Maris, those are your most recent achievements.  I want to remember every single one of them every moment of my life.  I want to remember every sleepless night, every step, and every time I have to wipe your nose. Every moment with you has been precious and I am blessed to be your mother.  I love you with all of my heart and look forward to the many more years to come.

And this post is long enough for one night so I will have to save the rest for later.  Also pictures to come when I actually get around to uploading everything.  I will post a few of my older ones for now.

 First time at the Beach! Loved playing in the sand.

 Loves climbing in and out of her chair.

Easter with Auntie Bridgette

More gardens and parties!

We keep busy around this house. The past Saturday we assembled the required soil mixture for my SFG and planted a few spring crops. We will plant the summer crops probably the first of April. We foolishly decided to assemble the gardens at dusk thinking it would only take a few minutes. Unfortunately it was pitch black by the time the dirt was mixed and ready to go into the gardens. And of course our porch light is broken so the only pictures I took are of the kids outside at dusk. But here is our garden...

The gardens assembled and in place

Jack helping with the dirt

Maris helping shovel
Jack and Daddy shoveling the dirt into the boxes

This week we also had a pie party on 3/14 to celebrate (you guessed it) Pi day. My two high school friends have also moved to Athens and came over to celebrate with us. I spent most of the day making Italian Easter Pies. I had three that I planned to make but one of them got nixed due to lack of time and Jack came down with the throw up bug and that took up some of my attention. I made Pizza Chena and Italian rice pie found on foodblogga. And it was delicious. Teri made a plum tart which was also delicious.

Italian Easter Pies... Rice pie on the left and pizza chena on the right.
The plum tart prior to cooking. So pretty
Friends!!
Inside of pizza chena

And Maris after the pizza chena. We missed getting photos of Jack since he was sick. Almost took a pic of the strawberries vomitted on our white carpet but I restrained myself.

Maris turned 10 months old this week (3/11). As I am sure everyone is well aware...she is getting so big. I can't get enough of her cute chubby thighs and cheeks and her big brown eyes. She is an incredible joy and I love every single bit of her. Despite this out pouring gushy love I have for her...she definitely has her moments that I want to shake some sense into her. She is a HUGE (the capital letters are an understatement) Momma's girl. This girl freaks when I am not around. If I walk out of the room she screams and follows. If someone else touches her heaven help them, the blood curdling scream that results is ridiculous. She loves to coo and flirt with people from afar, but don't get too close. It can be exhausting to have to always hold her. I use an Ergo baby carrier all the time and my back is getting sore from the constant baby wearing. And then there is always Maris's lovely sleep habits. We have good weeks and bad. Sometimes I barely get 1 3o minute nap and she wakes up 5-6 times a night and other times she totally crashes and sleeps all day and will only wake up 2-3 times a night. I can't seem to keep her consistent to matter how hard I try. I will admit that this week she has been getting up closer to the 2-3 times a night and I've felt so much better. Ah Maris, my love and my terror. I never think a single day isn't worth it but you definitely try my patience at times. But one day I will miss you and your mommy-centrism. I will miss the cuddles and the hugs. But until that day, I will complain about it on my blog. I hope you will understand.


And throughout the week Jack and I have been trying to get out of the house and see Athens as much as possible. I have been very fortunate that Bridget has been willing to tag along on a lot of our adventures. Its much easier to go out with two kids with two adults. So far we have gone to the park and zoo and the state botanical gardens for a "hike" with our friend Bridget. Jack is definitely not a hiker. He is pretty much as lazy as they come when something doesn't entertain him. He was so excited to go on the hike because he wanted to go on a picnic but he really just wanted to go on the picnic, not the hike. So a lot of whining ensued and we cut our hike short at 0.6 miles. I thought I could tempt him with a snack and keep on going but it didn't work and we ended up just walking around the gardens until we were ready for the actual picnic lunch. But here are some cute pictures

Our attempted hike
Jack and B-ridge
And my doll face after the hike finally out of her backpack

What a life!

