Spotlight On: Dane's Room

Now that Dane has a new room, we thought we would show it to you. And having never showed you his room at the old house, we thought we'd show you that too!

Old Room
The stripes are turquoise on white with a lime accent stripe on either side. Jackie painted the room entirely on her own, and it took around 40 hours of labor. The lamp and letters were painted by Jackie and the crib bedding, valance and changing pad cover were Jackie's first sewing projects. Monkey accessories scattered the room, matching the bedding, and maybe causing Dane's later obsession.

New Room
These are pictures without the furniture, to show off the paint job. We did not do this, it was a perk of the house. Dane loves waving at the monkeys, and he likes to touch random animals. The fourth wall is mainly two giant windows. It's an adorable room, but a little hard to furnish with bedding, curtains, nursery letters and the like. We're still working on situating the furniture just right to maximize space and the mural visibility - of key importance!

Happy Birthday

TO US!

Oh my goodness. One year of blog-keeping under our belts. In that year, we have managed to keep you abreast of Dane's successes, battles, experiences, obsessions, and cuteness. We've shown you pictures and videos. YOU've shared comments and encouragement, helped us decide what food to first feed Dane, and started your own blogs for us to keep in touch with you!

It's funny. We started The Daily Dane because when you bring home a new baby, the phone doesn't stop ringing. "How's the baby? How's the baby?". We would literally spend 20 minutes telling a story of how Dane burped or smiled and how it was just the cutest thing blah blah blah, only to answer call waiting and tell it all again. THEN promise to send pictures to the listener. "The Daily Dane" helped free up our day. Not to mention gave the proud parents venue to brag on their handsome guy.

We love our blog and we appreciate you reading it. Thanks for keeping up with us from down the street or states away.

Picture of the Week

If you ascribe to the saying "There are only good days, and great days", than you'd consider this a good week. At some point, each of us three have felt grumpy, icky and blah. Things have broken - car battery, computer, hardwood floors. Dane's been destructive and violent (poor dogs!), menacing (he's managed to steal and lose my kitchen colander), and testy ("yeah, TRY telling me no").

So I chose this picture for two reasons. One, note the spit bubbles. Dane has seemingly learned to do this out of nowhere. At my visible displeasure he thrives and does it more, better. He walks around blowing spit bubbles all day long, soaking his shirt sometimes so much I have to change him. It's messy and germy. Were there any rest from this new compulsion, it wouldn't be so bad. This is all the time in our house right now. We thank you for your sympathy.

Reason two for choosing this photo: it makes me smile. Like I've said, this hasn't been a terrific week and there was much too little laughter. But when Dane was playing with his car this week - his other fascination - we couldn't not play with him. Laundry wrinkled, dinner burned, calls went unanswered. He lays down to play eye level, he rolls it through his cardboard tube, and makes the cutest vroom-vroom noises. So, should you need it, I hope this picture completely melts away a crummy week and recharges you for Monday anew.

Under Construction

Not really. The computer is being fixed right now and the SD card reader isn't working, so I can't upload pictures. As you might have discovered, pictures almost always make the entry. Up and running again soon.

A Little Yucky, Not So Bad

Jackie still felt yucky today, and I think that had some part in her thinking Dane felt yucky too. He IS teething now. There are 4 buds popping through, and we know they're killing him because he's a little whiny and always chewing on his hands now. It's so sad! His nose was slightly runny and he sneezed pretty frequently. His nap SUCKED enough though I broke out the Tylenol (a rarity in our home). But he had a fun day and was overall in good spirits.

Dane helped Mommy organize at Harris Teeter's final day of Triple Coupons, and was happy to wave to every passerby. But we knew it was time to go when Dane started making his own announcements to the store. We headed straight home, and stayed put! Dane has so many favorite toys now (and many are actually toys!) that it's pretty easy to keep him playing.

And it's every day we fall deeper and deeper in love with this little guy. On his worst day, he is the cutest, coolest little person I've ever known! This kid has a hold of our hearts, and I hope, I hope he never lets go.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Another work weekend. We went to the old house to get some stuff done there so we can work towards getting it on the market as we're fairly certain we do not need two houses. That took up most of our day. We came home and all took naps. Saturday night Daniel went out while Jackie kept Dane and caught up on sleep.
Sunday, Jackie was sick from dust allergies that flared up from the time spent at the abandoned house. Danny took care of some honeydo projects, while singlehandedly taking care of Jackie and keeping an eye on Dane.
And DANE spent his weekend as he spends most of his time: playing, eating, throwing fits.

Picture of the Week

Another video.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that's true, then this 1 minute video will tell you a lot about what's going on in our house lately. Dane's learning to do so many things all by himself! Only sometimes... that's not so great for us. Watch and see what Dane learned this week. Boy, are we in for it!

The Toy Room

There is a room in the new place dedicated solely to housing Dane's toys. It's a huge relief to us, because at our other house Dane's toys took over every room! They were in the kitchen, the living room, our room, even the bathrooms! Now, we threw most of Dane's toys into the one room, along with a futon couch for a place to sit while playing in there with Dane. There are of course, some toys in Dane's bedroom upstairs, and a few in the corner of our bedroom for when Dane is in there with us (although he would much rather play with hangers, shoes, nightstand loot, and sink cabinet treasure).

