Dexter's Snowflake

Every year I get one new ornament.  Every year I get a different snowflake.  This year was a special year.  This year I got Dexter's snowflake. 

Beautiful isn't it?

Erin, a gal that Ashton used to work with at Boise State, makes these custom made, etched ornaments.  I love them.  They are so beautiful.   Dexter loves it too.

p.s. We fly home tomorrow!!!

Editing Mistake in My Favor!

I don't know if anyone else remembers those Lipton Brisk commercials I am refrencing in the title. I just thought I would share a joyous happenstance in the middle of finals week, I know Finals Week, what could be joyous. I took my Physical Pharmacy (pharmaceutics) final this morning. I didn't have to score well to pass, so I wasn't too stressed about it. So, we are there taking the test which has 70 questions instead of the prescribed 50. I didn't think anything of it, just figured that made every question worth less. Yay! Then about 50 minutes into the test Dr. Singh interupts us to let us know that he made a mistake and there should be only 50 questions on the test, and he is going to take any fifty you get right as the score for the test. The cheers were enourmous! You could feel the entire class collectively relax. Needless to say I got 53 out of the 70 automatic 100% I bet 75% of the class also got the ace. Merry Christmas to us.

6 Months Old!

Dexter turned 6 months old last week.  I can't believe it.  He has grown and changed so much!  He loves to play in his excersaucer, he is quite the drooler, he wants to be mobile, and he loves to snuggle Ashton.  He loves to eat his cereal, but isn't quite sure about baby food, and is learning to sit up on his own.  He loves to hear you talk and is very attentive when you do.  He laughs a lot, and is a flirt with everyone he meets.

Yesterday we took him in for his well baby check and he weighed 14 pounds, 3 ounces (5%), is 25 1/2 inches long (20%), and his head was 44 cm (55%).  He is doing great!  Last Friday we also took him in for some hearing tests.  They did the behavioral study where they see if he will turn toward a sound.  They can start it at 6 months old, but sometimes they are still to young to do it, which proved to be our case.  Audiology is really concerned about his hearing capabilities, but they are the only ones that are.  None of our doctors seem to be and neither does our speech pathologist who comes to see him every other month.  Audiology was hoping to do an ABR test to get a full picture of his hearing capabilities, but Dexter has a lot of fluid in his ear.  Therefore, when we get back home from our Christmas vacation, he will get a tube put in and then we'll do the ABR.

Dexter we love you, and love being your parents!

A Few of My Favorite Things

We've had an early Christmas since we are flying back to Idaho.  Grandma and Grandpa Jenks sent Dexter a new Christmas book that he loves, and Grandma and Grandpa Loveless surprised us with a mixer!  We don't have to mix everything by hand anymore!!!  Ashton and I aren't the only ones excited about it either...

Dexter loves it too!

For Dexter for Christmas, I made him a mobile to hang over his crib.  He has never had one and I always felt bad he didn't have anything to look at.  I learned how to make some stars for Christmas ornaments at a Super Saturday activity and when I got home, Dexter grabbed the stars and started munching on them.   Apparently, I made him new toys instead. Then I thought instead of ornaments, they would make a cute mobile so I looked at some pictures, decided what I wanted to try to copy, and made this:

for a grand total of $5!

I love it!

String Cheese to the Rescue

We have a mouse.  He lives under the sink.  Maybe it is many mice, we aren't sure.  Do you remember the movie "MouseHunt"?   I feel exactly like this:

We just want to get rid of it, but can't seem to get it right.

I can't stand the mouse.  Even the thought of it sends shivers down my spine.  Well, one finally got stuck on a sticky trap and I felt so bad.  All I could think to do was open a string cheese factory.

Outside!

Dexter loves to look outside.  He loves it when the windows are open and he can stare into the spellbinding outdoors.  He is learning to situp on his own too.  Today, when I was changing him, he kept trying to pull himself up to see outside.  So I sat him up, and he hung onto the bars and just sat there.

"Oh! Oh!"

"I can almost touch it!"

He is wanting to bypass the whole sitting thing and just stand. Here he is trying to pull himself up.

