This was a bit of a hard week for the boy. He cut his very first tooth (a top one!) and because of that, his appetite was off (which makes him cranky) and he had to get a "real" haircut by a stranger and he had to dress up in a shark costume (which you would think might be fun, but took some serious coaxing).But! He also had some fun. He had his first ride down a slide (which he loved) and he got to eat lots of sauerkraut (which he loves) and he moved into the toddler room at school with the big kids and got to nap on a cot (which he did really well at). Plus, unsurprisingly, he rocked it at school picture day.Photos from the week are below. I'm gonna warn you, those haircut photos are tough. They make me tear up a bit! The weather was lovely and Magda and I spent lots of time outdoors this week. Ezra's having to model for a business thing I'm about to announce. This was one of about 4 of 5,000 where he wasn't crying. Dressing up is hard.Sunday, we went to the park for a picnic. Here he is playing in the fountain -- he loved that part.Same picnic -- just running around with Dad and Magda.The kid has gotten really good at communicating what he wants even though he can't talk. Like, crawling back into the stroller and curling up for a nap? Ok. I guess it's time to head back home now.I love this.

Since you guys got birthday updates midweek, I'm just going to focus on this weekend today. There were several play dates, a trip to an apple orchard (which was AMAZING) and a bleeding vizsla (we aren't sure if she cut her nose on the bottom of the fence when she was barking her head off at the neighbor dog or if that dog nipped her -- either way, a swollen snout and blood everywhere). The weather, by the by, has been GLORIOUS here in Minnesota. September might be my new favorite month!Photos are below -- enjoy!Our friend Eric, walking with Ezra.The orchard dog, Fletcher, loooved to play fetch. So much fun! The boys were enamored.Ezra's favorite past time might be flirting with Betz. Which is wonderful. We loved these mini adirondack chairs! You can see the poor girl's bump above, and if you look close, the cut below. This is super grainy and not in focus, but FISH FACE!

Today was another day where I only did about a half-day of work (lazybones!). I had planned on taking this entire week as a "staycation"... but ended up working about 20 hours or so instead. Oops.But I was determined to complete one of the many projects on my to-do list: building a book of all of the photos of Ezra's first year. Well, not ALL of the photos (ahem), but a very edited version. If I can keep my act together, I hope to do this every year, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, eh? I think it's so easy for photo prints to get lost in the cracks, and I can't imagine that in 15 years I'll still know where all of these digital photos are or how to access them (other than my blog). So an analog book was high on my list of priorities. I'm old fashioned like that.And what does this have to do with that photo up there? Well, as you can imagine, there was a lot of digging in my archives today, and I found that one!Remember back in August when Minneapolis St. Paul magazine ran that feature of my dog photos? They asked for a photo of myself and Magda to run with the piece, so I set this one up in the studio and had Jamie snap it for me. Then I sent it off in my email and flew to Kansas to take care of my mom. When I returned, I found the email with the photo stuck in my outbox, and it never made it to the publication and never ran. So here it is! Ha!For your internet shares today, this makes me very nervous. And this leaves me wondering, um, where do you go to the bathroom?