This picture was taken before the futon and toy box. Everything was moved to one side so that I could vacuum. It's just to show you the sheer amount of Dane's toys, hence the necessity of the toy room.

Happy Birthday, Emily!

Little Emily is not so little anymore. Our oldest niece is today 13 years old. An actual teenager! We love her and we're proud of her and the young woman she is. Happy birthday from TDD, Emily. Thanks for being a great niece and cousin.
And thanks for all the free babysitting you're going to give us now that you're a teen. =)

Zoo Pictures!

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was another 3 day one in our house. On Friday, we took Dane to the zoo for the first time. I know you saw a bit about that in the last post, so we won't bore you with more camera complaints. We went to the Riverbanks Zoo, and we highly recommend this zoo over others in the area. There were many animals and no displays were closed. The place is clean and big. We bought an Icee cup for $8 and got free refills for the day (a deal in this age!). Parking was free, admission was $9.75 for each adult and Dane was free. There were ramps all over for strollers or wheel-chairs. The diaper bag and Dane's sippy were allowed in. The walks were paved nicely and the foliage was beautiful. The little statues set up in front of each animal section were lots of fun for Dane to play with. He had a such a great time seeing all the animals. He would wave really big, maybe trying to get them to wave back. He wasn't afraid of any of them, despite the fact that many of them were hundreds of times his size and could eat him.

Yes, the camera went out, but all that Dan or Jackie made out of that was that we would just have to come back. The camera was fixed before we left the zoo. We were finishing up as the place was starting to close and the camera begins taking pictures again. Mommy's Law.

Friday night we met with some family to celebrate the birthday of Dane's Uncle Jeff. We had dinner and cake and fun. Happy birthday, Jeff!

Saturday, Dane went to spend some time with GrannyK and Gramps, so that Danny and Jackie could spend some Daneless time together. About a month ago we dropped Dane off for his first overnighter and Jackie thought "I don't know if I'm ready for this!". This time we dropped Dane off for his second overnighter and Jackie thought "Oh my gosh, I am so overdue for this!". We went to dinner and came home to an empty house and a movie rental. We didn't sleep in out of habit of having to be up, but maybe when Dane's in high school...

Lots of outside playing, grilling, errands. Aside from the highlights, it was a typical pleasant weekend.

Picture of the Week

So, we decided to take Dane to the zoo. He had never been and the weather was gorgeous and he has always been so interested in animals. We're strolling through looking at all of the animals. Dane's seeing the flamingos, lions, tigers, bears, elephants, various birds and fish, and we're getting pictures of them all. He's having a great time and our excitement mounts as we near.... THE MONKEYS! Dane plays with the monkey statue, totally recognizing that it is in fact a monkey. THIS is the moment we have come to the zoo for. So, we present to you... Dane Thomas' very first encounter with a real monkey:Do not adjust your computer. There is nothing wrong with your eyes. No uploading error. Just as we went to take the picture of Dane and the monkey, the camera broke and this is how every shot turned out. What might have been the best photo opp so far, and we miss it! Niiiice...

Zoo pictures and more about monkeys to come.

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a lovely long weekend. We got some things around the house taken care of and squeezed some play time in as well. Our grill broke so we got a new one this weekend, and of course we had to cook out to break it in. So on Labor Day Monday we had over Gramps and Granny K, Aunt Linda and Uncle Joe, and Great Grandma, and feasted on the meat of many species with all the works. Dane ate a ton of watermelon, chips, ice cream and cake, but he's on a "real food" fast right now (driving us CRAZY!). He showed off very little of all the cool things he's been up to lately, but he was very talkative and mobile.
The rest of our weekend we made outings to the mall and stores and of course, played at the pool. We're starting to really get settled in the new house and really enjoying it.

Picture of the Week

As a young(er) mom, I would drop everything to rescue my son from any little discomfort, fear, or inconvenience, no matter the cost. This meant missing several once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunities. NOW, as a slightly more experienced mother, I know that if Dane is safe and a situation presents itself worthy, than a picture is a must. While watching soap operas and eating bon-bons on the couch the other day, I hear from the other room "MAAAMAAAA....!", which is no good because Dane Thomas is currently on a daddy kick where Mama is only uttered when he is hungry or upset. And he just ate.
MAMAMAMA continues until I make it to the toy room, where I find Dane in his shenanigans. He managed to climb himself into the toy box, and of course, could not get out. I do my best to explain to him (while quickening my pace) that Mommy will get him out, that he's okay, as I race to the camera. A couple snaps later and Dane is distracted, completely unfazed, and playing in his toy box. Literally.

More Pool Pics

We're loving lounging at the neighborhood pool. Dane plays in his floatie and he does so great in the water. He splashes and kicks his feet and throws his toys. I suspect his favorite thing to do there might be run around and climb on the lounge chairs. The pool today was a little chilly because of the cooler weather the past couple of days, but we're not complaining! Here are some pictures from our recent trips: