Snow again

Tabor was peeking outside to see his brother. You could hear his shreiks from inside and him banging on the door with excitement.

Just a recap for my friend Chrissy who lives in Texas. It started snowed all day Saturday and off and on Sunday and Monday. And after my previous events in the weather, you know I am not liking snow this year.

I like most people am sure I have been in my house since Saturday and haven't left to go anywhere. We walked to the grocery store yesterday because we needed a few things. Plus I HAD to get out of the house. I wasn't able to make it to work yesterday. I didn't even try to go to work. I knew I wouldn't be able to get my car out and be able to drive up to my parents to drop the kids off. Which they weren't even able to leave their house and they had 4 wheel drive and chains. They ended up walking down to our house since they had to go to the store as well. Mike's worked called him and said that they weren't going to be open yesterday. It was nice to spend an extra day with everyone as a family. For those of you who have children that need daily activities to get energy out, Nathaniel has been at the point now for several days. The short times he plays in the snow isn't getting rid of enough extra energy.

On a sad note, Mike talked to his dad yesterday and said the had at least 3 feet of snow. So, it doesn't look like we will be seeing them on Christmas day. We will have to wait till it isn't so snowy out there.

Coach purse

This is a belated post but at least I remembered. I am not doing well posting for this month. Now to my post...

As you can see, Tabor is standing in with his foot in my Coach purse. I have a few friends who think Coach is overrated, over done and too popular. I just like Coach purses. I don't like them because they are popular. I bought one and liked the quality of it so I purchased another. I am assuming that Tabor agrees with my friends because he put his foot inside it smashing the contents in the pocket. Please ignore the mess. A day inside because of the snow and somehow my children decided to throw toys all over.

Tabor's first snow

If you look carefully in this one, you can see Tabor's top two baby teeth. That is not snowflakes.

There were a few things we needed from the grocery store. Since we live about 5 minutes away walking, we got all bundled up and walked there. It was VERY cold outside. We got the few things we needed. When we got back, we sat Tabor in the snow for about a minute to see what his reaction was. He just sat there but then got excited. I don't know if it was because of the snow or because he is generally happy. Also, when I told Nathaniel it was snowing he didn't believe me. I told him to get up and look outside. He looked outside and said "I knew it was going to snow today not yesterday."

Begging like a cute little doggy

On rare occasions when Mike and I eat a bowl of something in front of the TV, Tabor stops whatever he is doing and makes his way to the coffee table. He will pull himself up at the opposite side you are and slowly make his way over to where you and your food are. Then he stares into your bowl and watches you spoon food into your mouth. Regardless of how cute he is when he does that, I have not given into his cute little face and feed him. Mike gives in every time. This morning, Tabor and Daddy shared a bowl of Corn Chex.

Santa Claus

Last week on Wednesday, my manager Stacey asked me what I did for my kids regarding Santa. I told her that I have never encouraged Santa and that if they started asking I would go along with it. I didn't want to over play it and have my kids disappointed. By kids, I mean Nathaniel since Tabor is a little young to understand. She thought that I was mean for not playing into the whole "Santa" thing. To show her I was not completely a Scrooge, I took Tabor to see Santa at the Woodburn Outlets. We went there last Saturday. There was no line to see him. I was shocked since it was the day after Black Friday. Here is my proof that I am not a Scrooge. Tabor also didn't seem overly impressed with Santa. His face shows more of a "who is this" look. Mike also agrees with me on not encourage the whole "Santa" thing.

Happy Thanksgiving a little bit late

For Thanksgiving, we went to Harold's niece's house. It was just a small group of us. His niece has 2 daughters but they are teenagers. There were no kids Nathaniel's age there but they had video games! We saw Nathaniel when it was time to eat and that was it. Tabor had a good time too. The girls played with him and he crawled up and down the stairs. I think his favorite part was dinner, as you can tell from the pictures. He started with a bib at the beginning of the day then he spit up on it. For some reason, I didn't think to bring a second bib. After Tabor was done with dinner he needed a change of clothes. I remembered a change of clothes which I was thankful for.

Sick little boy

Poor little Tabor has another ear infection. It is the third one he has had in one month. I feel so bad that he is sick again. It just breaks my heart that he keeps getting sick. He is a little more cuddly since he hasn't been feeling good. Normally, he is too busy to sit and cuddle.

9 months old

Tabor is nine months old today. What is in his mouth? It is his pacifier. He likes to put it in his mouth like you would a CD or DVD. He normally doesn't take a pacifier but in the past few weeks he has decided he likes them again. He has been working on teeth. He has one on the bottom and is working on one on the top. Also in that past 2 weeks, he has started pulling himself up on anything he can. He is walking around the coffee table, on the front of the couch and even holds onto your fingers. And he even goes back and forth between the coffee table and couch. He has also learned how to crawl up the stairs. I have to be honest, I wasn't ready for that.

