tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34826911027195973162024-03-18T20:29:47.488-07:00365 Days of GageTara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.comBlogger159125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-50100248652757182092013-05-29T17:31:00.001-07:002013-05-29T17:31:27.135-07:00Who is this little boy?<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Idt6OeDzmIi6MU4opH-BPK9wztyG0QlNdouJpibyUsTVCHKWl6BLDo0K5MCV-GJVVCJox3XwDsrFJog9zRxWb_OMejXn1b_uyOYpiB0FedpIOytL6guci9QxcnsfThWvdYDD2Kggyjy2/s640/blogger-image--716624082.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Idt6OeDzmIi6MU4opH-BPK9wztyG0QlNdouJpibyUsTVCHKWl6BLDo0K5MCV-GJVVCJox3XwDsrFJog9zRxWb_OMejXn1b_uyOYpiB0FedpIOytL6guci9QxcnsfThWvdYDD2Kggyjy2/s640/blogger-image--716624082.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Can someone tell me who this little boy is? Where did my chunky little baby go? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">We are full swing into communication territory - this dude talks nonstop! He's constantly surprising us with things he knows. Example: I was telling him about our upcoming vacation to the beach and he said "are we going to make sandcastles?!" How does he know about sandcastles? Maybe the TV watching he does isn't so bad. Ha ha! He also asks a lot of questions about things - what's that? Where are we going? What does that mean? The other day I said "almost" and he asked me to tell him what that meant. Since then he's been using that word and then following up with the definition I gave him. As in "I almost got it Mama, that means got close."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This weekend he really wanted to help with cleaning, so I showed him how to do a few things. He really like folding clothes and putting them away. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">These days we learn or teach something new every day and/or crack up at something he's said. It's a really awesome and fun time in his development.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">It has its challenges though - he repeats EVERYTHING, not just words but tone and attitude. There's a lot of pushback and "no!" when we ask him to do something and he definitely doesn't understand the concept of patience just yet. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">He's a pretty cool little dude though and my favorite little buddy. We'll have some beach pictures in a couple of weeks - he's so excited about that trip and his upcoming birthday party in July.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-47223732235282710892012-11-21T18:08:00.000-08:002012-11-21T18:08:38.552-08:00Vacation WeekWell this post is a few days late. I had great intentions and planned on posting a few blogs while I was home with the kiddo, but obviously that didn't work out. So this will be a little catch up/recap with pictures. <br />
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I was excited to spend the week with little man last week and planned some fun stuff as well as some not so fun stuff. We spent most of Monday at home, cleaning any laying around. I will tell you that I took a nap almost every day at the same time Gage did - it was glorious. Mimi came over Tuesday and I got to have a lunch with a friend and run some errands myself. Wednesday is really when the fun started for the kiddo. I took him to Jump Mania in Plano, which he loves. Jason came with us and we had a lot of fun watching him run around and act crazy. The have toddler mania there on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, so it's all kiddos from 0-3 and they get to run the place. We all had lunch on the way home and then it was nap time - for all of us. <br />
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On Thursday, GiGi came over and we had plans for a big morning out at Fair Park. I packed us a lunch and the plan was to hit up the Children's Aquarium and then have lunch at the Discovery Gardens. The Children's Aquarium in Fair Park is pretty cool! Now, it's small - but so is Gage, so I really though it was great for him. The price was very reasonable and they have some awesome stuff there. We thought the albino alligator and 75 year old turtle were both way worth the trip. The octopus was sleeping when we were there, but Gage had fun playing with the display. The employees there were so nice and we were the only ones there for about 30 minutes, so Gage got some one on one attention. They helped him climb up and touch some of the animals and stuff in the entrance tank - there was a weird lobster and I thought it was pretty cool. Gage had a blast running from one side to the other and checking out all of the creatures. We got there just in time for snake feeding time and got to watch the keeper feed him a fish. It's the most active snake he's ever gotten to see - when we've seen them at the zoo, they are always sleeping or hiding. After all of that, we headed out back and got to pet the stingrays! I've never done that before, and I was blown away about how much they are like puppy dogs. They were all clamoring over to us so that we would pet them and rubbing up against our hands. That was awesome. Gage thought they were cool and he pet them a couple of times, but I think he didn't like the slimy feel of them. They are by the big shark tank, so we settled in to look at the scary guys while we were out there. Gage really like them - he kept yelling, "Mama, shark!". It's so cute because we've really started to notice that when he's upset, he comes to me, but if he's scared or nervous, he'll go to Jason. So he always wanted Jason to come with him to see the sharks and to pet the stingrays.<br />
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It was getting close to lunch time, so we headed across the street to the Texas Discovery Gardens, which have a butterfly house. At this point, we could tell that our time out with the kiddo was skidding to the end, so we went outside for a few minutes and decided that maybe it would be best to just check out the butterfly house (I wanted to see the release at noon) and then go home to eat our lunch. The butterfly house there is pretty awesome. Gage loved chasing the butterflies around, but every time he would get close to one, he totally knew that he needed to be gentle and quiet. There was one that just hung out the entire time we were there and he kept pointed and yelling, "Fly butterfly, fly!" We stayed to watch the butterfly release at noon and had fun at the mini learning session. After that, we headed to the car and had lunch back at our house. We all had a lot of fun and it's always a great time getting to watch him learning and seeing new things. <br />
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Friday was a day of doctors appointments for him - we had to do a follow up with the allergist to see if he still has his food allergies. Hopefully the news next week will be that he's one of the 20% that outgrows a peanut allergy - everyone say a prayer!<br />
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The weekend was a lot of our normal routine - I had a race Saturday, so Grangingy and Uncle James came over to spend some time with him, which he always enjoys. Then he and I did our usual grocery store trip and hanging out. I took him back to Jump Mania on Sunday and we met a friend of mine and her grandkids. He really loves her grandkids and he had so much fun playing with them. They even encouraged him to climb a big inflatable slide and then slide down all by himself! Then he followed them through the obstacle course to another slide - another thing he has never done without me. He really had a great time. When we got home, Jason was talking to him about how much fun he had and he said, "Dada, I need to go night night". It was so funny. He went right to sleep, without a fight. <br />
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We had a really great time last week and I have missed him being back at work this week. Luckily I'm off again this week for the holiday - so it's been a nice time with a lot of Gage fun to be had. I noticed a few things over the last week or so:<br />
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- He's getting SO big. I was just saying something tonight about how big his hands are. When we go out and see other kids, he's almost the size of the 4 year olds. He's like a little dude now. <br />
- His vocabulary is out of control. We are pretty much just having normal conversations at this point. Now, if you didn't know him very well, it wouldn't be easy to make out everything he is saying - but Jason and I are pretty fluent in "Gage". <br />
- This kid is ridiculously sweet. He loves to give out hugs and kisses and he's always concerned about crying babies. <br />
- He's more interested in helping now. He likes to help me put up the groceries and clean the house. He's gotten really good at helping with the groceries - it's pretty cute. <br />
- He's currently addicted to yogurt..and fruit snacks. <br />
- He's now singing along with everything. He can sing along with Muse, TV show theme songs, whatever. If he's heard it, he can sing it. <br />
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Here are some pictures from the fun last week:<br />
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Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-77839852471947927872012-10-31T20:23:00.001-07:002012-10-31T20:24:21.413-07:00Happy Halloween!This was the kiddo's first big trick or treating experience. We went out for a minute last year, but he was only a couple of days out of the hospital, so it was a short trip. Gage picked out his own costume about a month ago (see my previous post about superheroes) and I've had it hidden. When I pulled it out tonight, he was super excited! I didn't think he'd roll with the mask the whole time, but he did! He LOVED being Spider-Man. He walked on his own and insisted on carrying his own pumpkin (to hold candy). It got pretty heavy, but he would not let us carry it. He was still going strong after almost an hour, but J and I were worn out, so we steered him back toward the house. He loved seeing all the kids, totally knew how to say "trick or treat" and just had a great time. He got a lot of compliments on his costume, but I think it's because he was just so cute and outgoing. We really had fun and Monkey did great!<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhePwE8-869EI6vwHI-UE7rZqikhzNw6jv94wYfFIcOvvPHGp5KW4GgF6eZcp0nEXT_MhvDvaEWN8RtXWaz_mjDrOr50JESHMuyOliBUC7qE6h8oXd-ZDjj4y_ajfOaEBzwy-cjfHgcjWfb/s640/blogger-image-477492381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhePwE8-869EI6vwHI-UE7rZqikhzNw6jv94wYfFIcOvvPHGp5KW4GgF6eZcp0nEXT_MhvDvaEWN8RtXWaz_mjDrOr50JESHMuyOliBUC7qE6h8oXd-ZDjj4y_ajfOaEBzwy-cjfHgcjWfb/s640/blogger-image-477492381.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj95JrK3lFJG4NJSaPdRZ0_CfdfL118Odd6kQEcpeF-LQbgxbGNLqzqP1IPYkrw-lQ84YocssPWhNnqF1EqU0-CgvSGzPDBALl8sJ5BRR_rT6Zbmmyz8pGTMNa-X4YswmlyAAGHMQIRXbt/s640/blogger-image-1019459442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj95JrK3lFJG4NJSaPdRZ0_CfdfL118Odd6kQEcpeF-LQbgxbGNLqzqP1IPYkrw-lQ84YocssPWhNnqF1EqU0-CgvSGzPDBALl8sJ5BRR_rT6Zbmmyz8pGTMNa-X4YswmlyAAGHMQIRXbt/s640/blogger-image-1019459442.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl9nnxcJuOpoeCSvyMrJCBvMU_Tjp5sG6wEQgdnBh8vRqKTEbYsbj5F5DOdvZs2BEXWVx28UHfy7KiYnRdJ8h_pj-3P6oW7qaUxdyb1QjbodFhLiMwXz9W0Rvi1_zOweC3l8-hLRYmXh3W/s640/blogger-image--1590056621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl9nnxcJuOpoeCSvyMrJCBvMU_Tjp5sG6wEQgdnBh8vRqKTEbYsbj5F5DOdvZs2BEXWVx28UHfy7KiYnRdJ8h_pj-3P6oW7qaUxdyb1QjbodFhLiMwXz9W0Rvi1_zOweC3l8-hLRYmXh3W/s640/blogger-image--1590056621.