~ Summer Fun~

~I love the Slide~

~Zoom Zoom~

~Happy Monkey~

Cody is has pretty much grown out of all his baby habits except for a couple.... his blanky is the first one. He is attached to both his lovely and his blanky and can't sleep or nap without them. The nice thing is that is doesn't matter which lovely or blanky he has, he is a happy boy and it's really cute to watch him walk around with them clutched in his fists. The second is his bottle. This one worries me a bit. He has been drinking all liquid other than milk from his sippy for a while now, but when it comes to milk, he throws the cup and walks away. He is drinking milk in the cup @ school but at home will only drink a few ounces. I am trying to be strong and will only give him the bottle @ night (not ready to give that up yet), but it is hard when he cries for his Bubba....

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Cody is finally cutting more teeth. He got 10 teeth well before his first birthday 6 on top and 4 on the bottom but hasn't gotten any since. I was a little worried because he got his bottom molars before the 2 on the bottom sides, but all is good now.

Grandma, Uncle Dom and Auntie Trish are coming back over the weekend and we cannot wait. I took a few days off to spend with eveybody and have some fun stuff planned. We did just fine without my Mom but I am happy that she's coming home......

Summer Family~Time

In the past few weeks we have had a bunch of out of town visitors. First Craigs niece and nephew were down from Ohio for a few weeks. They come every summer to spend some time with us down in S. Florida. It was really fun to see how much more Cody is interacting with them. They were here in April and he wasn't quite walking yet. Now he chashing Curtiss around and playing real games with him. It's really great when the kids are all together.

Next my brother Dom was here for a few days. He flew down in order to drive home with my Mom, then will drive back with her in a few weeks. My sister in law is also coming back with them and they are both staying for a few weeks. We have a bunch of fun South Florida outings planned. Can't wait... My brother was was just smitten with Cody. They really bonded in the few days he was here and Cody even said UNCLE, which surprised the heck out of all of us.

With Grandma gone for a few weeks, that leaves Craig and I to fend for ourselves....hahaha. We are just fine, but praying all stay healthy for a while

Codyman ~ 14 Months

Life has been a little crazy in the Bautz house. About 3 weeks ago I got a call from Mom and she had fallen in the parking lot of the grocery store. Luckily Cody was still in the car and had not fallen with her. From there all heck broke loose. Craig ran to get the baby while I met my Mom and the ambulance @ the hospital. While I was waiting with her to get her x-ray done, Craig called and said the baby was burning up. I left my Mom (thankfully nothing was broken) and met Craig @ the Dr. He had 105.5 temp. We stayed @ the Dr's office for over 2 hours until they got his fever to break. They weren't sure what it was probably just a virus but all we could do is keep him hydrated and treat his fever.

The next 2 days were pure hell. He wasn't sleeping at night and would nap on and off all day. On the third day he woke up from his nap with yellow goo coming out of his eye. Back to the Dr we went. He now had an ear infection on top of the virus. My poor baby. It was truely heartbreaking watching him go through this. Thankfully by the next morning his fever had broken, but he now had a rash over his entire body. I called the Dr. back and they diagnosed his virus was something called Roesella (I verified this on line of course). A high fever for 3-5 days followed by a rash. It was a complete week of sleepness nights and careful watching.

I am happy to report our monkey is back and crazy as ever. He is into everything, I mean everything. One minute the house is neat and the next is complete mayham, The joys of a toddler....

Water Boy ~ Cody 13 Months

When I say this kid loves the water, man he loves the water. He would stay in forever, to the point of shivering. Everytime we've been to the pool or the beach he cries when it's time to leave. I am so happy I have a water baby, since I myself was a fish as a kid. We hope to start him in swim lessons shortly, the sooner the better....

Cody's walking is getting better by the week. He has also mastered going up and down the stairs. Every night after his bath and story time he follows me to the stairs and down we go on our bum bums, one step at a time. It really is the cutest thing. His lovely in one hand and my arm or shirt in the other.

Cody now says mama, dada, grandma, papa, bella, signs for more, shakes his yes and no and his absolute favorite words are UT OH with his up in the air. At first we thought is was the cutest things ever, but now we would like him to say something else. hahahaha. With time his words will get better so for now we just practice.....

