Second Annual What Should Dutch Be For Halloween Vote

You read that right, it's time for the Second Annual What Should Dutch Be For Halloween Vote! This is where you post a comment giving me ideas for my little prince's costume. I will consider anything and everything, narrow it down to three choices and then have a vote-off. Post early, post often, and keep it clean.


I'm grateful for: naps, hooded sweatshirts, internet, writing journals, games

Happy Birthday Julianna!

5 Things I Love About My Cousin Julianna

1. She's the most beautiful person inside and out.
2. When she was little and would get hurt she'd yell, "Owie, owie, owie" over and over again.
3. We've always had a lot in common.
4. The girl can dress like nobody's business.
5. She's one of the most genuine people I've ever known.

Love you Jay and happy birthday!


I'm grateful for: peanut butter, money (even though we don't have any), good books, DVDs, Nuby sippy cups

Happy Birthday Aunt Marianne!

Happy birthday to my very special and wonderful Aunt Marianne. Without you (and your girls) my wedding would not have been nearly as fun to plan, I wouldn't have had a dress or a hat, and I would have had to do the planning all on my lonesome. I'm so grateful to have you in my life and I love you! Happy birthday!


I'm grateful for: cars, keys, paper, mail, stamps

The Stripper Strikes Again!

Why is it that my baby strips when he gets angry? Or perhaps he strips and then gets angry? I'm not sure. All I know is when Dutch started to cry at 5:30 this morning Chris went in and he was buck naked. He had unzipped his zip-up onesie, taken it off, and removed his diaper. Luckily he hadn't yet peed on the floor. I told Chris to hurry and get Dutch dressed before he decided to.

I'm not sure where this nudist thing is coming from. Is it a Bailey thing? Or a Davis boy thing?

The Great Strip-Tease of 2009

I woke up this morning and found this in Dutch's crib.
That's right, a stripper!

I didn't get a video, but in this picture he's actually swinging his pants around, like it's a strip-tease. I'm not sure where he learned it, but it freaks me out. We all recall what happens when Dutch takes off his pants, don't we? That's right, his diaper goes next and then there's pee all over the floor! I was late to the show, but didn't miss it entirely, so I got there before the diaper could be removed. I shudder to think what would have happened if I'd waited only a few minutes more. Lesson learned: Onesies must be worn at all times. NO EXCEPTIONS!

I'm grateful for: cameras, camera cords being in the place they're supposed to be, raspberries, clocks, rain

A List for Tuesday

5 Reasons I Wish Bo Were Like the Dog in Good Dog, Carl

1. Wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night to change Dutch's diaper.
2. Could (hypothetically) go run errands and leave the baby at home.
3. It would be awesome to have a dog that well-trained.
4. One of my favorite stories is Peter Pan and I always wanted a nanny like Nana.
5. Housework would be so much easier if Bo helped instead of getting in the way.


I'm grateful for: Wednesdays, razors, bubblebath, books, lotion

Giggle Bubbles

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One Perfect Moment

It's about 1am, but I wanted to blog before I forgot this. Every once in a while you're handed a perfect moment and if you don't write it down you risk losing it forever.

Dutch has been sick the past week or so. It's a little cold, but he's been waking up between midnight and 1am every night. He's so reliable that I've stopped going to bed because it's easier to stay up than get myself up after a couple hours of sleep.

Tonight, walking through a dark house on my way to get Dutch, I tripped over Bo. I landed really hard on my knees, hands, and got a nice little bump on my noggin. My body just vibrated with pain. Tears came immediately to my eyes. All I could think was "Ouch."

I went in and got Dutch with my hands and knees still throbbing. Chris came in and made sure I was okay and gave my arm a little rub. Dutch, seeing this, gave me a little rub on my shoulder.

It was just such a sweet moment. This little guy saw his Daddy comforting me and wanted to help too. I laughed and felt instantly better. (Hopefully he'll feel better soon so we can all get a full night's sleep around here.)

As for Bo, even though he didn't get yelled at he felt like he was in trouble and hid. It wasn't his fault so once Dutch was down I went and found him and made sure that he was okay. He was.

I'm grateful for: night-lights, snuggles, baby vapor rub, big blue rocking chairs, ibuprofen.

Grandpa Greg PJ's

Here is Dutch in PJ's that look just like Grandpa Greg's.
Which made me think of this quote:

"A son is the promise that time makes to a man, the guarantee every father receives that whatever he holds dear will someday be considered foolish, and that the person he loves best in the world will misunderstand him."

Why is it . . . ?

Why is it:

• Dutch will sleep in every day of the week, but the one day I get up early to get things done, he wakes up early too?
• Bo will be good the entire day, but bark incessantly the minute I put Dutch down for a nap?
• when I have the time and space to write, I can't think of anything to write about?

I'm grateful for: bowls, spoons, Lucky Charms, milk, 3-ring binders

A Thin Line Between Love and Hurt

5 Things Dutch Does to Bo:

1. Yanks on his tail
2. Sticks his fingers in Bo's mouth so he can feel his tongue
3. Grabs Bo's "handle"
4. Lays on Bo's dog bed, because apparently that is "base" when "they" play tag
5. Tries to eat Bo's dog food. But I guess it's only fair since he shares his food with Bo.


I'm grateful for: headphones, internet, my favorite blue pen, printers, thick stacks of white paper

Being Grateful

I've decided at the end of each blog to list five things that I'm grateful for. I've realized that I'm a pretty ungrateful person and need to work on that aspect of my character. So this will be an attempt to focus on the good in life. I'm going to try to do small things; it's easy to see on the big and obvious, but I want to find the small and simple.

Here is the first list:

Things I'm grateful for--knives, bananas, muffin tins, socks, my pink blanket

Future Mr. Basketball

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Xanax for Babies

We're home safe from Rhode Island. We had a great trip. My mother is Xanax for babies. Every time Dutch came near her he would fall asleep. I'm exaggerating, but not much.

We went to a Labor Day picnic on Monday and Dutchie got to play with other kids. None were his size or his age. They were all older and smaller. I didn't realize what a gigantor he was until I saw him towering over a 3-year-old. He had a lot of fun playing with the other babies and it was fun to watch his incredulousness about their walking. He was also very good about sharing his toy. He was NOT in the mood to share his grandma or grandpa, however. When he saw Sophie sitting on Mom's lap he was pissed. Then when Dad was bouncing her, he was pretty annoyed as well.

Big milestone: Dutch can now wave.

It was a sad day to leave my mom and dad. I miss being babied and taken care of. Not to mention everyone at their church was so nice that it made me wish I lived there. It would be nice to live near normal people with kids.

Also, PopPop inadvertently taught Dutch how to bounce a ball! See the video tomorrow.

Having Fun in Rhode Island (Aren't You Jealous?)

Daddy complained last night that I must not be having any fun because I haven't blogged about it yet. Truthfully, it was more out of laziness than lack of stuff to write about. Here is my trip to Rhode Island so far:

Dutch and I left at about 8am Friday morning. The TomTom said it would take 9 hours to get here. 12 hours later we pulled in to Mom and Dad's parking lot. I would have been in a worse mood but I arrived just in time to see the most beautiful sunset over the ocean. Dutch was cranky, but perked right up when he saw GaGa and PopPop coming out to greet him. Sleeping that night was not something that he did much of, but we all survived.

The next day we were going to run errands and just spend time together. Just after I pulled Dutch's carseat out of my car to put in Dad's car, Dad helpfully shut the door. My purse was inside. My keys were in my purse. The doors were all locked.

We decided to worry about all of that later and went and ran our errands to buy Dutch enough fruit and veggies to satisfy his incredible appetite (did I mention he's wearing 2T clothes now? Thanks Heidi for sharing). Dad had a meeting to go to so Mom and I went to a very fun toy store called The Walrus and Carpenter where Dutch fell in love with the wooden Thomas the Tank Engine trains. We bought him Billy the orange train who has really gapped teeth, so I said Billy must be short for Hill-Billy and Mom said he must be a mountain train! We finally decided to worry about my keys in the car. We called a few places and $40 later we had my keys and purse. Dutch napped and slept incredible well yesterday, although he got up MUCH to early for my liking. Mom watched him while I got a little more sleep.

Today at church Dutch was treated like a rock-star and I was treated like a rock-star's mom. Everyone LOVES my mom and dad and they all knew all about Dutch and me. Several people told me they were so excited to finally meet the grandbaby they had heard so much about. We had a really great time and everyone was really sweet to us.

There are still more days left and more fun to be had, so I'll blog later, hopefully with pictures!

"That is Not a Handle!"

Dutch loves Bo.

Sometimes too much.

Sometimes so much it borders on torture.

This has been the case lately. Dutch is fascinated with Bo's tail and yanks on it (really hard) every chance he gets. Bo growls, stands up, and walks away. Dutch crawls after him and does it again. Repeat until I'm worried someone (Dutch) is going to get hurt. The other day Dutch went to an entirely different form of torture. He became intrigued by Bo's penis and grabbed it. Chris saw, laughed, and told Dutch "That is not a handle!"

Poor Bo.

Noah's Big Bald Head

My friend from church, Joanne, gave me some of her daughter's old toys when she was cleaning out and making room. One of them was the Fisher Price Little People Noah's Ark. Dutch loves the ark, the animals, and the rain/rainbow "flag" that goes on top of the ark. He likes that the boat is on wheels and he can push it back and forth. Nothing compares, however, to how much he likes to chew on Noah's big bald head. While the other animals seem delicious, when given a choice he'll choose Noah over all the others.

It's been getting colder lately. Dutch has never been one to enjoy socks, but the other morning his little tootsies were so frozy that I put a pair on him, hoping that the warmth they provided would outweigh his obvious irritation with them. No such luck. After he took them off he placed one of them on my foot. As if to say, "I don't want to wear them, but you can."

He is very close to walking. One of his favorite things to do right now is put his hands out and stand up on his legs so he makes an A shape. I always applaud this since it's how he's going to learn to stand up without help. So far he thinks that's the game in and of itself. We'll see if he figures out how to stand on his own from it.

Lastly, he's been doing this bizarre thing where he scrunches up his face, pushes his top lip out and inhales through his nose. Like he's trying to sniff his upper lip. It's really funny and I have no idea where he got it. Chris says it's something Uncle Joshy used to do, but I don't see how Dutch would know that.

Sorry I haven't been better about posting. Now that my August deadline is over I will have more time to blog. Hopefully I will also have more to blog about!