::unfestive::

Since I'm planning a post or two for tomorrow detailing the festive things that are happening around here, I thought I would tell you a few UNfestive things. You know, get them over with.

First, but not most bummerish is the fact that one of the strings of lights on our christmas tree has gone out. No amount of shaking or twisting or any tweaking will fix them. And they're halfway up the ten foot tree.
Such a bummer because every time I look at the tree it makes me sad--and after all that hard work! I want to fix it, but in the sake of simplicity (if you remember that was my theme word this year, or was it simple?) Anyway, in the sake of saying sane I should probably just leave it alone. And Kris says he doesn't notice it--so I'll try not to either.

But the real non festive thing around here has been sickness. Poor Sandy has been soooo sick. Turns out he's had RSV or something similar. Poor baby started wheezing and having a hard time breathing at the beginning of the week and we've been struggling with it ever since. Finally after a late night near visit to the ER (he seemed so much better by the time we got there, we turned back) we got into the doctor first thing the next morning and got some steroids. He's done so much better since. (though he HATES having a nebulizer held in front of his breathers for thirty minutes!)
So instead of decking halls and making cookies and watching Christmas movies the last few days we've been trying to take care of wheezy sad and pitiful cranky sick babies.

AND he's teething--he's got about four teeth coming in. So at first we didn't even know that he was really sick.
Anyway, he's doing so so so much better now and we're all glad since we had a couple of bad nights.
Thank goodness for modern medicine and solutions to scary problems.


So the sickness is pretty unfestive--and it would be sad if the others of us got it. I sure hope we can stay well.
But the fact that baby feels better is beginning to be festive--so that can be the opener for my festivity report tomorrow.

::even more san diego::

(this flower was growing on a bush downstairs from our little condo--so pretty!!)

The next day we spent time hanging out in the morning while it was misty and grey (it was misty and grey and a bit chilly every morning until about noon, it was nice.) Kris and I went for runs--separately. Max watched a movie and Sand took a nap. Then we walked to Rubio's and had fish tacos for lunch.

Max threw a big fit about something at lunch--I don't really remember what it was about now, just that it was ridiculous. That's why he's not in the picture.
After we got back it was all beach for the rest of the day!
Kris stayed home with Sandy while Sand napped. Poor Kris has a board exam coming up in Sept, so he was glad to have some study time.
Max and I went boogie boarding. The waves were pretty huge.

(this is the wrong day but the right beach)

I haven't been boogie boarding in AGES. It was really fun and I think Max was having a blast with me out there. We rode a few waves in together and it was rather thrilling. Rather thrilling that is until my nice nice sunglasses that Kris got me for Christmas were ripped off my head and dragged off into the deep blue sea.
I was pretty bummed about that and Max and I spent a while looking for them. It was a lost cause. Max was sad and tried to make me feel better with more boogie boarding, but the savor had gone out of it. (I still boogie boarded more with him of course, but it just wasn't the same.)
Later Kris came out with the Sand and I tried to get Sand to enjoy sitting in the sand. He did NOT like it. I sat him down with just his feet in the sand and he was so disturbed. SO mad. Then later I tried to stand him in the sand and he refused. I would lower him down towards the ground and the lower he would get the higher he would tuck his feet up. He just would not touch it.

But of course, he would eat it. I sat him on a towel so he could look around safely. He like that pretty well, and of course decided to start eating the sand. Such a dork.

BLAH.

A sandy Sandy eating sand.

It was such a fun afternoon. Everybody had a good time (maybe even my sunglasses escaping their drudgery on my head.) Nobody got sunburned, though I had a close call. I wish we could do it again tomorrow.

::::

Pensive baby in Taos, back when we were there for the bike racing weekend.


To the more usual cheery baby.

I sure do love that Bumbo seat. I'd highly recommend it to anybody. It's been a lifesaver in a lot of situations where a high chair wasn't available or the floor just wasn't good for babies to hang out on. I usually just keep it in the car. It's what he always eats meals in at work when we're there.
Besides, his chubby little legs are so darn cute when they're squished into the seat. I love it!

::six month comparison::

0:

2 months:

4 months:

6 months:

Is this guy growing or what? He's still got those little worried eyebrows though.
I'm sure that eating two tubs of food per night isn't going to hurt his growth rate. I feel like I accidentally bought an Irish Wolfhound puppy thinking he was a Golden Retriever or something.
Love him.

::some smiles::

I've put these in the order that I want them. It's a bit of a cheat, since the process didn't really happen that way. But I like it.





I like having a little dark eyed elf living at my house. Even if he doesn't sleep.

::overhauls::

I bought these cute overalls when we were in Phoenix last time. When I picked them out I thought that there was no way they would fit. They looked so big! But after a week or so I pulled them out to try them on him. And of course they fit. Snugly. The boy is huge! I love babies in overalls.

