All Packed Up and Ready to Move!

The packers came this morning and packed up most of our stuff in just 3 hours today. Can't believe it. The movers will be here Monday morning to finish packing up the remainder and to load up the van. After they leave, we will head out for our LONG (approximately 1400 miles) drive to Arkansas!

As you can see from the pics above, the kids had fun playing with and in the boxes left behind by the packers.

Pittsburgh is Going to the Pa Bol?

Go Steelers!!! Our two little Roethlisbergers cheered on the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday as they won the AFC championships, sending them on their way to their 7th Super Bowl! After the win, Dada started singing "Here we go! Pittsburgh is going to the Super Bowl" over and over. Soon we all started singing it, including Desmond. If you sing to Des, "here we go, Pittsburgh is going to the...", he will chime in and say "pa bol" for "Super Bowl" and that just makes his Dada very proud!

Shhh!

Desmond has recently taken a liking to screaming at the top of his lungs for no reason other than the fact that he thinks it is funny. Well Mama and Dada don't think it's funny at all and often say "no" and "shhh" to him. Well, this morning, he was screaming as Mama was changing his diaper while Stella was still sleeping. Des started screaming and Mama said "no screaming" and Des looked at Mama and put his index finger to his mouth and said "shhh". He would scream and then shhhsh himself over and over, laughing in between. It was soo cute that Mama couldn't help but laugh as well. He is turning out to be quite a handful and a jokester these days!!!

Desmond's 15 Month Checkup

Desmond had his 15 month checkup today, 10 days before he actually turns 15 months old. All is well with our little guy. His stats are as follows:

Height = 32.75 inches (90th %)
Weight = 23 lbs, 10.5 oz (50th %)
Head Circumference = 19.5 in (95th %)

In other news, Desmond has been consistently telling us when he poops by saying "poop" after he does the deed. He has been doing this ever since Christmas. Let's hope that this trend continues all the way to potty training!

Suit Up! Go Steelers!

The kids donned their Roethlisberger jerseys today in an effort to root on Dada's favorite hometown team...the Pittsburgh Steelers! It worked b/c the Steelers won. Now all they have to do is win next week against the Ravens and the Steelers will be going to their seventh Super Bowl!

P.S. This is the first time Stella is wearing her Steelers jersey (she always refused before) since Dada got it for her this past summer. It is still way too big on her (it comes down to her knees) but is the smallest kid's size jersey they sell.

All the Songs He Knows

Desmond seems to have a propensity for music and singing. And why not, his Dada is an accomplished musician. The following are all of the songs he knows. Even though he doesn't know all the words to all of these songs, he definitely knows their tune and will definitely sing it in the right tune, using his language. He will sing these songs sometimes when he is put down for a nap, or if he hears it in the car, or if he hears us singing it around the house.

Wheels on the bus go
This old Man
Ring around the rosies
Old McDonald had a farm
Row row your boat
Where is Thumbkin?
BINGO

Mama thinks his favorite is "The Wheels on the Bus" and he will do some of the motions for this song [i.e., "the babies on the bus go wha wha wha" (he will rub his eyes with his fist and say "wha wha wha"; the mommies on the bus go hush hush hush (he will put his index finger to his mouth and say "shhh, shhh, shhh"].

He also loves to sing "This Old Man" because that is the song we sing to him anytime we put him down to sleep...so he's heard that song everyday of his life thus far =;)

P.S. How do you like them cheeks in the above picture?!?!

Mr. Manners!

Desmond said thank you to Mama yesterday when she gave him a piece of cheese. It sounded like "thunk ooo". It was totally unprompted and so very sweet. This is not something we have been teaching him to say...so he just picked it up by observation.