10 MONTHS & all smiles : Dealey turned 10 months today and I am so excited we are approaching that beautiful 1 year mark! I think it's as much a celebration for the parents than anything. I mean Dealey doesn't care at least not yet, he might care when we set that big chocolate cup cake in front of him! We are planning the party and invites will be going out in a few weeks!

So if you saw last month you know D just wasn't too happy on his 9 month bday. He's much happier this month although we are pretty sure this week has been full of a growth spurt as if he needed that and teething (always a fun thing) He's talking more and more and has a new friend. We named him Roary after a friends toy we just thought it was such a cute name. Don't worry even though Hank (the monkey) has been quite lately he's been out and about with the D man he's just having a self image complex or something right now and won't let us photograph him....monkeys, can't live with them? can't live without them?

Anyways, how cute is D his hair is getting so curly in the back you can see it wisping out on the sides. He's totally on the move and will walk pushing stuff now too fun, we got some great video of him laughing so I'll post that in a few days!

After I got done taking his picture he was like "I'm out of here this thing can't hold me any longer. I WILL NOT be a slave to the bumbo!" Okay so he wasn't that forceful about it but he was very intent on getting out and it took only a matter of seconds and he was off with Roary in tow.....

But then he remembered it was 4:00 and we drop all things for Happy Hour! So my big boy set up on the couch by me and enjoyed his drink....wish it was my happy hour....oh well, maybe tomorrow....

more blocks! I finished some more blocks last week for our nephew Ethan that's due any day. I meant to take a picture of them hanging in the nursery too, but I'll have to do that later because yes, I forgot. Oh well, they turned out great, even better than the first ones! I'll shortly have a new set started for Dealey's room and then I have 3 request for blocks from a few of Matt's co-workers and his mom so I'll be doing blocks for the foreseeable future! Too fun!

Old Friends : New Memories

I have always felt very fortunate that I have stayed in contact with so many of my childhood friends. Relationships just don't usually last that long it seems but it's obvious we all really cared about each other and that's why we make efforts through all the craziness of life to get together and create new memories together now as wives, mom's & career woman! I can't wait to think about this in 20 years and see that my great friends in my life now are still some of my closest friends.

This picture is from a few weekends ago, some of the girls from my club league. Some of us started playing together when we were 10 and everyone had joined by the time we were 13. This isn't the whole team, but it's almost half and I think that's an amazing thing!

Here's to old friends, new friends, life long friends.......................

I had to blog about this very crazy moment in my life. Today after a long time of wanting to, I auditioned to sing on stage at our church. Our church is non-traditional and we have a full band for worship, so uh, yeah I'm going to be a total rock star! As a teenager I was full of confidence and had no problem getting on stage and singing in front of people but as an adult self consciousness rules my world.

But I did it! I auditioned and he (jeff) loved it and I'll be singing with the band in 2 weeks! I'm terrified and excited all in one breath, but the best part about it is that I'll get the chance to sing with my friend Andi before she moves to Cali. She is my biggest cheerleader when it came to singing. So Thanks Andi, for helping me believe I could do it...

I love this picture, Dealey's big blue eyes, he's clapping happy hands and most of all my white mixing bowl on his head! I've lost almost all my mixing bowls and most of my tupper ware to play time....oh well, I love the "baby legs" too these are my favorite the skulls crack me up, Matty says they're "gay legs" but whatever they're just darn cute and hello functional with all the concrete floors we have they protect and keep him warm on the hard cold floor....

: feeling crafty : Suz mentioned on her blog us girls have been working on a project we got inspired to do from a website called Etsy and an artist called SuZanna Anna. I finally got my blocks hung today and wanted to share a picture! I love them and they add such personality to the room.

I started some today for my (coming soon!) nephew Ethan's room and I can't wait to see how they turn out! Like Suz said if you haven't checked out Etsy you have to do it, you'll be inspired to do things you never thought you wanted to do! So everbody, go get crafty!

NINEmonth : UPdate

We went to the doc this morning for D's 9 mo check up and as expected his a very healthy little boy! He weighed in at 20lbs even, although I still maintain their scale must be off by at least a few lbs! His length was 29 1/2". He's 85th % on height and 40th % on weight our little long lean boy is getting so big! His bottom two teeth are still coming in as I mentioned and the doctor confirmed my thought that his top teeth were about to make an appearance (that should be fun)! Every day is filled with ups and downs by both Dealey and me but seriously Dealey just stands up and sits down all day long it's exhausting just to watch. Oh we must not forget the head he's in the 85th % on head too not the biggest in our circle of friends but I still think it's so funny how big kids heads are it's amazing they can walk or hold them selves up with such massive amounts of bone, tissue and whatever else is in our brains sitting on their shoulders.

She said we're good to eat almost anything which is fun I can stop buy so much baby food and introduce Dealey to wide world of table foods! The big day will come in a few months when I buy the last insanely expensive container of formula that will be a victory in my mind! It's funny and I'm not sure I've ever mentioned it before but the one thing and I mean ONE thing that is cheaper in NY is formula because it's all made up there and so shipping/distribution is so much less it's seriously like $10 cheaper and when you buy 4 cans a month that's a lot of money...oh well what are you going do...I'll tell you, nothing.

