My sweet boy is 8 months old today! Here are a few of his achievements and favorites:
-Walking along furniture
-can stand without holding onto anything for about 4 seconds
-LOVES bathtime
-HATES getting dressed (just like his brother!)
-climbs the stairs (don’t worry... we have a gate!)
-loves having his picture taken
-LOVES LOVES LOVES to clap and bounce... at the same time (this makes him fall over, it’s hilarious!)
-has 8 teeth!
-chews like a puppy
I figure I better report on thanksgiving quickly before Christmas arrives! We had an awesome Thanksgiving with the Smith family. I felt like a real mother/wife this year because I contributed three of my own dishes to the meal and worked in the kitchen all the way until the meal was ready! This girl is growing up! For dessert I made this yummy masterpiece... it was my first experiment!
The boys had a blast playing with their cousins. They were so good, Tyler managed to squeeze in a short nap while they were playing and I was chatting. It was so nice to spend a day with my family, working with my sisters and mom to create a beautiful meal. This Thanksgiving was my favorite yet. I guess I’m just getting older and more sentimental or something! I can’t wait till next year!
So, here are a few of the pictures that we ended up with after the Smith family photo shoot. Our photographer did a great job! I’m so excited to have updated pictures of my boys and our little family as well as my whole family! Take a look!
To celebrate Tyler’s birthday we went to Disneyland! Despite several small, irritating setbacks (locking our keys in our car, never-ending two year old tantrums, a fussy baby, an enchilada stain on my new shirt, having to buy a $30 disney t-shirt because I’m too vain to wear the stained shirt, and kids sleeping when we should be on RIDES!) we had a great time on our trip.
Taft was fussy and tired before we even left the hotel for Disneyland. Why does the park open at 10am? The park is mainly for kids, right? Don’t they know that’s nap time? They should open at 7am; I think I’m going to write them a letter and suggest that. Here’s a picture of sweet Taft during his 20 minute nap before we woke him up to take the bus to the park. Love it!
And here is Brigham refusing to be good for the camera... at least I look good!
As you can see above, apparently the short nap was all he needed. I have to say, right now, the kid is an angel. He did so well! I love 6 month olds!!!
Notice how none of these pictures include Brigham on rides? He really was scared! I thought he was such a big boy, but forget it! After some cajoling we finally got him to try some rides out. He did pretty good! He loved Buzz Lightyear, the rocket ride, Autopia, and the Teacups. It would have been great to have had more than one day at Disneyland so that we could have done more at the park. A toddler and baby really slow things down! Despite that, I’m glad we did it! We had a good time. We ate good food (I LOVE their corn dogs!). I know our boys won’t remember this trip, but Tyler and I have some sweet memories of our first Disneyland vacation with our babies and I’m so glad we did it. But, I have to tell you, I am exhausted and I am NOT doing that again for a very long time!
Okay, so I’m preparing a post about our big Disneyland trip, but it’s not finished so I though I’d give you just a little preview to show you how it went. Both boys did a lot of this...
And Brigham, well, he did a lot of this...
and this...
Lets just say that now I understand why some couples leave their toddlers at home when they go to Disneyland!
I have to tell you about a moment that made me laugh the other day. I was downstairs with Taft. I was sitting on the floor having a pudding cup and watching Oprah (it was actually an interesting topic... hooray!) while Taft played next to me. During a commercial I set my empty pudding cup down to run upstairs to check on Brigham, who was sleeping. I know, I know, that’s pretty disgusting to just toss it aside instead of throwing it away, but like I said Oprah was actually interesting that day and I wanted to make it back downstairs before the commercials were over. Anyway, I’m sure you can guess where this story is going. As I came back downstairs I heard what I can only describe as greedy, hungry, baby slurping noises coming from Taft. He was laying on his side holding that pudding cup, trying to lick every bit of the leftover pudding out. It was hilarious! I ran upstairs and grabbed my camera as fast as I could! So anyway, to sum it all up. Today I found out that little Tafty looooves pudding!
Halloween was a lot of fun this year. I searched and stressed and searched and stressed over these costumes. I eventually put them together myself and was quite proud of my handiwork, only to have a two year old who refused to wear half of the costume and wouldn’t sit still for a picture. So, as you look at the pictures don’t judge me for having more pictures of Taft than Brigham, I don’t always play favorites!
