Ciaran looks older every single day!

And he acts older, too!  We went to his 9 month check up yesterday.  He is still tall and skinny, that's for sure!  The doctor said he has great "stranger awareness" which basically means he was very wary of the doctor..."who are you and why are you touching me!??"

He cut his second tooth yesterday; they are both on the bottom so it will be very cute when they both come in completely.  Right now they are barely there.

He is very healthy, very happy (except when cutting teeth!), and very much a mama's boy, though he loves Justin and Jude so very much.  He lights up when he sees them.  He says "mom" and "mama" when he wants me.  He has said "dada" but not conclusively, and he knows to make the "buh" sound for "ball."  He loves playing with balls.

Ciaran wants to be involved in whatever is going on.  If Justin and Jude are playing, Ciaran has to be right there, trying to play, too.  (And Jude thinks, making a nuisance of himself. ha ha)

He is eating all kinds of things nowadays.  He loves bread, cereal, peas, broccoli, strawberries, apples, mashed potatoes, crackers...the list grows every day.  He has liked pretty much everything we put in front of him so far.

He walks along furniture VERY well, so I suspect he'll take his first step without help before long.  He stands without holding onto anything sometimes.

I love this little guy so much.  I am amazed at the differences between my two boys.  When we found out we were having another boy I thought "yay!  another Jude!"  I was so wrong.  Ciaran is completely different; he is his own person with his own likes/dislikes and personality.  It's been so much fun getting to know him.  He's growing up too fast!! 

Graduating!

I am graduating on Saturday, May 4, 2013.  Commencement is at 9:30 a.m. and my Convocation is at 2:00 p.m. in the Spectrum.  I will be getting a Bachelor of Science in Creative Writing.  I am very excited!  It will finally feel like I really am finished!

What We Watch 7

Last night I watched a movie called "Vamps."  Most people who know me know that I like supernatural stuff like this, but don't worry, I didn't subject Justin to this silliness.  And silliness it was!  Uh...I just went to describe this movie and I don't really know where to start.  I think I'll let imdb.com do the work for me:  "Two female vampires in modern-day New York City are faced with daunting romantic possibilities."  

So, what did I think of it?  Weeeeelllllll...this is the most ridiculous movie EVER.  I feel pretty confident with that assessment.  I don't think I'm exaggerating even a little bit.  Ridiculous story, ridiculous acting (especially by Sigourney Weaver and Justin Kirk...oh my), and most of all, RIDICULOUS special effects.  I can't emphasize that enough.

To be fair, I knew what I was getting into (to an extent).  This movie isn't trying to be super serious or anything.  Plus, it wasn't boring!  So that's something.  :)  

What We Watch 4-5-6 Catch-Up

Soooo I've gotten a bit behind on these.  But, I blame Justin.  He said he was going to post about Zero Dark Thirty,

but he never did!  I asked him to post about it because he liked it a lot more than I did.  I think it is very well made, and I think it is a very important movie.  (Although too long!  Justin and I agree on that one.)  But, it's just not my thing, really.  It's not what I would choose to watch.

The next night, we watched "The Sessions" starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, and William H. Macy and it was just fantastic.  Great great movie!  One thing, though, Helen Hunt has had some scary plastic surgery in her face.  She looks very plastic.

Two nights ago, we attempted watching "Blue Like Jazz," an indie film I found randomly on Netflix.  I say attempted because it was soooo boring, we turned it off.  Didn't even get halfway through it.  I was sad because it sounded very interesting.  Oh well, they can't all be amazing.  :)  There, now I'm caught up, and I'll try to stay that way.

Jude Michael Betts: Best 3-Year-Old on the Planet

We celebrated Jude's 3rd birthday this weekend, and had a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, some of the pictures we took got deleted accidently.  And, I forgot to take the camera to The Jump Zone.  Ugh!  But, here are some recent pictures of our awesome kid.

On Sunday, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Betts' house for cake and presents.  It was a lot of fun because it seems like Jude has become so much more independent almost overnight.  He was playing really well with his cousin, Beckham (who is 2 months younger), which he's never really done.  They were talking to each other and making each other laugh.

I could tell he didn't really like all the attention he was getting while opening presents; he seemed a little nervous.  But, he was excited for the presents he received.  Here he is in the present he got from Grandma and Grandpa Laws:

He makes an adorable Woody.  He also got some cool action figures, bubbles, legos, a race track with cars, and a new movie: Rise of the Guardians.  Spoiled kid!

Then on Monday we went to Jude's favorite place on earth: The Jump Zone.  Like I said, I didn't get pictures and believe me, I'm kicking myself.  He had so much fun and this was the first time Justin or I didn't jump with him.  He was completely fine going out there by himself.  Of course, it was much more fun when his cousins got there.  Jude, Lily (she's a few months older), and Beckham ran around together and had a blast.  

I took Jude to the drinking fountain and the whole way back he was saying "It's my birthday!" to everyone who passed us.  It was awesome.

Jude is growing up so fast and it's a blast!

Hoarders

The other day, as I flipped through channels, I landed on a show called "Hoarders: Buried Alive."  This particular episode was focusing on an elderly woman who literally spends all her time sitting in a pile of stuff in the living room.  She eats there, sleeps there, everything.  The rest of her house is completely taken over by the clutter.

She was very stubborn about changing her ways; she felt she had a right to keep all of her things.  I was shocked when they said that she has been to jail on 5 separate occasions because of health hazard and fire code violations.  They were threatening her with another lockup to try and get her to change.  What world do we live in where we lock someone up because of hoarding?

What We Watch 3

Last night we watched "The Bourne Legacy."

I am a big fan of the "Bourne" franchise.  For the most part they are very enjoyable.  This one followed suit, to an extent.  There was definitely some fun action going on and I thought the story was a good play off of the original trilogy.  Jeremy Renner was satisfactory as super-secret-agent-bad-ass.  

On the other hand, I thought this movie was way too long.  They should have kept it under two hours, for sure, and in my opinion, WELL under two hours.  The chase scenes towards the end (one on foot, as well as one on motorcycles) were not very exciting to watch.  It was just watching people run and drive, with exciting music and fast cuts.

Justin called it "The Boring Legacy."  He is so very clever.  :)

I give this one a very unenthusiastic 3 stars.  It was just...okay....eh...shrug.