Cody's 1st haircut....

The weekend of Cody's actual birthday we took him for his first big boy haircut (I forgot to uplaod this) Cody, I and the grandma's headed over to Snip-its, a salon that specializes in childrens haircuts. I was a little apprehensive on how Cody would do... other than being a little scared and shy, he did very well. They were very good there and we will be heading back every 3 or so months. Can I tell you how cute my little guy is with his new haircut. I wanted to try to save some of the curls in the back, but nobody would let me give him a mullet so off it came. I am very happy with the end result...

Now that Cody has mastered walking (well almost) he is really getting around. If we take our eyes off him for even 1 second he is gone. His favorites are the stairs and the dog bowls. Luckily we had already gotten the gate for the bottom of the stairs so that is up almost all the time. We are teaching him how to go up and down but for a while the gate will be a permanant fixure in our house. The dog bowls are another story. We really try to remember to pull them up but on more than a few occasions, we have caught him playing in the water bowl and I can't guarantee he hasn't snuck a a piece of dog food here or there (YUCK).... Boys will be boys right?

At Cody's 1 year check up he really hadn't gained or grown too much over the past couple of months. he weighed in @ 22 lbs and 29 inches. His head circumference was still big, holding @ 45cm. His doctor said he is right at the average and it's ok that he hasn't gained alot since he is so active.

Cody's 1st Birthday Party Weekend

Cody's 1st Birthday Party by far exceeded my hopes and dreams. I'm not sure what I expected, but it was such a nice day. Vanessa & Larry, Sandi & Ari and Vicky & Randy all flew in for the the weekend. We all went out for adult fun time on Friday then party time on Saturday. I had thought that maybe Cody would be overwhelmed by all the people but he was in good spirits all day and was sound asleep by 7:15pm.

We had a slip & slide set up for the older kids, a baby swim activity center for the younger kids, plus a monkey pinata filled with candy and toys, and of course tons of food, drinks and yummy yummy cake.

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with the girls, going out to eat, playing by the pool and Cody's first trip to the beach. I was a little nervous about how he would do, but I was pleaseantly surprised. He LOVED it. Everytime a wave would come near him, he would squeale with delight and clap his hands. He is definetly going to be a beach baby,we just have to go more often.
Once the Birthday weekend was over, The girls extended there vacation and headed down to Ft. lauderale with there husbands. My mom took the baby for the night so Craig and I could join the adult festivities. We had such a blast just walking around Ft. Lauderdale Beach, being silly and having fun. We also had a farewell dinner with all of us, the friends here and the friends that flew in. It was such a special weekend/week and I am so thankful to both My Mom and Craigs parents for helping us put together the party and my friends for being here... I am a lucky girl.

Cody turns 1

Over the past week or so I have been re-visiting the memories of the last couple years of our lives and WOW what a journey it has been. First, the experience of conceiving through Invitro. The shock that we weren't able to conceive on our own, then the process. I am ever so thankful for what modern technology has done to give me a family, but not so sure I could do it again. It was hard both phyically and mentally, but worth every tear, bruise and polk.


Words can't explain what this little boy means to me. Everyone always says there nothing like the love between mother and child, but you never really get it until you have a child. This first year, with a new baby, as a new Mom is both overwhlming and amazing


Cody turning the one is so very bittersweet for so many reasons. As every milestone is reached, you look ahead to whats next. When will he hold up his head for the first time? smile at you? laugh at something? eat first foods? roll over? crawl? say his first words, take his first steps? Now that all the checks have been made, you want them all back. At least I do.....What an amazing year it has been, watching him grow from a sweet, chubby, needy, little baby into a walking, talking, toy throwing, mess making toddler.

I must admit, I was hoping he would wake up last night, just so I could rock him back to sleep one last time as an infant. But not luck, straight through he slept.

My dad came down last night to spend Cody's real birthday with us (he can't be here for the party) We went out to dinner last night and breakfast today. My Mom came to breakfast with us. To Cody, it was just another day, another meal with his grandparents, but for me it is so special, that both my parents were with me to spend this most important day with me.