::12::

These first three are a cheat. They really belong to week 11. I'm not sure how they slipped past my radar. I'm going to blame it on fun visits from my parents--way too much fun to think straight.
But these photos are way too adorable to leave off the interweb!
Baby entertaining himself in his little bouncer while we did stuff in the kitchen.

Shades of cross-eyed-ness, but not truly cross eyed. It's amazing I caught him staring straight at the camera!

Here he is demonstrating his best skill. Bubbly bubbles. He's very excellent at it and does it ALL the time.

I LOVE this one. So cute.

Alright so here's official week 12. And how CRAZY is it that he's been here for 3 months already? I think I've said this 20 times already just on this blog, but time goes too darn fast. He's growing and changing too fast for me. I wish all his little stages would last twice as long.

We had lots of fun with my parents when they were here, and the baby especially enjoyed his one on one time and tons of attention and cuddling.

I love this action shot here, my mom is all blurry and actiony.

And that baby is loving it. And I'm loving the sideways smile with his little bow mouth.


Here he is enjoying one of his favorite pastimes--the gas massage. He's such a gassy baby sometimes, he just loves to be squished. It doesn't make much sense to me.

And lastly here he is again in his full body sweater sitting on the couch. I just can't resist a couched baby in a red sweater. How many different pictures do you think I have of him like this? A lot!

It's because he's adorable and he looks different every day and I just can't help it.

And there you go.
Slow these darn weeks down, dang it!

::blessing day::

So first thing, I had the toughest time ever picking which pictures to put up in this post. So I just picked a bunch.



A week ago today we were able to bless our sweet Sandy in church. If you'd like to know more about that please follow this link and read the section titled "naming and blessing children."
Kris gave Sandy the blessing and he did a beautiful job. He said so many sweet and precious things. I wish I had a recording of it so I could listen to it 100 times in a row and memorize it. We had lots of good friends from the ward standing in the circle, as well as my dad. I was so glad my dad could be there, and we missed the rest of our family, but we knew they were there in spirit. I'm glad that we have so much support from the ward though, since we can't live minutes away from the family. It's nice to know that a lot of the men standing in the blessing circle will be the same men supporting, helping and teaching Sandy (and Max) for a long time. That's special.


(I think this picture is so funny--just the angle of his head, his chubby mushy cheeks and the bubbles.)

Afterwards we gathered at our house with a few friends from the ward for snacks and chatting. Sand didn't even know the party was in his honor, but he had a good time.

(preparing for his party--he didn't even poop on his clothes!)


Speaking of Sandy, he was absolutely perfect at church, didn't make a squeak during the blessing. After his blessing he was held by Mrs. Evans, the wife of the dentist we bought the practice from (they came to the blessing, wasn't that nice?) and then he fell quietly and serenely asleep in her arms. That never happens these days!
What a great kid.

It was so nice to have my parents there. It was fun that they got to meet and chat with some of our friends and just be around for just general help and support. Kris and I are so blessed in the parent department. We have four of the best.
Anyway, my dad spent a lot of time with Sand, entertaining and snuggling him. Sandy loved it.


My dad also got a few giggles out of him during the visit. Some of his very first.

I just want to eat him up with that adorable little smile.


It was a wonderful day. I was probably too stressed out with making sure everything was ready and clean and all was going to run smooth, but I survived. Thanks to everybody for their help and love. We are so greatly blessed with friends and family (whether you were able to attend the blessing or not) I can hardly think about it without being overcome. We love you all. Thank you for loving us.


oh, and if you would like to see a few more pictures, including a couple of me, go here to my mom's blog.

::my office::

Ok, so this isn't always my office, but often. And don't I have the cutest little coworker?

::week eleven::

Ah, so for week eleven. And again I say, already? Seriously? I can't believe time flies by so darn fast.

Here are Sandy and I, working hard on saturday morning. I finally decided to put the darn Christmas decorations away, once and for all, and of course the baby wouldn't sleep while I did it. So he got to be wrapped up and carted around.

This Moby wrap has been so useful. I use it all the time and Sandy seems to be really comfortable in it. He's even slept through two hours of primary while I did singing time in it, for four weeks. It's amazing. I'm really glad I bought it. It's nice to have him all snuggled up close and still be able to do some things with my hands.

Here's the Sand in an outfit Dixie sent him. He looks so cute! He proceeded to poop on it, but at least I got some pictures. Good thing Dixie's not letting Kris forget his Denver roots!

Yes, his double chin is hilarious!


And here's Sunday. The boys are wearing their matching ties that Lechelle made and gave them for Christmas. I just love them! I got Sandy his little white shirt onesie when we were in Phoenix. He just looks like a little man in it, doesn't he? All the old ladies at church were freaking out over his shirt and tie. They loved it. I can't blame them.
And I love that he and Max match. Thanks Lechelle, because as we discussed, finding things that match that can fit a nearly 7 year old and a tiny little guy is so darn hard! We also love the dino shoes that came from Lechelle.



Will Max ever get those front teeth back? I miss them so much.
Week eleven. A good week.