clean poco

recently we took poco to petsmart, he's been having some issues lately with regrettably living up to his nickname: stink bottom!  they will take him for a couple hours and clean him up, expel his glands, trim his nails, and clean out his ears for pretty cheap, so we figured it was worth it.  we are always a bit worried when we bring him to where other people or dogs might be.  see, our little stink dog doesnt really play well with others...  or so we thought!  when we went to go pick him up a couple hours later, the woman behind the counter talked about how sweet he was, that he was the best behaved chihuahua she has ever dealt with before.  what?!?  you are talking about our dog, right?!?  strange...  oh, and when we got him back he was also dressed in this ridiculous petsmart scarf- so adorable!

walking with daddy

now that i find myself with a ton of free time, i figured i should try to put that time to good use.  see, i dont mind waking up early, so diana and i worked out a plan: she takes care of him during the night, but once he wakes up at 6:00 am, he is all mine!  well, if i'm up at 6 anyway, i might as well go for a walk, right?  so every morning i put on my walking shoes, put little ledger in the bjorn, and off we go!  we usually put in between 2-5 miles, which ledger does a good job of sleeping through!  it can be a little cold for him in the morning, so he gets bundled up real good.  on those mornings it isnt cold, he still wears his hat, but now its to keep the sun off of him!  its been a lot of fun taking him out each morning, i usually get a few smiles from the neighbors who are up and at em that early too!  i've been taking poco out with us recently, which i'm sure causes even more funny looks from those we walk past...
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night time

we have been getting into the habit of giving ledger a bath each day before bed.  at first he seemed to hate them (i think he gets that from his father...), but since we have been doing it every night he has taken a little more of a liking to it.  he no longer whines and complains through out the whole ordeal, pulling his arms back when we would try to clean them.  instead he just silently watches as we wash him, scrubbing his tummy, pits, and toes!  he still doesnt much care for it when we wash his hair, all that water on his head still kind of freaks him out a little bit.
it has been quite helpful to create a pattern, or ritual, for getting ready for bed.  he  seems to understand that once he gets his bath then its time to get sleepy.  we wash him up, put on his pajamas, rock him in the rocking chair, sing him a couple songs, and then its into the crib with him!  some times he will fuss for five or ten minutes, but usually he goes straight to sleep.  if this keeps up, we are going to be very happy parents!

sitting with dad

when we are home and hanging out in the living room, i am usually in my arm chair.  our little ledger often wants to join his dad by hanging out on that chair too!  if i'm not trying to get him to stand up on his own, i let him sit next to me and just chill out.  his hands were bored, so i gave him this little burp cloth to play with, and boy did he love it!  he played with it, gripping it and feeling it, right up until the instant he fell asleep... which was about five seconds later.
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dad's crawdads

while at barbara's, the weather was looking good so we figured we might as well take advantage of it!  we grabbed ledger's stroller and headed off down the street.  this was the house that diana's dad grew up in, so he took us down to the creek he would frequent as a child!  he must have been feeling that childlike spunk, because, without hesitation, he pulled off his shoes, rolled up his pants, and wandered in knee deep!  he told us that he was looking for 'crawdads'.  now, as someone who did not frequent the outdoors as a child, i was not exactly sure what a 'crawdad' was nor did i entirely understand why he would want to go about finding some...  oh well, we had a good laugh about it anyway!
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to grandmother's house we go

with barbara missing ledger, and diana missing barbara, we decided to head over to osceola and visit dear ol' sis!  when we arrived, dad had a great pasta lunch on the stove for us to enjoy.  we ate in the living room, not the usual eating place, but with the house being sold, the kitchen table had already been taken away!  (barbara lived in grandma's house for a while, but the family recently sold it to one of the cousins, so barbara is moving along to her own place).  we had a fun time chatting with barbara and dad and laughing at our little ledger's antics!

outsized ledger

our cute little guy just chillin' out in our big huge chair.  adorable, huh?

