Santa Came!

We must have been good boys and girls this year- because Santa Clause came and left us some AWESOME gifts!  At first, we saw presents in their usual spot (since we don't have a mantle, Santa prefers the bar area)- and those were awesome enough!  And, then....

Santa ate the snack we left him, and even left Ada a NOTE!

This caught Ada's eye from the living room!!!!!  It's a HUGE playhouse!  It was raining Christmas, so Santa put it together indoors, and we've been playing with it in this spot ever since.  It. Is. AWESOME. A school room.  A drive-thru window.  A gas station with a gas pump.  A basketball goal (in the back). A soccer net. A grocery store.  This thing has it ALL.  We have had so much fun with it that we are considering keeping it inside until the weather is consistently nicer before moving it outside (yes, it'll be easy to disassemble and take to the backyard!).  Both kids are obsessed.

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! :)

Dax- 9 months

UPDATED: I added a video at the bottom! :)

Well, he's 9 months, and my heart bursts at the seem a little more each day for this little guy!  He has got quite the personality we are learning.  He WILL get your attention with grunts and squeals if it's what he wants... or he will elude your watchful eye as he inspects and tastes and explores everything in his path if that is his desire.  He's completely taken with sister Ada (that sounds like a nun!)- and finds her utterly captivating, hilarious, interesting, and a tad scary all in one.  Right up his alley.

He's closer to walking, but won't be there anytime soon (knock on wood).  He's OBSESSED with walking along with his lawnmower walker- and has begun to realize that turning it is in fact in his power.  So he's independently working on that one (thus spending extended periods of time stuck facing corners while he inches it back around).  I have a video of him actually realizing his bipedal-ism for the first time on this walker- I will post it eventually.  Now he can walk across the house on it (with a few interrupted rests on his knees!)

He has an internal honing device for anything electronic- phones, remotes, computers, cords.  He. Will. Have. Them. (in his mouth!)

He's still loving bathtime- especially if sister's in the tub, too. Of which I also have videos and need to post.  ~Crap~

He will wave hello and good-bye (when he feels like it!)- and invented his own clap.

He has become more demanding with his "mama"s and I love every syllable of them.  He's got a pseudo-sign for "more" and "all done" that I understand, but no other human being would.  However- last night he SAID "ah-duh" TWICE in a  row for "all done!"  Could've been a coincidence, since I squealed with delight when he did it the first time (in conjunction with the sign, so I had SOME basis for excitement!)...and he has been known to love a reaction out of me.

Just today he began playing an adorable version of peek-a-boo with his Sweetish Baby taggie blanket.  If he initiates the game, he just thrusts the blankie up and down too fast to even say "peek-a-boo" ... but if you say "GO HIDE, DAX!" he'll hold the blankie over his face for a few seconds and then THRUST it down and smile at you (me), waiting for the exaggerated "PEEK-A-BOOOOOO!" (Those of you that watch Up All Night- have y'all seen the Children's Gym episode?  Bahaha!)

He'll eat just about anything- I'm almost at the point where I'd feel comfortable just feeding him small pieces of our dinner (and do on occasion offer small bites)- except I'm so psycho about their first year's nutrition I him to maintain the ridiculous amounts of fruits and vegetables he is currently consuming, so I will continue steaming and pureeing organic foods for his pure little body.  Oh, and I also forgot to mention my insane phobia of food allergies.  Particularly egg and nut- and adult food sources are too untrustworthy to risk giving him doses of little scary proteins!

I think that's the bulk of the month's updates.  Yes, I'm posting this on Christmas Day (night).  Yes, I'm on Christmas break.  Yes, Grams and Papa were here for 2.5 weeks. Yes, we re-did the office. But before any of those posts, it's time for the Montster Photoshoot-->

My heart is putty in your hands, little boy!

Squawking- per usual!

UPDATED: Here is the peek-a-boo video I promised!  :)

Santa: 4th Time's A Charm!

Well, the first three attempts at a small chat with Santa were a disaster not picture perfect.  (For a visual reminder, read THIS post!)

But THIS year was THE year!!!  Ada was enamored.  Her mind went totally blank when Ol' Saint Nick asked her what she'd like for Christmas- she forgot to ask him for barbies, kitchen "food" toys, a car, and princess dolls.  All that she could manage out of her mouth was a meek "presents."  

When he asked her if she'd been a good little girl, her large almond-shaped eyes became more like walnuts.  Maybe even brazil nuts.  And she nodded ever-so-slightly.

When he lifted her up to place her on his lap for the obligatory photo-op, her body went limp with disbelief.  He plopped her on his knee, and then plopped Dax on his other knee.  (Dax was also enamored- but more with the beard than anything.  This was one of the few pictures that Dax was looking in the vicinity of the camera- most of the time he was turned completely around staring at the white fuzz.)  

Ada was deep in thought.  Her mind was not in this world- she was pondering the North Pole.  Reindeer.  Elves.  Presents.  Presents.  Presents.  And cookies.  Finally, she came to.  To us saying "Ada!  Smile!  Smile for the camera, honey!"  And this is what she squeezed out before slipping back into her Christmas fantasy:

I would deem 2012 the year of the SANTA SUCCESS!!  I'm obsessed with this picture, and it may not be stashed away with the rest of the holiday decor come January 1st- I just don't think I'll be able to part with it for an entire year!

Halloween- Long Overdue

Halloween was months ago.  In fact, we're even long past Thanksgiving (which I failed to get ONE picture of- we went to Pop and Honey's, and had a nice time!).  But I want to post our Santa picture, and feel the need to cross the Halloween blog post off of my eternal to-do list before advancing into the current holiday season!  :)

We kicked off the weekend with a Halloween Party at the kids' school, Kids-R-Kids!

