Peek a boo

Dean sweeping the patio

Here is Dean frustrated that he can't push the broom around to sweep the patio for me. One day he'll be frustrated that I ask him to sweep the patio. He gives up pretty quickly in this video and proceeds to play with the nearest stick.

Santa video

This is a great thing to do online if you have kids. It's a personalized video from Santa to your child. So cute! http://portablenorthpole.sympatico.msn.ca/home

I haven't been blogging too much. Spending too much of my time on Facebook. I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures and videos to post after Christmas.

Meeting Santa

So we went to a Holiday Party yesterday with one of our playgroups and there was a surprise visit from Santa. Dean has never seen Santa before so I couldn't wait to see his reaction. His jaw hit the floor as soon as Santa came in and he was mesmorized. Then Santa gave out gifts for the children. Unfortuntately when Santa called Dean's name out to give him a present, Dean didn't make it fast enough. Another kid pulled Dean's gift out of Santa's hand and unwrapped it before we even made it to the front. It was sad, but luckily Dean was too young to understand he missed his magical moment with Santa. Later I put Dean on Santa's lap to take a picture but Dean wouldn't let go of my sweater so I never got to take the picture.

What is he doing?

I would just love to know what is going through Dean's head sometimes. First he takes all the baby stuff out of the drawer and piles it onto the chair and then proceeds to put everything back.

I love my chair

Dean loves his chair.

Decorating the Tree

Just being cute

Power Wheels

Here is Dean riding on his power wheels. I guess you can call it an early Christmas gift, but truth be told Kevin and I didn't want to push him around on his ride along train anymore.

Furrowed Brow

Dean doesn't do many tricks on command, but for some reason he always furrows his eyebrows when I say "furrowed brow". Here is a picture of him doing it. It's so funny!

So cute!

My friend just sent me this picture she took of Dean at her daughter Stella's birthday party. Dean loves balloons and held the balloon the entire time at the party.

It's been a while...

Our laptop broke so I was without a computer for a while. We got a new one and so I am able to blog again. Thanksgiving is coming up fast. We're going to have a quiet year and we're going to our neighbors' house across the street.

Dean is getting so big and doesn't want to be in the stroller anymore for our walks. He wants to push the stroller instead, which makes our walks more difficult with the two dogs. It was Lexie's 7th birthday on Sunday so we took the whole family for a hike. She's still pretty plump so she needs the exercise. I'm surprised she hasn't lost any weight since we've moved since she chases the squirrel around the backyard everyday. I guess it's all the food that Dean throws down to her that is keeping her hefty.

We've been going to playdates a lot lately and now are apart of two groups. The second group is much smaller which is what I prefer. Luckily the weather is still pretty nice here. Dean is now saying "Mama" all the time which I love. He's just so cute. He's doing all sorts of things and we get a lot of laughs.

I'll post more pictures when I get a chance.

My sister's shower

Here is a picture of me, my mom and sister at her shower.

Our Trip to NY

Here is a picture of me holding my best friend from high school, Colleen's new baby Chase (6 months old) and she's holding Dean. Her 2 year old Autumn was running around the house at that moment so she's not in the picture. It's been such a long time since I've posted last. Sorry about that. Our computer has been on the fritz lately so that isn't helping matters. Today is a beautiful day so Dean is in the backyard playing so I have a moment to post something. Dean and I had a great time in NY. We saw lots of friends and family while there. My sister's bridal shower was really nice. We also did a Bachelorette Dinner too while I was there. Dean made an appearance at the end of the bridal shower, but he only cared about the balloons, not the guests. During the shower he was being watched by my dad, my sister's fiancee and my dad's friend at my parents' house. So yes, it was 3 men and a baby.

I have to say Dean did really well on the two 6 hour flights although it was stressful trying to prevent any meltdowns from happening during the flight. I was always ready with food, toy or some other distraction whenever he got upset. He never did cry, just whined a little. I was upset that we were stuck in a window seat but it turned out really well as Dean had his face plastered at the window for a lot of take off and landing. Now we're back in California trying to get back to normal with the time change. We had a 4 hour adjustment to make instead of 3 hours thanks to turning back the clock the night we got back.

Headed for NY

Dean and I are headed for NY tomorrow for about 10 days. I'm dreading the 6 hour flight with Dean on my lap. It's going to be a rough day for both of us. I doubt I'll be blogging while I'm there, but you never know!

Peek a boo

Here is an old video of Dean playing peek a boo. It was nighttime so the video was dark.

