Dean-o

That's what Alex has started calling his boy. I love it. I love that we have a kid. I love that Alex is a dad. I love that he has a nickname for his kiddo.

Here are the most recent Dean-o pictures.

Starting him off right Grandpa Jim?

Sorry for the blurriness of these next few.

Meet Lakai.
We met her and her family a few weeks ago when we moved here. Her mom Jodee was so nice and welcoming. Her husband graduated from Temple's Dental school and sadly, they moved this weekend for a job in Arizona. We had Kai over one of the days while her mom packed. She was so sweet with Dean and you know he loved the attention.

Yummy.

I told her to make a silly face.

Loves.

We HAVE to have a girl! Alex thought she was the cutest thing! I loved watching him talk to her about Ariel and princesses.

We'll miss you guys!

Weekend Adventure #1: Fabric Row

Now that are boxes are unpacked, Alex and I have made the goal to get out and enjoy our new town by doing one thing every weekend. It can be as small as grabbing a "water ice" down the street or site seeing in the city.

This weekend we went to "Fabric Row," a street in the city lined with fabric stores. I have been keeping my eyes open for some cool fabric to make curtains. I want something fun with color and pattern for our front room, and something neutral and pretty for our bedroom. So when I heard about fabric row I was extremely excited! So off we went.

Heading into the city

Chauffeured by a hot man

Don't love this pic of me, but see this post...gotta get in front of the camera whether I like it or not.

Our first stop. I heard about these stores in Philadelphia Magazine. Loop is a knitting/crocheting store that spins yarn and what not. Spool has fabric for sewing projects. Not just fabric, but cute cute bright, patterned, young fabric. Like these:
So we pulled up to these cute cute sister shops and looked around. They keep a small inventory, but it is all so cute...and a little expensive. Dang. Should have known. So I logged a few cute fabrics in the back of my mind and moved on, leaving this cute place...

to Fabric Row...

A little more ghetto and old. The fabric and the stores.

It was definitely an experience, fun to get out, but I miss my Joann's. Maybe I'll save up for Spool fabric, maybe I'll go on an excursion to find a Joann's. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Don't know what this weekend's adventure will be, but I'm excited.

"Embrace the Camera"

I found the "Embrace the Camera idea here on All Things G&D.

The gist: moms are usually behind the camera which regretfully makes for few pictures of mom + kiddos.

The challenge: join your your kids in front of the camera. I know I love pictures of my mom and I, so I want to do the same for Dean and our future mini-me's.

The Truth: as All Things G&D puts it, "You may not like the way you look today, you may not be particularly enthralled with what you're wearing, or how your hair looks--but you know what? Your children don't care. And when they're all grown up, you're both going to cherish those photos together."

I will be reassuring myself of this each time I post a spontaneous mother-son picture, I'm sure.

Here we go.

Dean's newest...

Dean learned this new rolling/scrunching/leg grabbing trick in the tub and continues to do it any time he is on his back.

Dean's new toy! I don't know who loves it more... Dean or his mom! Maybe I'll finally be able to get some things done around here.

Hehe.

In the background you hear "Flipping Out" a t.v. show on Bravo starring an obsessive compulsive real estate investor who flips houses with the help of his assistant. employees, and housekeeper who all regularly disappoint him...which is pretty easy to do. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out. Especially you Jenna!

**Added later today... What Dean does with his new found rolling/scrunching trick. All by himself.

He was actually facing me when he started.

Go Dean Go!

The Fire Guy

The Office: Season 2 Episode 4
"The Fire"
Ryan: I don't want to be like "a guy" here. You know? Like, Stanley is the "crossword puzzle guy". And Angela has cats. I don't want to have a thing... here. You know, I don't want to be the "something guy".

Too bad he burned the cheese pita.

Ryan 'The Temp' Howard is the "fire guy" of the Office.

And we, the Drakes, are the "fire guy" of the apartment building.

Last night I was so excited to have dinner waiting for Alex. I got my Italian Chicken all ready for the oven, timing everything perfectly so when I got home from picking up Alex from school the dinner would only have 5-10 minutes left in the oven.

The drive home he asked me what I had done that day, as usual. I started telling him, but we got sidetracked on to a different topic. Of course I wasn't going to restart that conversation because I'd either have to tell him I cooked him a surprise dinner, or lie. No thanks. So we get home, open the door, and expecting to smell something of a scrumptious nature, smell smoke instead.

Dang.

Alex sets the car seat down and goes to investigate the oven. There was liquid dripping on to the bottom of the oven, which was burning and smoking. Who knows how long it had been doing that. It's not like it was even overflowing or bubbling. It was some sort of condensation dripping off the tin foil or something weird like that.

Insert thought bubble..."I'm not a bad cook. I'm not a bad cook..."

We ran to open the windows and turn on the fan, but didn't do it fast enough to avoid the screeching smoke alarm.

Luckily, smoke alarms don't automatically call the Fire Department. Unluckily, the alarms throughout the whole building went off.

So I took Dean to the back bedroom where we could hide from the smoke and the loud alarm, while Alex called maintenance to have the alarm turned off. Through the window I noticed a neighbor pacing out front in a short night-gown-looking dress. For the entire 20-30 minutes that the alarm rang she was out front, pacing, unknowingly taunting me as I imagined her thoughts...