Then we met up with friends to celebrate and trick-or-treat at the Klemach's.  This is the girls eating their self-decorated cupcakes... and Dax wanting in on the action!

About to take my monster and indian trick-or-treating! (So I can eat their candy once they go to bed!)

To. Die. For.

I love this girl so much.

Hitting the streets with her friends, Olivia and Rory!  Ada got some serious candy-age.

Glam Girl Gift Sets @ Sweetish Baby!

Visit Sweetish Baby's latest blog post about our newest gift set- for the Glam Baby Girl!  Here's a little sneak peak-

The bow socks are just killing me. To die for!!

Jungle Animal Gift-In-A-Bag

Check out the boy version of the Sweetish Baby baby shower gift set!  You can read about it HERE, on Sweetish Baby's blog.  :)

Dax- 8 months

Dax turned 8 months old on November 16 - I cannot believe it!  He's crawling a million miles a minute, getting into EVERYTHING (I caught him tangled up in the bars of the side table the other day), and scaling around on the furniture. 

He's saying "mamamamamamamamamamama" and "dadadadadadadadada" and "bababababababababa" ... sometimes intentionally at the correct person. ;)  And sometimes we SWEAR he mimics the number of syllabals we are using.  (Typically three.  And it's typically "I love you." Coincidence?  I'm going to pretend not!)

I think he believes he knows the sign for "more"- although he's actually just banging both hands on his highchair tray (as opposed to tapping his fingertips together for the actual sign).  He's eating tons of solids- sweet potatoes are still his fave.

I always pick him up first from school (because big siblings aren't allowed in the baby rooms)- and then we go together to get Ada.  His face totally lights up when he finds her in the classroom- it melts my heart. 

I know I always say it, but he's growing up way too fast!  Here are the shots from our sick-boy monster photo shoot this Sunday-

Been a while...

It's been a while since a meaty post.  It's funny how that goes- the more going on, the more you want to blog about, but the less time you have to do so.  Now that I'm taking the time to sit at the computer and write one, I can't remember everything I've been storing away in my frontal lobe.

I'll just blabber about the last 5 days.  Would you ever guess these adorable kids weren't feeling well?

They're totally sick.  Dax's teachers had been telling me for days they thought he was under the weather, but I wasn't seeing it.  He finally woke up about 3am on Thursday morning running a MILD fever, so I decided to go ahead and get him checked out by the doctor.  Lo-and-behold: double ear infection (one of which is severe), and nasty upper respiratory infection.  So nasty, in fact, that he has to have breathing treatments of albuterol.  :(

Dax taking his albuterol. 

 The good thing?  I got to miss 2 days of work and snuggle, snuggle, snuggle him!!!

Dax's began at 3am on Thursday... Ada's began at 4am on Saturday.  Casey and I wake up with her crying at the side of our bed "I just had a dream about creepy shadows... and I throwed up in my beeeeeddddd."  It was so sad, and such a mess. She felt icky all weekend, too. 

Snuggling on the pallette with her "Rat Princess" that Aunt Andi sent her from NYC!

Daddy built her a BOMB fort that she lounged in all day Saturday and Sunday and watched movies. 

Everyone is seemingly on the mend.  Dax has been on antibiotics for 5 days, though, and his ears are still bothering him.  He's also still sounding really rattle-y in the chest- tack on the email that I got from daycare today saying one of his friends in his classroom has RSV (a baby lung virus)- we are going back to the doctor tomorrow for a re-evaluation.  And then we're off for Thanksgiving break, yay!

And, something super random, but made my entire weekend:  Dax discovered the property of "elasticity."  He realized he could "pop" my elastic headband- and he sat there and popped it like a slingshot for a good ten minutes. (Such a boy!) 

He'd pop it.  Look at me.  Wait for my reaction (which was totally ridiculous in between shots with camera phone!).  Smile and giggle.  Then pop it again. And again.  And again.

This was one of the pictures I'd captured in the midst of all the popping!!  I cannot get enough of it!  This boy makes me smile so hard.

McDonald's Strawberry Banana Smoothie Recipe Uncovered...

I know I have a TON of things I need to update the blog about.  Halloween.  Family Pictures.  Dax's 8 month monster photo shoot (which still hasn't happened, because he's sick), recent Adaisms (and there are plenty that I'm quickly forgetting!), all of the new adorableness up for sale at Sweetish Baby, etc. 

But, I'm choosing to use my sparse free time to blog about the trivial things.  Like figuring out how to make an exact duplication (except without the high fructose corn syrup, and $3 pricetag of course) of McDonald's Strawberry Banana smoothie- which Ada can't seem to get enough of. 

Is it sad that that is the negative reinforcement that works best for us?  Not "you're about to get a time-out", or "You are about to lose your TV privileges for the day"... it's "You are about to lose the opportunity to get a "smoovie" on the way home!" 

See below for my make-shift, grossly unprofessional recipe! 

In the blender:

• 1/2 soft banana
• About 6-7 large frozen strawberries (8-9 if they're small)
• Cover the fruit about 75% with whatever-milk-you-have-on-hand.  It looks about like 1 cup.
• A liberal splash (on the verge of a pour) of french vanilla creamer.

Blend, and Oila!  It makes enough for a HUGE serving (think- 20 oz), or 2 smaller servings (think- straw sippy cup and small juice glass for mom!)