Taking Steps

Sterling took his first steps Friday!!  We were so excited for him.  He was walking around the coffee table as usual and just decided to let go.  He then took a step or two before he sat down.  He did it again several more times that night and each day since, but no official "walking."  And for those of you asking, no, we didn't get a picture and we didn't get a video, because he just does it when he wants to.  Just like everything else in his life he likes to work on his own time table.  And just like with everything else, he is not much of a performer so as soon as we get out the cameras he's done.  We will get it eventually and then post it for you to see him in action.  I know grandparents and great-grandparents are itching to see!

Also, on Saturday Sterling turned 14 months.  He is such a busy beaver and quite the chatter box.  He is saying (or trying to say) just about everything (it is amazing how it all comes out similar but Alex and I can decipher what he is saying, usually anyway).

 This is him saying "cheese"

He is also fascinated with the puzzles he got for Christmas.  We keep them over in a hidden corner of the living room because there is really no reason to clean the pieces up.  He can't put them back together and he LOVES dumping them out.  Whenever I do put them back together it is to make sure we haven't lost any under the couch or in that vent.


This is actually relatively neat compared to what it looks like now.  He loves bringing the pieces to us so we can name them.  This started with his letter puzzle.  So he now relatively knows the sounds for m, q, p, h, i, k, o, t, and u.  He also knows animal sounds as you can see that two of his puzzles are animals.  He knows the lion, monkey, cow, duck, and giraffe (for which he moves his mouth like he is eating because who knows what a giraffe says?)  And of course the Elephant says "Roll Tide"  which sounds more like "Bowl Tide"  which can be appropriate too, especially if we taught him to say BCS National Championship Bowl Tide, but I think that is a little much.

He has a mouth full of teeth and is now getting molars in.  We already have one and are working on the second one.

Of course "ball" is still his favorite word followed closely by "car" which is another favorite thing for him to do, play with his cars.  I think he just looks like such a big boy scooting along, rolling his cars around.

I have also recently learned that he even says ball in his sleep.  I have been suspicious of him talking in his sleep.  I keep my new video monitor on mute.  But whenever he makes a noise it flashes the video on and makes a light popping sound.  Sometimes this wakes me up, but he isn't crying so I go back to sleep.  So, I have always wondered if he talks in his sleep, a trait he inherited from his mother.

Well, last night the monitor kept "popping" on so I turned it up and realized he was coughing.  After about 20ish minutes of his constant coughing I went to go rock him, hoping that holding him upright would ease his coughing.  After a few minutes of rocking I heard his little voice say, "ball."  I was afraid he was waking up so I shifted him and patted him but turned him so I could see his eyes, which were shut.  After about a minute or two I heard another "ball" and then a big grin came across his face as he said "dada."  He said a few more "balls" and "dadas" and "kis"  (KiKi is my mom's grandmother name).  And then was quite again but the verdict was in, he is a sleep talker.  Unfortunately, I used to be a sleep walker as well, so we may need to keep that video monitor in his room when he eventually moves to a big boy room.

 Sterling loves Pooh!!

Sterling also loves his books.  He loves to point out things on the page for us to name, or play the, "Sterling, where's the airplane, etc. " game.  We hope that he continues to love reading as a school-aged child as well, something Alex and I didn't experience.  Neither one of us loved reading until we were out of school!

On a different note, Alex and I have been taking advantage of the beautiful weekend weather the past several days, and have been working constantly outside.  One of my projects was to paint four mismatched wicker chairs for our front porch.  Thanks Jane for the donation!  My poor index finger is just getting over the numb feeling from going through eight cans of spray paint.  And I still need a couple more cans to complete the last chair.  Unfortunately Lowe's is currently out of the color. :I 

Before

 

After

Alex also made a shelf for us to neatly store all of Sterling's toys that stay in the living room.   I bought baskets at Hobby Lobby to go on the shelves and then painted the shelf.  However, now is I think the shelf may need to be sealed somehow so that Sterling sliding baskets full of toys doesn't scratch the paint.  Does anyone know of anything I can use? (Pictures of this to come later).

Alex has also been changing light fixtures around the house and outside.  And we also started pressure washing the house (this was actually done last week while it was still cold).  Look at the difference!  It was even more dramatic in person.  That's just disgusting!  We still have two and a half more sides to go, but this was by far the worst of it!!


I hate to end on that nasty note.  So here is a savings update.  I saved 50% on my grocery bill last month!!  And today I got four boxes of cereal for 3 dollars.  A Gillette Fusion Razor for free. Two boxes of Cascade for $.76 (that was with tax).
I spent 16.00 and some change and got:
2 Oral B toothbrushes
4 boxes of Kellogg cereal
1 Gillette Razor for Alex
2 boxes of Cascade
1 Clear Blue pregnancy test (not for now, don't start any rumors)
I saved $36!!