Good Listener

Yesterday Anthony tested Tanner's listening skills. Right before giving Tanner a bath, I stripped him down to his bare bottom. I let him roll around on the carpet for just a second while I went to get his bath ready. And that's when Anthony gave him the idea. "Tanner you should pee right now." And of course what did Tanner do?? Listen to Anthony. And who's fault is it? Well - it depends on who you ask. I say Anthony cause he's the one who gave them the idea. And shortly he would not have done it otherwise! But Anthony begs to differ.

We all know how anal my husband is - no one is allowed to walk on the carpet with their shoes on in our house. So one could only imagine his not so pleasant response. But what did he do? Laugh and offer to clean it up. Such a great guy - that husband of mine!

If I had all the time in the world...

As economicists would always say, time is not ever "free" cause there's always the opportunity cost. But speaking in real terms - I very rarely have "free" time. Actually, any "free" time that I may have is usually spent with Tanner (or blogging about Tanner for that matter). Yet as I run around in this crazy world of mine, I'm always thinking about what I would do if I had more time. And I've decided.

In the hypothetical sense, if I did have "free" time, I would most I would most definitely create two things:

1 - My own cooking blog. I love to cook and create new things. Yes, I realize I'm an accountant and creativity is not my strong suite, but cooking is the exception and I really LOVE it. Actually, baking is my true passion. Desserts are so much more fullfilling than dinners. And I could live off of homemade bread. Not sure which is better. Cooking - Baking - same difference. I use them interchangeable.

But since time is something I'm extremely short on, I'm content to copy other people's ideas. At least for now....

http://www.ourbestbites.blogspot.com/

So here is a new cooking blog that I recently discovered and absolutely love it. While the recipes use mostly natural ingredents and start from scratch, they are still very simple and easy. And even better yet, healthy! (at least some of them) Best of all, it includes many pictures and so much personaility (it's two lds girls). So much better than following a cook book. I love it and hope you will too!

2 - Create my own Frugal website. I'm obsessed with saving money. I think this is what even drove me to be an accountant. I wanted to do something that would have a positive impact on others lives and noticed that financials were usually the main cause of marriage problems. So I went in thinking I would be a personal financial planner. Well - most of the good paying jobs involve sales pitches - which is not my thing - so somehow I ended up as a tax accountant. And it still provides me an opportunity to save them money by paying less taxes. I love to help and educate people on these things.

But back to the subject. Yes, I work full-time and make what I would consider a good chunk of change. However, I'm also supporting our family as my husband is in dental school. I always joke that he's my long-term investment - one day it will pay off and I will no longer have to work. But to get to that point, we're hoping to escape dental school debt-free. While the average dental student owes $105K in student loans, we're hoping to owe nada. And yes, tuition was due on Friday and we wrote out a check. It is painful to watch that much money go away - but EDUCATION is definitely worth every penny and splurging whenever possible (and I don't say that very often).

So I'm still possibly tossing around the idea of creating my own blog devoted to saving money, passing along my ideas and sugestions, but since busy-season is just around the corner, this might have to wait until spring. Who knows!

Doctor's Appointment

Just to disprove all the people that think my son is over-weight, here are the stats from Tanner's 6 month appointment. I was surprised that in the past 2 months, he's only gained over a pound. When he was just 6 weeks, he was gaining that much in just a week! Now who of us can say we've only gained 1 lb over Thanksgiving and Christmas?

He weighed 18 lbs 11 oz (73rd percentile)
He measured 26 3/4 inches long (70th percentile)
Head size - does it matter? We already know he is a genius?

Tanner had a good time playing in the doctor's office. He pretty much tore up the paper lining on the bench and was insistent on eating it, but somehow managed to hold him back (by the way, if they made edible paper for babies, it would be the best toy ever!) And when he got the other dose of shots, he was so sad. He had a delayed reaction by a second, and then the sad shrill, but it was nice to know when I picked him up and held him he was immediately comforted.

