Now you see it... Now you don't

MY HAIR, THAT IS!

This was earlier this afternoon:

You see all those nappy locks? I've been wanting to chop them off for ages. Now that Colton is finally on a good schedule (more on that later...) I had the time to go get it taken care of.

So THIS is going in the mail tomorrow for Locks of Love:

Because now my hair looks like THIS!

Here's a closeup:

I LOOOVE it. I haven't had it this short in a long time and I'm so glad I finally did it. I tried putting it back into a ponytail and... well... I can't. Not even a little nub. But that's okay! When it's this short it stays out of the way anyways.

I finally decided it had to go because THIS guy:

has decided that everything must be grabbed and then promptly put into his mouth. Including my hair. Scratch that... ESPECIALLY my hair. He also likes to spit up ALL the heck over my 'do.... so yeah... I was anxious to see it go.

Colton started drooling a lot the past week or so, which makes us a little nervous that he might be getting ready for some teeth soon (please, no... please, no...). He's not crying or fussing any more than usual, but he has started gnawing on everything in sight.

Exhibit A - munching on his own hands:

Exhibit B - munching on other peoples' hands:

He's getting a lot bigger and stronger, too! He's still owning his tummy time, but now he makes cute noises at us while he's doing it. Yesterday morning, he and Spencer were exchanging cute noises for about 10 minutes before Colton got a little too excited and started crying:

He can sit up for a second or two on his own:

And he's officially wearing 6-9 month clothing:

His schedule is a heck of a lot more regular right now. I feed him every four hours: 2:30, 6:30, 10:30, etc. We give him a bath every night at 10:00 and then after his feeding at 10:30 we start rocking him to sleep. He's been asleep by midnight for the past 2 weeks. Every day he starts to sleep a little longer before waking up to feed and this past week he didn't wake up until 8:30 in the morning for two days in a row! Seriously. I had to put my hand under his nose to make sure he was still breathing. Last night was a bit of a regression (i.e., he woke up at 2:30 and stayed up for 2 hours) but I'm willing to pretend it never happened if he'll just go back to sleeping until 8:30 from now on :) So we're all getting more sleep around here lately... which explains why we're really smiling in so many more of our pictures now!

Yep. I know. He's really cute:

See what I mean?

When Colton was first born, I could see a TON of Cornett features. Now that he's getting bigger, Spencer and his family are convinced that he's more Tucker than Cornett. DeRue sent us some of Spencer's baby pictures the other day because Spencer said he'd forgotten what he looked like as a baby. I still think my baby's pretty Cornett-ish:

Here's Colton:

Here's Spencer (in the middle):

Here are some other cute pictures of Spencer as a behbeh:

Check out my husband's chins! THAT'S where Colton gets it from!

All of Spencer's family is getting together for Thanksgiving on Thursday and we are SO EXCITED! I'm sure I'll have a lot more pictures to come afterwards. In the meantime... my friend posted this the other day and I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. I think any mom will appreciate the hilarity of this picture:

We love you all!

'Til next time...

10 Minutes in the Life of a 12 Week Old...

Life must be really hard for babies. I'll bet eating, growing, and pooping is exhausting (thus all the sleeping, right?). Two things are for sure: 1) babies sure do feel a LOT of different emotions in a very short period of time. 2) Babies are dang cute (and I may be a little partial, but I think mine's a total stud).

Here's a taste of what 10 minutes with Colton can be like:

2:30 - Colton wakes up from a nice nap in his swing:

2:31 - Colton looks around in a chill, relaxed state of restedness:

2:31 - Colton stares wondrously at the lighting fixture while enjoying his favorite pacifier:

2:32 - Colton realizes mom is looking at him and sends a few smiles and coos her way:

2:33 - Colton recognizes a funny rumbly in his tumbly:

2:33 - Colton grunts and grimaces trying to do a little you-know-what:

2:34 - When the grunting doesn't work, Colton resorts to his pufferfish mode to relieve himself of a significant amount of "pressure":

2:35 - Colton realizes that gas hurts and starts to get a little fussy:

2:35 - Colton's full-blown cry-fest has commenced:

2:36 - Mom finally puts down the camera and changes Colton's diaper (since he definitely pooped through his outfit). Colton looks at mom thinking, "Wait, you're going to put those cold wipes WHERE?!":

2:37 - Colton's all changed and starts to play with mom again:

2:38 - Colton is all giggles because mom makes weird noises/faces:

2:39 - Colton's thinking, "Okay, mom. First you were funny. Now you're just desperate.":

2:40 - Colton realizes the TV is far more interesting than mom:

2:40 - Here's proof that Colton just LOVES to watch "The Biggest Loser":

Tough life, right? Must be :)

Thank Goodness for Fender Benders

Since November started I've been participating in a "Love Dare." Our Relief Society President created a blog for the purpose of giving the sisters in our ward challenges and this one was designed to make marriages stronger. Sister Buchert (the pres.) encouraged everyone, even those who felt they already had a strong marriage, to participate. I feel like Spencer and I have a very strong, happy marriage but I was excited to give it a shot.

I can't begin to tell you what a wonderful experience this has been. Each day (there are 40 in the dare) has a theme on marriage such as "optimism," "selflessness," "sacrifice," or "reliance on the Lord." So every day (usually while I'm feeding the munchkin) I go to lds.org and look up a talk on that topic. This way, in addition to my usual study and general conference talks, I get to read inspired counsel every day about how I can do better to improve my marriage. The next part of the love dare consists of a daily challenge based on each particular theme. Some challenges are easy (like coming up with a fun, surprising way to greet your spouse when he/she comes home from work) and others are hard (go an entire day without saying anything critical to or about your spouse... and once you've done it for one day try to do it every day after that). However, all of them that I've done so far have made a positive impact on my relationship with Spencer (and with Colton).

As I've participated in the Love Dare I've found a drastic increase in my motivation to make our home a place where the Spirit can be found constantly. I learned how to get my cute, cute baby on a schedule (and it's working!) because I was anxious to have time every night where I could settle down with Spencer and talk without having to worry about who would be on baby duty until 4:00 am. I've made a cleaning chart that allows me to clean a very manageable portion of the house every day once a week so that our house is always clean--and it's working. I've learned how to go grocery shopping on my own with a baby whose car seat does NOT fit in the shopping cart. This way Spencer can always come home to a home-cooked meal instead of "Honey, I waited for you to get home sooner so you could take Colton while I go to the store. Now we can't eat until 9:30 pm." I've learned that taking care of my marriage means taking care of myself--so I've been getting back into a regular exercise regimen (you'd be amazed what kind of workout you can get at home with water jugs while your baby is doing tummy time). I've stopped watching TV on Sundays so that I can focus on personal and spiritual matters. And all of it is working because in just a few short days (just over a week) I feel the Spirit around me much more strongly than before.

Even more awesome is how how my personal scripture study has become much more relevant to me, personally. No matter what I'm reading, even if it's about crazy war times in the Book of Mormon, I feel like every day I come away having learned something new about how to be a good wife and mom.

A few days ago, the Love Dare theme was "gratitude for your spouse." I typed "gratitude" in the search box at lds.org an immediately recognized the talk, "An Attitude of Gratitude" by President Monson from the April 1992 General Conference. If you haven't read this talk recently (or ever), I HIGHLY recommend you do so. It's fantastic! I particularly liked this paragraph:

"...let us reflect gratitude for our fathers.

"Father, like Mother, is ever willing to sacrifice his own comfort for that of his children. Daily he toils to provide the necessities of life, never complaining, ever concerned for the well-being of his family. This love for children, this desire to see them well and happy, is a constant in a time of change."

I may be a bit partial, but I have the world's best father. As I've gotten older I've learned about countless acts of service that my dad has performed over the years, many of which went completely unrecognized. My dad is a giver and he never expects anything in return. To this day he is the best example I have of selfless service and sacrifice, which caused me to set my standards and expectations pretty high before I got married--but Spencer met all my standards and exceeded my expectations.

