Dean's first Christmas was one we will never forget!

Let me start this long story by saying that for the first time in 11 months Dean got sick... really sick. The night before Christmas Eve (Sunday) he was running fever so I gave him some medicine before bed. About 2 am he woke up just kinda talking to himself. I went and checked on him and he was just a little out of his mind! He was jabbering and when I picked him up I realized he was shaking with the chills. So my mind started racing to try to figure out what in the world I was supposed to do. Do I try to keep him warm or do I need to cool him down since he is running fever? And who could I call to ask these questions at 2 am?! So I decided to wrap him up in a blanket and give him another dose of medicine. This decision apparently was not the best as the medicine immediately made him barf. He never cried or seemed to care at all, he just threw up all over both of us and then went back to his chattering and shaking. I hollered for John who was asleep in the next room so he could help me by changing Dean while I cleaned myself up. Poor John never heard me... so I was on my own! Luckily I had not put away the laundry that I had folded and it was all on the sofa and easily accessed so the clean up went pretty fast. It was so sad to just hold Dean afterwards and have him shaking and feel so powerless to help him. The chills finally stopped and soon he was wide awake and ready to play with his toys!

I ended up taking him to bed with me so I could keep a closer eye on him. So I put him in between John and I but since Dean was in "play" mode, he kept rolling over and kicking John. Our busy John had just finished church Saturday night and Sunday morning and then had to leave the following morning (Monday) to practice for the three Christmas Eve services that we were having that day. Needless to say he was exhausted (explaining why he never heard me calling him) and this night was the absolute worst night for him to be awaken at 2 am. It didn't take many kicks for John to get up and head upstairs to the guest room to finish out the night!

Christmas Eve started with John oversleeping (imagine that after the night we had!) and running out the door to band practice. Dean was happy but still running fever and not eating well. I called the Dr. and he said to bring him by so he could look at his ears. In the mean time, the family arrived! In a matter of minutes Dean was surrounded by two grandparents, three aunts (two of them pregnant), three uncles, and three very sweet and active cousins! And everyone wanted to pamper Dean so he was loving it! Later that day we found out Dean had not one, but TWO ear infections. Saying that this little boy was miserable is an understatement. He didn't want to lay down to sleep (even with an elevated mattress to keep the pressure off his ears), his eyes were swollen and oozing stuff that I didn't know could even come out of an eye and he wasn't interested in food either. Amazingly Dean was still smiling and entertaining everyone. Although it was very sad that my niece also had an ear infection, the good news is that the pharmacy did not have a small bottle of antibiotic for her and had given her a large bottle. This was good news because our pharmacy was closed for the holiday by the time we got to it and the doctor said we could give Dean some of my nieces medicine. I really don't know what we would have done if we didn't have that medicine. God was really watching over our little guy. John got home late that evening and we had a fun time opening our family gifts and eating some great snacks.

It is funny how many times reality is nothing like our expectations. For example, in my mind, I pictured us waking up Christmas morning and getting Dean up and enjoying him opening his stocking and other gifts. It didn't quite turn out the way I expected it! Christmas Eve, instead of staying up late with my family and getting all the gifts ready for the big moment in the morning, I was sitting in my bed fully dressed with my little boy sleeping in my arms! He was just too uncomfortable to lay down. I think he got some rest, thankfully... which is more than I can say for myself! Early that morning I shifted him into our bed, which promptly woke him up, and went to put on my pajamas (because Christmas morning isn't the same unless you are in your pajamas!). Dean had enough energy to open some more presents and it turned out to be a really fun time even though we were sleep deprived.

We hope your holiday was safe and fun! Merry Christmas from the Rolfs!

Papa-D & Mia bought all the grandkids matching PJs! This was my best attempt at a good picture of all four of them. Of course kids don't sit still on Christmas morning!

This was Dean's "I'm Sick" face. He made this face after coughing or when he needed his nose wiped!


The Duncan family & Mia


The Verlander family (minus Jacob who was too excited to sit still for pictures!)

I'm sorry I don't have pictures of The Stokes, Papa-D or even my family! My camera batteries died and there was no stopping the presents to replace them!

We were so excited to be able to go to College Station today and celebrate Ben's graduation! It was a l-o-n-g ceremony, but Dean was happy through the whole event and enjoyed smiling at everyone. Dean was decked out in his TAMU windsuit from Granny & PawPaw. John said he looked like a coach and all he needed was a whistle and clipboard, but it was really cute! Every time the crowd would applaud, Dean would dance and squeal. I guess he thought it was all for him! We are so proud of Ben and glad that he has found a job already! We hope he will be close to us so we can visit often!

