We were in Vegas for a couple of days, living it up and having fun while Abby watched the kids.  When we came home she said everything went great and the kids were awesome…

Oh and Blake is eating like food is going out of style…

I should have realized she was telling me the poop of the century was about to erupt like a volcano and form a whole new portion of Earth called Poopland.

The day started out innocently enough.  We ran around town doing errands and catching up on non-holiday stuff.  Then we made a stop at Whole Foods for some lunch and shopping.  I am re-stocking our house with fresh wholesome food instead of all the crap we have been eating since Thanksgiving.

It always has to happen in public places…

While we were shopping I noticed the face…you know that I’m squirting a doosy of a twosie out Mom kind of face.  I figured no biggie, they have a nice bathroom with a place to change him so we should be fine…

Should is the right word.

We get into the bathroom and I check the damage…the diaper is completely full…so is his pants, so is his shirt, so is his back.  Okay, I’ve dealt with explosions before, this shouldn’t be a problem…

Did I mention his a wiggle worm now???

Oh yes, that started too.  Now it’s on my hands, my shirt, his hair, his hands and even in that tiny crevice of the “safety” belt that they put on a changing table that absolutely no one uses.  The poop is wedged in  that crevice…Awesome!

I finally kind of get us cleaned and get him changed into a new “just in case” outfit and I attempt to clean the changing table…Well hell, I’m just going to leave the rest of the cleaning of that to the staff here because now my half dirty kid is crawling on the really gross floor in the bathroom, trying to get some more gross germs on him because he doesn’t have enough from his own bodily waste.  Sweet!

I wash the both of us up the best I can in the sink and get back to our cart so we can pay up and get us home.  We both need to be bathed and sanitized.

Don’t worry, I told the staff about the changing table…hopefully someone got right on top of that.

Now we are checking out and I am getting all the groceries out when I discover…yes this is true and beyond gross…there is Blake poop on a portion of the groceries in the cart.  And not just a tini-tiny bit…oh no, there is like a plethora of poop, just sitting there, contaminating a whole slew of things.  The check out people look at me as if I’m one of the grossest, stupidest people that they know.  Luckily someone hands me a container of sanitation wipes and a garbage and I go to town throwing away the food that can no longer be eaten and clean off the cart.  Oh, the part where Blake sits has poop all over it too.  How I didn’t see this before I put him back into the cart is beyond me…so you guessed it, he is now covered in the poo once again…This day cannot get any better!

I continue to clean it all up, pay for what was still okay and embarrassingly get the hell out of there.  One of the employees follow me and the cart out to my car so that he can then take said cart and burn it out back once we are done with it.  He proceeds to tell me that he thought the grossest thing he’s ever seen before was a dirty wet diaper in the grocery cart, but this…this was just spectacularly worse than that.  Thanks Dude, I needed that pep talk!

We get home, we bathe, we change, we finally get clean…the joys of being a Mommy

So to recap, Blake ate a shitload of food for a couple of days and in the span of thirty seconds at Whole Foods gets rid of it.  The poop was so immense that it went up and out of his diaper like a waterfall into the cart full of groceries.  We go through two sets of clothing and forced the grocery store to probably destroy the cart and the changing table because there was no other choice in the matter.

Blake, you are one nasty dude…you are sooooo very lucky that you are cute…oh and yes I will tell your girlfriends this story when you are older, I don’t care how embarrassed you get because it will be just a little payback…Love you!

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Travis When He Was a Baby

So…yes, he was an amazingly cute baby and you can see his red hair already!  And also, my children look exactly like him…I know this and now you do too!

Back to my story…

I believe Grandpa Newman started a tradition of giving the baby their first taste of ice cream.  He was delighted to see the faces of the babies as they discover the wonderful new flavor and texture of this famous desert.  What started with Travis continues into the next generation!  Brook was given her first taste of ice cream on Thanksgiving of 2005.  It was her first turkey day and the first day she learned ice cream is good.

Brook at 4 Months Trying Ice Cream for the First Time

So fast forward to this past Thanksgiving.  The tradition has continued and Grandpa Jay gave Blake his very first bite of ice cream.

Blake Having His First Bite of Ice Cream

Both kids liked this tradition, although I think both of them were a little wierded out by the coldness of the dessert.  The fact that both of them tried ice cream for the first time on Thanksgiving is completely coincidental.  It’s just that this is a family event and since all the family likes to witness this tradition, Thanksgiving seems the appropriate time.  We were also able to get a picture of four generations of Newman boys…this is a great shot!

Four Generations of Newman Men

Grandpa Newman couldn’t resist giving Blake a few bites of ice cream also…

I’m not going to wish life away, but I must admit that one day, when it’s Travis’s turn to give the ice cream to the grandchildren, I’ll fondly look back and remember when my babies had their turn…

Gotta love traditions

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HE WAS DANCING!

It was super cute and if you bounce up and down, he usually will copy you…but, really the time I love it the best is when he does it on his own.

Here is proof that my boy has moves!

Also, notice how awesome I am!  How do you ask…well, I figured out how to use my camera to take a video of Blake, how to upload it onto YouTube and how to transfer it onto the blog.  I’m rocking this blog thing

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Brook in the Pumpkin Area of Windmill Farms

They had an area where you could buy food and sit and listen to some live music and toss some horseshoes…

The Live Music and Windmill Farms

Brook and Travis Playing Horseshoes

Blake had fun discovering what pumpkins were and understanding the texture of hay…

Blake in the Pumpkin Patch

We tried to get a good family photo in the pumpkin patch, but with two kids, it’s kind of hard…

The Newman's Picking Pumpkins

They had a hay ride, a “train ride” and pony rides…Notice Brook and her cowgirl hat…I tell you she has gone Country

Brook on the "Train" Ride

People Getting Off the Hayride

Brook Riding the Pony

All in all it was a great family day and a great first pumpkin patch experience for Blake.  I will admit that the Midwest is a much better place for the Harvest Festivals, but this one was great and it was very rustic, country, cowboy Arizona like.

