A List for Tuesday

Five Things I Did Today That I Haven't Done in a Long Time

1. Stay up with a crying baby from 2am on (he's sick).
2. Spend hours talking to my cousin Christina.
3. Eat at Fat Jack's (now called Roy's).
4. Walk around Snow College Campus.
5. Eat 7-Layer dip.

Gingerbread Fun

We made gingerbread houses with the Morgan's and then again with the Davis'. Mine did not win any prizes, but I liked the way they turned out. What do you think?

This was my trial run, I ran out of green lifesavers.

Notice Chris's house in the background. His suffered from an "avalanche."

Favorite Picture Friday

Monkey butt!

A List for Tuesday

Five of my Favorite Christmas Pictures of Dutch
(in no particular order)

1. Dutch in his Uncle Joshy outfit

2. Dutch in his Santa suit

3. Dutch in his Santa hat

4. Dutch under the Christmas tree

5. Dutch's first time seeing the Christmas lights turned on

A Christmas First

One of my favorites

Another favorite

Dutchie looks drunk

Today Dutch had a Christmas first. He went and saw Santa Claus! It was really fun! Okay, I'm exaggerating a little bit. The half hour in line was not fun. The people behind us who had no concept of personal space were not fun either.

When Dutch sat on Santa's lap he was a little confused, but soon understood that he was supposed to smile and laugh. He was SO happy! Santa kept tickling him and making him laugh and the pictures turned out so cute.

I don't remember ever going to see Santa when I was little, but I am glad that I took Dutch to do it!

Preparing for Christmas

This will be the fifth Christmas that Chris and I have celebrated as a married couple and Dutch's first. I have had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit because some of my favorite parts of the season are decorating, baking, writing a family newsletter and shopping for gifts; none of which I've been able to do.

Last night I sat very still and watched the fire in the stove downstairs and thought about all of the things that I am so grateful for: I have a husband who is willing to be broke right now so that we can be better prepared for life in the long run (and who is so handsome, to boot!). I have a son who is beautiful, happy, and the most well-behaved baby I've ever heard of. I have a dog who has every reason in the world to be bitter and hate people, but has yet to find a person he doesn't love wholeheartedly. I have in-laws who are willing to let us invade their house so that we can afford to stay for as long as possible. I have family spread through this entire world who I still manage to stay close to.

While I am still having a hard time feeling the Christmas spirit, I am trying to keep that attitude of gratitude in my heart. I wish I had the money to spend on my boys and could buy them everything they want and need, but I can't. I wish for so many things that are impossible, or not possible this year, but I can't dwell on that.

This is the only Christmas I'm going to get this year and I'm not going to waste it by dwelling on the negatives.

Favorite Picture Friday

Sadly, there is no picture for today. My laptop is being weird and won't connect to the internet so I can't upload my new Dutch pictures that are SO cute and Christmas-y. Hopefully I will be able to post some next Friday!

A Fit of Nostalgia

Today Dutch and I went to visit my old co-workers in AOCE at the University of Utah. It's not very often that I wish for things past, but today was one of those times. I worked at the U for over 3 years. I started out the first year Chris and I were married as a data entry clerk and, after a couple of years, was promoted to Program Coordinator. I loved working there. Not just because I loved the work (which I did), but because I had the best co-workers you could ask for. That's a huge part of every job and I became so close to those people they were like family.

As I was talking to them about Dutch and my life in Pittsburgh I got kind of sad. I wanted to stay and answer phones and help with filing and looking over an Exception to Policy form and decide whether to grant the exception or not. I wanted to sit and joke and go around and blow bubbles like I used to do every Friday (known by some people as Bubble Girl). I wanted to stay and stay and stay.

I have had bad jobs and I have had good jobs, but the greatest job I think I will ever have is the one that I had at the U.

Another First

Tonight Dutch went for his first trip to Costco. Apparently this is some sort of Davis boy rite of passage. A very momentous occasion.

A List for Tuesday

3 Careers Chris WILL Allow Dutch to Have:

1. Firefighter
2. Drug-dealer (or pharmacist as some people call them)
3. Cowboy

Trip to Utah: Day Three

We are here! We are here! We are here!

We had great weather the whole way and pulled in to Greg and Kellie's driveway at about 1pm. Dutch was very glad to be able to roll around on the floor for a while instead of being strapped into his car-seat and Bo was beside himself with happiness.

We went to visit both sets of grandparents and Dutch was, of course, a big hit. He's a lot bigger than anyone expected and he's getting bigger every day! A shirt that I bought him just a couple of weeks ago was so tight on him today that it kept pulling up around his man-boobs. Luckily I had a onesie underneath it or he would have been showing a lot of skin!

Anyway, we made it! Everyone is happy and safe and we can't wait to start the vacation!

(And Jules, we'll be here for an undecided amount of time. I don't start school until January 9th, so we'll leave sometime before then!)

Trip to Utah: Day Two

Dutch woke us up at 4am this morning (5am Pennsylvania time). Neither of us could get back to sleep so we figured that we might as well get ready and go. The trip went really quickly. We actually traveled about 3 1/2 hours further than we had planned because everything went so well. Instead of spending the night in Nebraska we were able to make it to Laramie, Wyoming.

Tomorrow we'll get to Utah and it might even still be light out when we get there! Nothing much else to write about, today was uneventful--in a good way!

Trip to Utah: Day One

We got off to a later start than we had anticipated, but luckily we gained an hour by the time we stopped tonight in Davenport, Iowa.

