Non-Traditional

I always thought that Jay and I were sort of the norm. We married in our 20's, had a baby a few years later, we live on a college student budget and we have a world of possibilities in front of us. On the east coast we are a bazaar sight. A total freak show, really. On average people in the DC area get married older than any other part of the country. We went to the zoo and all the couples around us with young babies were easily in their 40's....grey hair, driving Range Rovers and one baby is all they want. I'm not saying that isn't ok, just going from Utah to Alexandria was kind of a shocker. The moms at the park look at me like I'm some kind of irresponsible teenager :)

This will be our very first Christmas alone. We aren't traveling to see any family and no one is coming here. We are experiencing a whole new world of Christmas. As I go down our stairwell each day I hear Christmas music coming from each apartment. Our next door neighbors seem to love Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin Christmas songs. The neighbor below prefers a much harder mix for Christmas....I think it must be 50 cent and Nelly. And our Latin neighbors play Feliz Navidad about 700 times a day. I'm pretty sure our apartment is the only one playing Sarah McLachlan and Michael Buble :) Ha! So, to keep up with our new non-traditional status, we will be doing some different things for Christmas :) We are spending Christmas Eve with our friends, the Campbells, at a very fun Latin/Italian dinner :) And then Christmas Day we will enjoy a chili dinner with our friends the Turleys. It will be so different from spending Christmas with family, but that's the fun of experiencing new traditions and starting our own.

We hope everyone has a very Merry and unconventional Christmas!

Love Us.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!!

Virginia gave me an early Christmas present!!! 18 beautiful inches of snow :) Scott and Jami came up Friday night and we all got snowed in until today. Unfortunately poor Jay and Scott spent most of the weekend pushing cars out of snowbanks.


Jay and I feel that it is important for Jack to love snow and embrace his Colorado roots. We bundled him up and took him outside and he absolutely hated it. He is terrified of snow and pretty much cried the whole time.





Bayles loved the snow.



The boys had a great time together.


The snow made it feel so much like Christmas that I decided to frost the sugar cookies.


It quickly turned into Jack just licking the frosting off the knife. Safe, eh?


So cute.

Santa Baby...

Hi Santa!

I have been really, really good this year. Much better than other years, really. Plus, I am passing on my love of Christmas to Jack, so that has got to count for something, right? I realize that most of your time is devoted to the little ones, but believe me, I have seen some of those brats at the playground and they can just be downright evil. So, I was thinking, maybe just this year I could be put back on the list? You can lie about my age, I do it all the time. I mean....I never, ever lie. Anyway, hope you are having a really good December.

See you soon!
Lindsay

PS. I wear a size 6 and this is the color I want, but I think you already knew that :)

My One Beauty

Sometimes I use Virginia as a swear word. Like when I stepped on Jack's space shuttle and it nearly put a hole in my foot "Holy Virginia, that hurt!", or when the sidewalk just ends out of the blue "Virginia!", or when I found out that they don't carry tostada shells at my grocery store "Ahh, Virginia!". Honestly, I can fry up corn tortillas and make the tostadas myself, but that isn't the point. The point is that I have had to make a few adjustments since moving here that I didn't feel like making. One of the adjustments I found out about yesterday. You know in "Little Women" when Jo cuts off her hair for money, then Amy says, "Oh Jo, your one beauty!"? Well, my one beauty is my ability to make probably the best sugar cookies ever. Well, according to yesterday's disaster, that is no longer an ability of mine. Is it the altitude? Have I just lost my touch? Why were they so flat and looked like blobs instead of shapes? I triple checked the recipe and didn't miss a thing. I suppose I should try again and make a few adjustments....but I just don't have the heart yet. So, for those of you that were expecting Christmas cookies from us this year, please lower your expectations. You may be getting caramel corn.

This past week was full of fun. We have been going and going. Today is back to normal which means I need to play catch-up. I should be cleaning my house but......this is important too, right? :)

Thanksgiving to me always means football. Since we don't have cable and couldn't watch any games, we left it up to Jay to entertain us. He had a flag football tournament at school. He did great as the quarterback and I was very proud.



