Peekaboo in the Car

christmas morning

Opening Presents

Beer!

Fun with Great Grandpa

Helicopter!

Eliza & Uno

Uno

"Beer" & Uno

John David loves saying the word "Beer!" He was constantly asking for beer because he saw the adults drinking it. He would repeatedly get ahold of someone's beer and try to take a drink. For a special treat, Daddy bought him his very own root beer. He was thrilled.

And here are a few more photos of John David lovingly torturing poor Uno.

Uno was such a good sport. He accepted all the love John David had for him.

Uno & More

John David ***LOVED*** playing with Auntie Dawn's cat, Uno. He would pick him up, carry him around, lay on top of him, and frequently put him in a loving (but smothering) choke hold. Uno never once bit, hissed, or scratched. He did let out a few cries though. :( John David just loved cruising around the house looking for Uno. After a few days, he had learned some of Uno's hiding spots: under the bed or up inside of a kitchen cabinet.

Hugging Uno.
Carrying Uno (or dragging....).
Sitting on his Great Grandma's lap.

Eating dinner with his Great Grandpa.

Sitting with Mommy.

Opening Presents

On Christmas Eve, John David & his cousin Eliza got to open one present. John David got two little Texas outfits from Grandma & Grandpa (David's grandparents). As you can see, our son looks very handsome in burnt orange.

The next morning, John David got all kinds of presents! Below he is opening up a Thomas the Train Oil Depot from his Auntie Dawn.

Here's Eliza posing with a gift.

Here he is posing with his brand new dump truck from Nana.

Below is John David with a new animal board book from Gigi & Grandpa.

And here is a Thomas the Train set he got from Nana!

The Broadmoor

For our 9th anniversary, David's mom booked us a suite at the Broadmoor. It was called a "mini" suite but it was larger than the house we rented while living in Mansfield. There was a bottle of champagne & chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us when we arrived. :) The room was gorgeous. After checking in, we decided to head down to The Tavern to grab something to eat. While going down the escalator we passed Jon Voight while he was going up. He smiled, nodded, and said, "How ya doin'?" We had a nice, quiet, kid-free dinner at The Tavern.

Here is a photo of our balcony, it was the balcony second from the top.
And this is a view from the balcony. Brrrrrr, it was c-c-c-cold. But we had a great time staying here. :)

And here is Jon Voight, just in case you have no idea who he is. David and I both think he looks younger in person. His skin is flawless and his hair is fuller (& whiter) than this photo shows.

Christmas Vacation

Here are some photos of our Christmas Holiday.

The Broadmoor, where John David's Nana works, hosted a Hawaii-themed Christmas party for employees' family. After eating all kinds of goodies, we got to go visit Santa. As you can see, John David was not a fan of Santa, lol. Santa's elves came out and presented every child with a gift to take home. John David got a toy that had balls for him to hammer into a boat. His cousin Eliza showed him how to use it.

Here is John David with his cousin Eliza.

One day we went to Santa's Workshop, an amusement park in Colorado Springs. It was 34 degrees, but we thought we could tough it out. Here is a picture of David's sister Dawn and her daughter Eliza on the train. John David was pretty excited about getting on the train.

Mommy & John David on the train. During the ride, John David said, "Choo choo! Choo choo!" several times. After exiting the ride, he started bawling.

So we headed down to the next ride. Daddy hopped on with John David. It was a large Christmas tree with "ornaments" that you sit in and they raise up in the air and spin around the tree. John David started screaming and crying on this ride. He was probably more cold than scared. After getting off, he couldn't calm down. It was super cold and he was just freezing, his lip was quivering and his teeth were chattering. So, unfortunately, we had to leave after only two rides. John David kicked and screamed bloody murder all the way out to the car. He continued for about ten minutes after leaving the park. But Daddy was hungry so he wanted to stop off at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Amanda's Fonda, in Colorado Springs. Mommy wasn't so sure if that was the right thing to do and envisioned John David continuing his screaming over lunch. But it turned out Daddy was right---John David was just cold. As soon as the chips and salsa came out, he was back to his happy self. And yes, our little one year old loves to say "salsa!" as much as he loves eating it.

