The Weekend in Pictures

Dutch didn't do so great with our travel this past weekend.  I think the days of him just sleeping anytime we drive anywhere are over.  He also wasn't a fan of sleeping in the pack 'n play, so that kept us up at night.  We'll have to try some different strategies next time we travel! 

It was pretty cold in Amarillo, so that gave me the chance to put Dutch in his cute furry monkey hat and gloves.  His cousin Emma was also in a furry hoodie, and they were cute as can be!

Here's a picture of Dutch with his uncle Seth.  You can't see it in the picture, but they share the same hairline!  Lol.
 

This last picture is from after we got home.  I wanted everyone to see how much Dutch chews on his crib rail!  Kiddo has become a biter.

Eight Months Old

This past month has brought so many changes for our little guy.  He started crawling and, before we knew it, he was pulling up on everything.  He has become a bit of a mama's boy, but can you blame him?  We spend a lot of time together, and I am usually the one who feeds him, so it follows that he wants to be around me more often!  Luckily it's not so severe that he cries when I leave.  He just wants me to hold him if he can see me in the room.  If I leave, he's just fine with whoever is watching him.  We had to baby proof our house over the past couple of weeks since he crawls around and tries to get into everything.  Unfortunately his favorite toys are power cords and headphones.  If he spots one of them across the room, he'll make a beeline for it.  All his new skills have forced me to constantly keep a tidy house!  He will pick up anything and everything he finds on the ground, so vacuuming occurs quite often.  Here are a few pics of my sweet 8 month old!

 

What's Going On

Another busy weekend, but lots of fun stuff happened!  On Friday, Meezy and I traded in our CTS-V for a new Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland.  When we bought the Cadillac, I never would've thought we'd only be keeping it for 2 years!  It was an amazing car, but it just didn't make sense for us for a couple reasons.  One, it wasn't a great family car.  It was really hard fitting Dutch's stroller in the trunk, and it didn't have much cargo space for all his other stuff, so that eliminated it from ever being taken on a road trip.  Two, it was super expensive to own.  It required premium gas, got horrible gas mileage, oil changes were pricey, and buying new tires for it was always very painful.  So, we said a bittersweet goodbye to our fun sports car, and made the jump to a second SUV.  The funny thing is that now we own three Jeeps.  You'd think we'd get a discount for that or something!

Out with the old, in with the new

Mama likes her new ride!

On Saturday morning, I ran another 5K with my sister.  I used the Nike+ app on my phone to track time and distance, and when we finished the race, it only showed a distance of 2.91 miles.  Now, I haven't calibrated it in a while, so it probably isn't completely accurate, but the race did seem a little short.  We got confirmation of this when we saw our time - 29:15.  There's no way we shaved more than 2 minutes off our previous time!  We did run at a slightly faster pace this time, though, and I think the course was probably off by about .1 - .15 of a mile.  So, I estimate our time would've been about 30:30 if the course had been a full 5K.  Steadily improving!

On Saturday night, we got a babysitter so we could go out to eat and catch a show at the Majestic.  We were listening to the Tech game on the way to dinner, and when it entered overtime, we didn't want to leave the car!  After the first overtime period ended, we hustled from the parking garage over to Press Box Grill in Downtown Dallas.  We were able to catch the rest of the game there, and it was pretty exciting!  Wreck 'em! Afterwards, we walked to the Majestic and enjoyed a hilarious show from Louis CK.  It was great to have a date night with my love!

    Cool chandelier and balcony at the Majestic

On Sunday morning, I headed over to my friend Jennifer's house to catch up and meet her little cutie, Evan.  Another friend, Courtney, was also there, so I got to see her precious baby girl, Grace.  It seems like so long ago that Dutch was the same age as their kiddos.  When there were stressful moments at those stages, it felt like time was standing still, and things would never get better.  Now, when I look back at it, it feels like time has moved so quickly, and he grew up so fast.  

Speaking of growing up so fast, here's my big boy taking a ride in the wagon this afternoon.  He absolutely loves being outside and having the wind blow through his hair.  

Couldn't Ask for Anything More

If you ever see me without a smile on my face, remind me about these two awesome guys that I have in my life.  I really couldn't ask for anything more. 

Thanks to Rachel DeBell for these wonderful pictures.

Music I Like Lately

The Lumineers - Ho Hey
"I belong with you. You belong with me. You're my sweetheart."




Phillip Phillips - Home
"Just know you're not alone.  Cause I'm gonna make this place your home."




Mumford and Sons - I Will Wait
"These days of dust which we've known, will blow away with this new sun."



 Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Thrift Shop (NSFW language, but hilarious lyrics and video)
"They had a broken keyboard.  I bought a broken keyboard."

The Loop

This past Saturday was supposed to be cold and rainy, which didn't bode well for running a 5K with my sister.  But, the rain held off, and we just did battle with the crisp low 50s temperatures.  We ran the Loop 5K, put on by the Dallas Running Club (which we recently joined).  Our goal, as always, was just to finish without walking.  I thought the cold might get in the way of that, but apparently it inspired us!  We felt really good at the halfway point, and actually increased our pace for the remainder of the race.  We ended up finishing in about 31 minutes and 33 seconds.  That's certainly nothing to brag about, but considering I had to stop numerous times in the 5K I ran in April, and finished in about 33 minutes in the 5K I ran in August, it just goes to show that I'm continually improving.  I look forward to these races getting easier and easier in the coming months!

Other fun activities from over the weekend included watching the Tech game at a friend's house:

Love that they have a chalkboard on their pantry door

Looking so spiffy in his button-up! 

And checking out a food truck-a-palooza/carnival being held near my sister's house:

Loved the fact that Dutch got to wear some of his cute winter clothes

  How will I ever say no to this sweet face?

Lowering the Crib

Last weekend, our kiddo started crawling, so I lowered his mattress in his crib.  I figured within the next two months, he'd start pulling up, and we'd have to make sure he didn't run the risk of ever falling over the side rail.  I wanted to make sure we were ahead of the game, so we weren't caught off guard when the time came.  Well, good thing I was proactive because our little stinker didn't waste any time!  Meezy caught him on video pulling up to a standing position in his crib this morning.  I can't believe he's already doing this at 7 1/2 months.  I get the feeling the next couple of months will be quite interesting around our household. (His little contented chuckle in the video below, as he gets upright, cracks me up every time).

Growing Up Fast

I really didn't think that becoming self-employed would mean I had even less time to blog than before!  I can't complain, though, because I'm contributing more to our savings than I originally expected to.  I'm also getting to spend more time with Dutch than I would had I stayed in a traditional office environment.  All in all, I'm in a good place, and I'm enjoying every moment of seeing my son grow up.  Speaking of that, he's growing up fast!  Here are a couple of videos of some recent advances:

Dutch has started laughing very deeply and loudly when we play certain games with him.  Best sound in the world!



He's also started crawling.  This video was taken just one day after he crawled for the first time, so he's still looking pretty slow and unsteady.  Things are moving along quickly, though, and the babyproofing has become a priority! (cameo appearance by Dutch's cousin, Lexi).