Happy Halloween!

We have had a busy, awesome day! This morning Dane had his 6-month well-baby check-up (more about that tomorrow), then we went to Kellie's office to trick-or-treat. Dutch had a lot of fun going "trick-treat" with his Grandma Honey. Dawn and Xander were there the same time as us so that made it extra fun (Dawn was a doctor and Xander was a skeleton). After Kellie's office Dutch went to school. When he got home we had lunch and relaxed. Then when Chris got home we went out and trick-or-treated around our neighborhood AND Greg and Kellie's. Whoo. I am exhausted. Unfortunately there is no rest for the wicked because tomorrow is Zaque and Amy's wedding!

Here are pictures:

 Chris and Dutch trick-or-treating.

 The Big Bad Wolf

(isn't he ferocious?)

 My gorgeous train conductor.

Little Red Riding Hood with the Big Bad Wolf

(Dane was laughing at Dutch, of course).

Brotherly Love

The boys in matching dinosaur jammies.

You can't really tell, but Dane is laughing so hard!

Big News About Baby Dane!

Several big things on the Baby Dane front! I will present them from least exciting to most exciting (although they are all super-exciting to me).

#1: On Friday Baby Dane will be 6 months old! Can you believe it? It feels crazy that he is already that old. I can honestly say that I am enjoying every minute with him and I don't want it to change!

#2: He is getting his first tooth! I can see the whiteness on his gums (lower-right, if you were wondering), but it hasn't broken through yet. He's been a little crankier, but even cranky he's the sweetest guy ever.

#3: For Halloween he is going to be the cutest Big Bad Wolf that ever lived (and I'll be Little Red Riding Hood). Pictures will be posted.

#4: Today, for the very first time, he ate cereal! I had tried previously to get him to eat it, but his tongue thrust was still too prominent. He ate the entire tablespoon I'd prepared for him and seemed to actually like it. Dutch, of course, wanted to help, but I knew that would only end in tears, so I promised him he could help in a little while when Baby Dane is a little more used to it.

#5: (and most exciting) Yesterday Dane got up on all fours and started rocking back and forth (see below). Crawling is coming fast and I'm not sure I'm ready for it!

(Do you notice the little stripe of dark hair right down the middle?

What is that about?)

A List for Tuesday

I can't think of a list today. What's yours?

A Little This, A Dash of That

I haven't really blogged outside of my Tuesday lists for a while. There are reasons. Here they are:

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARIANNE! You are my favorite twin-ish sister ever. I love you and hope you have a super-fantastic day.

Since Monday Dutch has not been feeling well. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights he threw up. In the middle of the night. In our bedroom. Every single night! On Wednesday Chris stayed home from work because he wasn't feeling well either. We've missed out on lots of fun things this week because we've had the icky sickies at our house. The only bright side is that Dane and I haven't come down with anything yet. I hope that remains the case.

I know that I don't blog about Dane very much and I feel bad about that. The truth of the matter is he is SO perfect! I can literally count on one hand the number of hard days/nights that we've had. He's so mellow and easy-going. He has such an easy smile and he thinks Dutch is the most hilarious person in the world. My little guy is getting a lot more mobile now. He'll be crawling soon and then all bets are off! I'm sure he's going to be just like his big brother and be curious about everything that he can get his hands on. Dane is also talking a lot more. He yells, squawks, la-las, or laughs all the time. Last night Chris brought Dane up to me because he said he was being too loud and he couldn't hear the TV over his yelling!

Dutch is doing really well (other than being sick right now). He rides the bus to pre-school two days a week and he loves it! He's talking a little more, being a great big brother, and tormenting the dog with his love every chance he gets. His newest thing is bossing Dane around. He LOVES to tell Dane what to do! And he doesn't seem to care that Dane, like Bo, never listens. One cute thing: he's obsessed with this clean-up song that he heard on the Disney Channel; he's always talking about cleaning up the mess. The other day Chris took him to Bah and Honey's house and Bah was cleaning out the garage. Dutch said something like, "Good job cleaning the mess, Bah!"

Chris is doing great. He comes home every day in a good mood and constantly tells me how much he loves his job. It's such a great change from a year ago! He enjoys the work, the people he works with, and the benefits and the pay are far superior.

I am still trying to find my feet as a stay-at-home mom. You think after doing it for 3 years I would have come up with some sort of system, but nope. I still have no idea what I'm doing. My writing is going really well. I meet with my friend Jenel once a week for a little writer's group where we critique each other's writing and talk about writing-related stuff. It's awesome! I also love our new ward and neighborhood. The house is great and the people are too!

Bo is getting old and crotchety. His face and paws are turning more gray every day and he won't put up with anyone's shenanigans anymore. I imagine him sitting on our front stoop yelling at the kids to get off our lawn! We still love and adore him, but we're thinking of getting another dog to bring out Bo's playfulness again.

