Halloween

This year Halloween was...well...lame.  We did the Pumpkin Patch thing, which was fun.  We skipped buying pumpkins, so we had no pumpkin carving.  Blip was a little long for his costume, but since he didn't really care....neither did I.  I mean I cared, but next year and the coming years will be a lot more fun. 

I had the idea a few months ago that I wanted Blip to be Blu from Rio.  I started looking for Blu costumes....I found one.  Some chick was custom making them and they were awesome.  Awesome and $95.  I decided that for his first Halloween...one that he didn't give a crap about...it would just be wasted.  I was initially torn, but ultimately decided I just couldn't do it.  If he was older and REALLY cared...maybe, but this year?  Not so much.

So I started looking for cute costumes in general.  I found a few that I really liked, but decided I liked the skunk and the parrot the best.  Because Blip loves Rio so much, I decided the parrot was definitely the costume for him.  And at $15...it was the costume for me too.

Mike & I tried on Blip's costume on him a few days before Halloween.  We needed to make sure it fit, and Mike had to work on the actual day.  If he wasn't so dang tall, the costume would have fir perfectly.  Unfortunately, he is tall, so his legs were too long when he sat down.  Or moved.  If he stood still (which he can't do on his own), the costume fit perfectly.  It was our comic relief.  

Poor kid.  He didn't really care most of the time, but there were a few minutes we thought he might revolt.

On the actual day, I raced home from work, grabbed him up from Lori's house, and headed home to get food for his dinner, his costume and a change of clothes for me.  We arrived at Richelle's at exactly 6pm...I hurried and changed him, took a few pictures, and we were off to trick-or-treat.  Blip LOVES his boys...and LOVES to be outside, so that was his real treat.  We didn't even bring a candy bag.  We just walked and hung out with the boys, Richelle, and Margene...it was perfect.

The boys didn't want to do an insane amount of trick-or-treating, so we finished in record time and then headed back to Richelle's house. I fed Blip, and the boys didn't even look through their candy bags before starting their (stupid) video game. 

After dinner, we played on the floor with Blip.  I wanted to show Richelle he could almost really do the army crawl.  Instead, he showed off his skills.  He went from kinda doing to the army crawl while really trying not to on Sunday...to REALLY doing to army crawl on Wednesday.  It was awesome, and I was so proud.  And it broke my heart at the same time.

I love that Blip grows each and everyday.  He learns so much and amazes me with each new thing.  Everyone told us that "it goes so fast," but there is no way to understand what that means until it is happening.  It really is going SO fast.  This has been the best (almost) nine months of my life.  EVERYTHING has changed...for the better.  Life has so much more meaning, and has SO much more meaning.  It's hard to believe how much one teensy person can change so much, but what an amazing ride.

New to Us

The last few weeks have been exciting around here.  We bought the new (to us) car, a new mattress, and a new Dyson vacuum.

Mike texted me the other day...this is what it said: "Thx for picking up my phone today btw. :) Are we doing anniversary gifts or did we already do them? I.e: phone and vacuum?"

I laughed, but what!?  

Mike needed a new phone, so I ordered him an iPhone 4S.

WE needed a new vacuum, so I bought a new Dyson. (best. vacuum. ever.)  Costco had them on sale for $399 (I think?)...which was far cheaper than anywhere else I found.

My response: "We don't have any money for the gifts, but plz don't ever buy ME a vacuum for ANY holiday. xoxo"

We don't NEED anything, so there is no real reason to buy each other something just to buy it.  However, we NEEDED a new mattress a few weeks ago, so we did replace that very expensive item.  My back was immediately back to happy.  Mike went in with cash and was able to get us a $2800 mattress for about $1300...tax "included".  With the warranty and a mattress pad, we spent about $1500.  MUCH less than the retail price.  Thank you, Dave Ramsey for your "Buyer Beware" class we attended that same day.

The hot tub Mike bought off Craigslist a few months ago is finally full of water.  Only problem is we can't figure out how to make it work.  Either we are too stupid to read/understand the manual, or we need something fixed.  Mike does not think they lade screwed us, but I'm not so sure. Oh well...life will go on. Hopefully WITH a working hot tub.

p.s. I did text Mike back and asked him to please get my wedding ring (and his) sized for our anniversary this coming week.  I only have about 20 lbs to go before I am at my acceptable weight loss goal...and my ring isn't even close to fitting (turned my entire finger purple immediately when I forced it on for family pics this week....needless to say I am ringless for the pics. Oops.).  

