Evolution of a Chair

Dear Chair,

You are so much more than a simple little bean bag chair that I rescued from the Goodwill. I cleaned you up and gave you a home and in return, you cradled our little guy's bum from month to month and helped a Mommy get all nostalgic over the growth of her baby boy.

You will always have a very special place in my heart.

Love,

Cruz's Mommy

PS. Do you think you could find it in you heart to make a cameo appearance every once in awhile? Perhaps we could convince Cruz to pose for his high school graduation pictures with you? How about wedding photos? How far do you book out? I may have a little problem letting go...........

Cake Redux (for Daddy)

We couldn't let Daddy go without seeing Cruz eat his cake. Trust me, there were plenty of cake eating pictures taken. Can a baby eating cake be any cuter? Two of my favorite things; cake and babies. It doesn't get better than that. Have you noticed I keep referring to Cruz as a baby? I'm still holding strong..........................

Don't worry, I didn't' make Cruz eat week old cake. I also didn't want to freeze the one we bought. It just didn't seem right to give Cruz stale, frozen cake. A cup cake was perfect and much appreciated as you can see.

Videos too:

Cake from A Mendonca on Vimeo.

Untitled from A Mendonca on Vimeo.

Birthday Party Redux

In case you were wondering (since I kind of left you hanging) about whether or not Cruz ever recovered from his cold. He did. His cold lasted a couple of days and he is now back to his happy go lucky self. I will say that he has had a lot of colds this summer! Oy, our boys are definitely building their immune systems thanks to Coop going to preschool and bringing home everything that comes with going to preschool.

We couldn't let Cruz's birthday (the actual day) come and go without some celebrating. Especially since our first attempt wasn't much fun for him. We decided to have a pool party in the backyard and eat cake. We couldn't forget the cake!

Birthday Party! (or an attempt at one)

As sad as it is to see your baby grow up, it sure is fun celebrating your baby growing up. Birthdays are just FUN! Plain and simple. It's interesting that once you have kids, it's more exciting celebrating their birthdays than your own. I honestly get the same giddy feeling as the day approaches as I did when I was a kid for my own birthday.

When I found out last week that Mark was going to come see us, I decided we'd celebrate Cruz's birthday with him. Daddys should be there to celebrate their boy's special day. Who cares if it was 6 days early? It's not like Cruz is ever going to know the difference. To him, every day is a party. Except on the actual day we decided to celebrate (foreshadowing a bit).

Once I finished booking Mark's ticket for his arrival that evening, I immediately clicked into planning mode. A party! We can celebrate as a family (I was worried that wouldn't happen). Oooooh there's so much to do. And a cake, don't forget a cake. No time to bake! Must buy one! Yay for Daddy being able to see Cruz eat cake for the first time and watch him make a mess! Because that’s really what it’s all about. Ooooh, and party decorations! We have to decorate! PRESENTS! We get to see baby getting more excited about wrapping paper than his actual gifts. This is going to be fun, fun, FUN! (I'm trying to emphasize my excitement and build up to the birthday PARTY!)

That's where the story takes a sad turn. As you look at the pictures below, you might wonder what we did to poor kid. Did we give him coal and push pins for his gifts? Did we spike the punch? There was none of that. The poor kid was plain old sick and coming down with a cold (darn preschool and the germs Coop brings home). As the day dragged on, he got worse and worse. My vision for how I imagined my baby's first birthday didn't pan out. It was picture perfect. His Daddy was with us and we had all the party fixin’s but the guest of honor wasn't feeling up to snuff. Poor kiddo. We tried to go through the motions but Cruz just wasn’t feelin’ it.

Cruz, I promise that birthdays really are fun. I guess we’ll have to make up for it next year. I better start planning now :).

Look at that face. You can tell how stuffed up and congested he was getting.

Does it look like he's enjoying himself?

Come on buddy...babies are supposed to be all over the bows and paper.


Last minute cake complete with bugs, worms and spiders.
(Cruz did not eat the cake)

But Coop did.



Poor little bugger.

No more celebrating. Cruz is done.

The moral of the story is that WE enjoyed celebrating baby Cruz (even if he didn't). That’s what birthdays are really all about and he gives us oh so much to celebrate! Happy Birthday little buddy.

Cruz is 1!

Warning: We interrupt our normally scheduled blogger programming to bring you a whole bunch of Birthday Broadcasts!!!!!!!! Our littlest C is a ONE YEAR OLD. According to the textbooks, he's no longer a baby but a full blown toddler now. Just like that. Once you turn 1, you're booted out of the baby club. I'm sure Cruz is totally fine with it but his Mama is a little sad about the whole notion.

I am in complete denial that our baby is turning into such a big boy. Because of this, I am going to hold out until he's actually "toddling" to refer to him as a toddler. Truth be told, he's always going to be my baby boy (sorry Cruz).

Here's a little list of what our ONE YEAR OLD is loving these days:

1. FOOD. (pretty much any variety). He actually giggles and wiggles at the sight of food. Whether it on his own plate or someone else's, he considers it HIS (and must have it).



2. BOOKS. Another thing that makes him giggle and wiggle with excitement. He loves storytime and will settle right down at the sight of a book if he's in a testy mood.



3. BOOBS. He loves nursing still and as much as I've been trying to get him interested in sippy cups, he wants nothing to do with them. Introducing cow's milk may be difficult for awhile. I've already started trying with sippy cups filled with milk but he just looks at me like I have 3 heads every time I try and give him one.



4. HIS BROTHER. He loves Cooper and everything about him.

These are the top 4 for sure. If I could list a fifth it would have to be anything he isn't supposed to have; dog food (again with the food), the toilet, electrical cords, clocks, glass and pretty much anything that could put him in harms way. The boy is busy, busy and loves to keep us on our toes.

Birthday Boy!

"Ooooohhh, baby, baby it's my birthday"

Watch out world! Cruz is comin' atcha!

More posts to follow (when I can) to show off all the birthday fun!

Life is Good

An excerpt from the T-Shirt Diaries.................................

Life IS Good, Cruz.

Trust your Mommy on this one.

Come on Little Buddy, just BELIEVE the message on your snappy little onesie.

There you go.....that's more like it.




Now crawl on over here and we'll hug it out.

D.A.D.D.Y take 3

I'm happy to report that we were able to hang out with Daddy last weekend. After 7 long weeks of not seeing him, we were do. Once again, it was a very last minute trip. Mark called Friday morning from South Dakota on his way back to Colorado with word that he was going to have the next 2 days off. We booked him a flight for that evening. Even though it was a short visit (less than 48hrs) we appreciated every little bit. We enjoyed hanging out as a family and doing normal "family things".

It's the little things you take for granted when you aren't together all the time; eating meals together, playing, showing off ALL your toys, giggling, bath time, story time, and tucking-in-time. These are the moments that make us miss daddy the most. The little things are just as treasured when you get to enjoy them together. Here are some pics of us enjoying our little things..............