Most shocking, the doctor said that he should only be nursing 4 times a day! Right now, it's prob closer to 6...if not 7. And he should be sleeping 10-12 hours without waking up AND eating - but this is a little tricky. I admit, I'm a total softy and Tanner knows it. I just can't refuse him when he wakes up in the middle of the night and smiles in my direction and reaches his arms out for me - he's just so dang cute. I give into his every whim. I keep saying when he's another month older I'll stop....

And for the record, I do follow almost all of her OTHER advice.

Too much cleavage!

It's true. Even little boys can have modesty problems.





Tanner likes to say it's all muscle, but it's kinda hard to disprove the man boobs. But not to worry, one day soon he will be crawling and hopefully loose some of the excess baggage. And we all have baggage. He's already "crawling" backwards - he just hasn't quite figured out how to move forward. In the meantime, he's content rolling over.

But as my sister informed me, it's prob time to say goodbye to this little onesie.

Why I LOVE Texas?

One day it's like this. It's freezing cold in the 20s and you never want to leave your home or go outside. And TX drivers - they have no clue how to drive in snow!

But then all you to do is wait a day and the next day the weather will be in the 70s. And once again you can enjoy spring all over again! Seriously!! We can enjoy the outdoors - and do things like this:

But then again, I do miss the snow! Skiing, sledding, making snowmen - just not the 'being cold' part.

PS - Notice how Tanner is multi-tasking - swinging and sucking on his fingers at the same time.

It's official!

It's official - my parents are moving to Seattle! I've been in denial over the past month and wouldn't let myself stress out about it until it was indeed official - ie my dad told his work. I was hoping they would counter with an equally good offer - but I'm not that lucky. But of all places - Seattle! It's on the other half of the country!

I should have known. Growing up, it seemed like every 4 years we moved - living in Dallas, Wausau, Minneapolis, and then back to Dallas. But I definitely didn't see this one coming. Just last year my dad made partner with his architecture firm, which usually means you're a lifer w/the company. But now looking back, I should have know better - it's been almost 6 years.

So this Christmas, family meant more to me than ever. And we actually were all together over the Holidays - including my grandparents. We made an attempt to take a family picture (since who knows the next time this will be), but it was super windy so it was really hard to take a good picture.

The ENTIRE fam -

The Bros -


The Sisters -


I'm fortunate to have my two best friends as sisters! I wish Kristan could have been in it as she's now more like a sister too, but she had to rescue little Mason from the cold weather. I, on the other hand, let Tanner stay in the cold for an attempt to take one more family picture.

Overall, moving is too good of an opportunity for my Dad to turn down - at least financially. If someone offered to double my paycheck, I would take it too. But, I still do worry about them, especially my mom who is practically an empty nester and will now have no family around. But I also worry about myself - I'm not just loosing my mom, but also my NANNY while I work. It's been so convenient having them live 15 minutes away. This is definitely putting a kink in my plans, but in the end, I'm hoping I can just reduce my hours eventually so I can be with Tanner myself. But it also makes me sad that Tanner will not be as close to her and I know little Tanner will miss her as well. He loves her singing to him and other silly things she's always doing without even trying.

We had lots of family debates about what my parents should do - especially as it pertained to selling their home that they paid too much money for and will be hard to sell in depressed economy. But all 8 of us children and very opinionated...but I do have to say...I'm always right and my parents finally listened!

But as a positive note, I guess it could be worse. It could be Dumbai or some other foreign place I would never be able to visit. My dad has done a lot of international traveling this past year - and actually was considering an offer to move to Dumbai. So I guess I'll live with Seattle. And now we have an excuse to go visit...and maybe next Christmas we can see some SNOW for Christmas!

6 Months

Tanner is not my little baby anymore. It just hit me how much he has grown. Over the past two weeks, I've loved being able to spend 24/7 with him. I've gotten really attached and already am anticipating being emotion when I go back to work next week.

