Santa's Helpers Have Been Busy at Our House!

Daddy is one of Santas Helpers :)

Cooper has to check it out- to make sure it is safe.

More setup and checking everything out

Ta-da!

Santa has been to our house already tonight and Zach and I his elves have been busy! Santa brought Sawyer a lot of fun new toys, because Sawyer was such a good boy all year. He brought Sawyer a fun tent/playhouse/tunnel playzone and his elves set it up right in the living room so Sawyer will see it when he wakes up and we bring him to the tree. I am So excited to celebrate Sawyer's first Christmas- I think I am just as excited this year as I was when I was a kid! We even made a fire and sat by it and read Sawyer The Night Before Christmas . I love Christmas Eve :) It is so much fun to be a parent!

Merry Christmas!

HO HO HO

Here is Sawyer saying his version of Merry Christmas- HO HO HO!

Holy $h*T!

Sawyer used the potty for the first time today and he went poopy and pee!  Not bad for the very first time he has ever been on it!  He is getting a potty chair for Christmas but a woman I work with was wanting to get rid or her potty and one of those soft rings that go on the big potty.  I figured, why not just give it a try- even though I didnt think I would really start working on it with him until this summer when he dosent have to wear so many layers.  But I figured, I will at least be able to get him on the potty when he has to poo because he makes a face everytime before he goes.  Well, this morning, he starts looking like he is thinking about pooping so I bring him in the potty and sit him on the soft seat on the big toilet.  At first he looked at me like I was crazy and wanted me to hold him so he could get down.  I gave him a hug and then let him hold one of his bathtub toys.  Then he was happy and he peed a little and suddenly- he pooped in the potty!  I said YAY! Sawyer!  and he looked so proud on himself and getting to flush the poo instead of change a poopy dipe was so awesome!  Im hoping we can get the pooping on the potty part down and then we can work harder on staying dry too!     

Let it Snow!

This week we got a TON of snow.  The first morning that there was snow on the ground Sawyer woke up and saw all the white snow out the window and he kept pointing out the window and then looking at me, and then pointing out the window again like "mama!  Look, what is out there?!"  All day long he would crawl over to the window and pull himself up to see out and point at the snow.  Finally after lunch I found a snowsuit from last winter that was too big, managed to get him into it, and we ventured outside so Sawyer could see the snow.  He was so excited!  He couldnt crawl because his snow suit was too bulky but he laughed and and touched the snow and looked around excitedly.  It was still snowing outside so we didnt stay out for very long, but Sawyer seemed to like it!  Its a good thing we went out when we did because now the weather is much colder!  If it warms up again we might even be able to take Sawyer for a sled ride after Christmas! 

Here is the rediculous amount of snow we got- this is on our deck and it got pretty drifted from the rooftop.

Sawyer loves the snow!  He WAS born during a snowstorm afterall.  My snowflake!

I spent the entire "blizzard" working in the ER because no one else could make it in to work.  I worked literally the entire day- thankfully we made it a lot of fun.  We were actually fairly busy for awhile too which is suprising during bad weather.  Its always an unusual experience to work those shifts and its the perfect time of year to make extra money!  Sawyer was def. glad to have me home today though!  And I was TIRED- usually when he naps I like to get things done around the house but today be snuggled and took a wonderful 3 hour nap together.  What could be better!

Seeing St. Nick!

Since last year (before Sawyer was even born) Zachs mom apparently has been very excited about having a grandbaby at Christmas time.  I worked extra hours this week on a project at work and both Zachs mom and my dad helped us out so much by watching Sawyer on those days.  One afternoon when I went over to pick up Sawyer Zachs mom brought down a christmas outfit for Sawyer and decided that it would be fun to take Sawyer to see Santa that night.  So when the boy got off of work, we all packed into our big babymobile and headed up to the new bass pro shop in Altoona to see Santa.  We were in luck, because the line for Santa was not long at all!  Sawyer sat on Santas lap and seemed pretty interested in Santas beard, they snapped the picture and then he was done- no tears!  We were taking a few pictures of Sawyer in "santas winter wonderland" and suddenly santa decided he wanted to be in on the fun too and he got up off of his santa seat and came over and held sawyer and started showing him things in his winter wonderland- so we got to take pictures of santa and Sawyer checking out Santas elves and reindeer- and even with Santa holding him, Sawyer still didnt cry- he didnt give Santa a smile though until he was back in my arms. 

This weekend was deer hunting for the men, so Sawyer and I headed over to nanas house to make holiday goodies with her,Zachs sister Beth, uncle ben's gf Cassie and Cassies mom.  They both work at the bakery so of course their decorated cookies looked amazing and pretty much blew the rest of our decorated cookies out of the water!  We had so much fun and made a TON of holiday goodies.  Sawyer even helped decorate sugar cookies, but all of his ended up in his tummy!

