Melissa – Page 64 – Our Family Adventure

Sunday

As I seem to say every Sunday evening- weekends are just to short. At least with the holidays coming up Dave and I are fortunate enough to have a few days off, which will be lovely.

This weekend Ajax has been all about saying “ma ma”! It must be his new word. I still don’t know if he has associated da and ma with Dave and I, but we keep pointing at ourselves and announcing our titles. He’ll get it soon. He seems to know his name, so the concept has obviously taken hold that people have names or words that go along with certain people.

Ajax still isn’t crawling, but will roll and then do this worm type movement to scoot along the floor. My mom lightly told us that we were making things to easy for him (i.e. if we keep handing him all this favorite toys, why on earth would he need to learn to crawl?). She was right, I know I am constantly handing Ajax things he throws. We tried to make more of an effort to get him to go after things and boy does he have a temper!

DSCN4274 — We couldn't save this gift from Ajax, so we thought what the heck. Ajax says thanks Aunt Terri and Uncle Jerry!

Cookies and Lord of the Rings

Don’t laugh but one my Christmas traditions is to do an all day bake-fest while watching all 3 Lord of the Rings movies. It makes for a very long day.

Yesterday, Dave and I both had the day off, we bummed around and then met my mom, sister, and friend, in Tecumseh (small town about an hour from our home). We had a late lunch at a great restaurant, that was completely empty since we ate at an odd time- 2:30, which turned out great because Ajax kept wanting to walk around the place and talk rather loud. After lunch we walked around town and looked at some shops. We also hit up Cabellas (a mega camping/hunting store in Dundee) and then my mom came home with us to stay the night.

So, that brings us back to today, my mom and I began baking pretty early and got several batches of cookies done- Russian teas, PB, Oatmeal, and Butterscotch. My dad and Dave, both self-confirmed cookie testers approved of the work product for the day and I have one more batch to go before calling it a day.

DSCN4264 — See the indentation on his forehead? He got up from his nap and his head must have been pushed up against the bars of his crib. He now moves all over in his sleep.

Hard Working Baby

Today Ajax came to work with me. I don’t know many offices that would encourage (and near threaten) you to bring your 8 month old into work, but mine did! Ajax did great on the drive in, sleeping about 45 min. At first he was a little shy, but after waking up a bit, he was thrilled with all the attention (as everyone was coming to say hi!). He even napped for Alison, the legal secretary, while I had an appointment and made Lesley, my boss, take him for a walk around the agency in his stroller. We then went out to lunch and did a little shopping and home by 4:30. Overall, Ajax did wonderful, only toward the end of lunch did he start to fuss, which was pretty amazing as he hadn’t really napped all day.

DSCN4252 — Ajax in my office, sitting co-counsel (lawyer humor). I brought his big stroller to work so that he would have a comfy place to sit and nap.

Amended Bragging Rights

Ok, so anyone who knows me understands that math is not and never has been my strong suit. After writing my bragging post my friend Heather called and reminded me of a few things (she’s a teacher so she is used to explaining difficult math problems to people). I didn’t pay $3.11 for all those items. I actually got everything FREE! As a matter of fact I’ll make a profit of $1.89 for taking all that stuff off of Rite Aide’s hands! Ha ha ha! (insert evil laugh here).

Walking

Ajax new thing is that he wants to walk (and crawl). He loves to grab hold of your hands and have you walk him all over the darn house. Now, our house isn’t that big so we can only do so many rounds of the living room, hallway, bedroom, etc. I think we are also going to have to get a more baby friendly TV stand as Ajax has already discovered things on the second shelf and promptly pulled them down.

DSCN4245 — Walking. Dave was making fun of this little outfit, but I loved it.

DSCN4244 — Discovering gifts under the tree.

Sunday

This was a bum around weekend, which was great. We did minimal running and mainly hung at home. You may have noticed the amount of posts this weekend, well that’s because Ajax rediscovered his naps. For some reason Ajax has been refusing to nap at home, but will take legendary naps at my Aunts (we’re talking 2 hour naps!). I have no idea what her secret is.

Anyways because of our extra time this weekend we cleaned and organized the basement, wrote out Christmas cards, did laundry, went shopping, put up the Christmas tree, and wrapped presents. Today I also made a bunch of baby food. I had actually bought all the stuff last weekend, but was to lazy to do anything with it. So, in my freezer is- apples, lentils, sweat potatoes, and an avocado/banana blend. I also made breakfast sandwiches for Dave, and with the leftover lentils made jutera, while Dave made a pot of chili for the week.

DSCN4240 — Ajax has already torn one of the gifts.

DSCN4241 — A bit of todays work. We actually had to run to the Dollar Store for additional ice cube trays.

Bragging

I am no coupon/savings guru by any stretch of the imagination, but after taking a few tips from my friend Heather, here was my Rite Aid trip today, by far my best.

How much did I spend you ask? I spent $8.10 and saved $17.99! Rite Aid will also be sending me a check for $4.99. So total = $3.11. And all on things we need and use everyday! TA DAA!

Fish

I now know that when it comes to water Ajax definitely takes after me. He is just a little fish in the bathtub. He’s more courageous in the tub than on land when it comes to trying to crawl or reach items. He’ll flop on his stomach and kick his feet, then push himself off the side of the tub, all while trying to drink the bath water.

He’s also started handing us things. He’ll hand Dave his bath toy and then want it back immediately. At dinner he pretended to hand me his strawberry then when I would hold my hand out for it, he’d pull it away and smile. What a tricky fish.

The new green toy

Ajax was thrilled when we provided him with a brand new toy… of course, the Christmas tree. I know he was thinking, wow mom and dad, thanks for this fantastic thing with lights! It may just be his inspiration for crawling as he wants to be near it all the time. Call me lazy (Dave did), but I didn’t bother putting any ornaments on the tree…. I didn’t have the energy to order Dave to bring up all the boxes and then unwrap each ornament with the fear that Ajax was going to pull the tree down on top of himself. So we have kind of a peanuts tree this year with a star and a few of Ajax’s toys on the branches, but I’m OK with that and the kid just loves the lights… we could have a strand of lights in the house and he’d be thrilled. I would like to point out that I do in fact LOVE the holidays!

DSCN4223 — Ajax in pre-crawling position.

DSCN4208 — Still trying to get to the tree.

Newspaper baby!

Well the article came out today in the Allen Park Harald regarding the baby class my aunt started. There is a very cute picture of my aunt and Ajax in the newspaper that is just precious!

http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2009/12/11/news/doc4b212d8843a58055334826.txt

Overall, our week went very well. We tried introducing Ajax to baby food beef, which just horrible and Ajax refused to eat it. We also gave him baby food with a little pasta in it, which he seemed concerned about. On a up-note he loves eggs and cheese!