It Is March

I can't believe I went the entire month of February and hardly updated. Ugh, the time is flying by. I'm taking a much needed break at work. If you're wondering why I've been MIA it's because I've been buried under an in-box that is taller than I am for the last month or two. I swear the minute I feel like I'm caught up I get a new project coming in. It's good though I guess but it definately makes me NOT want to jump on the computer once I'm home to update. I haven't taken a picture of Carson or Bits in weeks...lol time to catch up I guess!

Bits is doing really well...she hasn't had an accident that wasn't our fault in, well, a really long time. She whines to go outside, she sleeps in her kennel all night without a peep, she's tolerant of baths and nail clipping. She's doing great. She had her 1st vet visit with me on the 1st of March. She had her 1st shots with the people we bought her from. She did fine, got a clean bill of health. She does have a little hernia but they can fix that when she gets spayed.

My birthday went fine. On Friday the 29th, Dave and I went out with a couple that I know from work. We went to Seafood Buffet at the Northland Inn...Officially my favorite place to eat EVER. We had a good time but Dave wasn't feeling great. Saturday we had dinner at my parents for my birthday and Dave started really feeling icky. He pretty much has been sick ever since. I think he got the Flu. Carson and I luckily have been fine, so far anyways. We both had our flu shots in the fall and Dave didn't. So, if Carson and I escape this one without getting sick, I will forever be an advocate of the Flu Shot.

I'll have some exciting packages showing up either today or tomorrow. I found a website that sells some photography stuff that I want/need and I used some birthday money to purchase. I'm excited and Kate and her family are coming over this weekend to play. Yay! Keep the boys upstairs with the Wii and the women and children can play with taking pictures!

Well, I would love to stay and chat but I seriously have to do some work with the hour and 1/2 that I have left of my day. I will be back!

It Was Bound to Happen....

My poor baby!! Carson fell yesterday right after we got home from daycare. He hit the edge of the coffee table. Luckily he let me put ice on it right away but man, did he cry and cry. I felt so awful all night. I know he's 14 months old, and that's what happens but man, it still sucks! He seems to be doing fine today. It's much less swollen than it was when he woke up so that's good. I'll just have to keep documenting all the different colors it turns!

We've been having a blast with Bits. I can't believe how well behaved she is and how smart she is! I taught her 'sit' today and she totally got it after 3 tries. Seriously, it took the pugs WEEKS!! Haha. She's also already good at letting us know when she has to go potty. I think she's only had one accident since we brought her home which is amazing! Even when I had to tend to Carson yesterday with his eye, she went on her little pad! I really can't believe the difference a breed makes!

Work has continued to be super busy for me. I have my review coming up in a week or two so I'm pretty excited about that. I'm also about to be given another doctor's files so that always makes for a busy few weeks. But I welcome the work...I really like what I do which is such a nice thing!

We've got a busy weekend coming up. We have Austin's 5th birthday party on Saturday afternoon, Nan and Chris coming over on Sunday for fajitas and then we're goinig to my parents Sunday afternoon/evening. So we're totally booked! We haven't had a super busy weekend for a while though so it's ok. We've been able to veg out and just hang the last few weekends.

Well, I will talk to you all soon!

Bits

Dang, I was just getting used to the 20 degree weather...now we're back to freezing our hinders off. I'm officially done with winter. I hate bundling up, I hate bundling Carson up. I would LOVE to be able to get him outside and go to the park and let him run around...but we can't. It is far too cold. Spring, come on in any time you'd like. I'm ready.

Well, we got our puppy this weekend. As we hung out on Saturday...we realized that Holly just wasn't right. So we changed her name. She's now Bits. Haha. It works, it really does. I can't believe how well behaved she is. The pugs were SO hyper and high-strung ALL the time. She's perfectly content with being on her own. When Carson was napping and Dave and I were just hanging out, she'd just go lay in her kennel and nap. It's kind of nice! We kept her kenneled both Saturday and Sunday night and we didn't hear a peep out of her. FANTASTIC! It's great for training and great for sleeping. Haha!

Bits and Carson are totally BFF now. If he cries, she gets all upset. If she starts barking/whining, he gets all upset. She follows him around everywhere and if he's sitting on the ground or crawling he'll put his head down to the floor so she can come give him kisses. She's still a little nippy/bitey with him, but I don't think she's hurt him at all. He'll make a goofy face if she starts biting his fingers at all. It's just that puppy chew/bite thing so not mean at all, just playful. He totally gets how to push her out of the way if needed and he also understands that if he gets up and starts walking, she can't get in his face.

Carson is just a walking-maniac these days! At home, for the most part he walks everywhere. He's getting the hang of bending over and picking things up without having to hold on to anything. It doesn't work all the time but he's getting it! He also learned the word "puppy" this weekend. Haha.

Well I'll leave you with some pictures. I'll update again soon

It is TOO COLD

My car wanted nothing to do with starting after work today. We all ordered in so that nobody had to go out in the -1million degree weather. But that means my car sat outside in the -1million degree weather from 6:45AM-3:30PM. Ouch. She did not make a pleasant noise the first time I tried starting her up. Carson has been wearing his Babylegs under his pants so his little legs don't let any cold air in when we carry him in from the car or out to the car from daycare. They just started selling them at Target, so that's like the most awesome thing ever! They cost the same as if you buy them online, but you don't have to pay shipping which is always a bonus!

The piles on my desk are slowly dwindling. I can't believe how busy I've been...the days are just flying by. I guess that's good because it's not like my days are dragging and I'm dreading work. I'm just ready to have a little down period. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll be all caught up.