christmas lights 3

This is what John David is always saying nowadays, "Mama...Mama...Mama...." I have no idea what he wants! He just says it over and over. I just wanted to share the broken record that I hear all day. Plus, in this clip we had just passed a train (not seen on video) and he was still talking about it.

christmas lights 2

We didn't know John David even knew the word "fire" but when he saw this fire breathing dragon, he started whispering "fire, fire." So I turned on the camera so you could hear him say it. For some reason, he thinks fire is funny.

christmas lights 1

Before we drove into this tunnel of lights, John David shouted, "Tunnel!!"

Actually, for all three of these little videos, he was narrating everything he saw. After he started talking about something I would turn on the camera so it looks as if I'm prompting him to say it...but really I just wanted him to say it AGAIN for the camera. The video is dark---sorry about that---I was trying to show him grinning from ear to ear.

Ultrasound Video

Here is our new baby! They made a DVD for us but for some reason my computer doesn't like DVDs ever since airport security dropped it on the floor. So what I did was take a video of the TV playing the DVD. Plus that gave me the advantage of being able to narrate and say what body parts you are looking at.

The ultrasound tech, named Kia like the car, was the same tech who did my 32 week ultrasound of John David. She didn't remember me so she checked the computer to see if I was right and I was! I remembered her because she teased me about knowing his gender, singing, "I know what it is....." in a sing-song voice.

Anyhow, she also knows what this baby is!

As soon as she put the wand on my belly, the first image looked like a between the legs shot, with a little penis sticking straight up. I said, "Oh yeah, we don't want to know what it is." So she moved it real quick. Then later she referred to the baby as a "she." Hmmmmm so did she "slip" calling it a "she" or was she purposefully trying to throw me off???? Because then she started calling the baby a "he" and after that flipped back and forth between referring to the baby as a HE or a SHE. So I'm utterly confused. But I could swear I saw a penis. Maybe it was just the cord? Time will tell, we'll all just have to wait.

The entire ultrasound took about an hour and fifteen minutes to take all the measurements. Then Kia recorded this 3 minute DVD when she was finished with all of the serious stuff. It doesn't normally take that long but this baby was very comfortable in the position he (or she?) was in, with his butt up against the placenta as a cushy pillow and arms folded behind the head as if he's on vacation lounging in a hammock on the beach somewhere. Kia was trying to get an image of her entire spine but this baby just didn't want to move. See? I'm switching gender on you like Kia did to me. Anyway, he just laid there and refused to budge despite Kia jiggling my tummy over and over. Kia also had me get up and do some walking and hopping to encourage him to move. At one point, you can see her swallowing fluid. And you can also see him putting his thumb in his mouth.

Two Word Phrases

In the last week, John David has finally started to put two words together on his own.

"Buh-Bye Mama!" (Said as he leaves the room & blows me a kiss).

"Buh-Bye Tuttle!" (This is what he says when we come out of a tunnel---there are several in Pittsburgh).

"Yeah Mama." (When asked if he wanted some water).

He also has sound effects for the following animals:

Giraffe (smacks lips)

Lion (Roar!)

Dog (pants)

Monkey (eeee---eee--eeee)

Duck (quack)

Alligator (chomps his teeth)

Snake (SSSsssssssss)

Owl (whooo whoooo)

Octopus (waves his arms around)

There are probably more but this is all I can think of at the moment. He keeps asking me "Coon?" He wants to know what a raccoon says. I have no idea. Can someone tell us?

This video is a combination of John David's two latest fascinations---step stools and the light switch. He found an adult-sized step ladder and figured out how to use it all by himself. Within days, he was coming up with all kinds of uses for our step stool---turning the TV or DVD player on and off. For reaching things sitting on the kitchen counter tops like a hot pan of brownies or bowls of dog food meant to be out of his reach. For pulling things off of shelves.