"mumble mumble, those darn kids, mumble mumble"

"look what they've done... outside in my nightie..."

So she was either waiting 20-30 minutes to see the flames of what she believed was a real fire...or...she didn't think to turn down the volume of the alarm by sticking yellow Play-Doh on the alarm speaker thing.



Either way, I have to believe that to her we just became "the fire guy(s)."

Great.

One week down, a lot to go.

Oh and because you are worried about the fate of my dinner... after the alarm went off, we went for a swim, came back, reheated the dinner in the newly cleaned oven, and ate a delicious meal.

Water Boy

This kid LOVES being in the water. He takes 15-20 minutes tubs because he loves kicking and splashing in the water. One time Uncle Joel and I took Dean out before he was ready, and boy was he mad at us.

We took Dean swimming for the first time yesterday! He was a little tired, but I think when he's had some sleep he'll have even more fun!

Dean woke up...

...this morning in size 6-9m jammies.

My tall 3 month old.

...this afternoon talking to himself



...ready to roll! Literally.

My rollie pollie with his new toy. He loves his monkey toy so much we got him a quiet toy to take to church. $.49 at ikea!

Home Sweet Home...almost...

Our work in progress... Now that I've caught up on blogging I'm devoting my free time to unpacking and setting up house. See you on the other side.

Philly first impressions

-lush and green
-HUGE trees
-SOOO humid
-bumpy roads (Alex says worse than Utah...I'm not so sure)
-more traffic
-people are nice, unless they're at work
-cheese steaks ARE NOT overrated
-has PANERA!
-people drive fast! Almost without regard to speed limits. Careful, and confident, but fast. It's craziness! Way different than Utah. Much more Californian. Not complaining :)
-when I take Alex to school in the city, people jay walk and cross streets no matter which light is green. Watch out drivers, pedestrians rule the roads here.
-local restaurants are so good! So far we've tried cheese steaks at Delassanro's and calzones at Fiesta Pizza.

One of our many hotel rooms from the 2 week transaition

Dean 3 months

This crazy kid is growing so fast and becoming more and more fun.

-holds his own head up...just a little wobbly
-when he's laying on his back, I'll grab his hands and pull him up into sitting position and he LOVES it. I think he's still anxious to be a big kid
-LOVES the tub, loves to splash
-hard transition...didn't sleep well (awake almost every hour)
-loves sucking on his hands


-grabs monkey toy by himself (we don't have to put it in his hand)
-still likes being held facing out so he can look around
-grown out of ALOT of clothing


-hates car seat
-grabs the bottle or our hand when feeding
-holds on to his burp cloths like they are a blankie or something
-night owl. Bedtime is 10:30.

-talks a lot...I took 2 minutes worth of talking in one sitting

The first video he talks loud and long. The second he talks into the camera. The third is his new trick. Carter family...remember Benja's slug talent???

Whoosh

That's the sound our time makes as it flies by.

We crammed packing, saying goodbyes, and a family reunion into the last 2 weeks of July. If I could do it again I'd give us a month and take more pictures.

Goodbye Bountiful
We had one week to pack our apartment.

Ok.. we technically had more than that, but we didn't think it would take more than a week. So Alex planned his last day of work to be one week before Jackson.

Pack & Ride: a company that lets you pack your stuff in the front of a diesel trailer, charges you by the foot, loads commercial goods in the rest, and sends it wherever you're going. Cost of a Uhaul + gas = same amount as pack and ride. Time and patience saved by driving a car instead of a Uhaul = priceless.

We miss you Utah people and think often about you all. Hope you're well. See again in December. Keep in touch till then!

Jackson Hole
The week before we moved we spent a week with the extended Carter family, the first part of the trip being in Jackson Hole. I didn't get enough pictures, so here are the best of them.

Where Dean spent most of his time...
Grandma's arm(pits).

He does this thing when he's really sleepy-- he buries his face in our armpits. So funny
...and ticklish.

Dean's car-seat-face

Approximately one week before Jackson, Dean realized he hated being in his car seat. I think he feels restricted and can't kick and play in it. We realized early on that there was no way he would last the 34 hour drive across country. It was good that we had the drive to, from, and around Jackson as a trial run. Geesh...I can't imagine the nightmarish trip that would have been if we started blindly to Philly.

Screaming in his car seat did make for some nice shopping in Jackson...

There's a picture of my mom holding me under this arch when I was Dean's size. Funny how much changes. Hopefully I'll find that picture and put it up here some day.

Buds and their rafting Taes

After Jackson we all met back up in Utah where our family packed up the truck, then met up with the rest of the family for a trip to the Salt Lake Temple, family pictures, dinner, talent show, and baby blessing.

Here is the surprise Jack-Johnson-inspired talent by my brother Michael. No one knew about it but Rae. Amazing, funny, tear-jerking (me and Grandma J at least), and full of fun Carter memories and inside jokes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B53ST-18rb8

Quickly: Crib bedding!

Just a quick note amidst all of our unpacking and med-school-going...To my pregnant friends, or anyone looking for crib bedding...

Check out ebay. I typed in 'dwell studio crib' and there are 3 piece sets for around $35! At target, Dwell Studio bedding goes from $65-75.

Just an idea :)