Since we’re still recovering from a terrible horrible case of overreactionitis, my Happy Monthday Baby! post is going to be sort of lame. I promise to make up for it tomorrow with a video of Baby Evan’s best tricks, including answering the question “how do you smell?” and the unofficial baby sign for “oh no!!”

15 Month Milestones from Baby Center

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Plays with ball – Baby Evan loves balls and is pretty good at throwing them, except when he accidentally drops them behind his back
• Uses three words regularly – No, Dog, and More is his entire vocabulary, besides the sign for “milk”
• Walks backward – Can also run backwards. In circles.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Scribbles with a crayon – Uh, maybe, but I’m not crazy enough to give him one. I don’t have the time to repaint.
• Runs – Very well, especially towards danger.
• Adopts “no” as his favorite word – I think his favorite word is “dog” but no is definitely a very very close second.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• “Helps” around the house – If by “help” you mean “removes the clean silverware from the dishwasher and throws it on the floor” or “steals the broom so he can hit the dog and knock stuff off the counters with it” then yes, he’s very very helpful.
• Puts his fingers to his mouth and says “shhh” – Aw, that would be so cute! But no.

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In other news, I’m doing my very first guest post today(I think. It’s not up yet because it’s ungodly early or maybe she changed her mind about it. I wouldn’t blame her)  ! Squee and OMG and I can’t believe someone is willing to risk their own blog’s reputation on my crap writing. Nicci at Changing the Universe is doing a whole series of vacation stories so today I’m sharing mine, including some truly priceless childhood photos from my grandparent’s lake house. Be sure to check it out and PLEASE leave me some comments so she doesn’t regret asking me to guest blog!

I started this blog for Baby Evan, my original bebeh, so EVERY POST for the first 12 months was related to growing him, feeding him, caring for him and loving him. There were a few posts that had more to do with my own life or opinions, but I would argue that everything that’s gone in my life in the last 24 months* was directly influenced by his presence. No scrapbook in the WORLD is as detailed as this blog is when it comes to recording every single magical poop filled moment of a child’s life.

And now I am 12 weeks pregnant. OMG. 12 weeks pregnant means I am in my second trimester with Sandy and I’ve written about it less than half a dozen times. I have no tag for “first trimester”. Most days I barely have time to think about being pregnant, let alone dwell on it. When people ask me “So how are you feeling?” I stare at them kind of blankly for a minute until I remember they’re asking due to my knocked-upped-ness. I haven’t bought a single baby item or browsed a single website for nursery inspiration. I don’t even know if we’re going to do a nursery this time – we know we like co-sleeping for at least 6 months so why disturb our guest room? I haven’t made a giant list of names or sat super still for hours wondering if I was feeling baby flutters or just gas (seriously, I totally still can’t tell) or planned a baby shower** or bought a baby book or taped the ultrasound pic to the fridge (I don’t even know where I PUT it) or…or…or anything. Most of the time I think I’ve imagined the whole thing and I should start packing up these unused maternity clothes to put them in the attic.

I would add I’m doing a BETTER job of a lot of things this time around – I’m eating much healthier for one. After everyone’s suggestions on what to feed Baby Evan I’ve started keeping a lot more fruit in the house and yesterday I ate my body weight in berries. With Baby Evan the only thing I ate my weight in was french fries. (The fact that I’ve had minimal morning sickness this time helps immensely.) I’m staying active, and by active I mean “going to Stroller Strides regularly and running after Baby Evan all day”, not “buying a prenatal yoga DVD I do twice before I start fast forwarding to the part at the end where we focus on relaxing, i.e. lying down”. I have officially gained zero pounds so far and I no longer think I’m destined to exceed last pregnancy’s highest number. I am reading a totally different set of books, reading a different set of message boards, asking a different set of questions, all of which mean I will be better prepared for birth and the super-important moments immediately afterward. Sandy is going to have a lot of advantages thanks to my been-there-done-that knowledge – if I don’t simply forget to go into labor because Baby Evan just said “Luv you mama!” for the first time or is throwing a screaming temper tantrum in the mall or because it’s freakin’ CHRISTMAS and I am WAY too busy to stop and push out a watermelon baby.

I fear at this rate, my (imaginary future) third child is destined to star in it’s very own episode of I Didn’t Even Know I Was Pregnant.

*Proof I am indeed pregnant: I had to use both my fingers AND a calculator to figure out what 9ish months of pregnancy plus 14ish months of life totaled.

**I’m going to have a baby party instead of a shower, hosted by myself, with a cake and punch and decorations but no presents. I might not be spending as much time dwelling on this pregnancy but I want Sandy to know s/he was just as worthy of a party as Baby Evan.***

***Which I’m pretty sure proves I’m not doing quite as badly as I think I am.

Blerg. That’s really all I have to say about Friday. For some totally unknown and mysterious reason my blog stop working at some point Thursday night. Of course, by the time I noticed I was already out of the house and although my iPhone is an amazing little piece of technology is was NOT HELPFUL in determining which of the eighty jillion lines of code held the error. By the time I got home and started working with my host service 90% of my readers had already given up on my blog so my pageviews for Friday are hovering right around 13. That is no way to become rich and famous. Sorry internets!

