to all the "meanest parents EVER" - thank you..

I was going to wait until Mother’s Day or Father’s Day to post this and then I realized there’s no time like the present to tell people how much you appreciate them.

Last night Peter and I stood over Grant’s crib as he was sleeping and we were both overwhelmed with a sense of how fortunate we really are. As we went to bed that night we talked about how weird it was to think that we were ever that small. I was suddenly hit with the realization that 34 years ago my parents probably stood over my crib and watched me sleep just like we’ve done with Grant over the past seven months. I’ve always known my parents loved me but I don’t think I understood the depth of that love until I had a baby of my own. I know I’ve said it before but I never realized the capacity I had to love until I had Grant and then a new day comes and I love him even more. Sometimes I think there’s no truer expression of absolute love as when I’m feeding Grant at the end of the day and we’re both staring endlessly into each other’s eyes. It’s strange that I’m just now realizing that at one point I was on the other end of that gaze.

When Peter and I talked about it later we then jumped ten years ahead (or sooner) when we’re inevitably going to be told we’re “the meanest parents in the world, EVER” when we don’t give into whatever boundary he’s pushing. How does your heart not break into a million pieces when a child doesn’t understand “no” doesn’t mean I don’t love you? Yet, I thoroughly believe if you don’t hear that you’re the meanest parent ever, then you’re not doing your job. J I know I was a handful, especially during those early teen years with my parents and somehow we came out on the other end all alive and I know my parents still love me. So while I’m at risk for sounding incredibly sappy I’d just like to say “thank you” to every meanest mom and dad in the world who’s realized that you can never love a child too much. You’re making our world a better place.

-misty

our messy pup and his new tricks...

Today I needed to clean the kitchen and cook and Grant was bored with his toys in the sitting room. I knew it was a bath night so I sat Grant in his highchair and handed him a teething biscuit. He's normally a pretty clean eater. Of course, I have to wipe his face off but it's all in the mouth area (below nose above chin) and very little if any on his hands. The teething biscuits were something else. I swear I turned to load the dishwasher for 2 seconds and when I turned back around this is what I found...
He was quite happy with himself and knowing it was bath night I let him gnaw on it for a good 20 minutes. Here's a link to the other photos I snapped off him in all of his cookie goodness.

His crawling has been interesting. He's definitely more mobile but he seems to be trying out new ways of getting around. The standard crawling on his knees wasn't getting him where he wanted fast enough and if he gets too excited it's just quicker for him to launch himself fwd by falling forward over and over. Today I came around the corner and saw him up on his feet like a little monkey and walking with his feet and hands. Whatever he decides to go with he's definitely in a hurry to get SOMEWHERE quick.

He also seemed to work our the zipper on my purse in the grocery store. After 2 separate instances where I thought I was going crazy and leaving my purse unzipped I've realized that he's worked out how to unzip it and get into it.

Everyday he learns a new trick and I'm so glad I'm home all the time to catch them all, I wouldn't change it for the world. :)

-misty

we're officially mobile!!!

Grant is crawling! He was on the floor and finally started moving his hands along with his knees. I'm not quite sure he even realizes what he's doing but he's definitely doing it. We were very proud and cheering him on which only seemed to confuse him. :) Every time we got the video camera out to video it he decided that it would be quicker to drop back down to his falling forward/commando crawling. But he's doing a mix of the two. I think once he's realized the real crawling will get him places quicker the falling fwd crawling he'll permanently make the transition.

Anyway! Exciting news! Hope you all had a good Easter.

btw.. I totally burned the ham...awesome. spent 2.5 hours cooking the stoopid thing and then the next 45 minutes chiseling off all the charred bits. Fortunately it was just the outside and the inside was fine.

-misty

Happy Easter!!

We had these taken when Grant and I were back in Cozad. Grant was a little freaked out by the real bunny at first but seemed to warm up to him. :)

Grant's really becoming his own little person and testing the waters to see how his whines and cries work with us. It might be separation anxiety setting in, I'm not sure. The past few days he cries when you put him down for a nap or to go to bed, even when he's exhausted. It's the kind of crying that totally tugs at your heart and makes you feel horrible for not going in and picking him up for a big snuggle. If he wasn't completely zonked out and snoring 30 seconds later I probably would. So fortunately he seems to have developed the "easily bores" trait from his dad. The great thing with Peter is even when he's being annoying you know that he's going to get bored with it long before you're even mildly annoyed so If you just ignore him it passes pretty quickly. :) I've also had a few talks with Peter about Grant picking up on things from us. He's agreed to try and calm down about things, which is good. My big worry is Grant will grow up believing that indeed all stop lights do hate him and go red as he approaches or that every social engagement is to be dreaded. So I finally have a really good excuse to get him to work on those bad habits. :)

Hope you all have a great Easter. I'm cooking a ham... my first.. wish me luck.