I am eternally grateful to Spencer for the sacrifices that he makes to care for this family. In addition to going to school full time, he's working full time (and overtime) to make enough money so that I can stay at home with Colton every day. I owe him at LEAST so much as a clean house and a hot meal so he can be excited for what's waiting for him at home. I'm grateful for the fact that although Spencer is gone for most of the hours of the day he still comes home and wants to talk to me and play with his son. I love that he still takes the time to help me give Colton a bath every night and still takes fussy baby shifts when he can tell that I've had a long day. He works REALLY hard. So you know what? When he asks for the remote control so he can watch Monday Night Football (gag), I'm going to give it to him. When he asks if he can take a hour to relax in a hot bath, I'm going to let him. Because in my eyes, he deserves it. I am so grateful that I'm sealed to this man for time and all eternity.

Spencer always calls me when he's on the road, heading home from work and last night was no exception. Spencer called right around 8:00 pm and said he'd be home in less 20 minutes so I started warming up the ingredients for his baked potato bar. Over 30 minutes later, he still wasn't home. I thought to myself, "Hmmm. This is a weird time for traffic. Maybe there was an accident." Sure enough, I got another phone call a few minutes later and when I did I noticed that Spencer had tried to call several times within the last 10 minutes but I hadn't heard my phone. I asked Spencer how he was doing (because he sounded perfectly fine just 30 minutes prior) and his response was, "Well, I've been better."

Spencer then proceeded to tell me how, as he was exiting the freeway, a deer jumped right in front of his truck and Spencer hit it going full speed. I asked him if he was okay and he thankfully responded that he was just fine but his car was a hot mess. This is the kind of truck Spencer drives:

Yeah. This thing is huge. And this deer took out the entire grill, smashed the hood, and completely shattered the left headlight. The front left side of the truck is so discombobulated that Spencer can now barely open the driver's side door. That must have been a massive deer and unfortunately for the deer (which dragged itself off the road), I think Spencer's truck ended up with the better deal.

When Spencer came home I just hugged him for a long time because I was so relieved that he was okay. The two of us talked about how grateful we were that Spencer drives a big truck-- if he had been in a littler car that deer would have gone through the windshield and who knows how Spencer would have fared.

So you don't have to do the Love Dare necessarily (although I totally recommend it), but PLEASE take advantage of November and the sense of gratitude that goes along with Thanksgiving to recognize all the blessings in your life. Spencer had some major guardian angels watching over him last night but it still just goes to show how short and unexpected this life can be. Be grateful for what you've been given.

So... despite the $500 deductible (which is SUPER awesome since we just paid rent and tuition and oh yeah, have a two and a half month old baby), I thank goodness for fender benders. Because heaven knows it could have been a lot worse.

I love you all. I really do. 'Til next time...

November = Awesomeness

That's right... I just LOVE November! It's officially the holiday season and I'm embracing it with open arms. I about flipped when grocery stores started selling Halloween decorations and now that Christmas decorations are on the shelves I'm absolutely giddy for upcoming time with family.

First, here's a Halloween recap:

Our apartment complex held a pumpkin carving competition and I was stoked that most of the residents went all out! Hefty prizes were at stake so I searched google high and low to find the perfect idea for a family of three.

We carved our pumpkins with the Muehlmanns almost a whole week before the competition (because I was awesome and mixed the dates up) so I was worried our bomb artwork would rot before it could be appreciated by the judges. Alas! I discovered a priceless new trick and found that it worked perfectly for preserving pumpkins: Soak them! Seriously. Spencer's pumpkin had already started shriveling pretty badly by the second day so by soaking them overnight in a sink full of water our pumpkins re-hydrated and looked as good as new up until Halloween night! It even saved all the shrivelly parts.

So after much mental deliberation, I found the perfect pumpkin designs. I hope Spencer didn't have anything particular in mind for his pumpkin because I literally told him, "You're doing this!" Here's how they turned out:

Here's a picture that our manager took for the actual contest:

At first I wanted Colton's little pumpkin to be Yoshi but I couldn't find a picture to make it work from... so he ended up being our little 1up! It was a lot of fun. The Muehlmanns are a lot more ambitious about their pumpkin carving - here's what they came up with:

Mike's is on the left. It's a three-headed dog that I've dubbed "Fluffy" because it looks like the dog in Harry Potter that guards the Chamber of Secrets. Kara's is on the right. It's the headless horseman - I wish you could see his head better because it was awesome.

