18 months

My little Champs, who seemed like such a baby still on his 1st bday six months ago, seems like a total toddler now at 18 months!  A whole YEAR AND A HALF - it's crazy to believe it's been that long since we brought him into this world and then at the same time I can't remember what life was like before him!

At 18 months Champs is full of personality and has such a love for life and exploring new things.  He is a sweet, happy, very funny boy who also has several toddler tantrums daily about the most ridiculous things imaginable such as me not letting him hold a Sharpie or go out the front door without me.  Life can be so hard at this age :)

I think I said this last month too, but he really knows his people now.  He names all of his classmates and knows all his family's names including grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.  He really talks so much.  It's all still single words for the most part, but he is constantly talking and loves learning new words.  He listens to everything we say and will repeat it all the time.

Some of his favorite things these days:
 - Sammy his huge monkey that now stays in his crib b/c he loves sleeping on him!

- TRUCKS!  Mostly he loves talking about dump trucks and dig-digs (Digger trucks)
- MILK - I swear he could drink a gallon a day if I'd let him.
- Sliding & swinging (after a long hiatus of not liking to swing anymore!)
- Sitting in chairs - both his little chairs and big people chairs
- Climbing - He climbs on everything now!!  Turn your head for one second and he'll be up on a chair or the bed or all the way up the stairs!
- Mommy!  I mean can ya blame him!? ;)  He is actually very obsessed with Daddy too, but likes Mommy near at all times and sometimes just has to have Mommy holding him!  I will be so sad when this ends!

Decoding the Champs language:
- Ba-BLE: Loves his bubble baths and wants the water running the whole time.  We have to let it get all the way to the top and then finally cut it off when there's no room left.  If we try to turn the water off early he does the sign language for "please" and "more" and says "wa-er" (Water)
- Pooma = spoon No matter how many times I say spoon, he calls is pooma
- Dig-dig = digger truck
- Man = any little figure that goes along with the trucks that he has.  I think we originally called them the "little man" so he now calls all of them man except for this one girl that came with a boat for the bath who's in a string bikini (weird!) and he calls her "girl"
- Tees = Keys  And he is obsessed with keys
- Pone = phone Equally obsessed
- Da-eee = Daddy
- Buberry = blueberry
- Monk = if you read this blog you know this is his beloved monkey lovey
- Pa-eee = Paci
- Snap = he says this all the time b/c of a book they read at school about alligators going "snap" with the motion of a chomp of their mouth haha
- A-mal = Animal and he wants to watch a Baby Einstein video of either "wheels on the bus" or "old macdonald had a farm"

Gosh there are so many more funny things he says that only we would probably know what he's talking about.  I'll come back and add a few more as I think of them b/c I know these are the things I'll love coming back and reading when he's older and talking in full sentences!

We had his 18mo well check today and he weighed 26.5 pounds (70%) and is 34 inches (90%).

I am holding on tight to these next 6 months because I know starting at 2 he will be so much more of a big boy and I am just not ready to lose the baby stage yet!!  This morning for example, he was sitting beside me on the sofa, wearing his Firehouse Subs fireman hat, holding my hand while we read a book. It was one of those "relish it" moments that I know will be gone all too soon.

I love my baby boy with all my heart!

No, David!

One of the books my parents gave Champs for Christmas is "No, David!"  Some of you may have heard of this book, as it's been around since the 90's.  It's based on the "book" author David Shannon wrote when he was 5 years old with many pictures of himself doing things he wasn't supposed to do and his mom always saying "No, David!"  It's a really cute book and ends with his mommy calling him to her, giving him a big hug and saying "yes, david I love you!" (after many times of saying NO) 

It's a really cute book and Champs LOVES reading it!!  Here's a video I took of Barrett and Champs reading it together at the beach last weekend.

A COLD Valentines beach weekend

Barrett, Champs and I were able to spend the weekend in Pawleys and celebrate Valentines Day all together.  It was so fun to be with my valentines for the whole weekend and have some great time for relaxing, warm fires, snuggling, good food, and just chilling out!!

We headed to the beach late Fri afternoon and it was a big day for Champs b/c he was FACING FORWARD for the first time.  What a treat after facing the seat for a year and half!  This was in the driveway before he realized all the trucks and dig-digs he was about to spot!

