Going for the phone... again

Future School of Mines alumnus

I love banana chocolate pancakes

Christmas jammies

Merry Christmas

Eating birthday cake

We gave Derek his own little birthday cake. He touched it. He put his finger in it. Then he put a bit in his mouth. Big smile! He then methodically ate a ton of it (after a HUGE dinner). He ate the cake like he eats everything else.... slowly, bite by bite, and without mess (excepts his fingers and mouth). He probably would have eaten the whole thing if we had let him. MMM cake!

I'm 1

I'm going to be 1 tomorrow!

The Arctic Blast Continues

We now have about 16 inches of snow on the ground and 4 more are expected for today. We are breaking Portland records. These pics are from yesterday. It snowed, then we had about an inch of ice on top of that, and now more snow on top. We have been enjoying family time while snowed in. We have been enjoying playing with Derek and chasing the doggies around the house. Today Mike went to work. One of the blessings and curses is that work is only 1 mile away. He had to help someone stuck in the snow on the way in which happened to be a co-worker. Even with chains, it is slow-going in his SUV.

I am not sure when Derek and I will leave the house. I am hoping that someone will get to go to the grocery store or we may have nachos for Christmas dinner! I am glad I bought the supplies for Derek's birthday cake already. All in all, we are enjoying the snow!

It snows and snows

We currently have 7 inches on the ground and it is still snowing. It is beautiful out!

Whole Milk!

Derek seems to like whole milk! Yeah! The only problem was that he would drink some and then throw his cup on the ground. Derek has discovered how fun it is to feed the dogs his food. Grr.

Waiting for Daddy to get home

Walking in a winter wonderland

Santa made me cry

My Mommy and Daddy finally took me to meet Santa tonight. They have been talking about it for a long time and tonight was the night. What they did not tell me was that Santa is scary. I had to leave Mommy's arms to sit with this guy I don't know. I cried and cried. it did not help that Mommy laughed at me. Mommy I was scared!

Anyways, we took pictures around the mall as well. I was happy because I was in my Mommy and Daddy's arms. That part was fun.

Stacking and nesting

Derek is really into stacking and nesting his toys lately. He also loves to put toys into every container he can find. His little mind seems to be working overtime figuring things out.

Also this week Derek and I have been sick. We are thankful that Mike has not gotten it. We have runny noses. Poor Derek is exhausted. He has been taking really long naps all week. They started at 1.5 hours and the last 2 days have been 3 hours. It seems a huge growth spurt, more teeth coming in, and being sick have all hit at the same time. He wakes up, plays hard for a few hours, and then crashes for a few hours. Unfortunately he is not sleeping well at night either. I am hoping we both get better soon!

More casualties

The dogs have acted out again. We think they are not getting enough walks (due to the cold), enough affection from us, and are still a bit jealous of Derek. Last week Lucky ate one of Derek's puzzle pieces. Tonight, Alex ate the wooden spoon- yes the same one I just blogged about. We gave Derek another spoon to wield. He preceded to hand it to Alex who ran away with it. It is now a game. We will see how long this spoon lasts!

So happy

Derek is just so happy most of the time. He is currently walking around with his rattle (shaking it as he walks) and a wooden spoon (wielded like a weapon). I just had to chase him off from the computer- which he was smacking on. He now has the mouse.... Anyways, Derek is great. He is walking everywhere. He only crawls when he falls over and needs to stand up again. For some reason he doesn't pull himself to a standing position... he pulls himself up on something. He talks a ton... we just have not figured out what he is saying.

our professional pics

We love love love the pics that Bethany took. Bethany has an amazing gift! We love how she captured our family. You can see the rest of our photos on my facebook page.

It is snowing!

It is snowing in Tualatin. Snow here is a maybe once a year occurrence. The forecast calls for up to 5 inches. Let it snow let is snow let it snow!

We will see what Derek thinks of it. He was very bewildered by the snow in WI.

Little drummer boy

After a great play group yesterday that featured a Music Together class, I decided today to give Derek more instruments while getting lunch ready. I sang and Derek played his drum. He also sang along sometimes. It was a riot. We gave a Daddy a presentation of our "music" before lunch. He was mighty impressed with our drummer. I must say I have some skills with the rattle!

Last night, I had an amazing night away with the ladies from our play group. We were celebrating 2 of our moms having baby number 2 coming soon. It was a great night with wine, laughter, and fun. These ladies have been such a huge blessing this last year.

Lounging

I love my Daddy

Discovering Daddy

Daddy can I destroy that?

Daddy is this your ear?

Daddy is this your head?

Look who is taking lots of steps!

Derek has been cruising holding on to the furniture for some time now. By Friday he was taking 5 steps after letting go. Then Saturday he let go and took 10. On Sunday it was even more. His confidence is growing. Now he even lets go of our hands without encouragement and takes off. Go Derek. Is this walking or is walking when he does it all the time?

Derek is wearing his hood in the pictures because our furnace died on Friday. The heating guy came to fix it and we discovered we have 2 choices: either a very expensive fix on our 18 year old furnace or a new one needs to be bought. Either way, we were out of heat until at least Monday with the parts that would need to be ordered. So we bought a few space heaters and lots of fire wood. Derek's room is toasty warm and the lower level is pretty warm. We have been having fires in the living room to keep warm as well. It is still a bit chilly though. Derek has been very good about staying away from the fire which has been a huge blessing. We are very thankful that it is not colder out so our house did not get that cool. It has also been easy to keep Derek warm enough which was our biggest concern.