Packed and ready to go!

Bode and I are packed and ready to go! We fly out of KC tomorrow at 9A and will be in Tampa by 12:30 eastern time, we actually only have 2 and half hours in the air. It's a direct flight which more than makes up for not having a lay over. Then about an hour drive to the house and 9 days until we have to come back. I'm so looking forward to this nice break and warm weather.
I may try to blog from down there, but won't be able to post pics until we get back.

It must be me!

I think Bode's has it figured out. I must be the "softy" and his tantrums are meant mostly for me, because up until recently, they worked!
I came back to work today and Stew said Bode is better than he has been all weekend. I think it's because I usually give him his way, so now when I don't, he turns it up!
So I am going to try to be a little less accommodating and see if this works. I have gotten to the point where I don't react to the tantrum and have found they don't last nearly as long that way.
Any advice from all you experienced moms would be most appreciated!

Christmas 2006

We had such a great Christmas! Stew was on call and everyone came to Des Moines. My parents arrived Friday night and the Stewart's came over Saturday afternoon. Much food, many gifts and lots of love filled our home this weekend. We had a couple trips over to the Balderson's to spend some time with the Clodfelder clan. Can't beleive it's over already. If only I had something to look forward too...oh yeah, we leave for Florida in 3 days! I guess that will do.
Hope eveyone had a happy holiday. 

Christmas morning

 

Gifts with the Stewart's

 

Gifts with the Dailey's

 

The weekend begins...

We have a weekend full of family and fun starting. Tonight Larry and Candi got to DSM and unloaded and were off to spend some time with Tate, oh and his parents too! Mom and Larry got here shortly after and Bode was on grandparent overload, playing, reading stories, staying up late, the first of many late nights I suppose. Got in a little cooking, baking, laundry and I even managed to win at a game of Hearts. Good start...

Maybe next year...

Does every child this age have this picture? I remember standing in line last year as many children reacted this way thinking "never Bode!" 

Turning a corner

I think Bode is finally getting back to himself. After about a week of on and off temperatures, diarrhea and a lot of sleep, he seemed to be feeling better this weekend. He was more playful, better appetite, didn't sleep quite as much and only had 2 bad diapers today instead of the 5! He got 2 new teeth and I know the flu has been going around. I also had a lot of people suggest it could be rotavirus. I'm so glad he seems to be doing better, none of us are ourselves when he's sick.

Good intentions

I had the best of intentions for today and it didn't exactly turn out the way I had expected. I was going to get up and Bode and I were going to the indoor Farmers Market downtown. While he napped I was going to start to prepare the house for our company next weekend with some much needed cleaning. Then just a fun afternoon with him and Stew. Sounds great, right?
We had a few friends over last night to celebrate a birthday and show off Stew's sushi making skills. I was almost a party pooper after the long week, but perked up after a couple drinks. Long story short, I spent too much of my perfect Saturday in bed. After a lazy start, we ended up heading out to Water Works park to see the light displays and getting Big Tomato Pizza for supper. Bode enjoyed the lights, but most of all getting to sit in my lap as we drove about 5 mph through the lights. I got in some extra cuddle time too, so it was a better ending of the day compared with the start.
Lucky for me the work will still be there tomorrow! Heading to bed early tonight.

"snooze"

The closer it is getting to Christmas and our vacation the harder and harder it has been to drag myself out of bed and come to work. I just keep telling myself, 6 more days and then you are off for nearly 2 weeks. I am also slow at work and that is not helping. I don't know who's idea the "snooze" button was, but I bet they never made it to work on time!

Santa's Castle

 

Teeth

Bode has been running a low grade fever all weekend and hardly ate anything all day yesterday. We checked his ears and they looked fine as far as we could tell and he has some really white gums that we think are the cause. Just not himself the past few days, but hopefully it's just teeth and they will pop through soon.

Surprise!

We had a surprise 25th anniversary party for my mom and Larry on Saturday night and they were VERY surprised! Stew and I met them in Storm Lake Saturday afternoon at Santa's castle and then went to my Grandma's to kill so time. In the mean time back in Spencer, Al, Josie and Becky arrived and they along with many others went over and started setting things up. We got back and walked into the garage and "SURPRISE", my mom is still trying to catch her breath! We had friends and family dropping by throughout the night and it was a great time.
It was so fun to do something for them because they do so much for us.

17 DEGREES

I remember this one time, before Stew and I were married, we talked about moving to Grand Cayman. He has me convinced it is the most beautiful place he's ever been. We were going to just live in a shanty I would clean vacation homes a couple days a week and he would bartend a few nights until we had enough money to give snorkling tours. Our kids would grow up learning to surf just like riding a bike. It is warm and sunny there all year round. We would never see our family, but it never gets this cold there!

We may have to leave the Chrismas tree up year round

 

Fun weekend at home

Monday morning again! Why does the weekend have to go so fast? Well we had another great one. Stew's band played Friday night and it was the first time I had seen then since last Spring! I think they sound better each show. I'd post pics, but I forgot our camera, and was kind of in trouble for it too. Jennie got a ton though.
Saturday we had a lazy morning due to the late night prior and ran some errands in the afternoon. I watched Becky for a few hours while Al and Josie went to her work Christmas party and other than a brief freakout she had due to diarrhea & diaper rash combo she was great! She and Bode played really well together making each other laugh.
Sunday I didn't even venture out of the house! We started with a big breakfast and Jennie, Sean & Tate stopped by and snapped a few pics for us for our Christmas card. We watched Superman Returns on the big screen after Bode went to bed last night and it was awesome!
Hope everyone had a nice weekend, they are about to get a whole lot busier.