We love going to the Doctor!

APRIL FOOLS!

West did really well today considering that he got three shots and has a tooth coming in--no, not April Fool's this time. A actual tooth bud that is doctor certified. I guess all those rosy cheeks, poor sleeping habits and needy moments are for a reason! It perhaps does not bode well for me that he already has a tooth coming in, but nevertheless, we are proud of West's achievements! Today he weighs 15 lbs, 7 oz and is 24.5 inches long; "short and squaty" according to our wonderful nurse, but all well within the normal limits of growth curves. We also have been given the green light to start rice cereal over the next few weeks. This is huge! Because he was having issues when I was eating dairy,the doctor thought we might have to hold back on the solids, but now he is not as sensitive to dairy (although, I admit, I don't just willy nilly drink glasses of milk; i just eat normal bread and sometimes have cheese on my sandwich). He is a very healthy baby boy, who likes to grab things..like the camara...just for example.
Don't worry about the Band aids, they are just from the vaccines....

Trip to Vermillion and Moore!

Ha ha! I looked at my blogging history for March, and my record is abysmal. Sorry fans of Westin. I guess putting one house on the market and making a trip to find another house, while working, etc. has been a little overwhelming for all of us! Our trip to Vermillion went very well! West is an excellent traveller. He handled the plane rides, looking at 10 different houses, road trips with Mommy and Daddy and sleeping in a hotel room (during the first weekend of March madness) exceptionally well. He actually slept better in Vermillion than he does here at home. Go figure. Instead of scheppling our car seat through the various airports, we decided to rent a car seat through Hertz. We do not recommend this. While the car seat is supposed to be safe, Dalen and I decided it was not as safe as our car seat and,West knew the difference, and he was NOT happy about it. Next time we will just schlep ye olde car seat through the airport and forget about it!Thankfully, Dalen likes Vermillion. When you live in a place like we do, it is hard to imagine being happy anywhere else. In fact if 6 years ago someone had mentioned the fact that we would be moving to South Dakota one day, I think that both Dalen and I would have run fast and hard the other way. It is funny how things turn out. Vermillion is a super cute town. It is about twice the size of Hamilton with a nice University in the middle. The University is a mix of lovely old brick buildings and modern new buildings. My lab will be in a modern new building. I have a window in my office and 3 large windows in the lab (VERY EXCITING!), apparently, it is a coveted location in the building..Aha! Let the space wars begin! There are a handful of good restaurants, one of which is an awesome Asian restaurant, which reminded us both of Asian garden in Morgantown...fun memories! Dalen even found a winery, that mixes wild South Dakota grapes with varietals from California..and the blend is pure magic. When West gets old enough, he can go crush grapes at their harvest festival in August! Sadly, you won't see too many outside pictures..we learned a new definition of wind chill while we were there, and we were not eager to get West out in it.The house hunting went well. Originally we thought we wanted some land out in the country. When we realized how fertile the land is, the reality of the upkeep of a lot of land became a wee bit overwhelming. Also most of the homes on a lot of land were not quite what we were looking for. In the end our dream home (hopefully you will see pictures of it in a couple of weeks if all goes well..keep your fingers crossed.), is a lovely house downtown, a couple of blocks from my work. We walked inside, and it is was like we could see raising West in this house. We could see Copper playing in the back yard. I was planning Christmases and Thanksgivings in this house. It is a 1920's charming four bedroom, 3.5 bath house with a lovely kitchen, formal dining room, two fire places and a pool in the backyard.West's new tricks: a high pitched squeal (a happy squeal, not the-world-is-ending-and-i-am-so-unhappy squeal--that is more of a scream with red face and giant crocodile tears); grabbing everything-like hair, Willis, Albus, links (we love us some links), Daddy's sunglasses; rolling towards a toy (although this is not his fav); smiling and laughing at CopperBear; and sitting in his Bumbo seat. West turned four months old this week! My how time flies!!!PS-Happy Retirement, Grandpa Moore!!! We are so excited for you and proud of all of your years of service!

Top of the evening to ya

Happy St. Patty's Day! 'Tis the eve before our Vermillion, SD trip. The first time flying with our baby...I am sure that we will have the luck of the Irish and it will be smooth flying. Well, we had a busy day. I went to lab early, so that I could justify taking a half day. Our house will be listed next week! We have been crazy busy trying to pull it all together, and now we are very very close! Dalen has also been working on getting his boat ready for guide season. Talk about a juggling act! It is amazing what you can accomplish during naptime, BUT also amazing how quickly the time goes and how long your to do list is. We did take a break today and went to the Brewery for a beer..it is St. Patty's Day afterall. No, we did not drink green beer, but they did have a lovely Imperial Red, a perfect Irish brew. See ya in Vermillion.......

Is it Selection Sunday already?!

Hello everyone! What a crazy week. First off, Dalen and I owe a BIG THANK YOU to Pops and D who helped us out tremendously with the house. What started as a seriously daunting task of getting the house ready to put on the market is now quite doable. There were heroic efforts in staining the front porch and back step, and in the kitchen...basically almost everywhere! As long as Dalen and I don't lose momentum-which considering the source of our distraction, none other than the cutest little Bean in the world-then we should be on the market within a week. We (including Copper who got more pets and walks than he knew what to do with) truly enjoyed Pops and D's visit-and it was very exciting for them to get to meet West.