Last night we finally got around to putting our christmas tree up, and of course Sawyer was VERY interested in it.  The bottom few inches of the tree are bare of decoration but the rest looks beautiful.  Hopefully my little buddy will leave it alone.  So far today, so good on that account- he is still more interested in the dogs bowl. 

We got about a bit of snow last night and this morning when Sawyer woke up he was looking out the big window in our bedroom that looks out over our yard and he looked at me and pointed out the window and then looked at me again like "whoa!" and then pointed out the window again.  We might have to venture outside at some point today so he can see the snow for himself up close and personal!

Give Thanks

We have been trying to keep busy and go out and about and visit friends during the day because I want Sawyer to get used to being around other kids since otherwise most of the time it is just him and me, or him with zach, grandma, ect. He loves other kids so I think he will be just fine :) We had a really fun playdate with one of my friends from work- we went and played with her neighbors adorable golden/ yellow lab puppies and they were so sweet and adorable! They started out with a dozen puppies and there were four left- they all already had homes and were waiting to be picked up! I bet they will grow up to be very nice dogs!  Sawyer of course loved them because he loves dogs, but one of them got a bit rowdy and scratched his cheek and then he was done with them.  He still loves his Cooper dog though!

So far we have had two thanksgivings and two more celebrations tomorrow.  Sawyer seemed to enjoy his "first" thanksgiving celebration with my family on Saturday but he pretty much likes anything where he gets to eat and gets a bunch of attention.  It was wonderful- I love spending time with family whenver I can.  We had the most delicious meal, and this is what I like to call our "Martha Stewart" Thanksgiving because my aunt always makes everything so beautiful and I think that makes things even more fun!  Sawyer ate pretty much the whole spread and liked everything, of course sweet potatoes were probably his favorite but he even ate some smoked salmon and seemed to like that too.  Yum! 

This year I have so much to be Thankful for- how wonderful is that!!??  Every year I am especially thankful for my wonderful family- I have always loved the holidays because that means even more family togetherness time!  This year I am so thankful for Sawyer- last year he was just a large belly bump and now he is an energetic, healthy, growing baby boy and there is nothing I am more thankful for than that.  I am thankful that Zach is a wonderful daddy to him and will be there to teach him as he grows.  I am thankful that I have a warm home, and food to eat because many people are not so lucky this year.  Happy Thanksgiving!

My favorite things..

..includes playdates!  And we had two this week- what could be better than that!  Monday my friend Katie from work came over with her son Brandon who is about 6 months older than Sawyer.  The boys actually seemed sort of interested in each other which was so cute!  Katie also fixed my sewing machine for me- turns out the needle was just in backwards (somehow I thought I had checked that first but I guess not...oops) so now I can sew things again!  Yay!  Today we had a playdate with two friends from HS and their adorable children!  There were 6 kids total and it was so fun to watch them all together.

Give me a Sign!

For the past few months Zach and I have been (when we remember- which hasnt been as often as I had hoped for) doing sign language with Sawyer- eat, drink, more, and milk.  Last night Zach noticed Sawyer doing the sign for milk, but I thought he was just waving.  Today I saw him do milk again, but we were saying bye to some playdate friends so again I thought he was trying to wave.  Then a few minutes later he did "milk" to me agian and I said milk?  And signed it back to him- he excitedly did "milk" again right away- and since it was naptime I took him and layed him down in our bedroom and asked "milk?" with the sign and he signed back "milk" right away and made excited sounds.  I let him nurse and he happily ate and fell right asleep.  After he woke up he signed "milk, milk milk!"  and I fed him some lunch (even though we have been working a whole different sign for eat)  and he seemed happy.  Perhaps he will start doing the rest of his signs soon as well.

Dog gone fun!

What is this? 

Finally crawling on his hands and knees- wearing a bib mommy made him and eating chicken- so silly!

I LOVE all these toys I found in here momma!

Now that Sawyer is finally crawling all over the place he is into EVERYTHING and his main targets seem to be the dog, and the dogs "stuff"  yesterday while I was making dinner and Sawyer was in the kitchen with me he crawled over to the dogs bowl and grabbed a hand full of dog food- my hands were covered wit raw chicken juice so into his mouth it went, and after washing up I fished out three chewed up peices, YUCK!  Today back over to the dog bowls it was but there was no food, so instead sawyer SPLASHES like crazy in the dogs water- of course again while my hands are covered in gunk and I cant grab him- time to move Coopers bowls- poor doggy!  Then after the water bowl incident he opens up the lazy susan and pulls out all the potatoes- and finally I let him have at the tupperware cabinet and he pulled out ever peice he could reach and he LOVED that game- he pushed the peices all around the floor.  What fun!  Its strange but when he crawls, he looks so much littler- and so so sweet. 

