Sweet Murphy

In case you can't tell in the picture- that balloon is secured to his neck- he's been wandering around, chased around, and led around like this for an hour!

Nude Runaways

Dax is taking a quick afternoon catnap.

I'm preparing dinner.  

(Baked chicken strips with whole wheat breading from scratch, in case you were wondering.  Out of the ordinary lately.)

I realize it's a little too quiet for my liking.

I notice sunlight streaming into our hallway- which has no windows.

The back door is gaping open.

The 3 year old and dog are gone.

This is what I walked out to find-

Christmas 2011

We had an amazing Christmas this year- we are so blessed with so many wonderful family members  that we love so very much- and they even love us in return!  I will post a separate post about our little Dowell Christmas, but these are photos (and hopefully a few videos, if they upload!) from our Christmases with The Dowell Fam, The Purdy (& Anderson) Gang, and The Mobley Clan.  They kind of go in reverse order than the actual events.

I didn't get any pictures from my mom's house because I had a near-migraine headache, and operating a camera might have pushed me over the edge.  I also didn't get any from MorMor's house, so I pirated all of hers off of Facebook!!! :)  I managed to get a few with Grams and Papa.  

Uncle Christian is fighting some esophagus issues (stupidest organ of the body), so he wasn't able to make Christmas this year.  :(  But, we still received his lottery tickets, and I *almost* won $500!!  

This "Elephant Sweater" was actually hand- knitted by MorMor for our family Christmas in 1987!!!  That means I had just turned 5- I *think* this is my cousin Ricky's sweater, instead of mine (he'd have been 2).  I need to scrape up some pictures from that Christmas- the ENTIRE family wore one.  And I mean EVERYONE!

Dax in his annual "money hat!"  MorMor hand knitted everyone's.

This is when I realized after shouting "I WON $500!!", I had, in fact, NOT won $500.  Bahahahahahaa!  

Daxy

Me and the babes

Ada's money hat

The entire Mobley clan!
Back (left to right): Donny, Colleen, Andrew, Rick, Mary, Steve, James
Front Row: Ricky, Ada, Casey, MorMor, Alicia, Dax, Eric, Audrey, Andi
Not pictured in the center: Christian.  :(  Or Stacy. 

Murm got his own tree and lights for his house!

Uncle Luis!

With Grandpa and his decorated gift box wrapped box.

Murphy's lights at night.

Daddy and Daxy

And these videos are mostly from Grams and Papa's night- I'm sorry everyone else for being lazy!  I was just enjoying your company too much to worry about filming! :)

Crawling, Pulling Up, and Best Smile Award! :)

I feel like I haven't posted in forever!  Lots going on around here- Dax is *officially* crawling.  After a month of trying to decide if he preferred the army crawl or proper crawl, he concluded that the real crawl is more efficient and much quicker!  I need to get a video of him- it's hilarious.  Seriously the speediest crawler I've ever seen.  (The video camera is maxed out, and I just don't ever have the time to upload them all to clear the memory- which reminds me- I have a ton of adorable videos I need to get around to posting, too!)

The instant he mastered the crawl, he tackled another milestone: Pulling up.  He's obsessed.  He'll pop up on anything vertical.  (In fact, at school on Friday he pulled up on the built-in bookshelf, was reaching for the toys on the top, and lost his balance-- of course he fell in the 2 square feet of unpadded floor in the entire room.  Now he's got a huge goose-egg on the back of his head!  He is ALL boy.  Already getting battle wounds at 6 months old.)

This entertainment is just a tad too tall for a good grip to pull to standing on... for now.  ;)

He LOVES to watch Murphy in the backyard.  And Murphy is sometimes bored enough to come and watch Dax back.



Ada and Dax watching Murphy together- she is the BEST big sister ever.  Dax doesn't know how lucky he is!

Get back here, Dog!

Looks like he's not content to just stand- climbing could come next.  Lord, save me.

I'm so cruel; but for some reason, I think when babies are standing in their crib after napping is the cutest thing ever.  Even if the water works are on. :)

Dax crawls EVERY where.  Sometimes I have to scramble to find him.  This particular instance I busted them BOTH in my purse!  Ada was stealing gum.

He has found nearly every door stopper in the house.  He could swat at them for hours, I think.

And Dax got an award at school!  Best Smile.  DURR!

Purposefully Untitled

This cracked me up- I put Dax in bed awake every night, where he just soothes himself to sleep, and sleeps through the night. (Naptime is a different story- he's not so cooperative. In fact, this hasn't actually happened in about 3 nights since he's laboring on his first tooth. But I digress...) So I put him in bed awake last night, and thought I heard rustling around- and this is what I found when I checked on him-
HAHA! He was semi-army crawling and pushing up to get a better view of his bunk buddy, "Sleep Sheep." I just thought this view of his little blond head poking out of his bed was hilarious! (Yes, he's still in his pack-n-play in our room. I knew we'd struggle with teething, so I put off moving him! Plus, I just can't bring myself to do it. Separation anxiety on my part.)

We are SO BORED cooped up in the house during these dog days of summer- so we decided to defy all odds and actually get outside to go to the park today. We survived the heat, and we survived our first attempt at the double stroller! Dax did great- he's a little fussy here, but mostly because he's exhausted. (He passed out about 2 seconds after I snapped this shot.)
And yes, Ada is wearing a styrofoam crown and clown bowtie. Here's a close-up:

Brave Face

Dax in the papoose. Ada in the jogging stroller (in a fairy dress). Murphy on his retractable leash. Me with my brace face on:

*Thank you random neighbor for documenting my gallant effort!*

Minutiae

Well, I'm the champion documentarian of life's minutiae. Birds in the garden. Pictures of Dax staring at me with the exact same expression that I posted the day before. Ada's random phrases. A garage sale. But when it comes to blogging about the major stuff, I stink! I even stink about getting good photos of it all. I guess it's just all too exciting to deal with taking the camera out. So this post encompasses SEVERAL huge things that have been going on that I have hardly taken any pictures of!