Dean has started making this face ALL THE TIME. We won't even be paying attention to him and we will glance up and he is looking at us like this! It makes us laugh every time!

This year our tree is scaled WAY down and placed up high...you can see why! We talked about not doing a tree at all, but we just couldn't stand it so we ended up with this tiny version! It is perfect!

Let the games begin! This morning when I opened Dean's bedroom door and peeked inside, I was shocked to see a little person SITTING in the crib. I couldn't believe that he had maneuvered himself into a sitting position! After his morning nap, John went to get him and found the little guy STANDING in the crib. He was happy as he could be just hanging on to the rail and enjoying the view!

Can I just say how proud I am of John Rolf?! With the help of a great team of people, John's dream of a new kind of Christmas CD is now a reality. He took a step of faith and he acted on what God was leading him to do and it is amazing! I love that guy!

I find myself listening to this music and just wrapped in emotion for what Christmas really means. I hate that for the rest of the year, this thought is usually far from my mind. I hope you get a chance this holiday season to stop and breathe and think about how incredibly blessed we are to be able to freely celebrate the True Gift.

If you need a good laugh today, watch this!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1166515021

Christmas Time is coming! Time to make the wish list so Dean got out all the sale flyers and started searching for the perfect gift! It was kinda messy but oh so worth it!

Here is Dean-O, pigging out at his first Thanksgiving! He had a great time at Granny & PawPaw's in Lufkin. He loved watching the dogs and they loved it when he ate because they got some good food from just sitting under his chair!

Dean enjoyed his first taste of waffles on my birthday when John brought me breakfast in bed! Yum! He ate them so fast I could barely keep up! He is definitely a carb & sugar lover like me! And John is an awesome waffle maker!

That night, Dean had a blast with Aunt Melissa while we went out to dinner with our friends Matt, Jennifer & Luke! What a great birthday!

Daddy got a haircut and now the boys look more alike than ever! Still no hair for Dean, except a few really blonde strands that can barely be seen by the naked eye!

Dean is finally crawling! It is pretty ugly...John calls it a "slither" and I would describe it more as an army crawl with a limp! Anyway, it actually works somehow and he is enjoying getting around (slowly!). The funny thing is that it must be somewhat painful because he cries as he goes but I think he is just whining to try to get to what he wants. It is definitely painful to watch though!

We have realized that even with nephews and niece coming to visit often, our house really isn't childproof at all. Dean has already pulled over a small table on top of himself... he wasn't injured and didn't even cry, just startled him a bit!

Deaners got his two top front teeth this past week! Within hours he had discoverd how to grind them with his bottom teeth. UGHH! It really grates on my nerves when he does it but I have no idea how to get him to stop! Hopefully he will outgrow that soon. I know he is going to look so different once they start showing really well!

John's birthday was also our Fall Festival at church. Dean got all dressed up like Toby Slough. He has the perfect hair-do for it! He had a cotton ball goatee and a head mic (and he promptly ripped both off in record time!). Everyone loved his costume though, including Toby who laughed and laughed.

How do you think he looks? (ok, in this next picture, I must admit the answer to this question is, "miserable", but I was referring to the comparison shot!).

Yep, John turned the big 3-0 today! He pretty much had to work all day so that was kind of a bummer, but I took a cake to the church so his band could celebrate with him. His parents also came to town and we had a fun time eating out and shopping with them!

The person who really raked it in this weekend was Dean, who got a whole new winter wardrobe from Granny and PawPaw! We don't have any pics of the birthday boy from that day (pitiful, I know), but here are some of Dean going on a walk with his PawPaw.

Due to a minor gas leak, we are temporarily without heat so these kids were COLD and wanted to snuggle when they woke up!

But we couldn't keep them still for long and so it was off to the Pumpkin Express! Jacob had been waiting for this train ride all year! Don't you just love the look on his face?!

This dancing boy gets his moves from his dad. You may recall the video below from an earlier post!

Ice Dancing

Last night a shadowy black figure crept up behind Dean. Did Dean cry in fear? Jump up and run away? Grab the nearest toy and teach that character a lesson? NO! He laughed at him. Yes, apparently our little guy isn't very combative! Kill them with kindness, right!

