This is my cold weather hat

Dash's 12-month appt. was this past week. Quick update - he's 21 lbs. (10-25 %) and 30 inches (75%) tall. He had all his vaccinations, including the coveted H1N1 vaccine, which he took ok. They did a finger prick (or what appeared to be more of a finger drain) right before the shots. That was quite unpleasant for Dash, as he hated having his finger squeezed. So when it came time for shots, he was done. The nurse gave him his first sucker -- a blue one -- and that seemed to help.

Thanksgiving went well last week. We saw a lot of family, and Dash had a great time playing with his cousins. Dash's favorite past-time is wrestling with whomever is on the floor, and Noah (5-yr-old) made for a great wrestling partner! And Caitlyn made for a great stair-climbing-partner. My parents have stairs, and going up was a hit. (Dash is still learning how to go down...)

At home, we, of course, still miss Max and his companionship, but we now clearly see that Max was under-appreciated. We had no idea how much food Dash drops on the floor -- until Max was not there to pick it up. A one-year-old drops pieces of everything everywhere. I found a half-eaten cracker in his bedroom; Tyler stepped on mashed peaches; there is a new orange stain on the carpet. And let's not begin to talk about the area around Dash high-chair. I'm learning that I am not the good housekeeper I always claimed to be...in fact, it was always Max!!! HA!!

The jury is still out on whether we'll decorate for Christmas. I don't mean to be grinch-like, but I'm just not feeling up to it. My neighbor had her home looking and smelling all "holiday-like" the day after Thanksgiving (overachiever!! lol!) and it made me want to do mine. So, Tyler got all the boxes down from the attic. However, I opened them up and realized that most every ornament we own is glass. Oh well, the Christmas spirit is in our hearts, right??

Perhaps I'll just celebrate Christmas by making Christmas cookies. Tina, if you read this, I am desperately craving your Santa cookies!!

Oh and in case you are wondering where we were one year ago, this is a Christmas '08 FlashBack!