Thanksgiving morning was the Turkey Bowl. Unfortunately the rain caused it to be a pretty poor showing, but we still had fun freezing our butts off. Jay and Jack were both completely soaked and muddy which meant that yes, I did laundry on Thanksgiving. Blah. I was not thankful for that....but I am thankful for technology and that I don't have to wash everything by hand :)


I gave up trying to keep Jack out of the mud. He was covered from head to toe and freezing cold, but he didn't care. I finally had to take him back to the car, strip him down and turn the heat on full blast while Jay finished his game. (Don't worry Julie, the coat came clean :)


Luckily Jami and Scott live close enough to come to our house for Thanksgiving. We had tons of fun with them. Jack loved having his buddies over and we enjoyed playing Settlers late into the night :) We even got to celebrate Bayles' birthday. Apparently he hates singing, but the picture was so funny I had to put it up :)


We took the boys to the zoo the next day. We saw a few animals, but really it was too stinkin' cold to stay long. Good thing the zoo is free.



Jack was totally into the otters.


On Saturday Jay's friend Katrina and her husband Josh were in town. We were lucky enough to see them and play in DC for the morning.

Here is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.


Jay and Jack playing peek-a-boo at the Lincoln Memorial. So much for showing reverence to the deceased.


I had no idea the memorial was so huge.....


The Capitol.


The Air and Space Smithsonian.


Jay and Katrina.


On a typical day in DC you see quite a few homeless. I like to give money to the ones that perform. I know, a little harsh, but I feel like they are putting in some effort for it that way instead of just sitting there holding out a cup. This guy was exceptional. He had a whole drum set made out of traffic cones, plastic trashcans, and a shopping cart for the symbol. It sounded sweet, too. Jack loved it and I hope we can see it again. Here is a video for your viewing pleasure.

Also, here is a video of Jack playing in the mud. He had a blast.

Binkie Free

We are now binkie free in our house, thanks to Jay. He was very concerned that Jack still used his pacifier for naps and bedtime and decided that Jack should give it up cold turkey. So, a few weeks ago he took them all out of his crib, put him to bed, and we haven't heard about them since. I think I was probably more attached to them than Jack. I was really nervous and thought he would wake up all night crying, but he really could have cared less. Good work, Jay! :) And Jack too, I suppose.


Since Jack is so grown up, I decided he might want to start potty-training. He has been telling me when he needs to poo (by patting his butt) so we went and bought him his own potty chair. First of all, he loves that it is a frog...probably should have gotten the plain one that looks like a toilet...and when we put him on it he thinks he is in time out. He won't get off and just cries. (His time out spot is a chair.) So, no potty training yet. I suppose we can wait a little longer. I just got my hopes up :(


He decided it made a much better chair to watch movies than to pee in. He dragged it from the bathroom to the living room and set up house.


If any of you know Jay, you know that chips and salsa are his favorite. He has passed down the love to Jack and almost every day they sit down together and have chips and salsa. Jack is a double dipper and his chip gets a little soggy, but he loves it. Even when it is too hot and his eyes and nose are running and he is coughing, he just keeps dipping.


Jack fell against our headboard a few weeks ago and gave himself a pretty sweet fat lip. Notice the top teeth marks on his bottom lip. I'm just glad he didn't bite all the way through.


Jack is a pretty inventive little guy and fairly good at amusing himself. The other day I was in the kitchen making dinner. I opened up the pantry because he likes to play in the cans. I turned around to check on him and he was getting out the box that my food processor is in. He pushed it against the wall, then grabbed a big can of dried apples. He sat down on the processor and pulled the can toward him with his feet and made himself a little recliner. It is now his favorite seat in the house, besides the potty chair.


Jack has just recently started watching TV. I'm not going to lie, sometimes I think the TV is heaven sent. Does that make me a bad mom?

And lastly, this is my house at the end of the day. Naked kid....toys everywhere. I realize that Jack is in his diaper in most of the pictures. He really does wear clothes most of the time. I promise :)


Here are two videos, one of Jack a little slap-happy and one of his new favorite thing.

Mini Sloth ?????

I realize that this could come across badly, but seriously, the resemblance is amazing. Haha!