He had the best time laughing at Spiderman (aka Carson Hackney). Carson spent the night with us last night and then woke up and gave Dean another Spidey show (complete with net spraying moves!). Dean loved it! They were so funny just making each other laugh.

Here are a few pics of the show!

Dean had his first pumpkin patch experience today. He also had his first train ride! He started to panic when the engine started (luckily we were in the back where it wasn't too loud!). By the end of the ride, he was squealing and smiling! Our photographer friend, Julie, went with us and took lots of CUTE pictures. You can see some of them on her blog http://www.birdseyephotography.blogspot.com/. She is also going to use one of the family pics in her ad for the Denton Connection magazine.

Dean started his 9 month birthday off with a bang...actually a shot (or two) at the doctors office. He just took it like a man when they pricked his finger and didn't even cry! John went with us to the doctor this time and we had a good laugh watching Dean try to figure out the bandaid on his finger. First of all, his finger is so tiny that the bandaid wrapped around about 5 times! He kept shaking his hand and then opening and closing his fingers to try to get it off. It was like watching a cat with tape on its paw! After a while, he tried putting it in his mouth to see if that would help. He finally grabbed it with his other hand and with one good tug, he was free!

The dr said we could start feeding him table food and to start giving him bigger pieces instead of just pureed stuff. So for lunch, he sat in his big high chair with the tray for the first time. He chomped on some whole green beans, munched some banana and to top it all off, choked on a peach. Yes, choked. I was trying to let him bite off some and make use of his new teeth and he took this HUGE bite and swallowed immediately! I yanked him out of his seat...or at least tried to but because he was strapped in with a tray over his lap, it wasn't an easy process. So I am yanking on him and the poor child is gagging it up and then swallowing again (yank yank) and then gagging (yank yank, smack smack) and then swallowing (smack smack). Somehow this process worked and about the time I finally got him out of the seat, he had fully recovered. His eyes were red and watery and he was a bit pale...not sure if that was from the peach or from me beating the tar out of his back and almost chopping off his legs trying to get him out of the highchair! Anyway, he survived his first table food experience...I hope dinner is a little less exciting!

We finally got some weather that feels like Fall! Poor Dean had nothing warm to wear, so we were excited when a friend passed on some little boy clothes in his size to us. This jacket was part of the loot and so Dean was sporting it today...isn't he cute?!

This is the best part of my day...just loving on my little guy and getting big smiles in return!

Q: What happens when you grab someone's nose?
A: It makes you giggle!

Who is who?!

Very rarely does Dean get upset, but we he does, we use every method possible to get him quiet!

Just kidding! He loves to put things in his mouth and then go about his business like everything is perfectly normal. I guess in baby world anything goes.

Nothing like your first cookie...




and a frosty drink to wash it down!

Yep, that second bottom tooth showed up today! Dean has been slightly fussy today and I thought it was from the busy weekend in Lufkin and the trip home yesterday. Then I saw that second tooth poking through! What a trooper for getting both at once!

This was my best attempt at a picture...I swear there ARE teeth in there!

Well, it is finally here...Dean's first tooth!
He has been working on it for awhile and today it finally poked through. We can barely even see it, but we can feel it for sure! He hasn't been unusually fussy or anything...just loves chewing on things and drooling. At this moment he is chewing on a chicken leg and grinning at me. I figured since he has a tooth now that eating chicken is the next step...just kidding...it is only a toy.

Can someone help me with this thing?

Each morning I wash my hands and poke a finger in Dean's mouth to check and see if he has teeth. His two bottom front teeth are showing, but haven't broken through the gums yet. We are on alert so we can properly document the occasion! He has been somewhat fussy the past few days and I'm not sure if it is due to the teeth or missing his nap to go to church or something.

We are also watching him daily to see if he is going to crawl anytime soon. He is so cute trying to reach out and get to toys. If he is on his blanket, he knows how to cheat and just grab up the blanket and yank it until the toy comes to him! But he is making some effort and movements that might lead to crawling soon.

Another grown up thing he is doing is making super cute sounds. He loves to open and close his mouth repeatedly and it sounds something like "aye-yah-yah-yah" or "bye-bah-bah-bah". Sometimes he stops making any sound but keeps his mouth working up and down. It is pretty funny! I'm sure he will end up saying Da-da first instead of Ma-ma...the little stinker!