The happenings with the Winkleplecks

So I haven't blogged since before Christmas, I really do want to get better at this but just haven't taken the time to do it. So here I am now to talk about all that has happened since my last post. Forewarning, this post will be long :)

Thanksgiving... So Thanksgiving was at my sisters house in Salem. We stopped by Ryan's Aunts house on our way up to Salem to visit for a little bit then we headed up to Salem. Thanksgiving just didn't feel the same this year... I guess it was probably because we were missing some family members (Thomas, Samantha, and the babes), nevertheless we had a good time visiting with family. Here are some pictures:


Desmond giving Grandma Loves

Laughing with Aunt Jan

This Christmas was Desmond's first, I think he had fun opening presents, I think he enjoyed eating the paper more than anything else. My parents came over to visit for a couple days and they got to enjoy Desmond's first Christmas with us. I hosted a small gathering for a dinner, most of the family showed up and Ryan's parents were able to come too, it was a fun day. I'm glad Desmond got to spend Christmas with both Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and little cousin Kimber. The day after Christmas we went to my Grandma's for a family gathering.





Hanging out with the Cousin's

On other news, Desmond is now crawling like CRAZY and love to get into everything. If there is a cat down the hall he is off, and he can crawl FAST!! He also has his first two teeth coming in. Teething is no fun for all of us, Desmond is in pain and mommy doesn't get too much sleep because of it. Other than that though he is a pretty happy and easy going kid.

Crazy Crawler!

Lastly on the Winklepleck news, I started working again, I was able to go back to my old job. I am working full time, it's hard being way from Des that long but it is also very nice to have adult conversation during the day. I am also very blessed to have Grandpa and Grandma Winklepleck watching Des during the day, they are great!! and Desmond loves hanging out with them. I love the end of the day because it is great to come home and have a very excited and happy baby that wants to cuddle and give me hugs.

I almost forgot.... My awesome Husband got me a ticket for me and Des to fly over to Idaho for my birthday to visit my parents and go on a day fishing trip with my dad while my mom spends the day with her grandson. I am SOOO EXCITED! Alright I am sure I will have more things to talk about another time, that is if I actually remember to blog. BYE!

Update

I realize I haven't blogged since our trip to Idaho, which was September... I thought I would blog more once I had Desmond because I would actually have something to blog about, which is true, but I still don't blog. So here I am trying again... So since September we have had Desmond's first Pumpkin patch trip, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. We went to the pumpkin patch with Grandma and Grandpa Winklepleck, spent Halloween at home and didn't really do anything, and Thanksgiving my parents came over from Idaho and spent the week with us, which was a lot of fun and Thanksgiving was fun too. I was able to see most of my family which is always the my highlight of the holidays.

Desmond will be 6 months next week, we are trying to get him started on solid food but he doesn't seem to like much, he likes carrots and bananas and is okay with peas... all the other things I have tried he makes a disgusted face and gags so I will just have to keep trying.
Fun things that Des is doing now:

Rolling, he rolls EVERYWHERE it's his way of getting around, it is pretty cool to watch; he rolls onto his belly uses his arm to move the direction he wants to go then rolls. He also thinks it is pretty cool to copy sounds, so that is always entertaining to see how much he can copy.

Struggles:
So now that Des is 6 months we have decided that it is time for him to sleep in his crib... he HATES it, the second I put him down he starts whining and that turns into a cry. I've tried to just let him cry but he gets himself very worked up and won't stop. I am trying a new method this weekend that apparently only takes 3 days, so by Tuesday night he should be fine with sleeping in his crib... we'll see.

Another struggle is Des not sleeping through the night... I really wouldn't mind if it was just getting up once, but it is 2-3 times regularly and every once in a while it will be 4+ times, hoping that when he is in his crib he will wake up less frequently... if not I am on the verge of giving him one bottle of formula at bed time too see if that works since it takes longer to break down.

Last thing on the struggles list is job hunting, I have been applying for jobs for 2 months now, I have only had one interview... I haven't been declined any jobs I just haven't been contacted mainly by OSU, but Ryan says they take a LONG time in their hiring process, so crossing my fingers for one of the 6 applications I have there. If anyone sees any good full-time jobs that seem exciting let me know I need one by end of January at the latest.

Other than the few struggles we're having, life is great! Christmas is around the corner and it is my favorite Holiday, plus I get to get together with my whole family again. Here are some pictures of the last couple months.

Boise

So we decided to go on a trip to Boise to visit my parents and Des needed some Grandma and Grandpa ( I am thinking Nana and PopPop would be cute for Des to use when he can talk :) ) Mellen time. So we flew to Boise, Des did really well on the plane he nursed when we took off, fell asleep, woke up about 10 minutes before we landed, smiled at everyone on the plane, I was very relieved he didn't cry. During our trip my mom showed us some cool spots around Boise and we also got to go to the Zoo on our last day there, it was fun but a little sad to see all the animals caged up. Here are some pictures of our trip.

Grandpa singing the Budweiser song to Desmond (he insisted that Des loved the song)

My mom, Des, and I did a 4 mile hike to get the newspaper, this was on our way back up.

Grandma and Desmond

Boise Zoo

Family photo

Vaccinations

Desmond went for his 2 month check up on Thursday. He is 13 lbs 7 oz, 25 inches long, and his head is 39 cm, he is a big boy! Which I figured he was since he is already wearing 3 month clothing.Dr. Wong said he was healthy and a very good boy because he was so happy at the appointment.

I think Des is going to be a big flirt, he smiled at the nurse and she thought it was SO adorable. I am going to have to teach him while he's young about his flirting. :)

We decided to get him fully vaccinated, I knew before I got pregnant that I would get my children fully vaccinated. I am not going to go into details on my reasoning because there is such big controversy with parents when it comes to vaccinations. I just see it as it being each persons own choice, parents should do what makes them comfortable. Anyways Des was a brave boy, he only cried for a minute and then he was fine about it and took a short nap on the ride home. Here are some pictures of before he knew what was coming and after the evil nurse poked him with a sharp object in his legs.




The night of his check up he went 9 hours between meals and slept for 7 of those 9. SEVEN!!! WAHOO for mom. It was nice to have 7 full hours, although I kept waking up because it is unusual for him to go that long, but he got up at 4 am ate and then slept two more hours.
Last night was the first night he slept in his bassinet beside the bed and not in the bed with me; It took a lot of will power for me to not pick him up and have him sleep next to me, he of course had no problem with it. He slept 5 hours straight in it and woke up ate and slept another 3, after that I decided I needed him to sleep in the bed. So we cuddled for two hours and then he decided it was time to get up, you know 6:45 am is sleeping in for him. :)
Next goal, sleeping in his own crib, but I think I am going to have to wait a couple weeks until I am comfortable with that.

Just because

I have recently started cooking real dinners, Desmond is a little older now and it is easier for me to have time to prepare dinner. I have been expanding my choices for meals as well as making up my own recipes instead of following one, which has turned out okay... I still need practice. I notice that when I am looking a recipes in books it tends to cost more to make the meal because I have to go out and buy everything for it but I figure once I start cooking more I will have most everything I need on hand for future recipes. I am also learning to use the same thing for different meals which also saves a TON of money. I have also come to the realization that I need to shop at Cubbies (AKA: Winco), I HATE shopping there, it is always busy and you have to pack your own bags and you always feel rushed when packing your bags because there is always someone behind you. I also really dislike the produce and meats at Cubbies, which means shopping at more than one grocery store, which would be fine but with a newborn it is not so fun lugging the car seat in and out of different stores luckily (knock on wood) Desmond is really good at the store and usually falls asleep, I think he enjoys the motion of the cart. :)

Here are a few pictures to share of Desmond, he is growing SO FAST! I am still trying to move him into his room, part of the hold up is because he is still not constantly sleeping more than 3 hours at a time. He'll do 4 hours stents one night and 5 another and then back to 3, although the other night I did get one 6 hour yay! The other part of the wait in putting him in his crib is because I am not ready to have him not sleep next to me, it is scary for me because his room is on the other end of the house by the front door and his window is right next to the neighbors back yard and they are so loud (collage students) and they smoke so I don't feel comfortable leaving his window open but it is kind of a must in the Summer when the temperature is so high. Anyways back to the pictures.

Kill the Binki!