-misty

helloooo!! long time no post

It's been ages since I last posted. We just got back from a 2 week visit in Nebraska visiting Gramma and Grampa. Grant is one well-loved little boy. I was worried he might be a little shy at first but he didn't seem to have any problem whatsoever. Grampa was quick with the bribes and tried putting ice cream in his mouth before we'd even been on the ground for an hour. :) It was a great trip home and good for Grant to see Uncle Chris, Aunt Aj, Taylor, Timmy and the rest of our family and friends that we got to visit. Pete on the other hand had 2 lonely weeks at home and was very glad to have us back.

Joanna, Dennis and Addie came to visit the day after we got back from NE. After the exhaustion of a 6 hour flight delay the night before we were pretty crummy hosts. :P We ended up just hanging out around the house and then taking a walk through the trails around Microsoft.

It was probably just as well as both babies ended up getting sick that evening and were both up throughout the entire night. I think Addie had the worst of it as she sounded hoarse and just looked miserable when they left Sunday morning. Granty was and is just pretty snotty and a little more grumbly than normal.

So on the moving front.. Grant is getting more and more mobile. He's not quite worked out the proper arm movements for crawling but he gets on all fours and makes himself fall forward over and over to get to where he wants to go. He's also worked out a cool maneuver where he walks his feet forward until his butt plops down behind him and he's sitting up. I thought it was an accident the first few times but he's doing this more and more regularly and with more control. He's also doing some weird thing where he is up on his feet and hands with his butt in the air and he puts his head down and likes to lift his hands up to suck his thumb or mess around with toys by his feet. I have no idea what this is about but he's doing it a lot. It's like the pic above but with one or no hands.

This morning Pete went in to get Grant and found he'd pulled himself up on his knees and was holding onto the edge of the crib. I still can't work out how he did this.. we'll have to see if he does it again.

He's definitely becoming his own little person and is showing when he's NOT AMUSED. He's had a bad cold the last couple of days and anytime a Kleenex gets anywhere near his face he growls and turns his head and squeals. Tonight he decided he wasn't tired AT ALL and totally threw a fit when I put him to bed. Fortunately, he's a lot like Pete in that he gets bored pretty quickly. So the rant only lasted about 2 minutes when he then decided he was tired and fell asleep. And don't even get me started on the diapering.. holy cow.. what is it that makes him turn on his stomach the minute his diaper is off?.. once he can really crawl I'm in trouble.

The feeding stuff has been surprising. He seems to be more of a veggie guy. Every time we gather around to feed him something sweet that we expect him to devour like apples or pears he turns up his face and just really doesn't seem to like it. He loved sweet potatoes and seemed to like avocados, corn, and green beans pretty well. When Gramma and Grampa tried to slip him some Jello, whipped cream, chocolate malt and who knows what else he made a face that said in no uncertain terms "what is that revolting crap you just put in my mouth?" and then refused to open his mouth. Totally weird. If he keeps this up Halloween and Easter are going to be disappointing holidays for him. :)

that's all for now :)

-misty

ha! hair pulling.. now i get it!

So for the past 3 months or so Pete laughs everytime he hears me yelp from Grant reaching up and grabbing a handful of hair. But Pete's turn came Monday morning when Grant reached up and grabbed a big handful of his armpit hair and wouldn't let go. He was at at a really weird angle so it was hard for him to get Grant loose. Now I get it.. it IS funny.. :)

-misty

btw my fav part about the pics below is it shows the abuse his socks get daily from his favorite "pull off the socks" game. (beside the fact that they're insanely cute :) )

Grant Photos

Grant and his favorite book....

More photos posted at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dampier/sets/913008/

our .5 year old :)

I just realized the other day that I haven't posted in awhile. Grant is will be 6 months old tomorrow. In some ways I feel like it was just yesterday that we drove to the hospital with nervous anticipation that chilly Sept morning and then I look at the early photos and how much he's learned and grown since then and it seems like ages. He's amazing and no matter how little sleep I have, all is forgotten when I walk in and see his little toothy smile every morning. All the world should wake up so happy or have someone be that happy to see you first thing in the morning.

