Drew & Dax

SpongeBob

2012-02-05T18:09:00.000-08:00

Meet the newest member of our family...SpongeBob the Beta fish! Of course Drew named her but the child has never seen an episode of SpongeBob in her life. She loves the character because Mall of America has a "real" one you can shake hands and take pictures with.

Drew and Dax were really sick this week, so in an effort to get out of the house we decided to go to Wal-Mart. Poor little Dax (who hadn't slept all week) fell asleep while we were shopping so we made a trip to see the fish in order to burn some time and let him snooze a little while. I guess my own lack of sleep and good judgement made getting ~~one more thing to take care of~~ one of those precious little fishies seem like a great idea. Drew just LOVES SpongeBob so it's been worth it to see how excited she gets when it's time to feed the fish everyday.

We are also headed home to Arkansas this Friday!!!!!!!!!!! To say that I am excited would be an understatement! I haven't been home in nine months and I am missing all my family and girlfriends. The past month has kinda been a doozie and I'm ready to be back in Arkansas to enjoy the comforts of home! We'll be able to finally introduce Dax to some of the family too.

This was a picture of me, my girlfriends, and all of our babies the last time I was home. Little Dax was still in the oven. Can't wait to see all of our little boogers together again!!! Oh how I miss these girls and their babies!! We have one more to add to our bunch-Tara is due with baby number two the end of August!! YAY! :)

Dax's 6 month stats:

2012-01-23T10:36:00.000-08:00

Weight: 17 lbs 1 oz (45%) he must have an AMAZING metabolism because all he does is eat!!!
Length: 27 inches (65%)
Head: 43.9cm (55%)

click on this link for Drew's six month stats

Half Birthdays!!

2012-01-19T12:56:00.000-08:00

My baby girl is 2 1/2 today!! What a complete blessing, handful, joy, little toot, sweetheart, and love of my life you have been! Little Drewfus is quite the little tom-boy right now. Loves to jump, climb, run, tackle, and hurdle anything. Loves playdoh, puzzles, books, blocks. Can throw some HORRIBLE tantrums (luckily they are milder and much more sparse now that the molars are all in though!!) Will eat just about anything except certain breads...weird. Quite the clown and loves to make us all (especially Dax) laugh. LOVES sweets!! Loves her naps. Not as big of a daddy's girl these days-starting to favor me a little more now. :) Fearless little daredevil. Independent. Hard headed at times. Sensitive and emotional. Very particular about the order of things. A TOTAL bargainer...you tell her she can have one-she's gonna try to bargain you out of two or three.

My little man will be 6 months in four days also!! To sum up this little pumpkin so far all I can say is E.A.S.Y. He LOVES Drew!!!! Will not take his eyes off of her and thinks she is hilarious! Rolling from tummy to back and sitting up pretty good by himself. Loves to bang on things (such a boy) and has just discovered the joy of jumping up and down in his exersaucer and Johnny Jump-up.

Carry on, warrior....

2012-01-19T11:30:00.000-08:00

Two very different articles but both equally encouraging for all mommas out there!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glennon-melton/dont-carpe-diem_b_1206346.html

http://www.babywisemom.com/2012/01/positive-attitude-makes-all-difference.html?m=1

2012-01-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

I wish I could take a glimpse into the mind of a two year old to find out exactly what these little boogers are thinking...

Take this for example...

Before going to bed the other night I went to do my nightly check in Drew's room and this is what I found. She pulled her table over to the bed (in the dark) and arranged all the chairs perfectly around it. What on earth is the orange chair doing too??? Is it so she and her 2,000 babies she sleeps with can't fall out? A booby trap so no one can get in her bed? Or just a fun obstacle course to climb on while she's getting in and out of bed? Who on earth knows??

And speaking of her 2,000 sleeping companions...the ol' bed is getting a little cramped these days. She sleeps with Hoppy, Elmo, Dr. Bear, Hungry Caterpillar, Sammy Bear, one of Dax's lovies, two baby dolls, a big dog Dax got a Christmas, her pillow, and a blanket. If any of them are missing out of her bed she usually knows it and won't go to sleep until every last one of them is found! How on earth she finds room in the bed to sleep with all that mess going on in there, I will never know! :) Oh Drewfus-you are a piece of work these days but we absolutley love you to pieces!

Christmas

2012-01-05T12:05:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Deimel fam!

Sidenote: As usual, I wrote this post super fast so forgive me if there are lots of grammatical errors or if it doesn't make sense... :)

Christmas with a two year old in the house was super fun this year!

A few Christmas highlights and fun traditions we started:
-we made up our own version of "elf on the shelf" (an Annalee elf) that Drew named Candy Cane
-we made Pinkalicious (Drew is obsessed w/this book right now) cupcakes for Jesus's birthday (Drew said he was turning 8 :) )
-we did a mold of Dax's hand print (it's HUGE compared to Drew's hand at 5 months)
-started a wall of all our Christmas cards (one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE things during Christmas is getting Christmas cards from friends and fam!!!)

-made a gingerbread house (the perfectionist/artistic girl inside of me had to be restrained while my two year old slung candy, icing, and sprinkles wherever she wanted on her little house)

-and then of course our note to Santa. The two hot items on Drew's list were gingerbread man cookies and candy canes-super random, I know. Yummy sweets and keeping it simple-hey, that's my kind of girl!

-another tradition my family has always had is opening all the wrapped Christmas presents under the tree on Christmas eve, so we let Drew open up a few presents form family.

Although BJ protested a little on this subject, I got Drew stocking stuffers, a game, and two books. If BJ had done our Christmas shopping, he would have come home w/ the whole Target store and set up a HUGE trampoline downstairs! Yes, he wanted to buy her a big "wow" present to knock her socks off when she walked in to see her gifts form Santa. That "wow" gift was a real trampoline that would have honestly taken up our whole downstairs basement!! I know, I know, I'm such a mean mom for not going along w/it, right?!! But seriously, she's ONLY TWO :), she would like the trampoline for about two days and then prob be over it (while a huge trampoline sat in my basement the rest of winter), she had more than enough presents from her two wonderful grandmothers (not to mention, the child NEEDS nothing), and although presents are great-they are not the real reason for Christmas...right?!?!?! Obviously you know who "won" that one.

While I'm on that subject, I wanted to write down a sweet story. We read a lot of Christmas books over the holiday and one particular one that D loved was a super sweet book telling the story of Jesus's birth. At the end it says that you can let Jesus into your heart. Somehow I explained it to her in a "two year old way" and now whenever we ask Drew where Jesus is she points to her chest and says "in my heart". :) Love!

I realized Christmas eve night that we didn't have her any Christmas jammies. Oh well, nothing says Christmas like lavender polka-dots. :)

A few days after Christmas my mom, dad, niece, and nephew drove up here to see us. It's always so great to see family and I appreciate all the efforts that everyone makes to come see us these days. Getting to AR w/ our two little rugrats would be quite a challenge right now.

Oh how we miss home though. Watching Drew play with her cousins (and grandparents) and seeing how much fun she had with them made us both talk about how much we want to get this medical training over asap so we can get back to AR and be close to family and friends.

The first night Payton and Kaden were here, I put Drew to bed and after a few minutes I could hear her calling out for Payton, Kaden, Honey, and Pop Pop from under her door. Then when all got quiet I found her asleep by the door (she hadn't fallen asleep in floor since the first few days after we took her crib down)....she just wanted to be with them so bad. It just filled my heart up but also made me sad at the same time...

Can't dwell on it though! Hopefully we'll be living back in Arkansas soon (just a little over a year left here and probably a 1 year fellowship somewhere else)! :)

Last but not least my little man is starting a few solids here and there...

he has found his feet (yes he has on pink socks)...

and is such a little joy...

Merry Christmas to all - hope everyone had a great New Year!

Big Girl Bed Adventures

2011-12-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

Little Drewfus of course has to keep us on our toes AT ALL TIMES these days. Her latest adventure has been crawling out of her bed on a regular basis now. At first I thought I would outsmart her and just put a childproof doorknob cover on her side of the her bedroom door in hopes that she would try to get out of her room a few times, realize she couldn't, and quit climbing out of her crib. Yeah, not so much. During naptime last week I heard her jump out of bed and then start wrestling w/the door. Then wouldn't you know, that little toot walks down the hall to the living room with an ornery little grin on her face and the "childproof" doorknob cover in two pieces in her hands. She then hands them to me...as if to say, "nice try mom!" From then on out, she just started popping the door cover off somehow and coming out of her room = very few naps lately. Boo! Serously, whose kid is this!?!??!

Then retard parents decide to do what any mean parent does-take the doorknob off her door and switch it where it locks on the outside. (Lets be honest here, I know this may sound cruel but with a four month old demanding enough of my time in the middle of the night I can't possibly take on a hard-headed two year old who won't stay in bed too! :) ) Ok, so back to the retard parents part. Well, while switching the doorknob so that little Miss Drewfus couldn't get out of her room at night....

...oops, BJ closed the door and the lock was turned!! So there we were... two genius parents (w/no cell phones) locked inside our kids bedroom w/no way out! Luckily both the kids were in there w/us! After some unsuccessful attempts at picking the lock, BJ decided to jump out on the roof and try to get someones attention or possibly jump off the roof. Hmmmm, after about 5 minutes out in the blistering cold he realized that jumping off the roof into the darkness was probably not the smartest idea and no one was dumb enough to be outside in the cold except him. :) So he went back to picking the lock and eventually popped it with a string on my sweatshirt. We were probably stuck in there for about 20 minutes. Lesson learned: when changing your two year old's door lock, make sure you have a key to the door in the room with you. Or better yet, maybe you need to make sure the door isn't locked! :) Oh wait, maybe the lesson is not to lock your kid in her room at night...NAH! :)

Then tonight we finally took Drew's bed apart and put the toddler rail on it so she doesn't have to jump out anymore. After we put her to bed and I heard her jiggle the door for a while, poke her fingers out under the door, sing a few songs, and then all was quiet. I went in about an hour later to check on her...out cold on the floor...

...picked her up and then put her in bed.

We also got our first big snow this winter!!! It's amazing that we got all the way into December without any real accumulation.

Of course I had to get little Dax's first picture out in the snow...

sledding...

...and then the two year old started to have a complete melt-down and we were done. :)

Thanksgiving/4 months

2011-11-30T11:13:00.001-08:00

Honey came and visited/helped me with the babies the week before Thanksgiving while B.J. was in Florida for a medical poster presentation.

While she was here we set up all the Christmas decorations! I haven't decorated for Christmas in 5 years, so it was fun to get all of my holiday stuff out and be able to enjoy it again. Drew has been loving it all too...which is what matters the most!

Then for Thanksgiving BJ's side of the family came and celebrated with us...

Not many pictures with ol'Drewfus because she was being...well...her typical two year old toot self most of the time!

We went a visited Santa over Thanksgiving too. This was as close as little Drewfus was willing to get to him. :) Teta and I LOVED this little old Santa! He was awesome!

A big thank you to Honey, Teta, Poppy, and Mick for coming all the way up here to see us for Thanksgiving!

