New Happenings!!

So many new and exciting things are going on!
I got a new haircut... This is a bad pic of me, but I wanted to take one to show.

I liked it when I first got it cut, but now that I have had it for a week or so I am not so sure.  I guess I just LOVED my long hair,  and now it feels so weird when I wash it, brush it or style it.  I keep hoping I will get used to it, but I'm not.

ANYWAYS....
New Baby news...

Arlo got a new box...

He loves his box!

Arlo got a new friend...

  

Well actually Caleb is an old friend, but it has been so long since they had last seen each other.  The thing that really ticks me off is that while we were over visiting, I took probably 30+ pictures and in not one picture are both the boys looking.  It just goes to show how busy they are at this age!

Arlo got a new pet...

 

Okay so not true again, but it was the first time he has seen a horse and at first he loved it, but then after a few times of the horse getting really close to him, he started to panic!

And a few things that I don't have pictures of...

Arlo's new habits...

So, Arlo loves banging his head on things!  It cracks me up, he will get next to anything he can and he will bang his head against it.  I do not know if he likes the sound, or likes the way it feels... but he loves banging his head on stuff.

Arlo also loves shaking his head from side to side.  It looks like he is very violently shaking his head no. But the thing that is funny about this is that the first time he did it he looked so funny that I laughed at him.  He looked at me like I was crazy for laughing at him, but then decided that he liked me laughing at him so he did it again... so, I laughed it again.  Then he shook his head... I laughed, shook head... me laugh, head... laugh etc... for at least 15 minutes this went on.  My throat actually started hurting because I had to laugh on demand for so long.  And now whenever he shakes his head he looks at me waiting for me to laugh.  But actually it works the other way too.  I can shake my head at him and he will laugh at me as well!  What a CUTIE!!!

The last thing I want to mention is my favorite...

I do not know if it is all 9 month olds that have a fascination with their heads, but it seems that everything Arlo does revolves around his head.  When he wants to show me love he puts his head really close with mine and then I bump my head with his.  We call it a "bump" so now when I say bump, he bumps his head to mine!  I love it!  But I love it more because he usually wants to bump when he is tiered and wants to be loved on.

Arlo has his 9 month check up on Monday!  I am so excited to see how much he has grown.  I will definitely keep everybody posted!

Cute Boy!

Ok... it's mommy bragging time!

I just want everybody to see how cute my little man is!

This is a picture of him blowing raspberries.

  

Look at his fat belly!

This is a close up...

Yes, he is naked in all these pictures!  He makes such a mess when he eats and if you combine that with his drool... well, it's just easier to keep his clothes off.

The next few will show you why even bibs don't work...

He is eating bitter biscuits,  and loves them!  He loves feeding himself and eating!

On a more serious note... last week we had to take my sweet boy to the ER.  He had a high temp and was up all night miserable.  While we were in the waiting room there was another woman who brought in her daughter because of stomach pains, and she asked me "what's the matter with your little guy?" and so I told her, and she had the nerve to tell me... "Oh, that's nothing, he's fine"  I just glared at her and wanted to slap her silly.  I know that because he is my first I might be a little over protective, but at the same time my mommy sense knew that there was something wrong with him.  And I was happy that my mommy sense told me to take him in the the ER because as the day went on and the lab results came in, my little guy was diagnosed with pneumonia and they suspected a blood infection as well, because his white blood count was so high.  But thankfully, we never heard back from the blood culture and they said "no news is good news".

After a week of being on antibiotics, Arlo is doing much better!  And I am so glad!  Now I need to get him back sleeping through the night and all will be perfect!

Goodbye Neighbor!

Okay, so I know you block stalk me and I just wanted to spend a second to tell you how much I am going to miss you!  I know you know but really, I have never had a neighbor that is so sweet and caring!  And as I was scrubbing your floors today (completely jealous that you have a beautiful new home!) I realized that my life is now going to officially suck from now on!  I have no idea what I am going to do for that hour (from 4-5) when I pick Arlo up to when I need to get home; I would stay longer but I need to get home so Tim thinks that I've been home doing wife stuff.  And what am I going to do when I really need to go somewhere but Arlo is sleeping?  What about when I just need a break and need to sit down and do nothing!  I love doing nothing with you... and now what????????  Well... I just thought you should know that you have ruined my life!-)  But I am proud of you and I am so happy that you have a beautiful new home for your family to grow in!  I miss you already!

