Mr. Talkative

giggles and smiles
Originally uploaded by Arwen Rose

I was finally able to catch Dax in action on his playmat today. He is such a morning person and is so happy, he just laughs and smiles all morning long, I LOVE it!! I still think he can say "hi", so now my next goal is to get that on video to prove to everyone else that he already can talk :)

Baby Weight

The brutal truth, I gained just shy of 50 pounds while pregnant (it was closer to 48, but I'm rounding today) and on my 5' 2.5" frame it was a lot to handle, it gave me a glimpse of what life would be like if I was seriously overweight. I vowed to never weigh that much again (unless if I'm preggers again, and hopefully I won't put on 50lbs with kid #2), and to do my best to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight ASAP. 40 pounds lighter, I cannot get those last 10 to go, and they need to take a hike.

So far this is what I've been doing to lose the weight:
1. Breastfeeding
2. TRYING to not eat as many sweets - now that the holidays are over it should be a little easier
3. Working out with EA Sports Active on my Wii Fit

My sister called me the other day looking for a workout buddy, someone to help keep her accountable and encourage her and she would do the same for me. Despite her living in Romania I figured it would be nice to have someone there to cheer me on, and it would help me stay in better touch with her too!

The new plan:
1. continue Breastfeeding
2. stay active on BabyFit and do the exercises they recommend and use their recipe planner stuff
3. Do EA Sport Active for 20 minutes 4x a week, and Wii Fit Plus stuff on my days off

I know, it took 9 months to put it on, it should take 9 months to take it off, but I've never been a patient person, those last 10 need to go, so here is my new goal list:

1. Lose the last 10 pounds by my birthday, March 29
2. Lose an additional 7 pounds by my anniversary, June 5
3. Do ab exercises to tighten up the jelly that I now call my tummy

And because my son is the cutest kid ever, here's a picture of him smiling and a small confession...he looks better in maize and blue than he does in green and white, something that I refuse to admit to Derek, but he'll read this soon enough anyway:

Smiles!

Dax has been smiling for awhile now, but lately he will start smiling at you in response to your smile. If I make a silly face or start laughing he will respond with a huge grin - it melts my heart. He's also mastered the silent laugh, which usually comes out when he's on his playmat looking at himself in the mirror. Maybe he'll be a comedian one day since he seems to crack himself up : ) On New Year's Eve, he woke up around 5am and ate, and I just sat there and held him in my arms for a little bit once he was finished. I was enjoying seeing him smile and silently laugh...until he GIGGLED. It was the most precious sound I have heard from him yet! I have pictures of his smile, but once again the camera cord has decided to go into hiding so I can't upload the pictures yet.

On a random side note, I love having a boy, but I wish boy clothes were as cute as girl clothes!! Every time I look for things for Dax, I get sidetracked by all of the girls clothes - I have to say to myself "Arwen, you have a boy" and then slowly walk away...that almost didn't happen when I came across the pink diapers. The only thing that stopped me from buying them was knowing that Derek would cut me off financially for the rest of my life, or at least for a few months :)

Changing Table Confessions

A good chunk of my day is spent changing Dax's diaper - and we have lots of conversations while he's getting changed here are excerpts from

"How can I teach you French when I don't know the word for elbow, diaper, crib, onesie...wait I don't know baby vocab in French, where's my dictionary?"

"I hate reusable wipes...disposable ones are so much easier, yet I love cloth diapers"

"I don't need to accessorize anymore - I have spit up and burp rags for decoration now"

"It's 11am and this is our 3rd outfit today - you better not pee on me...dang it, at least it hit the wall and not me"

"my word you're going to be fighting off the girls when you're in school....i really hope you don't date the dumb ditzy ones"

Those are the main ones from today - there seems to be quite a bit of overlap each day. My little man is growing so quickly, there are days where I look at his sweet face and realize that he is growing up and maturing. I get emotional thinking about the day when he'll be 18 (not sure if the tears are more because he'll be all grown up or because I'll be 42), or the day when he gets married, or when he has kids. I wish I could slow down my thoughts, and truly enjoy this stage that we're in right now. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my life as it is, I love my son, I love being a mom, I love being a wife, and I'm so thankful for everything that we have. But sometimes my mind gets ahead of where we're at, and I think too far ahead that I lose time in the present - make sense?

