Need to burn off some of those Holiday pounds?

Do we have some answers for you!

Take out all your aggression on some foam furniture. It's cheap, easy, and won't scratch your walls!



By the way- those are "happy" screams from Toby. He really was having a good time!

OR...would you rather beat those bulges running a few laps with "the pusher?" All it takes is a few minutes a day, running back and forth until you are utterly exhausted and you'll be shedding those pounds in no time!

It's the simple things...

...that make Christmas special. I am so glad Toby is at the age where he could really care less about what under the tree. I also love that he cheers for every gift opened - even if its as boring as Tupperware or a Crock pot (those were some of my gifts I let him open). I was just as happy to see them as he was. Well, maybe a little more. I really do love my new stack-able Rubbermaid containers!

But all it took to make Toby's Christmas was a few toy cars, an $8 snow shovel, and some snazzy, rotating kitchen magnets from Grandma Sibert. Here's a couple clips of him with his new toys:




Don't you love the car noises he makes? So adorable.




So he got a few more things like clothes, books, and a singing vacuum (that sometimes drives me up the wall...leave it to the grandparents to give toys like that), but mostly the toys I mentioned above were his favorites.

My top 3 favorite gifts: slippers, Tupperware, AND.....a gift certificate to a spa! YEESSSSS! Can't WAIT to try that one out.

Nicks favorite gift: a brand new laptop that includes a camera so we can skype with my bro Tim and his family. OK so I worded that weird - he didn't get the laptop for the camera, that's just an added perk for me. Blah. I'm so done with writing for the night.

I will say that Christmas was so much fun in our new house with our own little family. I even got the Christmas butterflies the night before. Yes, still a kid at heart I suppose. :)

The best christmas present ever

So Toby decided to give me his Christmas present early this year. What could a 21-month-old actually give to his mom you say? Well, to be honest Toby has no clue that what he gave me has me a little cheerier and more pleasant to be around. OK I'll stop beating around the bush.....Toby gave me the priceless and highly underrated gift of.....SLEEP!

Since he started sleeping through the night (which was around 11 months of age) Toby would wake up at 5:30 every morning without fail - even though he was definitely NOT done sleeping and would be super cranky until his nap. I read dozens of articles online on how to get him to sleep longer and gleaned every mom I knew for their advice. It was all in vain though because NOTHING would coax him back to sleep. Most people would just tell me to go to bed earlier so that I wouldn't be so tired waking up that early. True, that was the most logical fix for the situation. But its really hard going to be at 9:30 every night when a) your husband doesn't get home until 10:00 and b) you are a night owl. I absolutely love staying up late reading, writing, watching the news. Not to mention being able to tell Nick about all the happenings of my day (those are usually the days I haven't seen him for 14 hours and I've been cooped up in the house without any adult conversation).

Well, all it took was one simple suggestion from my brother Tim,and the problem was fixed. I was complaining about Toby's sleep issues because of the wretched daylight savings (he was waking up at 4:30) and Tim suggested that either me or Nick lay down next to the crib to see if he would go back to sleep. At first I was like, "Oh no, Toby will never go for that. If anything that will make him start waking up all through the night again." But I was desperate and honestly, what did I have to lose? The next morning we tried it. I sent Nick in there and within minutes Toby went back to sleep until 7:00. This went on for about a week until Toby finally woke up at 7:30 all on his own without Nicks assistance. And to this day he is still sleeping wonderfully and I am getting an extra two hours of sleep! Woo-hoo!!!!

Another added bonus is that Toby's now sleeping better when we travel to places. We spent this past weekend with Nicks parents and sister up in Hyrum, Utah. Although I loved for Toby to spend time with his grandparents and cousins, I absolutely dreaded the nights because he would wake up 5 - 6 times a night and sometimes not go back to sleep for hours. He was that way even as a little baby. For some reason he had to be in his own bed and in his own room. He never liked sleeping next to us or in some pack n' play. But, all anxiety was put to rest because he slept all night both nights we were at Nick's parents. I was absolutely elated - and shocked! This was the one trip Nick and I actually enjoyed ourselves and weren't snapping at each other because of how tired we were.

Ahh...bless you Toby. Sleep is definitely the gift that keeps on giving. :)

Diez Cosas

Thank you Kristina for the idea to do this post.

Alright, 10 things about me:

1 - I am very shy when I am in a group of people where I don't know anyone. I prefer to be one on one. This is why I never liked going on group dates unless I knew everyone in the group.

