Happy Super Bowl Sunday

Dallas speaks

PlayPals

We met some friends at PlayPals on Friday. Emily had fun running around with Austin.

He smiles

Dallas has been grinning and smirking and smiling at us for about a week now. Catching him in the act is the tricky part!

I tried to do it myself and got the tail-end. I did a little better with Aunt Lynne holding him, she was sure giving him the goo-goo talk and he loved it.

Dallas's first bottle

I decided tonight Dallas should try out the bottle, as we are having our first babysitter tomorrow. I want things to go smooth with Aunt April so she will come back and sit more! It was certainly less hard for me this time around. I guess knowing that this bottle is not going to lead to 4+ bottles that a daycare lady will have to give my son helps. Thanks to Robert and our financial peace I won't have to deal with that, and for that I am grateful!

The best friends a girl could have

I was surprised at how hard it was too meet people when we moved back to Ames a few years ago. There is always the people you work with, but we were lacking the close friends and relationships you meet and build in school. Eventually we found them through church and wow did I find some goodies! My humble little ladies bible study threw Dallas a "Good Night, Book Shower" Notice the table is dressed like a bed, how cute! Dallas received lots of books and I got a scrapbook celebrating motherhood, with the pages already filled in. That shows you how well these ladies know me (I would never get around to filling them in.)

We might not get too much God talk in, but I am so blessed to have you all in my life.

THANKS

Hmmmm, didn't this hole used to be square?

All my pictures of Em lately either have her ham'n it up for the camera or she has food on her face, I so lovingly call it ring around the mouth. I do wash her up after every meal, but it is still there?

Emily announced to us this morning that she was tucking Bo in. Bo carries around his red blanket sometimes and it happened to be upstairs. She indeed covered him up and then posed in a picture with him, cuddling.

And I can't post a pic of Em without including Dallas, he is sleeping again.

Emily can whistle

Emily can whistle, I don't even know if she knows. I was so surprised to hear her doing it. She was being so causual, I think she was pretending to be 15 because she was hanging out in front of the fridge with the door open, looking for something and whistling. I asked how she learned how to do that and she said "Emy taught me". I had her try to do it again, but of course you can't whistle and smile at the same time so she couldn't reproduce!

Emily listening and singing to Personal Penguin, one of our favorite songs.

Dallas ended up with some pretty fly hair after his bath.

Tummy time

This is what happens when Dallas is supposed to be exercising, tummy time. Doesn't he look peaceful.

I left the house today....

and it was pretty easy. I don't know what I was so worried about, it only took me 31 days (Dallas is 1 month today) to work up the courage. I think I was hung up on who to take and put in and out of the car first. Where would I actually put grocery's when I have Dallas and Emily in the cart (Fareway has the smallest carts in the world, hopefully the new store will have bigger carts).
We made a trip to Target and Fareway and I survived. Emily was super helpful and Dallas was his usual daytime self and slept the entire time. We even used the bathroom at Target, Emily needed to go. The big stall was taken so we all squeezed into a regular, that was probably the hardest part of the morning. I have renewed confidence in staying home, now that I can get out. Now just to get myself a bigger vehicle and some warm weather.

Tonight at dinner Emily said the funniest thing.
Em "my beans are spicy"
Me "really, I don't think they should be spicy"
Long pause with Emily staring at me...
Em "yes, my tongue is hurting"

I don't know where she comes up with this stuff, I didn't even know she knew what spicy meant!

Emily has taken to calling us mom and dad the last week or so. My ears hear it as such a huge change, perhaps she is too old to continue the mommy, daddy bit, although those get pulled out when she is throwing a fit or wants something.
Robert came home a little early yesterday from work so Emily and I could go get her hair cut. She was getting a little shaggy! I would love to grow out her hair, but she simply won't let me ever do anything with it (I know this is a faze), I don't want her to end up eating it! Rebbecca got her nice a cleaned up, I think I will have to learn how to cut her bangs myself or we will have to have to visit a certain SIL between Rebbecca visits.

Dallas is doing well, he was a big sleeper last night. I got three hours straight two times! He is spending more time being alert during the day as well, we have not gotten a smile yet but I hope it is coming soon.

Robert and I have been busy pondering our 2009 goals, more on that later

Wedding Fun

We went to a wedding of a friend this weekend. It was our first wedding that we have ever taken Emily too, as well as Dallas and it was the first wedding we had seen at our church. It was a very nice ceremony, simple and reflected the personalities of the bride and groom well. The reception was at Hickory Hall or if you are old school like me the old Honky Dory's bar. We knew several other family's there and had a fun time socializing. Emily got to catch up with Emma, and they had fun dancing with Megan and Sara! Nothing beats cute girls on the dance floor.

Working

A great not so "bright" idea

It is great getting to talk with friends that are also parents, we usually can get lots of great advice. Talking with Katie the other night she gave me a great tip. She told me to switch the light bulb from the lamp in the nursery to a red bulb. You can still see well enough to get the poop off at night, but it is not bright at all. Hopefully this will help keep things calm in the middle of the night and not send the wrong signals to Dallas, such as lights on, must be morning, time to wake up! Thanks Katie

A Weldon visit

We had a nice visit with the Weldon's this week, after a couple of reschedules do to weather. It was nice to catch up and chat, we feasted on Pizza Pit and watched football. Emily and Josh are about 6 months apart, and Dallas and Daniel are just a month apart. It will be fun to watch them grow up, if only they would move to Iowa!