rub a dub dub

as ledger gets a bit older, he seems to enjoy bath time more and more! when he was just a few months old he would cry when we bathed him, not too happy to have water pored all over him!  well, now that he's a bit bigger, he loves getting to sit in the sink and play with the water.  he's just starting to learn to play in it, which makes bath time so much more fun- and so much cuter!

your word against mine

ledge goes to bed pretty early, so that leaves a bit of extra time for diana and i to hang out.  often times that means that the two of us go to bed early too- ledger gets up at 5:30am, and that comes awfully early if you stay up till 11 or 12!  one night we decided to pull out a game and have a bit of fun.  i've always loved scrabble but its not necessarily one of diana's favorites.  well, this night she was the one who suggested it, so i was all over that!  we had a great time rocking out to 90's music while we counted up our word scores!  i tell ya what, i do love that woman even if she did beat me...

errands with ledge

i dont get to spend as much time with ledger as i would like to.  unfortunately there's that whole 'work' thing that always gets in the way...  when i do get to see him before bed time i always try to make it count, which can be a bit more difficult when there are errands to run as well!  there were a few things i needed to pick up at meijer, so i brought our little guy along!  he loves to go out with us, especially to stores- there's so much to see.  what a happy little shopper!
please note that he is sporting an awesome batman hoodie that his aunty lissa got for him.  awesome.

nemo decor

one of the things that i always seem to get roped into at work is making decorations.  since i have some artistic ability, i dont really mind too much- its a great chance to be artistic, which i enjoy.  well, our student council planned a special movie night for all the families to come and enjoy a family movie on the big screen in the school's gym, and also raise a bit of money at the concession stand!  can you tell which movie they decided on?  they asked me to make a little something to decorate the walls.  when i get a challenge that i actually enjoy, i go a little further then i might otherwise, well i really loved making the different characters for this one!  each one was two or three feet wide and filled up the gym really well when they were put up!  the younger kids who went loved the decorations and were invited to take them home at the end of the night.  who knows, they might still be up on the walls of their bedrooms!
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eat up!

after seeing how much ledger loved the food toys at diana's mom's place, we figured we should probably get some for ourselves.  i happened to notice a huge pack of them at aldi (one of my favorite places on earth!), so i picked them up and let ledger go to town!  he was absolutely thrilled by them!  he mostly loves to take them out of the bin and shake them in the air wildly.  he also seems to enjoy sucking on them...  it makes me wonder though, are we teaching our son a bad lesson?  are we teaching him that all food tastes like plastic?  a thought to ponder...
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re lob

barbara came to visit us for a couple days, which we always love, and offered to treat diana and i to a very rare treat: a night out with just the two of us!  what?!?  i kind of forgot what that was even like!  taking full advantage of the situation, we decided to go all out and have ourselves a fancy date at red lobster!  it was so much fun to just have a peaceful dinner where diana and i could talk and enjoy each other without focusing on ledger and instead focus on each other- how novel!  it had been a while since we have gone out to eat at all, thus the excited response from diana...
thanks again to that wonderful sis of ours!

cribbin it

sometimes you just have to hang out in your crib, you know?  diana and i were busy cleaning up the place, trying to be productive.  we dont often let ledger watch tv, but we needed him to entertain himself while we were busy putting away laundry and tidying up a bit.  i didnt think it would work, considering how much he doesnt like to go to sleep, but i put him in his crib while i picked up his room.  turns out he was as happy as a clam!  the whole time he was just sitting up and playing with his toys allowing us a few minutes of worry free cleaning!  thank you, ledger!

thanks again!

we filled up on thanksgiving food at arnold and nancy's, but that didnt stop us from having another feast on friday at diana's mom and david's!  everyone gathered together for a great feast that david prepared, diana, ledge and i, alanna and tavish, mom and david, barbara, dad, and even aunt gayle were all there for a great time.  we had hoped that david's other daughter katie and her family would be able to join us, but they werent able to attend.  no matter, we filled our bellies anyway!
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grandpa's tea

one thing that is true of all allens is that they love iced tea- they even have their own special recipe.  i dont particularly understand this, to me it just tastes kinda gross and watered down, but boy do they love that stuff!  grandpa decided that he wanted to find out just how much of an allen our little ledger is, so he gave him a little sip!  turns out that taste is genetic because ledger loved that stuff!  one sip turned into two, which turned in to three...  we certainly paid for that little stunt when we tried to put him to bed that night- he was wide awake until way too late!
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allen thanksgiving