It was worth the drive and I can see us trying to go even further up North next year…maybe Flagstaff?

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Blake and I at the Pumpkin Festival

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BABY!

Blake at 8 Months Old

First official word people!  He can almost say bye-bye when he is waving too…you know they sound kinda the same.

But, now everyday since, he has been talking like this, “ba-by, ba-by, ba-by.”

If you go, “who is the baby?”  He will repeat the baby part…it’s amazing.

Yes, we did get it on video and if I had my cool little pocket video camera that easily uploads with only the USB cable, I would have posted it right here on the site, but alas I don’t have it yet.  I do have an idea though and if it works, I will put it on the blog ASAP!

But, I wanted it to go down in the books that Blake has officially said his first word and it wasn’t Mama or Dada.

Although, we are still having the Mama/Dada contest and hopefully (as I cross my fingers) he will say Mama before Dada.

My little 8 month old can say a word…I am so overjoyed with happiness!

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So far he is able to…

Wave to people occasionally

Understand the sign for milk, more, eat and finish…Although, he can’t use them yet

He can crawl like a snake around the house

He cracks up at the funny thing Brook does

Blake at 8 Months Old

Tells you he wants to be belly tickled by making blowing noises

Sits up

Basically can sleep through the night

He wears 12 month clothing and could be out of the infant carrier just as soon as Travis figures out how to convert the toddler car seat

He has four teeth with two getting ready to come in

Enjoys eating all kinds of pureed foods, eggs, Cheerios and soft breads.  His favorite though is just plain mashed up banana

He loves his voice…he “talks” baby talk almost constantly

I’m sure there is more, but this is a good picture of my son at 8 months

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I bought Brook a booster chair for the car.  It is one that still has back support, but she is officially out of a five-point harness car seat.  She loves wearing an adult seat belt and she thinks her new booster is cool.  It just blows my mind how fast the time has gone.  I mean, it feels like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital and the baby car seat seemed gigantic.  She was so very tiny in it and now this is the last “car seat” she’ll need.  After this, she will just sit in the car…crazy.

In Blake news, he waved on purpose for the first time today!  We were having lunch at Rubio’s and a couple of teenage girls sat next to us.  Blake smiled at them and then lifted his hand an gave a slight wave to them…his first official greeting!  I actually didn’t quite believe it until I asked Travis if he saw what I saw.  Travis with the same amazed look nodded and agreed that this was the first time Blake waved to someone and understood it was a way to say hello.

My little ones grew up a little today…

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For all the new readers…this is my way of seeing how the children grow.  Seeing them everyday, I feel I don’t really “see” the growth process, so I figure if I take a picture of them every day for a year, then after that year, I will be able to compare the pictures and put them into a collage and then I will really see their growth for that time period.  It’s my little experiment.

A Year In Pictures Day 56

A Year In Pictures - Day 57

A Year In Pictures - Day 58

A Year In Pictures - Day 59

A Year In Pictures - Day 60

A Year In Pictures - Day 61

A Year In Pictures - Day 62

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I love how dinner and a movie has turned into something so different than what it once meant to me…

When I was a teenager, it usually meant a first date and it was exciting.  I remember being so nervous and wondering if my date would try to hold my hand or even kiss me in the theater.  The sheer excitement and flow of hormones made it hard to really pay attention to the big screen.  I remember sweaty nervous palms and the awkwardness of trying to rest my head on their shoulder.  Now I fondly look back on the newness of dating as part of the growing up milestone.

One of my favorite memories is when Brandon and I (one of my first boyfriends) went to see Wayne’s World on Valentine’s Day.  I know, you may think, “how romantic,” but for me it was perfect.  I love being silly and we had fun together.  It was really a great memory and I fondly look back on now and again.  God I was like 15 or something like that…so young.  Now, I can’t even fathom Brook being 15 and dating…AHHHH the horror of that thought!  I felt so grown up then, but really I was still just a kid.

I have another dinner and movie memory with Travis.  We once broke up for a month and one day he called me to go out as “friends”.  At first I said no, but I really missed him in my life and later called him back to say yes.  We met at Islands and almost missed each other.  I was waiting for him outside, he was inside, we both almost left because we both thought we got stood up.  Finally, we saw one another.  The dinner was so awkward…we were feeling each other out…trying to see if it was worth another shot.  That night we saw Little Nicky, which will go down in history as the stupidest movie I’ve ever seen.  But, for the last time, I got nervous butterflies during that movie.  I was hoping that he would hold my hand and that our relationship would start again…He did and it did and the rest is my past, present and future.

Now dinner and a movie consists of G rated features with Brook sitting between Travis and I.  One of us feeds Blake Cheerios to keep him occupied while he sits in his stroller watching the movie in awe.  I love it so much more than any of my past “date” nights.  I love cuddling with the kids and stealing a small peck kiss from Travis if I’m lucky.  Plus, I get to see cartoons…I mean that is AWESOME!

We dined at Outback afterwards and the kids were amazing during the whole night.  It was one of those times when everything goes right, we all have fun and we all swell with love for one another.  I know, super cheesy, but hey it’s true.

I highly suggest seeing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, it’s one of the better cartoons that I have seen in quite some time.

I can’t wait until our next Family Date Night!

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A Year in Pictures - Day 49

A Year In Pictures - Day 50

A Year In Pictures - Day 51

A Year In Pictures - Day 52

A Year In Pictures - Day 53

A Year In Pictures - Day 54

A Year In Pictures - Day 55

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