10 Months

Friday evening while the big boys were enjoying their camping trip, baby and I were having fun at home. It was his 10 month birthday! It was nice out so we spent some time on the deck. He appeared to think it was a fun idea too.


After a bit there was a light breeze, and watching wind in the trees is one of his favorite things.


Next he wanted to play with the camera. There's the army crawl! He's such a fast mover and loves to follow me around :) He's been getting on his hands & knees and hands & feet a lot lately too.


He accepted a cookie instead, letting me keep the camera.


At dinner I offered him blueberries for the first time, but he was more interested in my pizza so I shared.


On Sunday we did sticker pictures. Cause keeping him on his back long enough to get a picture is something I can no longer do on my own. Here daddy is entertaining him with one of his favorite things - the owl pillow. Big brother thought it was fun too.


I use a crinkle cutter and sprinkle foods with fresh parmesan when I need to reduce slippery-ness a bit, but it didn't seem right for a mango so I gave it to him on a fork.  He loved it!


He loves yogurt! See how excited he is when he knows I'm getting him another spoonful :)

140520-Yogurt from 2ndof5. (12 seconds)

He's not used to the texture of applesauce yet though.

140520-Applesauce from 2ndof5. (11 seconds)

Fathers and Sons

This past weekend, I got to take our toddler to the Fathers and Sons campout. I was really struck by how independent he has become lately. I spend a lot of the evening working on things, and he had no concerns about wandering away from me to explore all around the campsite. His favorite activity was walking on the 6"x6" beams marking the edge of the gravel camping pad.

We arrived, and while I was getting the tent ready, our toddler was playing with his trucks in the gravel. Our dinner was a pizza baked in a dutch oven. His friend (of the same age) was there, and they loved running around and playing together. (Curious George came, too. He needed a good cleaning by the end!)

After dinner, I started dessert (to be shared with the other guests) going in the dutch oven, and then we went to the tire park. Much of the equipment, and even the mulch, is made from used tires. We didn't get very long before being called back for the fireside lesson.

It was well past his usual bedtime at this point, and he looked pretty tired, so I took our boy to bed. Maybe I should have tried to get him to stay up a little later, so we could both have the dessert I made. There were 4 dutch ovens full of cakes and cobblers, but, unfortunately, mine was empty before we were done with the bedtime routine. I still got some of another dessert, though.

We'd practiced sleeping in the tent in the basement the prior week, and our toddler was very good. Aside from needing a little light on, he was perfect. So, I left a light on in the tent, but he would not sleep! While I was getting dessert and trying to clean up, I could see his shadow moving around in the tent. He kept zipping open the tent door and playing with the gravel. More than a few times, I had to return and put him back in his bed, but it didn't keep until I finally went to bed with him. Maybe it was the excitement. Or the older kids playing very noisily right around all the tents until well past 10. (Seriously?)

Well, eventually we both got to sleep, and it was soon morning. After a pancake breakfast, we headed back to the tire park to play some more. Our toddler's friend and his dad came, too. There was also a nature center with some outdoor activities. There was a turtle in a cage (I should have gotten a picture), which was fun. There was a sandbox with a bird footprint stamp, but they just preferred to play with the trucks in the sand. They also liked the bamboo tunnel and a rock maze.

Later in the morning, there was an organized hike to the river. It was about a mile and a half round trip, over some rather hilly, rocky, and tree-rooty terrain. I spent at least half the time carrying our boy, but he did surprise me with how well he did on some rough spots. At the river, we took some time to skip stones before returning.

Finally, we had a hot dog lunch and visited the park one more time. Our boy really is getting big and independent. I'm glad he had a good time. Even though he was clearly tired at the end, he wanted to stay and play outside some more. I felt bad, but I needed to get him home for his nap. Hopefully he will have plenty more opportunities to go to special places and play outside this summer.

Weekend in Reverse

Saturday night, after watching a production of Peter Pan, our toddler debuted a 'smile for the camera' smile when we took our picture with Mrs Darling (aka my baby sister).  She was also a lovely mermaid and a pirate.

He has always loved going to her performances, it's sad that it was her last one with Pied Piper Theater.  She'll be across the country as a college student soon and we'll miss her!


Earlier in the day having fun with Grandma & playing with blocks:



And I'll go ahead and include these fun pics to finish off our backwards trip through the weekend.  Friday night our toddler slept in his new sleeping bag ("light green, dark green") in a tent with daddy in the basement.  He loved it!  They were practicing for their camp out next weekend!

Mother's Day

Hopefully I do things to let the moms in my life know I love them.  Most of all my very own mom.  Love you!

But this post is actually more about my Mother's Day as it was amazing.  All three of my boys were wonderful.

We'll start with the youngest.  In Relief Society I lifted him up above my head to smile at him (by 3rd hour he's a bit squirmy) and he spit up on me.  It wasn't a lot but it got on my hair, shirt, face, and IN MY MOUTH.  Hahaha.  I love him.

My toddler (with his dad's help) made me a beautiful card from him & baby.

And my husband was a little sick but that didn't stop him from making sure I felt appreciated!  He got me flowers and made breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I didn't take pictures of the flowers for almost a week and, though most still thrived, not all varieties had survived.  But clearly it was a gorgeous bouquet.



It was a very yummy day!


I'm so happy to be my boys' mama!

Videos

I recently mentioned how I'd been bad about taking videos of my baby. So I made sure to get a few.  Let me know if you need the password.


140501 Pick Me Up
May 1st, 17 seconds.
I wanted to get a video of his army crawl but instead he just asked to be carried. We call it the parachuting pose. Big brother did the same thing only pounded his hands on the floor instead of kicking his feet.


140501 Jumperoo
May 1st, 48 seconds.
He loves the Jumperoo, it keeps him quite entertained!


140502 Army Crawl
May 2nd, 44 seconds.

April

April was a full and fun month! Teeth, General Conference, toddler's 3rd birthday, Easter, beautiful weather. (Also, we all got sick, but anyway ...)

Baby and his buddy. They find each other a little too interesting as they are always grabbing at each other's faces. We don't keep them this close for too long, haha.


We had a lot of fun spending General Conference weekend at my parents'.


Our toddler rolling around pretending to be a baby.


He loved dying Easter eggs!


Blowing bubbles :)


We loved the comfortable weather and spending time on the deck. Our neighbor gave us a kid's picnic table with umbrella & a double stroller so that was awesome. We haven't gotten tons of use out of the double stroller yet but we hope to. And we use the little table all the time.


Here's a couple adorable toddler pics.


And baby stuffing avocado into his mouth.


I've tried to be patient in teaching our toddler to share but am getting a little tired of it. I know he's used to being an only kid and I've tried so much but nothing has helped. Anyway, I hope we get there soon.