Learning young...

My dad (as well as the rest of my family) really enjoys being a granddad (as well as grandma, aunt, uncle, etc). He frequently tells David that when his Daddy gets home they will go to Fourwinds and he and Mark will teach him how to throw knives. Apparently my dad couldn't wait, and David was a little fussy, so my Dad handed him a suitable toy. None the less, David seemed to like it.

Good Deal!

I may or may not have a shoe problem. I will be the first to admit it. But I also cannot pass up a good deal, and this my friends is a good deal! The other night Madeline and I were passing through Macys. We slowed down while going through the shoe section (first mistake). We look at the shoes on clearance (second mistake). I saw the most beautiful purple shoes, so I asked the employee if he had these in my size (third mistake...I really shouldn't have even stopped. Macys has a tendency to have beautiful purple things: purple heals that I had to have. Mark and I metroed even to get them! A gorgeous purple purse. Oh Macys!) Anyways, he did, there was just one in the box, he was going to go look for the other pair while I finished my shopping. Madeline tried to tell me I didn't need them. But I was under their spell...again. Well, we came back and he hadn't found it yet. So he grabbed the other employee and they both looked. No success. He told me to leave my information and when they found it, he would call. As we're leaving, I decide to take a good look through the shoes again (fourth mistake). And what did I find?! But my long lost shoe! I brought it back up to the counter and asked if I could get a discount, partially joking. He said yes. He gave me a 20% off coupon, plus an additional 10% off for my trouble. The price you ask? Originally they were $69.90...my final price was $21.09!!!

Here is (not the best) picture of these purple suede flats I just had to have :-)

One year ago today...

On January 26 2010, Mark and I received some great news. Our sweet little baby was a boy! Mark had the biggest smile on his face, my dreams of pink and purple would have to wait, but I was happy to know that our little one could finally have a name, let alone a gender :-)

And now my baby is just shy of 8 months old! Where has the time gone? I'm so glad he is our little, uh, not so little but oh so handsome son!

Sixteen years ago, Fedex dropped off a box that said "Caution: living contents". Haha. Just kidding. Thats what I tell Madeline about the day she was born. For Madelines birthday, she had that day off from school and the two days following due to a winter storm that hit us hard. We had about 6 inches of snow, lose of power for not quite 24 hours, with more to come.

Happy Birthday Madeline! Sure glad you are my sister and little Davids Aunt. Love you!

Happy Day

I hope you all had a great Sunday! Our time in Maryland is coming close to an end. My dad really likes being a grand dad and tells David that frequently.

One Crazy Kid

It's no secret we have a little wild man on our hands. Last night, we went out to dinner (Outback, yum!) After David was done eating and before our meals came, I sat him on the table and let him kick, talk, smile, etc. Well, he kept reaching for everyones drinks. He really wanted a sip of the coke. I am not ready for him to soda, let alone caffeine.

Anyways, David was sitting in his highchair finishing up a mum-mum (Katie, how many times have you said that word?! Haha.) And this is what he was doing:

One day he will realize that his hands can be a great help, especially when it comes to food.

Cookies

I learned an important lesson about two years ago: Not everybody prefers milk with cookies. My dear husband prefers water or soda because he is thirsty. I personally enjoy a cold glass of milk with my cookie.

Tonight, my Grandma and her friend Ray came over for dinner. I had made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They were just as delicious as they sound. I was doing something and saw my grandma doing this:

There may be no wrong way of eating a ">recess, but I dare say there is a better choice of beverage for cookies :-)

Shake Your Booty...

...but not your baby! David loves his excersaucer and usually acts like a wild man in it (spinning around, babbling, yelling, shaking his toys around). I've wanted to get it on camera, but the little stinker tones it down for the camera. None the less, here is is for your viewing pleasure.

Mum Mums

The other day at our play date, David tried Mum-mums. He liked playing with them and wanted me to feed him. So while I was at Target I decided to pick them up and see if he would eat them himself. He loved them!

The funny thing is he would put it in his mouth, put his hands down, chew, laugh. Good thing I was fast enough to catch it on camera. All in all, I think he likes them. Enjoy!

Chunky Monkey

Today was a good day. We had a play date with a lady in the ward here, her baby is a month older than David, and bigger :-) Then I made these delicious pancakes with homemadebuttermilk syrup for dinner. My mouth is watering as I type this. I would recommend trying it. (Don't worry, Katie, Amy & Melissa, I will make it when I get back :-)

Like I've said before, bath time is fun for David. He is becoming more interested in all the things around him. I am just waiting for our trip to the E.R. I know it's not far ahead of us. Anyways, tonight, Max decided to join in on bath time. I'm pretty sure David enjoyed it more than Max. Nonetheless, it made for some good pictures.

Katie, I know you've always a cute furry cat to sit and listen to you talk, cry, laugh at your silly jokes. I have good news for you. Max is ready to come to Illinois, and can even be ready to come when David and I fly back (unless of course you want him sooner.)

Madeline and I went and got manicures and pedicures tonight. There is just something very therapeutic about that that I love! Oh, and the title of this: Madeline came into the bathroom tonight and said "chunky monkey." I thought it would make a good blog title.

Love & Miss you!!!

Pizza! Pizza!

Last night I made homemade pizza. The crust is really easy to make and so yummy! Sadly I did not take any pictures of that, but we had a BBQ chicken, Meat Lovers and Veggie pizzas. I did however manage to take 2 pictures of David trying to eat a pizza box. He wanted in on the action.

