Counting is fun!

9 months and taking care of babies

Daxton turned 9 months old last week (on Father's Day).  I forgot to mention in my Father's Day post that he said dada for the first time on Father's Day!!  BEST. GIFT. EVER.   I took Dax for his 9 month appointment on Friday.  Here are his new stats:

Height: 29 inches (73%)
Weight: 21 lbs 3 oz (60%)
Head: 17 3/4 cm (46%)

Isn't he handsome?

 Ignore me.....I find it hard to find motivation to put on make-up.  Dax doesn't care either way! :)

New accomplishments this month:  Saying dada. He tries to sneak ice cream.  Dada always gives in! He started standing unassisted and a couple of days ago he took his first step unassisted.  He can only go one step right now, but I'm sure he will be taking more very soon. He also had another tooth come in on the top!  That makes six teeth (four on top, 2 on bottom)!!

For the past week I have had another baby to take care - one much bigger (and more demanding) than Daxton.  I kid.....but I have been doing my best to take care of Zach for the past week.  He had laser eye surgery.  Thank you military for amazing insurance!!!  Zach can see for the first time without glasses or contacts for the first time in 20 years.  It is a quick recovery, but also very difficult to be without your eyes for 4 days. 

We are getting very excited around here, because this weekend we are getting out of North Carolina.  We're venturing down to South Carolina to visit my friend Jenn (Aunt Jenn).  Her and her husband just had their first baby and I cannot wait to give their little boy some love!  I have been dying to get out of NC which is difficult to do when you are preggo. 

Speaking of being pregnant:  LESS THAN TWO MONTHS UNTIL I AM DONE!!!!  There are many people that love being pregnant.  For the most part, I enjoyed being pregnant with Daxton (until the end), but this pregnancy has been dreadful the entire time.  I was very sick the first/second trimester and my body has been aching for the past 7 months.  I cannot wait to feel normal again!

Father's Day Weekend

We had an amazing Father's Day Weekend.  But first, I have to tell you a reason why I love military life.  If I were to be honest...I really don't like a lot of things about being a military wife, but there are some great things about it! On Saturday, one of Zach's co-workers came by with his family (wife and two kids) to bring us some baby stuff they no longer use.  They were an amazing family and we were blown away by their generosity.  They brought us a jogging stroller, an umbrella stroller, a pack-n-play, one of those little infant baby seats that vibrates, and a wagon full of Lego blocks for Daxton!  As if that weren't enough they also got us a cute gift basket for Aleah full of fun goodies for her.  I think I also mentioned that we got a crib, crib mattress, baby girl clothes, and a ton of maternity clothes from a neighbor and they also have a military background.  So even the people I don't know very well treat you like you are family.  They understand a lot about you before they even get to know you just because of the military background!

On Sunday, we celebrated Zach!  He is an amazing father.  I can't tell you how much it thrills my heart to see him playing with our son.  You should see the way Daxton's face lights up when Zach gets home from work.  We started the day by making Zach breakfast (homemade biscuits, eggs, and bacon). We got Zach an oar/paddle (not sure what you call it) for Zach's kayak.  So Zach went for a 5-mile kayak trip.  This has become a new love of Zach's since we moved to North Carolina.  We just chilled most of the afternoon.  Zach likes to joke that on Father's Day he had to change a dirty diaper and put child locks on the kitchen cabinets.  I guess it comes with the territory when you have a 9 month old.  The reason why the child locks had to go on this weekend.......I went to go get a hair tie from my bathroom and when I came back Daxton was no where to be found.  It took me awhile, but this is where I found him.

That night our plans were to grill steaks for dinner.  It kept raining off and on so we decided to go to a local steakhouse that we had never tried before.  After all, it was a steakhouse so they must do steaks right. WRONG!!  We waited for 20 min even though there were a ton of open tables and only 3 parties in ahead of us.  I was already a little turned off by the place because they had a salad bar.  I know, I know......I'm weird.  I could point out that during our wait I noticed the 10 year old boy that was stocking the salad bar left the ham sitting out on the hostess table AND he sneezed all over the cucumbers while he was putting them away. YUCK! I hate all buffets except for pizza buffets for some reason.  During our wait we set outside in the rocking chairs (which are pretty much everywhere you go in North Carolina). 

I love these boys!

On with the story:  We finally get seated and I quickly notice that the hostess is also a waitress, she's cleaning tables, and restocking the salad bar. The hostess takes our drink order because no one has come to our table to help us.  We have plenty of time to look over the menu which consists of about 8 steaks and 5 other menu items (chicken, pork, and 3 fish options). Finally, an older gentleman walks up to our table.  He introduces himself as the owner/cook/and waiter.  Not kidding! He tells us that there is a small problem.  What would that "small" problem be?  Oh yeah....the problem is that they have run out of steak....at a steakhouse......on Father's Day.  By this time, the whole situation is just a little hilarious to us.  I sweetly tell the man that it's no problem.  We'll just come back another time.  He looks at me like I'm completely nuts!  He says, "But we have a great salad bar."  Ummmmmm.......wrong selling point.  I start to get a little more short with the man because I think it's completely fine that I want to leave a steakhouse that doesn't have steak, and come back another time when they do have steak.  Right?  I say to him, "Look. It's Father's Day and my husband wanted a steak for Father's Day.  I think we will go somewhere that can provide that. We'll take our check please."  He huffs away. There are so many things wrong with this whole situation. Any normal business would have warned the 10 people that were waiting that they were going to run out of steak, OR they would have offered an incentive to come back again (gift certificate), OR they would have not made us pay the $3.75 for our drinks!!!  Yes.....they still made us pay for our drinks.  But, everything turned out fine.  When we left the restaurant the weather had cleared up a little bit so we ended up grilling out anyway.  Here's the spread.  A total man meal, complete with french fries and a Blue Moon with orange slice.

After dinner we watched a movie together.  I love them!

I will leave you with this little gem.  Daxton has decided this week that he does not like any green food.  Lovely.

Doesn't this scream summer?

I wish we had a yard with a fence. *Sigh* Because I would do this:

Photo Credit

I decided I needed to set some summer goals for myself/my family (you're welcome, babe)!

1. Spend as much time as possible enjoying the beach.  This wasn't a big deal when we lived in Cali, because we could go to the beach all year round. In fact, I preferred the beach in the fall and winter because there were no tourists. Winter around here is weird to me....everything shuts down.  When I say everything I'm not joking. I grew up in Kansas and experienced the most brutal winters. It doesn't matter in Kansas....the world keeps moving.
2. Get everything prepared for Aleah's arrival.  Our little girl will be joining/completing our family in August. The nursery needs to be finished. I got all of her bedding washed and put away, but that is about all I have done. 
3. Stop biting my nails.  Confession: I'm a nail biter.  I always have been. It is a disgusting habit - one that I do not want my little girl observing/learning from her mother. I do really well as long as I keep my nails painted and filed. Easier said that done with a 9 month old running around. I can just see the hot pink nail polish (my summer color) all over our carpet.
4. Get prepared for Daxton's first birthday party.  It is in September, but with Aleah coming in August I would like to have the majority of the planning done. It is going to be super cute and the theme is going to be so much fun. We are hoping a lot of our family members will be able to make it out here for the big event!
5. Refinish the dresser in our bedroom. It is a cheap dresser that came from IKEA - I think. In the move(s) we had the brilliant idea of taping the drawers shut. Well.....it pulled off the cheapo finishing. 
6. Organize the garage. We really need to go through all the boxes, see what is in each one, donate, organize, label, etc.  Sounds fun, right?  Especially when it is 100 degrees outside. Maybe this one can wait until the winter. :)
7. Get family pictures printed, put in frames, and hung up. Our house is so bare. I was thinking I would wait until Aleah got here, but I think I might just put some place holder photos up and then replace them with the photos of my beautiful girl when she arrives.
8. Dream about my exercise routine that I can't wait to start after Aleah gets here. I would like to run a race. I have never done it before. I have said I was going to a million times. This time I mean it! :) At least a 5K.  Anyone can do that, right? I have heard that once you do your first race you are hooked. I hope that is the case, because my butt and thighs could use it. 
9. Read books!  I started reading while I walk on the treadmill. It makes the time go by quickly and I love that I can make the font bigger on my Kindle because 1. I'm going blind. 2. It makes it easier to read as I bounce.  I have already read Water for Elephants and Bossy Pants. There were both so good.
10. Get a sewing machine and re-learn how to sew. I have a million projects in mind. Like this, and this, and I want to do this with all of the white onsies that Daxton doesn't wear anymore.

