What Is So Exciting About These??

By far, Xavier's favorite activity lately is playing with these sports bottles. They can literally occupy him for hours. It's fabulous and ridiculous at the same time. He prefers them over any toy he has and most of the time goes straight for them the second he comes in the door from wherever we've been. They are housed in the 1 cabinet that we let him play in.

Two important things to note in the picture above. I REALLY should reorganize that cabinet, and despite all the junk in there, Xavier doesn't touch anything but the sports bottles. Strange, huh! He just knocks them over so they roll out of the cabinet.

Then he proceeds to roll the bottles across the kitchen floor for an endless amount of time. He doesn't like is so much when they roll under the dining room hutch because he hasn't figured out how to read under there and get them. So, he just sits there and stares at the bottles and then up at me as if to say "Um, HELLO -- are you gonna get those for me Mommy?!"

And in true Xavier fashion (well, I guess all 1 year old's fashion) he just leaves them in the middle of the floor when he's finished playing and goes on to something else. And so I think I end up picking up the bottles and putting them back in the cabinet at least a good 10 times a day.

He likes to get them out of the cabinet so much that I'd hate to deprive him of that joy but just letting the bottles stay out on the floor all the time. Ya know, because he's soooooo deprived!

Christmas with the Crank

I made a comment to a friend earlier in the week that I was looking forward to this Christmas/Birthday (my b-day is on Christmas) much more than last year. This is because last year at Christmas Xavier was 1 week old and I was exhausted. Last year I ate my birthday dinner in 3 minutes because X was screaming to be fed. Then he barely slept all night Christmas Eve so I was completely exhausted all of Christmas Day. So, I told my friend that this Christmas/Birthday I was looking forward to a leisurely birthday dinner and a good night's sleep. Well, I spoke too soon! Walter and I are dubbing the holiday this year as "Christmas with the Crank" (a play off the movie title spelled slightly different) because that's just what Xavier was -- cranky and clingy! It started off by X getting scared of the electric knife used to cut the ham on Christmas Eve (funny, I know!) and except for a few snippets of happiness the crank went on until we put him to bed Christmas Day night. Xavier cried during Christmas Eve dinner just like last year. Then he got up twice during the night and up for good at 5am Christmas morning. He fell asleep for 20 minutes in church which was just enough for him to think he didn't need a morning nap, but not enough to make him a happy camper. His mood picked up a little after his afternoon nap but we left my grandma's house that evening with X whining the entire way home.

Despite all the crank there was lots of fun and family and we are very blessed. Xavier was asleep in my arms at church when we were all singing Silent Night and there was something about the stillness of him during that moment that was truly holy.

X helping me blow out my candles

What every little boy wants for Christmas....a toothbrush!

Unwrapping a present (and of course much more interested in the paper!)

Dishtowel bib for Christmas dinner

What are you talking about Mommy, I'm not cranky!

Catching Up

I lost my camera for a few days so my blogging was held up. I'm glad to report it's been found. After looking everywhere I finally located my very cold camera out in the driver seat pocket of my car. Perfect place, huh. I was getting scared that I wouldn't find in in time for Christmas. My camera is not spectacular, but it's all I got so it would surely be missed! One day I'm going to get a really nice camera and be able to take lots of artsy shots like other people's blogs have. There will not be flash shadowing (not sure if that's a real term or not) anywhere in site! But until then, I'll be thankful that I have a digital camera at all! Anywho....here's a few random pictures from last week that I like.

I love the look on X's face in this one and how his belly sticks out in the stripes. He was playing with the wooden spoon that I mentioned in a previous post he likes to tote around.

Walter thinks it's really funny to stick the bathtub letters on X's head because they are so lightweight he doesn't realize it's there. I couldn't resist this classic "X MARKS THE SPOT" shot.

I don't get many sleeping photos of X anymore because he sleeps in a pretty dark room. (Long story short, X's room is white and yellow so it's pretty bright in there so my mom was kind enough to make a blackout curtain -- it works wonders!!) But I did get this one and I love how just his one foot is sticking out of a blanket that has feet all over it!

In other news, as we get ready to celebrate the holidays our counter once again looks like this....

Walter came down with something over the weekend. He had a lovely sinus infection last Christmas, I believe. I think I had one the year before at Christmas. Santa, can you please bring us something else next year!!!

Grandpa Walter Comes to Town

Walter's dad, Walter Sr, came in town from San Diego for a visit last week. It was nice to have him here and he was able to be here for Xavier's birthday. It had been a whole year since Grandpa Walter was here so X was like a totally different kid. This visit went much smoother for me than last year's visit when X was only 10 days old, I was still recovering, dealing with nursing problems, hadn't slept, oh yeah, and it was Christmas time too. Makes me tired just thinking about it. So, everyone got to enjoy things much more this time around. Xavier wasn't too sure about this new person in our house though. He was fine to play with and play around but it took a full 4 days before X would let Grandpa Walter hold him. I felt bad, but knew this would happen since X has lots of stranger anxiety right now, especially with men. Luckily he warmed up and by the end of the visit X would gladly be held by Grandpa Walter.


Here's a shot of "The Three Walters" one morning before my Walter headed off to work (thus the lovely pinstripe polyester uniform shirt!). Disregard the bed head on 2 of the 3 Walters. Since Xavier's middle name is Walter he gets to be a Walter. My Walter really wanted to name our baby Walter III if it was a boy but I wasn't so keen on the idea since it gets confusing to have 2 people of the same name in the same house. I mean, I'm confused just writing Walter so many times in this post! Walter as a middle name was a good compromise.

While Grandpa Walter was in town we went to Hodak's in the city for dinner one night with the Deeken clan. Great Grandma Gloria looks outnumbered in this picture with all the boys. Glad I was there to up the girl count.

Xavier opened an early Christmas gift from Grandpa Walter. He seemed to like tearing open the wrapping paper. What is the gift, you ask......

Why an adorable Sock Monkey Jack in the Box. Unfortunately Xavier is terrified of it. Won't go near it. If you start to turn the crank and the music plays he bursts into tears. When the monkey pops up he is so startled that he jumps back. I tried opening it real slow to avoid the scare and he still cries. Right now it's sitting open on the fireplace and we're hoping that if it's in the room for awhile he'll eventually come to enjoy it! Last night I did notice X put his finger on the crank for a second, so that's progress.

One Year Ago Today....

We became a family of three.




My how things change in a year.....




One year ago this shirt seemed like it would never fit this 9 lb baby. (a gift from Uncle Brett!)


And now it's almost getting too small on this 25 lb one year old!


We took this picture the day we came home from the hospital. I made the stocking but we didn't have the name on it yet since we didn't know what we were having.


It's certainly not a mystery anymore!

Happy Birthday Xavier. We love you more than you could imagine!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

The tree has been up but I just now got around to downloading the pictures. We're kind of treating this as X's first Christmas in a way since he was only 8 days old last year. We all suited up to go to the tree lot. Next year when he's more aware of what's going on I think we might go to a tree farm and cut one ourselves. I think it took longer to bundle up X than it did to pick out the tree.

As you can see, X was so excited to get in his little suit!

Hey, where did my hands go?

I can barely walk now!

Despite me saying that I wanted a small tree this year, we ended up getting a pretty good sized one. I swear it looked smaller on the lot than when we got it home! Of course Walter loves big trees so he wasn't going to say anything and knows good and well that my spacial estimation ability is not very good!

So we got it all lit and decorated the next night. You'll notice a lack of ornaments on the bottom front -- just a few soft ones so as not to temp X too much. He actually has shown almost no interest in the tree at all.

Favorite Things

I'm sure Oprah's "Favorite Things" are a big more exciting, but Xavier definitely has his lately. It's amazing how attached little ones can become to certain items and activities. I don't want to forget so I thought I'd make a list.

• Big wooden spoons and wire whisks - He loves to chew them, swing them, and carry them around the house.


• Opening and Closing ANYTHING - The "most favorite" include the cabinets, the microwave, the dryer, and the shower doors.


• Bananas and Turkey - Not in the same bite though.


• Clapping - X celebrates just about everything with a clap, and also for no reason at all.


• Being Held - Everywhere except church that is!


• Brushing Teeth - I think he just likes the taste of the baby toothpaste, but he willingly opens his mouth and smiles when I come at him with the brush.