Carson now says "thank you" well actually he says "do-dooooo" with the same vocal inflections as "thank you". Haha! He says it when you hand him something. It's so flipping cute!

We're going over to my parent's house for the Superbowl. I don't even know what time the game is on but it's all about just getting together and eating too much food...well at least that's what I think! We're about to watch the Wild play the Ducks YAY! They've been off for almost a week for the All-Star game so we're excited to get back into the hockey swing of things.

Well here are some pictures of everyone's favorite kiddo! Talk to you all soon.

Holly It Is

We finally decided on a name for the new puppy. She will be Holly. I think it's a nice compromise since I was loving Polly. Holly works just perfectly! I think we'll be bringing her home on the 8th of February...that weekend anyways. I was hoping for next weekend but it sounds like the puppies are still nursing some and you want them to be fully weaned before you take them home. So we can wait. We have all the necessary puppy supplies at home now. I bought a grooming kit with clippers and a "how-to" DVD. I want to start clipping her myself right away so she's accustomed to it. I really don't want to have to pay for haircuts...so if we can avoid that cost, that would be so nice!

I haven't had much time to have my camera out lately. I really need to focus on that. It's so hard because I really can only take pictures of Carson and he's so GO GO GO all the time that it's hard to catch any good pictures lately. I guess it's really good practice for me and all but I just haven't had much time lately.

Carson is pretty much walking now. He still can't get to standing without pulling up on something so he does crawl a lot but if he can walk, he will. My mom and sister were out visiting for a bit last night and he was showing off for them. He really is a little ham. He knows that walking is a big deal and he's so proud of himself and so excited to show people. It's so neat! He's still going to bed around 7:00PM and waking up at 7:30ish in the morning. On the weekends if nobody else is up, he'll sleep until 8:00 or 8:30 sometimes. It's so fantastic to have such a great sleeper. I totally give credit to routine. I feel so lame sometimes telling people that we can't stay out late or not coming to things because we'd keep him out past his bedtime...but I think that's a big part of the reason he's such a good sleeper. We do keep him out every once in a while but that's definitely the exception to the rule!

We had our friends Erica and Brent over on Saturday night with their little daughter Gabs. We had enchiladas for dinner and I made some super yummy chip dip. It was one of those addictive type dips that once you started eating it, you couldn't stop. I plan to make it when we go over to my parents for the Superbowl! YUM! That way I can eat it again but I don't have it sitting in my fridge tempting me! Haha!

Work has been so incredibly busy. I haven't had much time to write. But, today is one of those Mondays that I can't throw myself into work quite yet. But I do need to get going. Talk to you all soon!

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!!!

Out With a Bang

I had my last hair appointment with Carol yesterday. I was her last client on her last day. I cried through 99% of my appointment. We decided to shake things up a bit and change my whole hair color to dark and take out all of the blond highlights. Squeeee, it's fun. I love it!

My parents are home!!!!! I can't believe how many times I wanted to pick up the phone and call my mom the last 2 weeks. We're gonna go over and visit today for a while. It sounds like they had a wonderful time! Dave and I went to my company's Holiday party on Friday night. It was at the Carlson Towers. It was really nice. Our daycare lady just kept Carson through the evening so that was wonderfully convenient...he's so familiar there so it was a perfect solution. We picked him up around 10:30 and he slept in on Saturday morning until after 9:00! Fantastic!

Carson is getting around quicker and quicker but still not walking yet. He gets braver and braver, taking more and more steps. He would be happy if every meal consisted of different types of cheese! He eats ridiculous amounts of food but with how much he's on the move he burns all those calories off.

Work has been insane the last few weeks. My desk has been one constant "in-box" or at least that's what it feels like. I've picked up some work for someone who took another job and it's always difficult to pick up some one's work in the middle. Especially because everyone has such different work styles.

I've got some pictures to take off my camera so I'll get those up soon. Lata!

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!

Back and Better Than Ever!

I've been avoiding the computer as much as possible lately! But I'm back at work now, so no more avoiding! I've had a ton of time off the last 2 weeks (thank goodness this is a short week) and it's hard to get back into the swing of work today! I had two 4 day weekends in a row!! LOVE the holidays! Carson was home from daycare for 12 days and I guess it sounds like he had a tough time this morning...he cried when Dave left. He's been spoiled being home! It's just been a blast too...we didn't have any plans to leave the house at all this last weekend and we spent all of it inside enjoying our time together.

Christmas was GREAT! Carson got so incredibly spoiled! He sure has great family! I don't think I need to buy him clothes until he's 2!! Haha! We've got lots of new books and toys and he's just had a blast playing with everything.

New Years we invited over our friends Kate and Erik and our other friends Erica and Brent. We had two 3month old babies, a 4 year old and Carson...we sure had a house-full but it was fun! We ate chicken wings and the boys played video games and the girls talked about kids. Haha. Being that we all have kids, by 12:15 people were packing up to go home! New Years is sure a different experience when you're a parent to a young child. Pretty un-eventful but a blast anyways!

Jessica and I got the chance to re-connect with some old friends last weekend. WOW! It was so fun. They are 2 kids that we went to daycare with when we were younger and they were like brothers to us. It's amazing to reconnect with people like that, it's not awkward at all. I guess when you're that close with people even at a young age you retain that connection. Besides growing up, they hadn't changed a bit. It's comforting that people keep such key pieces of their personalities with them as they grow. We're hoping that we'll get to see them again in the summer...maybe to do a picnic and invite our moms. I don't think they've seen each other in years either! I'm looking forward to it!

Well I've got to get back to doing some work. I've got a lot to catch up on! I promise I'll get back to updating regularly as well! Happy New Year!