4 Months!!

...little mini BJ (only w/blue eyes)

My little man turned 4 months last week:

weight: 15lbs. 1oz (52%)

height: 25.8 inches (77%)

head: 54%.............................long and lean

Drew at this age was:

weight:14lbs. 2 oz (63%)

height 24 inches (49%)

head: 86%............................short, squatty, and a HUGE head...wowzers I forgot how big her head was when she was this little. :)

2011-11-11T11:53:00.000-08:00

Not much going on here lately. However, I did get a few pics of the babies this week so I (and all of our family far away) can gauge their size and growth together over time....

So this next picture just makes me laugh...

a) because Drew just got out of bed and her p.j's are of course on backwards

b) because Dax's onsie is about two sizes too small through his torso, his skinny little legs, and his random bright red socks

c) I was trying to get Drew to smile so I said "where is Drew"

d) because this is totally how we roll these days :)

Random news: Drew's latest obsession are these foam stickers. She will peel the back off of them and stick them on things for HOURS...best $5 I've spent in a loooong time!!! She's also loving nursery rhymes right now and sang a whole verse of the "5 little monkeys" this week...quite the talker these days!

Dax's obsession is still eating, of course...

And these sweet moments just never get old: I laid Dax down on the floor the other day so I could start supper and then a few minutes later noticed Drew grab the Ipad (I promise she doesn't just sit on the ipad all day) and walk towards him. I asked her what she was doing and she said she wanted to sit down with Dax. They sat/laid like this for a long time...LOVE! :)

And last but not least Happy Veterans Day! I am forever grateful to those who have put their lives on the line and sacrificed so much to protect this great nation.

Halloween

2011-11-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

First and foremost (and very off the Halloween subject) I would like to put it down in the record books that Drew has the first signs of a "hairstyle" at the age of two!!! Yipee! She has the beginning stages of a little stacked bob...made this ex-hairdressers heart skip a beat when I cut it! :)

...in the front we still have nothing though :)

Ok, back to Halloween...

Our festivities started Sunday with some pumpkin carving! This picture pretty much sums up Drew's thoughts about it all. She was less than impressed with the idea of pulling out all the pumpkin's seeds and guts.

She eventually wanted to paint one though...

Giving her pumpkin a hug...

Dress up time...

Then we were off to trick or treat...

She was thrilled to go trick-or-treating (get candy) and luckily the weather was great! No snow and in the 50s!

Her loot when we got home...

my sweet boys...i don't know how to undo this underline or why it is doing it...

Drew had a little box of Nerds and a small Butterfinger for her Halloween snack. Then we all curled up on the couch and watched Dancing with the Stars! Great end to a fun night! :)

Week in review...

2011-10-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

It has been pretty crazy around here...

This little man has been going through his three month growth spurt this week and has been belly up to the "snack bar" every hour and a half to two hours the past three days! WOWZERS!!

Drew and I have been practicing how to trick-or-treat this week and practiced putting on her Halloween "makeup" to get her prepared for the big night! She is SOOO excited to get treats...imagine that!! She has been constantly walking around the house saying "knock knock... trick-or-treat... bag... TREATS!!"

I also tried to get her to paint some pumpkins with me outside one day. She dabbled a little paint on a few to humor me...

...and then was off to grocery shop down the sidewalk in her panties!! :)

This little toot also has had more potty incidents this week. She decided one day that her bed was a great spot to go the the restroom (normally it's her carseat). At naptime she took her clothes off and took a big poop right in the middle of her bed and then at bedtime she took her clothes off and peed in the middle of the bed. Needless to say, after both of those incidents in one day we decided to pull out....

...the ol' turn the jammies around backward trick. BJ and I laughed so hard when we did it because she looked so funny. She kept saying "monkeys gone" (b/c she couldn't see the monkeys on the tops of her feet anymore).

And of course mixed into the madness of the week, there were some sweet little moments like this one... the babies and I were snuggled in bed together reading a book. Love. Yes, don't judge, that is an old christmas onesie of Drews on Dax in the middle of October :)... its gets a bit random around here some days. :) Geez, he looks as big as her!

All of us(except BJ) caught a bug and were pretty sick all week too. Yucky! But everyone is on the mend and feeling much better this weekend.

Happy Sunday

2011-10-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

We did our annual pumpkin patch run last weekend. My camera was dying and my two year old and newborn aren't the best at taking pictures these days so please bear with me through these super random/not so hot pumpkin pics...

Oh my little fake smiling two year old...

A few Drewfus fun facts lately:

Some of her faves these days would definitely be saying "no", going to Flapdoodles to get ice cream, watching the Ipad, having tea parties w/all her stuffed animals (and mom/dad), swinging in swings at the park, dancing, repeating herself over and over and over, and eating almost anything (she still loves tons of vegetables and will usually scarf them off her plate first). She loves to clown around and laugh...she has the most contagious little cackle. She is still a huge daddy's girl (and even more so now that Dax has arrived). She used to love books, but isn't too interested in them lately. Her bottom two molars are almost all in...thank you little baby jesus (only two more on the top)!!!!! She is a little talker and has quite the vocabulary these days. You can bribe this child to do anything if you give her something sweet as a treat. She can be quite the "terrible two"-er some days and will argue and whine constantly...yuck! She still usually naps about 2-3 hours a day. She LOVES nursery rhymes right now...after I put her to bed tonight I could hear her singing a Rock-a-Bye-Baby/Twinkle Twinkle remix in her bed. And last but not least, she has had some regression in the potty department the past two weeks. :( Boo. I have tried to stay patient w/her and I am hoping this little bump in the road passes soon.

tea party....

these fake smiles are killing me :)...

Dax fun facts:

Oh this little man is a sweetheart!! He is such a breath of fresh air on the days when I just want to crawl in a hole because Drew is being such a handful. He is so content and just smiles from ear to ear at me all the time...makes me melt!! He loves to be swaddled and sleeps on his back at night. However, he also LOVES to sleep on his tummy and does during most of his naps throughout the day. He loves Mr. Octopus man as much as Drew did and has started cooing at sqeeling at him. He is pretty much sleeping through the night now...goes to bed at 8 or 9pm, gets up to eat at 5-5:30 and them goes back down until we(Drew) gets up around 7:30. He's been sleeping in his crib for naps/bedtime since the first month. He just started to notice his arms this week. The little nicknames we call him lately are bubba (so southern/redneck I know:) ) or Daxy-poo.

Noticing the ol'arm...

Chatting with Mr Octopus man...

Oh I could just eat him up...

2 months

2011-09-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

Little man went to his 2 month appointment last week:

Length: 23.2 inches (56%) ...Drew was 21.8 inches (26%)

Weight: 12lbs. 5 oz (66%) .............D was 11lbs. 7 oz (64%)

Head: (56 %).......................................................D was (86%)

So as you can tell, little Dax's stats are looking pretty average for a baby boy. Before we took him to the doctor we were convinced his length would be in the upper percentile for little boys because he seems sooooo long to us. However the nurse measured him at 23 inches...an inch shorter than we thought. BJ measured him 24 inches at home - which would make him in the 70th percentile. :)

After looking at Drew's stats at 2 months and noticing that she was almost two inches shorter than Dax, it makes me realize why he seems so big and long to us right now... I forgot what a short little chunk she was!

See if you can tell who is who at 2 months... and remember, Dax sometimes wears some of the same neutral gowns/clothes Drew did (so you can't cheat by looking at clothes):) ....

4
5

If you leave a comment, write down your guesses: a) for Drew b) for Dax! :)

My babies the other morning. Drew with her fake "say cheese" smile...

Precious memories...

2011-09-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have been working on publishing the past two years of my blog to a book for a while now and just recently finished. I ordered the two books the other day and just received them in the mail....I LOVE how they turned out!! I hope to one day give them to my babies when they are older so they can read all of their stories about growing up and see all the pictures that I have blogged about over the years.

While doing the books I couldn't get past the fact that my babies will never see many pictures of, or have any memories with one of their grandparents...so I decided to devote a blog post to him in his memory.

Many of you who read this blog already know his story, but if you don't, Billy Deimel (BJ's dad) was a wonderful man who was taken from this earth too soon. He was such a kind and warm hearted man who never met a stranger. The things I remember about him were his love for his boys, selling cars, pretty women :), beer, and living a little on the "wild side" (we always laugh that the first time I met Billy he was in the back of a cop car). :) I don't know what it is about both of my babies, but when they are/were infants, I can see soooo much of Billy in their little faces. Maybe it's the bald head, the long full face, or the double chins they have/had sometimes. Whatever it is, I think it's just a little "God wink" from Billy up in heaven letting us know he is watching over them. :) I know he would be so proud of his two grandbabies.

Bj only has one little suitcase full of his dad's stuff from when he died. I dug it out of the garage today and pulled this picture out of it. It was one of the last pictures Billy had taken of himself to give to his boys before he died. He wasn't in the best health in this photograph, but it is how I remember him. We love you and miss you Billy....

First sweet smiles...

2011-09-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

Little Dax turned 6 weeks yesterday. He smiled his first real smiles earlier this week and I caught a few of them on my phone (that's why they are so small). He has been such a sweet little man and is such a chill baby so far...so grateful! He is also a BIG eater!! During the day he eats every two hours ON.THE.DOT. (except during his afternoon nap when he will go three hours because he's sleeping so hard). However, at night he usually only gets up once to eat now. He is already in some 3-6 month clothing too! :)

These are Drew's first smiles at the same age...

Goodness gracious...they almost look like the same kid to me! :)

Week in review...

2011-08-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

Pretty sure she dropped him on his head right after I snapped this pic...

The moment I have dreaded for months has finally arrived... Drew has officially started cutting her two bottom second year molars! YUCK YUCK YUCK!! Our "teething lucifer" two year old has emerged once again. Since those beautiful pearly whites are never in a hurry to fully emerge, I'm scared she may be staying for a while too. Boy would like to pass her off to a grandmother, cousin, sweet aunt... or maybe just a random stranger right about now!!! :) :) :)

Fuzzy pic, but you can kind of see half of the very back molar cutting through...

On the bright side though...our little horned "momma" has started breastfeeding this week. :) I guess there is a little bit of sweetness still left in there....

Oh the technique and seriousness...would make a lactation consultant proud!!! :)

Little Drewfus also decided she wanted her toes painted for the first time. I was shocked that she sat still long enough for me to do it...

She was soooo proud of her "pink toes" afterward!

Then there is my sweet little low maintenance newborn who wakes up every once in a while after his big sister plows over him in the bed or after she decides to point out all his facial features and crams her finger in his eyes....

Oh the sweetness! :)

Thank you

2011-08-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

We can't thank our wonderful families enough for all of the help they gave us after Dax's arrival!! The hours spent entertaining Drew and taking care of us were so amazingly helpful and made our transition from a family of three to a family of four so much smoother. We love you all to the moon and back!!!!! :)

Some recent pics of Dax (he will be 1 month tomorrow)...:)

Both of my sweet little babies....

Just a little sidenote: it is now 3pm and both of my little rugrats have been asleep since noon!!! I feel like I have won the freaking lottery!!! :) I have been so productive...hence the first blog post in a month. :)

Dax Odell Deimel

2011-07-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

Baby Dax decided to come into the world on July 23, 2011 at 9:25pm!

