The End of the Chair

Nichole gave us Allie's bouncy chair when Preston was born. He loved that chair. First, the vibrating/music thing broke. Preston didn't seem to mind too much, as he was more interested in bouncing when it broke. A few weeks ago the chair broke. Dustin did his best to rig it together and it worked ... for a bit. Last week, Preston was bouncing like there was no tomorrow and it snapped completely. There's no fixing it ...



So, we went out and bought him a new chair. He's still getting used to it. Preston isn't big on change. But he's learning to love it. It reclines when he wants to take a nap and while it doesn't bounce like the old one, it does rock. Plus it turns into a toddler rocking chair. Hopefully this one will last a while!

Updated Landscaping

Mom and I met up this afternoon and headed to Medary Acres Greenhouse and Lowe's. I needed some new annuals for the front of the house and wanted to find some stuff for the patio. She helped me get everything planted (mostly because I don't have a clue when it comes to plants, flowers, etc) and now we're ready for another summer! Thanks mom!!

I had impatiens here last year ... this year, begonias

My shrub from last year didn't make it, so we're trying this one (can't remember what it is, but it's one of mom's favorites)

Some New Guinea impatiens for the patio

More impatiens and next to that ... hopefully a head of lettuce! A seed paper came in my Kraft Foods magazine, so we're giving it a try.

A lovely petunia-like flower for the patio table.

Happy Mother's Day!

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom .

More from D.C.

Just off King Street, down by the water - This was Sunday night before we came home. I think Preston was exhausted!

More swimming!

National Harbor - you can see this from Jeff and Cindy's window, across the water

The Awakening

We had such a great time visiting Dustin's parents and Preston loved spending all that time with his Grandma and Grandpa Beringer. Thanks again for a great visit, Jeff and Cindy!

The National Zoo

Checking out that monkey

There was a sloth bear on the other side of the glass ... Preston was very interested!

Let's go already!

Trip to D.C.

Preston loved the pool

At the National Aquarium

Preston's first airplane experience ... he slept the whole way out and the whole way back!

Watch Me Grow!

At 6 months ...

18 lbs 10 oz
26 1/4"

Happy Birthday Dad ...
I'm 6 months old today!

Easter 2009

Preston and Allie

Preston with Great-Grandpa Hovey and Great-Grandpa Bjerke

Preston with Great-Grandpa and Grandma Beringer

Easter weekend we headed down to Vermillion to see Dustin grandparents. We were also able to see his brother and sister-in-law and his uncle and aunt, Jon and Deb. It was a fun weekend and it was so nice to see them all again.
On Sunday we headed home and then went to my parents house to have Easter with my family. It was a jam-packed weekend (we went to the Easter Egg Hunt Saturday morning before we left), but we had a great time!
As you can see below, Preston may have won the award for the lamest first Easter Bunny experience! Oh well ... at least we'll always remember it!

Easter Egg Hunt

Preston rolled over for the first time on Saturday! He's had the tummy to back rollover down for a while now. He doesn't care to be on his tummy, so he figured out pretty quickly how to get back to his back. But he finally got from his back to his tummy and of course we didn't have the video camera at the ready when he decided to do it. But Sunday, Dustin saw him going for it and had the camera close by.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm 5 months old today!!

Allie Goes Bowling

Allie with the birthday girl and her friends
(Mom made a ho-ho cake and it was DELICIOUS!)

What a goof ball

Will this one be a strike dad?

Cousin Abby was very helpful!

We celebrated my cousin Abby's 6th birthday on Saturday at the bowling alley (oops, I mean center ... I've been told by one of my sales guys that bowling aficionados prefer the term bowling center). This was Allie's first bowling experience and I think she had fun!

Happy Birthday Abby!!!

More Random Photos of Preston

Preston's been doing this a lot lately ... it's just so darn cute!

Cool new hat!

Watch Me Grow!

At four months ...

16 lbs 5 oz
24 1/2"

I'm 4 months old today!!

Being silly

So big!

Ugh, I'm just exhausted.

I'm a big boy ... but only if the bottle is almost empty. Otherwise it's just too heavy!

Some Random Pictures

Dad and the grandkids

Preston and Darrion
Amber, our daycare provider, snapped this photo of her son and Preston during the first week of daycare. All the kids at daycare just love Preston and are so great with him!

Preston and Abby

I'm 3 months old today!!

Recipe Hunting

With our tv shows on hiatus over the holidays, we've been watching The Sopranos lately (we have the whole series on DVD). Every time we watch it, I have this uncontrollable urge to eat Italian food and drink wine. So I've been searching for a recipe for Chicken Carbonara ... and I think I found a good one. The recipe is courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis; I love her show Everyday Italian but I don't think I've ever attempted any of her recipes. I'm thinking we'll also have to have Baked Ziti some night this week, it's Dustin's favorite. Here's hoping my Carbonara turns out tonight!