Sleddin

Christmas weekend we got our first snow of the season. It wasn't all that much, but Walter took X out in the sled around the yard. Apparently X has grown quite a bit since last year so his feet hung out of the baby sled. Guess it's time for an upgrade! I'm quite confident that X didn't remember being in the snow last winter so this was like a whole new experience for him.
And thankfully since I bought his snow gear big last year he can still wear (some of it) this year!

Christmas Weekend

First off...no baby yet.

This was a wonderful Christmas weekend for us. I hadn't mentioned it here, but Walter has been traveling every weekday since Thanksgiving pulling 60 hour work weeks. He's only been home on weekends and 2 of those weekends he was sick. So, needless to say it's been a long December for our little family. X and I were thrilled to have him home for 4 days straight. He'll be in town now for awhile (because you know, we're supposed to be having a baby and all!)

We had some nice celebrations with my family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Unfortunately we didn't get to see Walter's side because his mom was sick and we couldn't chance catching something with the baby coming. Hopefully we'll see them soon! Here are some pics from the 2 days.

Isn't this an cute sweater and matching hat combo! This was a great hand-me-down from a friend and X loves the hat.


Baby D and the Christmas tree at my parent's house. Guess 2010 will have to be "Baby's First Christmas".

My yummy apple crisp that I referred to in my previous post. I will never admit to how much of this pan I myself consumed. Was I supposed to share??

The fam after our delicious Christmas Eve dinner.

X trying to steal my ice cream.

While X had some interest in opening presents he was much more excited to clean up the wrapping paper.

The hat boys.

Christmas morning at our house.

Santa brought X some school bus books and a tow truck.

Christmas Day evening we celebrated at my grandma's. Here's X and gpa playing "woogy measure" as he calls it, with his new tape measure.

Me and my gma. See the school bus cake in the back? I told you we were bringing it back out of the freezer for our Christmas dessert. And even after dessert, we STILL had cake left. That thing really was huge.

X was the present-giver-outer.

Saturday and Sunday we used for family days with just the 3 of us. We did things around the house, napped, and just enjoyed finally having time together. Since it snowed a little Walter took X out in the sled in the yard. We ventured out on Sunday to Target and were quite surprised at the lack of people there. I had a return to make and there was no one else in line! I was (pleasantly) shocked. Maybe the snow kept them all away.

So now the hustle and bustle of Christmas is behind us and we are ready for Baby D to make his/her appearance, hopefully very soon!

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, Happy Due Date

Today is Christmas (it's snowing!)...and my 29th Birthday...and Baby D's due date. We like to pile it all on around here!

Last night we celebrated at my parent's house. Good times, good food, nice gifts! You know you're getting old when you truly are happy to receive new towels and cookie sheets for your birthday! My mom made an awesome dinner for everyone and I requested an apple crisp for my b-day dessert. YUM!

X raked in the presents despite us saying "just get him something small please". I think his favorite item of the night was his very own Craftsman kids tape measure from gma and gpa. Truth be told I ended up opening most of his gifts for him because, well, he was too busy running around and it was getting late. He did come in very handy though when it was time to clean up all the wrapping paper because he loves putting things in the trash lately.

This morning we tried out a new church and really enjoyed their Christmas service. Then it was back home for lunch and a nap for X. When he gets up we'll be off to celebrate with more family this evening.

Merry Christmas everyone! Pictures to come soon!

How X Spends His Days

Wearing mommy's bras and shoes. (I don't think he liked his cross dressing being photgraphed)


Taking long naps in Frosty the Snowman pjs.

Driving around in Cozy Coupe (yes, it's in the living room, and no, it's not going to stay there)

Riding on daddy's shoulders (while apparently trying to poke daddy's eye out)

39 (well, closer to 40) Weeks

Baby D is still hanging in there comfy as can be. Maybe I'll have more info after I go to the doctor tomorrow. There's still time for this to be "baby's first christmas" but who knows?????

He's Still my Baby

So yesterday as I was finishing up X's birthday post I was listening to him talking on the baby monitor. He was supposed to be napping. I had put him in the crib at noon with all the junk he likes to sleep with. 20 minutes later, still talking. I went in, got him re-situated, came back out and finished my post. Another 20 minutes went by and he was still talking...loudly!. He never takes 40 minutes to fall asleep for a nap. What, did he think that because it was his b-day he didn't have to nap?

I went in his room again, scooped him up and told him he could snuggle with me in the chair and I'd sing to him. So we got settled, I covered him up with his blankie and start singing. Within 5 minutes he was out cold. I looked down at this little boy sleeping in my arms wrapped in a blanket and realized that is exactly what I looked down and saw 2 years ago that day in the hospital.

I know it sounds sappy (I'll blame it on the pregnancy hormones!), but it was as if X was letting me know that even though he's growing up, he's still my baby boy. That was by far my favorite moment of his birthday.

2 Years Old

My baby is 2 years old today. He's not so much a baby anymore though. At almost 3 feet tall and about 31lbs he is now a little boy (that looks almost EXACTLY like his daddy). What a blessing these past 2 years have been. We couldn't love him more if we tried.

So, what is X up to these days????

- He is quite the talker lately. There are still many phrases that he just says randomly, but more and more we have the ability to have some sort of a conversation with him. He likes to answer questions and is trying to sing songs sometimes. Unfortunately "NO" (accompanied by spitting) has become a frequent word in his vocabulary. We're working on that.

