Bye Bye Ugly Gate...

It is an an extremely exciting day in my house.... Anyone else may not agree- But this stupid ugly baby gate on our stairs has been my arch nemessis. It is very ugly, impossible to carry things through and just annoying. Until now Vander has refused to learn to go down the stairs correctly. I think this is because ALL of his fun toys were upstairs, and coming down the stairs was like pulling teeth to begin with.

However, this week, perhaps because he has new very fun toys from Christmas downstairs, he is actually willing to learn and has become quite the stair navigating champ!

It may be premature, but hes been doing it perfect for several days, so with no further ado, I'm removing the STUPID gate.

Watch out world....

 He passed his final test..... so that means...

WA HOOOO

Movin on up!

I am making a point to try to take more photos! I realized that I only took photos if something exciting was happening... Now with my new camera, I refuse to let even the mundane events of our days go uncaptured....

One exciting event that we did snap photos of was Vanders recent conversion to his Toddler Bed. Soon his crib will be passed on to his baby sister- When it is, he needs to be ready for his big boy bed! We thought we'd test the water with his Toddler bed. So far, we've actually had quite good success. This boy never seems to surprise us... He said bye bye to his binky about 2 weeks ago, has been a champ and barely put up any fuss! Now with this bed adjustment he again has impressed....

His first night was rough- but he has since gone down 5 times without a problem. He has only fallen off a few times, but has stayed asleep through the falls as he lands on a pile of soft comfy pillows.

We captured a few photos of his first night bed time... Things have since improved durastically! :) Also included are random photos of us just playin around the house!

 Watching his first Disney Movie- The Lion King- This cute cuddly moment only lasted about 5 minutes

 Getting his new toddler bed ready- equipped with precautionary pillows

 No idea what hes in for- Happy as a clam

 Reading his favorite books before bedtime

 Annnnnnd.... Queue screaming....

 The very upset little boy fell asleep after about 15 minutes of crying and a little bit of arm scratches. He only fell off twice and slept like a champ!

 Playing in his new truck which he ADORES. And chewing on one of 30 billion "Little People" toys that he now has. You won't see this boy without a "Little People" Figure of some sort in his hand

 I'm thinking hes getting sick of the new camera

 Balancing on his train- His other love

 Such a happy little boy!

Looking at pictures of himself on the computer

Christmas 2011 - The Best Christmas Yet!

Let me start by saying- This was the BEST Christmas ever.

Not because of the gifts I received or gave... but because having a son and watching HIM enjoy the day was better than I could even imagine! Christmas is so much more special when you get to watch your little man get excited about things. We started off the day with 8:00am church which means no gifts until MUCH later. Immediately after church followed nap time, THEN gifts. It was wonderful to get to go to church on Christmas and hear Christmas Hymns to remind you what the day is truely about.

Vander passed out asleep in the middle of Sacrament meeting while Joel and I scratched his arms. (Exhausted I'm sure from Christmas Eve festivities the night before)

For Christmas from Joel I got an amazing SLR digital camera. Joel received... well.... a motorcycle- 2 months ago. Which counted as Christmas and Anniversary gifts. It made for a kind of sad giving day for me and a very sparce Christmas tree. But Joel was still very grateful today for the motorcycle he received a couple months ago!

Vander made out like a bandit... He received SO many toys from the family- He didn't even know what to play with first- Needless to say we have no shortage of toys in our house. I need to purge alot of old toys to make room!

We celebrated Christmas with the Ingram side of the family last week since they are in Utah... Joel took photos of that on his Iphone- but (shockingly) he has not uploaded the photos for me to access ;) Today we celebrated just with the Craig side. What an amazing and blessed day! I am so grateful for our wonderful family. Thank you to everyone who made this a Christmas to remember!!!

Warning.... Surplus of photos... I was a little trigger happy with my new camera ;)

 Checkin out his new Castle

 He was so excited!!

 Bathtime after waffles... he again enjoyed using syrup as hair gel....

 Getting ready for presents... Playing with his Christmas Present from Grammy Ingram

 Showing off the goods from his stocking

 His favorite part of his stocking- Reeses.. Of COURSE!

 New farm puzzle

 Notice his lack of excitement... He was so overwhelmed and had no idea what was happening..

 Checkin out his new tool set

 Quickly getting the hang of it. Our new handyman ;)

 These became one of his favorite toys... For the time being...
(Joel in the background on the phone with mission brother Bo) :)

 Reading "The Night Before Christmas" with Aunt Dojo

 Soccer Ball from Great Grandma and Grandpa Craig

 This picture is unfortunate and shows my growing BODY (I confess- I am aware that I am not only growing in my stomach) ;) But a family Christmas photo is a must!

 Stoked to start opening Christmas presents.. Just kidding- I made him pose like that

 Joel was SO MAD that every toy Vander got seemed to be IMPOSSIBLE to unpack. Why do they make these toys impossible to get out of the boxes??

 Wandering the house during present opening

 Checkin out his new sorting plane from Bop Bop and Grandma

 The 3 kids then proceeded to fight over the sorting plane ;)

 The grand finale- A new Little Tikes Truck from Bop Bop and Grandma

Heaven!!

Such a wonderful day! I cannot wait until next year and am very sad the Holidays are over :(

Merry Christmas everyone!!

13 Months! Whoa...

First of all... I suck at doing blog posts now. The problem is that I hate my camera- Okay, hate is a strong word... I do not like it very much anymore and very rarely remember to take photos.
My new years resolution will be to take more photos!!
Anywho... My sweet angel child Vander is 13 months today. I seriously cannot believe how quickly time goes. He is growing up so stinking fast. He does new, more hilarious things each day. His personality is just beaming through and he keeps us extremely entertained. He wants to talk so badly and tries very hard- but everything just comes out jibberish :)

Here are a few updates on Vander-
-He points at EVERYTHING and jibbers about it. His favorite is going up to our Advent Calendar (adorned with Reeses) and pointing. He also will point to the cookie jar full of Teddy Grahams and jibber. If we say "No", he melts down. If we say "Okay" he lets out a scream of excitement
-He points to his book shelf full of books each night- We pull book after book and he keeps pointing, as soon as we get to the book he wants... he lets out his famous excited yell.
-He loves going outside. (Queue excited scream)
-Going up the stairs (Excited scream again...)
-He still has no idea how to go DOWN the stairs. We are working on this... He IS getting better
-He has learned what sound a cow makes and also sometimes can make a dog sound
-He loves being chased. If you say "I'm gunna get you" he takes off in a full sprint screaming and squeeling
-He loves taking baths and loves running around the house butt naked even more
-He finally learned how to drink out of a straw about a month ago (YAY!!!)
-His favorite foods are; Pancakes, Waffles, Chicken Nuggets, Teddy Grahams, Tacos and well, practically anything. He also LOVES milk just like his mommy and daddy!!
-He likes to go into the bathroom, grab the end of the toilet paper roll and pull the toilet paper about 30 feet throughout the house.... THEN shred it. He also loves to splash in the toilet water... Equally fun...
-After he eats anything he likes to run his hands through his hair and turn all excess food into hair gel.
-We are happy to announce that he is BINKY FREE. He has gone a full week and a half with no binky and put up little to no fight
-He loves to wrap cords, chains and anything else he can around his neck. This includes, phone cords, curling iron cords, necklaces, blow dryer cords, and ANYTHING else that resembles a cord.
-He sleeps from 7pm-8am every morning. Then naps 10-12ish and then 2-4ish. Sleeps like a CHAMP!!
-He loves to explore and get into absolutely everything. All cabinets in the house are rubber banded shut for that exact reason.
-He is still the happiest little guy ever. While the tantrums have definately begun, they are few and far between. He is SUCH a joy and we adore him more than anything in this world!!

Photos to come... I'm having "issues" with my iphone which is basically my camera. It won't upload my darn photos! :)

Vanders 1st Birthday Party

This weekend we celebrated Vanders 1st Birthday! As I said before, I seriously cannot believe how quickly the past year went! It has been a GREAT year and we had a great little party to celebrate!

Vander had NO clue what was going on all day. He stared at me like I was a crazy person when I woke him up in the morning for his party and shouted "Happy BIRTHDAY buddy!!". Its funny how you put so much time into a 1st birthday party and they literally won't remember a moment of it. But he will see photos and know he is loved!

To Vander it was any other day, but to me it was a sad reminder that my baby is no longer a baby. He's a big boy now! Anywho... Here are some photos of his party :)

 Adopt a Monster station- (Stuff and Build your own Monster)

 Monster cake and cake pops! YUM!!! (Ps- I did NOT make the cake pops.. I wish)

 Cereal Bar

 Foooood

 Happy Birthday boy- He carried around his cold medicine for the 1st 45 minutes of his party.

 Vander and Bop Bop... and Vander with his drugs....

 Van and Auntie Jess

 Everyone busy building their Monsters

Maddux showing off his completed Monster :)

 Vander and "Uncle" Jon :)

Vander and Daddy! Vander was long past nap time by this time...

 Cake Time! He wasn't so sure about this...

 Daddy had to smash his hand into the cake

 He wasn't in the mood for cake- considering he had just had 9 mini pancakes for b-fast.

 So many good gifts from great friends and family!

 So excited about all of his books

Loving his new ride on train from Grandma and Bop Bop