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5emNendSPQQGgeZA_oXNsYqcXD3kkCSqw3k1YqAAxS29bpInRUZPG7RDfKQQ9C6iWcdiXxy_cXJ1CdPsQHZ2fqsKDEKbucT51gHkVXnCfcn0syn_6oSD3NynGfi0SWTFEgTsEeV4AOdEo/s640/blogger-image-939894979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5emNendSPQQGgeZA_oXNsYqcXD3kkCSqw3k1YqAAxS29bpInRUZPG7RDfKQQ9C6iWcdiXxy_cXJ1CdPsQHZ2fqsKDEKbucT51gHkVXnCfcn0syn_6oSD3NynGfi0SWTFEgTsEeV4AOdEo/s640/blogger-image-939894979.jpg" /></a></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-29838453729829335192012-10-14T17:08:00.001-07:002012-10-14T17:12:58.256-07:00State Fair!Every year since Jason and I started dating, we've talked about going to the state fair and every year it would pass us by. I really wanted to go this year with Gage, so I recruited our friends, the Cannon family, and we made a family date of it. Now I won't tell you how much money we spent in 2.5 hours, but it was a large sum, and the only tangible item we came home with was a 2 foot inflatable Spider-Man. I don't care though, we had a great time. We started at the auto show, which was tough because Gage loves to "drive" cars. we had to drag him out of there with some kicking and crying. The grown ups tried some of the food (shout out to Jason and Daniel for standing in the Fletcher's line for everyone) and we rode the kiddie rides for about 45 minutes. When we first got to the Midway, we walked past a huge ride that was spinning people WAY up in the air and Monkey was really into that. He got so excited when it would go up in the air. This kid is a daredevil, I tell ya. He and I rode the jumping dumbos ride, which an elephant ride that goes up and down while going in circles. Then we rode the whale ride, which splashed up and down and blew bubbles - we also ran into the Lee family there - EVERYONE we know with kids was at the fair today. Sidenote: the weather was awesome. Gage rode the whales again with Jacob, while I bit my nails on the sidelines. He loved it though, didn't need any grown ups. He rode a car ride with Jason that looked cool, but ended up being kinda lame - only one time around, really? We stepped into the shade and he and I rode the haunted house ride with Daniel and Jacob. We both thought "meh" on that one. Jacob and Ella shared some rings with us on the ring toss game and then Gage and I rode the animal kiddie coaster. By the time we got back to the group, Gage was fading fast. We decided to head out and spend the rest of our tickets on food on the way out - funnel cake (me), Reuben sandwich (Jason), iced tea (me), orange push up pop (Gage) and frozen lemonade (me). We got home just in time for nap time and Gage and I both crashed. It wasn't perfect, there were some minor wiggly meltdowns over not getting his way, but distraction usually worked quickly and he was able to walk around on his own a lot, which helped. I really had fun and Gage did too. Jason and I were saying it would be cool to go back at night for an adult outing to see some music and just walk around. It was worth it just for the inflatable Spider-Man, which he's been playing with all day. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGIkSNAPUrhB2cx0fSjmlooTqxqtD_pqRmfJiHx62jQHHbKP1n5WcmpNtPBlMd_LKEr2tCLBBRuBSnD3MJEIC6Zz09hmlR2gx38cT7UsWKnzC7gyMNHzH1t6csWCtxb_tg5Rohodq7M7j/s640/blogger-image--427213266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGIkSNAPUrhB2cx0fSjmlooTqxqtD_pqRmfJiHx62jQHHbKP1n5WcmpNtPBlMd_LKEr2tCLBBRuBSnD3MJEIC6Zz09hmlR2gx38cT7UsWKnzC7gyMNHzH1t6csWCtxb_tg5Rohodq7M7j/s640/blogger-image--427213266.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30VSeGqQhLUx5IPc0XZJC3q_lLyattDnzAwX3Vk9v1mp6RUF8twLVx4l-KAtdp6NSURb2dK8tgBu-2Qs3n0T9nD079_oRZSNGra3Ko0dOVO_HdgdEpb4lIRXRqIWlfXLRsudm6OTwG-Ih/s640/blogger-image-1179174433.