Sawyer had his 9 month Dr. appoitment today and lucky boy didnt have to get any shots- yay!  He did get his finger pricked so they could check his hemoglobin but he didnt even seem to mind the poke- he just didnt like me holding his arm still!  Then he got a bandaid and he kept sticking his bandaid finger in his mouth- so I took it off and checked and it seemed like it wasnt bleeding.  Next thing I know I look down and there is blood on my jeans and his finger is bleeding everywhere and he wont let me hold pressure long enough to get it to stop so we eneded up with blood on the books we brought to leave and blood on mommys clothes!  Next time I guess Ill just let him chew the bandaid. Sawyer is now a whopping 23lb 30z and 29.5 inches tall- 84% for both height and weight!  Big boy!  Im still not sure how zach and I have a kid who is almost in the 90th percentile!  He is now scooting himself around more and more on his butt and can crawl backwards and army crawl forward.  He has figured out how to go from his belly to sitting and from sitting to being on his belly so he can pretty much do whatever he wants now which means he is into everything- I think it makes him quite happy :)

Sawyer's First Halloween!

Today was Sawyers first Halloween, last year he and I went together as a "mummy"- which was zachs idea and of course he thought that was hilarious.  Sawyer had two costumes this year, he was a dog and a gorilla.  He didnt really seem to mind wearing either costume- he is so good natured.  We didnt take him trick or treating- he is def. too little for candy.  We did put him in his costume and take his to my grandparents house though and he got to see my parents and some of my aunts and uncles as well.  We had some family in town from michigan so they got to see him too and we all had dinner together tonight and yesterday.  I also got sawyer a glow in the dark skeleton shirt that he work today and I forgot untill this afternoon that cooper had a matching costume!  Sawyer loves cooper so of course I had to try to get a picture of them together!

Hay Baby Hay

huge pelicans all flocked togethertons of birds

look momma- I can walk Cooper all by myself!

Im all bundled up in my stroller

In the hayloft- so neat but so dusty!

Sawyers first hayrack ride! Grandpa drove the tractor

Buddies

It was a wonderful weekend in our household. We spent a nice relaxing weekend together. Saturday afternoon was nice enough that all four of us (cooper counts too) got out for a lovely long walk by the lake. There were literally hundered of birds flocked and flying about below the dam and it was quite a funny sight- i suppose they were going after the fish down there. There were tons of segulls and a big group of HUGE pelicans as well. We walked my favorite path and stood on the bridge across the river and watched all the birds swirl around. Sunday was a busy day- we had family pictures taken with Zachs family and Sawyer got a halloween present from nanna after the pictures- he did very well this time and we got a few cute shots of just him for his nine month pictures! we spent the evening at a fall bonfire cookout with Zachs family- it was a blast- we roasted hotdogs over the fire,had a potluck and hot apple cider and Sawyer got to go on his first hayrack ride- I think he liked it too- except I made him wear his mittens and he wouldnt move his arms- I guess he though if he couldnt use his hands, he couldnt use his arms at all- it took him a few hours to get over it but he was still cheerful- just didnt move his arms and hands much lol. We even went up in the hayloft of a 100 year old barn- which was so neat, but so so dusty- I couldnt stay up for very long. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the fall season!

9 Months Old

if you click on this it pulls up bigger and not fuzzy

its hard to believe sawyer is 9 months old today- it seems to have flown by! it sure seemed like the nine months i was pregnant didnt go this fast! seems like it is time for an update so.. at nine months sawyer is def. one of the happiest kids ever and seems to be pretty laid back. his favorite things are animals, cars/trucks/tractors, eating what mommy is eating (and still loves nursing), and being outside. he is getting to be a better napper and ussually takes at least one good long nap everyday- we are still working on making the second a good nap too. he prob weighs between 22 and 23 lbs and is very tall- he is mostly wearing 12 month clothes now and some 18 month jammies. he is pulling himself up more and more but still refuses to crawl in favor of scooting on his butt. he will eat anything but especially loves to feed himself and drink from a cup. his favorite toys are balls- especially a purple ball he picked out himself- his favorite game is to play catch and he can both throw and catch very well already with good accuracy- maybe he will grow up to be a football player. he also loves to talk and seems to sat a few things pretty consistently- mama dada ball dog night night hi are a few i can think of... he can wave and loves to show off that he is soooooooo big as well. he likes to stand holding onto the furniture and occasionally take little steps. and he seems to just get more adorable every second!

Southern Sawyer

enjoying nice weather!

Farmers Market Pumpkins were "sooooo big"

How Sawyer spent each plane ride

This is neat!