This was another big week for our Bean! He is starting to coordinate feet and hand movement. For example, on his bouncy chair he has some spiders hanging down, so he is using his feet to pin the spiders and then grabbing them with his hands. He is very active in his ExerSaucer. He is also starting to sleep (very reluctantly) in his crib. Why? Well, as it turns out the Bean is starting to show his Houdini-like capabilities. Friday night he was put to bed in his swing as per usual. I heard a little noise from his room, not accompanied by cries or anything. But I happened to get up and check on him and much to my dismay, my beautiful baby boy was NOT in his swing but hanging out on the ground, sucking on his fist and playing with Albus. As the Mom telling this story, this turn of events was NOT OKAY. After talking to many other parents, including my own, their take was, 'eh, it happens'. Still from my perspective, it is NOT OKAY and very scary. Thankfully, Dalen talked me off of a ledge and helped me realize that I was way more traumatized by this than West ever was. Dalen reminded me of how he would climb out of his crib at a freakishly young age and how West likely will have the same skills. Keep in mind, West was perfectly content, no bruises, no crying (well I cried after we put him to bed, but that doesn't count). One question remains, how in the heck did he do it?? It makes having a nanny cam in the room that much more appealing. Well, if you hear of this crazed woman in South Dakota that wraps her son in foam and makes him wear a helmet every time he goes outside, I am going to preemptively plead the fifth.Thanks for all of your patience with my slow blog posts. Life is a little hectic and crazy right now. We truly have our hands full. Hopefully, I will be able to take a couple of extra minutes this week to be a better blogger. Of course, with the need to get my brackets in order for the Big Dance, this is a tall order. It was exciting to watch the Mountaineers masterfully take the Big East title from Georgetown last night. If our couch was not in storage, Dalen and I probably would have dragged it on the front lawn and set it on fire..Ha Ha. If the 'Eers manage to give Butler opportunities at the end of games-we might make it far in the Tourney. Game on!

A night out

Tonight, Dalen and I were in for a special treat. As part of his birthday week, Pops and D ordered us to go out to dinner and enjoy ourselves. Now, as any new parents out there can identify with, despite the trustworthiness of the caretakers, it is just hard to leave your little Bean.

So we spent the first 30 minutes at dinner wondering how they all were, and by the second glass of wine, everyone was having a good time :). Don't worry, we have freezer stocks of liquid gold, so it is all responsible.

So, we were expecting mayhem when we got home. Only because West was breaking in some newbies. Little did we know we know that we have a little ham on our hands. Our Bean is maturing and growing and a lot less fussy. So that means that Noni should revisit and enjoy the nonfussy Bean, and that Grandpa and Grandma Moore are in for a real treat when they visit in May! And Aunt Shannon, when is the wonderful Aunt Shannon going to visit??? West is so lucky to have so many people who love him!!!

**Please note, henceforth Mr. Rabbit will be referred to as Albus, as it is clear that Mr. Rabbit Albus will be in most future pictures with West.

Westin's New Tricks of the Week

I decided to start with a picture of our BearDog, Copper. Poor thing. Not only does he play second fiddle to the Little Bean, but now he has to rest on the floor, because I just finished cleaning the couch. If that picture doesn't say pitiful, then I don't know what does. Before you feel too sorry for him, he got copious walks, 2 days and Daly Dog Care, and some grooming yesterday afternoon. So despite his exile from the couch, he is feeling pretty proud of himself for looking so handsome!

It has been a big week for Westin. He is truly doing so many new things, it is almost hard to keep up.

We now know how to use our arms to lift our head.

And we have found our toes (of course we can do this while chewing on our fist..crucial).West has also become pretty inseparable from Mr. Rabbit. Mr. Rabbit goes everywhere-except for baths. Of course, if West had his way and he could talk, Mr. Rabbit would totally be going into the bath with him.

Little West is in for a special treat this afternoon. He is going to meet some more grandparents! I have warned Pops and D that they are about to meet the cutest baby in the world, and they might not be able to stand it...we'll see how they fare :).

Happy Birthday, Dalen!

Tomorrow (March 2) is Dalen's birthday! Sometimes you can't find the right card at Hallmark...to me Dalen is gentle and kind and he makes me laugh at the moments when I really need to laugh. He keeps me grounded, while pushing me to do better. He reminds me to not be so hard on myself at just the right moments. He is my rock.
Dalen is also generous. On his birthday night, when he could be relaxing and having a celebratory beer, he will be donating his time to the "Bitterroot Buggers", which is a kids group that gets together and learns how to tie flies.To our son Westin, he is an extraordinary father. It cracks me up, as I begrudgingly leave for work, that Dalen and West are doing their morning exercises. West is a happy baby boy, and a lot of this has to do with the time and attention that Dalen gives him. I am in awe of Dalen and truly appreciate all of his hard work.
I love you, Sweets! Hope that you have an excellent Birthday!

**The picture at the top, was taken pre-West (if you can even imagine such a time), when we were moving from Morgantown, WV to Hamilton, MT. It was taken in the Bad Lands of South Dakota..who knew that one day we would be making that state our home! Crazy pants!