2 - I attended a Spanish Immersion Elementary School. Everything was taught in Spanish and I was probably considered fluent until I got into High School and hardly ever spoke it. Now, I'm embarrassingly rusty. I can understand most of what I hear, I just don't speak all that well. Which reminds me of a funny story: two of my guy friends had returned home from serving missions in South America. Every time they wanted to say something that they didn't want the rest of the group to know about, they would slip into speaking Spanish to each other. I played along, acting oblivious like everyone else in the room (but secretly loved the fact I could eavesdrop without them knowing). When their discussion turned to farting and they seemed to enjoy just a little too much that no one in the room understood what they were saying, I couldn't resist breaking into their conversation and asking: "So, which one of you farted?" Their mouths dropped, faces turned bright red, and they didn't speak Spanish the rest of the night. :)

3 - So this one might sound kind of odd. For some reason, I almost always have people come talk to me in public places and tell me intimate details about their life (people that I don't know). I have no idea why this is. It's like I have this vibe I send out when people look at me that says, "Come talk to me. I want to hear your life story." For example, a little while ago Nick and my brother Terry went out to eat together and the server kept looking at me and telling me all about her bad day. Every time she returned to fill our drinks or check on us she went further and further into detail about how hard her day had been. By the time she gave us our bill she was showing me pictures of her son and her boyfriend from her cell phone. Both Nick and Terry when we were leaving were like "what the heck was that all about?" I don't really mind it though. I find it more amusing than anything.

4 - I am probably the least assertive person in the world. A classic conflict avoider too. But then when I am by myself I imagine all these really good come-backs or ways of putting people in their place who have made me mad.

5 - I love food. No, I mean I really LOVE food. You know how when you were little and it was a really big deal to go out to eat with your parents and you'd get all excited? I still feel like that every time I go out to eat. And I haven't found a type of food that I don't enjoy....yet. My top choices are: Mexican, Thai, Sushi, and pizza from Moose's Tooth (an Alaskan pub/pizzeria).

6 - I think every person either looks like a famous person or some type of animal. I get this weird way of thinking from my family. We have a hay day in public places picking out people in crowds: "Lady over by the window - anteater. The guy with the green shirt - Sean Penn. Guy ordering his food - possum."

7 - I have only two celeb crushes: Simon Baker and Mark Wahlberg. For some reason I find both these guys really attractive.

8 - My favorite feature about myself are my greenish-blue eyes. They change colors depending on what I am wearing.

9 - I can do a cougar roar, a horse whinny, and a raptor call.

10 - Of one thing I am absolutely positive: I am unconditionally and irrevocably in love with...........my husband! Take that you crazy Twi-Moms! Have you heard about these nuts? The most recent story I heard was about a Twi-mom running out of a Hot Topic with a cardboard cut-out of Jacob - the werewolf. She barely made it to the mall entrance before being tackled by security. Unbelievable. I will admit, I like Twilight. Its interesting and the books are fun to read. I even enjoyed seeing New Moon. BUT I am proud to say that when I leave the theater, I leave the story there too. I go home, kiss my husband, and still get the butterflies from seeing HIM with a scruffy face, lounging around in his PJ's. What a bunch of crazies.

One man's junk is another man's...

...Christmas decorations! Actually, my mom's old ornaments and decor is anything but junk. She gave me some good stuff. Thanks to her our house looks so Christmas-y and festive. Take a gander...

Our REAL Christmas tree. :)

Ha! So this is a display of my fantastic needlework skills from the 7th grade! I'm sad to say it probably wouldn't look much different if I made it today.

Fire!!!!
I tried out the "night" vision on our camera and it didn't work too well.

Much better (and I planned for it to be snowing too).

This was the only place these looked good.

*So just a random tid bit of weather info: we've received about 5 - 6 inches the past couple of days and Nick is LOVING IT. Every conversation I have with him he asks: "is it snowing at home? how many inches do you think we have right now?"

Oh I love my weather man.

Toby the entertainer

A couple fun videos of the Tobester. The first one is him dancing - can he get any cuter? BTW - in case you're wondering those are my head bands around his neck. He LOVES wearing them around the house.

The video below epitomizes Toby. Well, its actually pretty mellow compared to what some of his other antics. He's been really scaring me with his bravery: jumping off our bed, jumping off the top of the couch, and using the bathtub as his own personal slip-n-slide.
Yes, he is all boy.

Making Christmas...Making Christmas

This year is our first Christmas in our new home. I have loved decorating! My mom kindly donated a bunch of of her old Christmas decorations to us so the only thing we need to buy is Christmas lights (and dang they can get spendy!) and a Christmas tree. I made the suggestion to Nick that we could possibly use my parents old artificial tree and wow, I have never been rebuked so passionately: "Deb, I will never have a fake tree! I grew up with real Christmas trees and that is what we are going to have every year!"

It's funny how in a marriage we each bring our own little traditions and tendencies.

The only mandate for me as far as Christmas goes is that somewhere amidst all the partying and get-togethers we have sparkling cider, beef stick, cheese, and crackers. Mmmmm....this is a must!

So I went scrounging around for some pics of me on my first Christmas and I found a really terrible copy...but its all I could find. I wanted to compare it to Toby's first Christmas picture. What do you think...are we blood? :)

Me (13 months)

Toby (10 months)

And a big thanks for all of the kind words on my last post. You guys really made my day. Thank you, thank you, thank you.