wrapped

every night we swaddle our little guy up so he can fall fast asleep in his crib.  he seems to really enjoy this- when we set him on his blanket to wrap him up he always has a huge smile on his face!  every night and every nap time we wrap him up, usually with his arms at his sides.  apparently babies really love to feel constrained- it must remind them of the womb, back when they couldnt move around at all!  we start off with him all wrapped up and snug as a bug, but he doesnt stay that way for long...

unwrapped

ahh!  freedom!  after starting off completely swaddled and wrapped up for his nap time, this is usually how he ends up!  somehow he manages to wiggle his arms and legs out of that blanket and get free.  and in, what seems to be an act of defiance, he throws his arms up in the air claiming victory over that pesky blanket!  and then he falls sound asleep...

headin home

after chad left, we headed out soon after.  we went through the normal routine of packing up the car with all our stuff- i tell ya what, there sure is a lot more stuff now that we have ledger!  that car fills up pretty fast, and its got a pretty big trunk too.  well, after a long and eventful weekend, diana put her chair back a bit and took a much deserved nap during the drive home.  our little stinky dog, following her lead, did the same!

chad's visit

after dinner we headed to the living room to chat, hang out, and open some mother's day prizes!  the kids had a great time playing with ledger, but the girls were a little annoyed that diana wouldnt go up to the toy  room and play with them.  maybe they dont like this ledger thing as much as they thought...
a couple hours later chad had to head out and go back to his station, and diana and i had to head back to ours.  it was a short visit, but a fun one.  now everyone in the family has met our little bundle of joy!
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happy birthday, wife!

it was a pretty special day for diana- not only was it her first mother's day as a mom, but it was also her birthday!  i had gotten her a little birthday banner to put up and we sang 'happy birthday' to her (which is always awesome to hear those kids sing- with such excitement!), and even got a yummy piece of dessert that my mom had made for the special occasion!  i know it wasnt much, but i hope she had a fun time celebrating her special day!

mothers day grill out

sunday was mother's day and everyone came over for a grill out!  it was, as always, great to see the kids.  the girls are so enamored with ledger, always wanting to hold him and touch him.  it was really cool to have everyone in the family together for the first time since ledger arrived!  timmy took over the grilling duties, making the steaks, brats, and hot dogs just right.
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special guest

what a special surprise!  much to my amazement, my good friend adam stopped by to join us for a little while during the grill out!  adam lives in california these days, so i didnt even think to bother inviting him to the grill out, figuring that he was across the country doing his l.a. thing.  it turns out that he was actually in town for a while.  rex, knowing this fact, gave him a call and invited him over.  how awesome is that?!?  he had other plans for the night, but was willing to stop by and see us for a quick 10 minutes before he headed off to do adamy things.  it was really cool that he shuffled things around in order to make a little extra time to stop by and see us- what an amazing friend!
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uncle jeffry lee

here's the crazy thing: jeffry lee has never held a baby before.  strange, huh?  well, he's always been too scared to hold one, fearful that his big hulk hands might fumble something so delicate!  well, we calmed his normal 'jeff smash!' instincts and gave him a chance to hold our little ledger.  though he was nervous at first, he warmed to it pretty quickly!  i'm sure ledger will always feel special that he got to be the first little one that jeffry lee held.  no broken bones, no dropped baby, so all in all i think it was a success!  he continues to be, three years after the wedding, the best man!

