The most interesting hour... and catch up!

So, most everybody knows I am a working mom.  By the time I pick up my precious baby and get home it's about 4:30.

We get home, I make dinner, I feed my baby, I clean up and before I know it, it's 6:00.

Then I get it... I get one precious hour to spend with my bundle of joy, doing the things that he wants to do.  Fitting a whole day of fun into one short hour.

So what do we do in that hour of fun?  Well today it was the greatest!

First Arlo got ahold of Mommy's hands and wanted to walk, so in our little home Arlo walked his Mommy from the couch to the door one, two, three, four, five... times.  Each time we walked to the door he would stop and look at the two holes in our floor (We have travertine tile and Tim wanted to get the unfilled travertine so we could do it ourselves and when we installed it we filled in the top of the travertine but we did not think to fill in the bottom and now we have two holes that have caved in from the bottom and I am just to lazy to re-grout them).  Then on the way back to the couch he would practically run because the faster he went the more Bronco would wag his tail.  Arlo would just laugh as he turned around to walk the same track again and again and again.

After about 25 minutes of walking back and forth (about 14 1/2 laps) Arlo was walking past the kitchen when he suddenly became distracted by the spoon he had dropped earlier (from dinner, the one mommy looked and looked for and couldn't find.)  So for the first time in what seemed like forever we got off the track we had been on to go get our spoon.  When Arlo realized he had to actually let go of my hands and get down on his knees to get this spoon he decided it wasn't worth it and got right back on the track.

After about 15 more minutes of the same routine Arlo finally decided he was getting tired of walking, so we walked over to Arlo's play area where he proceeded to smoosh his face into a big fluffy pillow and pick up his arms so he was literally laying on his head and screaming into this pillow.  Every time he would look up from his pillow and see me, I would smile at him and say "Peek-a-boo"  and then he would put his head back down into the pillow pick up his hands and start screaming again.

This game lasted for about 15 minutes and then we went back to our toys and regular games.

Seriously?  This is what he wanted to do for our hour of fun? My kid cracks me up!

Here are some cute pictures of Arlo on the swings.  He has to wear a bib right now ALL the time because he is teething and we go through 3-4 of them a day!  He soaks them.

We also went to see the fishes at Bass Pro Shop.  He LOVED them!

Arlo really loves being outside!  But when he cant be outside he will do everything he can to at least look outside. :-)

And what finishes a blog post like cute bathtub pictures?  He is just to cute!  And don't even ask about the cut on his head.  Yes I know it is there.  Yes I did it to him.  No I do not beat my child... it was an accident!

9 months;-)

9 months here we come....
Actually Arlo was 9 months last month on the 30th, but I still want to give my update!
We went to the doctors and found out lots of great information like...
Arlo is 31 inches tall, 22.5 lbs and has a 18 inch head.  He also has an underbite which means we are going to have major orthodontic bills.

The past few weeks have been filled with new tricks and new sides of Arlo that we have never seen before!
For example, Arlo is now clapping all the time!

He used to clap and not really know what he was doing... now he is clapping for the result of everyone around him clapping at him... it is soooooo cute!

He is also learning to blow bubbles in the bath!

It is hard to see in this picture but there are bath bubbles all over his face because he thinks it is so cool to act like a spaz and fall over in the tub (on his tummy) and then freeze... put his face in the water... and blow.  He comes from a family of swimmers and he is proving that he will live up to the Boone expectations for him! I am one proud, proud mama!

He is also learning to hold his bottle all by himself!

He is in his box right now (the shadow), and he loves being independent and holding his bottle.  The only problem that I am having right now with Arlo holding his bottle is that as it gets to the end he likes to shake it all around and get milk everywhere (which is why he is in his box;-))

His biggest accomplishment as of yet is standing up all by himself without support.  I know I posted about this before, but that was when he would already be standing and let go for a max of like 5 seconds before he fell down.  Now, he pushes up from the ground to stand up all by himself, he also pulls on everyone and everything to stand up, let go and then clap for himself because he is standing all by himself.  He has gotten so good at standing up all by himself that he can do it for about 20 seconds clapping and shaking his head in excitement.  I would post a picture of this, but I have realized that I do not have any pictures of him standing on his own, I do have about 10 videos of it, but I do not know how to get them from my Sony camcorder to my mac (HELP!!!)

This past few weeks Arlo has really been showing his wild side.  He really, Really, REALLY loves stuffed animals and when he sees them... all he wants to do is give them love.

 Wow! An animal, I love these!

 Look how excited I am!

  I want to give it love!

 More, More love!

  Okay, that was fun... What's next???

ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE:

We went to the Chocolate Festival this weekend... Tim hated every second, but the weather was perfect and I ate some wonderful chocolate!  And while I was there look who I saw...

   yes that is right, Captain Jack Sparrow himself!!!  The festival was actually filled with a bunch of dirty hippies (which is why Tim was so miserable!)  

After the Chocolate festival, we went to my Moms to play and I made a bet with my step dad that the Colts will win the superbowl and as many of you now know... I lost!

Peyton I am so disappointed in you!  Not because I lost money, but because you let me down.  I trusted you and you broke my heart! I am done with football!

I'm done!!!

I'm done teaching!  I have been trying and trying to get through this year!  I wake up and put on my happy face.  I hold back my tears when I drop off Arlo at the babysitters and then I go to work and try to put on a big show while trying to teach 27 five and six year olds to read and write.  I think I have done a great job so far.  We just received our yearly projections comparing my class this year to my class from last year and I am doing just as well as I did last year but the only problem is that I am DONE!  My heart is not in it any more and my happy face is getting harder and harder to put on.  My only saving grace is that I do love my class this year!  I have one of the most loving classes that I have ever had and I honestly think I get over a hundred hugs a day.  But even though I love my class this year there is nothing more that I want than to stay at home with my baby!  So if there is anyone out there that has millions of dollars that they want to give away...I will be happy to take it off your hands!

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!