Cute Face = Staying Alive

Some days I wonder how I filled my time before I was a mom. Life must have been so easy! I look at people who have more than one child and wonder why they are not institutionalized ;)


Anyhow, here are just a few reasons why Clay's cute little face and personality keep him alive:

1. Not a day goes by that the toilet paper doesn't get shredded and hidden in every nook and cranny, everything in the dishwasher and cupboards is pulled out and hidden around the house, and at least one thing is dropped in the toilet everyday.

2. The neighbors probably think I am beating him every time he needs a diaper change. I have to put my leg over his chest and arms, so he can't get away or get his hands in his diaper.

3. Without fail, at mealtimes, most of his food is dropped or thrown on the floor.

4. Whenever the phone goes up to my ear, he is right there tugging on my legs making an awful sqwaking sound. As soon as I put the phone down, he runs off and plays happily!

5. If I am in the shower or putting on my make up, he has to join in the fun or he is not happy. Those things usually have to wait til naptime.

Hopefully our next child will be cute, otherwise he/she might not be so lucky!


However, aside from his cute face, here are some other things that keep me loving this job: His raspy little laugh, his excitement to see me when I get him out of his crib, his little hands and face while he's discovering new things, watching him play with his daddy, his slobbery kisses and soft skin, laughing at himself in the mirror, his cuddles and gappy-toothed smiles, his funny little run, his innocence and tenderness.

Fun stuff...and change

#1--DAVE GOT A JOB OFFER WITH THE LDS CHURCH
So, we will be moving to Riverton, UT (or there abouts). Daves current job has been so good to us and we have loved Colorado, but we feel so blessed to be able to move closer to family. We will be leaving Colorado sometime before Christmas and we will continue to try and talk our friends into coming with us!

#2--HALLOWEEN
Clay--Curious Clay (George)
Dave--The man in the yellow hat (I made his costume and i am so proud! It took lots of yellow dye and spray paint, so he smelled a little fumey!)



Clay loves his daddy and tries to charge out the door with him every morning when he goes to work. I'm sure it breaks Dave's heart to have to shut the door and hear Clay crying. Usually, he opens the door and hugs him one last time.

Anyway, I was "Dr. Pepper" for Halloween (and we forgot to take pics :( .) I just wore scrubs and pinned paper peppers all over them.

We carved some pumpkins--Clay was in heaven with all those pumkin guts! (oh, and you'll notice Clay was sportin a little mullet--I trimmed it a few days ago :(



We went to some Halloween parties.

I made a cheesball that looked like a pumpkin
They had a pumkin pinata!

The guys were intense with the foosball table.

On the actual Halloween night--Stake Conference! Woo Hoo! (No, actually it was really good)


#3--OUR BABY TURNED ONE! *Snif snif*

So, on his birthday, we did some playing outside (His favortie thing)

I built a lion cake

Me showing Clay his cake ( and yes, those are Christmas decorations behind me. Dave talked me into decorating a couple days after Halloween!)

Had a fun party with friends (I made some homemade soup and bread bowls)

And we ate cake and ice cream! (Thanks so much to Alicia for taking these adorable pics of Clay enjoying his cake)
His stats: Height 90%, weight 25% (I promise I do feed him!)

The End

Eventful Fall

This fall has been really BUSY in the geddes fam:

We went to D.C. to visit Obama and Hillary. They are very good looking in real life--the pics don't do justice! Hilary has the best sense of style!

We got a pet snake, except he bit me (and it really scared me), so we had to send him back.

I went back to Georgia for a quick visit and absolutely fell in love with the men's hairstyles there, so Dave and Clay agreed to get new "do's". Clay especially loves his new hairstyle and I just can't keep my hands off them now!

We also took a trip to Jamaica and met the cutest little Jamaican. So weird--he wasn't even black!


But the WEIRDEST thing of all--Papi got really old and came back to haunt us!

Papi came to Colorado!

We are so happy that Papi came to see us! Boy have we missed him! Clay loves his Papi:

Questions:

• What healthy snacks can you feed a baby that he will like? I feel like I feed Clay pretty much the same things everyday.

• How long do you let your baby cry when you KNOW they're tired and wont take a nap?

• What do you do during the day for yourself?

• What do you do for your husband to make him feel loved and taken care of? (It can be so difficult with demanding little ones)

Sarah, I saw your blog, liked how you asked some questions, and I had some questions of my own.

We're not dead yet! Our summer:

The ZOO feeding the giraffes:




In Tremonton visiting friends and family--reunions, playing with cousins, games, shopping with friends (so fun!), eating lots of yummy garden food, and the good ol Box Elder County Fair.
Camano Island beach house visiting some of our best friends Russell and Kristin (can't believe we didn't get a group shot!)--crabbing, looking for Edward Cullen, berry picking, thrift storing, canoeing, relaxing on the beach, and eating all the crabs we caught (soooo good!).




Island Park Cabin--hiking, campfire, EATING, movies, and huckleberry shakes.


Colorado--Swimming, BBQs with friends, HALO parties, celebrated 4 years in June (went miniature golfing)....mostly just the normal everyday stuff (Dave goes to work and I take care of the monkey and the apt).


Updates:

Dave--Starting his masters degree this week (Human Computer Interaction), trying to get into good sleep and exercise habits and has had a week of success, liking his job, missing Chewy and wanting to get into a house so we can buy "Clay" a dog, gearing up for fall softball, helping me around the house, and eating up every moment with our little guy.

Melissa--trying new and different meals to cook, getting ready for a bunch of big events in the YW, just finished training Clay to sleep through the night again after all this vacationing (it's hard on the little ones and thier mommies!), learning how to re-finish furniture (Craigs list is awesome in a military town), and really just trying to be a good wife and mommy.

Clay (10 mos)--laughs a ton, follows mommy around the house, loves to pull things out of the dishwasher, has taken a couple steps, will play with anything but his toys, sleeps from 7:30pm-6:30 am, is really naughty in church, has 4 teeth, will sit in his highchair for hours as long as there is food in front of him, hates to snuggle, but has a mommy and daddy who smother the bajeebies out of him.

Oh, and we miss you Bryce and Jamie--Can't wait til you come back!

Update

Every monday night, we have been going to Dave's softball games. Clay is happiest when he's outside and it's been fun cheering for daddy.


So, I have actually been doing really well with this sugar thing (suprised?! I am!) and I feel so much better! I have a lot more energy and my cravings are much less. There have been a couple slips here and there-like when I baked chocolate chip cookies for YW; I had to eat a little dough! But I have only eaten a little sugar like twice since I started this. I think I will try it for the month of June too!

Dave got me a grill for Mother's day and has been cooking for me a lot--it has been wonderful!

We are loving Colorado, but we miss our families terribly. Dave and I have had a lot more time just the two if us, which I cannot complain about! However, eventually we would like to end up closer to family.

I took Clay over to my friend Alicia's the other day, and while I was on the phone for 5 minutes she stole him and snapped these pics. She is so good! Thank you Alicia!