I'm sure I will add more as the summer progresses.  Anyone else have a to-do list for the summer?

OMG!!! I want these on my feet now.

Ugh!!  I am beyond done with being pregnant. Yes......it's worth it!  Babies are wonderful - especially if they are as cute as this guy.

BUT......I would love to have a reason to get super dressed up and put these beauties on my feet or any other of the little beauties found here.

Don't they just scream, "TAKE ME DANCING ALL NIGHT LONG!" 

My kid can stand!

To say I'm a proud mama would be an understatement.  He's been standing for a week now, but he's very sneaky.  It's usually when I'm in the kitchen and he's in the living room on his own. I walk in and he's standing!!  By the time I get my camera he's down. Then, when I try and get him to do it while I have my video camera with me he thinks it's funny to do anything and everything (except stand)!  So....here's Daxton at 8 1/2 months!

Pregnancy and Weekend Update

I'm 30 weeks pregnant now.  I figure if I survived 10 weeks of a Rhode Island winter, living in a hotel with my husband, a dog, and a baby - while enduring the joys of my first trimester - then I can survive the last 10 weeks of this pregnancy.  Just a little perspective: I have essentially been pregnant since December 2009!  That is not a typo.  I had two months when I wasn't pregnant, but let's be honest: the two months after having a baby are the adjustment months.  You still don't feel like yourself.  I'm ready for pregnancy to be a thing of the past!

Alright....here's my 30 week picture.  It's completely unflattering, but we have such busy schedules that by the time I get Zach to take a new one I'll be 35 or 40 weeks. 

We cannot wait for our little Aleah Jayne to get here! She'll be here before we know it. 

So far Aleah has more clothes than Daxton has had his entire life.  I guess that's what being a girl is all about.  Her room is painted, we have a crib & mattress (thanks to our neighbors), her bedding just arrived while I was putting this post together (thanks, grandma & grandpa Avery), and her changing table should be here this week sometime (again, thanks g&g Avery), and we have a glider rocker that we just got for $20 (the baby stuff you can find around a military base for dirt cheap is amazing).  As soon as all of that is put together I'll take a pic of the nursery! :) Hopefully by next week.

Oh yeah....and the weekend update:  On Saturday, we hit up the beach. It is starting to become our weekend routine. It's free, we live 5min away, and Daxton LOVES the beach!  He crawls all over the place. Unfortunately, he enjoys the taste of sand.  I'm hoping he grows out of that really fast. This weekend he got shell and tried to eat it.  He ended up with a little cut on his lip and we had to end our beach day early to get the cut cleaned up. Zach had grand plans to go camping on Saturday night, but the plans fell through at the last minute.  Turned out to be a blessing, because Zach got sick on Saturday night with the cold/flu junk that's going around.  On Sunday, I had two babies to take care of! :) I kid, but I guess it's good practice for when I actually have two babies to take care of. It was a super lazy day. Daxton and I made waffles for dada (which is a big deal, because it's the second time I have made pancakes/waffles since Zach and I have been married - it's sort of his territory). Then, Zach vegged out and watched movies all day. I don't think he moved from the living room. I haven't talked to him today yet, but I hope he feels better after a day of relaxing!

P.S.  I told you I would get better about blogging.  Hope I can keep it up! :)