Gingerbread Display

Last night we went and hosted the gingerbread display at the Kanesville Tabernacle.  It was amazing.  There are some very talented people in our stake!  The tabernacle was decorated beautifully and it smelled so good with all the gingerbread.  We had fun.  Some of Ashton's friends from school even came to see everything.  Dexter was in awe and his cute little "Oh, Oh!"  was heard.  They had a mock fire in the fireplace and Dexter loved watching it.  Here are some pictures.  I hope you enjoy it!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our Thanksgiving Break

This week has been a lot of fun. We first started off buying our family Christmas present, food for Thanksgiving, and feeding the missionaries. Then on Wednesday, we braved the cold and we went to the zoo with Kevin, Karen, and their two boys. Luckily, we went to all indoor exhibits and ended up in jungles, swamps, and deserts so we didn't freeze too long. We also went to the aquarium and saw Dexter's favorite, the penguins. When we went with my parents 3 months ago, Dexter loved to watch the penguins. This time he woke up right when we got to the penguins and he got to see them again...

Here is Dexter watching the penguins swim

He does a cute little "Oh, Oh" when he gets excited and said it non-stop in the aquarium. The aquarium also has an underwater tunnel where the sharks and other fish swim and as soon as we walked in, he went "Oh! Oh!" He was so excited about all the fish. We bought a membership so we will be going a lot in the next year.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. We had a busy day of baking pies and gluten-free sweet potatoes. The house smelled so good. Then we had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with Kevin and Karen, and others who didn't go home for the holiday. There were 3 sets of Elders that joined us. It was great. Our little family had a few firsts this Thanksgiving...First time as a family of 3 having thanksgiving, first time as a married couple away from family, first time eating Thanksgiving dinner with no olives, first time we have ever tried brussel sprouts. Yep, brussel sprouts. Surprisingly, good, and Dexter did his first roll from his back to his stomach during dinner!

Then came Black Friday. The one and only "hot" item on my shopping list: diapers. Hy-Vee had a really great sale on diapers, so, we stocked up. We also hit a bin of movies for $3, we splurged and stocked up on those too. I guess it gives me more than one thing to wrap.

We started getting Christmas decorations up. I got the tree up and other nick-nacks and tomorrow I'll finish up and decorate the tree.

It has been a nice week and fun to have Ashton home. Dexter and I both love it!

Basketball

Ashton is in love being here.  There is soccer, football, baseball, and basketball.  It is especially nice because Creighton's basketball team usually makes it into the post season tournament during the beloved March Madness, so Ashton loves getting to watch a great team live.  Jealous?  If you are a College Basketball fan, you should be.  This is where we were...

In the Qwest Arena.  Home of the Creighton Blue Jays.  Yes, we were in the nosebleed section.  Yes, Ashton had to sacrifice his seat on the floor in the "bird cage" so that Dexter and I could go, but we were there.  We could hear the thunder of the game, and feel the excitement in the air at the season home opener.  Dexter was in awe, he kept trying to reach out and grab the court. Ashton was in awe. I was, well, sitting with my two favorite guys enjoying every second.   Pure delight.

Freebies and Other Good Stuff

Okay, if you haven't ordered your christmas cards yet this is a deal for you. If you sign up with http://www.seehere.com/  you can get 50 free 4x8 Christmas photo cards with free shipping.  Use the promo code freebies4mom-1109 .  Make sure there are no spaces after it or it won't work.  This offer expires 11/30/09 so hurry quick!

Also, some of you asked about Innovation Research and how you can do it.  It is an actual place here in Omaha.  They might have more across the country, I'm not sure.  I also had questions about the baby shoes.  The pattern I used I actually bought off of Etsy.com from ithinksewdotcom.  She has a lot of cute patterns.  But here are some other free patterns here and here that I like but haven't made yet.  I also love the crafting blogs of Ucreate and Makeitandloveit.  I have both their buttons you can click to get there on my side bar. 

Enjoy!

"A Christmas to Remember", Gingerbread Style

Every year, the wards and stakes get together and put on a gingerbread house show. The display is held at the Mormon Trail Center, and has grown so much that it is been extended to the Kanesville Tabernacle.  As you know, Ashton served his mission here and has always wanted to submit one.  They take any and all, good or bad, and put them on display.   Well, we did it!  This year we submitted 3.  The theme was "A Christmas to Remember" so pretty much anything goes. I decorated a house at Super Saturday for Relief Society (I forgot to take a picture of it), and I made a house and a train at home.  I have never made gingerbread, cut out the pieces, then baked them, and assembled them until this year.  It was a long week and quite a mess, but in the end, very rewarding.  Ours are on display at the Kanesville Tabernacle and we can't wait to see them and all the others submitted in a couple of weeks! 

Here is the decorating mess

Our sweet little helper:  "Here Mom and Dad, I think you need this!"

Ali's Train:  The Polar Express

The Gingerbread Man hopped a ride.

