happy smiles

this is the lovely sight i have the joy of coming home to every day!  a cute smiling baby, and an even cuter smiling wife!  granted, their reasons for smiling might be a little different: ledger is smiling because dada's home and he's got someone new to play with, and diana is smiling because she finally gets a break!  little do they know that i'm smiling for the same reasons: i get to play with my son and i get to give diana a little rest from her long day.  smiles all around, then!

gift mess

with ledger's birthday just around the corner, we've actually gotten a few gifts sent to him!  lissa got ledger a gift and sent it to us the other day and our little guy just loved it!  well, to be honest, he didnt really much care about the gifts, he was all over that packaging though!  lissa got him a really cool onesie and a couple pairs of shoes which we really love- perfect timing too because he had just recently grown out of the pair we have been putting him in- thanks lissa!

a little face time

this is what always puts our little one in a good mood: taking to his mema on the phone!  since we now live in the future, talking on the phone isnt just voices but actually talking back and fourth with video chat!  ledger really loves the chance to see mema and papa, although i'm pretty sure mema and papa love it even more!  since we live two hours away from my parents, they dont get to see ledger quite as much as they would like so, so doing the video chat thing has been such an amazing blessing for us!  and every time i pull out the phone and call with face time, ledger gets really excited.  when he sees mema and papa he touches the screen- and sometimes accidentally bumps the button to hang up on them...  well, the technology isnt perfect, but it sure is wonderful that ledger and his grandparents get some quality time together!

eat up

we've been introducing ledger to more and more different types of foods.  our goal is to get him to eat all different kinds of food so we have been mixing it up a bit and giving him chunks of apple, hummus, peppers, yogurt.  basically anything we can find around the house.  usually he gives a disgusted face when he first tries something- thats kind of his default face when he is eating.  sometimes though he is willing to try another bite, and thats when you know its something he likes!  granted, that doesnt happen as often as we would like, but we are trying!

worth a try

diana and i decided to head down to merrillville and check out whats shakin'.  we hadnt been down there since before christmas, so we packed up the baby and drove down.  we had grand plans to wander around the mall for a while, then go out to enjoy a nice dinner together.  well, we tried the mall thing, but we were both getting a bit cranky and realized that it was because we were both starving!  when we got out to the car we tried to figure out where we wanted to go to eat but for some reason the only thing that sounded good to both of us was arby's!  go figure.  by the time we were finished eating and feeling much better, well thats when ledger decided he would woop it up a bit!  now he was cranky and loud, so we just decided to pack it up and head back home.  sometimes going out isnt quite what you hope it will be.  thankfully we havent had too many times where we had to give up.  when all was settled and back home ledger was as quiet as a mouse.  figures!

toys away

ledger has been getting better and better at playing.  it sounds weird, i know, but as he is getting a bit older, he is actually able to do some real playing.  up until now he would just grab toys and shake them around in his fist and look at them.  but now, now he is actually interacting with the different toys and trying to make sense of them.  one of the cutest things he did the other day was take a stuffed lion off the floor and then put it into the bin that it belongs in!  wow- he's already learning to clean up after himself!  maybe he could teach me a thing or two about that...
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random ledger

i take too many pictures.  well, that used to be a problem.  diana would get annoyed with me for taking too many pictures of normal everyday things and events.  'really? you're going to take a picture of that?' she would ask, rolling her eyes.  well, now that we've got something to take tons of pictures of, she doesn't seem to mind quite as much!  as i post on the blog, i don't always have a specific place to put all those random pictures, so i have been dumping them on my pictures page.  they don't always get a link from the front page of my site, so i just wanted to make sure that you weren't missing out on them.  so, here is where you can click over and see all the random pictures of ledger that don't really tie into a specific post, but are too cute to keep to myself.  check them out here!

basket rider

a new fun toy that ledger has recently discovered is the old laundry basket!  now with ledger mobile, its a lot harder to keep him in one place- he's always scooting away as fast as he can.  but we have discovered a solution: a laundry basket!  i put him in there the other day and he totally loved it- he would wiggle around, grab the sides, smiling and laughing the whole time.  he especially loves it when i pick up the basket and carry him around the house!  we haven't really tried it much since, but this could be a good way to keep him busy and stuck in one place long enough to allow us to at least go to the bathroom.  hmm, i may have to give that a shot...

crawling!

he's been doing it on and off for a few days now, but i finally had my camera handy and snapped a picture of our little guy moving around on all fours!  way to go, ledger- you are getting to be a big boy!

work baby

diana had an appointment at 4:00 the other day.  i knew i wouldnt be able to make it home in time to take ledger and still allow her to make it on time, so instead she dropped him off at school so i could take him.  the kids were already gone by then, but i still got to show ledge around the school a bit and got to show him off to all my coworkers.  they always have to sit and listen to me talk about him and all his cute baby stuff, so they were quite excited to actually see him again.  after making the rounds i went back to my room and got my stuff together so we could leave.  i set him down for a minute and let him wander around the room a bit- which he loved!  a new place to explore!  as i was behind my desk grabbing my coat, i snapped a quick picture of him on the other side of the desk rooting around, having a great time checking everything out.

