Catching up

Let's see. Where did I leave off? We celebrated my birthday with our BFFs Amanda and Matt last Tuesday night. I'm the only one of us 4 who chooses somewhere other than our favorite sushi place. I'm not a sushi- or fish of any sort- eater but I love the other food they serve, the atmosphere, and of course Bruce (the sushi god). Anyhoo. I chose The Cheesecake Factory. Nate came with and had a grand time. Oh - I got a camera from my folks so I used it to take pics at dinner. It's so little and it's handy to just toss in my purse.






Nate's had a cold since last week so I took him to the doc just to make sure he didn't have an ear infection, etc. I love this picture... The look on his face in the mirror steals my heart.

Nate's been sporting his Oklahoma State wind suit lately. Thanks Michelle! He wasn't thrilled that it was picture time, but that's never stopped me before. :)


A new development has come up in the past week-ish. Nate HATES diaper changes and/or putting pants on and pitches a fit. This was mid diaper change when I finally stopped trying to pin him down. In this picture he's doing a dandy job of convincing you that he didn't just screech at the top of his lungs and cry and squirm and flip and generally make me sweaty and frustrated. My revenge??? Posting his bare butt on my blog. Hah!

Nate and I met Sallie for dinner on Sunday night. I think it was my first real meal of the day unless Pringles and Lindt truffles count as a "meal". Nate thinks Straws = Tons o' Fun

Mike, Nate, and I went to Chuck E. Cheese on Monday for a play date. I know. What the hell were we thinking? It was actually tame at 11 am on a Monday. Ready for a rant? I know this is technically my fault (what??) but I didn't read the token machine until I was loading a $20 bill into it. It said "NO CHANGE GIVEN". GAAAHHHHHH! Now seriously. What the frick am I going to do with my remaining $17 worth of CEC tokens? Nate rode a few of the rides, I played Skee Ball, and we took advantage of the "Chuck E. draws a sketch of you from a picture" thingy. Mike and I both got cute sketches with Nate. I'm not in the mood to scan them so you'll just have to believe me. Or come over and look at our fridge door. (Please call about a week in advance so I can de-funk the house first.) The one picture I did think to take was Mikey playing "Brave Firefighters". :)

So, we invited ourselves to dinner at the Molnars last night. Just for fun, Skyler gave me a hot mama hairdo. I said I'd put it as my profile pic on Facebook and I did. Gotta love the braids on both sides and the pony tail in the back. S.E.X.Y.




Cute boy alert!

Nate loves stories. I got 11 new books at the library today. He (we) loves books by Todd Parr, especially ones about Otto the dog.

Trying out the sling with Nate on my hip. We made it to the mailbox with no mishaps.

Nate in his new seat, which is now in Mike's car ready for our trip to NC tomorrow.

Mike and I took a run tonight and boy was it cold. Nate was so snug in there that he slept most of the way.

Okay. That's all. I bet you feel like you've been with me for every second of every day since my last post. You're welcome. :) Happy T-giv!

Tagged

I've been tagged by Amanda at Four Molnars.

The full rules are at the bottom of my post, but basically you list seven random things about yourself and tag seven bloggers to do the same.

Seven randoms about me:

1. I'm watching The Price is Right Supports the Troops. I've loved this show since I was old enough to watch T.V. I'm still getting used to Drew Carey as host, but he's finally starting to grow on me.

2. I stay up waaay too late EVERY NIGHT. Even if I'm tired, I end up getting a second wind that keeps me up till at least midnight. *Note - I'm exhausted right now, but no move to head to bed yet.

3. Although I've put in a valiant effort since Monday night, I've finally resolved that I cannot live on birthday cake and ice cream alone.

4. Just this week I've started to recycle. I'm embarrassed to say that I've just been too lazy in the past. My city doesn't offer recycling pick-up but I drive past a recycling drop-off center almost every day. I'm on board now. Reduce - Reuse - Recycle people!

5. I think this year is going to be the year of "the new hairdo". I have an appointment on Tuesday. I envy people who change their hair frequently. There's no harm in it - it's just hair. To sweeten the pot even more, my day job is taking care of pets...they don't judge good or bad hair like people do. If I hate the hair, I can wear a hat.

