Mini Me

The official 7 month photo. We cannot believe that Spencer will be arriving in 9 weeks! If all goes well, please start your prayers that it does, we will have a baby boy on March 5. We began our New Year today by seeing our sweet baby boy in 4D! Here are the first glances of....

Spencer James DuMontier

The ultrasound technician got very carried away. We not only have the live DVD (which believe it or not they did not have 21 months ago for Alden), but 76 photos of our baby in the womb! Yes, 76! All is well with our very active little man. He does not stop moving in there and we watched it all unfold on screen today. If you know Alden, though, you are not surprised that we would have an active child!

The other big event of the week was, of course, Christmas. Spencer got a ridiculous amount of gifts for not even being in the world yet. However, thanks to his grandparents, he can have his own homemade organic baby food made in the new Beaba Babycook, rest in his lamb cradle swing and bounce in his giraffe bouncer, spit up all he wants on his new burp clothes and bibs, and of course cuddle with a teddy or two. Did we have a little boy before this? You wouldn't think so with the amount of stuff we are getting!

The big guy in our lives was, of course, the star of Christmas this year. Although it was not his first Christmas, it might as well have been. There is nothing like watching your little boy discovering Christmas. Alden had a few clues because we had underestimated his cognitive ability to grasp the whole Santa concept. On Christmas Eve morning, he woke up and came to our bed and kept saying, "Claus Choo-Choo." Yes, Alden was getting a choo-choo from Santa, but he was not supposed to know that. Big people watch what you say!

Alden's Christmas began the weekend before with a visit from the Morrison clan. He had a blast opening every single person's presents for them. Even if they didn't have his name on them! The bows on top were quite interesting. Grumps brought the presents over the day before, and by the time we opened them the next afternoon, all of the bows were mysteriously missing.

The first Christmas present opening with a little help from Dad.

Very excited about the Beaba Babycook. He loves kitchen supplies! I really would get the child a kitchen of his own if it did not seem very girly. I hear there is a toddler grill set. We might have to get that for our birthday.

Christmas celebration number 2 with the Lann Clan. Alden had so much fun being the center of attention and getting to eat all the baked spaghetti he could eat.

Christmas morning was a bit crazy. Daddy has got to get it together for next year. Here is why: We got up and got somewhat dressed and together before Alden was up which was great. When he awoke, we brought him in our room to stall. Now, Daddy was supposed to just set up the camera and take out the dog. I am not kidding, TWO Nick, Jr. shows later and an entire sippy of milk, and I am calling down the stairs saying that we are needing to come down. Daddy added making coffee and chatting to Granna and Pops and dilly-dallying for about 45 minutes to his morning. Not thinking this will happen again! Alden knew just where to look when we got to the bottom of the stairs. First words..."choo-choo!!!

Glad Santa got the small track. For now, it is way more fun to take apart and carry around the parts than actually putting Thomas the train on the track. Mommy will become an expert track constructor.

Santa brought Alden anything and everything giraffe, or in Alden's world, "girattes." From pajamas to a new plate to a puzzle. Grandpa sent Alden this new giraffe sound machine. Alden didn't miss one of them! One of his favorite things this week has been watching his wild animal Baby Einstein video. Even though our attention span is only about 15 minutes at a time, he grabs my hand and says, "Mommy, Bears. Peese, Bears" and walks me to the DVD player. Although this has wild animals from all over the world, Alden apparently knows that it has bears. Oh, and yes, giraffes!

Another favorite! Doggy slippers. Thank you Granna. Before we go downstairs, Alden says, "Mommy, doggies" and shows me his feet. We have to have these on every morning. This might become a Christmas tradition. Who knew what a hit slippers could be! Do you think Alden is into animals just a little?

"A quacky" from Grandmother.

A firetruck from Uncle John. We love it. Uh, no, it is not a riding toy! It is actually very cool with a remote control. Judging from the fact that he thinks he rides it, he is way too young to know how to operate the remote control firetruck by himself, right?

Wrong. It took about 5 minutes for him to figure that one out. The ladder went up and down for a long time after that.

A digger from Grandmother. Alden loves things with wheels. All boy!

Alden's friend, Helen, knows him well. Dr. Seuss board books. And, surprisingly, we had never read a single one of them. Boy, oh boy, we have now! We have read them for every nap and every bedtime...along with the animal books that The Fishers gave him. I moved the animal book from The Mitchells downstairs for entertainment. You guessed it; we look at it everyday! Sometimes twice.