The Front

Ashton's House:  "Attempt #4"

and his beautiful roof

Welcome to the Family

We just wanted to congratulate Curtis and Crystal on their new addition... Chloe Pyper Loveless.  She was born today, weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces, and is 19 inches long.  Everyone is doing great!  We have been so blessed with all these babies this year!  We can't wait to be in Idaho to meet both new cousins.  Christmas can't come fast enough.

What a doll!

*please ignore the time stamp on the picture.  It really was today.

What I've Been Doing

So I have been in love with some craft blogs and clothing repurposing blogs and fell in love with baby booties.  Ashton thinks buying baby shoes is silly since "they can't walk" and since I love them,  I found a way to make them for cheap. With Dexter as my guniea pig, I dived in.  I made the shoes and realized he didn't have anything to wear them with so I braved it and grabed his white polo shirt and put matching argyle on it.  It turned out awesome!

Also, I am an official taste tester.  Thanks to our friends, Meredith and Tony, I got into taste testing at Innovation Research.  I just did my first test today.  I sampled three tortillas, gave my opinion, and was paid $20.  It only took 15 minutes too!  How sweet is that?  Now I have a way to fund all the little projects I have floating around in my head.  Yay!

5 Months Old

Yesterday Dexter turned 5 months old.  He is a fun little guy these days.  He wants to play the piano, type on the keyboard, or do whatever else Ashton and I do with our hands.  He loves it when daddy comes home and when we read a book.  He likes to play with the baby in the mirror and really wants to crawl.  He likes to munch on whatever will fit in his mouth and to play with all his toys.  He likes to be carried in funny ways.  He laughs, and laughs, and laughs when you do.  He likes is hair to be brushed and combed.  He gets a huge smile when you do.  He also likes it when Ashton rubs his head.  He grins from ear to ear.  He's a flirt with everyone at church and has decided he needs to drink his bottle sitting up like he eats his cereal even though it doesn't work.  He is so funny and we just love him so much!

One Stop Doctor Shop

Today was a big day.  We saw 7 different doctors/specialists in 4 1/2 hours.  CRAZY!  Boys Town National Research Hospital has a craniofacial group that does basically a one stop doctor shop. 

We saw:  an audiologist, a speech pathologist, a pediatric orthodontist/dentist, genetics counselor, pediatrician, ENT physician, and a plastic surgeon.

It started @ 8:15 and we finally left around 12:45.  The group is really neat.  In the morning, they see a lot of patients for all sorts of different things that affect the head and face.  Then in the afternoon, they sit down together and as a group go through each patient and develop a plan. It is a really cool process.  The patients ranged in ages from our littlest Dexter to 16ish.  We all rotated through seeing everyone.  It was nuts and quite the game of musical chairs.

So what did we learn?  Well, really nothing new.  There isn't anything that needs immediate action.  He won't have anything done till he is about 5-8 years old.  He does still have fluid in his right ear and his ear canal is too little to put a tube in, so we will go back to see the ENT doctor next month to see if the fluid is still there and if it is, to possibly get a tube put in.  Then pending that, they want to do another hearing screen to get a clearer picture of his hearing ability in his right ear.  We also learned a little bit more about the bone conduction hearing aid Dexter could get.  We could get one that is on a band that straps around his head with a device that would rest on the bone behind his left "ear".  It is called a BAHA.  They said that it could help him clarify what he is hearing, but that sometimes what sound will do is go to the better, stronger inner ear.  So we could have a BAHA to help his hearing on the left but the sound could be sent to the right.  Kinda confusing.   

The ENT doctor also thought that his palat could possibly be deformed.  He wasn't certain. Dexter is still little and growing, and he was the last person we saw. Dexter had had it and was pretty fussy so it was hard to get a good examination.  The ENT doctor did say that if it was deformed, there was probably an 80% chance that it won't effect his speech.

The only funny thing we were told, is that the dentist didn't think that his left jaw was smaller, but we think he is wrong.  He kept saying that the tissue was smaller.  True, but we think the bone is too.  He did look at his jaw and feel it, but still...it isn't sitting right with me.  He did say that the only true way to tell is to get an x-ray taken of it.  That won't happen till Dexter can lie still long enough, so not until he is about 5.   So I guess we can still debate for another 5 years.

The plastic surgeon just talked to us about reconstruction of his ear which we already have been talked to about.  We have also determined that we don't want her to do it.  We liked Dr. Griffith in Idaho better. 

