It's the most wonderful time of the year...

We are a lucky family - we celebrate both Hanukkah AND Christmas! I am very excited for Hanukkah and Christmas this year with Cheeks and Doc. This Saturday, we are having the family over for our annual Hanukkah Hurrah! My mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, niece, aunt, and uncle will be coming to our little townhome to celebrate, eat, and open presents! I normally stress out about where people will sit - but not this year, this year my only focus is on making sure Cheeks has a fantabulous time opening his presents and eating his chicken, carrots, and matzoh balls!!

The first night of Hanukkah is actually Wednesday 12/1 this year, but we always have the Hurrah on the Saturday night during Hanukkah to allow me time to prep everything while working. Thank goodness Doc is here to help with the prep! Can't wait to post pics. But this Wednesday, Cheeks will get his first Hanukkah present - A BIG BOY CHAIR!



So we have our Hanukkah traditions. Christmas is a whole new ball game this year though! Even though Cheeks is only going to be 9.5 months, he is going to bake cookies for Santa with his Mommy! I want to put out cookies and milk every year before he goes to bed. Baking is something I love to do - and it is something that I want to build into our holiday traditions. Maybe we will take a drive and look at lights on Chrismtas Eve..hmmm...note - must discuss all of my ideas with Doc!! In the meantime, here are a couple of holiday pics of Cheeks:

Cheeks and Thanksgiving - Two Peas in a Pod!!

Thanksgiving weekend has been wonderful so far this year. We took a road trip down to my parents - Scottish neighbors in tow for their first Thanksgiving holiday! They were very excited and wound up enjoying it tremendously. Cheeks did great on the ride down as Doc had strung up the backseat with links, and toys hanging from the links...it was a baby wonderland back there!

So Cheeks hasn't been wanting to eat too much in the past couple of weeks. Baby food has become a modern day form of torture for the boy, and formula just doesn't seem as tasty to him anymore. Fast forward to Thanksgiving. We spread turkey pieces, stuffing, sweet potatoes, pieces of a dinner roll, and peas on his high chair tray. THE BOY GOBBLED IT ALL UP!!! He loves Thanksgiving as much as his Mommy and Mama do!! We had leftovers tonight, and he repeated the eagerness to eat all the bits on his tray. I decided to mix in some Beech-Nut Sweet Corn Casserole as he ate his bits and pieces of Thanksgiving leftovers. You would have thought I was trying to feed Cheeks glass shards!! He made faces, pushed away the spoon...but again, gobbled up all of the goodness on his tray that was from the normal foods. I'm so glad he enjoyed his dinner...and can't wait to start introducing Cheeks to more foods. My question now - has anyone else experienced this? Is 9 months too early to stop baby food??

I followed up Thanksgiving Day with a wake up alarm at 1:45AM to start my Black Friday shopping. Four hours later, I was back asleep and felt accomplished with my deals from K0hl's, Tar.get, T0ys - R - Us, and Best.B*y!

Thanksgiving pictures to follow once we are back home and I have a chance to download them! Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Thoughts on Traditions

I am very sentimental. Doc likes poking fun at me for just how sentimental I am. But I think it's important to have traditions, and things to look back on as well as forward to. I want to make sure that we create traditions for Cheeks that he will look back on with smiles and carry on for years to come with his spouse and children.

That being said, it is that infamous time of year for family traditions. This Thursday will be Cheeks' first Thanksgiving! I am running a bit behind, but I've yet to decide what our Thanksgiving tradition will be. We ALWAYS spend it with my side of the family - and that in itself is a tradition. When I was a kid, breaking the wishbone with my sister was a tradition - and I'm excited for when B is a bit older to do that with his cousins or brother/sister (whichever he may have!) I want to make sure (while he may not be able to this year) that he reflects back on what he is thankful for - because when I hear stories of such horror in the world, I know exactly how lucky our family is. I hope to shield Cheeks from that horror - but at the same time, make sure he knows too, just how lucky he is.

Speaking of traditions, it is a family that enjoys them. Last night, we made a decision on our family. For quite some time, Doc and I went back and forth - I wanted three children, she wanted two. After a lot of thinking, and digging, and thinking, and thinking, I now agree with Doc - our next child will complete our family. I am very excited that we made our final decision. It puts our family on a path with a plan, and I like that. Now should we have twins, I wouldn't be opposed (although reading some of your blogs, that would be VERY hard I think!!)

And with that, just in case I don't get to blog - HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO BLOGLAND! :)

Mommy Instinct

So today we took Cheeks to our pediatrician's urgent care. I love our pediatrician's office - they have a nurse practitioner in the office until 9pm on Weekdays and from 12-9pm on weekends and holidays. So we utilized her services and brought Cheeks in for a bout of diarrhea, not wanting to eat, ear pulling, and a slight cough. Mommy instinct before we went - teething. Nurse practitioner's diagnosis - a stomach bug and.....*drum roll*...TEETHING! I was worried he may have had an ear infection because of the ear pulling, but nope - my instincts were right - his two top teeth are pushing to come in. It's causing his gums to hurt - hence the ear pulling. I can't wait for those two boogers to pop through so my baby isn't in pain anymore.

A New Favorite Past Time

Cheeks is growing up. This week, we put away the infant tub. The one that he started off in with a sling to hold his little body. Then graduated to the slanty side of the infant tub. Recently, he moved onto the older baby side of the tub...the side that allows him to sit straight up on his own. This week, that tub went away. My baby is no longer an infant. My baby is going to be one in less than 4 months! My baby has a new favorite activity - playing with his toys in the big boy tub!

A revamp

My blog has received a makeover! I was never crazy about my blog's title. And now, on a lazy Friday at work, I have developed a new persona for my blog! I'm very excited about the change. I've changed the title, the look, and now need to think of new blog aliases for my family. Going forward, the family's blogland names will be:

Wife: Doc
Son: Cheeks

What is the reasoning behind these names you ask? Well - the wife loves her Dr. Pepper. She cannot live without it. Should she be stranded on an island with only one thing to bring, I truly believe she'd bring a lifetime supply of Doctor Pepper! My son...well...he is all cheeks....always has been....and I hope always will be! You can see him smiling from behind because his cheeks are so big. I eat those cheeks daily :)

So along with the new look of the blog, I am going to make a commitment to blog at LEAST every other day. I am thinking of this blog as a way to look back on my life with my son. He is only 8 1/2 months old, and it is already very neat to look back and read things from when we were conceiving, pregnant, and when he was first born. I want to make sure I have lots of stories to look back on.

So while I am not sure if anyone out in blogland is reading this, if so, I hope you enjoy the new revamp of my blog!

Happy Halloween from Mr. B Scarecrow :)

Thanks to my friend Melanie for the great pics - here are just a few of my favorites :)