Mary Poppins!

Ok, so this is a post that isn't about Blake because frankly, we tried to get rid of Blake for the night :) Scott got an e-mail about getting student rush tickets to see Mary Poppins and forwarded it to me on Tues--only problem, it was for Tues, Wed or Thurs night of THIS week. Well, Wed & Thurs we couldn't make it, so I called a friend I had met at the women's Bible study that I attend to see if she could babysit--super last minute! She was going out with a friend for dinner and then they were going to watch a movie. Since Blake goes to bed early, they decided they could just watch the movie at our place!! Yea!!!
Impromptu date night-Bonus.
Impromptu date night with a broadway musical?--Triple Bonus!!! (I know, it should read double bonus, but the broadway musical gets two bonuses b/c it is my favorite type of date night :) )



Awaiting the start of the play!



A zoom in from our nose-bleed seats :) It was still good--beggars can't be choosers :)

Customer in Training

I got some video and a photo of Blake as a "Customer in Training" like I mentioned in an earlier post. So so cute!!

First try...yeah, just about ran into a guy at the bakery counter

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Blakey the shopper

 

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Blakey the shopper, take 2

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Climber, movies, and doctor visits

So, I know, I'm sporadic when posting. That's probably b/c Blake doesn't like it when I sit at the computer when he can't come and help (a.k.a.-bang on the keyboard, use the mouse, etc) and I now have a part-time job nannying. It wrecks havoc on our computer when I do let Blake help and I have to try to figure out how to undo stuff he messes up. Good thing we have a password to log onto our computer after its been idle which he hasn't been able to crack :) He crawls up on the chair and helps himself, so we tend not to keep a chair here anymore. We do have this tiny little folding stool that we sometimes use, but it is hardly comfortable!

He also climbs on the chairs and gets up on the table now. I used to be able to leave him on our main floor without much concern for him, but not anymore. This morning I was using the bathroom and I heard a ceramic cup crash to the floor. Thankfully, it didn't break, but it was full of water, so another thing to clean up. Of course, Blake just gives me a smile when I come out and has no knowledge that I'm not happy about that.



Climbing with one hand--can't let go of his precious cell phone!



Success.

Why won't you let me crawl on the table???

What? Do you have a problem, Mommy?

So, I rented "The Help" yesterday. I enjoyed the book, so figured I would watch the movie. Not sure why I do this b/c the movie is always such a disappointment after reading the book. The way they gloss over each event, change things, add things, and leave out parts just makes it kind of frustrating to watch. I feel as though I'm just watching a super brief synopsis of what I read, which is exactly what I'm doing, but it sure takes the enjoyment out of it. I feel this way after every movie where I've read the book first and I wonder how the person watching this who didn't read the book could really understand what the author really wanted to portray. Anyways, that's my two cents on watching a movie after reading the book. On the other hand, since the book is so detailed and explanatory, I also don't want to watch the movie first and have the plot of each great part of the book ruined and just have to read the detail of scenes later....so I guess I have no great suggestion other than--go read!

I've lately gotten into reading Agatha Christie novels, but they are quite short, so it only takes me a couple days to read them, but I do enjoy them.

Onto the last subject of my post--doctors! I do miss Blake's doctor in Indianapolis and wish we could have continued going there. So, after finally getting our insurance paperwork and after my procrastination in getting an appointment, Blake and I finally headed to get his very late 12 month appointment (which includes shots--poor baby). The doctor basically insisted that Blake should be saying 5-10 words right now. In her defense, she did make it seem like Blake was just fine but she stressed the words a couple times and now I'm kind of obsessing about it because Blake says 3-4 words. Yes, Daddy, (Mama on so rare an occasion that I'm not even sure he knows he's saying it???), and...hmm, I know there was one more but I'm blanking...

Anyways, he was kind of at the low end of her estimates for things like, how many body parts can he point to, does he know what you are saying for certain things, etc. I can't tell if he really don't know, or if he is just stubborn and won't do it when I ask. I have definitely noticed this in him whenever trying to teach him stuff. Sometimes he'll do it right away, like point to his nose, and other times he just ignores me and absolutely will not point to his nose. Actually, he usually won't do it twice in a row either--kind of like he is saying, "Mom, I've already shown you that I can do it, I don't need to do it again. Lay off."

