One small step . . .

That was really a big leap!

No, Grandmas, don't get too excited. The little Man isn't walking yet. I am the one that made the big step. On Friday, I became my own boss (part time, anyway!) and started my own home-based business, selling Discovery Toys. I start my training tomorrow, and dive in head first this weekend at a Teachers Convention in Fort Lauderdale. After that, I am pretty much on my own, although my recruiter/"manager" is just a phone call away. In two days, I managed to do a website, cards, stickies for my catalogs, and a whole lot more. My toy kit (the only investment) should be coming next week, and I can't WAIT for that because there are so many toys I know Garrett will like (and um, yeah, I think I might play with some too!). So check out the website--I was quiet proud of the tables I made for the header at the top--no small feat considering I haven't done HTML in forever! http://www.garrettstoys.com And I bet you can't guess who I named the website after :-D

Never fear, I am still a UM employee. I actually am enjoying my "real" job and really don't know what I would do without it! But who knows what the future will hold . . . I am going to be holding my "Grand Opening" March 9th and 10th, so mark your calenders local folks! :-D (If for no other reason than I probably haven't seen all of you for a while and this would be the perfect time!).

Its cold here, time to go curl up under the covers!

The all-time favorite Froggie Towl

Garrett's favorite post bath thing!

Bath time

Bath-time had been a thing of the past for a while. Garrett was insisting on pulling up in the tub, and I just wasn't confident enough in his ability to stand to let him. But now that he is getting pretty stable, I don't worry so much (I am still right there, in case he does slip, so he doesn't bonk his head!).
As you can see, he doesn't stay sitting for long! The puppies consider bath-time "family time" and linger in the bathroom. Garrett, of course, talks to them and tries to pet them. I think they are the main motivation for him getting out of the tub. Then, when they go off to do something else, he kisses the faucet. It's just sooo shiny!

Yummy!

Chicken parmasean and spaghetti. Yummy! And what a mess! Garrett (and the pups) loved it!

Hold still?? Why??

The days of me getting down to Garrett's level for pictures are long gone. As soon as I get down on the floor, he immediately plops down on his butt (if he is standing) and crawls toward me. Stinker!

It's not easy being grey

We should all have such a rough day.

V-Day Pics

Sadly, this is probably as close as I am ever going to get to a good picture of all three of my kids. Notice Garrett is about to crawl away in the first one. And if it weren't for that pouty lip the second one would be pretty good! Oh well.

Getting into trouble

I finally rearranged our home-office to make it a little more baby friendly. While Garrett can still pull books off the shelf, there aren't as many. I have strategically placed boxes to keep him out of the areas where there is the most stuff to get into (and of course these are the most interesting!), and once again went through all our crap to get rid of the stuff we don't need. NOW maybe I can be in here for more than 10 minutes and actually get some work done.

Garrett has started literally getting into EVERYTHING. Not the drawers and cabinets, but that is coming soon. He crawled into the bathroom and tried to unroll the toilet paper. So I leave it off the dispenser now! He likes to pull up on the bookshelves then pull out all the books. And forget having a magazine or other paper product on any surface he can reach. He has learned if something is hanging over the breakfast nook table just the tiniest bit, he can reach up and pull it off. My counter is currently covered with stuff I haven't found a place for that can no longer be left in their usual place. If nothing else, it will force me to finally organize all our stuff. . . Oh, and the toilet lid is apparently the greatest drum in the world.

I never thought I could love an inanimate object, but I am seriously IN LOVE with my Dyson vacuum. I actually like to vacuum now. Good thing, because I have two dogs that love to destuff toys and a baby who likes to eat everything on the floor. I have to vacuum the whole house at least once a week, but it really gets done more. Yay for the Dyson vacuum!

Clifford the Big Red Dog

Adrianne's hubby took this picture of the boys and Clifford at the baby fair on Saturday. Garrett loves Clifford--one of our neighbor girls has a big stuffed one and he has been enamoured with it ever since he saw hers. He and Cody were both petting clifford, which is why we couldn't get them to look at the camera!

