15 Months Old, Crazy Toddler!

Dexter has learned to climb up on not only the kitchen chairs, but also onto the table! And yes, that's where we keep the cat food...time to find another place to put it to keep it away from Dexter. (We never eat at that table.)

He's added a few words to his vocabulary: Boot, Done, Bye Bye. He's also learning animal sounds, I've heard him: Moo, Meow, Ruff Ruff, and Quack. 

He's 20lbs, 7oz. He's light for his age, but average for overall size.

This past week all of us were sick :( I had my very first sinus infection. Still getting over it. It was brutal. Awesome timing too since it was my second week on the new job. 

It seems like Dexter has had a cold or illness every other week since October. He's around 3 other kids at the sitters. One kid gets something then it goes through all 4, sux.

Dexter's favorite book for the past few weeks, really since he became really interested in reading books, is "Maisy Train". I have it memorized, haha. We read it about 4-8 times per day. He picks this book out over and over again out of a pile of books. He loves it!

Changes...

Today was my last day as the Marketing Physician Liaison at The Neurological Institute. I've been with the company for 2 1/2 years. I knew for a while that I had to find a new job, but I kept putting it off. First I wanted to have the baby first, then I wanted to wait til he was 6 months, then I said I'd start looking when he turned one...Finally I actually just went for it. There are a few reasons it took me so long to move on, first it's a smaller company than I'm used to, so it was a family and I was comfortable. Second, it was the easiest job I think I've ever had. So the fact that the pay was garbage made sense. By staying with the company I was short-changing my family and selling myself short. 

Monday I start my new job. My first week is training in DC. I will miss my baby and husband sooo much! I'm going to be working for LivingSocial. If you don't already receive the LivingSocial Daily Deals emails, check it out. Sweet discounts for restaurants, spas, entertainment, ect and we're in most cities. 

Besides the new job, we are also looking to move into a new house. Unfortunately, we can't sell our current home without completely loosing our ass. Our only option is to try to rent it out and keep it as rental property. It could turn into a pain in the butt, but worth it. We just aren't sure yet how easy it will be to get a renter at the price point we need to cover the mortgage. Assuming we are able to rent it out, we are looking at some killer houses! We are going to check one out this Sunday. It has a pool :) That's not on our "wishlist" but hell, if the house is cool, why not? 

The big thing is, we need more space, more yard, and in a different area of the city. With my new job I work from a home office. I did that in the past but it was before Dexter. Now what was my office is now Dexter's room. I will be cramming into the guest room/Justin's office until we hopefully get a new house.

Our house will be listed for rent shortly after I get back from training. 

Dexter is changing a bunch too! His cute new thing is bringing me a book to read when I sit on the floor,  He finds a book, brings it to me, and sits on my lap to read it. Sometimes he even makes it through the whole book, haha. 

He eats a ton! You would think he would be chubby, but he's a rail. He's only 22 lbs! 

Here's an average day menu:

Wake Up- Soymilk

Breakfast-Mini pancakes, Banana, Yogurt, watered down apple juice

Lunch- mock chick salad sandwich, green beans, applesauce, water

Afternoon Snack- tortilla roll up, peaches, graham crackers, Soymilk

Dinner- 2 tofu dogs (chopped), dog bun, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries, water

Bedtime- Soymilk

He eats more food than I do, it's crazy!

Dear Birthday Mountain Cabin, I miss you!

So, it's been over a month, but here are the pics from my amazing birthday weekend in the cabin. I miss the cabin so much. I miss the Hot Tub and the Theater room the most! Justin is determined to have a theater room in our next house. 

View from the hot tub...

Theater room...

Justin and Ian being super serious!

Heather cooked every night!

"Bundle of Fun" Cabin  I <3 u!

Blog Slacker

Ok, so I have been an incredibly bad blogger lately! I know I complain and mention this a lot, but it really comes down to lack of time. I always think about things I want to write about, photos I want to take, and not to mention I want to completely redo the look of my blog, but I have no "free" time. It's incredible how much free time you really do have before having a baby, even working full time.

Anyway... Last weekend was my Birthday Get-A-Way! We went to the mountains outside of Gatlinburg, TN. It's about 4 hours away from us. We stayed in an amazing cabin with a game room, theater room ,and hot tub. I am completely in love with that place! It was so nice to get away and relax. Our friends, Heather and Ian joined us. That's us pictured above. Those photo places were everywhere. Of course we went to the first one we ran into and got ripped off, haha. The clothes were pretty gross too, but it was worth the laughs.

Dexter spent the weekend with Justin's parents in Wilmington. It was very hard to leave him, but I knew he would have a good time. It was also easier this time because he left in the morning and he's really happy in the morning. Last time he got in the car for the long drive right at bedtime, he was tired and sad and I hated myself for letting him go.

Me before we rode on a Jurassic Park ride. I wanted to just stay in the cabin all weekend, soak in the hot tub and watch movies, but I didn't want to be a party pooper so I gave in and we did some silly stuff. It turned out to be really fun. 

Soon I'll post the pictures we took of the cabin. We had an amazing weekend, but I was so happy to see Dexter Monday night when we got back. It's so funny how he looks different and bigger after not seeing him for only 3 days!

 

Here are some the things Dexter is doing lately:

-Saying: Momma, Dadda, Itty (Kitty), Ba-min (Bateman, our dog), Ball

-He climbs on everything, stands on everything he can.

-Starting to nicely pet the dog, still gets a little too aggressive with the cat

-Still won't fit into size 12 month jeans, his waist is way small.

-Points at things

-Gives high fives, shakes hands

-Gives kisses, almost gets "throwing kisses"

-Tries to do Itsy Bitsy Spider

-"Swims" in the bathtub on his belly

-Plays with his toys independently for 5-10 min straight

-Eats a ton. Some things he really likes now: mangos (all fruits really), Ravioli (Annies), Peas, Goldfish type crackers (Annies), LOVES cheese, but I try to limit how much he gets

-His mullet is getting a bit out of control.

Be-lated Xmas News! (Photo overload)

We alternate Christmas celebrations each year between my family family in PA and Justin's family in NC. This year was PA. We all had so much fun! So here are the pics...

This is Dexter's cardboard house! Everyone that came over helped to color it and signed their name on the inside. Dexter loved running in and out of the little house.

 My cousin Matt loved the house too!

 This plastic rat hung out with Dexter in the house a lot!

 Dexter and his second cousin, Maddie. She's too cute!

 Christmas Eve Celebrations! Second cousin, Nathan. Dexter is still excitedly attacking other children, so this is me holding him back. It's embarrassing.

 Obsessed with standing on chairs, toys, anything right now!

 Second cousin, Jack.

 Daddy and Baby. Baby looking a bit tired.

 Grandpaul

 Nathan

Cousins! Choas!

Grandma and Grandpaul

 Miami Dude, Cousin Matt

Christmas Morning! Uncle Joshy dressed up as Santa Clause!

 Dexter was a bit confused.

 Kids with their toys.

 Mommy and Baby!

Family in the snow

 Dexter wasn't too stoked on his first experience playing in the snow. 

 I'm not really sure what's happening with my hat here.

 Cute, cuddly, snow baby!