What a weekend! We pretty much just prepped for a very small brunch to celebrate Ezra's first year. His birthday isn't until later this week, but we wanted a few of the people who have truly helped us to survive this first year (clothes! babysitting! advice! baby gear galore!) to celebrate with us.Ezra took a two hour nap that morning (!!) making him 20 minutes late to his own party. We didn't mind though as it gave us time to get all the food ready etc, but he was a bit groggy and confused when he woke up and there were a bunch of people, bubbles and balloons in his backyard. So he's a bit... dazed in some of these photos. He livened up after the cake though.Also, I put 51 weeks in the title of this post as a bit of a joke. One thing that drives me bonkers, is when moms refer to their kids in weeks or months after it is wholly ridiculous.This drove me crazy when I didn't have any kids, and I thought maybe once I had one of my own I would understand. Nope. The only thing this does is make me do more math. The other day I was with Jamie and Ezra at a restaurant, and there was a woman nearby with a baby. I asked her how old it was and she told me 26 weeks.No.That child is 6 mos. old. Don't make me do the math. So then Jamie asked me, "So how old was she?" And I snickered, "182 days." Here are my own general guidelines:Age in days: Appropriate up to one week old.Age in weeks: Appropriate up until 10 weeks old.Age in months: Appropriate up until one year old.After that? Let's do full and half years please, people. One time a woman told me her child was 39 months old and I seriously had to take a deep breath and not scream YOUR CHILD IS THREE. SAY IT WITH ME.Again, I bet this bothers me more than you because I hate math. But there it is. Oh, and I should also say  that "How far along are you" in pregnancy used to drive me nuts when answered in weeks, but I now understand why that matters and that is totally OK. In case you were wondering my stance on that.But enough of my ranting, and on to the photos. Oh! And there are photos of ME this week! My buddy Jaime (not to be confused with my husband) grabbed my camera and shot some during the party -- which was awesome. Thanks Jaime!  I had to get a shot of him standing on his own this week. It's a bit wobbly, but he's getting better. Best party cleanup around. Sign of a good party? When you need two baths afterward.  The bubble machine I got for the party was AWESOME.

What a week! Or maybe, what a weekend! We made the most of our days with lots of friends, a trip to the aquarium and the state fair. More below...Not only is Ezra standing these days, but there is a lot of tippy-toe action as he reaches for more trouble than he can handle.But back to the aquarium. That's a shark! And yeah, Ezra was mesmerized.But the jellyfish really captured his imagination...We also went to brunch this weekend, and Ezra got a bit cranky waiting around for the food. So he started chewing on his toys.And then the food came. DELISH.Sunday morning, Ralphie came over and he and Ezra wore each other out. It was AWESOME. This photo was taken when I tried to get them to snuggle. They have some work to do in that category.Ralphie is also an amazingly sharp dresser, and he left a ton of hand-me-downs for Ez that we are very excited about. Watch out, ladies, things are gonna get FANCY.Also, having two boys in the house is a touch stressful for Magda. Poor girl. And speaking of this doll, I don't have enough photos of her this week. I might have to make up for that later.On Monday, we ventured to the fair and ate this for breakfast. Fried chicken in a waffle cone with gravy might be my new most favorite state fair food.As usual, the goats were my favorite animals.So those were the first thing we introduced Ezra to. I think he was smitten as well.He also loved the rabbits.It was kinda crowded at the fair. Good thing we got there early.I love this shot.And this is the face Ezra makes after trying his very first chocolate milkshake. Mmmmmm... more please.... Also, did I mention how exhausting the fair is?

You might start to see far fewer photos on Mondays. That's because in my time with Ezra, my camera is often the last thing on my mind. The first thing on my mind is: "Oh shit! Don't burn the house down!" or "Give me that knife!" or "We go down the stairs feet first, not head first, buddy!" or "Yeah, spit out that rock. I'm sure it doesn't taste good!"This week, Ezra turned into not just a toddler, but one of those nutso Toddlers With A Death Wish. As you can tell from above, he was reaching for knives, heading down the stairs headfirst and eating dirt and rocks. He also was lighting all the stove burners, trying to stick his fingers into electrical sockets, playing with the fireplace poker and slamming the kitchen cabinets (narrowly avoiding his own fingers).Now, before you start telling me how to be a better parent, know that we have childproofed the sockets, the cabinets and the stove handles (now that he's reaching for them). We have attached furniture to walls and yes, we have babygates. But you can only do so much. The whole world is not childproofed, and we can't be expected to be at the top of our game at all hours of the day. However, that is exactly what we are attempting and it is EXHAUSTING.(Sidenote: I learned this week that as rad as I thought Saturday morning cartoons were as a kid, I now understand that they are WAY BETTER for the adults who can get a break while the kids are sucked into an entertainment vortex.)But I don't want this post to sound like parenting is all bad and tired and yada yada. There have been some fantastic moments this week.Like the fact that we can  now lay Ezra down in bed, say "It's time to go night night" and leave the room with him drifting off to sleep about 1 minute later. That is like a miracle from the heavens right there. Also? He's still adorable, and his laughter is amazing, especially when he gets so excited that he claps his hands while laughing. And lastly, watching this kid splash in the tub while laughing and smiling is way more fun than I ever dreamed of. So there are bright spots as well. But we still have to keep him from drowning, despite his best efforts. We are seriously saving his life every single day. Kinda like superheroes.With that, here are some photos from the week. For some reason, as much as The Kid was loving danger, he hated the swing this week.Then, five minutes after leaving the park, this is what happened. Oh.These Saturday morning cartoons are GENIUS. Yeah kid. Keep trying to reach into that box of light and wonder.