Visiting Uncle Marcus at Davidson

Aunt Anna

Sawyer and I headed south this past week to spend fall break with my siblings in North Carolina. Daddy stayed home so it was just the two of us flying together- and it was Sawyer's first plane trip. I guess I wasnt really too nervous because sawyer tends to be such a good natured little guy. Turn out I really didnt need to be nervous- Sawyer slept the entire time on each of our flights! We layed over in Chicago and he woke up as we were landing and looked out the window and laughed and laughed and looked at me as if to say "whoa mom are you SEEING this, this is crazy!" We got our own row on each flight- except for one, which was nice because we needed the extra space. And of course Sawyer made friends with everyone sitting around us each time before he fell asleep - it think the engine noise would just knock him out because as soon as we would start moving- he was out. He loved the airport too- we would walk and look in the shops and he made friends with anyone who would look his way.

North Carolina was so nice and WARM! We even wore shorts a few times and took walks, and got to play outside! It was not fun to get off the plane in Iowa and feel the FREEZING cold air!

We got to see where uncle marcus goes to college which was fun. I think sawyer liked college :) We did lots of shopping everyday and went to the farmers market, trader joes, dean and deluca ect. and went out to eat a lot- including probably the best sushi I can remember- yum! We even got some of our christmas shoppind done- and bought sawyer a winter coat- which is pretty funny actually because it makes him look so puffy.

It was so nice to get to see my brother and sister and sawyer was so happy and had so much fun with everyone. It was nice to get home to daddy after a week though- Zach and I realized that we hadnt been apart for more than a few days since I graduated from college- and we def. missed eachother.

Worth It

So working in the ER can get pretty wild at times. I worked on Friday and I had a very interesting patient to put it mildly. I had a guy somewhere between 50 and 60 years old- not super old but not super young. He had been having some chest pressure for a week but was pretty stable. He had been in the ER with us for a while and I was getting ready to admitt him to the hospital for observation- no big deal right? He and I had even been joking around together the whole time he was there. So I go out to get another patient who had showed up and as Im talking with my other patient suddenly I hear- "code blue ER, code blue in ER" and my other patient was the only one there....needless to say I am SHOCKED and dash out of the room Im in and into my other patients room where there are already about 10 other nurses and the Dr. givving my patient CPR- and honestly all I can think is WTF and then I just start working- and then suddenly he is alive and fine again. As he told me "It was like I was waking up from a dream" He had died for 7 seconds.... it was wild. After that I sat and talked with him as we got things ready for him to be transfered. Well we transfer him to Des Moines and he did fine and was released pretty quickly.
Yesterday I worked and I was running all day long. It was a pretty bad shift. I wasnt probably in the best mood. Im being pulled in 12 different directions when our receptioninst calls back to the ER and tells me I need to come out the desk. I go out to the desk and my patient from friday is there- He was visiting a patient in the hospital and heard I was working and came to say hello, and thank you! I gave him the biggest hug-it was so wonderful to see him completly fine and walking around like nothing had happend. He told me this "I just wanted to see you and say thank you and to tell you that the only thing I remember is you sitting with me and that you had the most beautiful blue eyes"
Sometimes you just need someone to tell you that you made a difference to make a whole shift better :) What an amazing story the two of us now share!

Two weddings after a funeral

this weekend we headed up to CR where zach and i both went to college for the wedding of two of our good friends. i met leeann in college and as coincidence would have it- she and her boyfriend caleb started dating on the same day, same year as zach and i! coming up on 8 years! leeann also ended up joining my sorority and we shared an apartment our senior year. not long after leeann and caleb got engaged her mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and has been fighting it ever since. leeann and her momma are extra close because her dad died before she was even born. leeanns mom cathy raised keeann and her older brother mark on her own. about a week ago leeanns mother was rushed to the ER at st. lukes and admitted to the ICU with a blood clot in her leg, a blood clot in her lung, and pneumonia. with everything planned and the invites sent out long ago arrangements were made by the ICU staff for the wedding to take place- in an ICU room! It was such an amazing and powerful thing to be apart of it all- and it took on so much more meaning. They set up a backdrop to hid all the hospital equipment and you could barely even tell we were in a hospital room. The ICU staff even had cake and punch for us and there were two news crews and the newspaper there! We were there at about 130 and were on the news by 6 and again at 10- we even made the front page of the life section of the paper on sunday. It was pretty neat actually- I tell Leeann that she is famous now! After the first wedding we headed back to the church for an affirmation of vows with all of the guests. The ceremony and reception were broadcast to Cathy in her ICU room via skype- which was pretty neat too because people could talk to her as if she were there. It was all pretty unbelievable- and we had so much fun! I can't believe it is already over!

Mimosas and hair at 7am!

Make up! The hubby and me

yay!

With Cathy after the first wedding