He's so happy and playful. And loves people. Over the holidays, it's been hectic and we've fallen off of any routine that we did have. More like it's been so loud that his naps usually get interrupted. But he's loved being around all the people and even if he doesn't get a good nap in, he still manages quite well. He has loved playing with his crazy uncles & cousins and all the extra attention at home. Now that it's just us again, he seems kinda bored and keeps looking around for some more action...sorry Tanners.

I keep saying this, but it's still true. I'm in LOVE with this stage. And here's why:

• Giggles & Luaghs. Especially when you throw him in the air, nibble on his neck, or just do something silly - like making barking dog sounds. And when he smiles, he smiles with his entire face.


• Attacking. When Tanner is really hungry or really tired, he totally attacks my face and tries to eat/suck on my face. This combo usually happens in the middle of the night when I get up to feed him - which usually is 2 times a night, somtimes 3. (And for the record, I've decided I'm been obsessing about how much he sleeps and it's not working so I'm just going to try to be more low key and see where that takes me). I use the word ATTACK because he hurts and he's so aggressive about it. It's like he's totally calm one minute, and then goes to a state of panic and attacks me with his hands and mouth. But even if it hurts, I still think it's cute.


• Scooting around in pursuit of something greater. Tanner is running over constantly these days. He now prefers to be laying on his stomach with his head up looking around. When he goes down for naps, he somehow manages to roll over onto his stomach (even with an infact positioner) and has his head up high like he's on a surf board. Sleep is usually the last thing on his mind.


• Sitting up. He's just now prefcting it and occasionally will get carried away w/a smile and knock himself over. But this is prob his favorite position. He loves to sit up and look around to see what's going on.


• Eating solid food. Just in the past week, Tanner has expanded his horizon from rice cereal to real pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and peas. We started with the veggies so he would develop a love for them. This week I've been even racier and given him yogurt, bananas, and occassioanly, other nibbles of people food that we're eating. I'll let him chew on an apple slice (it's better than my finger). So far, he hasn't turned anything down and also attacks the spoon. He gets really anxious if you don't feed it to him fast enough. So inbetween me taking a bite of my dinner, I give him a bite of his own. And he just keeps eating it. In less than a week of eating solid food, he's eating the whole 2 oz container at a time. I'm also making most of his baby food - more nutrious, healthier, and cheaper!

Feed me!

• Baby talk. He makes the cutest little sounds. I especially love the little exciting noises he makes when I'm getting close to picking him up (followed by the rapid kicking of feet & reaching hands out) or his anxious cries he makes right before I nurse him. When he's getting cranky, he'll make little gee gee sounds. And when he's tired, he'll just go into this low baby talk sound until he nods off to sleep.


• First sickness - ear infection. No fun, but luckily did not last long.


• Tanner the tank. People (even strangers) comment on how big of a baby he is. I get comemnts like 'how much to you feed him' or 'how much did he weigh when he was born' or some other irrelevant comment - then followed by a 'you better watch what he eats' or 'start cutting him back'. First, any doctor will you they worry most about the skinny ones. And second, he's a baby and unlike an adult, they can easily monitor the caloric intake. When I see an overweight kid or adult, I don't comment to them they should lay off Mcdonalds? And I promise I don't feed him too much. He really only eats every 3 1/2 to 4 hours and nurses for less than 5 minutes at a time - so I'm not overfeeding him. He's just a big boy. And he does like to eating, but what's wrong with that? I like eating food too! And I like his chubbiness (especially his thights) and have fully embraced it.


• Crawling. I was joking around that he had 2 weeks to learn how to crawl - but of course that was being a little ambitous. He's carrying some extra weight so it'll prob be a while. And I can wait!


• Toes and Ears -His toes and ears always seems to be his latest target - grabbing his feet and toes can keep him entertained for a while. At first I was worried his ear infection was coming back when he started tugging at his ears, but no, he's just playing with them and exploring the rest of his body. The best is when he plays with his tummy rolls. Yes, when he's taking a bath or getting a diaper change, he'll grab his little love handle just like an old man. So cute!
  

Get me outta here! Help!

PS - I have more pics that I'll post later!

Happy New Years!