7lbs 4 oz (35%)
21 inches long (85%)

-his measurements were totally not what we were expecting!! We thought he was gonna come out short and fat...not long and lean. Must have been his length that was making me so uncomfortable and not his weight. :)

Little Dax wasn't in a hurry to come out before or on his due date, but once he finally decided to make his move, he didn't waste any time doing it!!! My water broke at home around 6:00pm on the 23rd. By the time we got to the hospital 30-45 minutes later I was already 8CM DILATED and asking for my epidural PLEASE!!!! :) Luckily my fabulous midwife got the anesthesiologist to bump me up in the "line of mommies waiting for their epidurals" and I quickly got some relief. Had the wonderful staff at Mayo not all worked so quickly and efficiently that night I would have totally had the little booger Au naturel because I was progressing SO stinking fast. Then out he popped after only being in the hospital for 3 hours!! It all happened sooooo fast that I was kind of in shock after everything settled down that night!!

Baby Dax (as Drew calls him) has been such a little joy! He is eating and sleeping well so far and we are all just smitten with him! He reminds me so much of how Drew was when she was first born. The only big diffference is that he isn't a big fan of the paci like Drew was (we're gonna have to work on that though :) ).

It's been quite an adjustment getting used to the "boy parts". It took me a good week to master taking off the diaper, wiping him off, putting vaseline on his circumcision, and getting the new diaper on without getting peed on at some point in there. :)

Heading to first Dr appt....

First family pic-our attempts at the hospital never panned out...

Big sister Drew is adjusting quite well too. She has had a few rough days here and there, but overall she has done great and asks for her "baby Dax" all the time...

2 Years Old!

2011-07-21T04:40:00.000-07:00

Little Drewfus turned two this week (the 19th)!! We didn't do anything special for her birthday this year (poor girl didn't even get a birthday present from her mom and dad) because frankly I was hoping to be laid up in a hospital bed. :) But she still had a great day filled with some of her favorite guilty pleasures...the Ipad of course, french fries from McDonalds, meatball sandwich from Subway, playing at the swimming pool, and a yummy carrot cupcake from a local bakery here in town! She was a happy girl! :)

Yesterday (the 20th) BJ and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. I wish I could say we did something fun and exctiting... but by year nine, anniversaries kinda end up being just like any other day at our house. :)

If little Dax will behave and do like he is suppose to, this crazy week may just end with a bang! I'm going to see the midwives tomorrow (Friday the 22nd -Dax's due date) to get them to do a few uncomfortable tugs and pulls in order to get this kid moving. Praying that it works...otherwise they won't set an induction date until August 1st! By then I really may be giving birth to a small toddler (Rachel). :)

Nothing like cramming three big events in the Deimel family all into one week...hopefully!!! :)

2011-07-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

I have been a super slacker on the blog the past month. When little Drew takes a nap, I've been passing out too...which in turn means no time for posting. I took some pictures of Drewfus eating lunch the other day while she was strapped into her high chair. Seems to be the only way to get a pic of her these days. She has been so happy and fun lately... poor child has NO IDEA what is about to hit her!!!

And then there is little Dax, just cooking away and comfortable where he is for now. A few weeks ago I thought he might come early because I was experiencing alot of contractions. However, they have ceased and I've been mentally preparing myself for another overdue baby.

Two appointments ago my midwife asked how much Drew weighed when she was born. I responded 6lbs 13oz. She looked at me, smirked, and said, "this one is gonna definitely weigh more than that." Oh boy...makes me sweat just thinking about what that could mean!! :)

Happy Daddy's Day

2011-06-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Daddy's Day (Drew says Daddy's Day better than Father's Day) to my sweet, mild mannered, gentle, patient, fun loving, frugal, hard working, determined, and awesome husband! You are my everything! Drew and I love you and admire you more than you'll ever know!

In true BJ fashion, he is working his tail off on this Father's Day Sunday at the hospital. But hopefully he gets done early so he can have a little daddy time off today. :)

And last but not least, Happy Father's Day to my sweet, sweet daddy too! Everytime Drew sees a motorcycle she yells motorcycle-Pop Pop!!!!!

Adventures in Potty Training...

2011-06-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

Day one... showing off her big girl panties!

As you can see, we jumped right in to good ol' potty training at the Deimel house this past weekend! After alot of hesitancy (w/Dax on the way soon and fears of her regressing) I decided to give it a try since she was showing every sign possible that she was ready. I read up on my potty training, talked to lots of mommies for advice, got lots of big girl panties, lots of towels, lots of floor cleaner, and braced myself for Drew Pee Fest 2011!

She peed all over herself (and everything else) every 15 minutes for the first few hours...I was wiping pee up right and left, running her to the potty constantly, and wondering what in the heck my big, fat, pregnant butt was thinking!!! But then it was like a lightbulb went off in her head by mid afternoon and she has been a little potty queen ever since. We are on day five and she's poo pooing and peeing on her potty, on the big potties, and is of course LOVING getting her M&M's afterward too! Who knew you could be so excited to see pee pee and poo poo! :)

My favorite potty story so far:

On evening two of potty training I gave Drew a bath and was trying to get her out of the tub. Of course she was protesting, so I played hardball back, and told her to just let me know when she was ready to get out of the tub. I then walked out and closed the door thinking she would start yelling to get out immediately. She didn't though, and I could hear her rustling around in the bathroom. After a few minutes she started cheering YAY, clapping, and asking for treats. I walk back in the bathroom to find that she had climbed out of the tub, taken a big ol' poop in her potty, was standing up, cheering for herself, and of course wanting her treat! I tell you, she is such a little toot these days!

Thanks to all my mommy friends for all your potty training advice too!!! I seriously wrote/talked to everyone I know who has recently potty trained their little one, asking tons of questions! I appreciate all of your help and honest opinions!!! Although her regressing is still a total possibility, I'm glad we've at least tackled the DREADED potty training for now and I know she can do it. Also just having one in diapers will be an added bonus too!!! :)

Potty signs...

2011-05-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

This past year I was in an awesome bible study with some wonderful ladies here in town. Over the course of the year, we read several pretty convicting books that left me struggling with and questioning what God's purpose is for me and how can I give back and show his love to others.

Over the past seven years doing hair, I always felt like I was helping others and giving back in alot of ways. I was not only a hairdresser, but I was totally a friend and counselor to hundreds of my clients. I would talk to men and women for hours everyday helping them get through every problem imagineable and would celebrate all of the happy times in their lives too. I could always put a smile on their face after a long day of work and make them feel special, beautiful, and loved. As you can tell, I LOVED my clients to pieces and so many of them were like family!! I was also very committed to and passionate about the dog rescues and transports I was involved in while we were in Arkansas too. All of this in combination with one another always made me feel like I was giving back in small ways and positively impacting the lives of the people and animals (which I love too) around me..

However, when we moved to MN, I quit my job and left volunteer work in AR, had Drew, and all of my focus has solely been on her ever since. Feeding, diaper changing, snacking, entertaining, taming tantrums, naptime, bedtime etc just becomes all consuming as a mom. Then with another baby on the way I kept asking myself what can I do and where can I find the time for others when I am about to have a SECOND little life so dependent on me?

Well, fast forward to this week...Drew had a SUPER horrible day Thursday (she seems to have ALOT of yucky days lately) and pretty much cried and threw fits all day long. I was just frazzled by bedtime and had to have a moment with the big guy upstairs to help me out. I found myself once again questioning what my purpose was in life and what he wanted to use me for... because frankly, I felt like I was failing miserably at the only real responsibility he was giving me.

Well, the next morning I think God spoke to me in a way that only he can...Drew had a great morning and even randomly pottied on the potty for the first time!!! It just made my whole day!! In the midst of all the cheering, celebrating, and shoveling treats down Drew's throat, I felt like God was showing me that my main purpose for right now is to raise these two babies he has blessed me with to the best of my ability and give them all the love I have. Through the good days and bad - be a good mommy, a good wife, a good person, love those around me, and opportunities to help others will come with time, prayer, and patience. Thank you God for that small, but powerful little sign I feel like you gave me this week. :)

.. Sorrry about the long sappy post-I think my emotional pregnancy hormones are in full force right now! :)

Drew's first time to potty in her big girl potty!!! Please excuse the bed head! :)

Eating(shoveling) her treat(s) in as fast as she could!! I was so excited and shocked that she actually peed that I couldn't give her just one piece of fruit snack...so she got the whole bag!! :)

Daddy's girl, Teta/Mick, Babymoon...

2011-05-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

We have had the best two weeks here at our house...BJ was on research the first two weeks of May which basically means he was home ALOT!! It was AMAZING! Little Drew could not get enough of her daddy either. She has become quite the daddy's girl as of late, but the past two weeks she took it to a WHOLE new level with him home so much!! I was pretty much chopped liver and she wanted nothing to do with me unless dada wasn't around. If I heard dada once, I heard it a million times! :) Honestly, the first few days he was home I kinda got my feelings hurt because Drew was dissing me so much and wanted BJ for EVERYTHING. However, I quickly decided to embrace the two weeks of freedom I suddenly had and take full advantage of it...especially since here in 10 WEEKS (oh my!!!!) I will have two little ankle biters around here and my head spinning in a million different directions. :)

Drew watching videos w/her beloved dada (aka "disneyland dad")...Then Teta and Uncle Mick came to visit us this past week also...
Drew catching up on her Reader's Digest while we are driving to a children's museum in Wisconsin... Uncle Mick and Drewfus eating her blue M&M...More watching videos w/ Uncle Mick...

BJ and I also got to go on a quick 24 hour "Babymoon" to Minneapolis while Teta and Uncle Mick were here to watch Drew for us for a night!!! This was my first whole night away from Drew since she was born (22 months ago) and it was an absolute treat! We ate at a wonderful restaurant and I had filet mignon for the first time in my entire life!! The place we ate at served unlimited amounts of meat the whole time and I decided to be adventurous and eat some red meats (not a big red meat eater) that BJ was recommending. Once I bit into that bit of filet wonderfullness I couldn't stop eating it! The waiters were prob yelling at the cooks in the back to hurry up because fat, prego girl at table 5 wants more filet!?!?! We also got to sleep in the next morning until 8:30 and ate Sour Patch Kids and Mambas for breakfast...Perfect! :)

A big thanks to Teta and Mick for coming and hanging out with us for a week, playing at the park, reading books, singing songs, going to house of bounce, going to the Children's Museum, eating M&M's, watching utube videos, playing w/Tetas necklaces and glasses, and so much more. Also thank y'all so much for watching Drew for us so we could have a night away before baby Dax gets here! :) You guys are the best!

2011-05-02T20:21:00.001-07:00

"In the face of a man's death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not hatred." -Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican Spokesman, May 2, 2011

Please keep all of our men and women in the armed forces in your prayers as they continue to serve and protect our country.

Love you Zachary!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Easter 2011

2011-04-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Easter was a success for Drew this year! Since she is obsessed with all things sweet- she had no problem finding the eggs, opening them immediately (no putting them in the easter basket for her), and cramming the candy in her mouth as fast as possible.

Honey (my mom) came up to vistit for Easter and to help get everything for Dax's arrival all ready to go. We got his crib and "room" (our bedroom closet) ready, washed up all his clothes, hung new clothes rods for Dax's outfits, got a dresser for all Drew and Dax's additional clothes, got alot of new baby items that Drew has worn out over the past few years, watched Oprah, played at several parks, went to the zoo, made an Easter Bunny cake, hunted eggs, and ate lots of yummy Honey meals. I think my mom did a hundred loads of laundry while she was here and she washed and ironed all of BJ's work shirts too. Needless to say, we were all busy, busy.