Champs hadn't been at the beach house since last September, and sadly, I don't think he remembered it.  So we'll start again with new memories this year :)  He had a ball exploring everything at the house, checking out the beach, sand and "water" and even saw a boat or two.

Friday night when we tried to put him down shortly after getting there, he wasn't having it.  I think he was a little scared, not remembering the beach house, so Champs stayed up very late for him and then fell asleep on the sofa.  It was sweet having him sleep there while we enjoyed take-out from Bistro 217 by the fire!

Saturday morning fun!

He loved this bench!

Early Saturday morning - COLD - so we wore hats inside!

Opening his Valentine.

Loved his frog card.

Cookie time.

The key is so awesome.  Keys are probably his favorite thing ever!

More fun on the bench.

Though it was such a cold weekend, we did get out to the beach for a little digging and chasing birds on Saturday afternoon!

We had a very "romantic" Valentines date on Saturday night at 5:00pm at Caffe Piccolo that I wouldn't trade for anything!  Champs got all dressed up in his red suspenders and knee socks and was ready to hit the town.  Though the restaurant was a little small, very dimly lit and tables were quite close together to be dining with a one and a half year old, Champs did pretty well.  We did have to bring out the iPhone videos which is funny, b/c I used to swear I'd never be one of THOSE couples. 

Before and after our Valentines date! I wish I would have gotten someone to take a picture of the 3 of us, but I didn't.  Oh well, it was fun - mixed with a little anxiety of "please don't have a meltdown all of a sudden"!

Champs had so much fun this weekend, despite the frigid temperatures, and we sure did too!!  He turned ONE AND A HALF yesterday, so look for 18 months update post soon!

Valentines Party at school

Champs was so excited for his Valentines Day party at school this week.  He was back to feeling well and we had treats for his friends and some cookies for his teachers. His teachers must have been teaching them all about "hearts" because he was talking about them!   I took these pictures the morning before his party. 

Happy Day

I hope your Valentines Day was as HAPPY as this boy's!  And if you haven't had an Oreo lately, you should - they are delicious! 

Champs' 1st 5K!

This past Saturday, we participated in the MGC Long Run.  MGC, the law firm Barrett works for, started this event last year and it grew to be even bigger and better this year!  It has 3 elements: a Kids Fun Run, a 5K and a 15K.  The entire event is a fundraiser for USO South Carolina.  It was a great event and so much fun.  We did the 5K portion of the event.  We ran about half and walked the rest, which sure isn't great, but to NEVER workout anymore :( it was fine.  The portion we did run we were running behind the military guys and listened to their chants the whole time.  It was pretty cool and funny to hear them.    

Meeting the Chickfila cow before the race.

Getting ready to start - brrrr!!

Family pic before the race.

After the race, we had an early lunch at Dipratos, where Champs dumped the sweeteners on the floor over and over and over.  Good times! :)

Sunday afternoon we had Baby Will's (my friend Kelly's little boy) party.  He was so cute. It's hard to believe he's already one.  Time is flying!!

Champs and Will!

First time in a bounce house!

Sweet bday boy and his smash cake.

How many of y'all are gonna squeeze in here with me?

Okay, all 4 of you!!

Snacks at the party!

A few randoms that make me laugh.

There are no words for how much Champs loves Sammy!  I had to finally bite the bullet and give in to letting him stay in the crib.  He sleeps on him every night and nap!

If you mess with my Mommy, we're coming for ya!

Early morning tee-pee time.  Yes, still in Christmas pj's.

After a super weekend, Champs started the week with some sort of stomach bug.  I did get to stay home with him for 2 days while he was sick, but he spent of a lot of the time sleeping.  He seemed to feel much better yesterday afternoon, so we walked to the park near our house and played for a bit.  He went back to school today and had a good day, so hopefully we can see that bug only in the rear-view mirror!

We are headed to the beach this weekend.  Though it's going to be super cold (UGH!), I am excited for some good quality time with just the 3 of us and to celebrate Valentines Day with my loves!

Hope you all have a Happy Valentines Day too.  Thought I would close with a few pictures of Champs from LAST Valentines Day.  Goodness, what difference a year makes!