Dealey turned 9 months on Sunday and boy what a day it was. It began about 12:15 am he woke up screaming Matt went in to check on him and he was all congested. He got him calmed down and back to sleep but he woke up again about 3:30 and was up every 15-30 minutes after that. Poor kid, he just couldn't breath and his mouth was bothering him so finally about 5:45 I went in for the last time and just held him and he slept as we rocked until about 7. Then he woke up all happy and ready to play. But of course because of the up and down he was tired and couldn't get caught up all day so I picked this 9 month pic to post because it is so appropriate to how we capped off 9 months! It was a long day but he went to bed early last night only woke up once about 3:30 and then slept until 7, so today he's a much more content little boy.

We have two new teeth in the middle on the bottom! His top gums are really swollen in the middle front which I've been told is the tell tell sign the top ones are about to bust through. So any day we expect for those to start coming in! He still loves to talk and loves making new noises and trying to mimic ones you make with his mouth. He's coasting around furniture and from piece to piece and loves to walk with you holding his hands. I don't have his current stats we have an appointment early next week so I'll update then. But he's wearing 12-18 month pants and 18-24 month shirts. He's got quite the wing span huh?!

Here's a few pics the one in the bath is well cute and the best shot of his bottom teeth. I love the hat one he looks like such a big boy and Matt loves that he loves hats. He did take it off at one point and start chewing on the bill but for the most part he liked it. The last one is at the park he LOVES to swing and sometimes you can get him in a full belly laugh of course never when we have cameras to catch it....

Well, it's been a busy couple of months but this week was the busiest yet. We worked day and night to get the house ready for Thea's baby shower. It was an honor to get to do this for her but I'd be lying if said I wasn't glad it was over. Here's some pics form the shower and you can get a few glimpses of the house. I'll do another post this week with some before and after pics of the rooms we've done the most work in. I have to say Thea's friends know how to make a girl feel special. A couple of them thought that we brought a chef in to do the food and one other girl came up to me and said my house looked like it was out of Dwell magazine....it gave me the energy to get through the rest of the shower, what sweet things to say!

The guest sign in for the shower was fun I had each guest sign a rock that was put in a vase for Thea, not an idea I came up with, not sure where I saw it but it was a cute and fun way for Thea to remember her shower guest.

This is the food table (and our dinning room) but, before I got all the food out.

One of the greatest things about the shower was the cupcakes from Sprinkles. Red Velvet...yummy!

This is Thea reading the card from Deals, it said, "Hey Ethan, Deals here. I've made it my personal mission to make you the best dressed kid in the orchestra! Can't wait to give the parental units heck!...BFF Dealey"

Just one of the cute outfits Deals got Ethan.

Me and Matty found a brief second to capture our smiles during the shower. We were so happy to have a household of people.

And finally the Dealey bear and my brother Ross, hanging after the shower.

Oh and I wouldn't be much of a mom if I didn't mention that Deals finally cut his first tooth, we actually think there are two coming in. One on top and one for sure on bottom! yeah the buckets of drool are finally paying off! Yeah!

8 MONTHS & GRRRRING

Deals turned 8 months old today, how freaking exciting huh! We had a blast taking his picture this morning every time we said Dealey Bear and pointed the camera at him he stuck his arms up and grrrrred at us...who knows if we'll get him to do it again. He's so on the move crawling like a mad man and even more exciting he's pulling up and standing on his own, it's so COOL! He's waving.....sometimes and clapping his hands all the time. He babbles and tells the best stories! Still no teeth to report but little mr. drool bucket has sprung and even bigger leak so maybe this month! Here's his monthly collage along with some pics of him climb this step from the living room into the entry and a few of the Dealey Bear himself!

Wordless Wednesday

As promised D's 7 month bumbo pic, I feel accomplished that I managed to get it on the blog before he was 8 months old! But look at it this way, this way you don't have to wait that long to see another set of pics he'll be 8 months in two weeks!

I used to get 100 things done in one day, now I'm lucky to get 5. Not sure how I feel about that. How do you find the balance? How do you become okay with not completing the other 95 things? How do you justify what gets done and what doesn't and on that daily to do list is just the simple task of sustaining life and some days I think it may not happen at least not for me. Deals will be fine, feed and happy, I guess that's all that matters now, not a bad thing by any means but at some point the pressure and feeling of, well, failure will get the better of me.

~ Ella Bear ~

A few weeks ago we got the chance to spend some time with Matt's sister and husband and their sweet little Ella. Deals was so cute with her, holding her hand and drooling on her! He's usually fairly indifferent with babies (as we've seen with some of our friends kids) but with Ella Bear he was all smiles and very interested in playing. The future is going to be full of laughs and good fun as we get to watch our Dealey Bear & Ella Bear grow up together, oh and get in loads of trouble together as well!

My Little Hat Man...We got a few more pics of Dealey in his blue toboggan as I would have called it back in the day but apparently that's just a sled and not a form of hat like I thought...whatever Deals is wearing a blue thing on his head and looks darn cute.....