Drew had a melt down (top middle pic) making the bunny cake because she couldn't eat all the jelly beans on it...

Once again, our attempts at a family pic...Drew won't look.

...and now Drew looks and smiles but BJ looks like a stoned hunch-back. :) E for effort right?!

SUN!

2011-04-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

It was 60 degrees and sunny today! WOOHOO!! :)

Drewfus fun facts (20 1/2 months):

2011-03-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

getting some good quality lint picking done...

Obsessions right now:

of course DOGS, DOGS, and more DOGS! Stuffed dogs, dogs in books, dogs walking on the side of the road, etc.

carrying around her "money" -coins.

"fwying"- when we (usually daddy) throws her up in the air over, and over, and over

an iphone app called Zoola. It shows pictures of every animal imaginable and plays their sounds.

watching Elmo and Barney utube videos on dad's iphone

back rubs! She'll say "bock, bock" and will lift up her shirt in the back for you to rub.

"singing" "If your happy and you know it" so she can do all the clapping, etc. and loves to play ring around the rosies

books

LOVES her little red headed friend Odin

getting stickers from cashier when we checkout at Target

Dislikes:

CHURCH! She hates being dropped off at church childcare...so unfortunately we don't make it there as much as we'd like these days! :( She does pretty well everywhere else I leave her (I've come to my mommy conclusion that it's because the caretakers are usually always the same and familiar to her). However at church the workers are always different and she always freaks out. We usually get called out of the service or they are holding her in a rocking chair when we pick her up because she wouldn't let them put her down without crying. :(

peanut butter, sandwich breads, and cheese... really won't have much to do with any of them right now. She has her good eating days and her bad days (alot depending on her teeth) and is definitely pickier than she used to be. She's still pretty good about eating any fruit or veggie.

a pooey diaper

when she doesn't get her way

Randomness: .

loves all her animal (and dog) books and is kinda getting into alphabet and color books

can still throw fits with the best of them and has started pouting some too.

she can be pretty sensitive, loves to be held, and is still clingy in unfamiliar groups of people and situations. She can also be quite the little clown and loves to make people laugh.

takes Hoppy everywhere I will let her and has become particularly fond of rubbing a specific corner of the silky blanket edge

loves picking lint out of her toes! Will do it forever.

It's so interesting now that I have all this written down about little Drewfus-I can look at her list of likes/dislikes and attribute so much of her little personality to myself and BJ already! Her sensitive, stranger anxiety, animal/dog-loving, silky/hoppy rubbing personality is definitely from her momma. Whereas her silly/ornery, money stashing, back rub loving, book reading self would totally be her daddy! :)

What month is it?

2011-03-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

Drew and I are soooo trying to have a positive attitude right now and praying that someday soon we will be able to enjoy the outdoors again! We haven't been able to do anything outside (other than sprinting through parking lots in the freezing cold to get from point A to point B) since October!!! Boo! The snow had almost all melted and there was a glimmer of hope - until this morning.... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

These two southern girls should have flip flops on and be running around in the sun by now! Blah, blah, blah...

Cute story from the other day:
Drew and I were in the checkout line getting groceries Monday when a little girl standing behind us pointed at Drew and said, "look mommy, that little baby has already lost her front tooth!" HAAAAAAAA! :)

Big ol' gap tooth smiles...

I can also happily report that after two weeks, Drew's naps and bedtime schedule went back to normal w/out paci! YAY!!!! Oh the small joys when raising a little one!

Saturday nights w/a toddler...

2011-03-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

Last night was shaping up to be another uneventful Saturday night at the Deimel house. We put Drew to bed and then watched Jackass 3 (pretty funny... and of course crude). After the movie was over, I decided to go check on Drew before I went to sleep. As I opened her bedroom door an overwhelming smell of poo-poo first hit me in the face. Then as I made my way through the dark and got closer to her crib I could see her bare butt up in the air. I immediately started laughing and ran out of the room to go get BJ and my camera. Upon entering her room the second time I quickly realized we had our own version of Jackass 3 go on in Drew's crib.

She had woken up at some point during the night, pooped, stripped her jammies and dirty diaper off, and then passed out face first in her bumper. She did all of this without us hearing a peep from her??

And to think, we used to actually go out and pay for entertainment on Saturday nights before we had a toddler. :) :)

Bye bye paci...

2011-03-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

Oh sweet little Drewfus. The love affair with your pacis ended abruptly 11 days ago. I always said that I would let you sleep with your pacis for as long as you wanted to because I knew it would be a hard break up... and boy has it been.
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Since getting pregnant with Dax I kept hearing other mothers tell me over and over again to take that paci away ASAP before the second baby gets here. So your mean mommy changed her mind and decided that with a little brother coming in four months and no teeth currently cutting through your gums, this was the best time to break you of your naptime/bedtime paci addiction. I cut your pacis down (1/4" at a time) for the first few days and then by the third day I just had you throw them away. The first time I laid you down in bed with your "altered " pacis you looked up at me with this huge grin and thought it was funny....

...but you quickly realized that this was no laughing matter! :( You cried a TERRIBLE mournful cry for your "pappies" and said "uh-oh" over and over for about 12 minutes your first naptime with the "broke pappies". Then you passed out. Nighttime w/out the pacis has been fairly easy so far because you are so exhausted from not napping much.
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You have always been an awesome little napper and "pre paci-cut" you were napping 2 1/2-3 hours. I had diligently sleep trained you since birth to go to sleep without a fight and to wake up well rested and happy. However "Post-paci cut" has been a whole different story! You have napped a maximum of 1hour 30min and a minimum of 30 minutes at any given naptime the past two weeks. You have also had to cry yourself to sleep alot...so not like you! On the nap days when you have woken up after only 30 minutes and were madder than a wet hornet the rest of the day, I have seriously had to use MAJOR restraint not to give you that dang paci back. Oh well, after two weeks now I have reluctantly come to grips with the fact that I don't think you'll ever nap like you used to again. I keep telling myself that this will all be worth it...still up for debate right now though. :)

Throwing your paci's away...

Getting a new Elmo to sleep with in their place...

Now you sleep with Elmo, baby, and hoppy everynight and you insist on taking them everywhere with you in the house. You are especially attached to hoppy (more than usual) since we took the pacis away and want him with you at. all. times. I think you are afraid he is gonna disappear too. Poor traumatized Drewfus! :(

I love you bunches little baby girl. I hope that someday when you are 30 years old and don't have a jacked up mouth, bucked teeth, and a paci in your mouth, you will appreciate what I have put you through. :) :)
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We have had some fun the past two weeks though...

We went to a new bounce place in town and all LOVED it! Drew isn't big on the bouncing part but LOVES the slides!!! :)
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Love this pic...

Sweet pics of the Valles kids and Drew the other night. Drew just loves them...I love how she sat in Ava's lap too...

Little Drewfus asking me, "How much longer till we can go outside and play again???" We just got more snow yesterday. Blah, blah, blah!

2011-03-03T17:53:00.000-08:00

I went through all of Drew's old clothes the other day searching for stuff little Dax could wear when he gets here. Out of all the boxes of Drew's old clothes from 0-18 months....

...poor little Dax inherited these two little stacks. :) I must admit, I got a little misty eyed going through all of Drew's sweet little pink clothes and shoes. It made me sad to think of all the memories made in those little pieces of clothing and that she will never be that little again. :( I sure hope my best friend Tara gets pregnant w/a little girl soon so I can pass all those precious little outfits down to her!

And I can't write this blog post without making a huge shout out to my mother for buying all those clothes for her granddaughter over the past 20 months! I seriously haven't had to buy anything! It has been so nice on me not to have to go shopping (not a big shopper these days) and it's been great on our tiny little checkbook too! Thanks bunches mom!!!

Dax's St.Patrick's Day box full of little boy clothes he got from grandmom today! It was SO weird to open up his box and see all that BLUE! :)

Drew and her box of St. Patrick's Day goodies...

A few people have asked for belly pics... here I am at 20 weeks! Halfway there. YIKES! :)

This is a little preview of the next blog post... been a long week at the Deimel house. :)

A sweet little picture of where I found Drew the other day...

Thanks Payton and Kaden for all the boxes of books you sent Drew! She LOVES them! :)

Dax Odell Deimel

2011-02-22T10:16:00.000-08:00

Here is a "we-we" shot just for my mom! I think she was disappointed that I didn't put one on the original post...

Our appointment revealed a healthy little baby BOY today!!!

Dax Odell Deimel

Dax-because we both like the name and because (I'm) weird and like different(but not too different names) and obviously I like double consonant names too! :)

Odell-after my late grandfather (my mom's dad), George Odell Carr.

Deimel-because I married my sweet hubby and we are all stuck with it!

sweet little baby feet...

Drew's little blue cookies she made Sunday...

Boy or Girl

2011-02-21T07:41:00.003-08:00

Tomorrow we find out if our little bean that's cooking in the oven is doing ok and if we are having a boy or girl. YAY! We don't have any prefences about what the sex is and we honestly will be thrilled to have a little boy or girl to complete our family. I remember with my first pregnancy, I first wanted to know if we were haivng a boy or girl and then the health of the baby was my second thought. With this second pregnancy things are so different. My thoughts and prayers are first for the health of this little bean and then the sex will just be icing on the cake.

Here are a few facts about both of my pregnancies thus far:

Drew:
-first trimester nausea all day long but worse at night, vomitted at night, got tired but nothing too extreme (first trimester symptoms stopped at 14 weeks)
-craved fruits (especially oranges) and VEGGIES!!
-bad, yucky acne on my face and especially my neck. YUCK!
-not hormonal or emotional
-had a girl name picked out but couldn't come up with a definite boy name.
-I had a feeling it was a girl

Baby 2:
-first trimester nausea all day long but worse at night, luckily I never vomitted this time around (but sure wanted to), EXTREMELY exhausted all. day. long. (first trimester symptoms lated till 16 weeks)
-craving proteins like CRAZY!! Meat, meat, meat...which is totally not like me
-no acne (yet) that is out of the norm
-very hormonal and emotional
-have a boy name picked out but can't come up with a definite girl name
-my gut feeling is it's a boy

We made sugar cookies again yeaterday for BJ (because he is kinda obsessed). I had Drew pick the icing color...out of all four colors she picked the blue! Then when we aked her if she was gonna have a brother (pick the raisin in BJ's hand) or sister (pick the apricot from his hand), she picked the raisin...we'll see. :)

We also got another foot of snow yesterday! YUCK! Come on Spring!!!

Tricks

2011-02-16T11:20:00.000-08:00

My dad likes to teach me lots of new tricks these days. Mom's "favorites" lately have been : watching him try to teach me how to let Asher (the dog that doesn't like me much) out of her cage, teaching me to take my diaper off, showing me how to jump off the couch and him catch me (or maybe not if no one is paying attention), and the latest...

...taking my pajamas off all by myself. Oh daddys, wouldn't life be so boring without them! :) Happy Wednesday!

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T10:52:00.000-08:00

We had a little Cookie Decorating Valentines Party today with my girlfriends from a bible study group.

Drew's sugar cookie she decorated...

Drew sprinkling....

...and sprinkling...

