Baking with Patch

Cutest chef in all of Napa...or at least the second cutest!

Post bath baby cuteness

A repeat post, but really, can you have too many pictures of this adorable baby, with his crazy hair and toothy grin?

I thought not.

One!

Impossibly, my little baby turns one today. This has been the fastest year of my life! And how well I remember this day, exactly one year ago. Right about now, if you had come to our house you would have been greeted by a scene such as this:

Jeff supporting me, while our midwife Bee checked on the baby's heart rate.

Kate, our other midwife, cooling down the water temp in our home birth tub.

Although I did labor in the tub, Atti ended up being born on a mattress we had pulled into the kitchen, right up against the dishwasher. Perhaps that is why the dishwasher is his favorite place to play these days! Here he is, just 15 minutes old or so, with Jeff cutting his umbilical cord.

And a few hours later, warm and fed and utterly exhausted by the day's events!

And here he is now, just the sweetest, happiest, busiest little man around!

This year has truly been a whirlwind, with lots of wakeful nights and long, tired days feeling stretched thin between my three (really four!) boys. But, I wouldn't trade it away for anything. I have loved seeing Sam grow into the role of eldest brother. What a good, helpful, steady presence he is for all of us. He loves his two little guys and is so patient and loving with them. Patch too has become an older brother this year, and has really gone from baby to boy, as he rapidly approaches his fourth birthday. He is full of hilarious remarks and unexpectedly sweet gestures. And Atti, well, he lights up all of our days with his bright blue eyes and ready giggle. He is not walking yet, but definitely thinking about it. He loves playing outside, getting as dirty as possible, and eating as many rocks, sticks, and leaves as he can sneak by me. He can be quite a voracious eater, and also extremely fickle and picky about food. He loves peas and pasta and avocados, but don't try to sneak him any scrambled eggs, not even under that tasty morsel of waffle! He has a whole gamut of adorable and funny faces- he is the most expressive baby! No words yet, but I think those are coming soon too. And he is still shrieking. Not as often as he used to, but man, that kid is loud!! And I love him, simply to pieces.

December

Well, I had big blogging plans for this month- as in making up for lost time and really trying to get back into regular posting to keep you avid readers abreast of all our holiday hoopla. What I didn't really factor in was how time consuming said holiday hoopla is. And while I love the holidays- the crafting, the gift planning, the decorating etc., I am just not that too good at documenting it. For example, this year we went to an absolutely adorable, family run Christmas tree farm and chopped down our own tree. There were so many picture worthy moments, it was kind of ridiculous. Good thing I handily left the camera at home, where it was nice and safe. We did take a few pictures on Jeff's camera phone, which is no iphone, if you know what I'm saying.

See?

Not so great. But there we are, anyway, with axe in hand (not that you can see it), ready to chop our tree down.

The tree is now cozily ensconced in our living room, fully decorated with our ornaments and popcorn/cranberry garlands, another festive occasion I neglected to capture on film.

Oh well, there is always next year, I guess.

But anyway, this month has been full of fun activities and we are having a lovely time of it so far. This past weekend we went to a family holiday party at the Mondavi winery, where the kids decorated cookies, watched a very entertaining puppet show, and sat (begrudgingly) with Santa. And I remembered the camera!!

Cookies and coloring.


The five of us- not the greatest picture, maybe, but it is rare that we all get in one photo together, so there it is!

Grannie came too!


There was also face painting. Is that just the cutest ever or what?



In case you weren't sure...



The big boys, waiting in line for candy canes... Oh, I mean waiting to meet Santa.

SO psyched for Santa!!!


Awkward photo with strange man dressed in red.

One more cute shot of Grannie and Atti just for good measure.

The view behind Jeff's winery. Pretty nice, huh?

Quote of the Day

This morning, while snuggling in bed, Patch asks me if I like "pretty things?" "Yes. I do- like you. You're pretty," I tell him. "I know, " he replies. "I'm pretty like flowers."

Indeed.

Tree Climbing

Yesterday Sam comes running into the house calling for me, saying "Mom! I have some good news. Patch can climb trees now!". Now, you mothers out there will probably be with me in doubting the intrinsic goodness to this statement, but there was no denying the excitement in my son's voice. So outside I go to find one very proud Patch, perched about three feet off the ground on a couple of low branches. They were both so pleased. And so was I.

He may not sleep that well,

but, dang, is he cute!