So that's us. Anything else you want to know?

A List for Tuesday

10 Things I Love About Chris
(in no particular order)

1. When he laughs really hard his nose scrunches up.
2. He made me French toast for dinner last night.
3. If I need time away from the boys he is the first one to suggest it.
4. He's the best dad ever!
5. Even after a full day of work and an hour on the train he comes home in a good mood.
6. He snores.
7. When he wears his glasses he looks so intellectual.
8. He has endless patience for my particular brand of crazy.
9. He enjoys reading the classics that most people plan on reading but never have.
10. When something bad happens he always remains calm. (Which is good, because I do not.)

I love you Chris!

Prayers for Grandpa

Chris's Grandpa Morgan had a mild stroke. He can still talk, but one side of his mouth was affected and one arm. They are running tests to see the severity and all that. I don't really know all that much about strokes except that they scare me.

Please keep him in your prayers.

As a side note I am grateful for the friends and family who read this blog because I know you guys will actually pray for him. And that's awesome.

Control Your Children!

Back when I was an expert on parenting (you know, before I had kids), I would see kids running wild and I always looked at the parents with disdain and thought to myself, "Why don't you control your children?" Now that I'm on the other side things look a little different. As my mom-in-law says, "With the pitter-patter of little feet come a thousand words to eat."

Lately Dutch has been really out of control when we're in public. There are days when I'm so exhausted by him that I let him run a little more wild than I should. I can see the looks from other people. The same looks I used to give. If only it were easy to control my child!

A List for Tuesday

Random Thoughts

• Sometimes when I see the commercials to become a massage therapist I think, "I should do that."
• I'm very lonely for my sisters.
• It sucks being a sister-in-law and not a sister.
• There are days when I really don't like Dutch.
• I'm not a morning person.
• I don't like to be woken up and I will do pretty much anything to make you go away so I can sleep more.
• I wish I was craftier.
• There are days when doing even one thing exhausts me.
• Dane is a good baby, but he wears me out sometimes.
• I don't have nearly as many Halloween decorations as I used to.
• I wish Dutch would stop tormenting Bo with his love.
• Dutch always wants to snuggle when I'm not in the mood to be touched.
• A lot of people wish for more time. I wish for more sleep.
• Most of these sound complainy, but I don't mean them to be.
• Cartoons were way better when I was a kid.
• There are pictures where Dane and Dutch look the exact same except their eyes. Dane's are big round saucers and Dutch's are sideways tear-drops.
• My to-do list seems to be getting longer instead of shorter even though I do stuff every day. How is that possible?
• I love fall.

A List for Tuesday

When Chris was in Venezuela serving an LDS mission he would sometimes send lists home. The list today is inspired by those lists.

OUR RELATIONSHIP IN NUMBERS:
Years married: 8
Kids: 2
Dogs we've owned: 3
Dogs we currently own: 1
Cities we've lived in: 4
Apartments we've lived in: 3
Houses we've lived in: 3
Houses we've owned: 1
Cars we own: 2
College degrees between the two of us: 5
Pieces of jewelry given: 7
Times Chris has raised his voice: 2
Times I've raised my voice: 2 million
"Real" honeymoons taken: 0
Trips to the ER: 2 (that's pretty good for 8 years, I think)
Total time spent apart: Less than 6 months
Amount of time enjoyed: Every second

I love you, Second Buddy.

This Year Love Came in a Blue Box With a White Ribbon

Today our marriage turns 8 years old! For those of you who don't know, the 8 year anniversary is the bronze anniversary. That means if our marriage were an Olympian it would be in 3rd place. But at least it placed!

For our anniversary I gave Chris a new fleece jacket. "Gave" is a loosely used term in this case since Chris picked it out and bought it. But Chris won the husband of the year award when he gave me my gift. It came inside a blue bag, inside a blue box, inside a blue pouch - a Tiffany's ring! I've been wanting a wedding band for a long time and he gave me one this year. It's awesome! It has the New York Tiffany & Co address on it and it's just super-cool.

I can honestly say that 8 years seems like a really long time to me which is weird because 7 didn't seem long at all. Tomorrow I will be doing a special anniversary-inspired list. So stay tuned! (And make sure you don't miss the adorable baby Dane pictures below.)

Dane-Dane

On Tuesday our beautiful baby turned 5 months! In honor of the occasion here are some pictures I've been meaning to post. Enjoy!

 Playing with the play-bar on his bouncer.

He gets frustrated because he can't get the chick in his mouth.

 With his "cousin" Thomas.

 Holding hands with his cousin Xander J.

 Grandma Honey rocking both boys to sleep.

Xander is in her arms, Dane is laying on the swing.

 Sucking his thumb.

He only does this when he's especially mad at me.

In the adorable little golfer outfit his Grandma Honey bought him.

(Xander has a matching one, pictures will be taken soon.)