Not enough time...

I can't believe there are only 6 shopping days left until Christmas--where did the time go?!? I had the best of intentions of starting shopping early and not doing this waiting until the last minute again. So much for that! Maybe next year, LOL!

Oh, boy, here comes trouble!

Trouble in the form of one 8 month old boy! He's discovered crawling--that should say it all!

Apparently, 8 months was the magic age, because the very next day, he figured out how to army crawl. By the following Monday (12/7), he was all over the living room & dining room--under tables, after power cords and dvds, the whole works.

Then, just yesterday he figured out true crawling--oh, boy! Now he really books it around the room. And let me tell you, when I move him away from a place he's not supposed to be--like underneath the dining room table--he yells. He doesn't cry or fuss--he yells at me, LOL!

I really wish I'd had my camera handy earlier this evening, though. We have an old papasan cushion (you know, for those saucer-looking bamboo chairs) on the floor with a quilt on top of it for Garrett to hang out on. Wood floors are just not all that comfortable! I looked over at him after he'd worked his way across it, crawling toward something--in the process of moving off the cushion and onto the floor, he'd worked his pants half off! It was so funny, and he was so confused!

*****

The annual Springwater Christmas Dinner was held this last Saturday night, and the icy weather held off until after all the festivities--definitely an answer to a lot of prayers. In addition to the Springwater church family and our personal guests, we also invited a number of servicemen and women and their families. It was amazing--we had 300 people, 100 of which were children! The turkey and ham dinner was fabulous, and the entertainment--an Elvis impersonator--was so much fun! The pastor's wife, Bev, really got into the fun:

Oh, and did I mention Santa? Yep, we had Santa Claus at our Christmas dinner. Gotta love free Santa pics with no waiting in line at the mall! Garrett was fantastic with the big guy--no fear at all. The hardest part of the picture was trying to get G-man to quit looking at Santa long enough to look at the camera! I thought for sure he was going to pull the beard off!

It's not possible!

That's what I think every time I look at my son and realize how old he is already. 8 months? Not a chance! There's no way it's been 8 months since I was first able to hold & cuddle him!

He may have started out at an average weight (7lbs 9oz), but he's more than made up for it since! He's pushing 20lbs, easy, at this point! I can't wait until his 9 month check up next month to get the official stats!

Ok, really?!?

I swear, it's Monday all over again!

I was on my way out of the house this morning and turned around to grab a bagel, so I wouldn't starve during the morning training class. Then, I headed out the door to catch the bus. Apparently, that one minute delay was all it took to miss my bus--I watched it drive by in front of me as I walked down the hill. Fabulous.

So, of course, I called my mommy, LOL. She's helping Todd with Garrett during the day right now, so she was up at the house. "Help! I missed my bus! Can you come get me & take me up to the stop at Vermont & 45th?" She bundled G-man up into the car, and came right out, picked me up, and dropped me off at said stop. Then she drove off--makes sense, right?

Thank goodness I thought to glance at the bus schedule posted in the bus shelter...I had to call my mom back, as I'd missed the bus at that stop, too--by minutes. Grrrrrr!

She had to wake Trin up to get ready for school, so it took a few more minutes for her to get back to me. So, while I waited, I checked the schedule of bus 12--it's a frequent run line that stops at the Burlingame Freddy's, and I can usually catch that one into town when all else fails. It was not to be today.

Apparently, that one minute delay for a bagel caused a series of events that caused me to miss every single bus that could have possibly gotten me to work on time this morning! The end result? My poor mom had to drive me all the way downtown to work--I love her!

Then? To top things off? I'm dashing out of my office with a fresh cup of coffee, heading for the elevators and rushing to get to my training class when I pass the rest of the class...headed back to the office. Training was cancelled this morning.

Figures.

Guests & Thanksgiving

It's been a long couple of weeks! Last weekend, we had guests Friday & Saturday, & it made for a crazy household. Rebecca is an old friend of Todd's, and he used to watch her daughter, Madisyn, while she worked. They moved to Alabama when Becca got married 3 years ago, and we haven't seen them since (other than on Facebook, of course!), so it was really important to Todd to be able to spend time with them--Maddy's like his niece. They got to the house before I got home from work, and the first thing I thought (and said) when I saw Maddy was, "She's tiny!" She turns 5 next month and is just a dinky little thing!

We also had Thanksgiving at our house--that was insane! We had a total of about 34 people, including those of us who actually live in this house and the babies, and it was loud! Then again, just about any King family gathering is, so what's new? I got an awesome pic of my mom with her newest grandson (Garrett, of course) and her great-granddaughter (Kayden). The best surprise of the day was when my nephew, Donte, arrived with his fiancee, Cynthia, and their daughter, the above-mentioned Kayden. They were originally planning on going to Cynthia's family's Thanksgiving dinner, but weren't able to get there thanks to the snow. Bummer for them, but yay for us!