Out with the old, in with the new

Happy New Years to you!

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It's been a year to remember, a year I'll never forget. Life keeps getting better and better, but yet I still earn and dream of so much more.

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2008 milestones:

gaining 50+ being preggo

starting a blog (yes, I'm a little behind)

vaction to DC for Amanda's wedding

2 weeks of bedrest (and I didn't go insane)

birth of my little Tanners

promotion at work

surving w/o anthony while away on vacation to denver and canoe trip

4-year wedding anniversary celebrated w/typical dinner & movie -

next year will be 5 and we'll have to live it up.

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2009 resolutions:

Spend less $, save more $ so that I can reduce work schedule to only 3 days a week.

Be green by eating more organic foods and using more earth friendly cleaning products -even if it does mean making them myself. I'm still cheap (or "reasonable" as I like to put it)!

Go on dates w/my hubbie once a month & have family date nights once a week (ok, i know they say you should go once a week, but spending time with little Tanners is just as important as spending time w/hubbie!)

Daily scripture study and family prayers. I'm usually pretty good about this, but still slack off occasionally. No more of that!

Get my pre-preggo body back. Not sure how that is going to happen yet, especially since I quit going to the gym. I've lost 40 not having to do much of anything...so maybe the last 10 will magically fall off too. Breastfeeding is my only hope!

PS - I thought maybe if I write down my New Year's Resolution - I would have more incentive to keep them!

Cousins

Tanner was finally able to meet his little cousin Mason! Keith and Kristan and the rest of the gang - Jared, Brittany, and Mason - came for a visit the day after Christmas. We miss them and don't get to see them nearly enough. We're still trying to convince them to move to Dallas - but maybe one day. In the meantime, we were glad they made they were able to trek from KC and enjoyed the time together.

Tanner (5 1/2 months) & Mason (2 months)

Just look at the mischeive in their eyes. Years down the rode...I can just picture them up to no good & getting into stuff like Britt & Ave - like taking showers or opening presents when no one is looking.

Ave, Tanner, Britt, & MasonMason is such a cute little man! Mason is about 4 months younger than Tanner and about half the size. At first Tanner was envious of his hair, but he got over it:). I do have to say that Tanner finally had someone to pick on. He's use to being the youngest and having to defend himself against his two nieces - Madison and Sophia who are twice his age (but not so suprisingly, pratically the same size). When we did the pic, we had to act quicly cause Tanner kept wanting to grab and/or eat Mason's face . Tanner is big enough that he would sit of Mason and he'd be a goner. But of course we would not let that happen!

Jared, Brittany, and Tanner

Tanner enjoyed having the extra visitors; othwerise, our home is usually pretty quiet. Brittany was in LOVE with Tanner. I heard her say - I just love that Tanner and I think the feeling was mutualwas mutual. She was so motherly, gentle, fun, and sweet. She's definitely the best little girl I have ever seen play with a baby. Mason is one lucky boy to have her as an older sister! Tanner was entertained having her next to him as they played. He's not use to having any playmates and basked in all the extra attention.

Mason is a great baby! I think he alread sleeps better than Tanner, but I need to stop obsessing about howlittle Tanner sleeps. It hasn't been that long, but I forget how much different it is having a little newborn - more frequent feedings, more crying (at least Tanner was much fussier than he is now) and not nearly as much smiles and giggles - but def more cuddle time. Of course one day I want more children - but it's so hard to fanthom now that I have one of my own. Ignorant bliss - before I had Tanner, I had absolutely no clue!


PS - Thanks Keith and Kristan for the matching shirt!

Oncore

Due to popular request, here is a pic of my mother rocking out to rockband - "Sound of Music" style.

She kept wanting to do slow songs and really sing with her opera-esque voice - but we tried to explain the game is called ROCKBAND and only has ROCK songs (and not Musicals!). She was quite pleased with her score (I think it was 89% - not too shabby) and afterwards kept asking what other people's were to see if she "beat" them.



But I have no room to talk...the video is just as incriminating to myself as well.