Just a little studying...

Declan sees his dad studying quite often. He loves to get in on the game and put on his earbuds and listen to some music (volume down, of course). I just had to snap some pics of my little student.

Just a little graphing on daddy's fancy calculator. 

"Hey- a little privacy, please!"

Hello, there.

Well, hello there, Mr. Sun. This is actually a picture I took for my photography class during the 2 hours the sun has been out this past weekend. It's been way blah-gloom-doom weather wise. So, here's to more sun.

This morning was a parenting first. A little back story- this week Declan has been screaming throughout the night. Yesterday morning (after Declan was up the majority of the night) I decided to call his pedi so we can get his ears checked. An appointment was made for that afternoon. In an unfortunate twist, he started throwing up and having diarrhea. My poor little muchkin. He was given a strong antibiotic shot for his badly infected ear and we were given the crackers/pedia.lite instructions for the stomach bug. In the evening he seemed tired but like he was feeling better. He slept great. Thank goodness.

Fast forward to this morning. I peeked in the nursery before work and my husband was sitting in the rocker with Declan. He was concerned because he couldn't really wake him up. In comes crazy mom...turning on bright lights, taking temperature, freaking out. The pedi said to get him in the car and get him there immediately. Turns out that Declan's blood sugar was way too low. Very VERY scary morning.

Tonight, he's holding down food. He's drinking Pedia.lite like it's going out of style and running around screaming and smiling like the little crazy man he is. We are so very thankful he's on the mend and hope tomorrow renders the same. Now, I'm off to pray that the open mouth kisses tonight don't send me hanging over the toilet soon. Ha! Just kidding. Happy to kiss my baby all day every day. (Ask my husband- the snot kisses don't even get turned away!)

Now, if we can just get some sunshine (and warmer weather), that would be grand. 

Unsettled.

Today I feel unsettled. And today I feel nervous about the future. Today I also feel thankful for the blessings in my life. But most of all today I feel hopeful for what might be.

Decisions.

Confusion.

Confusion about the decisions.

Thankful that what God leads you to, He leads you through.

Smoothie King

I have been wanting to take more videos. Before I know it, Declan will be in kindergarten and we'll have trouble remembering his toddler years. In this video my husband was giving Decs the rest of his smoothie that he decided was too cold to drink from the straw (but not too cold to drink from the cup..hmmm). You'll see he has a little shiver after each drink but the funniest thing about the video is that my husband was standing and couldn't see how much he was pouring in his mouth. It made for quite the geyser effect. Please ignore my overwhelmingly annoying laughter. I'm easily entertained, okay? Try to listen for Declan to say "all done" mid drink. Hilarious. This boy is the best.

Sophie Mae

Miss Sophie Mae is the other adopted member of our family.

She is ADORABLE, quirky, sweet and loyal.

She's obsessed with evening walks which hasn't happened in weeks since it's 20 below.

{So she cries at the door until she realizes it's not going to happen}

Sophie was scared of everyone and everything when we adopted her at 4 years old. Over 2 years later she's 80% rehabilitated from most her fears.

We love her.

Lots.

Diet Coke Cake

So as 2010 began, I took a serious look at the way I'd been eating and [not] exercising. I a professional dieter. I get really motivated and passionate about a certain diet and hit it hard for 3 months, lose a good amount of weight, then crash and burn. I really want 2010 to be different. I've been researching healthier living and got a lot of perspective from the book "Mindful Eating" (review to come later). 

So far (I know it's only 8 days in to the New Year), I've been making really healthy choices and even exercising pretty consistently. But, tonight, the dreaded Friday who-cares-what-you-eat-it's-finally-the-weekend, brought me a pretty strong sweet tooth. So I found this Weight.Watchers Diet Coke Cake recipe. It was really difficult to make:

Mix 1 box of cake mix with 1 can of diet coke and bake as directed. Yep- no oil, no water, no eggs. Just the diet coke. I topped my slice with a spoonful of fat free cool.whip. And.........

IT'S DELICIOUS.

Woot!

I'm excited to share more of my healthy recipes, tips and tricks- as I learn them. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Blizzard #3, thankyouverymuch

I love Nebraska. I really do. Except the blistering hot summers and freeze-your-nosehair winters. It all comes with the territory. We do have wonderful weather for about 50 cumulative days a year. 

Right now, blizzard #3 is working it magic all over town. Schools closed, my appointments all postponed to days where the windchill isn't below 30 (I sell real estate and people aren't much for looking at houses when your tromping through tons of snow trying not to get frostbite), and us trapped inside. You see- I'm a little bit of a type A, need to interact with more than just a toddler type. Even if it's a trip to Super Targ.et. 

This is all leading up to the point of my post. Declan was getting pretty bored with the confines of our living room today. This happens to little boys who get up early and don't take a very long nap but that's beside the point. So I thought we'd change it up and go hang out in the bathroom. Ha! That sounds redonkulous. After a little hair styling (toothbrush given for entertainment) I decided a photo session was in order. So- setting the scene- small toddler on bathroom counter with unusually over-styled hair chomping on toothbrush and mommy on a little red step stool snapping pictures like it's a Gap ad. In walks daddy early from work. "Um...babe...watcha doin'??" [confused look on face] 

Stir crazy, much?

2009 in Pictures

This year we've been amazingly blessed. Declan's brought us unexplainable joy, crazy stress and unimaginable love. Here's a journey through 2009 with our little man:

January
5 months old, rolls both ways, first 2 teeth!

February



March



April
Finally sitting unassisted, pulls up on crib



May



June
Adoption finalized!
Starting to wobbly walk.



July
walking!



August
1 year old!!!



September



October



November



December



Here's to many more wonderful memories in 2010!

It was inevitable...

...Declan climbed out of his crib this morning.

The good news? He's brilliant. Not only did he climb out very quietly (it didn't wake us up), but he un-plugged the monitor so we continued sleeping unaware.

Once we woke up and it felt late, we realized the monitor was off.  We headed in to his bedroom and there he was-- smiling and holding the monitor base. We were surprised...sort of.

So, it's a bit of a situation. You know, our son's safety and all. We thought of a few options:

1. Baby-proof and let Declan continue to climb out...it could be a fluke, right?

2. Toddler bed time...it could work, errr, maybe.

3. Install a crib tent and hope Declan thinks it's a cool camp out [in] adventure.

We wavered between 2 and 3 but decided on the tent.

Us = happy/hopeful

Decs = not-so-sure

Our pocketbook= $70 {yes, SEVENTY, dollars} lighter

Definitely not a *positive* cosmetic change to our nursery:

It only took an HOUR to follow the 11 step directions. There were many ties, velcro thingies, etc. I think this company used children like Declan to childproof this thing:

"GET ME OUT OF HERE"