Random Musings

Garrett is just 14 days shy of his 9 month birthday. In just a few short months, my little man is going to be a year old. It's just amazing to me that the little person that started out so teeny-tiny is now crawling all over the place and getting into everything. He pulls up on our lowest stair and I just KNOW he is contemplating just how he can get up those stairs. With all the big "milestones" he has hit in these past few months, I can't help but think about all the precious moments he has had in the past 9 months, and all the adventures that await for us in the future. Okay, unsentimental types (this means you, Daddy-O!) should probably just stop reading here. I am going to be a complete mushball female for a change!

I will never forget the first time he said mama and dada.

I will forever cherish the evening walks the three of us take together--we will only be able to carry him in our arms for so much longer. The look of pure contentment on his face as we walk around the neighborhood, greet our neighbors, or just enjoy a peaceful night, is priceless.

I HOPE I never forget that toothless grin that he gives everyone, the one that melts my heart and makes my little guy so endearing to anyone who meets him. I will probably cry when he gets his first tooth.

I will always remember the night a few weeks back, when we were working on our sleep training, and I laid outside Garrett's shut door, listening to him chat to his toys. What was he telling them? What was he thinking about? I hope that he can live every day of his life with the same energy and joy that he had in his voice as he talked to his toys.

While the "arrangement" we have that allows me to be for the most part a work-at-home mom is often stressful and exhausting, there is no way (or dollar amount) in the world to quantify what it is like to be with my guy every day. So what if i was at work till 2am yesterday, and spent half the evening on the phone with my boss. I also got to read to Garrett before every nap, and worked on the floor next to him while he played. Now that I have an awsome sitter to watch him as-needed, I can truely have the best of both worlds.

I left my son with a babysitter the other day, and told Brad I couldn't imagine having to do that every day--I know lots of moms do it because they must, not because they want to, and I am blessed not to have to do it all the time. Brad looked at me and said "I do it every day." That's probably the first time it has occurred to me how hard it is to be a daddy. I can understand how tough it is for working moms, but it never even occurred to me that it is hard on dads. I have always thought of moms as the ones that do it all, and I guess I forgot how hard it must be for Brad to walk out that door every morning, before Garrett even gets up, and know that it would be 13 hours until he could see him, hold him, and see his cute smile. And that an hour was all he would get before it was time to bed. Maybe that's the first time I really understood what it is to be a dad.

One of the girls who is on a community board I post on wrote on her blog that this V-day, her heart expanded to belong to three boys instead of 1 (she has twins). That is so true. My guys have my whole heart, its such an amazing thing. I look forward to first unassisted steps, first sentances and all the stuff that comes after--teeball and soccer, school, girls and someday a family of his own. Its just so amazing how they transform from this tiny little being to their own person. Part of me wishes he would stay just as he is forever, and part of me can't wait to see the child, and later man, that he will become.

Okay, done now :-D I am allowed one sentimental post every now and then. It is, after all, what being a mom is all about!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day from the Compton household. I tried to get a picture of all 3 kids, no such luck! Have some to post in a bit. No big plans here, Brad gave me the sweetest card :-D We will probably just chill for the evening, maybe have a nice dinner. Hugs!

Xander and Garrett

Jess (Xander's mommy) took this pic last week when we were over for a playdate (Thanks for the pic Jess!) Believe it or not, Xander is one month and two days younger than Garrett. Look at those beautiful blue eyes. Garrett insisted on taking Xander's sippy cup, even though Jess gave him one of his own. The boys sure do like playing together!!

Mei-Tai

Garrett and I are loving his new Babyhawk Mei-Tai. After the falling incident (involved the MT but was my fault), Brad doesn't like it too much and I think it will take a while to convince him its a good thing. But it makes my life a snap and is nice and cozy for Garrett. We went to the Everglades today and he just chilled in it for a while, then took a good nap. And it makes breastfeeding on the go a snap again (something that became hard when Garrett outgrew the cradle-hold in his hotsling). And it makes housework a cinch, especially in the evenings when he just wants to be held.

Tomorrow we are off to a baby fair with Adrianne, Cody, their little peanut and Daddy Sabino. This will be the first time we have gotten together with the "men-folk" around--should be fun! Hugs everyone!

