A New Week, New Layouts

Let's watch Alton get younger again, shall we?


both of the above LOs were made with the Flergs/Kaye Winiecki kit A Perfect Day

Ziggle and Amanda Heimann's Surfer Dude
Scrap Orchard Designers, Beach Bum
Madame Wing, My Man
Wyld Web Designs New Recycling
Scrap Orchard Designers Starry Night
Britt-ish Designs Space Ranger

Madame Wing, A Star is Born
Madame Wing
kit by me!!!

I have been feeling VERY nostalgic since Alton turned two on Friday. Hence the labor and birth day layouts.

Alton is definitely two. He says no, multiple times a day and is into EVERYTHING!!! He is talking more, and tries to tell stories. So cute!

I cut his bangs for the first time yesterday. I have to say, I did a pretty good job. They are reasonably straight, I did not cut them too short and there aren't any jagged edges. Trying to get him to look at me and hold still was an adventure though, I will tell you.

Beach-y Layouts

We've been going to the beach a lot. It's not far from our house and it is really fun to watch Alton play in the sand and he is getting braver about going into the ocean. His favorite part of going to the beach though, is washing the sand off of his feet at the beach's showers.



I used the Graham Like the Cracker/Wyld Web Designs Collab, The Seaweed is Always Greener for this layout. I also used Elegant WordArt by Bethany's word art.

I used the Amanda Heimann/Ziggle Collab, Surfer Dude for this layout. The BOY alpha is from the Scrap Orchard June Mega, recolored.

An All Scrap Review...

So I had a request for some new photos... I don't do just photos anymore... (Omg that would be so much faster!) So here are all of the digital scrapbooking layouts I have done lately. He gets younger the further down you go!

We have soooo much fun with him!



Kit: A Star Danced: In Space by Graham Like the Cracker (hey! that's me!)

Kit: Blast Off! By the Gingerbread Ladies and Gingersnaps (I am one of those)
Kit: The Seaweed is Always Greener by me and Char. WA by Elegant WordArt by Bethany
kit by me (not released yet)
kit by me and char again. (Hi Katie! the little girl in these pictures is Chloe, Katie and Andrew's daughter)
Kit by Me, Everyday Adventures. String by Flergs
WA by Elegant Word Art by Bethany, Kit Everyday Elegance by Stolen Moments
Kit by Char and me, still
Kit, Tomfoolery by Amanda Heimann and Bella Gypsy, WA by Elegant WordArt by Bethany
kit by Flergs
Kit: Scrap Orchard February Mega
Kit: Britt-ish Designs Motor Mania
Kit: Wynken Blinked and Nod by Stolen Moments
Kit: Floral Fusion by Stolen Moments
Kit: Spring is in the Air by the Gingerbread Ladies
Kit by Britt-ish Designs
Kit: Magical Vacation by Amanda Heimann (the other kids are Char's)
Kit: Firefly Lane by Amanda Heimann and Ziggle Designs
Kit: Magical Vacation by Amanda Heimann
Kit by Char
Kit by me (not yet released)
kit: Make a Wish by Stolen Moments
Kit: Bottom of the Toybox available at The Lily Pad
kit: Scrap Orchard May Mega
Kit: A Star is Born by Madame Wing

Still Alive

Alton is growing and signing and talking!

He actually got an award at church last weekend for telling his teacher that his friend needed more crackers during snack. :)

He is talking so much more!

He is also sick right now. Poor little Boo Bear has tummy troubles. :(

Quick Update

Bad Mommy! I've not updated in forever!

Alton continues to amaze and confound us. He is finally talking more. Uh-oh! is his favorite new word, and he loves to ask for cheese, but he is still allergic to it.

He has also turned into the jumping climber that his father before him was. His favorite thing to do right now is fly (while nekkid) from the top of his dresser onto his queen sized bed. Good times.

About the queen sized bed; the toddler bed is no more. When the M***'s came to visit in March, we actually cleared out the guest room and Alton discovered there was a large and spacious bed in there. He took exactly one more nap in his toddler bed, and then he moved himself into the guest room. It is a larger room, and it of course had the larger bed.