Oh man, this kid is mobile and getting into EVERYTHING. This week we had to step up our parenting game a gazillion percent as now all eyes need to be on Ezra at all times. No looking away, not even for a second. The high chair is one of the few places where we can relax just a bit because he can't really move out of it. And yeah, he's feeding himself waffles now. When he's not feeding them to Magda.Besides the Extreme Parenting that's happening, we also took the entire family to Augtober Fest in our neighborhood, which is a street festival with bands and food and such. It was a first for both Ezra and Magda, and it was fun for us all to go. Magda, however, was more bothered by the large crowd than I was suspecting she'd be, so we didn't stay too long.Besides that, it was mostly a "boys weekend" as I had a long day of wedding photography and work in general is at its busiest for me. We did, however, squeeze in a date night where we finally saw Mission Impossible. Oh, how I love the spy action adventure movies... And you guys! Let's talk about Tom Cruise. That's plastic surgery, no? Something about how the skin under his eyes has no bags and never moves... But back to the Madhouse.There aren't a lot of "sitting" images this week unless he's in his high chair or his stroller. Welcome to toddler-dome / aka the most exhausting weekends of your life.Oh, but at least he's cute.Here we are surrounded by toys he has strewn about and no longer wants now that he has decided emptying the bookshelf is more fun. And yeah, I'm too tired to fight it. Go on with your bad self. I'm gonna sit here and sip my coffee.Here he is trying his hardest to break down the baby gate so he can get to Magda (who is hiding upstairs).Oh this trunk? It used to have beautiful dishes on it. Now it's clear for the kid.Finally, here we are at the street festival. He only tried to leap from our arms headfirst onto the concrete about four times. Good thing we keep strong grips on the wiggler. No longer a baby, eh?It was sorta windy at the festival -- which was wonderful and fall-like.Here is Mags, who was overwhelmed, but fairly well behaved.And lastly, here's Ezra feeding the dog his cheerios. Oh yeah, this is his new favorite game. And finally, Magda here is getting a little payoff.

Man, we are exhausted over here in Plesserville. After we returned from the cabin last week, we had one day at home (in which I got seriously sick) and then we flew down to Kansas to spend some time with my Mom (and many other relatives) over the weekend. Above is my wonderful Uncle Chris who came in from Boston. He's trying to teach Ezra how to walk :)Chris is a jazz pianist, and he played for Ezra, which was a highlight. I can't wait for Ezra to get older and truly appreciate how great it is to have a musician in the family.We also spent some time at the hotel pool. You guys, it was actually cooler in Wichita than it was in Minneapolis this weekend. CRAZY! And the hotel we stayed at had an amazing pool, and we were the only ones there. It was really nice. Above is a shot Jamie took of Ezra and I in the water (Ez loves to remove any kind of eyewear you might have on). Below is Ezra hanging out poolside with my mom. This is my Uncle Chris and his wife Lynn (who was featured last Friday) along with my grandmother. I try not to put too many posed images on the blog, but I really like this one.This is my grandmother playing ball with Ezra. I love how much these two like each other.This is my Aunt Laurie from Oklahoma who came all the way to meet Ezra! It was great to see her.And I love this image of my mom and my brother. I think this is the happiest shot I got of mom all weekend. I'm not gonna lie, the health issues she is facing makes these visits really hard, but I'm glad I went.And now we are back home with our sweet Magda, who we missed dearly. I have a crazy week ahead (three shoots, a wedding and a block party), but soon? Soon Jamie and I will VEG OUT. And that will be a great day.