diana and i headed over to south bend for thanksgiving this year.  its always tough to decide where to go for holidays- do we visit my family or hers?  well, that decision was a lot easier this year considering my parents were not going to be home for that week!  they went down to visit my brother, so that made it really easy to pick diana's family for our turkey day festivities!  a couple days before we headed over we got a call from diana's aunt inviting us to the allen get together.  i was really excited because i love the allen family!  we met at uncle arnold and aunt nancy's place and got to show off little ledger to the whole family.  it was really great to see everyone again, pass around ledger, and eat some great food!
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shopping in the cart

when diana and i finally made it home at the end of a long weekend apart, we realized that the fridge and cupboards were rather empty!  so monday we went shopping and got a few things to get us by.  while we were there we realized that maybe we could take ledger out of the car seat and let him try being in the shopping cart.  well, it worked!  our little guy is getting big enough to sit in the shopping cart all by himself!  he totally loved it too- usually when we go to the store all he can see is the lights and maybe what's on the top shelves.  this must have been so strange to him- 'oh, this is whats going on every time you take me here!  now i understand...'  he was in awe of all the sights and sounds that he was now able to be a part of.  mom had gotten us one of those cart covers for babies, but i forgot to bring it home.  oops.

relax

even with taking care of ledger for the afternoon, mom still offered to take him for the evening too!  i figured i would take advantage of the opportunity and made plans to hang out with the guys for the night.  brains and i met up at jeffry lee's place and had a blast!  we went out to eat, chowing down over at grand villa (those two had never been there, but really loved it!).  afterward we all headed back to jeffry lee's and just chilled for the rest of the night talking about life, the universe, and everything.  at one point we went in the garage and found this treasure of a hat...  it has felt like forever since i was able to just chill with the guys for a night, it was fantastic.  we got a chance to catch up and really just talk like we used to.  thank you mom, i needed that!

afternoon with mema

with mom so excited to see ledger, she was more than willing to watch him for an afternoon while papa and i went to see a movie!  we had a great time (but really, when isnt it a great time when you are at the movie theater?), and when we got back aves and tweets had joined in on the babysitting fun.  tim and jackson went to see our old high school's football game and asked mom if the girls could spend the afternoon with her.  the two of them loved to spend a couple extra hours with their cousin!
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hit the hut

my mom recently took on a part-time job working as a waitress at pizza hut.  i think, with papa's strange work schedule, she was just getting a bit bored when he would have to work nights.  either that, or she just wanted the employee discounts!  that night we were trying to figure out what to have for dinner when it was suggested that we should go to pizza hut so she can show off ledger to her co-workers.  oh, she was all for that!  while we were there mom got to talk with a couple of the women she works with, proudly holding her newest grandson!
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safe and soundless

miraculously, ledger did a fantastic job on the trip up to grand rapids.  he doesnt always care for car rides, but he was sleeping or quietly amusing himself for the entire two hour trip!  when we finally arrived, mema was quite pleased to see us, excited that she would get such a long weekend with her little ledger!  that afternoon the three of us played and played.  ledger loved to check out the toys that mema had for him, and he was endlessly fascinated by the dog ivy.  it looks so different that the dog he's used to- this one has tons of floppy fur!  when papa got home ledger was excited to see him too.  it was kind of funny, ledger just seemed to stare at papa so intently.  i wonder if he is trying to figure out why that guy looks so much like dad?..

getting ready

with diana heading out to be with her friend in detroit after her loss, that left ledger and i alone to try and make it through the weekend!  yikes!  dont worry, i made plans to go up to see my family in grand rapids so mema and papa could help me out a bit.  well, the first night with just the guys went really well, he slept the whole night through!  by morning though, i knew i needed to pack up as quickly as possible (or at least as quickly as ledger would allow...) and head up to grand rapids.  i needed to have both my hands free to get things packed, so i put him in his high chair and turned on the tv to a children's channel.  he was mesmerized!  i dont usually let him watch tv so he seemed to understand that this was a rare treat for him- and he just soaked it up!  eventually i got the car packed (and the fifty thousand things you seem to need now that there's a baby involved!) and was ready to go- his eyes still glazed over while he followed the adventures of kai-lan.  sorry buddy, its time to go!
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a winter raccoon

after the library we needed to pick up a few supplies for ledger and for diana's trip, so we headed over to the m store (as papa calls it).  going to a store with a baby department can always be dangerous, diana always finds something that we must have for our little guy!  after we got his formula and diapers, we inexplicably found ourselves in the baby clothes section.  how did we get here?!?  'well, since its getting colder', diana assured me, 'we had better get ledge a winter cap!'  that little raccoon on there was just too cute to pass up- it also came with matching mittens!  needless to say, i quickly caved...