His old bedroom now houses his train table. He is OBSESSED with all things transporative. Cars, trucks, trains, buses, they are all awesome as far as he is concerned. He makes car and train noises all by himself. I swear I can see Travis's chest swell with fatherly pride when Alton races his hotwheels and makes the car noises.

Another climbing story for you. Last weekend Trav and I were working on our his and her's laptops and Alton was playing with his hot wheels. Then he picked up his back yard lawn chair and walked into the front of the house with it. I thought nothing of it, and we continued to work. Travis got up and went into the kitchen. Where he found Alton ON TOP OF THE KITCHEN COUNTER, eating his Easter Candy. He had THE BIGGEST grin on his little face. I pulled him down and asked him, "Can you show mommy how you got up there?" His chair was way too short for him to reach the counter safely, I wanted to know how the heck he got up there!

He climbed onto chair's seat, and then proceeded to climb onto the top of the chair, and then pulled himself up onto the kitchen counter. I nearly had a heart attack.

So his lawn chair has been on time out and he will occasionally ask for it. I gave it back and so far hasn't been using it for anything nefarious. But he will use it to watch mommy cook dinner, or turn the light on in his playroom.

There will be pictures soon. My laptop nearly died and is in the shop. When I get it back or get a new computer, I will update with new photos.

Silly Boy

Let the record reflect that for the first time in his existence, Alton pulled the wool over his baby sitter's eyes and convinced them to let him stay up waaaay past his bed time. He was 5 days shy of being 20 months old!

Travis's Aunt Laurel and Uncle Larry watched Alton when we went out for dinner and dessert for Valentine's Day. We went out, had great food and fabulous dessert. We got home after 10 o'clock and imagine my surprise when upon returning home, Larry greeted us and I heard someone answer Laurel. It was not Larry, Travis or myself.

So I went into my bedroom, where Alton and Auntie Lala were cozied up and watching Robin Hood.

Auntie Lala said, "We tried to put him to bed and he just kept letting himself out of his room." (We have child proofing door knob protectors. Le sigh. That was not money well spent. Thankfully they were free from Harrison's mommy Rose.) "Then he climbed into your bed and started pointing at the TV. When I put the movie on, he kept patting the bed next to him, so I sat and watched it with him."

He was still WIDE awake. So Travis took him to take the baby sitters home. He did finally fall asleep in the car on the way to San Pedro. Then he slept until 8 this morning. :)

Someone to Love

I used the Stolen Moments kit, Someone to Love for this layout

HoHoHo! (Again)

So now that Christmas is pretty much wound down, Alton hasn't been saying HoHoHo as much. But when we were at Costco the other day, an older biker dude with a long white beard walked past us to return his cart to the cart corral. Alton saw him and exclaimed "Santa Claus!" I was not moritfied, but worried that the guy would be annoyed because he looked like a hard core Harley rider and I am sure he has had kids calling him Santa forever.

So as I am unloading the cart, the guy walks over to Alton, looks him in the eye in all seriousness, says to him, "Ho Ho Ho!" Alton laughed and smiled at his personal Santa.

It was so sweet, I never would have thought that a burly looking guy like that would have been so nice to a little boy.

National De-lurking week!

If you are out there and happen to come across my blog for one reason or another, please leave a comment!! This is National De-Lurking Week! I get hundreds of visits but I have no clue who you are! I only have 1 or 2 faithful commentors. Now is your chance to show yourself! Let me know you like my blog and you are watching! You don't even have to leave your name. Just tell me you are looking! Thanks

He just keeps learning!

Alton now signs "I love you". He does it so emphatically that our hearts melt every time. He will also blow his own nose when he needs to. He just walks up to a kleenex box, grabs a tissue, and blows.

He is also asking to pray when he is ready to eat. My brother Bryan did the same thing at this age. My parents would put food on my brother's high chair try after praying, and he would eat all the meat right away. Then he would "assume the position" for prayer and "pray" for meat. I think it is so funny that Alton does the same kind of thing.

New signs and other stuff

Alton is learning new things every day. We have prayed with him every day since he was born, and this week he learned how to fold his hands and bow his head for prayer. He does it every time we pray and it is sooooo sweet to see.

