Growing Up

Doesn't he look so grown up in this picture? Doesn't he look two days away from grabbing a backpack and heading off to school? I'll not have it River Lucas.
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I am not the grinch who stole Christmas, but I am the mean mom who put the Christmas tree in a cage. He has so much fun pulling himself up on the gate, I think he forgives me for the separation of tree and hand.
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I now have more years behind me than flavors of ice cream at Baskin Robbins, but who cares, because Rocky Road is the only flavor worth my time. I'm sure there is deep meaning about the journey of life in this sentence, you just have to look for it. I love my birthday, because I love being alive. So I can find happiness in it, even if I'm at a work party for a job I just got let go of and I have to stand in front of everyone and smile, while accepting a birthday card from the manager who has done her darndest to get me let go of. Harry Potter fans, when I write of this manager, please picture Delores Umbridge in your minds. Yes... she is that bad. I hate to speak ill of others, but I Must Not Tell Lies.
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Speaking of Harry Potter. I know I missed the bandwagon by ten years on this one, but I love it. Maybe you picked up on that, by all my references to wizards lately. Bear and I just listened to the whole series on tape... reading is a little harder these days.... but it was okay, because Jim Dale (narrator) is awesome. I am totally having post-book depression. Do you get that? Where you are searching for a job instead of hallows and hoarcruxes and you think BUHoring. Good thing I have a wizard baby, who helps me see the magic in everything these days.

The Nice List

We we went to the ward Christmas party the other night and River got to meet Santa for the first time. He was relieved to find out that skipping naps for no good reason does not keep you off the nice list. He gave Santa a pretty searching look, but kept right on sucking his thumb and did not cry. When Santa handed him a plastic bag full of candy, he lit up like he had been handed some serious dough... more for the fun of shaking a crinkly bag, than for the candy, which Bear and I ate.

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The food was delish and I'm always in a good mood when I get to eat without cooking. I had a very simple part in the Christmas play. I hadn't done any stage acting in a long time. It wasn't serious acting, just fun, but the reaction of my little boy in the audience made me feel like a super star. He was so excited to see me on stage, he was ooohing and ahhing and flapping around so loudly Bear had to take him to the very back of the hall. It took a lot of effort not to look at him, but at least the part I was doing called for a lot of smiling.

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Happy Christmasing everyone. It's getting close.

11 Months Young

Someone dared to call my wee babe a toddler the other day. The devil you say! I prefer hefty newborn... thank you very much. The eleventh month has been crazy! Who knew you could fill an entire day cleaning up dvds. The mess in my house in these videos could only mean one thing... Hurricane River... aka... Tidal Wave of Mass Destruction is mobile.

As of November 15th, 2010, River can crawl. He almost always mutters the entire time he crawls. I'm pretty sure he is steam powered. At first he was so slow it almost seemed like he was crawling in place, but to Noodle's dismay, he's quickly getting faster. This video was the second time he crawled.

Barely crawling and he's already trying to walk. He loves this toy, but still needs our help with it. He thinks he's So big when he uses it.

River still loves hand held transportation, especially when he can get his chase on. Thanks Big Noods for being such a good sport.

I was going through this month's pictures and discovered a well documented addiction to this hat. I can't help myself. If River is wearing this hat... I. Must. Get. Camera. Thanks Becca for the world's cutest hand me down. The hat lives on.

He has other hats too, but I prefer the snow pixie look over the gangsta my babe turns into when I put on this hat. Unless we're walking in dangerous neighborhoods. Ya better recognize!

River finally got a pair of shoes this month. He isn't the biggest fan of wearing them. We just figured they would help keep his socks on during winter. Please note cute wizard socks.



I thought our shoes looked cute lined up together. Brown anyone?
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At 11 months River is crawling, clapping, and climbing every moment he is awake. His sleeping schedule is usually 7pm-7:30 am or 7:pm-6:30 am (nurse) and then back to bed till 8:45 am. This all goes out the window when he's teething. Right now he's getting four teeth on top. The two fangs (told you he was part vampire) have cut through and the two front teeth are almost there. This means multiple extra wake-ups. I give him a few minutes and sometimes he can calm himself back to sleep, but most of the time I end up nursing him back to sleep. I know this is a no-no, but nothing else works. River has realized the extent of the power his sad face has over us and we went through a whole day of him not letting me set him down. In his defense, he is teething and in my defense... well... I'm just a sucka! He dances anytime he hears music. He stands up and sings the hymns at church and I'm pretty sure he's part wizard. He is always pointing things at me and shouting words that sound like Kissiumus. He must be a talented wizard too, because I can't stop kissing him when he does this.





River says enough of this Mamarrazi! I am having a love/hate relationship with him growing up. I love seeing his bravery, his success and the joy he gets from learning new things, but does it have to keep going by so fast? See you all too soon for the One Year Post. Crazy! Now please excuse me, I have 72 messes to clean up before I hit the sack.

And The Winner Is...

Thank you! Of course I agreed with every comment you wrote, since I picked them all out. I was having the hardest time making up my mind. I had decided the tie breaker was going to be the price tag and in that case The Onesie would win, but then River took matters into his own hands. He brushed all the other boxes aside, grabbed Rudolph and wouldn't stop playing with him. Thankfully, Rudolph is the only one he can't break. Yay for sterling silver!
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In other news, there is only a month till my birthday. I still haven't made a wish list and my husband says I lose a present for every day I don't make one. I better get on it. I am already down to only 249 presents. (My count, not his.) I am on a Facebook fast, but I still log on for ten seconds everyday to see if Arika Shockmel has had her baby. 9 days late and counting. Please everyone think releasing thoughts, so Arika can finally meet here babe and I can stop cheating on my fast. I am also giving up my beloved CoCa-Cola for a month. River is almost a year old and I am still 10 lbs up on my pre-baby weight. I am going to see if soda makes the difference. I only have one a day, but who knows... nothing else is working, so fingers crossed.
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I know this is a blog, not a brag, but this is so super cool it has to be shared. My husband booked a role in a film called Darlin' Companion directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Lawrence, or Lawrie as we call him, (okay that last part is not true) wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Return of The Jedi and Raiders of the Lost Ark and directed Silverado. Needless to say, my husband is a fan of his and was excited to work with him. Now here is the cool part. After Bear finished filming, Lawrence Kasdan called the casting director to tell him how great Bear did and what a joy he was to work with. Actors never get that kind of feedback. Yes, we get to hear everyone's two cents and suffer through the hoards of cowardly online critics, but to get genuine, unprompted feedback from a member of Hollywood's elite is a pretty big deal and I am very proud of him.
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P.S. I am not just saying that to win back some of my presents.

Help Me Decide

I've had a lot of weighty issues on my mind lately, what, with the election and all. Now you can help me put one of these uber important issues to rest. Which one of these lovelies should be River's first Christmas ornament? Let me know what you think and why. No thesis sentence needed and if you turn a blind eye to my punctuation errors, I'll turn a blind eye to yours. Peace.

Rudolph

Horizontal Rattle

Vertical Rattle

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Crystal Rattle

Star Onesie