Now, what I would have appreciated the doctor saying is, "All babies progress differently, so there is nothing to worry about." Pretty sure my old doctor would have said this, not made such a big deal about the correct number of words he is supposed to be saying right now. Or maybe, "Boys tend to be slower with language." Anyways, either way, it bothered me b/c no one wants to be told their baby is behind. Also, not sure if I should go back b/c if she acts this way on something I know I shouldn't worry about, how is she going to be on things where I need to totally rely on her b/c I am clueless...ok, in her defense, she did make it sound like he was fine, but she just made it sound like he needs to be improving for his next appointment, which is obvious I guess. But shouldn't doctors be careful about how they approach stuff like this to new parents who tend to worry about any little thing?!? Ok, enough about that. I think Blake's fine, but I've tried to push the language thing a little more recently, but like I said before, he's stubborn. He won't try to say something and ignores me when I try to work with him if he isn't in the mood. He's always been like this--hopefully this isn't a future sign of what his teenage years will be like...yikes!

Venting

So, our old nanny is now a facebook friend with me and she is now nannying for another child. Well, she sometimes posts pictures of the little girl she nannys, which for the record, I think it totally unprofessional to post pictures of people's kids without their consent. So, I decided to "stalk" her facebook page for when she was a nanny for us and came upon these disturbing status updates:

"Scene: blake in toy area where he cannot get out....Reason: helping him learn to play on his own......he starts to cry and his mother walks in and picks him up so he doesn't cry....and she wonders why she has to mop while holding her 10 month old"
"Thankful my boy can play happily by himself in the playpen. Not so happy Blake is not the same way, ahhh 3 more weeks till the screaming is over! unless I get another job. :)"

"Blake has cried almost all day...my nerves are SHOT, I've heard a lot of crying and this kid beats all! lol Love my lil Blakey!"

Wow. I knew that she kept her son in the pack-n-play during the day, but I knew Blake hated it, so I didn't think she used it for him, especially since when I'd come home, her son would be in it, but Blake wouldn't. Then one day, about a week before her last day, Blake and her son were both in it and she commented that they'd both been playing happily in there for a while. I held my tongue b/c she was almost done but I was not happy. Little did I know that she'd been forcing him to play in there against his will. There were a couple toys in there, most of which Blake didn't play with anyway. Do not, I repeat, do NOT stick my child in a cage so it makes your job easier. Crawling babies are supposed to explore and examine their environment, not be stuck in a cage so their nanny can surf the internet!!

So so glad she is not our nanny anymore. Last night when I found this out, I read Scott her status updates. He was more upset than I was, but this morning I kept thinking about it and got more and more upset thinking about how many times she must have forced him in there.

Anyway, on a more positive note, I came across the cutest thing yesterday while grocery shopping. The store I went into had, for the first time that I've seen since having a child, a little shopping cart with a pole and flag that said "Customer in Training." I wasn't there to shop for much, so Blake pushed that around the whole (well, almost the whole) time. It was so adorable and people loved watching him! Around the floral department, there were some animal balloons w/o helium, so they were eye level--yeah, had to carry him past that. So, the training went well, but not perfect ;)

I think I might go back today just to get some pictures...:)

Great weekend

Wow, really didn't think I'd have time to blog today of all days! I am watching all three kids today, one of whom is teething, one is an infant, and the other has a cold. Well, they are all peacefully sleeping and have been for at least an hour. I've been able to finish the dishes, clean up the toys and books, and gather Jake and Caitlin's stuff for their parents. I was thinking today would be hectic! Ok, so it is currently Monday & I wrote this Friday. So, I had some time to blog, but not quite enough :)

Scott and I have had a busy week--Scott with two tests and a hard homework to hand in, and me without a husband :) Also, we had our favorite family visiting last weekend, which was so much fun, but does take a little while to get back to normal after having company, including eating quite a few leftovers, since it appears I made two times too much of everything!

We went skiing at Devil's Head, which is about 45 minutes from Madison. Scott enjoyed it as a snowboarder, but I was a little disappointed in the morning with the lack of steepness of the slopes. We found some better slopes in the afternoon and I was also dressed warmer, so I had more fun after lunch!

Here is a picture of Debbie, who took care of Blake the whole afternoon. I don't even think Scott or I changed a diaper...I love that she loves him so much and it is awesome having a break!! She also watched him the whole time at the ski resort b/c the daycare staff were late, so she started watching him and found out he wasn't too bad, so wanted to watch him the rest of the day. He actually fell asleep in her lap twice this weekend, which may be a record :)

Debbie and a sleepy Blake

So, change of subject: Sometimes I have a hard time keeping a straight face when I am scolding Blake. Today was one of those days. He takes his (plastic) plate with spaghetti sauce and noodles still on it, observes it, then without looking, he tosses it over his shoulder with sauce going everywhere. I wasn't thrilled about it, but the way he nonchalantly tossed it over his shoulder like it was salt over the shoulder just cracked me up. Then, when I'm on my knees cleaning it up, he leans over the highchair and wants to get down. I look up to tell him that he can't until I clean this up b/c I don't want him stepping in it, and I am confronted with this face:

Oh my goodness, I lost it. The first picture is a better shot of the color of his face. So much for teaching him not to throw food when I laugh right along with him!

Hey, I'm a Mom. I gotta brag!

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Here's a couple of videos that I, as a Mommy, am proud of:

Here's a couple videos that I, as a Mommy, am proud of.

Here's a couple videos that I, as a Mommy, am proud of.

Here's a couple videos that I, as a Mommy, am proud of.

 My smart little baby

 

And he gets even smarter--watch the second time :)

 

So, bonus! I just realized I can lighten my videos on youtube! I know, you're probably thinking, "uh, duh, you didn't know that?!" No, I didn't, but I was taking these videos in low light so it was awesome being able to lighten them up!

 

When Daddy got home and we tried to show him how Blakey completes these puzzles, Blake got too excited about clapping for himself, that he would clap even without completing a piece. Oh well, still a work in progress :)

Tonight during dinner, we were playing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat CD and Scott and I were dancing to the closing music in front of Blake, who loved it and watched us with a big smile. I then cleaned off his dinner, picked him up and he started to try and dance while I picked him up! Apparently he couldn't wait to join us! He stopped right away, but it was pretty cute and then Scott danced with him in his arms for a bit and Blake was all smiles. It was a fun evening :)

 

And the fights begin...

One of my friends on facebook shared this little poem:



The little disclaimer at the end said: "Caution. Tissues may be required..."

I did almost tear up at knowing that we won't always have our "little" Blakey. We love him so much, and are constantly telling each other how incredibly cute he is. Laughing at his little half smile he has, how he has to get my cell phone every chance he gets, how he throws his food...ok, so it isn't all great, but thinking that it will come to an end some day is kind of heartbreaking b/c we love everything about our son.

Interesting timing, this poem was, because I was just planning to sit down and write about how Blake fights me on everything lately and before I opened blogger, I saw this little poem above. All of a sudden, I love our little fights. Well....kind of :)

He fights me as hard as he can against getting his fingernails cut and it takes him a little bit to calm down afterwards. His way of calming down is not to be held initially, he pushes and pushes against me and cries hard when I try to hold him and comfort him. So, I set him down and he storms off and probably bangs his head against something or throws something. Then I stretch out my arms wide and tell him to come and give Mommy a hug and he runs to me and gives/gets a nice hug, and he's not quite so mad. Oh, but then he remembers how mad he is and he pushes off me again and storms off, this time maybe picking up a toy and then again remembering he is mad, so throwing it down again. I tell him again, come give Mommy a hug, and I stretch out my arms real wide and he runs to me again while crying and gives me a big long hug. After his second hug, he starts talking and smiling and all is well with the world once again.

The above scenario is just what we did after the nail clipping session this morning and very unfortunately, during his two hugs, I smelled a dirty diaper. What terrible timing b/c another one of Blake's most detested activities is getting his diaper changed. So, soon after he calms down, I bring him to get his diaper changed b/c I just can't leave him sitting in a poopy diaper, as much as he hates this activity. So, that diaper change was worse than normal b/c he wasn't as far removed from his last display of disdain as he needed to be.

Blake is really good at using his legs to make diaper changing extremely difficult for me. He lifts his legs and hooks them against my wrists and pushes down so that it moves my hand off his diaper and once I pull my hand out, he does it instantly again and again, making it sooo hard to get this cloth diaper on him. Granted, if it was a disposable, it would be easier for sure, but it would still be a fight. He also raises his knees to his chest, which anyone who changes a diaper knows that he needs to have his knees down to get the diaper fastened and he fights pretty hard when I try to lower his legs. You should see us sometimes, it is quite the fight as I'm trying to pin him down and he is struggling with all his might. I honestly don't know what else to do b/c if I don't fight him, he just rolls over and tries to get off the changing pad or changing table and he would piddle all over our floor, which I have let him do one too many times. Scott asks me why I let him get up b/c within a minute I'm usually cleaning up the floor and then I have to change his onsie b/c he pees on the flap that is unsnapped. I guess I'm just tired of the fight sometimes...