He's doing new things every day and I don't regret my decision to stay home at all. In the past few weeks he's become SO mobile. He's doing a full combination of backwards crawling, the worm, rolling all over and a killer downward facing dog (a yoga pose). He gets so incredibly frustrated at his lack of control over where he's going that he grunts and squeals non-stop, but doesn't want to be picked up.. he just wants to get to where he wants to go...NOW. We're childproofing this weekend. He also started practicing tons of new weird sounds.. in the middle of the night. It's really weird to hear him babbling and howling and screeching in the next room. I've also got him on a routine now and for the most part HE'S SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! Please cue the hallelujah chorus. Yesterday I started giving him rice cereal 3 x a day. He loves his "ricers" and I can't wait to start him on veggies to see what he thinks. We've got his 6 month well baby check up on the 16th and I'll get the go-ahead with our pediatrician then. I think he might be getting some more teeth in as well. He just wasn't himself today and he's been chewing on everythign in sight and had a runny nose tonight too. Hopefully they'll arrive with as little fanfare as the first 2. We haven't taken any new pictures in awhile. Tomorrow I'll try and take some snaps of his crawling moves and get them posted.

-misty

rendezvous with rice cereal and the hand hunter

So for the past 4 days Granty has been trying rice cereal. I think the texture is kind of weirding him out as he attacks the spoon with great enthusiasm and, twists up his face like he's eaten something horrible (not sure i disagree) and then is ready to attack the next spoonful. We took these pics of him that seem to say it all. He's getting better each time with scaling back on the tongue thrust thing that makes it all just dribble down his chin. He's worked out how to blow rice cereal raspberries and he seems to think it's pretty cool. I'm going through bibs like they're paper towels and the grit of rice cereal is just everywhere when we're finished but it's all really cute. The first 2 nights he had 8 hour blocks of sleep and last night he slept from 6pm til 7am only waking at 9pm for a bottle!!! I'm seriously hoping I didn't just jinx that. So it seems the rice cereal is making a difference in that area. My friend Gail came over yesterday in the middle of his rice cereal feast. I'd JUST wiped off his face and gave him one more bite and ran to get the door. Gail came in and said "Whoah!! you've got it allllll over you!!" It's amazing how such a tiiiny amount can be spread over his ENTIRE face.

He's also "discovering" his hands but unlike most babies that stare at them in wonder Grant captures one hand with the other and then stares at it with great suspicion. He seems to be glad he's caught this thing on the end of his arm with wiggly sticks coming out of it. I need to try and get a picture of it but he seems to only go "hand hunting" when he's in quiet mode.

He's also made a game of pulling off his socks EVERY TIME I put them on his feet. In fact, dressing him has become a royal pain in the butt. He pushes himself off my legs with his feet, arches his back, rolls over, twists and turns and that's just putting a onesie on him.

And speaking of moving.. he's moving all over. It takes him awhile but he's still inchworming all over. You can see and hear the frustration from not getting where he wants as fast as he wants.

Oh, and this is his little dood outfit... put it on here for no other reason than I think it's cute.


Anyway, it's been a long day so that's it for now. :)

-misty

Our New Zealand photos are now all online

Our photos are now online at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dampier/sets/72057594065178369/

Thanks to my Mum, Sister, Cripsin, Bryan, Dave and Jill for their wonderful hospitality while we stayed with them. We had a truly wonderful vacation. Thank you!

Grant's rules for traveling...

Well we're back from sunny New Zealand and the last of our flights til the end of March when Grant and I travel back to Nebraska to see Gramma and Grampa again. And while Grant was an amazing little traveler he does has a few diehard travel rules that he adheres to while traveling...

1. Will refuse to nap in any airport and will get fussy unless taken out of stroller in order to entertain and smile at anyone within 10 feet.

2. Will board plane with no trouble but will refuse to sit or lie down until I've met all my neighbors on the plane and given them ample time to smile at me and tell me how cute I am.

3. Will only fall asleep when mum or dad have me in THE most uncomfortable position that is impossible to maintain for more than 10 minutes at a time.

