10 Months

Whew...it's been a long time since I have been on here. It's cute that I thought I would have time to sit down and type every few days.
Yesterday Russ turned 10 months old!! If you do the math, that means I will have a ONE year old in 2 months. What? Anyway, I'll admit it; Month 9 has been my favorite. Let me start off by saying that Russ is the WORST sleeper ever. This problem is even worse now that he has learned how to sit and pull up in his crib. Oh and he also learned how to scream at the top of his lungs. So it goes like this: 1) Russ wakes up in the middle of the night. 2) He sits up and then pulls up trying to make a break for it. 3) He gets freaked out and then screams. 4) Mom and Dad start the "sleep training" process and ignore him. 5) Mom decides this is ridiculous. 6) Mom is up for 10-30 min comforting child back to sleep. 7) Russ remembers all the fun stuff we do each day, so he decides to wake up at 6:43 on the dot every morning. (Unless he decides that we should get up earlier.) 8) Mom inserts coffee into her veins, hears Russ laugh and then decides that waking up at 6:43 was probably a good idea anyway.

Fun Facts:

-My 10 month old is busting out of his 18-24 month Batman pajamas.
-During month 9, he crawled twice to the one dog in our family who has no interest in him. (Why do guys always want the girl they can't have?)
-He learned how to open drawers. Darn it.
- He says "Dada," "baba," and "woah," which probably all mean "Mom" in Spanish.
- A 5th tooth is coming in which is cute but has turned him into a vampire. He gets all hyper and bites me. It is hilarious but painful.
- He is pulling up on everything, especially on us and the Boxer.
- He loves going out to eat. He enjoys "real people food" mashed up into small pieces.
- Adventures this month included a trip to my parents' house in Boerne, a stop in Temple to visit cousins, and a field trip to downtown McKinney for an afternoon.

Hanging in the Hill Country in his cousin's truck. 16th birthday present?

Our lives as we know it are over.

Now that he can open drawers...

Russ passed out sitting up.

9 months

Little Man is almost 9 months old and all of a sudden has so many new tricks.  It's about time because I was sick of answering the same questions: "Does he roll around a lot?" "No." "Is he sleeping through the night?" "No." And my ABSOLUTE favorite one that makes me take a deep breath so I won't punch someone: "Does he crawl yet?" "No. My baby weighs more than all 3 of your kids combined (and could eat them) and is happy just hanging out.

Even though he couldn't do these "tricks" he was still more awesome than anyone I know. He has 4, yes 4 teeth. He has bright red hair that usually spikes straight up in the air. He laughs at all of my jokes. He can pet the dogs, play with toys, play the keyboard, and melt your heart.

HOWEVER, this past weekend was huge! He learned how to roll and won't stop! He rolls around all over the place and thinks it's a game. He can "drive" his car forward and now tears around the house. Tonight he "crawled" backwards (naked.) Russ also discovered new instruments: the drum, bells, and his new favorite, the tambourine. Today was the first day that I made him his own plate of lunch and dinner. He ate meatballs, veggies, and fruit. He drank water from a sippy cup. Afterwards he splashed like crazy in his tub. Ok, ok, now I'm just bragging.

I thought I would also share a list of his current 3 favorite things:

1. His new Teepee

Evan bought himself Russ a teepee

2. Pedro- Mimi sent him a new toy and we thought it was a mistake. It looked like something from a Mexican market. However, Mimi was right and it rocks. We named it Pedro.

Russ + Pedro= Party

3. Ball Pit

Wanna join me?

Craiglist Killer?

What do you do when you decide you want to hunt quail for the first time? You go on Craigslist. Yep. Evan tells me, "It's super safe because we will be carrying guns." Oh.

Matt with gun in case this is a Craiglist hoax

Evan and his partner in crime, Matt, connected with some dude on Craigslist to go out to his property and quail hunt. Naturally the boys put on their hunting costumes gear, grabbed Whataburger, and and headed out an hour and a half away from safety home. To our surprise, our husbands were not kidnapped and held for ransom. Instead, the guy turned out to be an old Aggie and his wife provided handwritten recipes (in cursive) for the quail. Chrissi and I were provided with a FEAST! The boys cooked all 19 of their birds + jalepeno cheese grits, wedge salad, cheddar biscuits, broccolini, and an apple pie. I even think they looked cute in camo. For some reason, I was the lucky one who kept finding bullets in my food.

Proud Hunter with our dinner

Oliver

Evan and I didn't plan to become "crazy dog people," it just kind of happened on its own. Growing up, I always wanted a dog. I'm not afraid to admit it: I come from a CAT family. Cats have a bad reputation but we had the best cat in the world, Katie. She followed my brother home one day and we loved her dearly for the next 18 years. Katie was perfect but I asked for a dog (and a horse) for every holiday throughout my childhood. Guess what? I didn't get a dog (or a horse) from my parents.

I adopted Sam from the College Station pound. He was an abused, homeless little guy and I loved him. Sam was everything I ever wanted in a pup. About 6 months later, Evan adopted Layla from the Houston pound. He calls her a miniature Irish Water Spaniel because he is too embarrassed to admit that he adopted a poodle mix. She is awesome too. Things were going along just fine with our 2 dogs until Evan had to have this boxer puppy. To be fair, we had seen a lot of cool boxers in the recent past. In Hawaii we sat and watched a guy surf while his boxer sat on top of a picnic table and watched. When his owner finished, the dog ran in the ocean to swim with him. Most boxers we had seen could do all sorts of cool tricks, didn't need a leash, and were definitely "man's best friend." So, when we were faced with a tiny little boxer puppy, we decided to add him to our gang and call him "Oliver."

Ollie was so cute but we realized quickly we may have made a mistake. Ollie was freaking NUTS. He needed a lot of attention, a lot of exercise, and had to be trained fast. We sent him away to a 2 week training camp which cost $$$$ (yep, 4 dollar signs.) Oh, and it didn't work. Then we found out we were pregnant. Everyone would look at us and ask what the heck we were going to do with Ollie once the baby got here. There were even days when I cried because I knew we would have to give him up. Many people who came over would say "Boxers are THE BEST with kids!" and then Ollie would jump all over them and we would put him outside. Evan and I decided we would just figure it out once Russ got here and I am so glad we waited before making a decision.

Ollie is AMAZING with Russ and I have never seen anything like it. Every time we put Russ down, Ollie has to be right next to him. Russ talks to Ollie and has learned how to pet him. The two can sit and play together forever. Russ is so huge that he no longer likes tummy time. However, if Ollie is laying next to him, Russ will put up with tummy time for a little bit.  The only gross part is when Ollie licks Russ all over and we have to sanitize the baby (we have seen what Ollie eats in our backyard.)

So, Evan may not go surfing with Oliver anytime soon but he sure has become "Man's Best Friend." (Even if his man is only 8 months old.)

The Crew

Best Friends

Ollie is always RIGHT there

Love + Sanitizer

Tummy Time Practice

What is this for?

This picture and a note he is off to Home Depot. What is about to happen in our lives?

Christmas!

Woah. Having a child brings a whole new meaning to Christmas! Absolute joy!

We had a rough start as Russ was diagnosed with Croup and given a pack of steroids. A few days later, he seemed so much worse, so we jetted back to the doc. This time we were told he had RSV/ bronchiolitis and we proceeded to give the little man 30 breathing treatments at home (not fun.)

However, it was a Christmas miracle, and Russ was feeling better on Christmas Day. Normally Christmas presents are opened over an hour or so but it took us 3 days! Between playing, eating, cooking, napping, etc, we couldn't get through it all! However, celebrating Christmas for 3 days wasn't so bad!

We had such a nice time with family!

                                                Evan's parents gave us our dogs! So funny!

                                                 Sunday Brunch at Hattie's- our favorite!

                                              Chinese Christmas- Mom stealing Dad's gift.

                                                                         Present time!

                                                          Russ in his new Track Suit!

                                                      So much cooking- no time for pants!!

                                         2 days after Christmas and we are still opening presents!!!

Russ Gives Back

A blogger I follow/ love put it like this:
As part of G’s birthday traditions through the years, we want him to donate at least one of his gifts to a child in need to teach him to not be an asshole as he grows up.


I put it like this:
I want Russ to grow up to be compassionate. I want him to want to help others. I want giving to just be a part of who he is. And yes, I don't want him to grow up to be an ___. 


How do you teach one to be compassionate? I have a good guy friend, Charlie, who is always volunteering. I don't know many dudes who volunteer because they want to; usually they have to be pushed into it by a nagging wife or are trying to impress some hot girl. When I asked Charlie what got him so involved, he said his parents were always involved with a charity or volunteering at special events. He said he didn't know anything else. Now that he is grown, he and his wife, Lindsay, spend a lot of time together helping others.


SO, Evan and I wanted to start Russ out early too. This year we adopted an Angel. I picked an 11 year old boy names Jahmon for 2 reasons: 1) His name reminds me of Michael Jackson 2) His one wish was for legos. Side note: Evan has tried to buy Russ legos 47 times. Apparently they aren't baby appropriate, so he has been bummed about that. When I saw Jahmon wanted legos, I knew he was our Angel. We took a family trip to Target and loaded up on legos and big kid clothes. I just wish we could have seen his face when he opened his gifts. This will definitely be a tradition in our home.


Round 2 of giving happened at our Neighborhood Happy Hour. Our neighborhood is really fun and we have started getting together for food and cocktails once a month. This month we asked that people donate new toys and books for the kids at Scottish Rite Hospital. Russ, our cute neighbor Ashley, and I delivered the items to the hospital today.  It was so easy and the staff was incredibly thankful. 
Here is a picture of Russ Man with one of the wagons filled with donations.