14 months!

My cute little TODDLER is 14 months already.  Here are some things he's doing now:

• make various football signs such as "touchdown," "no good," and "holding."  He's also picked up on traveling, but that's a different sport and something we didn't teach
• he is starting to fold his arms during prayer, which is good because he learned the football stuff WAY earlier and I feared we would be cast down because if I can't teach him to fold his arms when they are clearly capable of such things, how the heck will I teach him everything before he turns 8?  still a daunting task, but at least I have hope :)
• he enjoys putting toys BACK where they belong almost as much as he likes to take them out.  YAY!
• he still can't drink from a cup without getting water everywhere.  we did start with a spill-proof sippy and I'm afraid it has taught a bad habit.
• he loves to spit
• he says mama and dada, but not very often
• if he doesn't get his way and you are holding him, he gets this look of sheer terror on his face and starts to claw at yours.  then, he bites his hand.
• he's teething again

Five Generations! (well, sort of...)

Here is a picture of Ben, Alex, Ben's great-grandpa Keith, and great-great-grandma.  And her dog.  Alex's dad couldn't make the trip, but we feel the dog was a good sub at the last minute.  Ben is much more interested in the dog than the camera, which is good because it is how we bribed him to sit on grandma's lap. 

East Coast Trip

I am happy to report that Ben did splendidly on the plane!  He did not try (too often) to get out in the aisle and the binky was a lifesaver.  He doesn't get the binky much at home, but he sure got an overdose on our trip.  I didn't put the camera in our carry-on, so I don't have pictures of his first flight.  :( 

We stayed with Alex's grandparents in NC and they have a cute little dog.  Ben was SO excited to see this dog all day, everyday.  It never got old.  He would follow him while he was playing catch and just laugh and laugh.  So cute.  I wish we could get him a dog of his own.  We celebrated Christmas with family and Ben got a bunch more presents that we had to ship back to us.  We were spoiled. 

I was hoping for snow and all I got were some flurries.  One day I'll be able to build a snowman...

The real adventure began when we drove to Virginia to see Alex's mom and step dad.  Alex always said that he grew up in the middle of nowhere and until now, I really didn't have a good feel for where nowhere truly was.  It's about 2 hours from Richmond.  Once you get off the highway (if you can call it that), then you drive and you drive and you drive some more.  Then the paved road ends (along with any state maintenance) and you continue on the dirt road.  At the end of that, you're home.  On the way there, I saw this place that sold out houses and I grew concerned.  I immediately asked if they had indoor plumbing and Alex laughed.  They do, but once I saw the bathroom, I almost wished for an outhouse.  lol.  No showering for me those 2 days! 

They have a wood burning stove as their only source of heat.  Since we didn't want little fingers touching it, we had to stay out of the kitchen, the only warmish room in the house.  I wore my jacket and boots inside at all times.  It was quite the experience...I think I'm more of a city girl than I thought.

Resolutions

Here are my New Years Resolutions.  You'll notice that i share these with half the world.  :)
1)  Lose weight.  Shocking, I know.  I never fully lost my baby weight from Ben and I really don't want to make that a habit.  So, I am going to try super hard to be more determined this year.  I can't start on this until about June, since losing weight while pregnant is frowned upon.  That also makes it the middle of summer in AZ.  Not so inspiring to get outside and run and I don't have the money for a gym membership and my parent's treadmill has become a storage rack, thanks to our friendly invasion.  Ours is at a friend's house soon to be placed in the shed outside.  Goal: get to 140 pounds.  I'll give myself a year to take it off.  My plan: walk with the kids in the stroller, lift dumbells, run outside, jump rope, do pilates, and sit-ups. 

2)  Work out a better budget, together.  Right now Alex does the "budgeting" because I freak out with how many bills we have and how little money we have and yet still spend money on non-essential things.  We are going to work together and hopefully my saver side will rub off on him more and his easy going side will rub off on me.

3)  Read my scriptures daily.  Seriously. 

WHAT ARE YOUR NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS??