Happy birthday, Ian!

This year officially went way too fast! With all of the changes we have had this year, and not to mention the countless sleepless nights, I am in a blur. Here's a video, (not meant to overshadow the newly accomplished task of walking or his birthday), of Ian that shows of his sense of humor and sense of smell.

It started with him sitting on the floor. I hear him blast off a few toots & look over at him & he gives me a little giggle as if he knows it was funny. (He also does this now after he burps as well.) Shortly after, he starts to crawl away and starts waving his hand near his back end. My guess is to waft away the stinky. I couldn't help but LOL and when I asked him about it, this is how he responded...

Milestones: by Ian

I think I did something important this week! I have been practicing standing on my own and pushing my toys around, but the other day I decided to try it without hanging on to anything. My godfather, (Father Jeremy), coaxed me to take a few steps towards him, so I thought I would make an impression on him and show him how much I've been learning. It was fun & now everyone seems to enjoy getting me to walk to them and honestly, I actually like trying it myself too. Mom got a tiny, and I mean TINY, video of my first few steps. She says I'm not cooperating, but I think she's just slow at capturing my best moments. Don't blink or you might miss it!

Here's me playing "Monkey Pile". I couldn't resist the fun!

I also pushed my 5th tooth through. It was a tough week with that though, since I had a bad cough & my first ear infection (in both ears!). Mommy decided to take me into the doctor because I was being really crabby and wasn't acting myself. The doctor gave me some pink stuff to take. I really like it & I think it helped my ears. They don't hurt anymore & I'm a much happier baby. I am looking forward to my birthday on the 12th so I can have some cake! I really love the sweet stuff! With love, hugs and kisses ~ Ian

2 plays away...

I really thought we might have this curse licked last night & that we might actually stand a chance to make it to the Super Bowl. There I go thinking again! Too many men in the huddle?? What kind of junior high crap is that?? Because of that, we are forced to try to get more yards & then our hobbling Favre hands it over. Can't say I'd like to be in his shoes. Don't get me wrong, there were way too many turnovers to blame it on just that play, but really, short of the huddle thing, all we had to do is hobble another down & then let the kicker take care of the rest. I am just beside myself. I couldn't even stomach to put Ian's Viking sweatshirt on him this morning, no matter how cute he looks in it. I guess it's reassuring to know that even though the wind is blowing today & it's getting really cold again, it's not cold enough for hell to freeze over & the Vikes to get to the big show... again.

Woah! Time has got a bit away from me I see! I had a video all ready to put on here of Ian walking behind a push toy, but for some reason now, my video camera decided to take a crap on me. I will have to record a new one on the regular camera. I'm bummed though, because the other video had the kids' reaction to seeing baby motor along from an upright position & they were so excited!

We've been running around the last two weekends, so time has flown by. Here are the kids at "Dino Land" in the mall in Fargo. Ian loved playing in the giant padded area & I liked that we were the first ones there, so it was empty (and clean). It was nice they had a chance to burn off some energy before we headed over to Uncle Nathan's house. They didn't get crazy, but I think that was more because of the Wii and the fact that it was harder to run around in their split-level home. We had a great time & the food was EXCELLENT! Thanks Kari & Nathan for the hard work you put into the meal & getting the day organized.

Follow ups

On the teething tablets...now known in our house as "chill pills". Works great to settle down a baby with a sore mouth that is beyond consoling. He opens his mouth wide open to receive them & is usually out for some R & R in a few minutes. Are these things legit? Do they make them in adult form?

On the vortex...guess what turned up? That darn remote! Under the top back cushions of the couch no less! That will have to be the first place I look next time. Guess someone was trying to hide it from someone else & did such a good job they forgot where they hid it! Now we have a back up.

I miss my Mii-self. She was a great athlete & was the only possible way I could ever beat Jason at a physical "sport". The mind is willing but the body (and the knees) are way too weak. I also wouldn't mind not having the dark circles under my eyes as she did and being able to adjust my weight with the slide of an arrow.

Vortex

Lately my home has become a vortex, consuming items so that they can no longer be found, swept into an oblivion to never be seen again...at least not until I get a replacement. That's how it usually works anyways, but this is not the case lately.

What drives me nuts is not necessarily just losing the item, but it's the fact that we need to upturn the entire house to look for it, and when that fails, all you have is disappointment and a messy house! It tends to consume my thoughts and time because I don't like to think that my house is that unorganized...especially since we have only been here for 7 months!

One thing I did find though, was on Teresa's blog, on what else...losing stuff. Luckily, she was able to find her things she was looking for & thanks given to the helping prayers of St. Tony, the patron saint of lost stuff. So, in my attempt to drive myself insane looking for crap, along comes the answer that I know I need to continue to turn to...PRAYER!, and asking others to pray for me as well.

Mii

While the kids were on school break, we decided to treat them to renting the game system, Wii. AJ has been begging to buy one for the last year and we have decided that it is probably better that we don't have one in the house. Case in point when we had it here...we devoured up 2 entire days playing games on it, only to stop to eat, sleep & pee, (yours truly included).

One of my favorite things about the Wii is creating your own "Mii", so we did the whole family. (I realized I didn't get a picture of Ian's, but you can see AJ's & Jason's and then just imagine something in between & smaller.) I've often wondered how I'd look as a cartoon. I laugh at how closely they resemble us.

Top row: AJ, Jason, me, Faith and Laney