...and then of course, double fisting it in as fast as possible with her buddy Sara by her side! :)

SocialICE

This past weekend we went to a yearly winter event downtown called SocialICE. It's Minnesota's largest ice bar and lounge ...only in Minneosta guys! :) It was really cool, with fun/ loud music playing, ice sculptures all around, people everywhere, and a live band that played that night. The weather was in the upper 30's so it wasn't too bad outside either. I really wanted one of those cool Martini glasses, but being that I'm: A)prego, and B) they were like $15, I decided to pass! :)

Lounge areas made of ice...

one of several bar areas...

Cool Martini glasses made from ice...

Ice beer mug...

Happy Valentines Day everyone! :)

2011-02-03T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hmm, so what does a "Minnesota girl" do during these long winter months besides sit around and eat all day...

a- We have attempted to "play" with playdoh. Drew likes to pick up the pieces I make, carry them around, and organize them (those dang BJ genes) :).

b- We have finger painted w/pudding. I thought she might really get into it because it involved eating. But she wasn't a big fan of it either. She licked her fingers a couple of times .....

...then gave me this digusted look and signed ALL DONE! :) All the scribbles were my handy work... she might have touched the paper once.

c- With all my botched attempts at trying bring out my childs "inner artist" I did finally have a little success. It didn't involve much creativity but did involve Drew's favorite thing...eating. She LOVED dipping the pretzels we sent to Zachary in Iraq in chocolate! Of course she did! :) However, none of the pretzels Drew dipped in the chocolate made it in his goodie box because she made sure to lick all of them CLEAN. AS. A. WHISTLE!

RANDOM NEWS: We also got a potty recently. Not doing any serious potty training at all considering she is only a year and a half...just got it for her to get used to. She will always go sit on her potty if I go sit on mine. :)

happy face...

turd face...

The other day my contacts dried out and I had to wear my glasses. She was OBSESSED with them and said "gasses" all day long. I am seriously blind as a bat, so watching her try to walk around with my glasses on was like watching a drunk person try to get around.

We kind of think she looks like her Teta in these "gasses" pictures.

Then last but not least of the randomness...I just wanted to post this sweet pic of Drew watching our neighbor snowblow his driveway across the street. She seriously sat there forever and would say "daddy". I couldn't peel her away from the window until he got through snowblowing and went inside.

Home

2011-01-29T12:29:00.000-08:00

It's days like today (when I've been stuck inside for too long, my hubby is working all weekend, and everyone from Arkansas is on facebook talking about being outside enjoying the awesome weather they are having) that I miss Fayetteville, Arkansas! I know we are blessed to have the opportujnity for BJ to do his medical training up here but some days I just can't help but miss home. I miss having 7o degree weather in Jan, being able to be outside off and on all fall/winter/spring, going to mom's house to eat dinner every Sunday night, having a mom and dad (grandmom/grandad) a short drive away, having my three lifelong girlfriends (and now their babies) 20 min or less away, having little nieces and nephews (all our family) close by to enjoy more than once every three-four months, seeing green grass, feeling the warm sun on my skin, having chick-fil-a whenever I want :), and eating at Flying Burrito and Shogun in Fayetteville. I think the cabin fever has officially set in....two and a half years left (here)...I can do this. :)

18 months!

2011-01-21T06:59:00.000-08:00

Wow, I've totally been neglecting the blog (my child, my husband, my friends, my house, etc) a little bit since the ol' first trimester started. :) Whew, it was a rough one. Poor Drew was probably wondering where in the heck her momma was. I pretty much slept the past 2 months away. But finally this past week I have begun snapping out of it, started regaining alot of my energy back, and not wanting to puke on everything. YAY!!! I woke up Monday morning feeling the best I have felt in a while. I went on a complete rampage...cleaned the house, did seven loads of laundry, vacuumed and cleaned all the the floors, shoveled the back deck, baked a batch of cookies from scratch and cooked a yummy supper. It felt so good to feel human again!

Little Drewfus turned 18 months two days ago too! WooHoo! She learned the word "no" over Christmas and uses it quite frequently these days. Other popular words right now are cracker, grapes (gapes), apple, up please (up pees), help (elp), uh-oh, thank you (ta-tu) dog, tv (we-ve), and of course Asher and Annie.

*please note that I do dress my child in stuff besides her pjs...just haven't the past few months when all these pics were taken. :)

She is still a big eater, but has slowed down a little. We joke with her all the time and say, "Drew, do you have a tapeworm?" She shakes her head "yes" everytime. She also has been drinking out of a cute little cup (that was my grandmother June's :) ) by herself some. You can tell she thinks she is such a big girl....

She has also started testing the limits w/me lately to see what behavior is acceptable and what is not...when I correct her she minds sometimes or just completely ignore me. :) I had my back to Drew while I was filling something out on the computer the other day-I think I looked away for 1 minute and then turned back to see the little toot had scaled our chair and pulled herself up on our basement ledge. I about died at first. Then I decided it was pretty funny and needed a picture of it. Once again, she was very proud of herself...

more climbing....

...and more.

I pick up alot these days, and my little "helper" just goes right behind me and pulls everything back out...never ending battle. I love her stack of cans over on the left. :)

The temperature here this morning when we got up was -20 with a windchill of -34. OUCH! Bj's Aunt Jennifer told me the other day that she doesn't know how anyone lives up north. I agree with her... its days like today when I say that we definitely don't live up here, we are just visitors for a few years. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

12 Weeks

2011-01-03T05:56:00.000-08:00

I am 12 weeks pregnant (this Friday) with baby Deimel # 2. If you reading this in complete shock, don't worry, you aren't the only one...BJ and I were prob the most shocked of all! :) We are due July 22, 2011, three days after Drew's second birthday. We are both excited and scared to death! :) :)

Sorry if we haven't been able to tell everyone personally, or you have found out through the grapevine. We were waiting to tell most people at Christmas (and when I was closer to 12 weeks).

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

6 more inches :)

2010-12-16T17:29:00.000-08:00

We got six more inches of snow today, totaling 32 inches so far for the month of December! BJ's new snowblower is currently being shipped! :)

Blizzard 2010

2010-12-12T10:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had the worst blizzard hit Minnesota since 1991!! BJ had to work all day, but when he finally got home I looked outside to find this......

Seriously!?!?!?!? He thought he could drive the dang Accord through the snowbank in our driveway! Impressive! :)

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So little Drewfus and I bundled up to go help...yep in the middle of a blizzard, and with socks over our hands!! :)

Finally after about an hour of BJ shoveling frantically trying to get the car out of the middle of the road while piles of snow kept dumping on him... we got it out. A sweet neightbor happened to be walking by and stopped to help us push it out. Yes, you read that right, one of our neighbors was walking his dog out in the middle of a BLIZZARD!!! I think he might of been missing a few screws or something! :)

Thank you dad for your warm snowsuit!!! BJ said it has been an abolute lifesaver!

BJ WORN OUT after his "shovel fest " last night....

Then this morning we woke up to 20 below zero temps and 16+ inches of snow (on top of about 10inches from our past snow).

This is the smile I got from Asher when I showed her the door to go potty in the backyard! She's like "yeah, right"! Hilarious! I have never gotten one of her smiles on camera before!! :)

All the neighborhood men out snowblowing their driveways...

Our mailbox this morning...

A couple of sweet neighbors came and helped BJ... Pretty sure they got a double batch of brownies taken to them after all that! :)

Icicles hanging off our neighbor John's eyebrows and mustache...

Crazy times in Minnesota Y'ALL! BJ has finally convinced himself to get a snowblower! :) :)

Catch up...

2010-12-11T05:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I decided that since BJ is working today and Drew and I are stuck inside due to a blizzard right now ....

.... I will catch up on the blog real quick.

Teta came to Minnesota a week before Thanksgiving to hang out with little Drewfus! It was so nice to have a grandmom here. It had been so long since we had seen family!

Then grandmom and pop-pop came up for Thanksgiving. Mom prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving feast for us and some of our friends that couldn't make it home for Thanksgiving.

We had our first snow storm a few weeks ago. Drew was watching her dad shovel, so I decided to bundle her up and go out in it too...

Oops, she fell face first in it. :) And yes, those are socks over her fingers... bad mom! :)

Congratulations to the Westmoreland family!!

2010-11-17T19:14:00.000-08:00

Teresa, one of my oldest girlfriends (we've been best friends since the fourth grade :)) just had her second little baby (3 weeks early) today! WooHoo! Congratulations guys, I love y'all and can't wait to see you in about a month!!!

William Weldon Westmoreland
5lbs 15oz - 18.5 inches

2010-11-15T18:46:00.001-08:00

So after a month and a half of yuckiness, I think I can officially say that Drewfus's first year molars are completely in. SWEEEEET!!! I must say, that as a first time parent I thought I had somewhat "prepared' myself for things that the baby and toddler stages could throw at me. However, I learned early on that I had TOTALLY underestimated the effects that cutting teeth would have on Drew.

Since Drew started cutting her first set of molars at the end of September she has been super irritable, cries, whines, throws fits constantly, is super clingy, and impossible to soothe. Nothing makes her happy unless we get out of the house where there is lots of stimulation and things going on. She finally turned a corner last week though and the crying and fits have decreased significantly! WOO HOO!! I think I was about to committ myself to the local "coo coo" house or take her in to the Dr to make sure there wasn't something medically wrong with her.

I also want to add that having some of my best friends w/babies Drew's age has been priceless. Last week when I needed a little encouragement, one of my bestie's Teresa told me to hang in there and that one day she will just stop all the fussing and be back to normal. She was right! After all these dang weeks I had almost convinced myself that Drew would never be happy again and that she hated me. But then last week the pain must have subsided (or she finally decided that the fits weren't getting her anywhere:) ) and my happy Drewfus was back!!! Thanks T!!

I know, I know, welcome to motherhood sister...it's not all cupcakes and roses. I am fully aware of all this, along with the fact that there will be many more tough days, months, and years ahead as I attempt to tackle motherhood. But for now, these are our little struggles and I just want them down in my blog so that some day when I am old and gray I can look back and remember these times (good and bad) in little Drew's life. :)

So, off of the yuckiness and on to fun Drewfus stuff! We went to Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin (waterpark capital of the world) this weekend and had an absolute BLAST! Wisconsin Dells is a neat town about 2 hours away from here. It reminded me alot of Branson, MO (for all you Arkansas people) without all the "old geezer" shows. :) It even has a Tanger Outlet Mall just like Branson too! The hotel we stayed at is America's largest indoor waterpark with a wave pool, tons of slides for big kids and little kids, a lazy river, lots of kiddie swim areas, etc. It was a quick little family getaway that we're gonna try to make a family tradition each year.

The pictures don't really do this place justice! I didn't take very many pics because I was trying to avoid dropping my camera in the water! :) My dad will be happy. :)

We haven't seen family in over four months and we have both grandmothers (and Pop-Pop) coming this week and next week!!! We are SOOOO excited!

Happy Monday!

MOV05f

2010-11-13T18:26:00.000-08:00

Somehow we made it till November 12th this year without snow. This is just a little video of what Drew thought about the yummy white stuff. :)

MOV05b

2010-11-13T18:14:00.000-08:00

This little video is for our families missing little Drewfus! :)

Catch up and weekend randomness...

2010-11-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

Our hand me down Halloween costume from cousin Payton...

Some of Drew's favorite things lately....

...the iphone, a raw carrot to chew on, and of course Hoppy, aka Hops (her rubbie).

...brushing her teeth like a big girl.

...eating with a fork and dipping things. Really loves dipping her veggies and hummus right now.

...and last but not least, books are still a big fav w/Drewfus.

Some weekend fun...

Static hair from the slide.

Being the timid little observer as usual...

Not so sure about that goose.

May the force be with you...

Drew's first "floater"...sorry I had to post it! :)

... and her second bath for the night.

Happy Sunday everyone! :)

12 teeth down and 8 to go!!!!!

2010-10-30T09:59:00.001-07:00

I can pretty much sum up the past two weeks with three words... FIRST YEAR MOLARS!!!!!!! YUCK, YUCK, YUCK!!!!!!!!

I have a fantastic video of Drew displaying one of her many "first year molar - I'm ticked off at the whole world" fits, but it won't upload for me! Boo! Sorry, I have no pics from the past two weeks either. They would just be of a red faced and pissed off Drewfus! :)

15 months

2010-10-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

So today I went to my 15 month Dr's appointment. I got all decked out in pink and only got called a boy once...I mean seriously?? I know, I know, my name is Drew for heaven sake and Drew = boy to most people, but last I checked pink always =girl!!! :) Then there was a polar bear picture on the wall in my exam room. I proceeded to tell the Dr and nurses what a polar bear says, growling at them the whole time... it was pretty cute. :) Toward the end of my visit the Dr. stuck one of those popsicle sticks down my throat to check my tonsils and said, "man your cutting teeth like crazy in there." Why yes, yes I am. Thanks for verifying that one for me there, doc. ;)

length: 30 inches - 35% (big jump...last check up I was 16%)
weight: 20 1/2 lbs - 16%
head: 69%

Also, a quick shout out to Aunt Christen - Happy Birthday! :)

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

Our little family tradition we started last year...going to Tweite's pumpkin Patch.

Obsessed with the kernels of corn on the ground in the corn maze...

A year ago...

Now...

A year ago...

Now...

Drewfus fun facts:

2010-10-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

*She says quite a few words with "dog" being her favorite these days.
*Knows some basic sign language with her favorite being "milk" and "more" right now.
*Gets so excited when you put her shoes on because she knows we are going somewhere. She will stand by our stairs and say bye, bye, bye, bye.
*New favorite food is a pretzel. Favorite food from dad... a bite of his E.L. Fudge cookie.
*Loves to play with other kids and watch them...kinda stares alot right now. :)
*After going back and forth, I officially took her paci away from her during the day. It took her about a week to get used to it being gone, but now she doesn't ask for it at all.
*Naturally she loves naptime and bedtime because she knows she is gonna get her paci. She will sprint to her bed when I say "you want to go night night". :)
*She LOVES dogs! She will stop dead in her tracks if she sees or hears a dog. She will B-line it to get to one no matter how far away it is. She hugged a stranger's dog the other day at a park...so sweet! :)
*Favorite book right now is Go Dog Go. Not a shocker there.
*Has to eat/snack about every two hours these days.
*She has ten teeth now. She cut two last week and was her normal "I am am a complete bear for about a week when I cut teeth" self. :)

Game Changers

2010-10-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

While I was working on this blog post my little brother (in Iraq) and I happened to be on the computer at the same time (doesn't happen very often with an 8 hr time difference and w/his crazy work schedule) and skype alerted me of it!! I almost wet my pants trying to call him before he logged off. He answered and his picture popped up!!!!! This was the first time I have been able to see him on skype. I wanted to cry I was so excited!!! :) :) Thank you God for this sweet gift today!!!!! Made my whole day....and now my stupid emotional butt is crying writing this!!! :)

Last week I came across two life changers! One has changed my "mommy life" and the other has changed my "wifely life".

The first game changer from last week is the Ergo Baby Carrier!!! http://www.ergobabycarrier.com/ Oh my goodness, to say that I LOVE this thing would be an understatement...I am OBSESSED!!!!! It makes mommy life for me SOOOOOO much easier at times. Several examples: when we go to grocery store Drew can get antsy about halfway through and I have to keep her content with cheerios, snacks, my wallet etc and try to remember what the heck I am shopping for, at night when I am cooking supper and Drew is having a meltdown because she wants to be held, going out on walking trails w/steps where the jogging stroller can't go, just running in and out of stores or going shopping where eisles are not stroller friendly, etc. Doing all of these things and trying to keep little Drewfus content sometimes can be tricky. But not with the Ergo! I strap her to my back and away we go. She can sit on my back in the Ergo for hours and not make a peep...she LOVES it!!! I highly recommend this to any mother with a baby/toddler!!! Unlike the Bjorn (which I liked when Drew was smaller and much lighter), the Ergo is designed to for even weight distribution on your hips, shoulders, and back and allows you to carry a baby/toddler up to 40 lbs. There are tons of mommys that I know up here that love this thing!! :)

The second life changer for me was reading the book Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs. http://loveandrespect.com/about-us/ I'll admit that after the past year of craziness and all the major life changes we have had here at the Deimel house B.J. and I needed a little lesson on love and respect. :) I would highly recommend this book to any married couple who has been together 1 year or 30 years! It is such a wonderful book that I guarantee will help strengthen ANY marriage and teach you sooooooo much about one another!!!

Happy Monday! :)

DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love(Ft.PitBull)(With Me)

2010-10-06T19:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this kid is like 15 and has numerous videos on YouTube of him singing songs! They are hilarious! I just wanted to share mine and B.J's favorite one. Hope you get as big a kick out of it as we did (I think BJ has watched this one 100x's)!

I know this post has nothing to do with Drew...however they do share in the fact that they both have some sweet gaps in their teeth! Happy Wednesday everyone! :)

Como Zoo/Conservatory

2010-10-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

Today our little family went to the Como Zoo and Conservatory in St. Paul. It was WONDERFUL! B.J. and I didn't really know what to expect from this place. We had only heard it was a free zoo about an hour away...so of course our poor/cheap butts were all in! :) We were so AMAZED at how super nice and clean this FREE (donations accepted) zoo/conservatory was!

Drew doing what she does best...EATING!

LOTS of animals....

Some pics of the conservatory. Please note BJ over there checking his fantasy football scores on his phone. :) I don't think that little toot knew I was busting him out in this pic.

Beautiful...

Drew pointing that she wanted to go to the carousel...

I was kinda worried how the carousel was going to go over with little Drewfus. It went fast and I was worried that it might scare the crap out of her once she was on and it started moving.

She didn't cry but BJ said she was holding on for dear life... :)

Sweet gap tooth smiles on the slide...

Tuckered out on the way home...

This little video isn't anything big, just thought the gmom's who haven't seen her in several months might like to see her "dance" a little bit to the carousel music (before dad's butt gets in the way). :)

Lovin her some paci....

2010-09-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering how having a paci only at naptime and bedtime went over... ummmm, like a lead balloon. :)

I don't mind her still having a pacifier, but I honestly thought she might be outgrowing it. She went for about a week not caring much about her paci during the day. Yeah, I guess that was a freak deal because she is once again always wanting her paci and hoppy. She has even gone so far as to make up her own signs for them so that I totally know when she wants them (she pats her chest when she wants hoppy and puts her hand over her mouth when she wants her paci). I guess necessity is the mother of invention. :)

Labor Day

2010-09-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

First and foremost I have to say Happy 1st Birthday to my best friend's little boy Hudson!! We love you Hud and apologize that we suck and didn't make it to Arkansas to celebrate your birthday with you this weekend!

We had a great Labor Day! It started off Saturday with the Shotts family watching some good ol' Arkansas Razorback football!! There are two other Arkansas families all the way up here in Minnesota to call those hogs with!! YAY!! WHOOOO PIG SOIEEE!!!!! Funny that when you live all the way up here you can get the Razorback game for free (online and wired to the t.v.) because noone in MN would pay to watch that game... except us. :)

Little Evie Shotts (7 months old) and Drew...

Sunday we went to a nature center here in town....

Right after I took this picture of Drew with the turtles I noticed a woman getting these huge dragon flies out of a cage. I quickly took Drew over to the area where this lady was standing because I assumed she was going to show all the children this giant bug. Drew and I were standing there with big smiles on our faces looking at this cool bug, when to my horror she quickly turned around and started feeding that poor bug to a salamander right in front of us!!!!!!!! If you know me, you know that I about DIED!!!! :) I tried to quickly turn around when I realized what was happening but it was too late. Ugh! I can't imagine what little Drew was thinking because I know I was a little traumatized! :) :)

Drewfus had to stop about every 5 steps to pick up some sticks and leaves on the side of the trail...

Then on Monday we enjoyed a BBQ over at our friends (the Patels) house....

Drew and Zahra...

Happy Labor Day!

2010-09-02T07:34:00.001-07:00

Boy am I LOVING this age!!!!! Babies are just too much fun right now! Little Drew is trying to repeat words we say, play games with us, and will do ANYTHING she can just to get a smile and claps from me and BJ. She runs around and plays all over the house and at the park, laughs and smiles all the time, etc. She's also at the age where she's not old enough (just yet) to throw a big tantrum or tell me "no". Not looking forward to that! :) The other day she and I took a walk down the sidewalk by our house and talked. I just loved it and tried to soak up every second because she is growing so fast!

Getting good pics has started to become increasingly more difficult though. I normally get shots like this...

and this....

oh, and this....

Still OBSESSED with her paci and Hoppy (her rubbie)

This week I have tried to quit giving the paci to her during the day. Only at naptime and at night. Boy it's gonna suck when I decide to eventually take it from her at bedtime!

more paci and Hoppy last week...

Her other obsession these days is Bil-Jac dog food! If I forget to completely close Annie's crate, little Drewfus figures it out EVERYTIME. I know when she disappears and gets quiet that she is either pooping or eating handfuls of Annie's dogfood. MMMM! :) Surely it's got some nutritional value, right?

And last but not least, I think we are getting a few more twigs of hair!! YAY!!!! :)

Happy Thursday! Hope everyone has a great Labor Day!

The Animal Odd Couple

2010-08-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

My friend Jessica sent me this video about a year ago. I forgot about it until someone posted it on Facebook today! Being the animal lover I am...this story just makes my heart smile and it has a great little message! Most of you have probably already seen it, but I love it so much I just had to post it! Happy Thursday! :)

2010-08-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

I had two things occur to me yesterday:

1- As I chased my bald little gapped tooth munchkin around the playground I concluded that she is officially a toddler.

2- Since giving birth a year ago I decided I have been functioning on a third grade level (at best). Brain cells exited along with Drewfus at the hospital last year.

Last night I went to a meeting and lost my keys (not a shocker I know! :) ), my cell phone, a folder of important stuff, and a book. I found my keys and phone pretty quickly but the folder and book still have not surfaced. Then I came home and proceeded to put a new "dish detergent" I bought at the store into the dishwasher.....and found this about 30 minutes later. Turns out the new "dish detergent" was really dish soap. Genius! :) :)

Happy Tuesday everyone! The weather is BEAUTIFUL here ~ mid 70's! Hate me now southerners, I know, but I'll be hating y'all in April when we are still digging out of the snow and you all are picking flowers out of your garden already! :)

Giggles

2010-08-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a tough week ahead for my parents and family. My youngest brother is being deployed to Iraq in a week. I thought a few Drew giggles might help everyone put a little smile on their face.