And I wonder why this guy wears me out... :)



Love this face :)



He's usually trying to get my camera when I do this...maybe that's why I don't take as many pictures anymore. It is another fight that usually ends up in tears or yelling at me b/c I won't let him play with the camera. When I do, he wants to press the buttons. Not the shutter button, but the menu buttons and changes my settings...



Another close up b/c he's trying to get my camera



Who? Me???



Mommy, what is that you're holding?? I want it.



Argh, let me down! I want the camera!

We love you Blake!!! :)

Blake's New Toy

Here's a couple new videos of Blake and his new push toy. Unfortunately, I must have accidently pushed the stop button on the first video b/c I know I shot more video footage than this and the second video was also stopped short because my battery died, but you get the jist :) Oh, and yes, there is a boxspring in our living room. We sold some furniture that we had to rearrange in the garage, and there wasn't anywhere else to stick this boxspring except for the living room. This one did not fit up our stairs (nor did our furniture, which is why we sold it), so our bed is currently on the floor. Like I said earlier, we are going to be living like college students now :)

Testing Blake's new toy

Testing Again

 

 

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Blake, the Independent.

I don't like to have too much in each post, thus the numerous posts today :)

Blake has decided that he likes to eat by himself. We used to be able to appease him by giving him a spoon to bang around. Well, that doesn't quite work anymore. Now he wants a spoon, a plate, AND wants to feed himself. Earlier, when he just needed to spoon, Scott was trying to feed him and he refused to eat. Scott told me he couldn't feed him, he didn't want the food. I told him to just give him his own spoon. Scott didn't believe me, so I gave him the spoon and instantly Blake opened his mouth for food. Amazing.

Now, he turns his head and buries it in his highchair giving us the Scarlett O'Hara (from Gone with the Wind) look--he turns abruptly away, but still looks at us with his peripheral vision to see what our reaction is. It is quite funny. Well, Scott was again feeding him and he pulled this on Scott. Scott forgot the trick and so did I for the moment. He had just finished being really sick, so we were thinking he was still just not interested in food. After trying several types of food, I remembered he didn't have a spoon. Scott was like, oh yeah, you've told me that trick before. We gave him a spoon and put the food in front of him and he ate happily.

Well, now he doesn't really want to be spoon fed lately either...this sure makes for a messy meal, on top of the fact that he literally "clears" his tray when he is finished. We can't figure out how to cure him of throwing his food on the floor when he is done. He knows he isn't supposed to and sometimes when he is about done, he puts his hand full of food out of his highchair, and shakes his head "no." I say, "no" and shake my head with him. He then puts the food in his mouth with a big smile and I say "yes, good boy." This happens a few times until he decides he really is done, puts his hand over the highchair, shakes his head "no" and releases. He then gives me the biggest, happiest smile ever as I give him a stern "no" and shake my head, trying so hard not to laugh. I think he knows I'm laughing...

When I try to make him stop throwing food, he tries faster to get all the food thrown off his tray as possible and it is a race to beat him by trying to take the food away from him. Oh child, what am I going to do with you??? Well, now that he wants his own food, I have to watch that he doesn't throw the whole plate/bowl off, like this:

Let's just say I'm glad we don't have carpet, b/c even if we did have a drop cloth on the floor, many times he turns around in his highchair and chucks the food behind him as far as he can throw...he's got a pretty good range at the moment. Here's a couple "Blake eating" shots :)

Notice the plate on the floor :)

Oh Mommy, you know you love me too much to be too mad!

And here's our oatmeal breakfast this morning, which was Blake feeding himself for the majority of the time!

The spoon is only slightly effective when most of the oatmeal lands on his bib, so he resorts to his hands most of the time.

 

Licking the bottom of the bowl--love how you can see his face through this!!

Ahhhh

He finished his bowl of food, so I just gave him the pan to finish off :)

Busy at work



Hmm, maybe two spoons will work better.
I'm glad we have a lot of baby spoons b/c we use two at every meal--1 for Blake, 1 for me to actually feed him with



Banging the oatmeal :)

Licking his lips, yum, yum! Wow, he's dirty!

