Binky Free's the Way to Be

That's right, folks. We officially got rid of the binky. It's been a little rough, but Dean kept throwing them out of his crib and then falling asleep without one anyway, so we decided it was time to part ways with his favorite obsession. He will cry for a little while whenever we put him down to sleep, but he's been such a champ. I've been taking it away from him during waking times unless he was screaming, so I think he's been getting ready for awhile. I just love hearing his cute little words and squeaks and seeing his adorable personality more. Here's some recent photos:

Today

In order to avoid doing dishes and dissecting (trimming?) chicken before I freeze it, I thought I'd take a minute to chronicle the awesomeness of today.

Dean went in for his 1 year check-up today, which I loved because today was his due date last year. He's up to 21#6oz and 30" long. As the doctor put it, "His head is his largest feature"... He's always up in the 90 something percentile for head size. He got 4 shots, screamed and looked at me like I had just let someone torture him, which I kind of had....

As I was trying to gather everything to leave, Dean wouldn't let me put his pants on, so we left the doctor's office half dressed. By the time we got home, he had pulled off all of his 4 band-aids and was bleeding everywhere.

He is trying to transition to 1 nap, which is hard on us both, BUT means he is sleeping for about 11-12 hours at night with only waking up on rare occasion due to teething. (The doctor also said today that he's a "slow teether". I didn't need him to tell me that.) This often means I have to get very creative to keep him awake and happy towards the end of the day. John had a really, really long day today, so in order to keep myself sane, I decided to take Dean on a walk around 6:15. He proceeded to fall asleep on our walk, so I proceeded to poke him every few minutes to keep him awake.

We made it home and I immediately started gathering things for his nightly bath. He loves the bath and splashing everywhere, so he was very happy to be there. I was also happy to have him there, until he POOPED in the tub. He hasn't done that since he was about a week old. I guess the good news is that I only put in like less than 1" of water, so I cleaned everything up, and put him back in the tub. After bath time, thanks to "The Piano Guys", Dean stayed awake for about a half hour longer than he would have otherwise and I put him down around 7:30, which I feel very good about considering he woke up from his one and only nap at 12:45.

Parenthood... it's not for the faint of heart.

Happy Birthday, Dean!!

We cannot believe that our cute, little baby went from this:

to this:

Thankfully, we all survived those first few horrible, colicky months and have learned to LOVE being together.

Dean is truly the light of our lives and our greatest joy. He is so much fun to have around. He is constantly moving, and talking, and loves to know exactly what is going on at all times. If I'm cooking, he HAS to be up at the same level as me (really, I have to be holding him) because he HAS to know what's going on. He loves watching machines work, and is truly the sweetest boy who has ever lived, or at least that's what we think. :)

His skills that I can remember off the top of my head include:

giving me lots of kisses daily

waving "bye-bye" and sometimes saying it

clapping for himself when he does something he thinks was pretty cool

saying "dada", "mama", and more (we're also pretty sure he has a word for "dog", though neither of us could repeat it)

turning the light switch on and off

standing independently for a few seconds before he realizes he's not holding onto anything

making us laugh harder than we ever have before

He is the best and we are so excited to see what Heavenly Father has in store for him. We love you, our little Dean man!!

A Good Helper is Hard to Find

Bear with me, the spacing is weird and I cannot fix it..... We love our house, but it has some weird quirks. Including some loud neighbors. In order to help remedy the situation (i.e. to help stop Dean from being abruptly awoken from a nap by noise), we are in the process of switching Dean into the spare room. This is quite the task, considering the spare room had wallpaper on half of it, and a hideous chair rail as well. Unfortunately, like most of our home improvement projects, I don't have any "before" pictures, but trust me, you should pat us on the back when we're done. One problem with switching Dean into the spare room is that Dean's current room (which will become the new spare room) doesn't have a phone jack (one of the quirks), which means we would have to move our router into a different place. We didn't want it in our room or downstairs in the kitchen because I often have Dean in these rooms during the day with me to play. Luckily John's dad was so wonderful to come help us pull the phone line through into what will become our new spare room. Problem solved. Dean is so curious and wants to see what's going on at all times, so I couldn't possibly keep him away from the "project" as it was going on. Unfortunately, you can't put an almost one-year-old on the ground with screws, screw drivers, pokey wires, drywall saw, etc. So I did the next best thing, which worked like a charm. I put Dean in his crib, right next to John and Jan so he could be in on the "action". He loved watching and I had to run and grab our camera. It was a cute 3-generation shot:

Once Dean realized I had the camera out, he then proceeded to ham it up for us. I cannot believe that his first birthday is NEXT FRIDAY!!! I can't believe this time last year I was so pregnant and ready to burst. I'll reminisce more on the past year next week for an official "birthday" post.

Olympics

That's right, folks, the London Olympics start TODAY!!!! My family lives for the Olympics. We always watched whatever we could growing up and I can't believe that they're FINALLY HERE again. It's been 2.5 years since Vancouver and that has been a hard, long wait. Are there more important things in life? Absolutely. But I am thrilled to be able to soak up as much of the Olympics as I can without abandoning my normal responsibilities. Thank you NBC Olympics app and airplay. If you need me for the next 16 days, I'll likely be at home watching whatever is going on, hopefully diving, gymnastics, track & field.. really, anything that's going on.

Summer

I don't really have anything new to report, I just can't open our blog and see the French onion soup in a sourdough bowl one more time or I might explode. Good thing I know I will be able to get some here in about 5 months. And good thing I also emailed Panera that they need stores in Utah. You should join my email campaign. I'm just saying....

Summer term is quickly ending, which is great to be able to finish classes so quickly, yet it makes for a very intense 8 weeks. John has enjoyed his persuasive writing class and I am enjoying him only having another 17.5 more credits to go. WOO HOO!

I got called as the Personal Progress leader in our ward. It has been fun to be in YW again, even though I'm pretty sure I'm more self conscious than the girls are. I still am trying to figure it all out. It's all done online now, which is great.

Dean is still working on those blasted teeth. His top 2 are so so so close to at least being through his gums and I am hopeful it will help him to be happier and less clingy once they come in. He is officially weaned, which I have mixed feelings about (mostly joy). He is getting much better at using a sippy cup, loves to carry around my hair brush (weird, I know), is cruising all around, goes all the way up the stairs, and has even figured out how to climb onto our bed (it's only about 2 feet off the ground). John and I are always amazed by how fast he's changing and growing. He is such a joy, even though he still doesn't sleep through the night. And now the dumping of photos:

Texas

Dean and I took a trip to visit my parents and returned about a week ago. We had so much fun spending time with them and I know they enjoyed spending time with Dean. They haven't seen him since his blessing in the beginning of October. Dean was the perfect angel baby on the way down. He could not have been any better. The flight attendants and everyone around us were enthralled and wrapped around his cute little fingers.

We mostly spent our time with my mom (Nana) running errands, shopping for a swimsuit for me, and just hanging out. After the first day Dean adjusted to his new sleeping arrangements and slept like a champ. Mom also made some crib rail guards out of leftover fabric from Deans quilt. She worked hard to make them and they are wonderful.

Dad (Papa) was super busy with work. His partner was out of town and he worked very long days. But we met him for dinner and the nights he was home he walked Dean around until he was almost asleep.

Here's a few pictures of our week. An explanation on the troll: I still have stuff in my parents attic, so every time I visit, I always get to look through my stuff, throw some of it away, leave the rest of it there. I found the trolls this time around. I'm still waiting for them to make a comeback....