lube food

after ledger got to show off his new moves to mema, we headed across the street for lunch at the quaker steak and lube.  ledger was the star of course, with everyone paying attention to him and every cute move he made- even catching the eye of different waitresses and everyone else!  diana gave him a crayon and gave him the chance to play on his place mat- i don't think he's ever done that one before!  it was great to catch up with the parents and give them another chance to see ledger, even if it was only for a couple hours.
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bass shop stop

its been over two weeks since we last saw mom and papa, so you know what that means!  we got a call from mom saying that they were going to be about a half hour away shopping at the bass pro shop with uncle ted and aunt joni and asked if we would like to meet up with them while they were there over the weekend.  barbara had mad plans to come and visit us too, so the four of us piled into the car and met up with them at their hotel before they checked out.  we got a chance to walk around the place for a few minutes, showed ledger the indoor pool, chatted with ted and joni before they headed out, and even got to stop up in mom and papa's room to sit for a minute.
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bath friend

one of ledger's favorite activities is bath time!  we've long ago ditched the infant bath set up, now we just plop him on a little pad in the sink.  it takes him a minute or two to adjust to the water, but when he does you better watch out because everything in a six foot radius is about to get soaked!  during bath time we introduced him to this little froggy friend, a washer hand puppet that uncle chad got for him for christmas!  ledger was mesmerized by it!  he just kept staring at it and poking it in the eyes (strange, i know...) and laughing at it when we would give it a voice.  a little bath and a show!

cold walk

we had a bit of warm weather the other day, so i figured ledger and i should take advantage!  as our little guy gets bigger and bigger, it was time to ditch the old baby carrier and stroller.  we finally got to take out the more portable stroller that we got from the guys at our baby shower.  i bundled ledge up nice and warm, and we went for a little walk around the block with stink dog in tow.  our little bundled up guy seemed pretty happy to be out enjoying the sights on our warm winter walk!

sippy

ledger's new favorite thing in the world is water.  oh, delicious water!  he loves to just sit in his chair with a sippy cup.  he had a hard time at first learning that he had to tip it back to get any water out of it.  i would try to tip it up for him, but then he would just let go and allow me to do all the work!  i figured out how to outsmart him though- instead of tipping up the cup, i pushed his arms higher as he was holding it.  and it worked!  now he's got the idea and just loves gulping that water down!  he's got the hang of handling the battle now, but he still needs to work on getting all the water in his mouth instead of on his shirt...
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scooch

uh oh- he's mobile!  ledger kind of took his sweet time learning how to crawl.  he mostly just wanted to sit and play, if something was too far away he would just want mama or dada to bring it to him.  well, that's all changed now!  he's still not much of a crawler, but he has learned a very strange form of moving: he sits on his but, leans forward, and scooches himself with his left hand.  its hilarious!  he usually keeps his right hand straight up in the air, as if he were a cowboy trying to last all 8 seconds...  it has been so much fun to see him move around and stuff, but now gone are the days of setting him down in the living room and feeling safe running off to the bathroom for a minute!  there's no chance that he's where you left him these days...

fridge play

as ledger gets bigger and bigger, he's betting better at playing.  it used to be that you would give him something and he would reach out for it and thats about all he could do.  now, though, he's reaching, grabbing, pulling, and playing- which is a lot more fun (most of the time...).  diana set him down next to the fridge and pulled down a few magnets to his level and he had a blast!  he was a little confused at first because those pesky things didnt want to come off too easily.  but he soon got the hang of it and had a great time playing!

shoppin with dada

every once in a while i have an errand or two to run when i get out of work.  i always like to stop home and take care of those tasks with ledger.  its a chance for him to get out of the house, i get to spend time with him, and the wife gets some much needed quiet time to take care of anything she couldn't during the day.  well, sometimes those errands are important, other times they aren't... this time it wasn't so much something i needed to do, but rather something i really wanted to do- i took ledger to the used movie store!  got to train them up right, you know?

redesign

i thought it was about time to spruce things up a bit, so i did a little website redesign.  hope you enjoy it!

stink tv

this always cracks me up!  usually our stinky dog pays no attention at all to screens, whether its phones, computers, or tvs.  he always seems to know that they are not real, they are just images and sound pumped through screens and speakers.  but every once in a while they get him, every once in a while there is some animal or something that makes a noise and it startles him because it actually sounds real!  well, i was watching a movie the other day and there were a couple dogs that where barking and whimpering at each other- and i tell you what, that stinky dog of ours must have understood what he was saying because he jumped up so fast that it startled me!  he stared right at the tv, with his ears perked up, and seemed like he was ready to pounce!  i thought it was hilarious and rewound it and played it again- he flipped out the second time too!  sorry poco, i guess i'm just being mean, but i thought it was hilarious!  (in case you are wondering, the movie was 'hugo')