Sadly, neither of us won but we still had a blast participating. I love how enthusiastic the Huntington residents are about decorating for the holidays. It makes me love October/November/December even more! Just because they were so dope-show, I'm posting pictures of the winning pumpkins. My gears are already turning to see how I can be more competitive next year:

The Steve Jobs pumpkin took first place. Someone had one heck of a small pumpkin saw for this one...

This was my personal favorite. You can't see it very well but chunks of the inside of the pumpkin were carved out in the shape of french fries. Seriously. Pure Awesome.

I can't even handle the cuteness that is "Porcupine pumpkin." How clever can people be?!

And as if Madelyn, who took my sister's wedding photos, wasn't talented enough, she can carve amazing-sauce pumpkins, too!

I didn't feel so bad about losing after seeing what the winners looked like :)

For the ward Halloween party, Spencer and I forgot about costumes until about 30 minutes before the shindig started. We were still debating what to dress Colton up as: a giraffe? a baked potato? a monk (because he's got the perfect mullet for it)? Spencer realized at the last minute that we both still had the costumes we wore to the movie premiere of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. (Dorks? Yes, we are. Proud? Yes, we are.) Here we are over two years ago dressed up as Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom:

Notice how Neville's pet toad, Trevor, is on his shoulder? Well... before Colton was born DeRue bought him a fluorescent green onesie that looks like a frog eating a fly. We decided that he could be our little Trevor. Plus, we lost the plastic frog...

I'm a little sad you can't see the tongue hanging out of the frog's mouth in this picture but you get the point. Looking at these two pictures back to back makes me realize that I haven't seen the sun for over a year. Wowza. Anways... time hasn't been super kind to ME but at least I have a super cute baby to show for it.

So yeah... October was SUPER fun! November's looking up, too. Spencer's family is coming down for Thanksgiving and I am PSYCHED for family fun and lots of food. Thanksgiving will be a little different for me this year... I'm completely off of dairy, nuts, and some vegetables due to the little man and his tendency to get an upset stomach (yay for breastfeeding!). Sooo... it'll be interesting to see how I navigate around all the goodies. Bring it on.

What about December, you ask? Well... Spencer, Colt and I are flying out to Washington D.C. to spend the holidays with my ENTIRE family. Yep! ALL of them. I've already started making lists of things I need to bring. I'm a little nervous about traveling on my own with a three month old... all you moms with flight experience need to give me some pointers when you get the chance.

Now to Colton:

He's basically the coolest toy ever. Spencer and I LOVE playing with this little boy... and I know I'd get a lot more done if I'd just let myself walk away from his cute face every once in a while.

Colton LOVES to smile:

He loves to stick his tongue out:

He loves to stare at things (and people) with his HUGE eyes:

Okay... seriously now. Look at my boy's eyes. They're ginormous.

Sometimes he likes to smile, AND stick his tongue out, AND stare:

He loves to giggle:

He was playing with Spencer in the mirror. Every time he'd start to laugh he'd bury his head in Spencer's neck and smile. I must have taken 10 pictures and I never got a SINGLE one where I caught him smiling before he turned his head. Darn. Just trust me, it's cute.

But don't make him smile or laugh TOO much or he gets a little overstimulated:

He likes to eat. So in turn, he LOVES to spit up. All over Spencer and me:

And because he eats SOOOO much... he also does this a lot:

For those of you who haven't changed the diapers of a baby who doesn't eat solid food yet, yes... they poo yellow. And they poo yellow all over the place. May I suggest putting your child in dark colored clothing? My abundant supply of resolve, laundry detergent, and heavy duty bleach are a testament to that.

But my FAVORITE thing about Colton is the fact that he looks so much like his dad:

My boys look dang good in argyle. Going to church with these two is easy on the eyes. :)

We love you all! 'Til next time...