I'm officially a van mom!!!

Mark and I were heading to Farmington for Christmas, so we packed up our things and he took them ALL out to the car.  We had a little bit extra because we had to pack Christmas presents, but I tried to pack lighter because of that.  After packing the car with Boyd, the dogs, ourselves, and all of our stuff, we realized that maybe we needed another car!

We had talked about getting a van at some point, so we thought "why not now?"  We needed the extra room and it would be silly to get something else and then turn around and get a van later.  I wasn't sure that at 28 I was ready for my van, but I decided that as a mom it was the best option.

I included some pictures of the new rig...mostly for my dad to see :) 

It is a white 2010 Chrysler Town and Country

We named her Tess.

The first one is kind of too bright to see, but it's at least a pretty van!

My parents have a Honda Odyssey and I like it, but I couldn't find one with low enough miles that we could afford.  There were certain things on my parents' van that I definitely wanted.  I liked how the back windows roll down and how there are built-in shades for the windows.  The new Town and Countrys are definitely being modeled after the Hondas, so you can see how the windows roll down.

I also wanted some options on the van.  I mean, if I'm going to have a van, I might as well have a cool one, right??  I definitely needed leather for when my dogs ride with me, and I will soon need it when Boyd starts spilling things!  This one also has a remote start, navigation system, uConnect (which is a bluetooth phone system thing so I can talk on my phone through my car,) and a few other things that I haven't quite figured out.  It's pretty cool.

Another option that I wanted was a DVD player.  I realize it will be much easier to travel with Boyd if he can watch movies!  If we didn't buy a van with it installed, that was definitely on the list to have done.  This shows one screen, but there is also a screen for the third row seat, and the screen up front is also a DVD player.  The front screen turns back to the radio when the car goes in gear, though.  Smart!

I also love the Stow and Go seats.  When the seats are not stored, I can store other things.  Right now we have one seat up in the back, and my stroller is back there in case I need it.  Very handy :)

So far Tess has been a good van.  I am taking her up to St. Louis this weekend, so we'll see how it goes :)  You can just call me the soccer mom...though I hope I'm more of the football/baseball/basketball mom...I guess that's ultimately up to Boyd!

Cereal

We realized that Boyd was not staying full on milk/formula alone, so the day before he turne 5 months we decided to start him on cereal. He wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first, but he has been great ever since! He eats everything in the bowl and polishes off his bottle, too! I think he's going to be a good eater...he doesn't look like he misses any meals!!

This is the first night with cereal...as you can see he has more on his clothes than in his mouth!

We started using his high chair and he now eats every last bit!  We also have to take his bottle away now or else he will stare at it while he eats (as you can see in this picture...)

Date Night!

So...here is the story of our date night...Mark and I can never decide where we should go out to eat.  Sometimes we leave Marshfield and say "Where do you want to eat?" and the other one says "I don't care...where do you want to eat?"  We are awful at making decisions!!  Because of this, we decided that since were playing each other in the championship game of our fantasy football league, the loser would have to plan the date for the winner.  Needless to say...I lost!!

I asked for suggestions for where we should go (thanks everyone for your suggestions!!) We ended up doing dinner at Umi (the Kissy Kissy roll is amazing) and then I planned on going to Firehouse Pottery.  It was closed by the time we were done with dinner, so we went bowling, and then to Fedora for a chocolate fondue dessert :)

Aunt KK of course volunteered to babysit :)

Getting ready to leave Boyd with KK for the night!

In the car on the way to Springfield!

Christmas!

I know this isn't a Christmas picture, but I love his 4 month pic :)  He is now 5 1/2 months, but it's too cute!!  We had a GREAT Christmas with the Messicks on Christmas Eve and the Boyds on Christmas Day.  It was such a fun holiday with our little man!!

We went to Bass Pro to get Boyd's picture taken with Santa.  He was VERY interested in his beard!  He was playing with it :)  The staff there was so good and Grandma Messick was able to take pictures on the side.  I like this one.

This is a picture of Boyd trying to look like Santa :) 

Thanks cousin Jackson for letting us borrow your outfit!

Boyd obviously doesn't understand the whole "presents" thing, but he liked playing with that shiny box!

Boyd and cousin Jackson...it's amazing what has changed in the last year!!!

The Boyd sisters...sorry mom and Tracy...we were looking for you!

I like this one of mommy and her little man :)  I hadn't put the ornaments on the tree yet...

This sweatshirt was a gift from Aunt KK so we took a picture of it and sent it to her.  He's getting so big!

Speaking of getting big...look at him sitting up!  Boyd can sit up for about 30 seconds or so and then either falls to the side or falls forward.  He is so proud of himself!

We had such a good Christmas holiday but it went waaaaay to fast!  I had a great time staying home with him, but I had to return to work this week.  Now I'm counting the days until summer when I have him all day for 3 months!!!