7 Months

My little DJ is 7 months old already! And this past month he seems to have changed and grown so much, that I kind of want to find the "pause" button on him and press it. 

He finally cut his first 2 teeth, on the bottom. Two days before Christmas, he was grumpy, clingy and fussy, and then Christmas Day, he was an angel! And sure enough, Deagan had gotten his first tooth for Christmas. Then just after New Years, in popped the other! Now he constantly has his tongue hanging out, rubbing his teeth with it, and you have to be careful, because he likes to bite. Twice just today, he bit Savannah. Once on the finger, and once on the leg.

He is a full-fledged crawler now too. His favorite place to crawl to is underneath the coffee table, where he likes to just sit and chill. Savannah hangs out down there too, often times taking a pillow and a blanket down there. I'm not quite sure what it is about that coffee table, but they both love it. He can crawl on his hands and knees, but he prefers to army crawl if he needs to get somewhere fast. He will crawl on his hands and knees on the carpet, but army crawl once he hits the hardwood floor because he slides faster. I need to get a baby gate ASAP for the stairs. Savannah was too scared of the stairs to ever go down, but DJ is pretty fearless. 

Now that he crawls, he isn't as clingy as he was before. He used to whine and cry as soon as I set him down, but now, I can sit him on the ground, and he will play with toys, or crawl and go explore. 

He can pull himself up too! He now likes to stand in his crib or on the couch. And he especially loves to climb up and stand while hugging my legs. I think he is most proud of this accomplishment, because he's usually beaming with 7 month old pride when he does it.

He's learning how to copy sounds that we make. And he's learning how to show frustration. Savannah took a toy away from him and he yelled angrily instead of just crying. And if I'm not paying attention to him, he yells too.  

 ^^He doesn't seem to mind our costco trips, in which he nearly gets buried every time^^

He's also learned how to give big wet kisses! I LOVE it!

His spitting up problem is virtually gone. Today, he was crawling in the hallway while I was painting his room, and Savannah started yelling that he had spilled some milk. When I went out, he had spit up quite a bit, and that was the first time in weeks he had done that. 

He still doesn't sleep through the night, but It's not really his fault. He gets up around 5 or 6am, which is when the boys downstairs wake up to play video games. (What teenaged boy gets up earlier than is necessary, just to play video games? It makes zero sense) and they are pretty noisy. I get up, change his diaper and give him a bottle and he goes back to sleep pretty easily and stays asleep until 8. I think I'm going to start heading to the gym after I get up with him, since he goes back to sleep, and Savannah and Bryant are still asleep until 8, and I feel more tired throughout the day if I get up and go back to sleep. 

He really is just the happiest baby you have ever met. I'm not ready for him to be so active. I miss the sleepy snuggly stage! But I think it will be nice when he's big enough to keep up with Savannah, so they can keep each other entertained.

New Year!

New Year's Eve and Day were really great this year! We made plans with my Brother and Sister-in-law to have a small party at our house on New Year's Eve, but we didn't know my parents had accepted an invitation for us to hang out with their friends too. So we ended up spending most of the night with good family friends. Savannah was in heaven playing with the two kids that were there. And we enjoyed dinner and games and looking through old photos of my parents and their friends from their newlywed days. 

 

^^And yes, Easton is in a tuu-tuu as well!^^

The later it got in the evening, the crankier my kids got, and we decided to head to our house with Sawyer and Kenna, put the kids to bed, and then chat and eat munchies while we waited for Midnight. Midnight came quietly in our house, with just the 4 of us, and we cheered and poured sparkling cider in red solo cups (we are sooooo fancy sometimes) and wished each other a Happy New Year. Our neighbors started lighting off fireworks and Savannah came running out of her room excitedly yelling that she needed to go outside, so we did, and watched them go off.

One of these days I'm going to throw a majorly huge New Years party where everyone has to dress all fancy and their will be music and dancing and everything! Someday...

The next day, we went out across the lake for our annual New Year's day shooting trip! We go out with family friends every year, but I have not been able to go out since Bryant and I have been married. One of us was always working, or I was pregnant and didn't want to go stand in the snow or whatever reasons. But this year was a blast! Savannah went off with her friends to play in the mud and snow and do a bit of sledding, and Deagan had a blast being passed around to everyone. 

^My sister-in-law Kenna and I^

^^Kenna's Dad Kurt came out too! It's so fun to have more family!^^

 

^^Kandis, Kenna and I. I think the girls actually did better at shooting than they guys did. And I took 2nd place, believe it or not! I kind of shocked myself when I did!^^

 

^My Brother Colter, who probably spends more time outdoors than anyone I know. You should see some of his photos from him hunting and fishing! I really think he should get into outdoor photography!^^

^The view of my mountain from the other side of the lake.^

^This is possibly my new favorite photo of Bryant. He just looks so manly and stuff. If I still had a Jr. High school locker, I'd hang this picture up inside it with little hearts drawn all over it. Hubba hubba!^

The weather was beautiful! I was just in a sweatshirt and I was so warm I was sweating! And we were up higher than the inversion, so it was nice to get some fresh, clean air in our lungs. We had a really good time and we can't wait for next year!