Little boys...

Nothing new to report but Jack has recently started dressing himself. Sometimes he lucks out and puts on jeans which go with everything but other times he looks like this...
I think this will be one that I get to show his future girlfriends.


And Jack put on Maris's headband and asked me to take a picture. Absolutely Jack. Done and published just as you requested :)

mmm, beer

I got Chris a brewing set up for his birthday in November. Sadly to say, he was unable to use it for a while due to finishing his PhD, moving to GA, and then our constant traveling as previously mentioned. So this past weekend we ended up with time to ourselves and after Chris built my garden boxes he brewed his beer. We started out with an Oktoberfest. This is Chris's favorite beer. So far its brewing away in our garage so we'll see how it tastes in about a month.

Beer Brewing in the pot

Jack trying to help
Bottling the beer in our carboy for the next week or two.

Jack made a new friend while we were busy brewing beer. A little boy across the street came over and played with Jack while we were outside getting some air. He then asked if Jack could come over to his house and play. I was a little bit dumbstruck when he asked me. I didn't know what to say. I've never sent my child to play with someone I don't know. He ended up playing in the boy's front yard where I could see him. I walked over and met his parents a bit later. Jack had a great time with Colter and keeps asking to go back and play. The only downfall is Colter is 5 so he is in school while Jack is at home. Jack keeps wanting to go back over but he is never home when Jack is. I guess its official, he's growing up on me. He'd rather play with friends than with his mom. It's bittersweet but its nice to see him making some neighborhood friends. Colter told Jack he can come inside his house next time. Guess I better get used to not having a constant eye on my little boy. Colter is just priming me for preschool in the fall. I feel like I am getting free babysitting if I send Jack over to play. Is this really how this works??
Oh and when Colter was in our garage and the door was opened he asked me what that smell was (beer brewing). I told him we were cooking. Jack of course instantly answers "yeah, we're cooking beer." I probably don't have to worry too much about what Georgia residents think of me but that would have been an instant missionary sending if I still lived in Utah. Only downfall is in Georgia I have to share...

Jack's First Construction Project

So for years I have wanted to have a garden. The idea sounds amazing. Grow your own food, live off the land, watch something go from a tiny seed to something so amazing tasting that it puts the grocery store to shame. What's not to love? So I have been researching and researching the best gardening method for me. But first, let me tell you a story about my previous gardening experience.
I attempted last year to grow herbs in a pot on my porch. I know that growing herbs isn't rocket science but my project failed miserably. I have never read anything about gardening. I just assumed you plant the seeds in whatever you feel like, give them some water and they grow. And granted with some things it is that easy. I unfortunately didn't realize that when you plant an ENTIRE pack of basil seeds and an ENTIRE pack of parsley seed in one pot, that you would have 100s of plants growing and that those plants would need to be thinned. I mean, why would a seed package have you plant an entire pack just to thin the seeds. It seemed so illogical to me (and my trusty resource, aka my husband who also does not garden). Thus we decided to just let them all grow. Well they sprouted, but that was about as far as they got. I didn't thin them and then I went on vacation for about 7 weeks so they only got the occasional Utah rain for water. Needless to say I never had any fresh parsley or basil.
So, I am more prepared this time. I have decided to use the square foot gardening method (SFG). I have read and researched how to garden and while a lot of the terms and phrases are still Greek to me, I understand some basic gardening principles (like don't plant an entire packet of seeds!). I chose the SFG method b/c its a) easy to understand, b) takes up little space I (and our backyard is tiny), and c) it doesn't use any of our existing soil (which is clay here). So to start my SFG I have to build 4 foot square boxes. We went to lowe's today and bought the 2x6's and Jack built me a box.

Jack carrying his 2x6.

Picking out our tools!

And working the Drill
And waiting to put in the screws
And making the box
And the most exciting part... drilling!

And who can forget our favorite bystander.. Maris was a champ hanging out in the stroller while we put the boxes together.

Next up, actually gardening. Hopefully I will get some soil and plants next week!

Happy Birthday Dad

We've had a busy week here. I feel like we've been going non stop since we moved back to Georgia. We have yet to spend a weekend alone in our house. I have been to my parents several times, we had some friends over a couple weekends ago and we've been to the in-laws once as well. This weekend will be the same. Our in-laws are planning to move out of Fayetteville and want some help from Chris to fix up the house. So this weekend we are Atlanta bound. In return we always get free baby sitting and a night out alone so it's a pretty even trade :). Of course we don't mind seeing our family (its one of the big perks of moving back after all) and I know things will slow down when it isn't so novel to be able to pick up and go at the drop of a hat but right now we have been busy.
The past weekend was spent at my parents. My dad's 59th birthday was Friday and we went to see them Saturday and Sunday. We got my dad the traditional bottle of alcohol for his birthday (this year it was scotch). My sister gave my father an app of daily devotionals for his phone. I told her that I will contribute to his vices while she can aid his virtues. It's the kind of child I am. We planned a birthday meal at Rae's Coastal Cafe in Augusta. Side note: the she crab soup there is to die for. Everything was wonderful. I will definitely have to make a stop back there. Its surreal sometimes hanging out at the house like I used to. It really feels like I never left. I feel like the last 5.5 years spent in Utah have just melted away and never happened. Its hard to describe what its like to just walk into my parents house like I still live there even though it has been many years since I have. Jack definitely enjoyed my dad's birthday cake. It was strawberry and thus it was pink, Jack's favorite color. He helped "Poppy" blow out the candles. Jack loves seeing his grandparents and asks every weekend to go. He counts down the days to see everyone by "sleeps." i.e. it is now only 1 more sleep until we go see Grandma Cunningham.
The rest of the week has still seemed busy. The stay at home mom thing is way better than I ever thought it would be. I always said I wanted to stay home and maybe work 1 day a week but I always assumed it would get old quick. I thought I would be begging for a job by now. I am actually just the opposite. I love playing with the kids, planning my garden, taking trips whenever I feel like to see my family. I love that whenever Chris is off I am off too. There is no balancing our schedules. I actually applied for a job two days ago. I'm not experienced in the field that I applied for but we'll see. I obviously am in no rush to start work. Unfortunately, I have to pay the bills sooner or later.
I am going to start a new hobby. I have been reading up on gardening and am planning to build our first garden next weekend (supposedly we aren't going anywhere). I am going to start with a square foot garden (SFG) because it sounds easy and doesn't take up too much space. Our back yard is tiny. Like two of Maris' body lengths tiny. Maybe if I have success with it SFG I will venture out into raised bed/wide row gardening when I actually have some land and space. Also this week Jack officially made a new friend. He misses his friends in Utah a lot and has been asking to go play at a friend's house. I went to high school with a girl who lives on my street in Athens and she has a 3.5 year old daughter. We went to her house this week and had a play date. It took Jack a while to warm up because he is shy but eventually he was chatting up a storm with Bethy. Hopefully there will be many more play dates to come.
Such is Cunningham Life...
Maris and Poppy playing at Rae's.
Jack waiting for everyone to come eat the pink cake... his favorite!
Jack helping Poppy blow out the candles
And Nana and Maris

9 months and the other is lying...

10 days ago I started this blog and haven't touched it since. I knew I wouldn't do a good job at this. I've even had lots of ideas on posts but never actually sat down to write them. Now they all seem pointless.
Maris turned 9 months old on the 11th of Feburary. With Jack, I documented these milestones every 3 months with professional photos. Poor Maris, all she gets are a couple pictures I shot of her out in our front yard in a cute dress. This is in part because we are poor since I do not have a job yet and in part because I don't know anyone here who takes pictures. It was freezing out when I took the pictures so I spent all of 3 minutes attempting to get a smile and she would have none of it.

