Sled Ride

It warmed up to about 13F by 11:00am this morning so we all bundled up and took Tanner and the dogs for a walk. It was Tanner's first time in a sled. He loved it. He kept yelling at the dogs as they ran past, he leaned over the side to let his little hand drag, and smiled and laughed when he went over bumps!!! :)

He couldn't move!

He almost tipped over once but steadied himself.

I love my little family

1st Haircut

Tanner had a mullet, there I said it, I let my baby go around for months with a little baby mullet, it wasn't cute, but I loved to run my fingers through the long hair in the back of his head so I let it grow and grow. I finally decided that it was time to let my baby look like a little boy. He cried a tiny bit with the barber started her razor and he never really calmed down, but she got the job done. He is adorable with his new do! ;)

Christmas 2010

We had a very nice Christmas here in North Pole, Alaska. Brandon's sister, her boyfriend and her 3 kids were here as well as Brandon's mom and step-dad. Brandon's mom made the pies for dinner and Brandon made the Prime Rib. I made sour cream and chive mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, roasted asparagus and brussel sprouts, and salad. It was a lovely meal!

Brandon and I did stocking stuffers instead of wrapped gifts for one another which is always fun. Tanner really enjoyed his stocking and opening his gifts. He didn't care so much about the gift it's self, but loved the wrapping paper! Typical baby! ;)

Santa

We took Tanner to see Santa today. It was his first time and he did relatively OK. When Brandon first put him on Santa's lap Tanner started crying as Brandon walked away. Then when Tanner realized that we weren't leaving him he calmed down and just sat there. He didn't look at Santa, just kept his eyes on Brandon and I, but at least he didn't scream the whole time.

Santa had been to MT at some point in his life because he saw Brandon's hat (A GRIZ HAT) and asked if we were from Missoula then asked if Brandon had been a Griz and then went on about how he loved Missoula and the Bitterroot and Kalispell. Of course he loved that area, what's not to love! :)

Poor baby crying

Tanner and Santa getting ready to look at the camera

Santa puts his smile on as Tanner gives me a stare! :)

My Son is One!

I scheduled Tanner's 1 year Well Baby Checkup on his birthday... SHOTS AND ALL... I don't think I'll be getting the mother of the year award this year. :( He weighed in at 21.8 pounds (25th percentile) is 29 3/4 inches long (50th percentile. He is a happy healthy baby. He had to get 5 shots today. He, of course cried, but was done with his crying before we left the building. He is definitely a super trooper!

For his birthday we invited 6 families over for a little party. There were a total of 12 adults and 14 kids! Wow, what a party! Lots of playing, eating, and more playing! Tanner wasn't too interested in eating the cake, but he sure enjoyed playing in it. After everyone left Tanner took a nice bath and then slept for 2 hours! He had such a fun day with all of his friends!!! :)

Back in AK

So we've been back in AK for almost two weeks now. I haven't taken one picture with my Nikon... :( It's been a little hard getting used to not having my family around and dealing with not being able to go outside due to the extreme cold. Tanner went from almost walking, in MT, to mostly crawling here in AK, unless we are at friends' houses. He has had a hard time staying up until 7pm AK time, he want's to go to bed at 6pm, which is 8pm in MT.
We have managed to keep relatively busy since our return. Brandon is on swing shift so he is home with us until 2:45pm and gets home well after Tanner and I've gone to bed. It's great having him home with us, I'm not sure how long he'll be on swings, they usually do 6 month shift rotations, but who really knows when shift change will happen again. Tanner and I have gone over to my friend Susan's for a play date as well as to my friend Liz's for a play date. Our nephew, Lucas, had his 5th birthday party over the weekend. I was there when he was born. It's so crazy how quickly time passes.
Brandon has been sprucing up the house a bit by installing new window shades, painting the bathroom and putting new lighting in the bathroom. He's preparing for Tanner's 1st birthday party. We're also moving out a lot of big furniture pieces (treadmill, elliptical, storage bins) to the garage to make room for Tanner and the big playing we are anticipating him to partake in as he gets older! He is already a little wild man!
The temperatures over the last few days have been dipping down to -40's for a high! Today we had 3 hours, 48 minutes of daylight... Our water froze for a few hours until Brandon got us thawed out... :(
That's what we've been up to since our return to Alaska.