Dexter did stellar with his pediatrician consult.  He is a healthy baby.  They didn't weigh him or anything, they mainly wanted to check his heart, spine, eyes, ears, and talked to us about his kidney.  Sometimes with hemifacial stuff all of the afore mentioned parts can be affected as well.  Luckily nothing is.  The reflux in his kidney just happens to be coincidental. 

Finally the genetics councelor said, they don't really know what causes it, either a blood vessel thing, or an accident in the uterus that I would have had no idea about, but that we have a 3% chance of having another kid with this.  Not that it matters anyway. 

Well, that is what I remember.  We will get a report with what they all said and plans of action in about a month and if I completely misunderstood something I'll clarify.

Halloween

Halloween was fun this year with Dexter.  On Friday, we went to our wards trunk-or-treat where Ashton was a bad apple, I was a work of art, and Dexter was a giraffe.  Saturday we went geocaching, carved pumpkins, and waited to treat trick-or-treaters.  We waited, and waited, and waited.  Then we waited some more.  No one came.  Not one ghost, goblin, or ghoul found our door.  We were very sad.  We just have bad luck when it comes to Halloween.  I think in our whole married life we have had a total of 4 trick-or-treaters.  Sad.  From now on, we will just stick to trunk-or-treating until we become subdivision dwellers.

Dexter even learned a new sound just in time for Halloween.  He can now say "oooooooooo".  It is stinkin' cute!  He has even started to crinkle his nose and breathe hard through it when he is upset.  It is so funny and hard not to laugh when he does it.  I just love this boy!

Welcome to the Family

We just wanted to congratulate London and Alissa on their new addition... Orion London Jenks.  He was born today at 11:59am, weighed 5 lbs 13 oz, and is 19 1/2 inches long.  Everybody is doing great!  Christmas can't come soon enough.  We can't wait to meet him!

What a sweet heart!

I Have a Hero...

...I call him Dad

Fall Break

Creighton University gives their students not only Spring Break, but also Fall Break.  Dexter and I were so excited!  We got to have Dad for a whole week of fun!  On Monday, we went to Vala's Pumpkin Patch with Kevin, Karen, and their 2 boys Ethan and Alex.  This is no ordinary pumpkin patch either.  It is more like a harvest carnival.  It is 152 acres of harvest fun complete with food, a lot of games, pig races, pumpkin canon, corn maze, hayrack ride, train ride, camels and goats, pumpkin eating dragon, and tons of other fun things!  Next year will be a lot of fun to take Dexter since he'll be older and able to enjoy it more.

Uh Oh, Dexter might need help bailing out his parents

Working our way through the corn maze

This was on our way.  Notice the traffic light. Odd.

On Tuesday, we went for a drive.  We went up the bluffs and took the Loess Hills Scienic Byway.  It was really pretty with all of the trees turning.  We of course did some geocaching along the way and came across a cute church.  It was the countrysideWaubonsie Church.

 

We also stopped in Sydney at Penn Drug.  It is a Soda fountain/Pharmacy that has been run by the same family since the Civil War.  Then we went to the Waubonsie State Park and up to an overlook.  After that, we stopped ant Mincer Orchard roadside stand and bought a cute little pumpkin and some apple cider and cherry cider, YUM!  Dexter enjoyed it more this time too.  We had fun.

                                                        

Wednesday and Thursday were study days.  Then on Friday, we fed the missionaries.  It was a lot of fun.  I made them waffles, eggs, and bacon.  When the elders called to confirm the appointment, I asked what they wanted and one said breakfast and the other didn't care, so I surprised them and actually made breakfast.  It was nice to have them here, and Ashton enjoyed comparing notes with them about the mission.    

Our Fun Saturday

Yesterday, we decided to go geocaching, enjoy our new surroundings and good weather. Unfortunately, not all of us were very excited about it.

This was Dexter after a couple hours of getting in and out of his car seat. He was mad at us. In the car he wouldn't even look at Ali, just at his puppy.

First, we went to Lake Manawa. It was created after a flood here. We found two of four geocaches and saw some of the pretty lake.




The lake was very pretty. We also went East a little way on Pioneer road, through the hills, it was gorgeous! We saw an old church, and Hyde Park, named after Orson Hyde. We met some geocachers, yesterday was the 3rd annual Geocache the Bluffs. We didn't know that, we just stumbled onto their route. The caches were along part of the Wabash Trace Trail which looks like it crosses most of the state. Here is a picture of the trail.

Finally, there were a lot of mushrooms at one of the cashes, so, I took this picture.