Scary Santa

Yesterday Devry, Payton and I went to the mall to finish up some last minute shopping. While we were there we decided to take Payton to see Santa. While standing in line Payton was so happy, and kept pointing to Santa and acting really exciting. I thought he would love to sit on his lap. Well I was wrong. As soon as Devry set him down, he started SCREAMING. So I snapped a quick picture, and let Devry pick him up again. Payton definitely not a fan of Santa. Maybe next year :)

What have we been up to?

December so far has been pretty fun. We have had tons of snow, so our days are spent inside. Payton has found some interesting ways to keep himself entertained, as you can see in these pictures.



He has an obsession with putting on our shoes, and trying to put his shoes on our feet. What a silly guy.

This next picture is of Payton and his friend Twylie. Twylie's mom Hattie is a good friend of mine. We lived in the same apartment complex when I first moved to Rexburg, started dating 2 guys from plano about the same time, got married 2 weeks apart and had babies 2 1/2 months apart. They moved out to plano and live just down the road. It has been so great having them close! These two are getting to be great friends. They see a lot of each other! Hattie and Twylie came over the other day and these two climbed into the laundry basket together, we had to get a picture!


We have been doing lots of fun Christmas activities. I will post more about them later (some of them are gifts, and I don't want to ruin anything).

We made a gingerbread house, and it turned out great. Payton LOVED decorating it...although more of the candy he had ended up in his mouth then on the house.



I am excited for Christmas. Payton doesn't get what Christmas is about yet, but I know he will love opening presents! We have lots of fun things planned with Devry's family, and with our own little family of 3. I have to work christmas night, which isn't too bad since all the excitement and celebration will pretty much be over by the time I have to go into work.

Bye bye Binki.

From the time Payton was born, he became a binki baby. He ALWAYS had it in his mouth, and then 2 or 3 more somewhere close by. I really didn't mind him having a pacifier since he would have sucked his thumb instead if we didn't. He has slept great from the time he was born, and I think his pacifier has really helped. In July, when he turned one, I decided he was old enough not to have it with him at all times. So we put his binki in his crib and started telling him he only gets it at bedtime. He did great! It turned into a fun little game when he woke up. We'd pick him up and let him throw his binki (or his 4 binkis) back into the crib. He never had a hard time without it during the day. I was so nervous to take it away at night though. I wanted to when he was 15 months old, but he was getting premolars at the time, and I didn't want to mess with it when he was hurting so bad from teething. This past week, I decided it was time to get rid of his binki as well as his bottle. I had 4 days off in a row and thought I would need it to be up with him at night when he wouldn't sleep without it. Well, to our surprise it was SO easy. He has never taken milk out of a sippy cup, and all of a sudden started to this week. We put him to bed the first night with no binki, and he fussed for a couple minutes then fell right to sleep. He slept through the night, with no problems! It has been over a week and he has done great at nap times and bed time. I honestly did not expect it to be easy at all, and this was SO simple. I am so lucky to have such a great sleeper!

A few pictures of Payton with his binki.






This big step has been bitter sweet. I love that we are getting away from some "baby" habits like bottles and binkis, but I hate that he is no longer needs baby things because he is a little boy, not a baby He is starting to talk, and understanding so much. Where has the past 17 months gone?

Family Pictures

My friend Heidi is a wonderful photographer. For the past month or so, we have been trying to arrange a time for her to take our family pictures. Between our conflicting schedules, and uncooperative weather, it took a while. We finally snuck in a quick photo shoot last weekend. She did an amazing job! Payton was his usual crazy self, wanting to run around, making funny faces, and eventually loosing patience with us trying to make him look at the camera. 30 minutes of picture taking is about the limit for a 16 month old I think :) . Despite Payton's craziness, Heidi got some wonderful pictures! Here are a couple of my favorites.

I love this guy!

Shutterfly Holiday Cards giveaway

Shutterfly is giving away 50 free holiday cards if you mention this promotion on your blog. They have some very fun holiday cards, and I am so excited to use them. I have used shutterfly in the past for so many things. They have such a great variety of Christmas cards to choose from. I will have a really hard time choosing since there are hundreds of great options. I love sending Photo Christmas cards to friends and family. We will be getting our family pictures taken next week to put on the card. Watch for it in the mail in the next few weeks! Shutterfly is so easy to use. I love using their site for all different kinds of photo projects. In the past I have made photo books, calenders, and birthday cards. They also print pictures and mail them directly to you.

To participate, Click on the link below to sign up, then follow the instructions and post on your own blog!

http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

or click here to look through their Christmas cards.

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

And here is another one of my favorite project options....photo calendars!

http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

Catching up!

