Did you know Butterlump took his first step?
No?
WELL, HE DID!!!!
I visited McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago a few weeks ago (more on that in July) and when we were there, Aaron took 2 steps surrounded by a crowd of McDonald’s executives and blogging peers cheering him on.
He will be walking any day.
Walking.
My little pat of butter will be WALKING.
I went through some of my video footage of Butterlump and found this. It was taken almost exactly a year ago. It’s only 20 seconds long but it’s SO FREAKING cute it makes my heart hurt.
HOW did he go from this:
To this??
(Sorry. I know it’s sideways. I always forget and hold my phone the wrong way. But it’s so, SOOOO cute. And for the record, this is the first “game” I play with all my children. I made it up. I call it “The Spider Game” and babies can participate in it at a very young age. ALL BABIES LOVE THIS GAME. Trust me.)
I am so grateful he is growing and well and strong (not to mention as cute and sweet as they come) but this is going by too fast.
I want time to slow down.
I want to freeze all of his moments.
I want him to grow and thrive and yet still be my little tiny baby forever and ever and ever.
I can totally find SOME way to make that happen, right?
So Cute!
I totally blame you for the screaming my ovaries are now doing at me.
So funny! I’ve taught all my kids your flea/spider game as well. It’s still one of Mena’s favorites and we were just doing it yesterday!!! Congrats, Butterlump on the adventurous spirit.
-Amy W.
I remember that first video! I have 2 kids with my youngest being just a little younger than your Butterlump. Is it just me, or does it go by way quicker with subsequent children? My baby will be a year in 2 weeks (and is already walking :( ) and I just can’t believe that time has gone this quickly. This also means that I’ve been reading your blog for a year now – I was a blog virgin before you! :)
Time does fly doesn’t it? It kinda hurts a lot. I have discovered that as soon as you can let that thought go you can fill your head with all sorts of new memories of stuff they do now.
Just never – ever – stop and look back for too long. Watching them grow is amazing but looking back and comparing them is hard stuff which requires a lot of kleenex and possibly some chocolate to get you through.
M
ps- if, by chance, you DO find a way to freeze time… let me know, please.
Here’s the schedule: Week after next, he will be entering high school (at which point he will INSIST you stop calling him Butterlump). Two days later he’ll have his driver’s license. College starts in August, his wedding will be in October, and you’ll be a grandmother before the next time the ball drops in Times Square.
I hear you … I can’t believe PunditGirl is going to be in 5TH GRADE in the fall!! :( HOW did that happen? She was just a little, pudgy baby a few moments ago. xxoo
ADORABLE!!!
Oh man. I want another one. NOW.
I’ve heard so much about you going around Twitter so came to check out your blog but I have to say that finding sideways and inferiorly shot video isn’t a promising sign. I mean your kids are cute but it seems pretty low standard.I am not trying to be rude but I am just curious how you get away with it as I am considering starting a blog. Don’t they always say to only put quality shots on a bigger blog?
Kellee,
I am not a huge blog. I do ok, but I am far from huge. I don’t know that I am trying to “get away” with anything. I don’t claim to be any kind of photographer and even less of a videographer.
Most people have heard me say this. I don’t use images overly for precisely this reason.
I don’t have a flip or a camcorder. We saved up and bought a nice DSLR camera to get photos of the baby but can’t afford a nice video camera quite yet, so I use what I have, which is my phone. I do the best I can with it but you know, it’s not always great. But it’s a moment with my kid and I’m grateful that I have video of Butterlump playing my game for the first time in any form.
Should I have posted it? Well…I suppose if I was only concerned with numbers, stats and what people thought of me, maybe it not.
As it is? I am fine with it and think most of my readers are as well.
Good luck starting your blog.
I’ll watch a baby (especially such a much loved, needed, desired baby) upside down and backwards before I’d ever complain about having to tilt my head to the left a little to see said gorgeous child.
PS – my baby has been walking since 9 months. The walking thing is over rated, especially when they use these skills to climb up onto table tops with the intent of jumping off the other end. Teach him to sit! lol – Well, you don’t have any hope of doing that so I say YAY for your Butterlump – may he walk, while you run, run, run after him!
Blessings!
Kellee – what an irritating comment! These were obviously sincere home videos that Loralee shared, and *not* moments that were perfectly captured solely for the purpose of “marketing” them on her blog. Yet you feel the need to criticize? Personally, I find it refreshing and encouraging that not every “big” blogger feels the need to make everything look polished and processed and perfect, because real family life is far from polished and processed and perfect. And yet, even with the sideways and “inferiorly shot” qualities, the videos still manage to be adorable. Because they’re about the kiddo, NOT the videography.
Stepping awaaaay from the soapbox,
Becki D
He’s adorable and so are you.
so i was watching that first video and my one year old was standing next to me. and he was totally talking to the lump, making cooing sounds back at him. you had to be here to appreciate the cuteness but it was adorable.
I love your videos. I think they are both adorable (sideways or not). His little giggles made me smile and remember the little giggles of my little girls when they were so young. WALKING? oh my goodness time flies.
as far as Kellee’s comment, the fact that your video is sideways and that you posted it is EXACTLY one of the reasons that I love you. Just as I said when we met – you are honest and real. I knew what you would be like in real life, because your blog is honest and real. If you would have left it out, it would have been editing you. And you don’t need to be edited. You are wonderful, charming and real. If Kellee thinks that a blog should only contain what is perfect, maybe she shouldn’t blog. None of us are perfect and our blogs aren’t perfect either. Although, I have met some that their blogs are pretty and all unicorns and rainbows but in real life, they are pretty much exactly the same way.