4. No matter how many times my diaper is changed prior to trip, will have a full-on blow out upon entering the airport or in the last 15 minutes of flight no matter how long.

Yes, this means Grant has had a blow out EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT no matter how long the flight. I realize that almost every post in this blog is about poo but I type how we're finding parenting and what's going on in little Granty's life and believe you me, I, more than anyone wish there were a lot fewer blowouts.

On the poo-ing front I did discover Napi-san while in New Zealand!! The only thing that without fail has removed all traces of blow-outs with one soaking. It's the best!! It actually works!! Good God I sound like all those women in detergent and mop commercials that are a little too excited about cleaning. I've been gainfully unemployed for less than a month and I'm already woozy over cleaning crap.. I could be becoming my worst nightmare.

Oh yeah.. I'm no longer an employee of Microsoft. After 4 months with my little guy there was no way that I could think about leaving him for 8+ hours a day. There are too many milestones and smiles that I'd miss by being away from him daily.

So aside from the pooing Grant is getting SO big. Aside from his little toothy-pegs shown below he's now sitting up like a champ. He only topples over when he's lunging for something to his right or left. He's also been doing this tongue thing he sticks out his little tongue all the time. I'm not sure if it's related to his teeth or not but the two seemed to happen around the same time. It looks really cute too but I'm afraid he's going to get chapped lips. He also is getting great at grabbing things like glasses, hair - right at the root where it really hurts, clothes, toys etc. He is a master at the fake-out with the glasses though. He'll open his hand in front of you and wave it around and you think oh cute he's watching his hand and whammo! out of no-where he quickly reaches up and snatches your glasses. I think he's also now too big for his infant car seat so no more infant carrier. I'm not looking forward to that change. Just as you're getting really used to something, like transporting him around, it all changes.

I think he really misses watching the craziness of his "little people" (his cousins Luca and Arabella). He must really wonder what's going on with all the family we've visited lately. People always comment on what a happy baby he is and I'm sure it's because he knows he's well loved by all the family we've been visiting and of course, mom & dad.

Anyway, pics of New Zealand trip are posted on Flicker (or soon will be.. Pete's in charge of that so blame him when they're not up) :)

-misty

WE HAVE CHOMPERS!!

We're currently visiting Dave and Jill in Napier. (They've just had a baby 3 weeks ago! Pics of the dads will follow later). Anyway, woke up this morning and was playing around with Grant and pulled down his bottom lip only to find TWO LITTLE TEETH peeking out!!!

They're so stinking cute...

greetings from Queenstown!

again not much time but wanted to say a quick hello from everyone. We couldn't have been blessed with a better little traveler. Grant didn't cry at all on the long 6 hour car trip from Christchurch to Queenstown. His sleep schedule was messed up for a bit but all seems to be back in order now. I'm typing this from an Internet Cafe right now and it has a webcam so I thought I'd post a pic of Grant and how big he's getting.


Note how happy he looks after he had the biggest blow out to date. Nothing to kick you out of feeling like a trendy youngster in a cool cafe quicker than picking up your adorable baby and finding out he's blown through a onsie and a THICK canvas like overall shortset. I actually had to dip his butt in a sink in the bathroom, which ended up being a half sink the entire thing was a disaster I don't want to repeat anytime soon. Not to mention the fact that we're carting around an outfit covered in poo in the sweltering sun all day.. gross.

Greetings from New Zealand! I only have a few minutes to type so this will be quick. The international flight went beautifully! Grant slept the entire time only waking up a few times for a bottle and for the first time EVER I was actually able to get some sleep on the flight. I’m convinced it’s because since having a baby my body has gotten used to grabbing sleep when I have any opportunity. Grant had 3 straight days of sleeping through the night and then back to waking up every 3-4 hours. I’m sure he’ll get the full night thing down just as we’re about to leave and then his internal clock will screw it all up again!

The day after we arrived we went to a barbeque at Bryan's house and it was the first time Grant had really spent any time outside. He wasn’t his normal, smiley self as he had to battle HOT sun, slimey sunscreen and a hat with a bill that seemed to limit his vision. I think he was still suffering from a bit of jetlag too.

The next day we went down to Sumner Beach and Grant had his first little paddle in the water. He wasn’t quite sure what to think of the cold water that kept rushing in but loved to squish his feet in the sand.

We’re off today to watch the World Busker Festival in the town center—will post some pics soon!