Goodbye Christmas Break :-(

The fun is OVER!  It is time to get back to work! But the past two weeks have been absolutely amazing!  We spent the first week of my break in Utah where we had a white Christmas and tons of fun and then we came back to good old AZ for Christmas number 2 and tons of great family time.  Here I am tonight, just finishing up report cards and letting reality set in.  But this was one of the best Christmas breaks I have had so here are all the details...!

We left for Utah on Friday night, we got the car all packed and got the baby ready for bed (gave him a little Benadryl) and hit the road.  Arlo did amazingly well, he slept the whole ride up and when we arrived at Rex and Jenn's house at 6:30 AM Arlo was ready for vacation!  And all we wanted to do was sleep.  I have to admit before we left I was frantic!  Arlo is at the age where he does not sleep well in random places and before we left he just started sleeping through the night again after a bad cold and waking up 3+ times each night.  And I knew that when we got there it was going to mess up his schedule again, and when Arlo does not sleep, mommy does not sleep and we are both cranky... that would not be very fun.  But my fears started to dissipate when I realized that we could fit Arlo's crib in the closet!  And then again when he went right down for his first nap.  Overall, the sleeping situation went ok.  Arlo's naps were great but nighttime was still hard, he woke up 2-3 times every night and then wanted to get up at 5 or 5:30 every morning.  (This is a secret of how good of a mom I am... since Arlo was waking up so early, after 3 days of this I decided I would let him play on the floor of the room while I went back to sleep and then after about an hour he would be tiered and I would put him back down and we would both sleep in until 9.  So in reality I did sleep in just about every day.)  

Christmas Eve was wonderful.  We went over to Tim's sisters house where all the children played out the Christmas Story, then we watched them open their presents.  The adults had a great white elephant gift exchange where we received a present wrapped in duct tape and labeled "a redneck Christmas" in which we received wife beaters, a muumuu, pickled pigs feet, assorted popcorn in a miller light tin with poker chips on top, pork rinds and hunting gear.  Let me tell you, that is all I wanted for Christmas.  For our real Christmas present we received a beautiful framed picture of the Mesa Temple, which is where we were married.  It was a perfect night.

 This is the hat and vest from our red neck present.   

Then, Christmas morning was a morning that I 'slept in' till nine and much to my surprise so had everyone else.  We spent the morning opening presents, eating, eating, taking naps, eating, eating, talking, eating, eating, putting a puzzle together and did I mention eating?  It was the most relaxing Christmas I have ever had!  It was perfect!

This is actually a funny story, Tim and I are really bad with keeping secrets and one of the few presents that we got each other that we kept a secret from each other are digital picture frames.  We are so cool!!!

I got to go snowboarding while I was up in Utah, it has been 3 years since I have been because I was pregnant last year and the year before was just a busy year.  So, I sucked!  Sorry to put it so harshly, but I was tired and cold and done by 2:00.  So I waited in the lodge and played on my i phone until everyone else finished up the day.  I still had a great time and I will hopefully go a few more times this year!

I am going to brag here... Timmy got me brand new Solomon snowboarding boots!  They are awesome and way cute too!

When it was time to come back to AZ Tim and I decided it was best not to drive with the baby again so we flew back to AZ where my mom and sister picked us up and then we spent the next few days with my family.  When Tim got back we had out second Christmas where we all were showered with more presents.

With these pictures it's just best not to ask questions, this is my family and we have so much fun together.  But the hat that Arlo is wearing is a camo hat that says "daddy's little hunting buddy" and in the last picture is Arlo eating fishing bait.  It is what Grandpa Darel got him for Christmas with everything else Alro will ever need to go fishing with Grandpa.

For the rest of my vacation I spent it cleaning my house, relaxing and most importantly spending time with my boy!  Can I tell you how much I love him!  He is honestly the sweetest little spirit.  I cannot help but smile every time I see him.  And he is growing so fast!  I look at pictures of him from being a newborn to now and I cannot even tell that he is the same boy.  Here he is at 8 months (just about the same amount of time that he was in my belly) and I think of all that he can do (crawl, stand, walk while holding onto stuff, use his thumb and finger to feed himself, blow spit bubbles and say mamamamama (not meaning me, but it still feels so good every time I hear it)) and then I have to thank my Heavenly Father for this amazing miracle that he gave to us to take care of.  Arlo has literally turned my world upside down!  And I love it... I love him!

I cannot wait to find out what this next year has in store for us.  But whatever 2010 brings us, I will keep everybody updated!  Happy New Year!