Dean and the doggie door

Dean thinks the doggie door is for him. He throws all of his toys out the doggie door and also goes in and out of the house through it. Soon he won't fit through it.

Napa

Here are some pictures of our trip to Napa this week. Dean's favorite part was the fountain at one of the wineries. We went to 3 wineries while there (it's about an hour from our house) and we went with Kevin's parents.

Zoo

We took Dean to the Oakland Zoo. His favorite part was the petting zoo where he got to pet goats.

Pictures from the Pumpkin patch

Here are some pictures of Dean at the Pumpkin Patch.

Pumpkin Patch

Kevin has off from work this week so we took Dean to a pumpkin patch yesterday. Here is a video of him running through the straw tunnel. He had a great time and got to pick out a little pumpkin to take home.

Horsing Around

I took a bunch of pictures of Dean playing yesterday. He is walking now but still likes to run around with his walker since he can go so fast. Last night Dean came into the bathroom as I was filling up his tub for bath time and he opened the drawer, took out a washcloth and a box of bandaids, threw them both into the tub and put his leg over the tub to jump in (even though he still had a diaper on).

We are going to playgroup in the park this afternoon so and it will be sunny and 80 so it's a good day for it.

Muir Woods

Kevin's parents are visiting and so we went to Muir Woods last week. Muir Woods is a National Forest about an hour from our house and has the big Redwood trees. It was really nice weather and really nice in the forest. Dean is walking more and more everyday. He's also talking a lot, but not actual words. I'm still waiting for his first word.


It was in the 70's for most of last week, but it is hot again this week. I don't know if we'll swim again before summer ends. The solar heat for the pool doesn't seem to warm the water as much as I would like. Kevin and Dean went in the pool on Sunday when the water was 75 degrees and that is just way too cold for me. I deflated Dean's kiddie pool and he saw it on the lawn and didn't seem too happy about it being deflated.

More pictures of the house

Here are some more pictures of the house. The living room (which has not been decorated or furnished yet0 and the kitchen.

For some reason I haven't been able to load my videos into the blog. I have some cute ones too, but I need to find some time to sit down and figure it out. My in laws are coming today so maybe while they're playing with Dean I can sit down to put the videos on the blog. They'll be here for about 2 weeks. Unfortunately Kevin is out of town for work so he won't see them until tomorrow night. Dean started walking on Sunday night but he's still crawling the majority of the time. I can see his confidence growing though which is good. He's the ring bearer in my sister's wedding in January and so I think he better start practicing walking sooner rather than later. Dean and I are flying to NY in a couple of weeks for my sister's shower. Dean won't be attending the shower unless he's screaming for me while I'm gone. Hopefully my sister's fiancee and my dad can keep him distracted. I'm sure they'll have to put on the Wiggles or something as that is what we put on for him when he's really upset.

It's cooled down quite a bit here so I can't forsee swimming at all this week or in the future. We went to playgroup on Monday and Dean really has no interest in the other babies, kids, parents while we're there. He just wants to explore the park and playground.

I also just wanted to send a big Congratulations to my friend Staci in Nebraska who just gave birth to her 3rd daughter a couple of days ago. I probably wouldn't have a blog if it wasn't for her as I've been reading her blog for years now. It's always been very entertaining and since we live so far from each other I can always read what's going on with her and the kids. I'm sure she'll be REALLY busy and tired the next couple of weeks.

The Earthquake

So I had a nightmare last week that there was an earthquake and I was alone with Dean and the dogs. I was having a very hard time evacuating myself, Dean and the two dogs in their crates and I couldn't pick up everyone at once. Of course I could have made 2 trips to the car, but it was a nightmare and a lot of times dreams don't make any sense. I told my mom the next day about my nightmare and don't you know the night after that we had an earthquake!!!! This one was nothing like my nightmare. For one...I wasn't even home! That's right, the one night all year that Kevin and I go out to dinner without Dean we have our first earthquake! We were out to dinner in downtown Walnut Creek and my parents from NY were babysitting for us. Luckily Kevin and I had already finished our dinner and we rushed home after that. The people at the restaurant bar started clapping when the earthquake ended since it was a smaller one (4.0) and not too long (about 10 seconds). Kevin couldn't understand why anyone would clap but then I pointed out that they're probably drunk, don't have a baby at home to worry about, and don't have a very expensive house that isn't earthquake insured. We called home immediately to find out that my parents were shocked and scared at their first earthquake experience and Dean had been fast asleep until the earthquake rudely woke him up and he was screaming in his crib. They had to run upstairs to get him right away and he was still in his grandma's arms when we got home. The earthquake was very close to our house which is probably why it shook so much even though it was smaller. Hopefully that's the worst one we ever have...

