On Your Mark, Get Set, Crawl!

I entered Sawyer in his first race! The Huggies Diaper Dash. It was held at Babies R Us on Saturday. The race was supposed to consist of 5 sets of 5 competitors (ages 7-12 months). But I guess they had a low turn-out and only ended up racing 2 sets of 5. Sawyer won 2nd Place in his group! The baby who beat him to the finish was an 11 month old. So he did pretty well, I thought, considering he was not far behind and only learned to crawl within the past month. The funniest part about the whole thing was not that the babies couldn't crawl...it's that theywouldn't crawl with all those parents staring and cheering them on. Way too much stimulation for one little baby! Haha! Sawyer's excellent performance won us a free package of diapers! As far as I'm concerned, the race was well worth it. And definitely entertaining!

My only regret is that with Nathan at the finish line and me at the start, we weren't able to get a video of the whole race...and our pictures were not the greatest either. But you get the idea!

Sawyer practicing before the big event! :) We enticed him with a very desirable toy--the cell phone...

We decided the 'Santa's Helper' sleeper was his most agile outfit.

Hangin' out with his competitors.

Here's the crawling mat. It was set-up pretty cute. Everyone had a good time. I think the girls working at Babies R US and running the event thoroughly enjoyed themselves!

I'm Sinking!

The other night we were deflating the air mattress in Sawyer's room and we thought he might enjoy going for a little ride! The first video is him having a great time on the mattress and the second is when we started deflating it. We thought it was pretty funny.

November is Over?!!?

I seriously can not believe how fast the month of November flew by! I feel like it definitely broke some speed records in my book of life. The month started out with me working 3 shifts in a row (which I never do anymore). Nathan got out of school on the 11th and I worked the next three days to get my shifts for the month out of the way. So those few days didn't really exist for me (or Nathan...). He did a fantastic job being Mr. Mom...the house was actually pretty clean at the end of it all! He has definitely been making a big effort to help me around the house and I have been a happier mom and wife as a result of it all. And Sawyer seemed to have a great time with his daddy during that time. Every time I called from work thinking Sawyer would be in bed, they were out at a football game or playing basketball or something. Sawyer got his share of 'being up past bedtime'. The next week was spent working on various projects around the house and preparing for our monthly Enrichment activity. Then Nathan's family came into town the week of Thanksgiving. Ashley and Taryn stayed with us for a few days and we drove back and forth to Mesa to spend time with everyone else. It was a busy but fun-filled week! In the end, I don't think my poor husband really got a chance to relax during his break from school. What a good guy. I'm grateful that he's always so willing to help me whenever I ask and even when I don't ask. It was fun to see Sawyer and Taryn (9 days apart) play together this time. They were very interested in each other and we all had some good laughs. I'm sad to say I didn't get many pictures of all the adults that week but I got PLENTY of the babies. I guess we can see how our focus shifts when we have kids. :)

Sawyer has made leaps and bounds this past month (he just turned 7 months on Sunday). He has mastered crawling. And he has learned to pull himself to stand. We had to lower his crib mattress last week! Oh boy, here we go...As my pediatrician delicately put it when she asked if he was crawling at his 6 month check-up, "That doesn't mean he's smarter, it just means he's more trouble". Ouch. Here are the stats from the last check-up.

Weight: 17.1 lbs (40%)

Height: 26.75 in (61%)

Head: 43.0 cm (27%)

He has dropped from 80-90% in weight and height since his four month and his head is still below average. I guess all that moving around is doing something. For all those wanting to lose weight out there...turns out crawling is quite the work-out. :)

Sawyer in his 'Christmas Outfit' the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

He was super interested in the soda can, so Nathan gave him a non-opened one out of the fridge to gnaw on (I guess cold aluminum is a nice teething remedy...still no teeth in there, by the way!)

Sawyer and Taryn hanging out together. Taryn is a champ at sitting, Sawyer still struggles with that. But he did enjoy crawling all over her!

They were very good about sharing toys, and toes, and everything...probably why they both had snot noses by the middle of the week.

Nathan trying on a Snuggie at Costco. If you haven't seen the infomercials for these things...you need to go look it up online!

Kasey (Erin's husband) and Nathan sporting the latest trends at the new H&M that opened up in Scottsdale, AZ! Haha...

Nathan snapped this picture after taking Sawyer to a high school football game while I was working. Poor thing was exhausted! He laid him down to change his clothes and he was out!

I found Sawyer crawling around with the laundry hamper attached to his hand one day...it looked like a turtle shell over the top of his body!

Sawyer's first time wearing a tie! Doesn't he look handsome?

All decked out to run in a 5K with his parents, and Jen & Isac.