I have been meaning to post about a few things, so here is a bit of a catch up post!

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. We dressed Payton up as a monkey. He was really cute in his costume. I dressed up as a lion to keep with the theme, and since Devry couldn't come up with any ideas he didn't really dress up. He did wear his bright yellow hoody, so I told him he could be a banana for Payton. Here are a few pictures of us in our costumes.



We carved the pumpkin that we grew. The end result was a bit messed up, and I forgot to take a picture of it, but we had a lot of fun doing it. Payton loved pulling out the insides, and thought it was so fun to squish it in his toes and fingers. He also kept trying to eat it, silly boy.

We went to our Church's "trunk or treat." At first Payton wasn't really sure what was going on, but caught on very quickly that he got candy out of it, and pretty soon he was running from person to person signing "please" or "more." It was a fun night.


It seems like Fall was so short. We luckily had really nice weather for a long time, a few days of "fall" like temperatures, then snow. The first snow completely covered the ground, and I am starting to think it is here to stay. We continue to get a bit more almost every day. Payton thinks it is so fun to try to catch snow flakes. I havn't bought him snow pants or snow boots, so we haven't really gone out to play in the snow yet. I don't know if I ever mentioned we got a new car. It was back in August, and Devry said it was my graduation present. Well, all this snow is making me VERY grateful we have it! It is a Toyota Highlander, and drives so well in the snow.

A few days ago Devry and I were splitting/stacking wood. He was splitting it then tossing it in a pile for me to stack. Well, he tossed a log and it caught another log just right, and flipped up. I wasn't paying attention and it hit me right in the knee. It sure did hurt! I couldn't put any weight on it, and was worried since I had to work the next 2 nights. I ended up going to the Doctor just to make sure it wasn't broken. Luckily everything looked fine on XRAY's. I have the greatest Doctor ever, who gave me a shot of Nubain for pain (which made me so nauseous the rest of the day...I will never have it again, even though it helped with pain), and he also gave me a prescription for Lortab and Motrin 800mg. I got through my two shifts with pain meds, and a bit of limping, but it feels TONS better now.

I have been feeling much better lately, and not so negative. Having Devry home more really helps, and I have been trying to take some breaks just for "me" time. I also have realized how great some of the friends I have are. I knew they were before, but I think I took it for granted. After feeling so lonely, I decided to make more of an effort, and in a short time I have made many new friends, and strengthened other friendships. I realized that alot of it was that I was expecting alot from others, when I needed to make more of an effort. I realized that alot of other people really understood my feelings, and I received lots of wonderful advice, and encouragement. I still have difficult days, but everyone does, and I am trying to find ways to make it through and stay as positive as I can.

15 months!

My sweet baby boy has turned into a very busy toddler! Where does the time go?
As of the 27th, Payton is 15 months old. At 15 months he...

• is about 28lbs
• is about 32 inches
• is in size 24 month clothes
• says: mom, dad, more, ni-ni (night night), bye bye, hi, pa (grandpa), nan (nanny), bubba (thedog), ju (juice), and a WHOLE lot of jibberish :)
• signs at least 50 words- some are: more, please, thank you, all done, juice, eat, banana, apple, pear, car, plane, bus, boat, dog, cat, horse, bird, fish, blanket, phone, toys, music, wash hands, bath, brush teeth, happy, play, feel, sad, cry, hurt, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, baby, and tons more! He shows us new ones he has learned every day.
  
• dances whenever he hears music.
• Acts like he is Conducting music whenever he hears people singing
• has the most contagious laugh
• is so ticklish...everywhere!
• Loves to tickle other peoples toes and tummy's
• runs...at all times. walking does not exist in his world.
• Climbs on everything. I find him standing on the table at least once a day
• Still takes 2 naps and sleeps 12 hours at night.
  
• LOVES to play outside
• Loves to play with other kids
• Loves to watch curious george, signing time, and cat in the hat
• Still loves his pacifier....although he ONLY gets it when he is in his crib. Our next step is to take it away for good... that could be a hard one.
• Will not drink milk out of anything but a bottle. I have not been successful in my attempts to take away his bottle, and I'm not sure how.
  
• gives me hugs and kisses all the time...and it melts my heart.
• laughs whenever he hears someone else laughing.
• has become a bit of a picky eater.. he loves fruit and bread, a few veggies, and mac n cheese but thats about it (besides sugary foods).
  
• loves going with Devry to ride a tractor, 4wheeler, truck, anything.
• makes me smile, alot.

I adore him so much. We went to a trunk or treat tonight for Halloween, and had a blast! Here are a few pictures of my little monkey man. I will post more about Halloween later.

The first two are him in his monkey costume, and the third is when he helped us carve a pumpkin.