• Mommy and Daddy -- Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety have both set in and X keeps a close tab on us lately.


• His blue and white shoes -the kid has fat feet so shoes have been a challenge but he's got one favorite pair that he loves to wear, chew on, and carry around the house.


• The Binky -- God bless the Binky. It is by far X's most prized possession. We only let him have it when he's going to sleep or if he is super crabby, but I fully believe he'd have that thing plastered to his face all day long if we let him.

(This picture shows none of the above listed things, but it's just too darn cute not to post!)

Due Date

One year ago today was my due date. It seems strange that a year ago I didn't know Xavier. I didn't even know if "baby deeken" was a boy or a girl at this point. I was pretty ready to have this baby by then and was sad when the day came and went with no baby. Several people had already lost out on the office pool by now! I spent the day working from home desperately trying to finish a project and feeling like a ticking time bomb. I had no idea that it would be another full week before I'd meet my little one.
Looking back that week between my due date and Xavier's birth seems like a blur. I was not sleeping, nervous, excited, and impatient. I worked from home for the first 2 days. Then I was officially on maternity leave despite the fact that there was no baby yet because my project was finally finished and I was pretty stressed out. So I met my good friend for a little Christmas shopping and a smoothie one night. I got a visit from an insurance guy to take pictures of my car that had been bumped the week before. I had a non-stress test to make sure the baby was still doing ok. I met my co-workers for lunch. Walter and I went out to dinner. I napped - a lot. I waited....waited....and waited. Time seemed to go by so slowly that week. And now 7 days from today "baby deeken" will already be 1 year old.

Do I Look Pretty ??

Ok, I couldn't resist. I've said for a year that it's much more fun to dress girls than boys. So, when X's friend left her bow at our house I couldn't resist putting it in his hair just to see what it would look like. Unfortunately it was about 2 minutes before Walter walked in the door from work and he wasn't quite as amused as I was with the whole thing. X didn't mind it, but Walter promptly took the bow out, but not before I got a few pics!!

Woody and a Wisk

There are toys all over our house these days. You never know what kind of collection you might come upon in any given room. Here's what I found in the middle of the kitchen floor the other day. Quite an interesting combination. I wonder what he was going to bake???






The Rams may not be doing so well, but X is still sporting his gear because he looks cute in a joggin suit. Here I tried to get him to sit in this pink chair for a picture. He wasn't too sure about it.

Mommy, isn't Pink for girls?

Ha, I got away from the chair AND ditched my jacket.

We started putting up Christmas decorations and Walter took this shot. I hate it. I look like I'm pregnant (which I'm most certainly not!) Maybe I'll get him photography lessons for Christmas so he can learn to get me at a better angle!

Visiting Santa

Walter and I took Xavier to the Parents as Teachers sponsored event "Dashing through the Holidays" last night. They had little activities and Santa was there for a picture. I'll be honest, this wasn't our best outing ever -You'll see why. Things started off pretty smooth.....

X sitting with Daddy

They had a neat pool of balls to play in.

I tried to get a shot of X in front of this tree, but he just ran away!

Examining the garland on the fencing around Santa.

Climbing on a mound of stuffed animals. Again, no chance of a good picture here!

Stopping to give mommy some love!

Knocking over boxes -- X really enjoyed this activity.

He liked shoveling "snow" for a few minutes too.

We made a stocking. Notice him pulling off the cotton ball.

And, then trying to eat the cotton.

After all this fun it was time to see Santa. Take a good look at this fencing. It's solid wood. When we were next in line for Santa X decided to pull it down on himself causing him to be pinned underneath and then scream and cry. He wasn't hurt, but he did scare himself pretty good.

Walter and I were already thinking that he would cry on Santa's lap because his stranger anxiety is pretty high right now. So, the fence incident pretty much sealed the deal on that one! Let's go see Santa......

Who the heck are you and why are you holding me?


Mommy, get me off of here!

Not even the binky could make things better.

After Santa they had this cute little chair to sit in by a fireplace scene. I thought he might do better sitting on his own, but clearly the trauma from Santa hadn't worn off and it was time to just go home!

(This would have been adorable minus the red faced screaming!)

Get the car Daddy, I'm soooo ready to get out of here!

So ends our visit to see Santa. Maybe next year........