Big-Boy Seat

I need to upload the picture I have for this one. Garrett got his "big boy" carseat yesterday. We got it for a steal from Albeebaby.com (almost 70$ of the retail price!!). It's just crazy how fast he is growing up. He seems to like it--he fell asleep within 3 minutes of being in it for the first time in the car!!

Garrett's new buddy

The past couple of nights, Garrett has been going to play with his "new" friend Xander. Xander is a month and two days younger than Garrett. They boys (and their mommys of course!) met in December at our HOA's Holiday Party, but have just started getting together the past couple of nights. We have fun on our playdates, even though Garrett and Xander just sort of look at each other! Xander is such a good sport, he lets Garrett play with his toys and even take his sippy cup. And today Xander even let his mommy Jess give part of his dinner to Garrett, who stood patiently next to Xander's booster seat while Jess gave a big bite to Xander, a little bite to Garrett, a big bite to Xander a little bite to Garrett. It helps both mommys make it through the most fussy time of day--the evening!!

YouTube

Check out the YouTube Channel (click the link to the right that says "Utter Chaos on YouTube")--two new videos, one of Garrett crawling (and the dogs hogging the camera!) and another of him pulling up. Enjoy!

Being this cute is exhausting!

I could not have posed Garrett like this if I had tried. I just put the bobby pillow up because we never use it anymore. I guess he was protesting, because he climbed into the closet, under his clothes organizer and laid down on top of it. He NEVER uses the thing. Yet it seems he doesn't want it to be retired to the attic. I have been boxing clothes seemingly non-stop lately. He's getting so big!!

Aspen's in the doghouse!

I was cleaning today and had to put Garrett's little play house on the bed. When I turned around, I found Aspen was investigating. This is the closest thing to a "dog house" my spoiled pups will ever see!

We're cruisin'!

Garrett is officially a wild child. He is crawling everywhere now, and pulling up on everything. He got to the dog's water earlier this week and dumped it all over the floor and himself, great fun! And he pulled up on Aspen's food bowl, not sure how he succeeded without tipping it over. But he did, and the food bowls have subsequently been moved to the closet when not in use! He loves pulling up on Aspen's crate too. Thankfully, because of my wild pooches, everything in the house is sturdy and stable. So there isn't much baby proofing to do there. I just need to put a gate at the top of the stairs. In the meantime, we spend 90% of our time downstairs these days. Thank goodness for the Dyson, I think I vaccumm at least one room every day!!

Someone has taken my little baby and given me a budding toddler in his place. He crawls across the kitchen and pulls up on anything without a problem. He will walk around the breakfast nook table, moving from one chair, to a table leg to another chair. Its just crazy. He wasn't doing ANYTHING a few months ago, and now this. It's just crazy how fast they grow!

Oh, and last but not least, Garrett said Dada this week. He is becoming quite the chatterbox, he always has something to say, especially to his pups!

And the bad mommy award goes to . . .

Your's truely!

Sorry I haven't been keeping up, life has been, well, typical. Today was not the greatest day--started out good, got this new baby carrier I have been waiting to get for a while, called a Mei Tai. It's great, I carried Garrett around in it all afternoon and he loved it. Anyway, I had him in it at our POA meeting, on my back, and as I went to get him out, he fell. Not. Good. At. All. And completely my fault, I wasn't being careful enough to keep him in. He hit his head and of course started wailing, I took him outside and calmed him down. It was 7:15 and he was acting drowsy (it WAS bedtime) and that worried me. Then he spit up once, and that was that--we were off to the emergency room. By the time the nurses were checking him, though, he was back to his usual self--charming the nurses, smiling away. When they were done, he tried to crawl off the bed, (You'd think falling on your head ONCE would be enough for the little guy!) pulling up on the railing, etc. Then he discovered the TV in the corner and was facinated. By then, I was sure he was fine without them telling me, he was back to being his old self. The doc looked at him and came to the same conclusion. No bumps, no bruises, nothing. Just a heart attack for momma is all!! Anyway, it was scary, and I feel bad, but I guess it just happens sometimes. Still no fun though! Enough of the bad news, let me post some pics!!