Bo, as always, thought he was going to get left behind so he made sure to stay underfoot to remind us not to leave him. It makes me so sad that he has all of those abandonment issues--how could you leave a dog like Bo behind? No matter how many times we told him we wouldn't leave him he could not be convinced. Until, that is, he smelled his ball in Chris's bag and smelled his food box being packed. Then he knew he was coming and could not be convinced to stay inside until we were ready to go. He sat in the car for about half an hour and I couldn't coax him back inside, no matter how cold it was!

I'm getting a cold, which is not fun, but I made sure to bring a box of tissues so I'm good to go!

Dutchie did surprisingly well. He didn't sleep too much, so hopefully he will be able to sleep well tonight. He got some good naps, but none were too long. Here's a video of Dutch's first night in a hotel room!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Favorite Picture Friday

Bo the Wonder Dog
I love how his tail is just a blur!

Dutch and Rice Cereal

I forget if I blogged about this already, but Dutch is eating cereal. It's still sort of a process because he REALLY loves to blow raspberries while he's being fed, so it takes some time. At first he would spit out every other bite, but now he eats like a champ (and I mean that literally, a World-Class Food-Eating Champ, complete with encouraging coach saying "Just one more bite!"). It's kind of sad realizing how big he's getting. He is still refusing to roll over front to back (he's done it before, but won't anymore), but he loves to roll over back to front. Then he cries because he wants to be on his back again, so I flip him over and it begins again.

We leave for a Utah Christmas on Saturday morning. It's going to be a three day drive and I'm hoping that Dutch, Bo, and Chris all behave themselves. They all get a little antsy when they've been in the car too long and I'm hoping that I don't have to kill one of them. In the meantime I am packing and looking forward to spending some time with Chris. It's been a while since we've been able to spend quality time together.

Sitting Up Like A Big Boy

A List for Tuesday

Three Careers that Chris Doesn't Want Dutch to Have:

1. Firework salesman (because he would have to work on his birthday)
2. Pimp
3. Ninja

My Five Year Goal

They always say that you should have goals. A short-term goal (like a week or a month or whatever), a medium-term goal (like a year), and a long-term goal (like five or ten years). So I came up with one for me:

I am going to grow my hair out until Dutch's 5th birthday and then donate my hair to Locks of Love. Why? Because I haven't grown my hair out in a really long time and I think it would be fun to see if I can make it work. Wish me luck!

Thank You Very Much!

Dutch got a bath tonight and then he and watched Scrooge with Albert Finney while Pam took a nap. He loves it just like Grandma Kellie.

P.S. Do you like his towel? His Uncle Matty gave it to him. It has his name on it and a dog. It's so cute!

A Shoulder to Gnaw On

Dutchie has sort of given up snuggling against me when I hold him. It breaks my heart. The other day, however, he started cuddling me again! I was so excited until I put him down. Turns out he wasn't cuddling me, he was chewing on me! I am his new favorite chew toy, apparently. Now every time I hold him he gums my shoulder. Chris thinks it's hilarious, of course, because I've always been a biter and turn-about is fair play.

Teething baby is so not fun.

Favorite Picture Friday

I just love this picture. That was such a wonderful day!

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Happy 5-Month Birthday to Dutch!

My favorite Christmas song, for those of you who want to know, is "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." It makes me laugh and smile and I like to sing along really loud when it comes on the radio. Chris tolerates this remarkably and even downloaded the song so I could play it on my ipod.

Anyway, this got me to thinking about Dutch's stuffed animals. He has a lot of weird ones. He has a groundhog (we do live in Pennsylvania), a manatee, a platypus, and his favorite is his lion. He doesn't have a hippo though. That seems very sad to me because when I sing my Christmas song he has no idea what a hippopotamus is and that must make the song very confusing.

He always makes a face like he's confused, and I know it can't be my singing. Right?

Funny Mr. Bo-Bo

Okay so last night I did something that I am paying for today--I lost track of the time writing. At 2am I looked at the clock and yipped. Then I hurried to finish the scene I was working on and was under the covers by 2:30. Dutchie woke up at 6:30, but was asleep again by about 7. Then he woke up for good at about 9 and I put him in his boppy next to me on the bed and tried to convince him to go back to sleep. Here's the funny part:

Bo doesn't like things covering him up usually. He gets really annoyed when Chris throws the blankets over him, gets up, turns around 3 times and lays back down. I don't know what was going on with him this morning but he stuck his paws and his head under the blankets to get to sleep. Just his paws and head. I noticed it when he started snoring. I went to grab the camera but, of course, Bo heard me and thought, "Someone's walking around? Quick! I must follow them!" So I didn't get a picture of it. Reading this back it's probably one of those you-had-to-be-there type of things, but I don't care. I'm posting it anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving

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A Look at the Camera

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A List for Tuesday

Five Things You Might Not Know About Dutch

1. Winking makes him laugh (especially if you wink one eye at a time really fast)
2. He sleeps with his arm splayed out to the sides
3. He has now mastered the back to belly roll, even though YESTERDAY was the first time he had done it!
4. He doesn't understand why I try to feed him rice cereal when formula is so much faster
5. He "talks" ALL THE TIME! I had to take him out of Sunday School because he was being so loud, almost had to take him out of the movie at the museum, and 9 times out of 10 I wake up to him babbling to himself instead of crying. Very vocal baby!

Don't miss the video of him below (and thanks to Morgan who inadvertently led me to the perfect place to put my videos)

Rock'em Sock'em Robots

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Happy Birthday Heidi!

You might be getting older, but you're not getting more mature!