Porter at 18 Months

Height: 34"
Weight: 32 lbs
Head size: Restrictively large
Favorite food: Maybe noodles?  Honestly, we have yet to find something he WON'T eat.
Favorite Person: Mom!  Finally!  Take that Dad.
Favorite Activity: Object destruction

When I think of Porter, the first thing that comes to mind is CHUNK.  This kid is a brick.  In fact, at his 18 month check-up the pediatrician advised switching him to 1% milk because his weight was, quote, "off the chart".

 Next, I think DISASTER AREA.  Looking back through my phone pictures, most of Porter's are of him covered in some kind of mess.  He's a messy eater artist who is not satisfied with his body and chair alone as his canvas.  No, art must be thrown across the room, onto the floor, the chairs, and occasionally onto innocent bystanders.  We go thru so. Many. Bibs.

 Next, think: CONSTANT SUPERVISION REQUIRED.  This cute picture was taken seconds before he climbed up on top of the piano to sample my houseplant.  Now that he has figured out how to push chairs around to climb up on things, there are only three safe surfaces left in the house, and it's only a matter of time for those.  Porter is a reckless climber, can not be left with any kind of writing/drawing implement, and I swear his main goal when he takes a bath is to remove as much water as possible.

IN THE THICK OF THINGS: Porter goes where Eli goes, and must do what Eli does.  Sometimes this works out and Mom gets laundry folded, and then other times there are screams and tears.
When he wants to be picked up to see what's going on he has learned to say "Hug?" instead of "Up!" because honestly, who can resist that?

BRAVE.  Eli was and is a pretty cautious child, but Porter is brazen.  He charges into every situation like the tank that he is.  Below he is meeting his first ferret.

 Not only is Porter unafraid of the vacuum cleaner (still one of Eli's greatest nemeses) he has totally embraced it.  He follows me around with his own vacuum whenever I pull mine out and I LOVE IT.

Finally, ADORABLE.  I love my babies, but 18 months is when I start to feel like I'm actually bonding with my kid.  I love watching him learn new words and establish his own personality.  I love watching him and Eli play together.  I also love leaving him in nursery, because he's extra adorable when I pick him up again.

Happy 18 months Super Port! 

The Dog Days

After such a promising beginning, January turned out to be cold, dark, freezing, frigid, gray, and COLD.  For weeks it snowed and snowed, (naturally, only on the days that Zach had work) and it was up to me and my minions to clear the driveway to avoid perishing in an icy igloo.

So, every morning we went through the exhausting process of suiting everyone up and headed outside.  Then came the back-breaking shoveling, followed by the exasperating process of persuading everyone to come back inside, and finally, the near-death experience of getting everyone out of their now wet and frozen clothes.  Luckily, there was always hot chocolate at the end.

 If the snow was only inches high (not feet) and Mom was feeling generous, we'd play at the freezing cold park or sled along the street (we didn't see the asphalt for a solid five weeks).

After the initial braving of the outdoors, it was pretty hard to convince anyone (especially Mom) to go out a second time, so the rest of the day we spent...

Building endless lego towers, houses, and superhero cars

 Playing with play doh.  So much play doh.

Watching shows with separate blankets, separate popcorn bowls, and not touching.

Visiting the "Dead Animal Museum"

 And then, when all the crazies were about to explode, we could always count on Dad for a good wrestling/mauling session.

It's still freezing in Elko, but after being below freezing (during the day!) for weeks, this high thirties weather feels practically balmy.  We have high hopes that the pile of snow in our backyard may yet melt before Easter.

Toodles 2016!

The last few days of 2016 were pretty dang awesome.  Zach was off work, the kids were finally sleeping again after our Christmas marathon in Utah, and we had literally POUNDS of chocolate left from our stockings.  In case you were wondering, I still have 5 chocolate orange segments left.  Self Control Master, right here.

To honor the annual Haight Sledding Party we held our own sledding fiesta with some friends.  We weren't sure how into it the kids would be, but it turns out that once they had a taste Zach and I were in for hours of back-breaking sledding.  Seriously, towing those chunks up the hill is no joke.

I can not get over Porter in his snow suit.  It's slightly too big and baggy in the rear end, making it extremely entertaining to watch him waddle around.  The "Oompa Loompa" song automatically starts in my head every time I see him in it.

Cutie!

We spent New Years with Eli's girlfriend in Twin Falls, Idaho.  It was so fun to reunite Eli and Gwen, and when we finally got them to sleep, it was so fun to hang out with some grown-ups.  Carson and I kicked trash at Dominion and Settlers!

On New Years Day we tried to get the kids to celebrate with sparklers since they missed the fireworks the night before, but only Gwen was brave enough to hold them.  Oh well, at least the adults had fun.

The kids spent the whole visit alternating between playing together like a dream and screaming, often in the same minute. These pictures are taken only 3 seconds apart.

On the drive home we made our New Years resolutions, and for accountability's sake, we will post some of them here:

PORTER:
- Learn how to jump (he's so close!)
- Graduate from the high chair
- Start potty training
- No bottles by August

ELI:
- Learn to write all letters and numbers
- Count to 100
- Start piano lessons
- Learn to tie shoes and get dressed by himself
- Put head underwater at swimming lessons

CLARISSA:
- Complete Run the Year
- PR half marathon
- Complete Spanish work book
- Do not buy more fabric until all other projects are done
- Index once a month
- Catch up photobooks (dream big, right?)

ZACH:
- Complete Run the Year
- Run at least one marathon
- Bench 315 lbs
- Reach Spanish 200 level
-Get Eli to forget the Troll's movie songs by the end of 2017.

Wish us luck!

Christmas, According to Eli (vol. 2)

Once again, Eli will be captioning this year's Christmas pictures for your reading pleasure:

Smith's Pharmacy Christmas Party: "Party with all of Daddy's work friends.  We had M&Ms and played a lot."

Preschool Christmas Party (siblings were invited): "We made num-nums and cookies and played 'Santa Says.'  Everyone got some drawing books and pencils!"

-------We were lucky to spend Christmas in Utah this year.  The only trade-off was complete chaos and some tired, over-stimulated kids (and parents).  We loved it.-----

Christmas Morning: "Me right there!  Next to Austin.  We had to wait to see what Santa brought.  He brought Christmas presents."

"Santa brought me lots and lots of play doh!  And lego ninjas."  

[Were you excited Eli?] 

"Uh huh."

"Daddy is opening his stocking."

[What did Daddy get?]

"Uh... a watch.  And a blue car and a white car." 

"I got a star in my stocking!"

"Mommy was really happy because she got sooooo many presents."

[What's Porter doing?]

"Playing with the duck.  He did that a lot" (understatement).

Christmas Evening at the Judkins: "We watched Aunt Channel.  We talked to her."
[Did you get presents?]
"My shark!  And books! And we watched a show."
(Marsha made all the grandsons shark blankets (pictured below).  It was and is still very popular.)

On our way out of town we got to visit another Christmas present, courtesy of Hans and Laura: our new nephew Grant!  He's pretty much adorable.

"Mckenna's new baby!"

Happy Christmas (a month ago) from all of us to you!