Where is the apple??

Blake loves to eat whole apples so I gave him one this morning since I didn't have his oatmeal ready for him and he was really hungry. He's started to realize that he doesn't like the peel, so he'll take a bite and take the peel out of his mouth and throw it on the floor, leaving a trail of tiny apple peels all over. Yuck. So, I decided to peel the apple and give it back to him whole. After a while, he was reading a book and I couldn't find the apple. Surely he didn't eat the whole thing in that short period of time, plus eat all the seeds!

Finally I found it:

In this toy...

Right where all the other "round" objects are supposed to go!


(This is on the left hand side of the toy, where the balls go and then they roll out his mouth...)
 

I must admit, this one really made me smile. Seriously, it doesn't get much cuter than this--I love watching him learn!

Well, we got more snow here in Wisconsin, just after a ton of rain. And I thought we were going to be able to use the slide in our backyard again! Nope, we've got a nice amount of snow again. I tried taking Blake out on the sidewalk before it was shoveled, but he would take two steps and fall. I guess once he's a little bigger he can master snow-walking :) I'll admit, I love watching it snow--it helped make it a more relaxing day for me while watching the kids and not feeling the greatest.

Scott is thinking of going snowmobiling this weekend with a friend in northern Wisconsin. It is perfect timing b/c of the snow, but we had just told the other family of the child I'll be watching that we were available this weekend for dinner at their place. I e-mailed back and explained the situation saying we could still come if that's what they preferred. I hate backing out of things, but I also hate missing fun events! Scott loves to snowmobile and it is nearly impossible to plan b/c it is so contingent on the weather and unfortunately, we can't trust the weathermen to actually know when and how much snow we are to get, so we've got the grab these opportunities with friends when we can!

And sickness hits!

Our little Blakey hasn't been sick until this last weekend, unless you count the occasional cold. This sickness he actually acted sick and it broke my heart! Not entirely sure what he had, but he seems to have had the symptoms of the flu, but not the stomach flu thankfully. He would just cry a lot and want to be held. Not snuggled on the couch, but held while I stood--some things never change, do they Blake? :)

Thankfully, he only acted really sick for two days. On Friday, he was started to act sluggish, and Sat and Sun he was pretty sick. Scott stayed home with him on Sunday while I went to church. It was a nice break and I was glad he was ok with that. Blake slept most of that time anyways. The rest of Sunday was pretty miserable and Blake wouldn't eat or drink much, even though we kept pushing the liquids especially. It made me really thankful I have not yet given up on breastfeeding b/c he would've nursed all day if he could. Poor baby.

Well, no one has gotten a ton of sleep in our household these past couple days so that led into me getting a cold as well. Yesterday, I was thinking it was more, got really nauseous and had a terrible headache, but after sleeping for about 3 hours, I felt much better. Unfortunately, that was in the evening after Scott got home, so it was difficult to sleep at night for yet another restless night.

I think in a couple days we should all bet tip-top again as long as Scott can hold out!

No pictures for these days--wasn't thinking much about the camera :)

Baby brother comes to visit

William came to visit last weekend and I can't believe how bad I can be at taking pictures! So, no current pictures of William, but in honor of his visit to Madison, this is a good recent one of us (and Mom) :)

We found "I'm Board" which is a game store for...how did you guess..Board games! We bought Alhambra and Innovation. We played Alhambra several times, but didn't take the time to figure out Innovation yet. It was a fun strategy game. Not sure if it is one of those games you wouldn't get bored with though....we'll see :)

Thanks for coming William!

So, I'm am now introducing myself as the "hider finder" in our family. Scott and I searched and searched and searched again for the remote control to our TV. As you know, Blake likes to use these remotes as a telephone since I won't always give him my cell. Well, when Scott was napping on the couch, Blake snuck up and stole the remote from him, and hid it in an undisclosed location. We hadn't been able to find it for a couple days until the "hider finder" came along and discovered Blake's hiding spot.

As you know, we do cloth diapers. Well, I found this cloth box to be excellent at storing his diapers and Blake found it to be excellent at storing remote controls. This box was nearly empty and both Scott and I had looked in it a couple times briefly, but for some reason, we didn't pull all the diapers out. I decided to look one more time, and there was the missing remote!

Blake also got a toy which has 6 little balls which he LOVES to throw everywhere. Unfortunately, they are small enough to roll under furniture, which is where we find them at the end of every day (and throughout the day). Well, we've been missing 2 for a while and Scott found one of them under our kitchen sink, but where oh where was the 6th?



This is the locked cupboard under our kitchen sink. Blake pulls the handles as far back as he can and drops his toys through the crack. Thankfully, they either fall through the crack on the bottom, or rest on the shelf. They have not yet fallen in the trash. His first ball rolled behind the trash, the SECOND ball, fell onto the shelf, rolled to the back, hit a groove behind some plumbing, and hid there until the "hider finder" found it!

 Thanks Blake, for keeping us on our toes!!

New Nanny Job

So last week was my first official week starting my nanny job. I'm currently just watching one girl right now, and in middle of February I start watching a little boy. We had Caitlin for 4 days last week b/c her mom is in training at her new job and will be 3 days/week until end of Jan/beg of Feb, but after that, it will just be 2 days/week. Wow, was I tired after last week! There were many reasons for that, but mostly, I just wasn't used to watching two kids and it sure is more work!

Caitlin likes to sit on my lap a lot and be held, which Blake doesn't usually like to do for very long at all. So, I'll sit on the floor and let her come up and sit on my lap. She'll come up, sit down, go play, come back, repeat. Blake is semi-ok with this, but when I start reading to her, oh, then he wants to sit on my lap too. Once he sits down, Caitlin gets up. It is a constant competition between those two, it seems.

Blake is learning how to share. It is hard. Mommy and Daddy usually give him a toy if he wants it, so he thinks he can come and take Caitlin's toys whenever he wants, which is every time she takes a toy, so we are working on that. The other thing I didn't expect was the whining. They both whine some, but Blakey is the whiner when she is here. Once she leaves, he goes off to play by himself and is just great, but oh no, not when she is here. It is like he needs to let me know he is there and I better give him full attention even though he usually doesn't want it.

The first couple days I bundled them up to go toddle around outside (I say toddle b/c they can hardly move in their snowsuits). :) It is kind of a lot of work to get them ready, but it is good for them to get outside. The last day, I couldn't wait for time outside b/c they are good outside and afterwards is nap time.

Overall, the days went very well and Caitlin is very good. We just have to get used to having her around. I was hoping that Blake would enjoy having a playmate like he usually does, but I think he felt this time his turf was being threatened. Usually, we see other kids at places other than at his home, so it isn't a big deal and he likes to explore. Also, other Mommys or adults are around, so the other child doesn't usually want HIS Mommy.

I'm glad that I started doing this. It keeps me motivated and gives me a drive that I lack when I don't have a job. Even though it was tiring, it was a good week!

Here's a few pictures that I've taken recently that I really enjoy :)

The newest dishwasher addition

Oh wait, I got a phone call

 

Uh-huh. Yep, let me go somewhere quiet.

Reading in his favorite spot.

Oh, that was a good book!!

Blake trying to give me a good smile with his "phone." Too bad he doesn't know how to look natural yet :)

Hi Mommy :)

Oh wait, got another phone call.

Another fake smile :)

Trying real hard this time.

This was after church on Sunday. Blake has a hard time with Sundays b/c he skips his morning nap and then has to eat lunch before taking his first nap.

His face got real dirty b/c he kept rubbing his eyes, haha. Poor boy!

Happy New Year!

Yep, we made it through the Holidays. We decided to stay in MN for a week and a half since we had a Christmas gathering the weekend after Christmas and a party for New Year's Eve. Turns out it is hard to be away from home for that long. It sure was nice to get home and sleep in our own beds (unfortunately without our pillows, which we forgot at a friend's house!!). Blake is back to waking up only in the early morning and then sleeping til about 7:30. The whole week and a half that we were gone, his schedule was more like, wake up at 2, wake up at 4, get up at 6:30. This is a big part of what makes it hard to be away from home. I get so exhausted!

 I found it humorous that our New Year's Eve party started to show that most of us are now parents or pregnant. Other years, we rang in the new year, and then continued our games or talking. This year, we could hardly stay awake for the new year, and after ringing in the new year without a kiss for me (because Scott was all the way across the room), everyone promptly got ready to leave. It was still fun to see friends, but kind of sad that we can't stay up late like we used to!!