I think my fingers may never again be that small.  I am sick and not wearing it...and I'm sick of HOPING my body goes back to what it was. Especially when that may not ever happen 100%.  And I'm okay with it, but I still want to wear my wedding ring.  I hope our rings are sized and back before the 8th...just for good joojoo.

Road Trip

Last Friday the three of us took a last minute road trip to Tucson.  We were looking to buy a Honda Accord and found one *almost* too good to be true.  We had a few doubts in the back of our mind, but we figured it couldn't hurt to look.

I packed everything I could think we would need...including jammies for the ride home for the Blipster.  I thought I was pretty smart for thinking ahead.  Even Mike said he thought I was smart...

We left home and headed towards Tucson around 4-ish...we caught some traffic, but it wasn't too bad.  It was slightly worse once we were southeast of Phoenix, but nothing to complain about.  We made okay time....but the time spent in the car together was nice.  I read some articles and stuff to Mike and we held hands and talked while the baby slept.  It worked out that it was the perfect timing for his afternoon nap, so he slept the entire way.  He was out cold pretty much as soon as he was buckled in.  I think I fed him a bottle on the way, but other than that...he slept.

We didn't get there until almost 7pm.  It's REALLY long story, but we ended up NOT buying that Accord.  We aren't sure how the scam was working exactly, but we do know that something was NOT right.  So we left.

We found a Cracker Barrel on our way out of town, so we stopped there to eat.  We also knew we needed to let Blip stretch his legs a little longer before making the long trip home.  We figured Cracker Barrel would be a good place for him to eat dinner and be a kid...while we ate dinner too.  It ended up being perfect.  We sat there a long time letting him eat before locking him back in his car seat.

I changed Blip into his jammies and we headed home.  Blip slept the ENTIRE way...again.  I was hopeful that we would be able to transfer Blip from the infant carrier to his bed while he was sleeping.  Nope.  Not even close.  He was WIDE awake after all those hours of sleeping.  He stayed wide awake until after 3am.

Mike and I both wanted to complain about our lack of sleep, but instead we laughed.  NORMAL babies would do that crap often...and they don't sleep until 9-10am on the weekends. Ever.  So, I guess one awful night in many months since he started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks is acceptable.

Unfortunately, his sleep has been off since his 8 month birthday.  I want to blame it on his teeth, but I'm not 100% sure those teeth are the whole issue.  I tend to think it's a behavior change because he sounds hysterical, but when I go in to soothe him...he laughs.  The second he sees me....he is all smiles.

I don't think it's funny.  At all.  Oh well...this too shall pass, right?  Let's hope.  And quickly.  I miss the Blip that let me bathe him, read him a story, feed him a bottle, rock him, sing to him...and lay him down. Simple.  Now we do all that...plus we scream for about 90 minutes.  Talk about exhausting, but only for the one who isn't doing the screaming.

Donuts For Rae

Raelynn spent the night with us on her birthday eve, so breakfast had to be something special for our birthday girl!!  Unfortunately, this necessity did not come to mind until we were waking up...and wanting breakfast.  I quickly dressed and headed out to find donuts and orange juice.  

Everyone was happy to have a little treat so early in the morning...and by "early" I mean close to 10am when we all woke up.  Even the baby.  He is good to us.

He happily devoured a his first donut.  He had glazed donut all over himself by the time he was done.  It was awesome.

I asked Raelynn what she wanted to do for her birthday on Thursday night before bed.....she quickly told me she wanted to go to lunch with her "Maid of Honor," Erin.  She grabbed my phone so we could make the call.  I knew Erin was on Fall Break, but I was crossing my fingers that she would be available for lunch on her last official weekday off.  Raelynn lucked out (and me too!) because Erin was available AND excited to meet us for a birthday lunch!!

We met at Cafe Rio because Raelynn wanted Mexican food.  Unfortunately, I don't think she liked what she got very much.  She ordered nachos...and added/deleted what she wanted and what she did not want, but they were still a bit different than she was expecting.  Poor girl....she picked off as much stuff as she could and ate the parts she could.  She is a crack up.

I needed to get some shopping done in order to have what I needed for our upcoming family pictures.  Raelynn HATES shopping, but she happily agreed to go with me.  Erin went with us to the first store, but then we were on our own.  As long as Raelynn could push Blip in the stroller, she was happy.  She was such a trooper!!  We did WAY too much shopping...and it took WAY too long.  By the time we got in the car from our last stop Raelynn looked at me with her tired face and said, "My feet are killing me!"

We went through the McDonald's drive-thru on our way home to get her something to eat.  We hung out for a little while after Blip went to bed...and then we went to bed too.  We were beat.

