12/20

This is Spencer on 12/20/07. Notice that Santa is actually a little bit taller (because of the hat) and about the same size around.

This is Spencer, about 10 minutes ago, on 12/20/08. Santa's got nothing on his height this year.

I took that picture last year during a break from the all day crying. It's hard to be home alone with a baby that does nothing but cry for like 15 hours. I used to pace by the garage door waiting for Michael to come home. Thank god the days of colic are over. For all the new mommies out there (my friends are in the middle of a baby boom), if you need ideas on how to soothe a colicky baby- Michael and I are experts.

Bionic Tumbleweed

Michael and I have an inside joke about a cougar living in the backyard. Whenever Ginger barks (which is very rare) or she hasn't gone outside in a while, we joke that the cougar is back and is scaring her. Ginger stuck her head out the doggy door this morning, looked around and came back in. Why? The cougar wasn't there, but a bionic tumbleweed is.

We live in a "master planned community" of concrete and asphalt. Surrounding our backyard are other backyards. How did this blow into my yard?

Spencer is 30 1/2 inches tall. Here is a size comparison:

Teeth

Spencer has cut 4 upper teeth in the last 4 weeks. He has two lower teeth that he got right around his first birthday. Tonight was the first time he realized he could bite with those teeth. He very much enjoyed the sound of tooth cutting through apple slice.

Home for the Holidays

I love decorating the house for Christmas. Sometimes I think I'd be happy to leave it like this all year long, but then it would make it less special. A nativity scene in July does seem a bit ridiculous.

This year we decorated the outside

And the inside

The Animals of the house are all decked out in seasonal attire.

Giuseppe the monkey in his holiday sweater:

Stampy the elephant in his Santa hat:

And Ginger in her Christmas dress:

Fat Beagle

This is a list of all the things Ginger has eaten in the last year while walking around the neighborhood:

A PB&J sandwich
A Grilled cheese sandwich
Frosted mini-wheats
An English muffin
Cheerios (we're not sure if they were plain or honey nut)
Nutter butters
Tortillas (corn)
Ramen noodles (on two separate occasions)
A Chicken bone
Frosted sugar cookies (they were homemade and it took her a week of attempts to get to these in a bush)
A Little Debbie oatmeal cookie
Doritos
Pop tarts
Tortilla chips
Egg shell
Hot cheetos
Pizza crust
A Candy cane (this was in July so the season made it really funny)
A Burrito
Fudge
B-B-Q Lays potato chips (Michael's favorite, so they were recognizable on the curb from adult height)
Brownies
Pringles

A Beagle and a Baby

So, I've been debating starting a blog for the last 6 months but have always talked myself out of it. You can thank Maryellen for convincing me to ditch the email updates and start my new blog: A Beagle and A Baby. I tried to get the web address http://www.abeagleandababy.blogspot.com/ and was SHOCKED to see that a woman named Beth already took that idea in 2006. What are the chances??? She doesn't even do anything on it- not a single post in 2 years. No fair. So, I added AZ to the address and my blog was born.