6. I joined Oprah's Clutter Crew this week. I even downloaded and wrote in my pledge to de-clutter and get organized. The goal is to do monthly homework and be clutter-free by May. That's exciting news!

7. I hate living so far away from my sister.

Now, here's who I tag:

1. Mike at A Day in the Life
2. Gina at My very last nerve
3. Christina at Cici and Family
4. Tara at The Adventures of Team Beattiecutt
5. Angela at The Need Less Experiment
6. Jess at Du Wax Loolu
7. Lisa at It's the little things...

And now, for the seven of you, here is your mission:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Share seven random facts about yourself.
3. Tag seven people and list their links in your post.
4. Tell those seven people by commenting on their blog.

Have a great weekend!

Oh, baby.

After getting ready for bed, I put Nate in his crib to play while I sorted laundry. I went downstairs to start a load and could hear his mobile playing and him talking on the monitor. About 1o minutes later, silence. *Note - it's always a crap shoot if he'll go to sleep on his own after playing in his crib or if he'll have a fit and scream until we come soothe him.

This is what I saw when I came in...

The poor baby was so tired, he couldn't even manage to lay down. I can hear him thinking "I'm just going to put my head down for a sec". He didn't make any noise or fuss at all when I laid him down. Sweet dreams, Nate.

This week

Who is this big boy?

Outfit courtesy of Aunt Shel

LOVE the hat!

Finally - shoes! No wonder I was having a hard time finding shoes for Nate. His feet are different sizes - his right foot is 1/2 smaller than the left...plus he has chunky feet. So his size 2.5 and size 3 feet need a size 4 shoe. Whew!


WAIT...

Did someone just have a birthday?
Yes, yes I did.

Mike worked on Tuesday, so we celebrated on Monday night. Mike made me a layered cake. And decorated it like a professional. I'm seriously impressed.

Mike's gift to me. It's always "Nate-o'clock"!! :)

My friend Sallie kept me company and took me to dinner on Tuesday. We had a great time. Thanks Sallie! P.S. I listened to the whole Twilight soundtrack and love it!

The 2030 LIst

My friend Angela has a great blog called The Need Less Experiment. I've been enjoying reconnecting with her and trying to implement some of the great ideas she has. The premise of the blog is how to live on less and how to create wonderful experiences with her family. One of the posts that intrigued me was called The 2030 List. Instead of indulging her children with all the trendiest and en vogue toys/gadgets, her family is focused on experiencing life together and making great memories. I think that's such a great idea so we've decided to follow suit. (The year 2030 is when her youngest child should finish college. Same goes for Nate so I've kept the name!)

The Wilkinson's 2030 List
Go to Disney World
See the Grand Canyon
Go horseback riding
Learn to ski
Go ice skating
Go hiking and camping
Learn to fish
Visit New York City
Visit Washington, D.C.
Visit at least 1/2 of all the MLB stadiums
Choose a charity/project as a family and volunteer at least 3-4 times per year
See Niagara Falls (from NY and Canada)
Get passports
Visit all of our birth places (Mike was born in Morocco and I was born in Germany)
Visit the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia
Take a fall foliage drive throughout New England
Travel to all four corners of the U.S. in an R.V.

What's on YOUR list?

Getting older

We celebrated Nate's 8 month birthday on Wednesday. These eight months have flown by so how can it truly feel like I can't remember life without him? Gosh, the evidence of his growing up is smack dab in my face. Two of the big things this week:

1. He's almost ready to transition from this:

to this:

Ok, he's ready; Mommy just needs a good solution getting him in and out of our pet clients' houses.

2. He's big enough for this when shopping with Daddy:

We got a box from Aunt Shel yesterday. Thank you so much for all the doo-dads and Mike's bday present! Nate absolutely loves his new xylophone!


My folks took a trip last month that included a trip to UW-Madison where Dad went to school. Nate loves his Badgers gear! He's all smiles when Bucky plays the fight song.


This just in... Mike's really smiley today. :)