: lemon love :

My friend Gloria did a post a while ago with a pic of her little girl Aliza tasting a lemon and it was too cute. But as soon as i saw it i knew i had the perfect picture to compliment it. I also knew that Aliza's and Dealey's love is really meant to be. She'll be taking the lemon off the rim of her glass and putting it on D's glass! aahhh.....Lemon love, my lemon love, I need you oh how I need you love......

What Time Are YOU?

My friend Patti posted this on her blog, I of course was totally curious about what time I was so I took the test and I'm pretty impressed. I've always said unless necessary I'd prefer to not do anything before 10 am of course Dealey seems to love about 7:30 am I've told him over and over sleeping is fun and we should sleep later but he'd rather get the day going, who's kid is this? Here's what the site said about me:



You are breakfasty, like a pile of pancakes on a Sunday morning that have just the right amount of syrup, so every bite is sweet perfection and not a soppy mess. You are a glass of orange juice that's cool, refreshing, and not overly pulpy. You are the time of day that's just right for turning the pages of a newspaper, flipping through channels, or clicking around online to get a sense of how the world changed during the night. You don't want to stumble sleepily through life, so you make a real effort to wake your brain up and get it thinking. You feel inspired to accomplish things (whether it's checking something off your to-do list or changing the world), but there's plenty of time for making things happen later in the day. First, pancakes.

Hey who doesn't love pancakes?

[ fEELiNG thE hEAt ]

Okay so life's been a little nuts lately, we're slowly and I mean slower than snails pace getting settled in the house. I wake each morning to see the mess that was there the night before. Where have cleaning fairies all gone? I must have left them in NY I'm sure they're just sitting in the basement wondering where the hell we are. But to add to the crazies we've had to wait forever to get our internet set up we've been quietly stealing internet from several of our neighbors but I tell you nothing frustrates me more than when someone is using their internet and it impedes on the speed at which my internet runs. How dare they use their internet while I am, jerks!

But as if that wasn't stupid enough a week ago today we lost 1/2 power in our house. Of course our first thought crap something has already gone wrong, as I'm sure most people think when they buy an older home. But after two days of 1/2 power we finally got an electrician out there just to tell us oh, TXU put a boot on your meter. What???? Okay let me explain 1/2 power so you understand this....We lost our heat, hot water and appliances, so basically everything thing that makes life seem livable. We had our televisions so we didn't go completely insane seeing that we are t.v. junkies and working hard to make Deals one too. Most of the lights in the house worked and about half the plugs. So that's what I mean by 1/2 power. The electrician said we shouldn't have power at all but the "technician" who put it on didn't do it properly so we were still receiving power from that leg of our electricity. To move the story along, I'll just say the 3rd-7th day of this ordeal weren't as pleasant although we did realize on day 6 we are stupid, both Matt and I. By day 4 the house temperature had dropped to 49 degrees, I like it cool but it was rough, we did get space heaters for D's room and our room. D's room never left the 70's thanks to the space heater so he was good our room on the other hand didn't get quite as warm....anyways it finally got fixed today.

See the whole mix up was with our new provider. I signed up for service in December just before Christmas and for some reason they set our connect date at Jan. 31..What? I argued with them but apparently in the world of electricity everything takes 3 business days no matter who's fault it is.... So now that the crazies are subsiding maybe we can get on track again. I'm so ready for some sort of a schedule especially with D. I'm anxious for him to have a place to play and I'm really anxious to get him in his room. He did turn 7 months old during all this craziness and the slacker mom in me hasn't posted pics and I'm still not but I will soon, very very soon, unless I decide life just wouldn't be the same without the verbal beatings by my fellow bloggers and friends...

Oh gosh I almost forgot to tell you all why Matt and I are so stupid. It took us until day 6 to think about starting a fire in the fireplace...duh, right? Fire...sigh we laughed about it but really I think we were both a bit embarrassed....So I don't have D's 7 month pic ready yet but here's some new pics of D and just so you guys know I already have my next 2 post written and ready to post! Hello organization!

My Gma made a hat to match D's blue sweater, how cute is this, we put it on him with the rim rolled up and he immediately pulled down and just left it.....

Just a fun bath time shot!

We got a new stroller and Deals absolutely LOVES it, he loves facing forward and we figure no new stroller ride wouldn't be complete with out his first Chick-fil-a drink! He really just loves the straws but he does love drinking from them, he's becoming such a big boy, I love it! Oh and his little personality is starting to shine, you can see it in the pics.

Here's to.....

The past year has been moderately crazy, okay it's been down right hysterically insane....Normally I enjoy recapping the year and thinking back over the events that got us to today but other than the birth of Dealey, the birth of Ella and finding out Ross & Thea were having a baby boy it's been one crazy stupid year not worthy of the heartache and energy it would take to re-cap. However despite my frustration with life and all it's craziness I wanted to wish everyone a Wonderfully Happy New Year even though it is 7 days late but that is a testament to the stressfully busy and internet challenged world I am currently being held hostage by. So to each of you I raise my bottle of Shiraz and wish you well followed with a heartfelt, love, hugs & skittles......