Sixteen months old!

Trey is sixteen months old today!  I can't believe how fast time has gone and how much he has grown.  Being around Julie's baby who is only two weeks old reminds me of how tiny Trey used to be.

The camera is pretty wobbly (or maybe it's Trey), but here is Trey walking while holding on to just one hand.  He's making progress!  And I'm starting to wonder if his slow motor development is just his first attempt to torture his mother (being a neurotic special ed teacher who is hypersensitive about developmental milestones and all).

I'm sorry to say that I don't have many interesting things to report from the past two weeks.  I thought maybe I'd share what a normal day looks like for us as working parents.  Thrilling, I know:
5:00am - Elliptical time and bonding with my Friends: Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey.  I might start talking about them like I know them which is reminiscent of my maternity leave.

Around 5:30am - Trey wakes and Randy gets him up having some quiet morning time together

5:30-7:20am - Morning routines of getting ready for work and playing with Trey in the living room which includes an assortment of books, blocks, trucks, and puzzles.  I get the headlines of the day from Matt and Ann, and then I take Trey to daycare.

7:30-4:30 - Work time.  I am so lucky that I enjoy going to work.  Combining that with Trey loving his daycare makes working full time a lot easier than I anticipated.  For those of you who don't know what I do, I work at an Evaluation Center doing comprehensive evaluations for special education.  I work with a variety of clinical and school psychologists, speech and language pathologists, and other evaluation specialists.  We go into the schools and kids also come to our office.  I really like the variety of schools and students who I work with, but I miss the relationships and community of one building.

4:30-6:30 - Play time, dinner time, bath time, story time, bed time.  It's so precious and it goes so fast.  Sometimes Trey is pretty tired and cranky, but his post-daycare meltdowns seem to have ceased and I think he has adjusted to his new schedule.  Now he's generally in a pretty good mood and we treasure our evenings together.

6:30-a really early bedtime - I have been enjoying meal planning and cooking dinner.  A few weeks ago I bought an issue of Everyday Food and have made four of the recipes so far.  I'm a fan! After dinner it's usually computer time, tv time, reading time, and my favorite...bed time.

The weeks go fast and the weekends are better than ever before because it means All Trey All Day.

Here are some pictures from the past two weeks:

 Playing at Woodlawn Park on the new play structure

The old structure was destroyed by arson.  Yep, we live in the 'hood.

 At the Oaks Park Hops Fest

It was a perfect fall day in Portland, and it was nice to be outside.

 If he can't walk on his feet, maybe he can walk on his hands.

 Intent on finding the perfect piece of dirt

Trey having fun with sticks

 Trey seeing his cousin, Grady, for the first time

Grandpa Gerts and Grady 

Dad and Sandy with their two grandsons

 Tim and Randy (Feifers family members by marriage) with their sons

This may be the only baby Randy has ever held besides Trey.  

Amazingly, Grady didn't cry.  

Randy has definitely improved his baby handling skills. 

I know it's gross, but Trey really likes playing with our bottles in the recycling bins.

Hey, at least we know he has a career as a bottle sorter when he gets older. 

On Wednesday I spent the afternoon with Julie and Grady.  

The sweet boy slept in my arms for almost two hours.  

Talk about baby heaven.   

While I was holding him I decided that it is much more relaxing
when the baby isn't your own.

Although, the difference could be that this time around I am rested...

Here's a confession.  Hopefully, you got bored by my daily schedule above so you didn't get this far.  I love bargain shopping.  Working parttime last year made me very price conscious when grocery shopping.  I even have a very dorky spreadsheet of items we buy and what the prices are in the different stores where I shop (Winco, Fred Meyer, Safeway, New Seasons, Target and Costco).  I love getting deals.  And I don't mean "bulk buying at Costco" deals, but more like sales and coupons.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm a borderline hoarder, but I think I prefer the "extreme couponing" title instead.  And, to my defense, I only hoard...I mean bargain shop...for things that we actually use.  Here is my recent acquisition.