Gorilla sleep over

Christian's nanny takes him to "school" on Fridays.  Today was their Teddy Bear Sleep-Over Day.  Christian brought his gorilla.  We will go pick the gorilla up tomorrow and will get to hear about all the fun things he did during his stay. 

Here is the video of the kids getting jiggy.  CK has on the navy blue hoodie and white shoes.

(Ignore the 7 year old looking kid trying to climb into his STROLLER!)

Pre-baby Practice

As some of you know... Ryan and I are now fostering a momma dog and her 7 puppies until the puppies can be adopted out at 10 weeks. (5 girls, 2 boys)

Otherwise, the puppies would have likely died in the disease infested shelter and the mom would have to be euthanised b/c all the shelters are full. Same sad story. Since I am not in school this semester (planned to be, but missed the class I needed... long story) and will be on maternity leave shortly, I am in a good position to help.

Plus, I think CK will LOVE doing this. This morning he woke up ON HIS OWN at 7 (I usually just put him in the car and take him to his nanny's without him ever waking up). He wanted to see "his" puppies. I did let him hold one. They were just born on Monday, so we are still nervous about letting him play with the tiny pups.

This is a boy. Both boys are white and brindle. This little guy has one ear that goes up. CA-YUTE!

Rosie is finally kind of starting to relax. She is very thin, poor thing.

I really like this little girl. She looks like a little bear cub.

S-T-R-E-T-C-H!!!

We are helping a local pet adoption place. They do have an application process, to make sure these dogs are going to a good home/ make sure the new owner plans on KEEPING THEM (a big deal)/ and to make sure these pups get spayed or neutered. They also have a small adoption fee to help with the costs of the spays/neuters. Most of the application looks like redundant jibberish... so if any of you are interested don't be intimidated by all the lame questions.

Baby clothes galore!

A few friends at work gave me a baby shower.  For some reason, the Evite failed and not many people received their invitation.  Lucky for everyone else, it left us with a ton of left-over cupcakes.  Those things were soooo good!  And almost (just almost) too cute to eat.

Then I had a baby shower with my friends that Candice put together with help from my mom.  Cheri helped with the set up, too.  I was really impressed with the decorations - they doubled as functional gifts!  Major plus.  This sounds so cliche, but it was really good to have the chance to talk with everyone.  Not to mention, the gifts were awesome!  Who doesn't like gossip, gifts, and grub all conveniently located in one central place?

I have a 6 year old.

We took Christian to Grapevine Mills Mall a few weeks ago to let him ride his skateboard at the X-Games Park. He can easily go down steep driveways and little ramps at home, even attempting a few tricks here and there, so I figured he could do the easy stuff. He was all ready with his board, hat, shoes, helmet, and pads. But, he wasn't big enough. The age limit is 6. Christian kept telling me "But I SIX, Mama!"... but his height and lack of verbs in that sentence were dead give-aways.

I have mentioned this before, but have to remind everyone that I have no idea where he learned to love this sport. Ryan plays baseball and soccer, my dad played baseball, my brothers played baseball and football... I took dance. Luckily, two of my bros know how to skateboard so they teach Christian as he goes. He was so excited!

All excited and ready to go

Poor guy.

I felt so bad for him. He was so pumped! BAM, major let-down.

Bam's new haircut

Last night, CK was hiding under the table with Bam. I figured he was still trying to get Bam to shake his hand (he refused). When I walked by the table, CK said "Don't watch me"... which usually means he doesn't want me to see what he is doing because he is NOT supposed to be doing it. I start to walk over to him and he says "Bam wanted a hair cut". He had found a tiny pair of scissors from a manicure type Swiss Army knife thing.

I don't think this is the style Bam had in mind when he asked for a cut. Maybe just a little off the top...

Family of Bellies

Two nights ago, we all took a family belly pic. Christian tried really hard to stick his tummy out. Ryan tried really hard to tighten his tummy up. And I just tried to breathe like I know my lungs can (its getting harder and harder).

The bigger of the bellies in this pic will deflate on February 18!

Toddlerisms or One-of-a-kindisms?

Kids are funny, when they aren't throwing things or picking on the husband.

The other night, I put Christian in the shower with me. It is much faster this way, he is supervised, I can pamper myself a bit, and he doesn't recognize different body parts yet... don't judge. Back to the point, Christian was sword fighting with his foam bathtub city street puzzle thingys. I didn't ask any questions UNTIL he said David. Whaaaa the whaaa? David?! Christian's imaginary friend had decided to join our community shower. I felt awkward.

At least his other friend, Jaiden, didn't hop in too! Not to mention the mean closet monkey, the tiger, the big dragon, and the little puppy...

This highly imaginative kid also has some pretty sophisticated eating habits and mature movie preferences. Here he is enjoying smoked oysters and some turnip greens doused in balsamic vinegar, while watching his X-Games skateboarding DVD (the ONLY movie he will watch from beginning to end)...

(acting one of the moves out with his hand)

Some of the less weird, and more endearing things Christian has to offer are expressed in his vocabulary. Here are a few:

To liter [Until later (but isn't always used when "until" is necessary. IE: "when are you going to put your pants on?" "To liter")]

Wherism (Where are they)

Mying (Mine)

Micdadonald's, but it was Donna’s House (McDonald's)

Toffee (Coffee)

Etsercise (Exercise)

Supping (something)

Haffa (have to)

Hurchoo-shark (hurt you sharp, aka knife)

Dood sot Dindad (Good shot Granddad - when playing pool)

keery (scary)

I a boy, I not a baby (obvious)

Ever,ever [always (more times for more emphasis) or he says "you not ever, ever, ever...” meaning never. When he gets in trouble, he likes to say "you ever, ever mean!"]

Sunday (any day after tomorrow)

Yessaday (any day before today)

Four Fo-wee (four wheeler)

Puter (computer)

Diger (Tiger)

Um, what I said? (what was I saying? Or what word do I use?)

Pell (smell)

Jufe (juice)

Tador (Taylor)

Map-hews (Matthews)

Teddy (Kelli or Kelley)

Pepsi (any carbonated drink)


Pock, we all say this because of CK (Pocket)


Moond (moon)

Gee-el (girl)

You best my friend (You are my best friend)

Magnick (magnet)

Cut it down! (cut it out)

Iz you problem ("Its your problem" but always used waaay out of context)

Best I did ever seen (when he loves something, but he says this even when it is something tasted or heard)

Tubes (boobs... this is something he only said once, but it is too hilarious not to record)

Foots (Feet)

Puck (Putt, like for golf)

Cah-rote (Coyote)

Yogit (Yogurt)

Thoose (Those)

Snuck (Skunk)

Thung (Tongue)

Stummy Ache (Stomach/Tummy Ache)

Sercret (Secret)

7 days and days and days of Christmas

I let Christian raid the dollar aisle at Target to pick out presents that he could give. His gifts varied from a Cars themed dry erase board for my dad, princess hair bows for Caitlin and Nikki, a plastic pearl bracelet for my mom, a ridiculous foam shark hat for Mark, and many other equally fitting gifts. He even wrapped them himself! Maybe he will teach Ryan how its done next year.

Christmas chaos first rang in on the 19th. We had dinner at our house with my mom, Mike, Shane, and Caitlin. Each family brought a dish - started this tradition last year. This year's theme was Mexican food. Yummo! I made shredded beef tenderloin tacos, my mom made her family's famous hot macaroni (huge macaroni noodles with cheese and ground up red chili in it, baked to perfection), and Shane made up this amazing sort of Mexican chicken stew. We ate that stuff for days!

The next night we went to my dad's for Christmas. There we actually ate in the formal dining room... something we have only done maybe once before. And used the fine china and silver. Fancy schmancy! FYI, nothing was broken :)

Mark really liked his shark hat.  He should probably wear it every day.

Christian LOVES Nikki (Mark's better half).

On the 23rd we drove to Boerne to make it to my aunt's annual Christmas Eve party in her new house. Wow! She did a great job designing the place. We stayed in her guest house/cabin, where I backed into a tree that came out of NOWHERE! Not much damage, but frustrating enough. Ggrrrr. The next day we went to San Antonio to see my Grandma and opened a few presents there. Then we headed back to my aunt's house for la fiesta de navidad.

Christian kept squeezing into the girls' pic
He was so intrigued by "The Christmas Story" (my grandpa reads it every year)

Avoiding the camera

Vogue

The next morning, Christmas morning to be exact, we rushed back to DFW to make it to Ryan's parents'. Rats, we missed all the snow! His grandma flew in from Florida - Christian and I had never met her before! We hung out there, ate a late lunch/early dinner, opened presents, and stayed pretty late.

That Baby's Room

... as Christian calls it (never forgetting the "that"), is almost complete. I just need to put a few things in the little cube shelves and find/hang a mirror over the changing table/dresser. I mixed modern designs with antique to make it all work together. Its a bit of a hodge-podge of things, but it all sort of works. For example, the chair was mine! when I was little (and was an antique even then)... the bedskirt is actually a tablecloth... the bedding was Christian's... the changing table/dresser is one that my mom won in a drawing a Pier 1 recently (how convenient!)... The changing pad was Christian's and the orange cover is actually a baby blanket... The "baby things" basket is the baby's first Christmas present, given by Ryan's parents... The crib was used by 3 out of 4 siblings (and still going strong!)... I did the painting above the crib... etc. Lots of semi-mismatched patterns - eeek... I know, I know.

My handy dandy mom made this cover for the carrier/car seat.

The Brain In Love

"The Brain in Love" by Dr. Daniel Amen, M.D.
I started reading this book a few weeks ago (It takes me a while to finish a book with all of my other, um, "activities" going on). It is absolutely superb and so gosh darn interesting.
You can read various pages from the book here.

Its not a sappy love story book, its more about how the brain functions -comparing a normal brain to a toxic brain. Toxic brains can lead to misbehavior, which usually leads towards divorce. Did you know that there really are huge differences in the brains of men and women? Did you know that men really are not wired to multi-task, while women really do just "think, think, think"? Did you know that a certain pitch in a woman's (and infant's) voice really can drive others to temporary insanity? Did you know that a pretty woman really can impair a man's ability to think clearly? Did you know that a child's bond with his/her parents (mainly the mother) sets the tone for all future relationships? A strained bond can actually disrupt hormonal development.

I like to take notes while reading it, and then Google my questions or comments. Which had me run up on this great website:
Healthy Holistic Living
And hot dog!... It references THE Dr. Daniel Amen, author of "The Brain in Love"!
The man is a genius, I tell ya!

As soon as I finish this book, I plan on jumping right into this book.