We celebrated as a family the week before Raelynn's birthday.  We had a party at my dad's house...all the VIP's were there- Robyn Hawkins, Grossarth, Richelle and me....her roommate.  She seems most content and at peace with life when we are all together.  I love her so much...and I am so glad she is our caboose.

**I am obviously a loser!  I didn't get any pictures of Raelynn on her birthday.  None from lunch.  None from breakfast.  None.**

The Comb Over....It's Got to Go

I was always the one who said I would cut my kid's hair if it was growing into something awful.  And I meant it.  I still mean it. I just have to convince Mike that it'll be okay.  

I have held off on pushing the haircut only because I don't want him to be or look any older than he is/does.  Once a baby gets a haircut, it seems the BABY look is gone.  It honestly feels like it's going so fast, so I don't want to push it along. Also, Blip's hair has been coming in a lot more in the last couple weeks.  I was hoping it would all even out.  We haven't been so lucky.

But...when the wind blows.........this is what we've got goin' on:

And then when the wind isn't blowing....we have this:

It's like a wave on North Shore. Except it's on his head.  He also has long hairs (the length of the wave), in little clumps randomly all over his head.

Of course it's "cute".  Of course he's adorable.  It's just semi-awful at the same time.  Poor kid barely has any hair...and what he does have is starting to mimic a comb-over.

Mike was on-board with getting just the wave trimmed down until Saturday morning.  He was "convinced" otherwise after a visit from his parents. :) We laughed about it after they left.  Now he's on the fence.  Our family pictures are next Monday, so we will have to make a decision before then.

Whatever we decide, at least he's cute.

Pumpkin Patch

We made plans to go to the Pumpkin Patch with Patrick, Sarah, Molly, and Tucker.  Our weekends are crazy right now with so much going on....our Dave Ramsey class every Saturday, having Richelle's boys, off duty, hair appointments, etc....so Sarah and I chose a Sunday afternoon we all had free.

After making a couple quick stops, we made it to the freeway......about that time Mike remembered he took the stroller out of the car the day prior so the cooler would fit in the back (for the chicken we ordered/had to pick up). Ugh.  We made a u-turn and headed back to get the stroller. I am so thankful he remembered when he did.  It would have been a miserable day without the stroller....or more realistically- a really expensive day buying another stroller.  I had my Ergo carrier, but it would not have been as enjoyable for anyone to keep Blip contained that much for that long.

I made a point to be leaving the house at the baby's nap time, so he was asleep....as planned.  We grabbed the stroller and were finally on our way to Queen Creek.  Blip did his part and slept the majority of the way.  I woke up feeling sick....after going to bed feeling sick.  I didn't want to miss Blip's first Pumpkin Patch, and we didn't want to cancel, so I figured my stomach could be upset and it would bother me, but didn't have to bother anyone else.

We made it to Schnepf Farms and enjoyed our time with Patrick, Sarah, Molly, and Tucker.  I can't wait until Blip and Tucker can actually appreciate each other....and really become friends. Looks like Blip may be our only child that has a cousin close in age, so we really hope he and Tucker take advantage of it.  Our next child will be out there on his own....which makes me sad since I had/have such a great relationship with my cousins on both sides.

Obviously we didn't do a lot other than walk around, look at stuff and watch Molly do some activities.  I was happy to watch little Mr. Blockwatch enjoy his people watching for the day...and he seemed to be his normal self.  He just happily hung out in the stroller, ate a couple times, kicked his legs, touched some pumpkins, ate some hay, played in the dirt, saw/smelled some animals....ya know...the pumpkin patch basics.

After a few hours and dinner with everyone, we headed home. Each first thing with my little family is awesome.  I am excited to make some fun family traditions as our family continues to grow. Next year I think we will head north instead of southeast...even a few degrees cooler would have made the even better.

8 Months

Some how Blip is already eight months old.  It shocks me that time moves so quickly...and every single day seems better than the last.  I am so in love with my little boy.  He is growing so fast and learning new things every time I blink my eyes.

His funny little personality is really starting to come out.  He is still pretty much perfect.  I, of course, think this because he's my baby, but I'm not the only one that thinks this.  He still rarely cries.  Even teething doesn't seem to really bother him.  If he is little fussy, a couple teething tablets usually fix it.  He is working on three teeth...his two upper sides (kinda looks like he has fangs as they come in) and one of his upper middles showed itself this week.