Pictures!!

Yes, my camera cable has turned up - just as I was looking online for a new one to buy, talk about good timing :)

Here's a little montage of our Christmas:

Christmas Part Deux

On Christmas Eve we headed over to Kalamazoo to be with Derek's family. Dax was looking daper in his little button down shirt and cordourys (pictures will be posted one of these days - has anyone seen my USB cord to upload pictures onto my computer??) and we headed out to a traditional candlelight Christmas Eve service. Now, I was a bit skeptical when I heard "traditional", because last year's Christmas Eve service was an abomination to Christmas. While I won't go into detail here let me just say the following: Eminem was played, glow sticks were used, and a computerized monotone voice sang Joy to the World - I shed a few tears after that service.

Anywho we headed out to church and it was great, the music was traditional, the sermon was about 10 minutes, and we even did a candlelight service that brought a flood of memories back from when my dad would do Christmas Eve services. We headed home and let Dax open up his first present - it was a book "Je t'aimerai toujours" (I will always love you). We went to bed, and woke up the next morning to a wonderful breakfast cooked by my brother-in-law. We opened gifts and Dax was pretty spoiled by his aunts and grandparents!! Thankfully he was given a lot of clothes that we will need to use soon, since he is growing like a weed and is outgrowing his 3-6 month stuff. Seriously, where did my 8 pound newborn go?? Derek gave me an awesome pocket video camera that I cannot wait to start using to get videos of Dax laughing and talking. I think the favorite present we received (we're dorks, I'll admit that right now) was the new Mario game for our Wii. The rest of the day was spent playing our new game in-between feeding Dax.

We also measured Dax while we were away, and his more accurate length is 24 inches. We'll reweigh him again soon, but I wouldn't be surprised if this little chunker is at least 14 pounds if not more. Next big holiday will be New Year's, and while I'm pretty sure he will sleep through the ball dropping, we will definitely take pictures to document it and show him one day when he's bigger. I will post pictures hopefully soon - I'm about to just buy a new cord online, I have looked EVERYWHERE for the stupid cord, even at both of our parent's houses and it is nowhere to be found.

All I want for Christmas...

Thanksgiving through New Year's is possibly one of my favorite times of the year. This year is extra special because we get to celebrate with Dax for his first Christmas! A lot has changed over this past year for Derek and I, and we're trying to adjust to all that has taken place. A quick recap: In February we discovered that we were going to have a baby, we took a last hurrah/belated honeymoon trip to Europe for 2 weeks, my oldest sister Jessie got married, we had a baby, I quit my job, and how we're here.

In light of the holiday spirit (which I am seriously lacking this year, sigh) I have decided to share my all-time Christmas wish list. I realize I will not be getting these items, but a girl can dream, can't she?

1. A real camera, the Nikon D90 would be AWESOME

2. Camera lessons and photoshop lessons to go along with the sweet camera - I'm sick of all of my pictures of Dax having massive red-eye and the colors being blah

3. A tummy tuck, with some liposuction - or my pre-pregnancy body and weight!

4. Removal of my sweet tooth

5. 2 extra arms - this would make cleaning the apartment possible

6. A new diaper bag in pink daisy thank you very much

7. Season tickets to MSU men's basketball, courtside or at least lower bowl

I'm sure there are other things I could wish for, like the ability to be an amazing parent, to not make mistakes while parenting, to know how to raise my child as a Christ-follower, and the list could go on.

It will be fun to take pictures of Dax's 2nd first Christmas and show them to him one day when he's older. Even though he won't remember this time, and gifts aren't really appropriate, I still feel slightly guilty that we didn't really get him anything. We gave him a stuffed snowman that he received at my parent's house, and he will be getting a couple of books in French and a new swaddle-me blanket at Derek's parent's house.

What is the one gift you are hoping for this Christmas?