Resolute

Happy 2011!

I have all kinds of New Years Resolutions - but I am afraid if I put them down in cyber space, my three friends that read this will bust me breaking them. So I am going with my official New Years Resolution of the last 10 years.

***^^^***Eat less processed cheese!***^^^***

It is going to be tough as the processed cheese noodle product that is a lunch time staple in our house has hit the peak of popularity with the toddler. Bear in mind, it is not Don't eat processed cheese, it is eat less. Less from when? Exactly. It is a no fail resolution.

My secret New Years Resolution is to be nicer to Selma. Poor thing. She needs a champion and I am going to be hers. Even if that includes asking Ed nicely to take her out for a walk - and then simultaneously glaring at him and saying "PPPLLLLLLLLEASEEEEE!"



Oh I vow to treat her like I used to, before I had two monkey distractions - tonight I got off to a good start by taking her and Jr. for a sledding trip. We have the sweetest sledding hill less than 1 block away from our new house. After letting Selma run amok at the Assembly of God, we went for an adventure in our new neighborhood. She - of course - pooped on the lawn of the nicest house on the block. Jr. was so excited to get out of the house - he kept screaming "YAY! NEIGHBORHOOD!"

It is nice out here - so quiet and people slow down for you when you pull your kid on a sled in the street.

As for news on the baby front - Graham is rolling from his back to his stomach. He is pushing through a couple of teeth on top - I think. He is chubby chub chub. He eats rice cereal, pears, apples and bananas. Peas were not a hit. We put him into Jr.'s old high chair. So big - gulp.




Jr. is a viking. He is also a space ranger. I am a viking, Graham is a viking and Selma is a viking dog, but Daddy is superman.

I liked 2010. January quit my old job and went to Florida. February started my new job - so did Ed. March getting pretty big. April Jr.'s 2nd birthday. May gardening. June bracing for Graham. July hi there baby boy. August the Coleman's hit. September house shopping. October found the ONE. November listing our old house. December sold it and moved. Lets hope 2011 is a little more mellow - no new jobs, same house, no new babies. Yes - we are done with all that.

First Christmas

First Christmas for Baby Graham. First Christmas for the Colemans at their new address. Awesome/exciting/exhausting. Thank goodness that Nona fed us. A lot. Here are my favorite photos.



















Don't forget to check out the videos in the picassa link below.

Late

It is super late, but I just wanted to say a couple of things.
1. Our family and friends are amazing. They helped us get into our new house. THANK YOU! Those words aren't even enough to express our gratitude. I didn't think we would survive and I wasn't even sure this move would happen, but we did and it did and here we are. Granite. I like the name. Plus there is a guy that lives up the street that walks his pygmies goats around like dogs, Jr. and I can't wait to meet him!

2. Today, I said goodbye to 1036 eighth. It was kind of okay because I cleaned the oven so the place smelled like burning hell, but I got very teary eyed when I cleaned the finger/nose prints off of Jr.'s bedroom windows for the last time. It was the first time in 7 years I had vacuumed out my closet - woah. Yuck. I found $0.18 while I cleaned. What should I spend it on?

3. It is the eclipse, it is winter solstice. Bring on the longer days. Ed and I celebrated by hot tubbing and drinking beer. Ed spent the entire time trying to talk me into getting one. The one on our deck isn't ours. Shhhh.

4. Graham turned 5 months old this weekend. He is super vocal, still smiley and is amazing as he reaches for toys and grabs them. He is a chewer though - and drooly. Holy crap. Jr. is WAY into killing/fighting dragons. He hauls his super sad axe that Ed and I made for him out of cardboard and duct tape everywhere. He also has a shield and a sword, but the axe, that is where it is at.

Here are some photos from the weekend.
This is a guy who likes his Nanny.
One of the approximately 2 million Nanny kisses this weekend. Graham loves to give giant slobbery hair pulling kisses.
Jr. Picasso. No?
Art!
Um, Jr. you have a little paint on your. . .

CUZ

Ed Jr.'s beautiful spitfire cousin Faith came to visit last weekend. It was a snowy and cold weekend, but it was warm and tosty inside.

Daddy was gone antelope hunting so Nanna came to help out with Jr. Uncle Ian and Faith came along for the ride. Thanks guys! What a fabulous way to spend a 3 day weekend.

Feet

The other night I took off Jr.'s shoes to put him in the tub and his feet were stinky! I couldn't believe my nose! Stinky baby feet - what in the world? It was the sweetest stink I have ever smelled. He had been wearing his smartwool socks all day and it was kind of warm, but I was still rather shocked.

When he was born, my mom called them hobbit feet.

Now a days they are pretty plump little potatoes with little nubbin toes. The best thing about them, is that when he is thinking, he thinks with his feet. His feet wiggle and his toes twist while he does everything. It is pretty cool to watch.

Baby Poll

WARNING FIL - AVERT YOUR EYES!

Everyone else, enjoy this Obama loving baby!

Thanks Aunt Kim and Uncle Jon for the awesome t-shirt!

Time Flys

Jr. is almost 6 months old. He has two teeth. He is SOOOO close to sitting up on his own. The babysitter was gone for a week and she noticed a huge change in him, she said that he is talking more and he is a lot bigger. It is crazy to me that he can grow noticeably in a week.

Everything is so positive with him, it is unfortunate that the *women* I work for are giving me such a hard time about working part time. Even after we agreed that I could work part time for a year, they apparently have changed their minds. It is really hard to have a crappy day at work and come home to this BEAUTIFUL baby and be consumed with thoughts about work. I feel like I am stealing from him.

I was griping to Ed Sr. about the crap at my work today while out for a walk when we ran into my ex-boss. This man was by far the worst boss I have EVER had, including the meth head that managed the golf course restaurant. Seeing him reminded me that it can be and frankly has been worse.

I am going to work amazingly hard to put this negativity at work behind me and focus on the two most important things in my life, Ed Jr. and Ed Sr.

Vids

I was nervous about the new camera's ability to shoot videos.

shhh - he's sleepin.

New Camera!

Thanks mom for the awesome birthday gift! We got a new camera. Hopefully that will help everyone enjoy the photos more!

Auntie Liesel came to visit this weekend. We usually spend the weekend between our birthdays together cruising around Missoula, shopping, partying, and carying on. Last week when she called to say that she was coming over, I hadn't the foggiest. . . I didn't get her a present! I have until this Wednesday to get myself sorted out.

Happy birthday Auntie Liesel! On the same day as Liesel's birthday is Uncle Neil's birthday! Happy birthday uncle Neil!

I blew it.

I met this beautiful pregnant woman tonight and I had my first chance to not be one of those people, but I totally blew it. I asked her when she was due. DAMN IT! I hated that question. I have to practice NOT asking that. I did tell her that she looked amazing first, so I get some brownie points for that, right?

Oh and Jr. got his second tooth today. It wasn't there in the morning, but tonight it was there. We noticed it at the Holter pARTy. There was so many beautiful babies attending the Holter event. It was actually pretty cool to attend a social event with tons of other babies.

Grandparents!

Ed Jr.'s grandparents came to visit, we had a glorious fall weekend here in Helena. Plus we celebrated Ed Jr.'s mom and dad's birthdays.

We spent Saturday up at Park Lake where FIL showed all of us how to catch some grayling. Selma was particularly entranced and didn't miss a second of FIL's fishing lessons. He outfished me, Ed Sr. and the three bubbas across the lake from us with the fancy bobbers.

Ed Jr. was pretty jazzed to spend the day outside. As it turns out, he likes the outside much much better than the inside.
The rest of the weekend, we all walked. MIL and FIL were nice enough to take Jr. for a walk so his momma could "enjoy" watching Sunday football. Yeah, happy birthday to me, Denver stinks. I mean, I should have e-mailed Cutler to let him know that it was my birthday and I needed a win.
To top off the weekend, it was three days long. A lovely lovely three day weekend in Autumn. I can't imagine anything better - thanks MIL and FIL for a great weekend!

We miss you already.

You May Ask Yourself

How did I get here? How is it possible that 5 months ago Ed Jr. was born? Where did the time go? 5 months may not seem like much to you, but to me it was an eternity.

Last night we discovered a tooth in Jr.'s mouth. You can't so much see it, but damn you can feel it when he chomps down on your finger. Just goes to show you, I was right. For the last month I have been telling everyone that he is teething, and everyone always says, boy that is a little early, don't you think. Even though I am a new mom, I know what is what.

He still hates taking naps, but every now and again, we have a moment of glory where he sleeps for an unprecedented hour or even two. We try to tell ourselves that everything is going to change and this is the way it is going to be from now on. Boy are we wrong. Just when you get used to something, it is going to change.

Nights are pretty good. I am just going to say it and let you all sit in judgement, we co-sleep. Much more co-sleeping than the co-sleeper even. He sleeps in bed with us, but I keep him tucked safely between me and his co-sleeper. I worry that his dad will roll over on him. Jr. recently said "hell NO!" to his co-sleeper, and frankly I am too tired to fight it. I keep telling myself that at six months we will begin to transition him to his crib. Ed Sr. laughs at me when I say it aloud. Ed Jr. also laughs. Until the SIDS time is over, I want him near me. I can't imagine how exhausting it would be to get up 1,000 times in the night, travel down the hall to his bedroom and check to make sure he is breathing, tripping over at least one Labrador on the way.

I know co-sleeping is controversial, but it works for us. I wouldn't recommend it, nor would I dissuade anyone from it. Like I said, it works for us. Check with me again when he is still in our bed at a year.

Even when I am spraying down his cloth diapers, even when I am wiping puke off of my clothes, even when I am locked in a creepy pumping room at work, I am so filled with love for my beautiful son, I feel like I am going to crack open and spill love all over the floor.