He eats like a champ, but so far seems to have an issue with textures.  (Mark one down in the "got from mom" category.)  We are still spoon feeding the majority of his food.  He does pretty good with the Gerber Puffs on his own, and his pincher grasp has improved a lot this week.  He still LOVES sweet potatoes.  He will eat them mixed with anything, but especially with cinnamon or with apricots.  He also loves his avocado and banana mixture too.  This month Blip has tried spinach, turkey, beef, chicken, mango, and cottage cheese (He made himself gag until he puked it up.  He is definitely my child.).  He has also had a cinnamon-sugar pretzel when we went to the outlet mall with Daddy.

  
Mike was so funny about letting Blip try things at first.  Now I am the one trying to hold him back and limit the sugar intake!!  Not that he gives the baby a lot, but show Mike some frosting and all of a sudden...Blip's got a mouth full.  It's pretty funny.

The weather really started to cool down at night over the last month.  We have spent quite a bit of our time together in the evenings walking/running/jogging to help me get rid of this last 30 pounds of pregnancy weight.  While we are out and about, we stop off at the park a couple of times a week so Blip can swing. He is still tiny in the baby swings, but he LOVES it.

Blip really loves Henry.  He doesn't have to always have Henry with him, but he does seem happy when Henry is around.  They wrestle every morning before Daddy gets Blip up.  On the mornings I'm home, I love to listen and watch Blip play with his friend.  It's pretty dang cute.

Blip gained enough weight to move up to the next size clothes just as he was turning eight months old.  Most of his 6-12 month sized clothes were just a little snug.  Some of his shirts were WAY too short...and the onsies were starting to be very form fitting.  I thought the 12-18 month clothes would be huge on Blip, but nope.  They seem to fit perfectly.  The pants are a teensy bit long, but not long enough to worry about.  I can't believe how big he's getting!!  

We went over to Grumpaw's house for Raelynn's 29th birthday party.  Blip loves Raelynn and always flashes his million dollar smile when he sees her.  Raelynn loves him right back....and loves to spend time with us him.

Blip also seems to adore Jake.  He watches Jake like a hawk when we are at Richelle's house.  He really watches everyone/thing like a hawk...so Lori has nicknamed him "Block Watch".  He really is very nosey.

Outside is Blip's favorite place to be.  If he's unhappy, take him outside to do....anything.  It instantly changes his mood.  He loves to get buckled into the jogging stroller at night for our walks.  He is equally happy to people watch at the mall too. He just wants to see what's going on with everyone....he really is little Mr. Block Watch.

Blip has realized that women...especially Mommy...wear necklaces.  He LOVES to grab onto them.  He does his very best to get any part of it in his mouth.  He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth.  Everything!  There isn't a toy, a blanket, a burp rag, a finger, or anything else he won't shove in his mouth as quickly as possible.....he will put anything and everything he can get his hands on in his mouth.  (We really need to start baby proofing things around here.)

I took Blip over to Erin's house last week.  Erin's Great Dane, Marley, was quite entertaining....even though all he did was be a dog.  They also have two boxers...Blip also loved them.  He watched the dogs the entire time we were there...and laughed and laughed at the dogs.  That is his normal reaction to dogs, but it was even funnier to watch his cuteness around the bigger dogs.

Blip is on the verge of crawling.  He is moving all over the place.  He finally started rolling around...a lot.  He now rolls to get where he wants to go.  Thankfully, he stays in the same general area in the family room...so far.  He likes to stand if we are holding his hands, but it still very stiff legged and wobbly.  He does "scoot" to get a toy, but it's a lot like a caterpillar or a worm...and he isn't getting far like that.

This little guy's smile is seriously the best thing ever.  It is infectious....and can make an awful day better.  Mike and I love that every second of our spare time is filled with Blip's laughter.  We are pretty excited for some upcoming time to ourselves, but we both love being parents.

Mike is such a good Daddy.  He really loves his son...and it shows.  I rarely have to ask for help with the baby when Mike's home.  If he needs a diaper changed, Mike does it without even thinking about it.  He helps bathe him and put him to bed the few nights he's actually home with us at night.  If I ask him to help with something, he stops what he's doing and comes to help.  Mike seems genuinely disappointed when his few hours a day with the baby in the morning are cut short.  He really tries so hard.  He lays on the floor and plays with Blip, he reads to him too.  They are so cute together.  Blip loves his daddy so much...it makes my heart happy to watch them and to hear them together.  In the beginning, I was the freak about Blip's schedule.  Now there are times I think Mike took over the crazy....and he's reminding me (to put it nicely) about what the baby needs.  It makes me smile.

The last month has flown by.  I can't believe the holidays are just around the corner.  This year will be so much fun to share Christmas with Blip.