Drewfus's Arkansas Party

2010-08-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

We are back from our quick trip to celebrate Drew's birthday with friends and family in Arkansas. It was a blast! Sorry for the long post...LOTS of birthday pictures! :)

Huge spread of food that mom made for Drew's party! Pulled pork sandwiches, brisket, potato salad, beans, coleslaw, cheesecake cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes w/choc. icing, iced sugar cookies, and oatmeal choc. chip cookies! YUMMY!! Thank you SO much for all of your hard work mom!

birthday girl...

McCoy, Drew, and Hud...

Drew's cousins Payton and Kaden....

Love this pic right in the middle of Hud splashing everyone! I love the reactions!

Des and Ella Claire...

Drew's Aunt Ashley and cousin Georgie...

Sweet pic of Baw Baw and Drewfus waiting on the birthday cake...

wouldn't look while everyone sang to her. HA!!

being shy or scared to death about the singing....

sharing with Uncle Mick...

Drew's birthday loot...

Opening presents and of course finds the books...

Post party reading with Kaden...

Pic of me and my brothers. I had to say goodbye to my youngest brother (on the left). It was the last time I was going to see him before he deploys to Iraq in a few weeks. :(

I also helped give a baby shower in Little Rock for my sweet friend Mandy (on the left) and her baby girl Madeline (in the oven) the day after Drew's birthday. It was such a great shower and it was so good to see my LR friends and hug their necks!

Ride home was a bit snug with all of Drewfus's birthday gifts! :)

The forward facing carseat worked wonders for our trip this time!! She was such a good little rider for the 10-11 hours there and back! She watched her Baby Einstein videos and ate...

read books....

and napped with paci and Mr. Rabbit....

Thank you to all of our friends and family that came and celebrated with us for Drew's birthday! We love you all so much and miss you already!

A few Drewfus fun facts at a year:

*her favorite foods right now are...tomatoes, any type of fruit, cheerios, yogurt, broccoli, squash, yogurt, and cheese
*her favorite toy right now is a vtech book that lights up and sings to her when she turns the pages. She also loves getting in and out of her new car she got for her birthday

*loves books, books, and more books!

*scared to death of swings...trying to work on it though.

*loves to slide down slides

*HATES having her diaper changed

*Can have some anxiety issues around new people and new environments at first (makes for interesting trips home...since everyone and everywhere is new to her) :)

Steps...

2010-07-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

Alright grandmothers, this one is for y'all! Only 8-9 more days till you can watch this in person! WooHoo! :)

Drewfus also went to the Dr. a few days ago for her 1 year check up:

length : 27.6" -12%
weight: 19lbs -21%
head: 87%

Happy 8 Years Beej!

2010-07-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

Seems like just yesterday I was sitting in the Kappa House chapter room writing down the name "B.J." on a small piece of paper inviting a boy whom I had only briefly met a couple of times to my sorority function called Kappa Crush. He would get his invitation a few days later and have no idea who invited him ... hince the name Kappa Crush (it was all suppose to be a secret). Well, of course word got around that I was the girl who invited him to the function. All he really knew about me was that I was his fraternity president's little sister! Yikes! :) Needless to say we hit it off from the moment we met and now after 8 years of marriage I still love him more and more every day! Happy 8 Year Anniversary Beej! I Love You!!

First family pic...

Pic of us several years ago...

Wedding pic...

The first pic I think I have of us. Pretty sure we are a bit tipsy here, but hey it was college :) .....

Little Drewfus is one!

2010-07-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

Happy First Birthday little Drewfus, I love you more than words can express!

Little cupcake party/ playdate for Drewfus and friends today at a local park...

It's hard to believe that only a year ago today I was sitting in a hospital bed, with a brand new baby, in a strange new town, knowing practically no one....to today celebrating my baby's first birthday, in a town we now call home, with friends that we have grown to love and cherish over the past year. What a ride! Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with us today! We love y'all! :)

Fourth of July

2010-07-06T07:39:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all our veterans and soldiers... you maKe our Independence Day here in America possible!

My youngest brother : 1st Lieutenant in the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army... Love you!

We had a great weekend for the fourth.
Friday we went to the Patel's house for dinner....so fun and yummy!

Little bald Drewfus and Zahara with her flowing locks!

Saturday we went to White River Park... we had fun despite it being really warm and a bit redneck riviera-ish. :)

Then Sunday we got together with the Valles', ate some BBQ, and set off a few fireworks.

Happy 4th ...a few days late! Hope everyone has a great week!

2010-06-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

B.J.'s side of the family came to Minnesota to see us last week. We had fun at the Mall of America, Oxbow Park, bowling, and eating. The best part of the trip was the last night they were here when we all sat around and belly laughed watching Drew just cackle at Nate and Allie as they all played on the bed! Precious memories! Thank you all for coming to visit! We loved it!

Drew's sweet cousins Nate and Allie...

Drew's great grandparents (they look too young to have that title)!! Da Mommy and Baw Baw...

Drew's Aunt Jennifer, her grandmom (once again looks too young for that title) Teta, and Nate...

This is a special pic for my girlfriend Tara! Let me preface this by saying that I am the WORLD'S WORST garage saler!! In fact I flat out suck and have only been to a handful of garage sales in my life. However, my best friend Tara is an amazing garage saler (and shopper :)) and always finds amazing stuff at them. Well Tara, this one's for you...I got all this stuff at a couple of garage sales in my neighborhood for $15!!!!! I was soooo pumped and I knew you would be so proud of me!! Love you! :)

Two other thing that have happened lately are 1)Drewfus's new forward facing carseat (a little early I know). She was over that baby carseat/facing backwards business and 2) We went to church and it was the first time to leave Drew in childcare somewhere!!!!

I will admit that I am a complete dork and couldn't bring myself to go to church by myself this past year or leave Drew in church childcare for that matter. I am a total first time parent and would get major anxiety thinking about dropping her off with a complete stranger up until now. I know, I know...grow up Shea, it's only for an freaking hour!! But now that Drew is older and B.J. has finished his intern year (he finally has the majority of weekends off now) we couldn't wait to start going back to church.

It was awesome! We dropped her off with a smile on her face and picked her up with a smile. We both survived! :) Emotional mother here, did tear up a bit during the worship service because I had finally tackled that first "leaving your baby in childcare hurdle" that I had had been dreading so much. I also had my sweet little husband by my side and in church again... something I have been missing so much! :)

This is a pic of her on the way to church in her big girl seat this morning....

Happy Sunday everyone!

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to all dads... especially to my wonderful father and to my wonderful husband! I love you both!

We're back in Roch...

2010-06-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

After 2 1/2 weeks of stranger anxieties, cutting our fifth tooth, Whitley's first birthday party, Destiny's suprise 30th birthday party, Mom's 60th birthday party, playdates, hanging out with family and friends, lots of new Drew words and tricks, dropping my new camera in the pool (and ruining it), food poisoning, driving 20 hours across the United States of America (with an 11 month old that wasn't having it) and cutting more dang teeth (#6 & #7) ...the Deimel girls are are tired!

STRANGER ANXIETY......

Little Whitley's first birthday...

Hud, McCoy, and Drewfus....

One of my favorite pics of Hud and Drew while we were home....

We finally got to meet Ella Claire for the first time! One of my best friend's little two month old! Oh she is so sweet, beautiful, and perfect in every way!!!

Pool pics...

Then.... oh S***!!!!!!!!! Camera in the pool! Man I'm a freakin genius!!! Seriously, who gets in the pool with their camera???

Needless to say, I missed alot of pics for the next several days while I waited to see if I could dry out and salvage the camera....yeah, not a chance.

Teta came to Rogers to see Drew and Destiny had a suprise 30th birthday party... but I have no pics of those because they would look like the pic above. I did get another camera though and got some more pics while we were home.

At almost 11 months little Drewfus decided to stop army crawling everywhere and started actually crawling!!!! YAY!!! I didn't think she would. I thought she was just gonna army crawl until she walked. Fashionably late with her little achievements as usual! :) :)

Then, I got sick with food poisoning and threw up all night and all morning the day of my mother's 60th birthday luncheon. It was pretty much the whole reason Drew and I went to Arkansas and I totally missed it! I was pretty bummed!!! This was a pic I snapped of Drew and grandmom before the luncheon....

Grandmom's birthday cake...

The next day I decided to put my big girl panties on and drive 10 hours home still feeling a little under the weather

.
Sweet little Annie keeping me company up front...

Drewfus watching T.V. in the back....

Traveling with an 11 month old by yourself has officially become pretty difficult. What used to be a relatively easy 10 hour trip with only one melt down, has suddenly turned into a 10-11 hour trip with meltdowns off and on the whole time. She is way too aware of the fact that she is strapped into a carseat unable to move around now!!

This is a pic I took of one of our stops when I was trying to feed her in the back of our TWO DOOR car (trying to save on gas money these days). I must admit after several of Drew's horrible meltdowns in the car (like when she threw up from crying so hard), trying to go potty with Drew strapped on me in the gas station, trying to feed Drew as she cruised around in the back seat, etc... I did cuss B.J. a couple of times in my head for moving me 10 hours away from home. Sorry Beej. :)

But B.J. did rent a car and met us 3 hours outside of Rochester to help me drive the last bit home. He was just SLIGHTLY excited to see us!!!!!!

Since we have been home, Little Drewfus has been cutting more teeth (#6 &#7) and there has been ALOT of this....

BOO!! Look at all that DROOL!!!

She couldn't sleep the other night because of her teeth and conjestion, so I brought her to bed with me and we had a little girls (B.J. had to work all night) bunking party in my bed! What did I ever do before I had this little bean!

Now for some much needed rest!! Whew! Hope everyone has a great week! :)

*I promise on my next post I will be much more rested and less cynical! :) :)

Happy 60th Birthday Mom!

2010-06-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." -John 15:13

2010-05-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

We made it to Arkansas two days ago and will be here for the next two weeks! Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day!

2010-05-20T06:42:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the sweet Griffin family and the arrival of their new baby girl!

Big sister Sara Griffin and Drew this week. Drew is slightly obsessed with Sara!!!

Samantha Elspeth Griffin
Born 5/20/10 - 7 lbs 12oz, 19.5 in long

This sweet baby will almost make you want to have another.....for about .2 seconds.....ok, I'm over it now! :)

10 Months Old

2010-05-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Drew is 10 months old. I can't wrap my head around the fact that in two months she will be one year old. Unbelievable!

Here are a few Drewfus Fun Facts:

Favorite foods: Cheerios, Cheerios, and more Cheerios, any fruit, rice yogurt, broccoli, and ground turkey. Random I know, but these are the foods she attacks first when I put food down on her highchair. Overall, she is a pretty good eater and will eat most stuff.

Favorite activities: Swimming in the bathtub on her tummy (hands down her FAVORITE activity!!!), surfing the furniture, watching Annie (our dog), army crawling, laying on her back playing with a book, and playing with a new push toy I got her.

Least favorite activities: having her diaper changed if she doesn't have something to play with and wiping down her face and hands after eating.

What a blessing little Drew Elizabeth has been for the past ten months. I thank God everyday for allowing me to be a mother to this healthy and happy little baby girl.

Heading to Arkansas for 2 1/2 weeks in T minus 7 days!!!! Can't wait!!! :) :) :)

2010-05-13T14:58:00.000-07:00

Who is into everything right now? This little turkey!