My Parents Visit

My parents are visiting this week so Dean is getting lots of extra attention and loving every minute of it. He was shy for the first couple of minutes when he first saw them. They were saying hi to him and he was hiding behind all of the furniture in his bedroom. When his grandma went up to him he crawled into the bathroom and lifted the rug up to hide under it. After that I had given my mom one of his favorite books and had her sit on the floor. He loves to sit in my lap to read to him and he quickly crawled over to Grandma's lap to have her read to him. After that he was fine with them and has been reaching for both his Grandparents to be held by them. The first picture below is Dean and me at Heather Farms the park near our house. The next picture is Dean was tired and cranky by the end of the day so he just sat on the couch with Grandpa while my mom and I cooked dinner. The last picture is of Dean and Grandma.

Our Backyard

Some Pictures of the House

I'll try to post pictures of house house over the next couple of posts. Here is our back deck.

Here is the mural I painted on the playroom wall during Dean's nap.

Dean loves to touch all of the new paintings. He especially loves the red flower as I painted a smiley face on it.

Playgroup

Look at that face...that's Dean after he's just finished some watermelon looking at his Daddy.

I lost my cell phone and spent the past 4 days trying to find it. I finally gave up today and called and ordered a new phone. I know the phone has to be somewhere b/c it hasn't been used since I lost it and I figured someone would use it if they wanted to keep it. I checked all over the house, under furniture, and even in the garbage. That was fun with all of the dirty diapers in the pail. I've been using Kevin's cell while he was at work. His really nice bike got stolen from the train station so Dean and I have had to go without a car for over a week. Kevin bought another bike, a used one that doesn't look so good that he still needs to put together. I know that this one won't get stolen at least.

One of my new mommy friends invited me over to her house last night as she was having some of the mom's in our playgroup over. Kevin had to leave work early in order to get home in time to watch Dean and so I could use the car. It was nice to finally go out...it's been months. It was easier to socialize with people without Dean around too. I did bring him to the park today as the playgroup was there and they were at a park really close to our house. The playgroup gets together twice a week at a park or someone's house and then there's a craft day for a third day a week. Since Dean can't do crafts we usually skip that. Everyone seems really nice in the playgroup, it's just hard to watch Dean at the same time as meeting a million new moms. There are 41 moms in the playgroup so it is really overwhelming. Usually there's about 15 moms at the park and most have 2 kids. Dean crawled all over the park today without letting his knees touch the ground. I told him that he looked funny, but I guess he doesn't care.

My parents are coming next week to visit. I'm sure that they'll love spending time with Dean. He is so much more fun now that he's older and laughs so much. He loves getting chased and playing hide and seek. Hopefully he'll remember my parents and won't be too shy with them.

It's been in the high 90's all week this week so we did a lot of swimming. Especially since we were without a car. It was nice to swim in the pool b/c it was so warm. Hopefully it will be a hot labor day weekend so we can do a lot of swimming.

The trail behind our house

So since Dean and I have been without the car I decided to take him for a walk on the paved trail behind our house instead of just around the neighborhood like I usually do. I've never been on the trail before for more than a couple of feet. In one direction the trail goes to the train station (which is how Kevin rides his bike to the train) and I had no idea where the other direction would take us so I decided to try it out. I figured I could always turn around if Dean was fussy as it was pretty hot out. I didn't realize what I was missing! Part of the walk was rough as it was all uphill, but what a view! Here are some of the pictures I took.

As you can see Dean liked the walk a lot. You can see the Golden Hills behind him (that is why they call California the Golden State). In the winter they will be green so it will look so nice. We have a view of the hills from our house. The couple we bought the house from did warn us not to take the dogs on the trail after 6pm because there are coyotes so I don't intend to take Dean at that time either. Unfortunately it is cooler at that time and would be a beautiful walk. I saw so many squirrels and rabbits on the trail that I don't think our dog Lexie will be able to come with us because she would be trying to chase all the animals and I wouldn't be able to hold onto her. It's too bad because she needs the exercise. Although lately she has been chasing this one squirrel around the backyard. It stays on top of the fence and goes back and forth from one end of the yard to the other to the tree that it lives in. The squirrel is seriously teasing Lexie. Poor Lexie is dying to catch it or play with it and it's standing on the trunk of the tree just staring at Lexie who is only a few feet away.