Several days ago I made brownies and set them on top of the stove to cool off. He was playing in the kitchen and all of a sudden I realized it was awfully quiet. I went in there and he was standing on the step ladder with brownie and chocolate all over his face. There were little hand prints in the brownies from where he gouged it out with his fingers. If the brownies hadn't been so hot, I think he would have eaten a lot more. Then a few days ago I caught him on the step ladder eating dog food out of Dolly's bowl that I had put out of his reach (or so I thought).

David got tired of John David having increased access with this step ladder so he hid it in the basement. So now John David has been turning anything and everything into a step stool. He drags chairs across the living room. He finds boxes to stand on. Even toys that roll. We have even caught him stacking boxes on top of boxes trying to reach light switches. David laughed today saying, "I might as well give the step ladder back, it's less of a safety hazard."

In this video he pushed the ottoman against the wall and finally, SUCCESS!

Word Books

Before I turned on the camera, John David pointed out the gorilla and said, "Gorilla." Then he pointed at the gorilla's boobs and said, "Ginky!" (His word for it). He weaned himself about a month ago but he still remembers. Sometimes when he sees the gorilla in this book, he'll say, "ginkies," and crawl in my lap and pat my chest affectionately.

John David LOVES looking at word books. He prefers the books with photos of real objects versus illustrations. He has a few on animals, one with household objects, and another with vehicles, boats, and aircraft. He likes to point at things and say the word. Sometimes he'll give a sound effect. A few days ago we were driving down the road and I pointed out a noisy motorcycle. Later that day he found a photo of a motorcycle in his book and told me, "Vrooooom!"

Playing with Dolly

Daddy & John David were playing chase tonight. At one point you can hear John David say, "Get me!" And also notice how he tries to hide behind the curtains in his room. That's one of his favorite hiding spots. :)

Shushing a Goat

We went back to the farm a few weeks ago because John David had so much fun. If you watch closely you can see him put his finger to his lips and say, "Shhhh" to the goat.

Day at the Farm

We drove out to a farm today. John David had so much fun playing there.

Playing in the corn box. It's like a sand box except it's filled with corn.

Posing with Daddy outside the petting zoo.

Chasing after a fat pig.

He loved the baby goats.

So much he had to kiss them.

Chasing a chicken.

He kept scooping feed out of the bowl and feeding it to the animals by hand.

Handsome boy relaxing on Daddy's back.

Whew, all tuckered out.

dancin' in the kitchen & hugging daddy

soapy lil devil

potty fun

pics with Mommy

Here are a few pics of John David and I in San Diego.

San Diego Food

Here is a picture of David at Hodad's--a burger joint on Ocean Beach. David saw Hodad's on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. They had awesome burgers for even cheaper than fast food places. On the menu, we learned that a "hodad" is someone who pretends to be a surfer.

Here is John David waiting in line to eat at Cafe 222. David saw on the Food Network that Bobby Flay's favorite breakfast of all time was the peanut butter & banana stuffed french toast. So we had to try it! It was delicious. Hey, we didn't go to San Diego to lose weight.

Another beach picture.

Nana told us about Baskin Robbin's Oreo Outrageous ice cream. It's dark black with chunks of oreos and ribbons of the white cream filling. Wow, I have to say, that is one of the best ice creams I've ever had, if not the best. John David is making a face because David was sharing his cone with him and he did not want to give it back to Daddy.

Fun with Nana

We took a trolley tour of San Diego. Here is John David on the trolley with Nana.

And here's John David & his Nana playing.

California Dreamin'

Here are some of our favorite pics of our trip to San Diego.

First evening in San Diego, on Mission Beach.

John David found a shovel to play with.

This was later in the evening. John David is riding a sailboat in Belmont Park, which is on Mission Beach.

The next morning, John David ate breakfast sitting on top of an old-fashioned booster seat. You could tell he felt like a big kid, he was smiling and sitting tall.

Standing at the screen door and watching the airplanes go by.

crawlin' in the cabinets

John David has found something new to do while Mommy spends time in the kitchen.  He opens up "his" cabinet, pulls everything out (it's stocked with empty jars & boxes sealed shut).  Then he crawls in, closes the door on himself and waits for me to say, "Where's John David????"  Then he pops out and says, "Ta-da!!"