Then, it was off to Black Friday shopping, baby! My sister, Mundee, cousin, Val, and nephew, Devan, and I met up around 5 to hit Walmart, Freddy's, & Target. Yes, we got started a little late--my fault! I apparently never heard my alarm go off at 3am, and so I didn't wake up until 4:15am. We were supposed to meet my sister at 4:30 at her place. Of course, I guess it wasn't ALL my fault--we'll blame Old Navy, too, since Mundee didn't get out of there until 4:45-ish! It was a madhouse, but so much fun! Well, for us for the first half of the morning anyway. The poor guys behind us in the line at Walmart were only in the store because they'd had a flat tire, & it was the only place open within walking distance where they could get some Fix-a-Flat--fun stuff! We were all out of steam by the time we'd made it through Walmart & Freddy's, and I think I ended up with only 4 actual Christmas presents after all of that--everything else I got is a "use right now", like the jackets for $7 at Walmart. Oh, well, guess that means more shopping time for me, and I love it!

He's on the move!

And the monster man is on the move! Yesterday, while my mom was watching him, he apparently was making the rounds of the living room--backwards, LOL! He'd done a bit of scooting before, but nothing like this! Big sis Trin took a few pics, and doesn't he look proud of himself? Now the countdown begins to the day he figures out how to go forward, and then look out! Nothing'll be safe....

Girls' day out

What a fun day! Beth, Trinity, & I went to a Christmas card making party at the church & each left with 12 cards--3 each of 4 different styles. Trin was rockin--she finished way before I did, & her cards are fantastic. And Beth was socializing w/everyone, even people she doesn't really know. Those of you who know Beth know this is a rare thing. We had a wonderfully homecooked meal for lunch--chili, clam chowder, corn bread, and hot dogs--yum!

The funniest thing, though, was Todd. He stayed home, since there wasn't enough room in the car for all of us (Mom was driving), and let's face it, he's not exactly the card making type, LOL! I got 4 calls from him--4!--over the 5 hours we were gone: "I miss you while you're gone! I'm llloooonnnnnely!" LOL! Poor baby, =0)

Ahhhhhh!

Yay for Friday! This is a good morning already--I don't have training today, so I didn't have to leave @ 6 in the morning to catch the bus. This meant I got to sleep in for an extra hour. Add to this the fabulousness that is my son sleeping through the night for the first time in months--and I mean really, truly through the night; not waking up at 2 am to eat or fussing in his pack 'n' play, so I'll bring him in bed with me--and I feel so rested!

Then again, I just discovered we're out of creamer. Crap. So much for a good cup of coffee before heading out the door to work.

Aaargh!

I hate it when I forget my phone! I left it at home today and felt naked all day long at work! I know, it's sad. That's the true downside to a smart phone--you get used to having access to all of your usual internet haunts all day long, so you really feel like you're missing out on something important when you don't have access to your phone. So sad....

I found another couple of pics to share. These are of Garrett on Halloween--our little biker boy, LOL! We didn't actually take him out trick or treating but had all sorts of fun tatting him up!

Here I go!

Okay, so I'm finally getting a blog going. I was thinking today about how much easier it would have been to keep everyone updated on the whole Todd situation on something like this--since not everyone I know is on Facebook, as hard as that is to believe sometimes, LOL!

On the Todd situation--things are definitely on the upswing...hopefully for good--I don't know how much more of the up and down I can take at this point! Todd was prescribed some pretty heavy duty sleeping meds & has finally been able to get some sleep, so it's really feeling as though I finally have my husband back. I didn't realize how hard things were, even though he was home, until he'd finally gotten 12 hours of good, deep, restful sleep--it was like I'd had a shadow of my husband at home before that point.

My biggest thanks and crazy gratitude are being sent out to everyone who's been helping our family through this (to be honest) nightmare--I don't know how we would've made it through, had this happened while we were still out in Virginia!

On to happier things....Garrett's truly diving into the whole solids thing, LOL! If there's food in front of him, and he doesn't think you're noticing his hands reaching out, he dives headfirst toward the bowl, hand, spoon, or fork that is holding said food. We've discovered we really have to have a firm grip on the munchkin man when food's around--he's definitely Todd's son!

I love the first time mom stuff! I have Trinity, and she's one of the joys of my life, but I wasn't around for her baby moments and her firsts, so this is truly new to me. I still can't believe G-man's 7 months old already! He's decided, after 7 months of staying happily on his back while being changed, that now he needs to try to turn over while I'm changing him. That, or when I turn around to get his sleeper after changing the good ol' diaper, he flips over on to his tummy and is desperately trying to get to some toy. Good thing he hasn't figured out going forward yet! I know once he does, he'll be racing around--no caution in my boy at all!