I can't let my knees touch the dirty ground!

Here is a picture of the way Dean crawls when he's outside. It's just like how I used to crawl outside when I was a baby.

Dean's room

The past 3 days I've spent most of my spare time turning our 4th bedroom into a playroom for Dean. It took a while as I decided to paint a mural on the walls. I'll post pictures of the room when I can. In the meantime here are some pictures of Dean's bedroom.

Fun in the pool

Here is an old video of Dean and Kevin swimming in the pool. Now that Dean is used to the pool, he actually isn't as enthusiastic about swimming like he is in the video. I'm hoping the occasional dunks isn't the reason. He's more into just playing on the steps of the pool.

Dean's cruising

All Dean does these days is walk around with his walker and his train. As soon as I try to get him to walk on his own he cries. I guess he likes the security of holding onto something. He's basically running at this point with his walker so I figured he'd be able to walk on his own. He has still only taken about 3 steps at a time on his own. He even walks backwards now with his toys. Lately he's been testing my authority. Right before he does something bad he looks me straight in the eye to see what my reaction will be. For instance he knows he's not allowed to throw his food on the floor (which the doggies wait under his high chair for), so he holds the food out above the dogs and just looks for my reaction and when I say "no" he drops it. Today he was pulling out all of the magazines out of the magazine rack and throwing them. He heard me say no so the next time he held it out and stared at me and as soon as I said "no" he threw it.

Sunday morning Dean woke up with a fever and he's had it all this week until today. I'm hoping it's gone for good as he sleeps even worse when he's sick and he's not a good sleeper to begin with. I'm so tired and I know he is too. Plus I don't think either of us want to go back to the doctor as we were there yesterday just to make sure he was ok.

It's almost time for Dean's bath so I have to get going as he is currently occupying himself with the dog toys. I guess he doesn't know the difference between his toys and the dog toys. It's not like the dogs don't play with his toys.

Look Mom, I can feed myself!

Here is a cute video of Dean feeding himself. I usually don't let him feed himself. You will see why when you check out the video.

Gotta Love Target

I was watching the show "Tori and Dean" the other night and saw that Tori Spelling put her toddler in the duck bathtub in the backyard as a little kiddie pool. I thought it was a great idea and since Dean has the same tub from Target I tried it out. Boy, was it a hit! I got to sit down and watch him play for a while which was a nice break. Then, when he was done playing and I realized how it took too much time to clean all the dirt and grass off the tub to have it ready for bathtime (it's real use of course), I knew I'd need to go to Target to get another. So Dean and I headed out on a mission. Once I got there I thought that maybe I should check out the kiddie pools and see if they had a better option than the tub. Of course they did! They had plenty to choose from and they were all on clearance so the one I got was even cheaper than the bathtub. I guess that's a sign that summer is coming to an end : ( I got Dean a pool with a canopy for shade and that squirts water. I blew it up during his nap time and let him play in it in the afternoon. Here is a video of him in it. On a side note, Dean loves it when I say the word "unbelievable" so that is why I kept saying it in the video.

Some recent Pictures

Here are some pictures of Dean swimming with his Daddy. There is also another of Dean clapping while sitting on the grass. He crawls on the grass without putting his knees down. I thought it was so funny and told my mom and she said I did the exact same thing when I was a baby. I also took a picture of a pretty sunset in our backyard.

Dean and Jackson

Here is a picture from yesterday of Dean and his friend Jackson. We had Jackson and his mom Missy over yesterday. I know Missy from our days in Boston when our husbands were at Harvard Business school together. Missy and her husband also went to Notre Dame with Kevin. Now they live in San Francisco. This is the only picture I could get of the two boys looking at the camera at the same time. Most likely they will be going to college together which would be so fun. Jackson can walk so he ran around the yard and the house while they were visiting. I got to see what I'll be doing in probably a couple of weeks time when I'm chasing Dean around when he's walking. He's taken his first steps, but only a couple at a time. For now he's just walking around with his train and walker. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he's walking on his own. Dean was really shy with Missy all day yesterday until she had to leave and then he gave her a sweet hug good-bye. It was so cute! I think she won him over when she chased him around the kitchen and he was giggling. Dean was fast asleep once they left as he never took a morning nap so he was so exhausted. I've just started playing with Dean in the backyard as it is a little cooler out and we have the pool fence up so it is safe. He crawls real slow on the grass as I don't think he likes the feel of it. I wish we had a swing set for him as he loves the swings so much and it's kind of annoying to have to drive to the park to get him on the swings for 10 minutes. We went to a playgroup on Monday and it was so overwhelming...there must have been 40 people there (mom's and kids). Dean couldn't do much as we were all on the cement and sandbox area. All of the toddlers were playing in the sand. I think Dean was a bit bored. I didn't want him eating sand so I kept him out of it. The playgroup meets 2-3 times per week so we'll see which one we can go to next.

