Holy Sad Story

So, saddest story ever...Tater died. I got a call from the girl I work with that we were buying him from and I guess he had a genetic liver thing and died at the vet's office. So terribly sad but we're very grateful that this happened before we brought him home. That would've been the worst. Luckily the girl that is selling the puppies, has a very generous sister-in-law who is willing to give up the "pick of the litter" so we will still get a puppy. She has several dogs already I guess so it's not a make-or-break thing for her I guess. So, I'm bummed that I just got my way with the name Tater and now we have to come up with a girl puppy name. I'm partial to Polly and I also thought Nixie was kind of cool, we'll see what Dave thinks! He's already veto'd Polly but we'll see :)

Here's a picture of the cutie-pa-tootie:

Carson was a walking maniac today! He took probably 6 or 7 un-assisted steps earlier and then he spent about 45 minutes walking back and forth between me and the couch (4 or 5 steps each way) and then when Dave was home it was between me and him. He's very excited about walking and I make sure to praise, praise, praise! I just can't believe how quickly he picks up on stuff. I showed him "high-5" and it only took about 2 times for him to pick it up. Also, while eating I showed him the sign for "more" as he was whining for more food. It took about 2 or 3 times of showing him the sign while saying "more" and giving him more food and he started doing the sign...well at least mostly. I knew that was what he was doing...so it was definitely close enough and seriously impressive it will only get better.

I'm stuck in American Idol hell tonight...lol. I try and avoid the obsession but usually get sucked in around the Top 12ish. But, it is the first episode so it's a requisite. I'd rather be watching The Biggest Loser haha!

Dave and I stayed up too late last night and watched Blood Diamond. I wasn't thinking that I would even enjoy it but by the time it was getting late and Dave suggested we finish it the next day, I was hooked and made myself stay awake to finish. Seriously interesting and movie...the ending left it saying that blood diamonds are still smuggled into the diamond trade and it is up to the consumer to make sure that the diamonds they buy are "conflict free". How does one figure this out? Do I just call the jewelry store? I can imagine it would go something like this:

Me: I'm wondering how I can find out and assure that my diamond is "conflict-free"

Jewelry Store: *yells in back* "hey Bill, we got another douche-nozzle on the phone who just watched Blood Diamond"

I don't think it would go so well. But actually kind of funny to think about.

Ok here's a recent picture of Carson

PS Dave loves Paula Abdul

Wii-Tater

Dave doesn't like my hair. I kind of knew he wouldn't but it's short-lived. It will fade quickly. I'm also up-in-the-air on what I'm going to do with it from now on. I don't like my natural dirty dish-water color but I'm faced with the reality that I may not be able to afford to maintain it like I'm accustomed to. We'll see what I decide.

We visited my parents yesterday! All tan and everything. We ordered enough Chinese food for an army, gorged ourselves, watched the Wild win again and argued about why I have such a celeb-crush on PMB . I know he has kind of an egg-head *but* if you take examples here and here, I think he looks better without the hair. Hahaha. We'll just say that I think he's cuter with his hockey helmet on...and leave it at that.

I forgot to mention that we visited our new puppy last weekend! We're getting him from a girl that I work with, but she lives in Farmington, so it was a bit of a haul. He actually shares a birthday with Carson (how cool is that?!) so he's just 5 weeks old and we'll be getting him once he's 8 weeks old. So around the beginning of February. We're pretty excited. We've been slowly building up our puppy supplies. I had gotten rid of so much stuff when we lost the pugs that it's almost like starting over fresh. I do still have some of the basics though so that is nice. Oh, and I *think* I've gotten Dave to agree with me on the name Tater. I can't say for sure yet though.

I still haven't had any time to pull new pictures off my camera. Dave and I have been too busy reaching "Pro" status bowling on the Wii *NERDS*. Actually it's been pretty fun. My mom even said she'd like to have one. I'm totally not a video game person but it's so fun to be able to actually play with someone. I think once Carson is a bit older, he'll get a kick out of it too!

Well, gotta get back to work. Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Rock On Yo

I know it wasn't Carson's first Christmas this year but my sister made him this last year and I just liked the way this picture turned out...plus it was the only clear bulb that I could play around with! I got Dave a Wii for Christmas. It FINALLY came yesterday. We spent some time last night playing around with it. It's actually really fun. I rocked Guitar Hero....Haha. My parents are out of town this week so I think my sister is going to come over and hang out with us on Sunday and give it a try. She'll have fun!

How about a Carson update? I can't believe how big he's getting.

• Has 6 teeth
• Will say "momma" "dadda" "bye-bye" and "santa"
• Can take 3 steps un-assisted
• Knows to put a phone to his ear and "talk" (he gets close, puts it to his shoulder)
• Knows to use the brush on his hair, will "brush" our hair
• Points to EVERYTHING
• Gives "hugs" to his stuffed animals. He'll hug them and pat their backs. It's soooo cute!
• Is only drinking whole milk, no more formula and only 1 bottle a day now
• Ate 3 pieces of pizza last weekend!!

I just can't believe how quickly he picks up on things now. If you show him something once, he's got it down for good. He's still sleeping really well. He goes down around 7:00PM still and will sleep until 8:00AM most mornings (if we let him). During the week we have to get him up earlier than 8:00 to get him to daycare on time. He's always been a fantastic sleeper.

So my parents are off having fun in the sun. Jealous. Totally. They come back on the 12th. Dave and I have my work's holiday party on the 11th. I'm not quite sure what we're going to do with Carson or if we're even gonna go. I haven't gone to the last 2 for various reasons and I feel like I "should" go to this one. We'll see. I literally just realized yesterday that my parents won't be in town to watch Carson. Our daycare lady offered to watch him...so that might work. It would be nice since they're so close to us.

Work has been busy. It will be for a while too. I actually really enjoy when things are crazy around here. It makes my day go by pretty quickly. But, I can't waste anymore time this morning so I'll be back another day!

Well actually, I cannot leave without showing you the newest member of the Walgrave household. Here he isWe haven't figured out a name yet...we keep arguing. I'm fighting for Tater (like tater-tot) but Dave doesn't want to seem to budge. HOW CUTE THOUGH?! He's still only about 4 weeks old, we won't get him until Februaryish. We're going out to visit this weekend though and then hopefully we can pick a name. Ok, now I've really gotta go!