This is one of the better pics of my sad attempt. I really need to get into photography classes
She is growing like a weed, though we don't have any stats on her size since we don't have a pediatrician yet in Athens. Maybe by the time she is 10 months I will have found someone.

Jack is up to the same old thing. He is overall sweet and loving to his sister (except of course when she steals his toys) and eager to please. But he has managed to perfect a new developmental milestone; the art of lying and thievery. Yesterday he locked me out of the house and then denied it repeatedly (despite him being the only one in the house). Today he kept running back and forth between the living room and my bedroom. Our laundry closet is in the hallway between these two and I was sitting folding laundry. Each time Jack passed between the two rooms he would give me a hug and tell me he loved me. After 5 or 6 times I started getting suspicious. I asked him what he was doing and he told me nothing. Unfortunately for him he told me "nothing" with his mouth full of candy. I had left a bag of candy on my dresser in my room and he was running back and forth pilfering candy and then playing with his toys. Needless to say, said candy has been put away indefinitely. Its hard not to be impressed with how quickly kids learn to be deceitful. Despite me not wanting him to lie, I still can't believe my once completely honest little boy has now learned to not just lie, but he is crafty about it as well. Despite these occasional sneak attacks, he is one of the best little boys I could ask for. And without further ado, some pics of the kiddos:
We found a park for Jack to play at in Athens.
Classic photo of Maris and Jack. Maris won't hold still while Jack poses for the Camera

Playing outside. The weather has been exceedingly wonderful in GA. We've had many days with the high in the 60's. We are taking full advantage of all the outside time.


And Maris.. hamming it up for the camera

And so it begins

I've always said I would never make a blog. I've had so many people suggest it and I never saw the point. I've given all the excuses: I have nothing to write about, nobody will read it, it will take to much time, it will be just another mommy blog etc. Well here I am eating my words... Bear with my attempt at this since I am not sure how to get around the blogging world quite yet.

I've decided to start a blog for a number of reasons. The first is my kids. So yes, to those who like to make fun of mommy blogs, this will be just that (i.e. Tracy). Time marches on and they are constantly getting older. I could journal the old fashioned way or just rely on my memory for everything that is going on in their lives but I have succumbed to the new age way and will try to immortalize my children through a blog. The bigger they get, the more I want to remember them when they were young. I am forgetting little things like when Jack got his first tooth (now that Maris just got hers). Little milestones that don't really matter if I remember them or not but I want to. I already feel like my kids have gotten too old even though I know they are still so young. I just don't want to let these little moments slip away. I want to remember them just like this forever. So a blog is a start.
I suppose a bigger reason for me to finally want to start a blog is I just moved from Salt Lake City, Ut. I spent almost 6 years of my life there making friends that I will not get to see much anymore. When I moved to SLC from GA I never really left those behind in Georgia. My family was still in Georgia. I always went back to visit a few times a year. I saw those I was close to and I never felt like I was missing them the way I am going to miss those in Utah. This blog is one way I can still keep in touch and update those on my life. And I'm sure I will want to continue to do that as i'm sure our life path is going to lead us to more moves away from friends until my husband gets the job of his dreams and settles down.
A third reason for this blog is the loneliness of moving has settled in. I am very excited to be back in my home state and near my family but Athens is a new town for me. I get to see my fam at least once a week but I don't know anyone here in Athens. I don't have a job yet which is always a sure fire way to meet new people and set up a new social network. I've been in Georgia for 3 weeks and the newness has worn off and now I'm alone, with the kids, every day. I miss normal mundane conversation that you can have for hours with friends. A blog is a way to just talk about those normal things (to no one in particular) since I have no one to say them to out loud.
So there you have it. My attempt to justify why I am doing something I always said I wouldn't do. And so it begins...Cunningham Life!