I think things are all straightened out now, besides the one error my Aunt Katie keeps getting which warns her about some sort of virus. Which my host service assures me is NOT THERE and even if it WAS it’s GONE NOW. Plus I always remember to cover my mouth when I cough and am totally addicted to hand sanitized so don’t worry. You won’t get it.

In actual news that someone might find interesting, Baby Evan ate three pieces of pepperoni last night. Ate. Just like he ate a pretzel on Thursday and some puffs Friday morning. Either he’s just been screwing with me all along or he’s finally learned to swallow his food, since I’m pretty sure pepperoni doesn’t just dissolve in your mouth. I don’t want to suddenly push him into three meals a day but I am going to make an effort to provide actual baby-appropriate food on a more regular basis. I’ll just steer clear of his know enemies: oatmeal, avocado and toast.

Besides a sudden improvement in his diet, Baby Evan seems to have aged several months in the few days since his birthday. As if KNOWING my baby is 1 isn’t traumatic enough, my baby isn’t even very babyish anymore. He’s started listening and following directions, which is both adorable (when he helps me put away his toys) and VERY USEFUL (when we’re in a yarn shop and he’s thinking about pulling all the yarn off the shelves). He can understand the word and the sign for “gentle” and was niiiiiiice and geeeeeentle today when he reached down and pet a 4 month old at playgroup. I suppose next we need to work on the difference between a baby and a cat.

And just for the record, 28 years ago today my teeny tiny mother gave birth to a giant baby without a single drop of pain medication. She’s an amazing mom and an overall wonderful person. Happy Birth of Your First (and clearly best) Child Day Mom!

Since I discovered the world of blogging was a lot bigger than me, Heather Armstrong and an internet friend I met in the comments section of Jezebel, I’ve begun reading and following a lot of people’s ramblings about their daily lives on the internet. There must be something about blogging that attracts really smart, funny people because I fall in love with new sites every day and my Google Reader has started begging me to please just read the ones I’ve already subscribed to before adding any more because it is full and tired and it’s feet hurt. Jeez, Google Reader, what are you? Pregnant? It would serve me right, since EVERYONE ELSE on the internet is up the stick.

One of the things that gets me every time when I find a new blog is how nice everyone else in the whole world’s pictures are. I feel like the only idiot left on the internet using a (fairly expensive but obviously useless) point-and-shoot camera instead of a fancy DSLR. My blurry, dark photos of the baby climbing over the dog pale in comparison to, say, The Pioneer Woman’s photos of cows grazing or Emily’s photos of her daughter Poppy doing, well, anything. If only I could capture the true essence and beauty of that moment when Baby Evan is perfectly balanced right across Brutus’ spine, the delicate way he smiles, the joy he finds in reaching out and grabbing the poor long suffering dog’s doggy business and yanks. That would be art, my friend. In my head, my terrible photos are the ONLY reason my blog is not incredibly popular, I am not incredibly famous, and no one ever stops me on the street to tell me how gorgeous my hair looks. BAD PHOTOS ARE RUINING MY LIFE.

So I bought a DSLR. A Nikon D90 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens to be exact. The first one E ordered turned out to be the European version which a) came with no warranty and b) came with an EU plug and was therefore useless here in Connecticut. We sent it back and filed the $33 shipping charge under “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” But thanks to good old Amazon (and a child credit on our 2009 tax return WHAT WHAT) my new new camera arrived today.

Now if I only knew how to use it, I’d be taking some really fantastic photos.

So maybe it’s because I begged my way into the Top 50 60 of that Babble list or maybe it’s because my blog is finally showing up in Google searches but I’ve been getting a TON of spam recently. I actually get far more spam than I get actual comments from people who aren’t offering to sell me coffee makers and erectile dysfunction medication, which is really depressing as I don’t drink coffee or have a penis. But a couple days ago I actually got a non-spam, non-commenter email from a real life human public relations person. The kind of PR person who offers mommy bloggers trips to Jamaica and free washing machines and all kinds of other awesome stuff. Unfortunately, all they were offering me was the “opportunity” to talk about their baby photo contest, without promising me any trips or major appliances. Not even a small appliance (like a coffee maker maybe?).

But since the PR person actually read my blog and remembered my baby’s name and because I’m convinced I have the world’s cutest baby, I’m totally going to enter The American Baby Photo Contest. And since you clearly have the second cutest baby in the world, you should too.

Here’s the sample cover American Baby sent me:

Super adorable, right? So let’s find a picture of Baby Evan that I should submit. How about this one?

Gnawing on dirty shoelaces makes him look smart, right?

Maybe this one?

This photo really shows what a good helper he is.

How about something really classic?

Naked baby pictures are always cute, right?

I suppose a really great cover shot should at least be in focus.

But he looks like his father!

We could try a close up:

"Hey Mom, you're doin' it wrong - let me show you how to adjust the f-stop."

Hmmm…those may not be my best choices but they do represent 99% of all the Baby Evan pictures on my computer. I think the moral of this story is a need a better camera before I’m going to win any photo contests. Or at least some lessons on how to get a baby to pose for pictures. I suppose lesson #1 is “glue baby to the floor”.