- X loves to look at pictures of people he knows, say who it is, and what they like (ex - looks at a picture of my dad, says "grandpa" then "grandpa likes old cars". I've made him his own photo album with various friends and family that he thinks is fabulous!

- Our once very good vegetable eater has started to realize that there is stuff out there that tastes better than those old green beans. Slowly X is becoming more resistant to eating vegetables. He still likes a variety of fruits so I guess that's something. Overall he is still eating well but seems to be more interested in playing and talking than eating lately.

- X is still sleeping in his crib although we just set up his twin mattress on the floor in his room in hopes of getting him used to it being there. Not quite sure how we're going to do the transition, but I'm not in a rush. We are calling the twin bed his "big boy cribby". He has already taken a liking to the pillow on the bed and frequently carries it around the house and then sits on it. So, basically at this point he has no idea what the true meaning of the twin mattress and pillow are!

- Our boy is still such a love. He gives lots of hugs and wants to snuggle up with you. I love it when he just walks up to me and says "Oh Mommy, wove you" (with a drawn out inflection) gives me a hug and puts his head on my shoulder.

- X is fascinated with zippers. He loves the footed pjs with a zipper. Lately at night though I have to go in and re-zip his jammies because he's unzipped them while falling asleep. X is also very interested in opening and closing doors. He's figuring out how to turn the knobs and goes in and out of rooms playing peek-a-boo with whoever is in there (or just himself!) X locked me out of the house for the first time a few weeks ago. I went out the front door to get the mail and he came up and turned the lock on the storm door. Thankfully I was able to get back in the house through the garage. He didn't understand what he had done, but this knob turning and door locking thing has opened up a whole other safety issue for us.

- Favorite toys right now are books, trains, stuffed puppies, the new kitchen he got for his birthday, and random household items that he manages to snatch away!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY XAVIER!!!!

A Kitchen and a School Bus Cake

So, first off, my flowers.....they kicked the bucket 2 weeks ago (shortly after this post) when the temperature plummeted quickly. They went from glorious to gross in about 6 hours. Oh well, they made it way longer than I'd ever thought.


In more important news, my little man is turning 2 years old later this week. Our gift to him is his own little kitchen and a bunch of play food. We gave it to him over the weekend and he LOVES IT!!! You know it's a sign of the times when a little kid kitchen comes with "stainless steel" appliances and a cell phone with a designated holder on the counter top.

Walter and X assembled the kitchen. I got to put on the sticker decals!



Isn't this cute! X was putting a turkey in the microwave.


And as if there are not enough little things floating around this house we've now added 101 pieces of play food to keep track of. Oh yeah! So far X's favorites are the "bagels" and the "celery".

We're not doing a b-day party, but we did have our parents over for dinner and cake this weekend. Since X is really into school buses lately, I got the bright idea to make him a school bus cake for his birthday. I found some examples online. It took me awhile (and a trip back to the grocery store for more frosting and food coloring!) but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. X seemed to enjoy it, but I'm sure he would have taken anything since he doesn't even understand what a birthday is!

I started off with 3 13x9 cakes.


Then I stacked them and cut them to the shapes I needed. (Disregard my swollen pregnant self...there are no good camera angles these days!)


Then 2 layers of icing. One thinned out "pour over" layer to smooth the cuts, and one traditional icing layer. It kinda looked like a big hunk of cheese at this point.
But once it was decorated it came pretty close to looking like a school bus! Complete with mini chocolate donuts for the wheels and gumdrops for the lights.





After cake we tried to get a few pictures but X wasn't really having it (unless he was held down and tickled like in this one)



Birthday post with milestones to come later this week! Happy early Birthday little man!!!

Wordless Wednesday - Tea Party

Straight From the Tree Farm

Normally we get our Christmas tree from the same Knights of Columbus lot each year. But, this year we decided to go to a tree farm and cut our own. Walter and I had never been to a tree farm and figured X was old enough to enjoy the experience as well. We headed out yesterday on our 45 minute drive for some family fun. Someone decided they needed a little snooze to prepare (while holding no less than 2 puppies!)


Once we arrived we suited up X in his warm weather gear and we were off to find our tree!




By far X's favorite part of the outing was playing Peek-A-Boo behind all the Christmas trees.


When we finally found our tree we asked some strangers to take our picture with it. This was the best one they took!
Then it was time to cut 'er down and put it in the sled!
Xavier decided to give Daddy a hug for encouragement as he was cutting the tree.
My little cutie in his hat!

And while everyone else was wearing a coat, all I needed was my sweater and a scarf due to the good old baby heat I have goin on!

Here's Baby D at 37 weeks.
Then it was time to return to the front of the farm with our tree to get some cookies!

Like pretty much everything we do, there was a little set back when we got home with the tree. We discovered our beloved tree stand (said tongue in cheek because Walter has hated our tree stand for years) was broken. So after a quick trip to Home Depot for a new stand we were ready to decorate. The evening was slipping away so we decided to divide and conquer. I decorated the tree and Walter made us all some dinner.
X had no interest in decorating the tree though because everyone knows that playing on the step stool is much more fun!

So here's our completed tree. The pictures don't do it justice. It's really cute! I love how it looks at night all lit up but unfortunately my pic came out blurry.


The tree was the last of our decorations to go up except for the stocking for Baby D (which I'm planning on making tomorrow!) Now I've just got to finish my cards and shopping!