ledger's cinematic tastes

diana had a big road trip to detroit to see a friend planned, so i suggested that we go to the library and pick out a couple audio books to help the trip go a bit quicker.  she agreed, so we packed up our little guy and headed over.  she checked out the audio book section while ledge and i wandered around the rest of the place.  after checking out the books we walked over to the video section.  as we wandered down the shelves, ledger decided that there was one movie in particular that he wanted to see.  i was just browsing by the dvds and he reached out and grabbed one of them:  taxi driver.  'well ledger, you have good taste in movies, it is considered a classic, one of deniro's best, but i'm afraid you are a bit too young for that one...'  yikes!

sit up

our little boy is growing up!  ledger just reached another important milestone: he is now sitting up all by himself!  for the longest time he would fight it, not wanting to sit down.  he would refuse to bend at the waist when we would try to get him to sit, opting instead to lay or stand.  well, with a little bit of hard work and a bunch of practice, we got him to do it on his own!  saturday morning i was up early with him (letting the wife get a few extra hard-earned hours of sleep) and sat him down on the blanket on the floor to see if he would practice sitting with me.  much to my surprise, he was completely up for it, no fighting at all.  i set him up and let him play with a few toys and before i knew it, he didnt need me or the pillow to keep himself up!  needless to say, i was one proud daddy!
i was so happy to be able to be a part of that moment, i often fear that i will miss all the big milestones like crawling, walking, talking, because i am gone all day at work.  but it looks like he wanted to show this one off to his dear old dad.  thanks, little guy!

stargate wife

it got cold pretty quickly around here, we didnt really even have time to go out to the shed and get all the winter gear yet.  diana hadnt been able to get her hat and gloves or anything.  so when she needed to go out and get something from the car, she grabbed the only warm hat we had: my stargate hat that i had won at the stargate convention last summer.  is it weird that i think she looks really hot in that hat?

remote eater

no matter how many toys we give this little guy, all he wants is the stuff that mom and dad have!  i'm pretty sure his favorite thing in the world is soda cans, or at least thats what i would assume from the way that he stares so longingly at them...  another favorite of his is the tv remote.  every time its around he tries to grab it, often resulting in some random buttons being pressed and messing up the pre-sets on it!  well, i decided to take the batteries out of the blu-ray player and let him just go at it- and boy did he!  he spent about 15 minutes straight just staring at that thing, pressing buttons, waiving it around, and finally chowing down on it!  it almost looks like he's trying to play it like an instrument!

to cool for school

i keep getting asked at work 'when are you going to bring ledger in?'  i talk about him all the time and everyone wants to see him, so finally i asked diana if she could come at the end of a day and let everyone see him.  we brought him down to the office and showed him off the the ladies who work in there- they just about melted on sight!  the students hear me talk about him all the time too, so we made sure to be in the junior high hall when school got out so everyone could say hi to him as they headed for the bus.  there were a lot of smiles from the students, but the biggest smiles came from ledger himself- this kid is going to be so social when he gets bigger!  taking after his dad already...

bundled up

as the weather gets colder, ledger's clothes get thicker!  i needed to take the stinky dog for a walk and figured i would bring our little guy out too.  but, since its getting a bit colder out these days, i hot to bundle him up nice and warm!  our little guy does seem to love putting on all the different layers, he watches intently to see what exactly we are putting on him.  his favorite so far has been the jackets we have for him, he loves to watch the zipper go up!  my favorite part is definitely the cute ears on his bright yellow hat!  his least favorite?  mittens.

eatin feet

we dont take ledger's socks off very often.  see, he kinda has huge gross sweaty feet.  i know that might not be the nicest thing to say about my own son, but its true.  but when we do take his socks off, he loves to give those little piggies a tasting!  its really funny though because he'll put his foot in his mouth and then pull it back out with a disgusted look on his face!  yeah ledge, we feel the same way!