Kellee writes: “Don’t they always say to only put quality shots on a bigger blog?” Who is this “they” of which you speak, Kellee? Spend a little time in the blogosphere and you’ll discover there are as many ways to blog as there are bloggers. One size does not fit all. Many people set out to write their thoughts, record their memories and make friends, and then, through a stroke of luck (or usually several), some good connections and hard work, they become popular. In rare cases, they even make money from their popular blogs. Success in the blogosphere rarely happens overnight and it generally doesn’t happen by following a generic list of rules. Loralee is an authentic voice, and that is just one of the many reasons she’s gotten where she is.
Loralee ~
Awwwe ;-) THe little puddin’ pop! {sigh}
He is beauty and joy and my ovaries and heart just quivered and twittered and thumped ;-) <3
Well excuse me! I didn’t realize that her readers would get so touchy. Aren’t big bloggers supposed to have a thicker skin anyway?
My point was not to be irritating it was that I keep hearing “looney tunes this” and “Lorelee that” and how she has gone to the white house and been involved in all this cool stuff and has such a great rep it blew me away to come here and just see a post like I would find from my cousin on her myspace account.
I expected more from someone with her reputation and was disappointed to see it look so amature. I think that I have a point whether you find me irritating or not. Other people look to her as an example right? Shouldn’t she take that more seriously?
Yes, yes…you were disappointed and I let down the internet by being inferior. I get it. But look at it this way. If I am so, um, great (your implication, not mine) wouldn’t it be heartening to see that you don’t HAVE to be this glossy, pressed, perfect thing to be so?
Because I would look at it this way and think “Oh, yay! If this inferior stuff can make a person’s reputation then my blog should blow everyone out of the water!”
Look at it as a plus for you and move along and read something and someone you DO like.
Thanks for coming by. I wish you luck with your blog. (And your commenters.)
no disrespect kellee, but i don’t think loralee went to the white house because of the graphics on her blog, but because of her writings on health care.
yes some blogs are all about the layout and the visual content, but that is not what makes this a great blog. it is loralee’s story and her words that bring me back.
is this the first entry you read? since i have read just about all of it, every picture and video i see of aaron makes me think of how few she has of her matthew. and their very existence make me happy.
Yes, yes, yes, this exactly. I have read the whole blog as well, and am so grateful that Loralee seems to have many pictures of Baby Aaron.
Wow. Not going to touch that commenter with a ten foot pole.
Dude, your blog. You can do whatever the heck you like. And if that means making us melt from baby adorableness then PLEASE KEEP DOING IT!
Theo used to make those adorable newborn cooing noises while nursing. Made me swoon.
And I love the spider game! He totally knows what’s coming and gets so happy with it! THANKS FOR POSTING!
xo
tears. today is the wrong day to read this. or maybe the right day. because it’s nice to know that other’s share in your feelings. my big one was off with grandma all day. he slept there last night. it was our first time at home with lil one. the first time we’ve been able to really just sit with, chill and enjoy him. he’s 8 1/2 months and i don’t know where the time went. it’s going so fast. it’s crazy. it’s lovely. but sometimes it overwhelms me and i, too, want time to slow down. so that i can be sure that i’m taking in. every. single. moment.
damn. now i gotta peek in his room. one more look before bed.
I can’t believe how big he is already!
The spider game is genius. You have a keen sense of what children need to be amused at that age, which many parents don’t catch on to. Good job, mom.
Next thing you know he’ll be 17 and wanting the car keys. (oh, sorry, don’t cry)
I hate it when they grow but then i like every stage but i still hate it when they grow up.
girlfriend, you are preaching to the choir.
Why do you think I keep having babies?
I know right?! I tell my baby to stop growing almost daily… well, unless she is throwing a tantrum at the store then… “grow up already!”
P to the S… way to handle the drama in your comments :-) You are one classy lady.
That butterlump is one awesomely adorable kid with a fabulous mommy.
And your commenter? Seriously missing the point of blogging and community and the kind of person that gives” mommy bloggers” a bad name by being ignorant.
Oh Loralee! He is so freaking cute! It’s been so fun watching him grow up through pictures. Maybe one day I’ll get to meet him in person! ;)
Your videos made me wistful, Loralee. Especially since we didn’t have a video camera OR a digital camera when my son was a baby (9-10 years ago). I wish I could have captured sideways videos of his little newborn squeaks!
Kellee–I refer you to Loralee’s last post: Definition of a Troll.
Just saying.
Hey- I though I invented that game! PLagiarizer… hee-hee. We have another one for when he’s a bit older, called “baby eggs”, I’ll share later. Oh how that inferior, sideways video makes me want to have another baby.
Walking is always such a mixed blessing.. at first, it’s amazing and sweet, then a little irritating because now- they can run away from you and disappear into clothing racks at stores,then, pretty flippin great, because eventually it means they can climb into their carseats on their own and you don’t have to carry them and 5 armloads of groceries into the house… heck, I even made my kids carry their own diaper bags as soon as they were able! (not a big giant one, just a little backpack- I’m not a monster ;)
Anyway… sweet post- have fun chasing that cute little lump-o-butter!
I hurt my neck. But it was worth it.
Love the spider game!!! :D And that itty-bitty baby video made my womb ache. If it makes you feel any better my baby is growing too fast too (9months as of yesterday…). It doesn’t though, does it? It’s all too fast…
I kept not letting myself watch these clips of
Aaron because I KNEW they’d be adorable (omg, could his expression when he looks straight at the camera be anymore like the pics of your husband you’ve had on here?) and make me long for another baby but finally caved. My “baby” is turning three next week and though I love sleeping through the night and not carrying a diaper bag everywhere sometimes I still have those baby cravings. Someone please tell me they ease off with menopause!
We have a similar game–”Hickory Dickory Dock” with my fingers being the mice and baby’s belly and face the clock.