Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Thank you!

I'm a little bit behind...but I wanted to thank Rebekah for coming to visit us almost two weeks ago now!! We had SUCH a fun time and Xavier loved hanging out with his godmother! Sorry you had to be there for such a traumatic time, but thank you for listening to me and helping me through it. (Is the word "traumatic" exaggerating? You are the expert on word choice...) Between shopping for dresses, watching The Office, forgetting to eat until we were starving, role playing in the kitchen, hiking at Red Rocks, listening to Bebo, waiting a little too long to change some diapers, taking X to urgent care, staying up too late talking, and eating brownies, I had so much fun and laughed so hard! We love you and are so glad you could come to see us!!!

The numbers say it all...

4 days
2 parents
1 baby
1 baccalaureate service
1 graduation
8 graduation parties for 19 kids

We survived and Xavier didn't cry once. He loves being the center of attention!

I'm done...

with all my grading!!!!!!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Haircut

What do you think? I'm still getting used to it...but it's already in a ponytail :) Why not? I'm just hanging out at home... By the way, it had been close to EIGHT months since I had cut it! Oops.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

caught up...

The photo-a-day blog is up to date now!

www.photoblog.com/rachelhill

Friday, May 9, 2008

Clapping!

I was changing X's diaper today and looked down and realized he was clapping! I didn't teach him this and I'm wondering if he learned it with his babysitter or if he just picked it up? I'll have to ask... So the rest of the night he was clapping. In his exersaucer he was using this pattern...Rock, rock, rock, rock (he thinks it's a bouncer even though it's not!), Clap, clap, clap, clap...cheering himself on I guess.

I had a great day with my little boy. We went to garage sales together (neighborhood wide sales close by) and got a few toys for cheap--a little stand up table that Xavier wouldn't leave once he started playing, a set of wooden blocks, those plastic shape blocks that go through the matching shape hole in the lid, a couple of books...all for $10! It reminded me of "big trash day" in our neighborhood when I was little, when everyone set out their "trash" and you could pick anything up. I got a Lite Brite for free! (Can you tell I liked big trash day?!) Although our stuff wasn't free today, we sure didn't spend much money.

Xavier only napped 30 minutes TOTAL all day, probably because we were out and about. I hope that means he sleeps in...maybe until at least 6:30?!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Friday, May 2, 2008

Month Seven

Dear Xavier,

Seven months doesn’t sound nearly as exciting as six months or half a year old did. But another month has gone by and you just continue to change by the day. I packed away all of your 6 month clothing and much of your 9 month stuff and with the thought of my little boy getting so big, I just started to cry. You looked at me and started whimpering, so the moment didn’t last long. But it’s hard for me to even remember what you were like a few months ago when you started wearing those clothes.

You are still not officially crawling, but that doesn’t keep you from getting around. Why bother learning to crawl “for real” with the speed you have picked up with your army crawl?! Well, one good reason might be the red scaly patches you have on your forearms! I haven’t been smart enough to completely babyproof the house yet, so instead, I spend my days saying no and chasing after you. Some of the things that interest you the most are the coffee table (ouch, I bumped my head!), the kitties’ water bowls (hey, I’m all wet!), cords (how did this get wrapped around me?), and my camera (your mommy will be the one yelling if that gets broken!). In fact, I’ll have your blanket laid out on the floor with a nice arrangement of toys and what do you do…inspect every inch of the room instead! I’m considering writing a few books to add to the Tails Are Not For Pulling series…something along the lines of Stroller Tires Are Not For Licking or Running Shoes Are Not For Eating.

You are doing a great job of sitting up on your own and sitting up very tall! Your grandma says that you have great posture. It makes it a lot easier to take your picture sitting than when I had to be prepared to catch you at any given moment. When you are sitting up, you love to play with your toys that have mirrors and give yourself kisses! You are a fine looking young man, but maybe a little less tongue would be more appropriate.

You and I traveled to Missouri together to celebrate your great grandparents’ 65th wedding anniversary. Your daddy was so excited to sleep in for a couple of days, but I think he really missed you…especially since you started saying “dada” right as we were leaving! All of your aunts and uncles and cousins were smitten with you and you did a great job with the responsibility of entertaining everyone for the weekend!

This month, you made big strides in eating solid foods. From rice cereal and oatmeal, you have moved on to avocados, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, bananas, green beans, carrots, and peas. Apart from the faces you make, we can also tell whether or not you like a food by how covered your daddy’s shirt is with your food. I’m telling you…you won’t have many dates as a teenager if you continue to spray your food everywhere!

You seem to have regressed in the sleeping area. Xavier, it is okay with your mommy and daddy if you sleep past 5:00 am! Really, it is. Yes, we love to see your face in the morning, but seeing it a little later would help us all out. Sometimes, one of us will get up with you while the other tries to sleep. It’s hard even then to get much sleep when you’re bouncing your exersaucer (which, by the way, is not intended to bounce) and shaking the whole house. Your daddy claims that this intensity comes directly from me… (?!?!) Well, maybe…

And maybe I’m glad that you have that stubborn and independent streak in you…at least most of the time.

Love,
Mommy

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Am I Overreacting?

A week ago, I bought new bottles for Xavier and new bottles for us because of all the BPA warnings. I bought the BPA free Dr. Brown's bottles for him (I can't even find these online because I think they had just come out) and the Camelbak Better Bottles for us. When I went to REI to buy these, I found out they had removed all bottles with BPA (like all the old Nalgene bottles) from their shelves.

I've heard a lot of people use the excuse, "Well, we somehow survived using those bottles." And yet, we wonder why people end up with cancer so doesn't it make sense to eliminate exposure to any known cancer-causing products? Xavier only drinks out of bottles every other day when I'm working, so it wasn't a huge investment to buy four new bottles. I also checked into the types of plastic with all of our storage containers and most of those were okay, although I think I will start to be more careful with heating them in the microwave. Matt thinks I'm crazy and overreacting...what do you think? (No one ever leaves me comments...now would be a good time!)

May 1st

What's wrong with this picture?!