Our new picture word cards. Thanks to Grandmother and Granddaddy, he now has every set. His fave so far is farm words because it has Baa's and Moo's. However, he did throw me today when he correctly identified "barn." How does he know this stuff?! There is one card that has the words "combine harvester" with a photo. If he says that, I will let everyone know!

Could it be another giraffe! Granna and Pops giving Alden his first exercise learning bike. He has no clue how to peddle yet, and I admit I have not put the effort into teaching him yet, but he talks to it every single morning from his crib. (We have had to put some toys up and some toys downstairs to make room. Not to mention the SIX shelves he now occupies of my den built-in bookcases!) S-P-O-I-L-E-D!

Very cool Timberline big boy boots from Grumps. Alden showed them off to everyone. He was very proud. Best of all, they lace up! Let's see him try to take those things off before we even get out of the driveway!

Oh, who knows! The presents runneth over. He is great a ripping off paper now! No worries, Alden did learn a lot about the holidays other than getting presents.

It is not all about receiving. 'Tis also the season for giving.

Sometimes the fun is found in playing with the box the present came in.

Brothers share. (Especially when the one the teddy is actually for is currently being held captive in the womb).

Spending time with family is lots of fun.

Ahh...it is great to be the only child...for a little while longer!

Santa Claus is everywhere! Have you noticed? As my dear friend, Ellen, pointed out, doesn't everyone remember when you used to go and see Santa one time at the mall and then you didn't see him again until the next Christmas mall line? Not anymore! Santa has even started hanging out at Whole Foods! The good news is that after about ten times of seeing Santa, he is not quite so scary to Alden anymore. Well, okay, so it also helped that Daddy crawled up in the sleigh with him...and Santa and Mrs. Claus.

I admit that the real reason we got out in the freezing cold to see Santa on his grocery store stop was to see the reindeer. Usually, these are doggies to Alden, but after our visit, he has now learned the word "deer" to use the rest of the season. Please notice that Santa brought the injured reindeer with only one antler this year. Now, which one is that in the song?

What would pre-Christmas festivities be without a little trip to the Zoolight Safari?! Alden and Helen had a date to this event. I will report that she got a little fresh with the footsie in the line for dinner, and Alden did make a move for the big hug after the carousel ride.

The llama was a very popular stop at the petting zoo. Both Alden and Helen got a little confused with this word because it is so close to their absolute favorite word, "Mamma." So, the llama was named Mamma for the night.

We spent a lot of time visiting the "Baa's." Alden was thrilled. This is currently one of his favorite animals. They are in every nativity scene, and Alden never lets you miss one. To see one in person was pretty amazing to him. The no smile in this photo is because Daddy would not let him actually crawl into the stall with the Baa's.

The best part of the zoo, when the giraffes are asleep of course, is the carousel ride. Joey forgot to get us a ticket, and I made him go all the way back to the entrance to get us one. We decided to ride the Cheetah because this is Alden's new favorite word and animal, next to giraffes of course. He loved this! He was smiling and shaking with a little uncertainty at the same time. I guess it was like a baby roller coaster.

Alden playing Santa Claus, or as Alden has nicknamed him, simply "Claus." Practicing his "Ho, Ho, Ho!"

You would think he was looking at all of the presents. But, no. He is looking at the "Baa" ornament that he tells me about everyday. Every time we pass the tree, we have to point out these five: "Baa," "Doggie," "Choo-Choo," "Fish," and "Whoo-Whoo." He loves the ornaments and the tree. He chants "tree" all day long every time we see one...anywhere!

Pointing out the "Whoo-Whoo" owl.

This photo is for the teachers. If you ever wondered if those hours with the hot glue gun every Christmas making ornaments for your students was a waste of time...Mrs. Hibbler would be proud to know that my 18 month old is still taking the first grade apple off of the tree.

Alden's new winter hat! He loves it and runs through the house asking for "hat." He talks about hat when he wakes up from his nap. It is on and off of his head all day long!

Poor Lucy the dog now lives her life most of the day in a dog crate. She is having back problems and has to be as contained as possible. This is fascinating to Alden. He loves to give her things, like ipods, through the crate and play in her water bowl. The newest fun time is to actually occupy the cage himself when she is absent. Humm...this is not such a bad idea...