Some of the fam at the Mesa Temple lights

A Halloween Murder Mystery

We had such a fun Halloween this year. Nathan and I decided since Sawyer wasn't of 'trick-or-treating' age we wanted to throw a party on Halloween night. We've always wanted to host a murder mystery party so we finally took the plunge! We had so much fun! It was mostly friends from Nathan's class and a couple others. Everyone dressed either to match their character or in a 'Halloween' style costume (witches, mummies, etc). The setting of the murder mystery was supposed to be at a Halloween night club. I was so impressed with how well everyone really fell into their character. It was a pretty tough game and only a few people actually guessed who the real murderer was. I took a bunch of pictures of the food, decorations, and a some of the costumes. You never quite get the same feel from the pictures because of lighting and stuff...but it was a very fun ambience with candles everywhere...I had a blast. Tons of pictures to follow...enjoy! :)

This is the invitation we made for each couple. Underneath the finger was directions for each character assignment.

The witches shoes were party favors filled with chocolate.

Shriveled potatoes with sauce, breadstick bones, and guacamole with blue chips. The witch hats below were little petits fours (cake bites, with a cookie brim)

Jen made the monster mouths (apples with almond slivers) and mummy faces.

Val made the monster toes (hot dogs with tortilla and ketchup for the nail), dirty worms (gummies in oreo), and pretzel ghosts.

Just some candid shots as the guests were arriving.

My friend Jill and her daughter, Ella. She and Sawyer had the same pj's on! Also...Ella is 6-7 months older than Sawyer and so tiny!!

Isac the hypnotist and Jen the screenwriter!

I don't know if you can really tell, but Nathan replaced all of our picture frames with scary pictures...

Nathan put the TV on the floor and created a 'fireplace', complete with sound effects.

Here's the table, before all of the food arrived. I never took a picture of the completed table!

This was our cooler for sodas. The soda cans were inside the pumpkin.

Nathan, the mummy host.

Here's the whole group.

One more thing. Sawyer did have a costume this year. He was a little green monster. Although we made a few alterations. I brought him to Nathan's class on Friday and Nate had me put a sign on the front of his costume that said, S. Mutans. This is the bacteria that causes cavities. The dental students loved it! And Sawyer loved the attention! As you can see in the pictures. We are nerds. Our child's first Halloween and we dress him up as bacteria. He did look pretty cute though. :)

Six Months

Sawyer is 6 months old today! Wow...time really does fly. I can't even believe it. He is doing so well and we love him so much. He's had a couple 'firsts' at six months. His first real cold. Poor guy...he's hanging in there but I feel so bad for him with his runny, crusty little nose. Also, his first real cold day. We took a picture to capture the first 'cold day' outing.

Other things to blog about: We had our little sister get together in Vegas this past weekend. The drive went well, although Sawyer didn't love his new car seat as much as I'd hoped. We concluded he just doesn't like to be strapped in, no matter the seat. I guess we'll have to deal with it. We got up there Friday night and spent the evening highlighting and cutting my hair (thanks Kristie!). It's a little perk that I get every time I see her! Jake was coming down with a cold and by Saturday, he was not a happy camper. But, nevertheless, we paraded on in true Schindler fashion! Nathan stayed home to help his dad work on the backyard and we went to the forum shops at Caesar's palace and then to the Miracle Mile Mall. Yup, we basically spent the day shopping. It's what we do best! And we had fun....despite the cranky toddler and having to nurse Sawyer periodically in public restrooms (never a fun experience). That night we had planned on going out to dinner and then watching a movie, but dinner was vetoed by Jake and we settled for Chipotle, carry-out. I was ok with that, I love Chipotle. And then by the time we got the kids to bed, we were so wiped out we all fell asleep within the first minute of the movie. Ha! Maybe next time we'll leave the kids with daddy!

Sunday morning, Kristie and Sydney decided to hit the road, due to Jake's worsening cold, and temper :). We had planned on doing some family photos that afternoon but that didn't happen. We managed to squeeze some in the half hour before church but thanks to the wind, non-smiling kids, and lack of time we didn't come out with much. Once I get those organized I'll post a few.

So it was a semi-stressful trip...but totally worth it! I love any chance to get together with my sisters! We just wish mom could have joined us that day!

Jake and Sawyer love cruising in Kristie's double stroller together! I love this thing!

At the start of our shopping trip.

We took this picture for Nathan. He likes this movie. Or the preview, I should say. We haven't seen it yet.

As my mom put it, you can see why the urgency to go home.

The end of the day. Jake asleep with a blanket over his face, Sawyer struggling to get out of my arms. We survived.

I don't know what's more entertaining, Nathan's sound effects or Sawyer's laughing. Please ignore me looking like a grandma and trying to get food out of my teeth. I wasn't aware I was in the video and had just eaten something sticky.