OH! Grant has been rolling around like crazy and scooching like a madman.. crawling is SO close!!!

we may have a superhero in our presence...

I think we may have a superhero in our presence. His superpower seems to be the ability to freeze people for a few seconds. When we were back in Nebraska, Grant and I had gone to bed a bit early and Pete came up like an hour later to go to bed. I saw Pete turn to get into bed and he froze, crouched over,leg in mid-air. In my groggy state I gave him a confused look and through his teeth he whispered "I've been caught". Grant had opened his eyes just as Pete was getting into bed and the threat of waking up made Pete freeze in his tracks.

There have been other instances where he's used his super powers to get out of naps. I'll put him down sleepy for his nap and go do something. When I walk back by to check on him I'll peek through his cracked door only to find his little eyes staring right back at me. It totally catches me off guard and freezes me every time. If I walk away he starts crying because he knows I've seen him.

Yesterday morning I put him back to sleep after feeding him and went to wash some bottles. When I walked back past his room I glanced in only to see the top of his little head and his eyes peeking over the new bumper we'd just bought him. He'd flipped over onto his stomach and pushed himself up really high and was waiting for me to walk by to use his freeze-ray eyes.

He obviously needs to hone his craft in order to fight crime because as of right now his super powers are only getting him out of naps. But I do have to say that freeze-ray eyes beat out wonderwoman's "lasso of truth" any day. I don't know if the Justice League of America even has any openings but if she got in with that lame super power I think Grant just might have a chance... oh yeah.. she had the invisible jet too. hrm. guess I don't need to shop for a super hero outfit just yet.

-misty

zombification...

I'll tell you what's not fun. Waking up every two hours with Grant's cold would have been fine but feeding him with a bunged up nose seems to take 3 times as long since he can't work out the breathing and eating thing simultaneously. So by the time I've pumped, fought with him to do the nasal aspirator, fed him and got him back to bed I'm exhausted. I climb back into bed only to be next to Peter who has developed a horrible cold that causes him to snore, grunt, hum and make some really loud strange guttural noise that could wake the dead. So by the time I finally get used to that noise and start to drift off.. Grant is hungry again!! Yay!! If one of them doesn't get better soon I'm going to start having double Nyquil martinis myself.

- misty

home from the holidays and "mommy merit badges"

Well we're back from the holiday. We had a fantastic time home seeing friends and family (see all of our holiday photos here) and showing off Grant to anyone within a 10ft radius. It felt like it was a nice lengthy vacation yet as always we still didn't get to see everyone and do everything we would have liked. It's a weird after having no sort of childcare at home to having 10,000 arms lining up to carry and play with Grant. I don't have a problem with other people holding him I just didn't want people to think I was always trying to relieve myself of my parental duties. Having said that we were allowed the luxury of getting in a few naps and going to TWO movies (2 thumbs up for Narnia and 2 so-so thumbs for KingKong).

Grant also got his first cold on Christmas Day. :( I thought it would have run through his system by the time we headed back but no such luck. Fortunately, the congestion didn't seem to affect his ears too much during the flight and he only had about 3 minutes of fussy time the whole trip. He has never been a really snugly baby. He's never liked resting his head on your shoulder. If he's up there it's just another opportunity for him to look around at stuff. You could tell he was sick and felt miserable because he had no interest in looking around. He just rested his head on my shoulder or chest as I walked him around. This trip I was also faced with my former gross-out thing and found it wasn't so bad, in fact I forgot I would have normally been grossed out. I think everyone has their gross-out thing whether it be poop, saliva, earwax, spit-up or whatever I think we all have one thing that skeeves us out. Mine is snot. I was kinda grossed out by the nasal aspirator (booger sucker) for awhile before I had Grant. After hearing his little congested breathing and hearing him all clogged up I gladly used it to try and help our little dood out. When he sneezed on the plane on the ascent I had no kleenex on me and without thinking I used my sleeve to wipe his nose. When his little head conked out on my shoulder his nose continued to run onto my shirt and I didn't think twice. I wore the two little snotty streaks on my shoulder as some sort of "mommy merit badge" and never thought about them again until I threw the shirt into the laundry that evening. Of course my concern for Grant's well being would always overshadow any sort of bodily fluid he's flung on me but I didn't expect it to be such a non-event. I didn't recoil in horror, I didn't think EWW, I just thought "oh.. poor little dude, you're really not feeling well, rest your head". Anyway... I know this is all the stuff every other parent has ever felt so it's not exactly ground breaking news. I just thought I'd share another of my "mom moments".

