Christmas Part 1

Due to a large, spread out family on my side last year we started a new tradition of having Christmas early to spare us all the running around on Christmas Day. Aunt Kissy (my sister) lives in Marana which is the halfway point for us folks in Tucson and Aunt Patti (other sister) in Queen Creek. We all came together this past Sunday and of course feasted on lots of yummy Mexican food. Aunt Kissy and Uncle Dan made chicken tortilla soup. Aunt Patti and Uncle B-Dawg brought the homemade tamales. Aunt Michelle (other, other sister) brought the beverages. Grammy and Granddad supplied the beans, tortillas and dessert and we supplied the seven layer bean dip and chips.

Of course it's always chaos when you fill a house with ten adults and eight kids but it's the best chaos to be in the middle of....especially when it's family.

The hostess--Aunt Kissy

The tree before the carnage

Granddad can't believe the amount of gifts!

Cousin Mary surprised us by stopping by with Rudy and Haley

Uh oh! Three kids and only ONE sippy cup!

Daddy and LB

Let the unwrapping begin!

And as we all suspected....look what's headed into LB's mouth!

The look on my face is priceless! It says "oh great ANOTHER toy that makes noise"!!

And here is our living room after the first Christmas. I can only imagine what it will look like after Christmas number 2 and 3!

Lots and lots of love for now! SL

Hush little baby....

LB is at the stage where he realizes that he no longer has to take going to bed laying down (pun intended). Over the last few weeks he has developed some new sleeping positions.

WARNING.....

Cuteness ahead.....

Bending over at the waist.

Sitting up with your head resting on the bed.

And the semi-bent over at the waist.

Although these pictures are adorable (aren't they all, though) it breaks my heart when he does this. To see that he just gets so tired that he simply leans over and closes his eyes shows me just how sweet, innocent and precious he is. Do you know how hard it is to resist the temptation to pick him up and cuddle him when he does this???

Lots of Love-SL

Early visit from the Grinch....

We had an early visit from the Grinch this year. Although this Grinch wasn't here to steal presents and end Christmas. This Grinch was here to turn off our gas and end hot showers and a warm house as we know them.

Southwest Gas (boo!) knocked on our door yesterday, December 4th at 1:30 in the afternoon when the temperature was 61 degrees outside to do a "random 5 year check for gas leaks". As it turns out we have a leak and our gas was turned off. We became a little angry given the fact that it's the middle of winter, two weeks away from Christmas....oh and we have a 10 month old BABY to keep warm!

Thank goodness for co-sleeping!

So to put a little cheer in the chill LB and I put up the Christmas Tree this morning!

(Well if help is riping the ornaments out of the bin and eating empty boxes then he was A LOT of help!)

Getting Out the tree

Helping with the ornaments

Helping locate the base of the tree!

Now he's finding where the tree plugs in.

After digging LB out of the tree I finally tracked down a kid gate and locked him out.

(Like the lean of the tree?)
Lots of love~ Slave Labor!

Explorer LB

To my Fan Club members: It's with a very heavy heart that I am announcing my temporary step back from blogging. When I first started this blog I was a mere few weeks old and all I could do was lay around, nurse and poop. I figured I needed something more in my life so I took to blogging. Over the last (soon to be) ten months I have learned to roll over, sit up, worm and now standing. With each new thing I have become more aware of the world around me and how much there is to explore. (Especially when mommy is working and not paying attention to me I love to find all sorts of things to get into.) The Internet is no longer my outlet.

Now that I have you all worried I am happy to announce that I have hired mommy to be my replacement. Hey....you can't beat slave labor. I'll still blog from time to time however I am giving mommy free rein to keep you all up to date on ME!

Before I go to track down where mommy moved the dog's water bowl to I am going to leave you with an update on my first Thanksgiving.

The day started at Grammy and Granddad's house. We had a big feast over there at noon. Aunt Michelle, Aunt Chrissy, Uncle Dan, Hailey, Chase, Great Aunt Penny, Aunt Patti, Uncle Bryan, Jordynn, Jackson and Noah were all in attendance.

Here are all of the cousins

The Aunts and Mommy

After dinner at Grammy and Granddad's we loaded up the car and headed to Scottsdale to be with my Great-Great Aunt Tootie, Grandma, Grandad, Great Uncle Mike, Great Aunt Mary, Great Uncle Jerry, Great Aunt Julie, G. Great Aunt Fran, G. Great Uncle Benny, Cousins Doreen, Darren, Tanner, Addie, Reese and everyone else I forgot....oops.

After a little mingling and sweet treat eating at G. Great Aunt Tooties we headed to the hotel to catch a little shut eye. The hotel supplied us with the worlds smallest queen bed and a paper sack that doubled as a sofa sleeper. Mommy and I put Daddy up on the queen bed and we took the paper sack.

Here I am checking out the digs....

Daddy woke up real early the next morning and did a little black Friday shopping with Grandpa and G. Uncle Mike and G. Aunt Mary at Home Depot. Guess what happens when you drive a fully loaded SUV to Scottsdale and then buy a bunch of stuff???

You cram and cram and cram some more until it all fits. Then you slowly roll down the window and hop into the car.

After eating some pancakes at IHOP we headed back to Great Aunt Tooties. Once there all of the ladies hung the interior decorations...

Helping Aunt Julie

...while the boys stood around outside grunting and farting. (Okay, okay, that is what I did with Mommy). The boys hung all of the outside Christmas decorations. During the festivities we locked Aunt Tootie in the kitchen and told her she wasn't allowed out until the turkey soup was made and Great-Great-Grandma Dolan's bread was cooked.

Waiting for lunch and being silly with mommy

After lunch was done Mommy ran around outside like a kid with Tanner and Addie. They had a good ol' time.

All-in-All it was a long two days but boy was it A LOT of FUN! If I had to pick a favorite moment it would Great Aunt Julie singing me Christmas songs over and over until I fell asleep. Boy, is she a SWEET lady!

Lots of Love~LB

Thankfulness

My very first Thanksgiving...post being in mommy's belly....is coming up quick. I thought I would come up with 26 things that I am thankful for....

(#2 - #26 are in no particular order)

#1: Mommy and Daddy....of course!

#2: Both sets of Grandparents....duh!

#3: My Aunts and Uncles and all the Greats!

#4: My Great-Grandma

#5: Dr. Scot Hutchison...without his help I may not have been here, yet!

#6: Blankies, pillows, pants, diapers....anything I can put over my head to be silly with.

#7: My Great-Grandmas' in heaven watching over me. (Lord knows with Mommy being responsible with my care I need as many angels as possible!)

#8: For the microwave at Grammy's house because she uses it to heat up my wipes.

#9: For Nitto's toe nails. Those long things are just so fascinating to me!

#10: The organic yummy fruits and vegetables that mommy makes for me!

#11: WATER!! I love me some bath time!!

#12: My Daddy for letting me play in the water during our bath time!!

#13: For Grandma's sewing ability. She hemmed up my 2T pants for me.

#14: For the ENDLESS love I get from everyone!

#15: My smile. It can melt even the hardest of strangers.

#16: The softness of the changing table pad. It softens the blow when I throw my head back in a fit of fussiness from not wanting to have my diaper changed.

#17: For Zilla: He has so many cool toys here that I can play with now!

#18: Cloth Diapers! They are so soft on my tush!

#19: The Tucson Weather! It's November 20th and I was able to get me some naked outside time!

#20: My garden! I can't wait to eat the fruits of Daddy's labor....hehehehe!

#21: MY big comfy king-sized bed

#22: Mommy's job for allowing her to work from home!

#23: For Daddy's boss allowing him to work from home come the first of the year!

#24: Breast Milk! It makes me big and strong!

#25: My high chair: It allows me to watch all the action of mommy's cooking in the kitchen

#26: My fisher price musical projector! It helps me fall asleep at every nap and bed time!

YIPPEE!!! I completed the task. I am sure I forgot a few things but you can't get perfection every time!

Gobble! Gobble! ~LB

Play Time Part II

Here are more photos from my playtime the other day. During this time I came across a strange new toy....

Lots of Love!! LB

New Location

It's amazing the new hiding spots that can be found when one is not paying attention to me.

I new she had a stash of toys under the bed for me.

(How many days are left? This is getting exhausting!)

Peace Out ~ LB

How does one do it?

"How do you do it?" That is the question I often over hear mommy being asked.

She works 20 hours a week. Puts a hot meal on the table for dinner five days out of the week. Cleans and vacuums every day. Washes diapers every other day. Sometimes she even washes a load of laundry every day AND makes ALL of my food.

And the ANSWER.....

This week I would like to answer your burning questions. Under this posting click on "comments" and leave your questions there and I'll do my best to answer them all or you can email them to my mommy at redpepperlips@yahoo.com

Peace to all the party people~LB

Missed a few...

Okay! Okay! I knew it would be a tall order to blog everyday for 30 days but I gave it a try and as you can tell I've missed a few days. Not to worry though because not much as happened in those missed days. Well....if don't count me learning how to sit up all on my own and standing up with the help of the ottoman. Hey....a guy can't learn those things if I am on the computer all of the time!

Today I went in for my 9 month check up at Catalina Pediatrics with Dr. Foster.

Here I am eating breakfast getting ready to go.

Loaded up in the car!

We can't forget Daddy!

Ta-Da! We made it!

Waiting for our turn!

Getting my length figured out.

Checking to see how much my "spare tire" weighs :-)

Waiting to get my blood drawn to check my iron levels. I didn't even make a peep!

My cool new "accessory"

Our arrival home after a long morning!

And now the STATS.....

Weight: 21.8lBS = 50-75th Percentile
Height: 30in = 90-95th Percentile
Head: 48 1/4cm = 95th Percentile

Peace to my peeps! ~ LB