Grandpa and Grandma Whipps

Yesterday, my parents were running errands on my side of town and stopped by. It was nice to see them since we don't get together all that often. I was also lucky to get this great picture of all four of them.

Big blue tote

Mike came home with 2 really big totes from work one day last week. We decided to put some stuffed animals into one of them since we have quite a few them. Tabor was interested with what we had put inside it. So, we put him in it to play with the stuffed animals. He really enjoyed himself.

Standing up and holding on

Tabor loves standing up. He has loved standing up since he was about three months old. I have not seen a baby stand up for as long as he did at three months. When Tabor starts fussing all you need to do is stand him up at the coffee table or couch with a few toys set on them. He also likes to hold his fingers and stand. This week Tabor has taken 3 or 4 steps holding onto the coffee table, couch or our fingers.

Big brother's toys

This morning Nathaniel was trying to play with his Hotwheels. Tabor hears and sees something that he should play with and put in his mouth. Tabor does his fast military style crawl over to where Nathaniel is to get his Hotwheels. Nathaniel starts to tell me Tabor is getting his toys. I tell him that he shouldn't play with something he doesn't want his brother to play when he is awake or in the same room. He starts putting his Hotwheels away and decides to wait until Tabor is napping. But by that time Tabor is starting to climb over him to get his Hotwheels. Nathaniel eventually gives in and lets Tabor play with them but only certain ones since he puts them in his mouth and bangs them together.

Bath time for Tabor

For those of you who have seen Tabor, know that he is a big boy. He doesn't fit very well in the infant bathtub anymore. I had been holding off on putting him in the bathtub since he doesn't play around in the water. Plus his toes get wrinkly like prunes during a 10 minute bath. Last night, Mike suggested we give him a bath in the regular tub. He loved it! He was on his tummy kicking and splashing. I think he smiled the whole time he was in there. Only baths in the regular tub for Tabor.

The tooth fairy visits

Nathaniel has had a loose tooth for months. Every day we kept telling him to wiggle his tooth. FINALLY on Saturday, his tooth came out! We told Nathaniel how to pull it out. He said it was too hard. I asked Harold to come over and pull it out for me. I didn't pull any of my teeth and don't plan on pulling my kids teeth. THAT IS GROSS! My parents came over and tried to pull it. Harold couldn't get a good grip on. My mom suggested Nathaniel try to pull it out. Sure enough, he pulled it. He was so proud. That night when he went to bed he put his tooth in his tooth pillow. The tooth fairy came and bought him $5. We weren't sure what the going rate was for teeth. Anybody know what the tooth fairy pays for losing teeth?

Darth Vader and Yoda

For Halloween, Nathaniel dressed up as Darth Vader. Which is no surprise with how much he is into Star Wars. Mike and I, were trying to decide what to dress Tabor in. I wanted him to be a pumpkin or a Hershey Kiss. We ended up buying him a monkey costume but returned after I got the idea to dress him as Yoda. We did some trick or treating in my mom's neighborhood. We walked around for about an hour. Several of the houses told Nathaniel "May the force be with you". Nathaniel had a great time. Tabor was well behaved in his stroller the whole time. No fussing or crying from him. When we got home, Nathaniel even wanted to do the "optional" homework his teacher gave him. I think it was because it involved counting his candy.

Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday, we all went to the Pumpkin Patch. You would think while I was there I would take pictures of pumpkins but I did not. I took pictures of all the animals and the boys. Nathaniel did have a fun time in the corn maze and eating a pumpkin doughnut. We came home with one pumpkin since Nathaniel already had four.

Hard worker

Nathaniel stayed at the Grandma and Grandpa Rodden's Thursday night. When he was there he learned how to chop wood and helped Grandma Laurie push the wheelbarrow to get fire wood. He made her do three loads.

8 months old and double ear infection

Day we found out he had the double ear infection.

I'm only 2 days behind but Tabor turned 8 months old on Thursday. He woke up at 1:45 am Thursday morning just crying his little heart out. He didn't go back to sleep and neither did I. It's not normal for him to wake up crying and not go back to sleep. Something with his crying and how he was acting didn't seem right. I thought maybe it was a ear infection or a sore throat. He woke up with a small cold on Saturday. I called my mom at 5:30 am(she was not awake)to ask her what to do and she said it sounds like a ear infection. I then called my mother in law at 6 am. She was awake and is a early riser. I told her what was going on since Tabor was supposed to go visit at her house. She said the same thing, sounds like a ear infection. I had my mom take him to his doctor and turns they were right. He had a double ear infection.

Why Tabor wears a bib

This is why Tabor has a bib in every picture of him. He is a big time drooler. When he is excited, there is even more drool. Until the drooling is under control, Tabor will not be bib free. Tabor has learned how to pull his bib off and wave it around in the air. I think it is for all babies who are oppressed by the bib.