I hope everyone had a good Saturday. Ours was pretty busy! We woke up super early and had a little garage sale. I’ve been trying to get ride of some of the things around the house that we never use. The garage sale went alright. We didn’t get as much traffic as we’d hoped, but we managed to make enough money out of it that made it worthwhile. Taft was so cute in his walker hanging out with us!
After the garage sale, we went to a birthday party for one of Brighams friends. It was a great party! Brigham got to wear his Halloween costume, jump in a huge jumper, eat pizza, cake and ice cream, and watch Natalia open her presents. (Check out my gift wrapping... I love wrapping gifts!) Brigham was so excited when she opened the one from him. I think he thought he was going to get it back or something!
This party was a great preparation for Brigham for his birthday. I think he’s finally starting to understand what happens on your birthday. He’s so excited for his party! Poor guy, he’s going to be disappointed when his party has only half as many kids there and no jumper!
I just loved bathing Taft in this infant tub. It fit perfectly in my kitchen sink so I could easily wash him without bending over or having to hold him up. I was so sad when he finally got so big and strong that his feet were hanging over the edge, he was constantly trying to sit up, and he splashed so much that the kitchen and I ended up drenched with each bath. So, here are some pics of his last infant bath...
The next day I told Brigham that Taft was going to take a bath with him in the tub and he was thrilled. They both loved splashing together and kept laughing and giggling. Taft loves the bath toys, especially our foam letters. It’s been a couple weeks and my new challenge is keeping him from falling as he tries to grab onto the side of the tub and stand up... which he can’t do yet. He is so curious and wants to grow up so fast!
This is him trying to stand he just isn’t happy with what he can do.
I love this last picture on the right. The look on his face is just so typical of him. He gives me that look all day long, I love it! And, because I don’t play favorites (most of the time), here’s some pictures of Big Brother who couldn’t figure out what I meant when I said, “No, give me a real smile.” Maybe next time...
Just wanted to show off some more pictures of my blue eyed boys. They’re getting so big! While I’m here, I might as well write a little about them as they are right now.
Brigham, 2 years old
loves to:
run
jump on furniture
jump on or over the baby
eat cereal and string cheese and popsicles
play with Taft
watch “shows”
play with his cousins!
Brigham still has his toddler tantrums, he can be in the middle of a full blown freak out, but as soon as Tyler or I sing “Hush little baby don’t say a word, mama’s gonna buy you a mocking bird...” he calms immediately. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Taft, 6 months old
sleeps great!
hates most baby food, refuses to open his mouth
loves his bottle
rolls, scoots, and sits up
loves taking a bath with Big Brother
laughs when Brig is in trouble
Taft is trying his hardest to keep up with Brig. He get so frustrated cause he can’t keep up! He loves to be held and will let you know when he needs the attention!
I love that my boys are already learning to play together! A while ago Taft woke up from his morning nap. I went in and turned on the light, but left him in there because he was happy and I had a couple more things to do before I pulled him out. I left the room, finished my tasks and came back to my sweet boys, BOTH in the crib, giggling uncontrollably. It was adorable. Brigham was so proud that he’d managed to get himself and several stuffed animals in the crib with the baby. I’m so happy to have these two boys who are becoming best friends. I hope they always will be! Better go... they’re still in the crib and Brigham’s yelling “get me out of here!”, he never did learn how to climb out. It was cute while it lasted.
If you’ve never been to our house let me explain our situation. A year ago we bought the house with the biggest backyard that we could find and afford. It is 8 feet deep on the side of the house (it’s “L” shaped and doesn’t go around both sides of the house, just one) and 10 feet deep in the back. It’s pretty small! We are happy with what we have, it’s just hard to find fun things for Brig to do out there in such a small, uninteresting space. I put a basketball hoop and a bunch of balls out there, but he throws them all over the fence into our neighbors yards, (which is embarrassing) so even that won’t work! So we really haven’t been out there too much. Yesterday, desperate for him to stop begging for Costco rolls (yummy!) and stop getting into things that he shouldn’t (like his brothers walker) I had an ingenious idea!
I washed out the storage bin that was once full of balls, and filled it up with water and Brigham hopped right in. I know that normal people would just get a puddle pool, but this works just as well and it’s free! He spent almost two hours splashing, dumping, and sitting in the water. Today he did it all again! What a joy it is to be able to send him out back and he actually stays out there and enjoys it!
