Merry Christmas!

Lots more pics to be added later and of course some witty commentary. :)

Lost Turkey Day pics and Cookie Time

We forgot to upload some pics off Shannon's iphone when we were home for Thanksgiving. Aunt Sarah was holding Rhys at Sergis...he will learn to love the best pizza in the world but in the meantime, he settled for eating the entire paper placemat...I swear one of these days this kid is going to poop a tree.

Dinner at PF Changs. I like the spice tea, he likes the chopsticks.

At the airport in Ottawa, he didn't want to lay in my arms to eat as he didn't have a full view of everything that was going on. It also gave me a free arm to eat with :)

Cookie time!!! This is the godiva dipped cookie I was talking about. These are in order from cleanest to... well... no so clean. The moment chocolate touches this kid's mouth, his eyes glaze over and he goes into a feeding frenzy...very similar to Jaws when chum was thrown overboard.Ok mommy you can hold it so I can concentrate on my super nomming ability. I will suck every last spec of chocolate off of this cookie!!!

He he...I have a little spot that I missed on my cheek, let me wet my fist, rub it around my face and then lick it all off.

Ok so maybe that wasn't such a good idea. It seems to me that I might have spread it around instead of putting it all in my mouth. Oh is that a crumb of cookie on my shirt?!!?!!?

Hey ladies...I'm tall, dark and single...I even make chocolate look good.

Expensive tastes...

Shannon came home yesterday with a box of Godiva dipped cookies from his white elephant xmas party at work. I'm more of a ghiradelli girl myself but Rhys does not care as long as its chocolate and can melt fast and be spread all over his face, hands, tummy, hair........ We got some great pics last night but I didn't get a chance to upload them so they'll have to wait till tonight.

Buca di Beppo

We took Rhys out to celebrate my new job...we got a yummy Italian spread, he got bread.

But why have bread when you can have a nutritious, delicious napkin?!?

Parental lessons and Santa Claus

So our pediatrition advised us to throw out all of Rhys' plastic toys that were made in China. Since he's sticking everything in his mouth, its probably a good idea. The only store I know that sells that type organic made toys is http://tinytots.com/. Rhys and I made a trek over there to see if anything looked good. There were several babies there getting their picture taken with Santa and the owner had offered to get Rhys' done but I didn't want to risk him losing it since it was so close to nap time. We headed right for the teething section and he got to try out all of the display pieces so that he could pick which one "tasted" the best. Of course the little monster settled on the most expense one...an all natural rubber, BPA, PVC & Phthalate Free giraffe made in France. For a picture of Sophie whom I've renamed Jiff http://www.thesoftlanding.com/soginaruteto.html We tried other rubber teethers but this was the only one he shoved into his gums and held onto with a death grip. When we were checking out, the owner offered again to get his picture taken, 15+ digital pictures, burned to a cd for free...can't beat that and he was in good spirits so we gave it a shot and this is what we ended up with.

Albuquerque

This past week I had to visit a client in Albuquerque, MN for a couple of days. Since Rhys is still a bit too young to hang out with his dad for that long, Nanny was awesome enough to agree to come down and watch him while I was working. We had a great time, I got done what I needed to and didn't have to worry about the baby at all.

It was a pretty quiet week at the hotel so we had the pool and jaccuzi all to ourselves! Just before we left, I picked up a little pair of swim diaper thingy for Rhys so he could enjoy the bubbly water with us without us having to worry about floaties or yellowed water. Nanny has just put his little bottoms on and we're getting ready to get in.

After a good half hour-45 minutes in the jaccuzi, the three of us got out and Nanny dried off the little mister.

Nanny tuckered him right out. He's out like a light on my bed all snuggled in his blanket.

On our last night, the three of us went to Old Town. It was a bit chilly so we made a stop at a little coffee shop and got a hot cider. Nanny took Rhys after he had a snack so I could warm up a bit...although I'm sure she took him to get some kisses in, he never minds.
It was wicked cold there so we had to have him in his snowbear suit whenever he went out.

We have our center...

After Rhys' 4 month checkup there is no other thing he could possibly be in life except as a starting center for some basketball team. He's 2 feet 6 inches (he was in the 99th percentile at 2 months and now he's blown right off of the chart), weight is 16.5lbs So basically, he's tall and lean, not super skinny as there are a couple of rolls on his chub chub thighs but if he stays the course, we'll look for the Celtics knocking on our door. Shannon and I planned on having a basketball team of our own children but if he's any indication of later editions, then we're going to be short a couple of guards. :)

toot toot...here comes the gas train

I'm sitting here in my office, fan on full blast b/c my little man is sleeping in his bassinet beside my desk tooting like there's no tommorrow. I swear a green cloud of toxic gas has enveloped us and I fear for my coworkers in the main office. There will be no concentrating on getting reports done if he keeps this up. Oh and our office windows don't open and we can't prop the door either, its going to be a long work day :)

Thanksgiving Part 2

Here are some pics after we dressed the tree and wrapped some presents. The first couple are of Captain Bitey Pants with Aunt Sarah.

This is my favorite pic by far. If you look carefully, the three ornaments above his head are the ones Shannon and I picked for his first Christmas: a Santa holding milk and cookies, a Christmas Kangaroo, and a mini Very Hungry Caterpillar book complete with a big colorful caterpillar eating its way thru the book

My personal hell...

Friday night, mom suggested we rent a movie and all of us (Grandpa, Mom, Jay, Sarah, Jordan, Shannon, Rhys and I) go downstairs and have a nice quiet night in. What could go wrong you say?!? We rented Tropic Thunder and if you have seen this movie then you understand completely. If not, let me paint a picture of the most mortified my sister and I have EVER been...
We all thought this would be a great comedy, mindless but funny none the less. The cast includes: Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Ben Stiller, Matthew McConaughey and Tom Cruise...great cast so how bad could it be?!?

While my Grandfather sat in his green chair, the cast of Tropic Thunder graced us with the most UNBELIEVABLY FOUL and OBSCENE language. Tom Cruise shaking his bald, fat money maker to hip hop music, Jack Black running around in tighty undies, Robert Downey playing an Aussie who was doing an awful job at impersonnating a black man. The list of inappropriate things in this movie is to great to list. I would consider the 10 minute monologue highlighting the word Retard was very tame compared to record number of f-bombs and hoover this and that. Again Grandpa was there, watching and listening to it all. We were all laughing so hard, and looking back the movie wasn't that funny but watching it with my very Catholic Grandfather added a bit of hilarity to it all. Thanks mom for the great movie suggestion, this is a night we won't soon forget and I'm sure Grandpa is in Adrian right now shaking his head at those "hillbilly north country folks with dirty mouths and sick sense of humor".

Thanksgiving week of fun

This post will have to come in two parts b/c we bought a camera on Black Friday and took some pics with it but I'm not motivated enough to unpack it so that will have to be done tomorrow. We had a great time at home in the frozen tundra. The flight to Ottawa was AWFUL!!!...We were "those" parents with "that" screaming kid. Very weary and tired, we got off the plane to delicately (cough cough) hand Rhys to Mom. Saturday morning, Mom took Rhys to Grandma and Papa's while I got my hair cut. The rest of the weekend was very restful...Shan and I got some quality snooze time while Rhys' Nanny and Grandpa took turns entertaining the little one. Aunt Sarah got some good snuggle time in but Rhys seemed to think she was a puke magnet. He truly values every little drop of food we give him and NEVER spits up, drools like a fiend but never spits up...Aunt Sarah has created the exception. At least once a day, she'd pick him up and he'd give her a little present on her nice shirts and jeans. :) We got to go shopping on Black Friday which meant we had to put Rhys on the floor in the living room. When Shannon and I got home around 6:30am, I found mom sitting on the couch with Rhys chatting away to her. In no particular order...the first set of pics from last week.

Here's Rhys hanging out on Grammy Rita's lap in his Gobble Gobble onsie. He LOVED knawing on her arthritic knuckles...silly kid.
Uh oh...mommy, daddy is taking me downstairs...the only thing downstairs is the nap place. I don't want a nap, I just want to be fussy, that's all. Don't let daddy take me!!!

Paddy cake, paddy cake...this is the coolest game ever!!! Ah heck I just like when Aunt Sarah pats my belly, gets it all rumbly. And she wonders why I puke on her :)

In keeping with putting everything in my mouth, here is a glamour shot of me chewing on my towel after a nice hot bath.

There is way too much going on for me to just lie down and take the bottle. Aunt Sarah must feed me sitting up, it may be uncomfortable but this way I get to see all of the action.

Again, I must try and shove Aunt Jemima in my mouth...mmmmm fake maple syrup red cap tastes good and I can get my whole mouth around it.

Aren't I the cutest darned bear you've ever seen in your life??? I was kind enough to look at mommy for this shot b/c she was interupting the football game and I am all about watching.

Grandpa was nice enough to share with me his empty bottle for my nomming and nibbling pleasure. Half of the fun was just trying to hold the bottle straight while leaning into it for maximum coverage of my rock hard gums.

Nanny wants to see what a big boy I am!

Hmmmm, Nanny your cheeks looks mighty yummy, you should just hold still so I can lock my suction like mouth on it and nom it raw!

This is my super cute cousin, Elizabeth. While my mommy dressed me in a dorky turkey onsie, Elizabeth's mommy put her in this adorable dress.