Leavin' On A Jet Plane

I leave with Winston this morning for a conference in AZ.

I'm a little nervous to fly with him all by myself, but thankfully the flight should only be 1 hour and 45 minutes (ish). I hope he does well. Or poor persons sitting around us.

And to my dear friend [you know who you are]--I'm amazed that you did this with two little ones on a long, long flight. What an inspiration you are!

Growing and Growing

Happy 6-month (+ 1 day) birthday to Winston.

He is growing and growing--15 lbs 14 oz (about 30th percentile) and 27 inches long (about 80th percentile).

In 6 months, he has determined that he LOVES:

- chewing on his fingers and toes

- hanging upside down

- being held ALL. Day. long

- playing peek-a-boo

- bath time

- his little stuffed monkey

- walks and runs in the stroller

- cuddling with his ma & pa

He let's us know that he HATES:

- being put on or rolling onto his tummy

- being left alone in a room (or farther than 5 feet away) even for just a second

- his carseat (even with a cool car-seat-only-toy)

- the thought of falling asleep by himself

- sitting down--even if he's in your lap

Introducing Chester

Chester is a little elf that serves as Santa’s spy helper. With the help of my mom, I made this little feller to go along with this book. (While it was fun to make, I mentioned to my mom that I'm glad that I live now and not in the time where you couldn't buy dolls...it was a bit tedious to make.)

Basically, Chester watches to make sure we are good girls and boys and lets Santa know.

I think I will also have him dual as the messenger for another holiday tradition when Winston gets older.

I imagine something like this: Chester will hide each day during the holiday season, and one of the family members will run around the house to find him each morning.

Chester will then have a little gift wrapped in his hands explaining what is on the schedule for the day that is holiday-esque. Like going to Temple Square, making a holiday treat, or watching a holiday movie. You get the idea.

Chester will likely be involved in our holiday festivities for years to come.

PS I don't know about your weather, but outside here it is beginning to look a lot like a Winter Wonderland and both Winston & I are excited. You should have seen the smile on his face when he was caught in the blizzard from the car to the apartment. He loves it!

Balancing Act

For you, Grandpa Jewkes.

The World's Greatest Snack (for now)

I'm always hungry. Almost always, anyway. Especially 15 minutes after eating (not much exaggeration here--just ask Sam). And especially because I'm a nursing mother.

I'm always looking for something to eat, usually grabbing a banana, apple, some carrot sticks, toasted bread, yogurt, or some other item hanging out in my fridge or cupboards.

The latest greatest snack is captured in the following photo. Hmmm...it makes me drool and crave more just looking at it once more.

It is a toasted left-over cinnamon oatmeal (whole wheat) pancake (the recipe is in this packet bottom-right of page 8), spread with the ever-delicious nutella spread and an ice-cold glass of skim milk.

It's worth making extra pancakes each time, so I can have left-overs just like these.

Snip, Snip

Sam gave Winston his first little haircut the other day.

Winston was starting to have a comb-over look with his long mohawk, so Sam just snipped a teeny bit off the top, and now it stands up again.

I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See?

A cut bike lock, a helmet on the ground, and NO bike. Someone stole Sam's bike.

NOT cool.

Police report is in, and thankfully we had the serial number in a file somewhere. Chances of finding it are pretty good, according to the policeman.