She has started pulling herself up in the crib for the first time this week. I've gone into Drew's room several times (in the morning or when naptime is over) and she greets me like this....

NOTE: One of my girlfriend just saw this post and text me saying to lower her bed ASAP! I forgot to write that we lowered her bed immediately after she did this. :) Thx Teresa! :)

or this...
(If you look hard, you can see her top left tooth coming in. You can't see the top right in pics yet.)
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Snort face.....

I usually sit Drew in this little chair when I am fixing her breakfast(without buckling her in) and she will just sit there. Today I turned around to check on her while I was cooking her eggs and this is what she was doing...oh crap! Buckle time!

Then she found the container drawer for the first time this morning....

And the toilet paper basket in the bathroom...

We also started a new little playgroup this week that my sweet friend Diana invited us to join. So fun! Drew swam in her first pool with Odin, Will, and Zahara....she LOVED it!

Me and my sweet baby Drewfus on Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T12:34:00.001-07:00

Thank you to my supermom for:

*Always treating your children equally...even down to the last penny you spend on each one of us.
*Always having a full time job and somehow managing to raise three great children in the process.

*Always supporting your kids by attending every sporting event or assembly we ever had growing up.
*Always having a warm meal on the table every night for us.
*Always having clean ironed clothes at the end of the bed everyday...and even doing all my laundry through college!
*Always letting me sleep in the bed with you and dad when I was young and scared to death of the thunder.

*Always making me cheese dip and chips when we got home from school before you turned on Days of our Lives.

*Always making me go to Sunday school even though I absolutely HATED it!
*Always making me eat salmon croquettes (sp?) even if they made want to vomit in my mouth.
*Always having our kitchen cabinets stocked full of candy and goodies to eat (I don't know how we all didn't weigh 500 lbs growing up :))
*Always putting the latest and best clothes on your children even when you hadn't bought clothes for yourself in years.
*Always making me dust the dang living room when we cleaned the house and somehow always managing to find every little spot I missed! :)
*Always pushing me to work hard and always do my best.
*Always loving me through high school when we totally butted heads.

*Always paying for my college education...and not being too upset when I didn't really use it. :)

*Always letting us go pick out our own belts we wanted to be spanked with when we had done wrong. (Of course we both know it was always Gaven's fault if I ever got in trouble though. :) )
*Always providing your children with all you could on you and dad's modest teacher salaries.
*Always being an awesome grandmother to all of your grandchildren.

*Always showing me unconditional love and support. For all of this and so much more, I thank you mom!

2010-05-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Death gives meaning to our existance because it reminds us how precious life is.

Here are a few precious moments I caught this past weekend while we were in Arkansas for Brad's Memorial Service.

Brad Mooney

2010-04-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

A wonderful husband, father, and friend that will be missed dearly!

Please Pray

2010-04-25T06:50:00.001-07:00

I write this post this morning with a heavy heart asking you to please pray for B.J's family...but especially for his aunt and her two young children. Her husband died unexpectedly last night at the age of 41.

Happy Nine Months Drewfus

2010-04-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

Baby Drew turned nine months yesterday! What a big girl! Turns out she isn't quite the "big girl" I thought she was though. She had her 9 month doctors check up :

weight: 17lbs. 6oz. (30%) -this was a shocker! She looks so chunky!

height: 26 1/2 inches (26%) - still an oompa loompa

head: 83% - lets just say she gets it honest...B.J Deimel and Gaven Smith. :) The doctor always says ,"oh don't worry, she will grow into it" ...like I am fixing to go slit my wrists or something! Please lady, I knew this baby was gonna come out with a noggin! Her dad was called tweety bird as a child and her uncle had to have special helmets ordered for his big head when he played football. Yes, my pediatrician was officially invited to "suck it" yesterday (to all The Office fans). :)

For her 3/4 birthday the terrible tooth fairy has arrived once again. Drew started cutting her top two teeth yesterday. Jerk! I HATE the tooth fairy!!!! She is not a kind person at the Deimel house. I have a friend that didn't even know it when her baby started cutting teeth. I can't imagine! Poor Drew is definitely a baby that is affected by teething and you definitely know when it is happening. She is currently covered from head to toe in snot and drool, can't breath out of her nose, and is super uncomfortable. It makes me so sad for her! :( She is still a sweet little pumpkin and luckily it will be over in several days! YAY! :)

I took these little nine month pics yesterday...right before snot and droolfest 2010 started! :)

...these are pics from a few days ago. Thanks again for all of Drew's pools and her bathing suit Teta! She loved it!

Random

2010-04-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite pics lately...

(not her most flattering picture and a bit out of focus w/no flash... but I love this little fat tick's pose :))

Little Drewfus is doing the ol' army crawl now!!! Her uncle Zachary would be so proud! :) It isn't much...but I guess you got to start somewhere! As you can tell from the first several pictures I posted, this chunky monkey LOVES to eat...so naturally I got her to crawl for a piece of food!!!

B.J. and I call her "crawl" the chicken wing! :)

Winter In a Nutshell & Happy Birthday Da Mommy!

2010-04-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

...thanks for my presh shirt Aunt Tara!

What two southern kids from Arkansas have learned from their first winter in Minnesota:

1- You need snow boots w/ good traction. Wearing nice shoes around here in the winter is silly( too slippery and too wet). Function over fashion.

2-When you start your 2002 Chevy Tahoe in the freezing temperatures and it sounds like a screaming cat...completely normal! Why thank you Chevy dealership!

3- Low humidity = good hair days! :)

4- Children play outside at recess on snow piles with inches of snow everywhere as long as temps don't drop below 0!!!!! Crazy sight to see...we have a school down the street from us!!!!

5- Snowmobiles around here are like four wheelers in Arkansas.

6- A snow blower is nothing like a leaf blower.

7- I have seen my first ice fishermen...NUTS!!!

8- You must pick up all of your dogs poo all winter long!!! If you don't, when the snow finally melts you have a winter's worth of frozen poo poo EVERYWHERE!!!! Our backyard was one big dump!!! EEEWWWW!

9- 0 degrees is totally bearable as long as the wind isn't blowing.

10- Hoarfrost :a deposit of needle-like ice crystals formed on surfaces by direct condensation at temperatures below freezing point. This was one of my favorite things this winter!! The trees and shrubs become completely covered with shimmering ice...BEAUTIFUL!!!

11-Always take your shoes off when entering someone's home.

12- Jackets, gloves, and scarves are essentials here and not just accessories that annoy me!

13- When a blizzard is coming the grocery stores still have bread and chili stocked on their shelves! Only the southern girl from Arkansas goes running to the grocery store to stock up! :)

14- If you move to MN from Ark and don't own a single snow shovel, you might want to go buy one at your local Home Depot before a blizzard hits...B.J. Deimel!!

15- You can be fined by the city if you don't shovel snow off your sidewalk in front of your home!

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16- Shoveling 3 inches of snow three times is easier than shoveling 9 inches all at once.

17-Don't leave baby wipes in the car to use at a later date...they will be a frozen block of ice when you need them again.

18- There are no stray animals up north...not a big shocker! YAY! (All that know me understand)

19- Firetrucks flood park parking lots around town to make ice rinks for people to skate on all winter.

20- Y'all is a word that only girls from the south say (my little northern girlfriends like to make fun of it)! I know this has nothing to do with winter though! :)

I hope I am not jinxing myself here... they say we can always get more snow up until the begining of May! No No No!!

The Easter Bunny Came Early

2010-03-31T14:32:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought our day couldn't get any better....the Easter Bunny sent a delivery to the Deimel house!!! Oh my...what a loot! He sent this precious Easter dress along with lots of other wonderfulness!!!!!! Oh sweet Easter Bunny (mom) you are tooooo good to us!!! Drew is so blessed to have such wonderful grandmothers!!!

Oxbow Park

2010-03-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today the temperature outside was 75 degrees! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! The weathermen say we are having record breaking temperatures right now in March and that the average highs are normally just 45. You know what though, this cabin fever mom will take it!!!! :)

Luckily B.J. had off today so we decided to visit Oxbow Park. It was a great little park (only about 10 minutes from our house) with a river running through it, hiking trails, picnic areas, and a little "zoo". I didn't really know what to expect when we decided go out there, but I was pleasantly surprised. Although everything is pretty barren outside, it was still really pretty and the free little "zoo" was cute and simple with all kinds of little animals like wolves, buffalo, eagles, a bear, etc. We also had a little picnic and just enjoyed the wonderul day out in the beautiful sunshine!!

...she loves to prop her feet up on this bar and chew on the straps. Isn't life grand!!

...finally got a pic with little Drewfus where we are both smiling and looking at the camera! Thank you sweet husband! :)

Ella Claire Rushing

2010-03-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

One of my lifelong girlfriends Destiny Rushing welcomed her beautiful baby girl into the world today at 6:04 p.m. YAY!

Ella Claire Rushing

6lbs. 15 oz.

20 1/2 inches long ( I think??)

Last weeks visit

2010-03-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

Teta, Christen, and Mick all came to see Drew this past week. We had a great time with them playing, eating, playing Quelf, and just hanging out. They also kept Drew for us (and paid for our dinner) one night so B.J. I could go out on a date without Drew for the first time in hmmmm, 8 months!!! Thank you, thank you!!!!

2010-03-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

Yet another big girl moment today! We sat in our stroller facing forward by ourself and not in the carseat attachment!

...slightly obsessed with the strap!

Emery Ruth Dickson

2010-03-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to my dear friend Becca! She had her precious baby girl on Sunday, March 14th.

Emery Ruth Dickson

5lb 4oz and 19 1/2inches long

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

Grandmom sent Drew this precious little green dress in her St. Patrick's Day gift box this week! Oh how we just love getting our little gift boxes here at the Deimel house! Thanks grandmom!
...and yes, this bow is hanging on to like two twigs of hair in this pic! :)

Drew has definitely started saying momma this week and I just LOVE IT! I think what I love best about this new development is that she said momma before dada. :) I was just convinced that dada would come first. Of course she has no idea that she is saying my name, but I like to think she does.

Teta, Aunt Christen, and Uncle Mick will be here Friday! Very exciting!!

Also, Happy Birthday this month to Kelleigh, Mandy, and Mere!!! I love you girls! Sorry I was lazy and didn't post any pics for your birthdays! :)

50 degrees has never felt sooooo good!

2010-03-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

Today it was 50 degrees outside and it was absolutely wonderful!!! People were coming out of the woodwork around here to enjoy the weather. It is amazing what a little sun on your skin and fresh air can do for you. Pretty sure it has been about 5 months since we have been able to go on a walk and enjoy small pleasures like this! Come on summer!!!! :)

....please note how cute this picture is (that I took) of B.J. and Drew.

....and then this is the best B.J could do! Seriously?? No wonder the child has no pictures with her momma! :)

What is Drew up to these days??

-Seven months brought with it a little attitude in Miss Priss. She protests now when you take stuff away that she wants.

-She is eating more and more foods and finger foods.

- She will wave her hand bye bye.

-Still just sitting (no crawling yet) but rolling everwhere.
-Lots of jibber jabber. I swear she said momma a couple of times today too!!!!!

-Sleeps with her butt in the air alot.

She will be 8 months old in 5 days...oh how time flies!