ledger meets the guys

saturday night diana and i had planned a get together for all my friends so they could meet our little bundle of joy!  we hadnt had time to see any of my friends the last time we had been up, so it was really great to be able to invite them all over to my parents house and see them all at once.  mom had made a few yummy treats, and papa was our chief grillmaster, making sure the hot dogs and brats were just right!
the guests soon began pouring it, dusty and carrie and their two kids arrived first and my mom even showed the two kids up to the play room so that they could grab a toy or two and bring them out to the backyard to play with- what a treat!  soon jeffry lee, aaron and nicole, rex and christi, and eventually keith showed up too!  we had such a blast- man, it felt like forever since i last saw everyone.  it was so nice to get to see them again and catch up, show off the new boy, and just have a fun night!
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mommy's day prize

it was a pretty special weekend all around: we got to go up and see my family, my brother got to see his nephew for the first time, all my friends got to meet ledger.  but more important than all that: it was diana's first mother's day weekend- and her birthday to boot!  knowing i needed to get her something pretty special for her first mothers day, i had been listening really closely for the past few months about what she might want.  after much thought, i came up with the perfect idea- a necklace of our little boy's name!  i found a website that makes custom necklaces and i ordered one.  feeling confident in my gift i rested easy knowing she would love it.  well, diana being diana, she came to me a couple days after i ordered it and said that she had found a cool website that makes custom necklaces and was going to order one of ledger's name.  argh!  when i told her that she couldnt she was kind of mad at me, so i begrudgingly told her 'you know, you arent very good at this.  its mothers day this weekend, and its going to be your birthday.  if i tell you that you cant get something, there's probably a reason!'  she quickly realized the situation and felt bad, but also felt really good because she knew she was going to get the necklace she wanted!  it arrived a day or two later and i gave it to her a couple days early so she could show it off all weekend to the family and friends.  she was totally thrilled, and it looks really good too!
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uncle chad

finally!  after a busy day of cheering at the race and cheering at the recital, we headed back to the house and chad got to meet his newest nephew for the first time!  as you can see, ledger was thrilled to meet his uncle...  since he was only about a month old, i guess we can cut ledger some slack about his constant napping.  chad was pretty excited to see our little guy.  its been quite a few years since the last baby in the family!  chad said that if he moves back to the area that he would be willing to help diana and i out with teaching ledger about sports.  thankfully, because the two of us are clueless about athletic stuff!  this is why its important to have uncles- to save dad from having to figure out the whole 'sports' thing!

dance!

my niece has been participating in a dance class for the past couple years and really loves it.  each year the class ends with a big recital for all the parents and family to attend.  its a pretty big deal and fills a several thousand seat theater!  in years past diana and i have had to settle for watching her performances on dvd because we've never been able to make it, but this time we were in town and able to attend!  the whole thing was quite an experience, there were about 15-20 different groups of girls, divided by age and type of dance, and each group came out and performed a dance for us.  it was really adorable to see because more often than not, it wasnt so much a dance as it was a random assortment of 2-7 year-olds looking around confused and making up a bunch of moves that they may or may not have remembered from earlier in the year.  it was so so cute!  i'm sure the teachers do a great job of wrangling the students in class, but when the teacher is gone and the stage fright kicks in?  oh, pure magic!  it was really fun to watch tweets do her best and perform her heart out!
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mall the way

after going to see my brother run, we found that we had a good hour and a half before we needed to be on the other side of town for the rest of the day's fun.  so we pulled off at rivertown mall and grabbed a bit to eat from panera bread, and give mema a chance to hold ledger again for a while!  we had some breakfast and chilled out for a while.  it was kind of strange, really, because panera was open, but the rest of the mall was closed- the stores didnt open until a half hour after we got there.  strange.  well, with enough time killed, we got ready to go, which means that is exactly when ledger needs to be fed!  argh!  oh well, we let mom and papa head out and save seats for us at the recital and we headed over to the bathroom.  let me tell you something, diana's appreciation for the rivertown ball skyrocketed that morning because she found the special 'nursing' area for mothers, and she was so impressed!  its pretty awesome, there is a special room that has a couple glider chairs and a place out of the way to nurse your baby in peace!  wow!  great job, mall designers!  anyway, by the time ledger was done nursing, we were running about 15 minutes behind.  i guess this is the new normal now, huh?  we better just get used to always being late for stuff i guess.  sorry ahead of time to those who we make plans with...
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