Get in shape girl

So somehow, I let Jason and Janine talk me into signing up for this 6 week bootcamp at the Renaud Center out in O'Fallon. Just started this week, and boy oh boy am I mad at those two! Seriously. My triceps are SO flippin sore from doing tricep dips the first day. Cannot.move.my.arms. I just downed some Ibuprofen cuz they hurt so bad. Oy vey. Guess that year-long break from working out (whilst prego) didn't do me much good. Shooty shoo.

This is SO me right now:

Pea Ridge

On Saturday, we took our lil fam out to Pea Ridge in Hermann to cut down our Christmas tree. We've been going there for the past 3 years now and this is quickly becoming one of our fave Christmas traditions! I love riding the wagon out to the field, finding the perfect tree, coming back to the gift shop and drinking hot chocolate, picking out an ornament each year, and getting a bag of kettle corn on the way out. Having a pre-lit fake tree has it's perks, but nothing beats the scent or the look of a fresh cut pine that's filled with all your family's favorite sentimental ornaments. That's the good stuff right there!



All bundled up





Found the perfect tree!





Love how Alex is checking out the scene here. He's like "Heyyy, who's got me?"



"Oh you mean this guy brings presents? Woo hoo! I like him now!"



Main squeeze on Main St.

Here are a few pics of me and my main squeeze (the baby version) on Main St over the weekend.



All bundled up!



Thanksgiving

Had a great Thanksgiving this year (as always). I love this holiday. All too often, we tend to take all of life's simple pleasures for granted. I love that this day is set aside to give thanks for everything we have. No matter how bad things may seem sometimes, there is ALWAYS something to be thankful for. This year I am thankful for the beautiful healty baby boy God has blessed us with! I never thought a baby would bring this much joy to my life, but wow. It's pretty amazing. Love him more than anything!

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoyed your time together with your families as well!



Sharing Dada's Starbux



Carty and Bellz playing "See see my playmate"

Viva Las Vegas

I was lucky enough to accompany Lenny on his 3-day work conference in Las Vegas this week. While he attended different meetings and seminars during the day, I walked the strip, shopped in all the high end shops with two of the other wives, and just plain lounged around in the big fluffy hotel bathrobe. :) We stayed at the Venetian, which was pretty fancy. The most impressive part though was that they had rented out Tao nightclub the last night we were there for an exclusive engagement. There were 1700 people in attendance (I think), and hor d'oeurves, dinner, and open bar were included for all these people. One of the bouncers I was talking to said that HP (who sponsored the party) paid half a million dollars for that night alone!!! Unbelieveable. Needless to say, we were impressed.

This was our first time staying without Alex for more than a night and I have to admit the sleeping in and not having to change any diapers for 4 days straight was nice. But boy did I miss those baby cuddles! We were fighting over who got to hold him first when we picked him up. Thank you soooo much Linda for taking such good care of him while we were gone!


Making fun of the "oh so cute" name badges we had to wear all week



At the Bellagio. Loved those fountains! So neat. That was probably my favorite part of Vegas.

$7.95 for a shake? I guess they think their milkshakes bring all da boyz to da yard!

So fancy!



There was also a living room area to the left but I couldn't get a good pic of that cuz the lighting was horrible



We got a first timer here folks!

Came home a winner - pretty sure they did that on purpose to lure me back to Vegas again. You think I'll get a high roller suite next time? I mean, I made bank while I was there. $79, whut whuuuut?

Baby yoga

Alex recently completed his coursework and is now certified to teach yoga. Anybody want to sign up for one of his classes? :)

The Fauxhawk returns

My new little buddy

Last week, Amy was in town for an interview and Janine and I were lucky enough to snag a lunch date with her and her little boy, Kieran. This was the first time we had gotten the chance to meet Kieran since he was born, and I have to say he is a DOLL! Soooo stinkin cute! He was pretty shy, but still very smiley. The only one we didn't get to see was Tom. :( Guess that just means we'll have to go to CA for a visit soon!

I can't tell you how nice it was to see our lil Ames again. She's all grown up with a kid now! What the heck? How'd that happen? Oh wait, so are we. We're old. All of us. *sigh*

I think Kieran looks a lot like Ames when she was little, but then I see Tom in him in certain pics, too. He is the perfect mix of both Tom and Amy!

Showing us where his "esophagus" is. Only the child of a doctor....

Feeding Mama a chip :)

When Dada feeds Alex

Somehow when Dada feeds Alex, the food ends up everywhere but IN his mouth. : /

Sick baby

Alex has been in daycare for 2 weeks now and although we really like the facility a lot, I'm sad to report that he's picked up a nasty cold/cough already. I'm fairly certain he got it from one of the other kiddos in daycare. It was bound to happen since he's in a different environment and is now being exposed to so many new germs. Kinda comes with the territory. Unfortunately, it'll probably take him a while to build up a little immunity to all that stuff. We'll get there though!

We took him to the doctor on Tuesday after work, and they put him on breathing treatments for the next week or so. Hopefully that will clear everything up. Poor guy looks miserable in the mask, but he's done really well with the treatments. In fact, he was trying to EAT the mask this morning. :) Go figure. He is still his chipper little self and has been just as happy as can be, so he must not be feeling horrible?! Thank goodness for that! Plus he's also been sleeping a little better at night, so I can't complain about that either.

"Dada" giving Alex his breathing treatment before bed



Lenny thought Alex would like some googly eyed stickers on his mask for decoration :)



25 Things I'd Like My Son To Know

I heard Guy Philips read these on air this morning on my drive to work. While I don't agree 100% with ALL of them, I really like a lot of them. Read them slowly, and be sure to pause after each one to reflect it's meaning. Some pretty powerful stuff there.

25 Things I'd Like My Son To Know