Afterwards, we went to lunch, where a guy walked up to our table and said "You guys look like Duck Dynasty meets Utah!" I had to agree. Everyone was covered in camo and mud. Not to mention my dad has a pretty sweet beard going on!

Happy New Year everyone! 2014 is off to a good start!

Also... this. Because Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are too much perfect going on.

And because Zooey is wearing a tiara, and I'm in full support of everyone wearing tiaras just because.

 

Christmas!

*Note* I started this post daaaayyysss ago. I really need to figure out a schedule to keep on track...

This Christmas was really wonderful. It was the first Christmas morning that Bryant, the kids and I have had just as our own little family. The first 3 years, Bryant and I were living in my parents basement apartment, so we would just go upstairs to open presents with my family. Then last year we were in Mt. Shasta for Christmas with Bryant's family. This year, it was just us at our house. I think this year Savannah really "got it". She understood who Santa Claus was, and knew that he was going to come to our house to leave presents. All day long on Christmas Eve, she kept telling me that we needed to go to bed so Santa could sneak into our house.

 Christmas Jammies!

 Santa came through our neighborhood on a firetruck. Savy asked if he was going to save kids.

When bedtime came, and both kids were nestled all snug in their beds, I had everything wrapped and ready to go, so Bryant and I were in bed at a decent hour. 

The next morning, I had to actually wake up everyone. My mom called and asked if she could come borrow something, so she came over before Bryant and the kids were even up. By 9:00, I figured I had better get Christmas going since we were supposed to be at my parents house by 10 for breakfast. 

When Bryant and I went to wake Savannah up, we said "Savannah! Guess who came last night!" And she sleepily asked "Sagey Pagey?" (My sister Sage). When we reminded her is was Christmas, she bolted out of bed and ran into the living room. The first thing she saw was the train that Santa had set up on the coffee table. She was so excited, she just stood there with her hands over her mouth silently while she watched it go around in circles. Then she saw all the other presents and started giggling and asked if she could open them.

Deagan mostly hid under the coffee table, and he'd come out to munch on wrapping paper, then crawl back under. I can't tell you how many times
I fished paper out of that kids mouth!

This year, we went easy on the gifts. Savannah got a train set, a tin tea set, a princess dress, and a doctor kit from Bryant and I, and Deagan got some clothes and a teething toy. I gave Bryant an audio book (which we returned because he had already read it. Oops) some slippers, and a star wars lego kit (which we also returned because I got the wrong one. Oops again!) and my dad, brother and I went in together to by him a gun!

Bryant's gift to me was a double stroller (Hallelujah!) and a date night out! Which we had a few nights later. Dinner, a movie, and shopping for some clothes for me. Perfect!

I felt a little bad not getting more gifts for the kids, but between both sets of grandparents, and aunts and uncles, they both made out like bandits!

After we opened gifts, we went to my parent's house where my brothers, sister and sister-in-law, and my grandparents were all there to exchange gifts and eat our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of biscuits and gravy.

 Bryant got another little lego thing from my parents, which he instantly took into a quiet corner and promptly put together. He's like a 10 year old boy sometimes.

That afternoon, we all went to my grandparents house for dinner. After dinner, we did a "mug exchange" where everyone brought a mug and we had a game and passed them around. However, as all holidays in the Peacock clan need a little drama, my grandma broke her shoulder. I had brought DJ's car seat in and as it got more crowded, my cousin asked me if she could move it into my grandparents room to keep it out of the way. As we were exchanging mugs, my grandma had gone in and tripped over the car seat and broke her shoulder and arm. She came in with a make-shift sling and said she wasn't going to the hospital until everyone was done opening gifts, and asked for a coke. We quickly finished opening gifts, and then Bryant and I lent them my van to take to the hospital because it's easier to get in and out of. She's a really tough cookie! She ended up needing 12 pins in her shoulder! Ouch! So if you're reading this, just think of a nice little thought for my grandma please.

 I'm almost 100% sure my aunts husband was doing the old "pretending to scratch my nose to flip off the camera" thing while I was taking this picture to photobomb it. Stay classy.

 Bryant reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" Also, my cousins wife also did the "scratching my nose but really I'm flipping everyone off" thing too when Bryant read the part that says "and the jolly old elf with a finger to the side of his nose" or something like that. So I did not post that photo. Guys, really...

That night, we headed home, and put our exhausted but very happy kids to bed, and Bryant and I curled up on the couch and watched a Christmas movie under the glow of the Christmas tree.

It was a great Christmas, and I'm glad Savannah is finally at that stage where she believes in Santa Clause. It makes being his helper really fun! Savannah told me yesterday that she wanted to go to the north pole and go fishing with Santa. I told her it was too cold, but she told me it was fine because she had a jacket. Well, I can't argue with that logic...

I hope everyone had a really wonderful Christmas, surrounded by friends and family!

Hopefully I'll get around to writing about New Years before Valentines Day, no promises though.