Took Grant into the doc today to make sure it was nothing more than a cold. He weighs 14lbs 7 oz. I thought for sure he'd be up more than that. I checked with the doc and he's in the 50th percentile. He's fluctuated between 50th and 75th since we've had him. But the doc assured me all is normal. He's back in to the doc on Thurs for his 4 month well baby check-up where he'll get his 4 other DTAP injections :(. Not looking forward to that.

Anyway, I'm off to start unpacking and start setting things aside for our New Zealand trip.

-misty

Grant the non-sleeper

Well its all too much for Granty-claus (as we now call him in honour of the Christmas spirit) - His latest trick is to keep awake until late at night refusing to go to bed due to all the excitement of meeting new folks. He then crashes out only to wake at 12, 2, 4, and 6am.... Next he has a nap until 8am when he wakes again causing us to decide that he is now "up" for the day - so we shower/get dressed - Only for him to crash out around 8.30am for a couple of hours while we're left up thinking - "Damn I could do with some sleep".... :)

Of course its now 11.30pm and we could have been asleep for 2+ hours along with Grant but we missed that boat again...

He is loving all the attention though! Smiles galore, he's also discovered reaching and grabbing Mum and Dad's glasses! Time to put contacts in tomorrow.... Of course the Mr Poopemheimer tendancies are still there - We need a lot of clothes each day for Mr Granty-Claus - One red suit just ain't gonna cut it.

Some friends of Misty's parents also had a spare Jumperoo so he is loving using that here in Cozad as well as the one my Mum gave him for Christmas in Seattle... Much appreciate that as it really helps keep him entertained while normal life proceeds...

Off to meet some of Misty's high school friends tomorrow night which we're looking forward to especially since Joanna and Dennis had a baby girl(Addie) this summer - It will be fun to catch up both with them and their experiences.

Signing off - 'Sleepless in Seattle-errr Cozad'

Pete.

Christmas in Cozad

We arrived in Cozad on Saturday afternoon after a 2am start to the day in Seattle. The plane trip with Grant went pretty well though its amazing how many dirty looks you get from people on a plane when a baby cries! The number of times Misty and I both wanted to shout out, "Yes we love the noise to" was limitless. :)

We spent Saturday at Chris and Audra's (Misty's brother and sister-in-law) and had a great time catching up with them and Taylor and Timmy (who have grown so much in 6 months since the baby shower this last summer).... Chris daringly offered to let me try out the ATV's that he'd bought this last fall and I survied - had much fun flying off ridges around their yard. The cold couldn't stop that much fun, even if it did take some effort to get Misty to try them out...

Its was a balmy -17c here last night with a day time high of -9c - Pretty cold but at least no additional wind chill to make things truly evil. I think Grant got quite a shock going from the car to the house etc....

Grant's Grandma and Grandpa arrived back at the house after we'd driven across to Cozad earlier on Sunday afternoon.... There was a mad rush between them both to get into the house first to see (a sleeping!) Grant...

Some photos of Grant as he gets into the Christmas spirit:

our little show-off

So I think I've figured out that Grant only likes to perform his cool new tricks in front of an audience. We've always joked around about Grant having a crush on his doctor. Everytime we go to her office he's completely whiney up until the point she enters the room. She checks him all over and he looks at her with those big eyes like "look at what a good baby I am.. I'm always like this!". The minute she leaves he starts to fuss. When I webcam with my mom and dad Grant is always doing his little tricks smiles for the camera. Today at my moms group I put Grant on the ground to show everyone his little inchworm crawling. Grant started up right away and once everyone ooo'd and ah'd he flipped from his front to his back. Everyone was well impressed and after the praise stopped he'd flipped back to his front like he'd been doing this at home all the time. He also sits on my lap during the entire group and watches all the other babies as they get fussy as if he never does himself. Little show-0ff.

We're off to Nebraska in a few hours and it's truly unbelievable how much additional crap we've had to pack. I just emailed my brother who is picking us up at the airport and asked him to maybe consider bringing 2 cars. Crazy how one little guy can require so much stuff!!

off to shower and get a teeny bit of sleep before we leave the house at 2:45am!!!!

wish us luck!!!

-misty