Tell Me How...

My friend Jade has this great series she does on her blog she calls "Tell Me How...". She posts all sorts of questions and her friends give such awesome answers. I always read all the comments, since her friends always have such good suggestions. Recently, she's done "Tell me how... to deal with dust" and "Tell me how... to unpack." I've always thought that a blog is the perfect platform for something like that... what better place to get advice than from all your friends?

So I'm going to start my own "tell me how..." series. My first question: Tell me how... to date my husband (when we have no money and a 9-month old).

I'm pretty sure that many of you are in a similar situation. We're trying to grow Cory's practice, so disposable income is pretty sparse. Add to that the fact that Spencer goes to bed between 7:30-8:00... so we don't "go out" much. We don't have a lot of money for movies, dinner out, or mini-golf (things we used to do). Plus with Spencer in bed, it's not like we can go anywhere. Now yes, we have family nearby who are always willing to babysit... and we do take advantage of that. But I'm talking about stuff Cory & I can do at the house, for free/cheap (besides watch a movie). What do the rest of you do when the kids are in bed? (aside from crawl, exhausted, into bed yourselves). What are some good dating ideas? How do you keep your relationship strong? (cheesy, I know, but still a valid question).

And Jade, if you're reading this (and I know you're a little busy), feel free to post on your blog.

Let the commenting begin... :)

9 months

Spencer is 9 months (wow!) old. He mastered crawling a while ago, making us both very happy. He's quite fast (he's got a "turbo" speed that cracks Cory & I up). He's pulling up on things and will take a few baby steps. He's got stranger anxiety and loves to be held by mom or dad. He's very interested in food... eating it, watching it be prepared, etc. When I make dinner, he's in the kitchen, constantly at my feet. He watches the stove, the microwave, and loves to pull stuff out of the cupboards and look into the fridge. In short, he's happy and healthy and active.

He loves to play under the table.

In the fridge.

Loves Dad (and loves Dad to hold him!)

Such a cutie.

Get out the camera, and he's such a ham.

Mmm, food.

A typical dinner preparation at our house.

He loves the bath (thanks mom for the tub!)

We finally unpacked our last 2 boxes. They were all of our framed pictures, artwork, wall hangings, etc. Spencer was in paper heaven.

Cute, cute, cute.

He such a boy.

Pulling off his socks remains his favorite game.

Playing "catch" with Dad.