First- some minutiae. Ada was being a devil with her crayons (carpet, walls, and furniture- all tagged within 24 hours). So she got grounded from coloring for 1 week. The following decoupage was our artistic outlet to get us through until we can get the crayons back out!

OK, on to the major events. Grams and PaPa are visiting from Dubai! They brought loads of gifts over and got to meet Dax for the first time. We have several fun things planned throughout their visit, so I'll *try* to get a post or two in about those. :)
Casey's THIRTIETH BIRTHDAY was on Wednesday! We had a huge party at the house, and I took maybe 5 pictures. But I did get a few shots of the set up, so here are those with the few party photos, too:
Ada dictated the message for his cookie cake that we got him on his actual birthday mid-week-

My work BFF Caitlin (and Ada's BFF's mommy)-

John in his 70s track suit ready for some competitive beer pong:

Brent Schilhab with his man purse:

Me and MiMi-

This is how I found the poor Mario pinata when I woke up the next day-

There were so many other awesome people that came to celebrate Casey's old age that I wish I had gotten a picture of- his parents and sister and Uncle Luis, MorMor, Uncle Drew, all of his work friends, several of his old roomies, etc. Shame on me. Oh well- what can you do!?

Speaking of MorMor- she took 2.5 weeks out of her life and came to stay with us and watch Dax while I went back to work for my short stint. I didn't take one picture of she and Dax while she was here. :( They had a great time, and I cannot express my appreciate for her enough! LOVE YOU MORMOR!

AND Murphy's back!!!! He's now an outside dog and enjoying himself. Except when Ada tries to "play" with him... then he's a little nervous.

And last... it's SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ode To Murphy!

Dear Murphy-

We miss you dearly Pup! Hopefully Ada will grow out of her "animal dander allergy" soon.... who knows, she may not even be allergic to you. Maybe it was just a terrible coincidence that as soon as you went "on vacation" to Grams that Ada's stuffy head and ear infections cleared up. Regardless, we think about you everyday- our family is incomplete without your quirky personality and goofy antics. Here are a few videos that capture your essence perfectly. You are a goofball, you keep us laughing, and you have the sweetest heart and purest love for your family (us!).

We are so thankful that we were poking around at the animal shelter the day you hopped into our laps and our hearts!

Love,
Casey, Alicia, and Ada Bug

This is a video of Murphy sneaking onto the couch... Casey set up the video camera before leaving for work- and low and behold 3:30 into the clip (only after Murphy hears the garage door close)- that crazy pup is making himself nice and cozy on our red couch!

This is a 5 month old Ada and a 4 year old Murphy- getting in their "Tummy Time!"

Welcome to Our Blog!

OK, I figured it's time to begin a blog. Let me catch you up on our lives up to this point. Ada Grace "Buggy" Dowell was born 8 months ago. She is the happiest baby I've ever met- smiling at anyone and anything that will look her way. (Her separation anxiety is increasing by the minute- but as long as she's clinging to Mom or Dad, things are still amusing!)

She's hit your typical milestones: rolling, sitting, babbling... and she's just embarked on the beginnings of a scoot. (Still not mobile, just setting herself up for it.) She can take her time on that one- we rather like the ease and consistency of having a non-crawler.

I have been a little psycho when it comes to Ada's meals- I like to think of it as healthy and preventative! She has not received a drop of formula, and I make all of her baby food from mostly organic fruits and vegetables. (She likes Apples and Zucchini the most! And Sweet Potatoes, Blueberries, and Butternut Squash... she is my daughter- not in appearance, but in preferences!)

Despite all of the healthy efforts, she's still suffering from incessant ear infections and has been on antibiotics since early March- it is ridiculous, frustrating, and trying. We are on our last ear infection before a visit to the ENT to discuss tubes. We are READY, I'm about to put them in myself! That will be a good second post!

I got a ladybug tattoo on my foot in honor of our Bug...

I also teach High School Chemistry- this was my first year teaching. Let's just say that beginning a new career (teaching is not an easy profession- we earn that 2 weeks at Christmas, 1 week at Spring Break, and 8 weeks of Summer!), buying a new home, and having a baby all within 4 weeks of each other make for a very exhausting year. There are 8 school days left until I have 2 months off with the world's sweetest baby, and it cannot come soon enough. Although this year has been difficult (but wonderful), I LOVE my job and am going to miss my hormonal, sassy, fabulous 15-17 year olds dearly!!! Well...most of them.

Casey is still at Aerotek- he was promoted from Recruiter to Account Manager (Sales!) in December. He is keeping his head above water in this terrible economy- he has survived lots of "severances" and is even starting to develop a little new business. Way to go, Babe!

Murphy is currently keeping Grams company- we are trying to eliminate all possible sources of Ada's constant colds/allergies/ear infections/etc. Unfortunately, it seems like her sniffling and sneezing has improved in his absence. :( Sad Face. We can't decide if he would be better off with us as an outside dog, or with Grams living the life of a King. I will keep you posted!

We love all of you, and you are all welcome to come visit us anytime- our blog or our home!