first halloween

as halloween was approaching, diana and i didnt really have any big plans.  i know its ledger's first halloween, but as far as holidays go, its not a very important one.  well, our friends julie and frank invited us over to help them pass out candy at their place!  i was certainly ok with that, i mean in years past we would hardly ever get any trick-or-treaters anyway, maybe only a half dozen or so the whole night.  we had gotten a really cute costume for ledger, so we brought that along for him to wear. most of the evening we sat out with the little guy on the front steps and gave out candy to all the kids walking by.  i was surprised at how many people they had stop by- there were probably 50-60 kids!  once it got dark, and the candy ran out, we headed back inside and had a wonderful meal that julie had prepared for us.  i'm sure ledger is much to little to remember this halloween, but julie helped make it memorable for us!
(ledger's costume and other pics)

bottle holder

as our little guy gets more and more used to eating from a bottle he seems to be getting a bit better at it.  in fact, he's gotten so accustomed to it that he even lends a helping hand!  when we first transitioned him to bottles he didnt quite understand how different they are- the formula comes out so quickly!  he would get it all over himself all the time, and he would try to gulp it all down as quick as he could- never stopping for a breath.  well, he seems to have gotten the hang of it now.  sure, he still guzzles it, but he hardly burps up at all, which means much happier (and not as milk covered) parents!
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tag

so, we get out his bouncy for him to play with.  it is this huge giant contraption with all kinds of bells and whistles for him to play with.  this thing is so big and filled with fun things for a baby that we literally got rid of our couch and got a smaller love seat so we could fit this thing!  its got lights, songs, things to touch and twist and spin, its even got 6 places to put extra toys to hand from it to grab his attention!  this thing has got it all!  and you know what?  the thing on it that he keeps playing with is the manufacturer's dumb material tag.  figures!

brushing

now that we've got ledger's high chair in the living room, he loves to sit in it and play!  he must feel like a big boy getting to sit up and eat instead of laying down with a bottle.  of all the toys that we put on the table of his chair to play with, his favorite always seems to be his tooth brush!  his teeth must be ready to come through because he seems so pleased when we brush his gums- it must feel good to soothe such a sensitive spot.  we keep telling him that he should stay this excited about dental hygiene forever!
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dock rocks

as we were coming back from the walk, we headed in to the backyard and saw this adorable sight: diana and barbara on the end of the dock with tavish, trying to throw rocks into the water.  so cute!  please note the giant ears of one pesky little dog trying to run out and ruin their fun...

tavish's teachings

sunday i headed back to south bend to pick up the family.  alanna and tavish are staying with mom and david for a while, so ledger had someone to play with!  as you can see, tavish was busy showing ledger exactly how the iphone works, and he was paying very close attention!
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indy con

every year i attend a teacher's convention through school.  usually its in south bend, but every once in a while its somewhere else, sometimes its in grand rapids, other times its been in milwaukee.  well, this year it was in indianapolis!  with me being gone for two days, diana didnt really want to spend all that time at the house alone, so wednesday night we drove over to south bend so she and ledger (and poco) could stay with her mom and david for the weekend!  thursday morning i got up nice and early so i could make it to the convention center for the opening speaker at 9:00am.  i got to go to a few different seminars that day and then headed to the hotel i had gotten for the night.  it was a really amazing hotel for super cheap (i highly recommend it- check it out here!).  it was a bit strange going out for dinner all by myself, but there was a ruby tuesday's right next door and couldnt pass that up since there arent any of them by us any more.  the next day there were a few more seminars and speakers, and then i headed home.  it was a great time, but i wish i could have taken in a bit more of the city.  oh well, i guess diana and i will just have to visit there again for a weekend retreat sometime!  any offers for babysitting?..
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uh oh...

guess who just noticed the dog?  this could be trouble...

visiting jeffry lee

since the visit was so short we didn't have time to hang out with any of the guys, but jeffry lee insisted that we stop by, so on the way out we dropped by his place for a little while.  ledger seemed to love it, getting the most comfortable chair in the whole house!  it was great to be able to see my best man, and he even showered us with gifts- aw shucks!

family sunday

after work i was able to head up to grand rapids to be with everyone.  it was a long drive for that late at night, but thankfully i had a few great podcasts to listen to that kept me going.  in the morning we headed off to church and got a chance to see the nephew and nieces!  jill, tim, and the kids came over around noon for a wonderful dinner (although, really, when isn't mom's cooking wonderful?!?).  it was a great time, but way too short (as always).  its always fun to watch the kids interact with ledger and to see his responses to them as well!  the weather was beautiful, so papa took ledger out back to let him enjoy the warm day.  before we knew it it was time to head back home already.
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meeting mema

stuck in town to work another saturday, diana and ledger headed up to see the family in grand rapids.  instead of driving all the way up to drop them off, my mom drove down half way and picked up diana and ledger.  we stopped in benton harbor for the trade off.  at the exit there was a mcdonalds, so we peeked in for a little food and waited for mom to join us there.  when she walked up we held ledger up so he could look out the window and when he saw her his face just lit up!  we got a chance to chat for a while, but then it was time to go.  i headed back to the house while diana and ledger enjoyed the next couple days.
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