What a week

This is another old picture of Dean. I haven't been good about taking new pictures lately. I've been to busy taking care of the house. Soon I'll take pictures of the house to post. We've painted the family room and master bedroom and also decorated Dean's room with a sports theme (he's his daddy's son).

This week has completely flown by. It was a busy week. Unfortunately one of our days was spent at the DMV for the second time in order to get our California license plates. We were successful after about an hour and 45 minutes. Everyone at the DMV loved Dean. Hopefully that will be my last time at the DMV as I told Kevin he'll have to bring Dean for his driver's permit. Yesterday was a much better day for Dean as we got the grocery shopping over with in the morning and had a fun filled afternoon after his morning nap. First we went to the park on the swings which he just loves. He giggled the entire time on there. I had a hard time taking him off, but it was so hot out we just needed to leave. Then we went for a long swim in the pool. He had lots of fun and then we immediately went for a walk in the stroller in the neighborhood (after dry clothes were put on). It was good for him to go for a walk outside when he was so cold from pool. He warmed up very quickly as it has been so hot out. The dogs came on the walk but once they go a block they want to head home, my guess is because it is so warm out.

More baby gates will be going up this weekend and then our house will officially be baby safe (lets hope). We have 2 sets of stairs in the house which is why we need so many gates and the pool fence was put up last week so that's a relief. We also got Dean a playyard which is like a playpen, but for toddlers since they have more room to play. He hasn't minded it so far but I think I'll have to stop calling it jail and call it a playyard instead so he gets the right idea. I'm loving the playyard as I have been able to shower when I've wanted to instead of just during Dean's nap time. The playyard also forces Dean to play with his toys instead of all the things he shouldn't play with (like Kevin's expensive surround sound speakers that he loves to throw around). Well I need to get going...enjoy the weekend!

No swimming for us...

Dean and I will not be swimming until Kevin makes it to the pool supply store to get the much needed chemicals for the pool. Things have still been really busy around the house anyway. Kevin was up until 12:30 last night putting together our sectional sofa that we got for the deck. Dean was loving the sofa today. It's another beautiful day today. We had to get a canopy for the deck as it gets too much sun and gets really hot. So now it is nice and shady and has the comfy sofas on it. The furniture is extra large so Dean can roll around on it. I spent most of the day yesterday painting a piece of furniture for Dean's room. I offered to paint it navy blue and gold and put the ND on it (for Notre Dame). I only could do it when Dean is sleeping. Dean is trying to get to the computer so I'm going to have to cut this post short.

Life at the New House

Here is a cute picture of Dean swimming with Daddy. He loves the pool so much. Now we just have to teach him to swim. We have some appointments this weekend with the pool fence people as we need to get a fence up asap. Dean learned how to get out into the backyard through the doggie door so it's our #1 priority to get the fence up. I turned around for a minute and the next thing I knew I saw two little feet going through the doggie door. He hasn't done it since as I yelled at him and I continue to tell him no when I see him contemplating trying it again. He also learned how to climb up on the fireplace in the family room today. I guess this is what little boys are made of. Wait until he walks! I'm dreading it. Here is a video of Dean so excited about his new crib and his new room the day we moved into the house.

It's been a long time...

Sorry it's been so long since I posted last. Things with the move were more difficult than I expected as it turned into a one person job as Dean required 100% supervision through the entire moving/unpacking process. All he does is climb the two sets of stairs in the house so I'm always there right beside him. Once we have all of our safety gates set up, things should be easier. He's not happy about the one we've already put up. I don't think he's too fond of the safety locks on the kitchen cabinets either. He's definitely more interested in exploring the house than he is with his toys these days. It took us a week, but we finally made it into the pool. It was Dean's first time and boy did he love it! He tries to jump out of our arms and swim on his own. I got him a float which he has no interest in as he wants to be in as much of the water as possible. It's very hot here so it's nice to have a pool. I'll post newer pictures when I get a chance. For now, I have to finish feeding Dean his breakfast.