Georgetown Cupcake Review

TLC aired a new series several months ago entitled Georgetown Cupcake. It's a cute little bakery where they do what most of TLCs show do...decorate [cup]cakes. I decided I needed to go and check it out when I was in Maryland for the holidays.

Originally this post was going to go very different than how it is going to go. Madeline, David and I jump in the car to go. We drive to Bethesda and start to look for it. This is what I was looking for:

It is not what I found. Instead it was a teeny tiny store squeezed in with the rest of Bethesdas many shopping choices. Sorry, no picture. Anyways, so we go in and look at the menu on the board.


If you look at the picture closely, you will see the price of ONE SINGLE cupcake is $2.75! Pretty pricey if you ask me. But none the less, we splurged. We get up to the counter and order a coconut cupcake for me and a peanut butter cupcake for Madeline.


I reach in my diaper bag only to find my wallet is not there! Yikes. I start to tell the lady to cancel the order, when Madeline realizes what is going on and pays for it. We sit down to enjoy our cupcakes and hot chocolate. Davids eyes got big when he saw what we were eating.



Unfortunately, he didn't get to eat as much of it as he would have liked. He got a bottle instead. One last story, before we left the house I asked Madeline to put the top and bottom on the bottle in my diaper bag. She did. When I was pouring the water into the bottle, it all came out on me. Needless to say I had a big wet circle on my jeans. Good times.

All in all, Georgetown Cupcakes was good, not sure if it is really worth the price. But for some reason I want to go to the location in DC. We'll see if I can swing that somehow. Oh, and Katie, the owners weren't there, so I dont know if they are just as cheesy in person as they are on TV.

Pretty please?!

Remember that cute little boy, Max? Well he and David and have been hanging out together, playing, checking each other out, etc. The fact that Max has not bit David, or run away from him is amazing, and another reason he meant to be in our family :-)

Newt was adopted yesterday, so he is clearly out of the picture for bringing home with me, maybe these pictures will convince Katie she really is a cat person? Maybe?

Aunts, tubs, and diners

The other night two of my best friends (Audrey & Linda) and their mom were able to come over and meet with David. They absolutely adored him. Barely after walking out the door Linda updated her facebook status with this :"I just fell in ♥ with the cutest little man!! David Distelhorst, yr gummy smiles and thumb-sucking jst stole my heart away!! ♥ Rach!" Haha. I'm so glad they were able to come over and catch up. Definitely miss them.

David is being spoiled, loved, and getting attention from everyone! I love his little laugh. I don't know what is going on with the lightning, I guess I really do need to get a new camera.

I hope that video works for you all. If not, I don't know what else to do. The following are just some pictures for Mark of DT in the bath tub. I love his wild man hair!




Earlier today, we went and had lunch with my grandma at the Silver Diner. I don't know what it is about that place, but it's just a fun place to hang out. I can remember going there occasionally after a dance, Saturday morning breakfast get togethers with friends. David charmed everyone with his smile, even while getting his diaper changed in the oddly placed changing table in the bathroom.

Love you!

Sharing

David and the puppy (Newt) are loving playing with each other as well as one anothers toys :-)



Hope you all had a marvelous Monday!

Love you!!!

May I...?

Let me introduce you to a sweet little boy named Max. He is handsome, dark skinned, and a great cuddler/listener. He is my cat that I found in middle school when I was out cutting the front lawn. It made me sad not to bring him to college with me, but I looked forward to visiting Maryland and seeing him there. Well, my mom said if Mark deployed, I could have him! When we got the official word that Mark would be going, I was sad that he wasn't going to be around, but okay because I was going to have Max (and David of course!) However, Dana and Katie were done with pets, and have no intention of wanting a cat. So, he stayed in Maryland. Katie, however, saw my post on the puppies, and said to bring them, but leave the cat! How can you say no to a face like this:


Oh well, one day we will have a cat and when Katie visits, she will love him.

And what's a post without pictures of David? He continues to love bath time and amazes me with his flexibility.


The measuring cup may or may not have been strategically placed where it is :-) He also continues to amaze me with his appetite. He loves yogurt, corn, peaches...the list can go on. If he can get his hands on it, it goes in the mouth! He's had a little stuffy nose and I am trying to teach him to use a sippy cup so I give him some juice, if you can even call it juice. It is 1 part juice to 3 parts water. But is he doing pretty good with it.


Hope you all had a great Sunday and are enjoying the new year thus far.

Love & Miss you!

Babies & Puppies

My mom is currently fostering two German shepherd mix 9 week old puppies. David is in love with them, as well as the cat (Katie, can we get one?!)

Goodbye 2010...Hello 2011

2010 served us pretty well. We had our ups and downs, but our greatest joy from 2010 was when our little family of two grew to three in June with the birth of David. I am so grateful David is in our family here on earth with us, for his good health, and his sweet spirit. He is my joy and my frustration at times, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! We were also able to move to Illinois to be with family while Mark deployed to Iraq until October of 2011. I'm so grateful to live there and be surrounded by such amazing friends and family.
To ring in the New Year, David went to bed at 7...but woke up his normal silly/smiley self. One of these days, I'll take a picture of him first getting up. (New Years resolution? Haha). Madeline and I went to Chili's about 7:30 for dinner. I absolutely love their fajitas! Of course I could not go there and not get my absolute favorite dessert...chocolate lava cake! Mmm...good!



Don't worry, it tastes even better than it looks. And of course, I didn't take a single picture of Madeline or I. Oops.

While Mark could not be here with us in person to celebrate, David's faithful/slightly less creepy daddy doll was.






Here's to hoping 2011 will bring joy and happiness to each of you! As for us, we are in the year Mark will be home!

Love you!!!