We are still nursing and every morning when we nurse, we sit in the recliner in his room and I cover both of us with a blanket to keep warm. This morning Daddy got him out of bed and I was sitting the living room. Alton came in and started to play with his toys. After a few minutes, he decided he was ready to nurse, so he went into his room and got down the quilt that was hanging on the side of his crib and brought it into the living room and climbed into my lap with it. He pointed to me and signed milk.

I showed him the sign for diaper once, and now he uses it to tell us when his diaper is dirty. I know this is one of the signs for potty training readiness, what are the others? Does anyone know of a GOOD potty training book?

He is still obsessed with Santa Claus and points him out wherever he sees him. He carries a Santa Claus Christmas card around the house with him.

Christmas Fun!

Alton hates having his diaper changed. We made the mistake of trying to change him next to his brand new fire truck on Christmas... you can see how successful we were.
While we were watching Alton drive his fire truck buck naked, Travis's cousin Kate said to him, "You know Alton, Robert Downey Jr. got arrested for that." We thought it was pretty funny.

I used the Ziggle Designs kit Reindeer Games for this kit.

Merry Christmas! Santa has some competition...

I have spent months trying to teach Alton new words and phrases. My sister watches Alton for one afternoon, and she taught him to say, Ho Ho Ho! and he recognizes Santa Claus.

Bad Mommy! A Few Choice Words

I haven't been posting about Alton lately. I have been consumed by getting ready for Christmas and the fact that I am ill. That is much better excuse than the truth, which is digital scrapbooking has taken over my life and I feel badly because I let myself compare my child to other children. Which is something we should never ever do as mothers.

Alton still isn't talking much. A few of his peers speak way more than he does, and I have let that embarrass me; thinking that he is behind or I should be doing more, like reading to him EVEN more or doing flash cards or something.... In reality he is right where he should be. His pediatrician is very impressed with his motor skills, both fine and large. He is ahead on some of his physical skills, and she told me that sometimes kids just race ahead in one area, and then catch up on the others later.

Since his 18 month appointment, he was learned even more new words, and some new signs. He is still using Daddy, doggie, duckie, and dirty. At his appointment, he used Mama. Which he had learned the sign for already.

My sister was watching Alton while I went to the doctor, and she was trying to get him to say Mama. He kept signing "Mama" at her, and she called me and asked, "What does it mean when he sticks his hand out like a turkey and keeps banging his chin with it?" I told her, "Mama." She swore and said, "You need to stop teaching him sign language. He is never going to learn to talk if he keeps this up!" I am going to refrain from further comments about that at this time.

Any way, he learned the sign for "Mama" and I am trying to teach him, "I love you". I use the sign and the words, so I am hoping he will pick up both.

As far as words go, he has said his first sentence! My dad and I were at Disneyland and were walking past the Rivers of America. We asked Alton, "Do you see duckies?" He repeated back to us quite clearly, "I see duckies!" This leads me to believe that he has the capacity to say a lot more than he actually does.

This isn't the first time he has taken his sweet time to do something. He started cruising at 6 months. We were convinced that he would start walking by nine months. But, he did not walk unassisted until 11 months. But once he did walk, he did it well right away. None of this stumbling and taking only 2 or 3 steps. He was crossing rooms as soon as he walked unassisted.

So his word repertoire now includes the following: Daddy, doggie, donkey, dirty, ducky, mama, yeah, no, and all done.
His signing repertoire includes, "Mama", "diaper", "please", "thank you", "more", and "all done".

This weekend he started telling us when his diaper was dirty and demanded a changed diaper. :) He has done it every day since Saturday. We bought him a potty today. I am not sure what I am going to do about potty training. I don't want to rush him, but it would nice to not have wash diapers as often....

Trimming the Tree

I decided to make a few tweaks to this page. Here is the "new" one:


This was the original.
I wanted the lightbulbs to look more like they were glowing, so I fiddled with those and moved things around a little.


Alton "helped" us trim the tree last weekend. He had so much fun hindering Daddy's progress to light the tree. :)

I used the Pixie Keepsakes kit, Christmas Tan for this layout.