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30VSeGqQhLUx5IPc0XZJC3q_lLyattDnzAwX3Vk9v1mp6RUF8twLVx4l-KAtdp6NSURb2dK8tgBu-2Qs3n0T9nD079_oRZSNGra3Ko0dOVO_HdgdEpb4lIRXRqIWlfXLRsudm6OTwG-Ih/s640/blogger-image-1179174433.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmqMz9exaSsSllKJgmjYxbAw7yYNQ26nZoRXCUtVYq8G4qrOOyNlfmVJ8kINdUqciCCCmEdaRNEDHMqt2Dgdm6jwGnpHN6Z8Qd2UwmYpnn3NIru20C3ld03fFoHpbtWDe9pcFV8HAxViMU/s640/blogger-image-463851357.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmqMz9exaSsSllKJgmjYxbAw7yYNQ26nZoRXCUtVYq8G4qrOOyNlfmVJ8kINdUqciCCCmEdaRNEDHMqt2Dgdm6jwGnpHN6Z8Qd2UwmYpnn3NIru20C3ld03fFoHpbtWDe9pcFV8HAxViMU/s640/blogger-image-463851357.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIFNazLVPW3MdgSVgNpbOQ8EjiAxiYxxOyK_ZkP9bY6f6W_ertkNjRD9c8M5_NqCXo3VDzu2wm9VYJeaacuKa6WxaJCR9y-qGEzAcvQYUocRxp3x9HIMPn78Ci06zqg2hbA7vwKBHdP-YR/s640/blogger-image-1978931514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIFNazLVPW3MdgSVgNpbOQ8EjiAxiYxxOyK_ZkP9bY6f6W_ertkNjRD9c8M5_NqCXo3VDzu2wm9VYJeaacuKa6WxaJCR9y-qGEzAcvQYUocRxp3x9HIMPn78Ci06zqg2hbA7vwKBHdP-YR/s640/blogger-image-1978931514.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVOz73Q_1h9HD0Ysjnx0CF8vubSXXRO5kRTTtNcjmH3Xvf7S7iB5ztZCqSrkAQFt_VappQf-GvsBcVC-ivCXYhnZGSdLrxFUaeYon2QDeZ6DopnZZ1bbgjfXBP_Nqu2QkjrHrrGtUI1NB/s640/blogger-image-526382341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVOz73Q_1h9HD0Ysjnx0CF8vubSXXRO5kRTTtNcjmH3Xvf7S7iB5ztZCqSrkAQFt_VappQf-GvsBcVC-ivCXYhnZGSdLrxFUaeYon2QDeZ6DopnZZ1bbgjfXBP_Nqu2QkjrHrrGtUI1NB/s640/blogger-image-526382341.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj522YV6NX9XZ1Ac8Q-VsiD5sO1a8J34c2yezHm7rv3tCqeUqRWSdxJzTkMbjBpZ-EG8MDNKAHcWC2AJlrrALE7dmPYjzdOWY0irhZ7DUA_Ie_AtRQ-9RTq4o0Bg_0DRZ4bYOHbG6d2Wq98/s640/blogger-image--1664303062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj522YV6NX9XZ1Ac8Q-VsiD5sO1a8J34c2yezHm7rv3tCqeUqRWSdxJzTkMbjBpZ-EG8MDNKAHcWC2AJlrrALE7dmPYjzdOWY0irhZ7DUA_Ie_AtRQ-9RTq4o0Bg_0DRZ4bYOHbG6d2Wq98/s640/blogger-image--1664303062.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibQwW2hD1guUMIqfbGnSYvbc57eXyLN1-Rn5lp8fVXbU8OOvwOsHDsdAw6aCf1PBze2s9hj1DMT-Uyc8by1qPwcr3MZP4hbopHaqHb3CII6Ju0iQovVAj59-0rohiGJqxiUtOQOWS8F_Kh/s640/blogger-image--1066990028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibQwW2hD1guUMIqfbGnSYvbc57eXyLN1-Rn5lp8fVXbU8OOvwOsHDsdAw6aCf1PBze2s9hj1DMT-Uyc8by1qPwcr3MZP4hbopHaqHb3CII6Ju0iQovVAj59-0rohiGJqxiUtOQOWS8F_Kh/s640/blogger-image--1066990028.jpg" /></a></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-12249303659847059992012-10-08T19:09:00.001-07:002012-10-08T19:12:12.193-07:00Fall is here...I was off today, so we made some plans with GiGi to go and check out the Blase Family Farm in Rockwall. Of course we started the day with homemade pumpkin pancakes to get in the mood. Gage loves him some "ca-cakes". We got to the farm around 11a and stayed for about an hour. We got to feed and pet goats, cows and a sheep. Monkey kept running over to the cows and yelling "moo!" Trying to communicate with them in their own language, of course. The area is pretty heavily wooded with a little valley that was more treacherous, so of course that's where Gage wanted to go. We did a lot of redirecting and he caught on to us pretty quickly. After running through the pumpkins, feeding the animals an picking up every stick he could find, we jumped on the hay ride. We were worried he'd get bored, but by then he was slowing down and he really liked the tractor, so it was great. He got to pick out his own pumpkin to bring home and then we all stopped for a little lunch together. Monkey and I both ended up taking a 3 hour nap. Now THAT'S how you spend a nice, crisp fall day.<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpq4S6FVGpbeRfxEab9EwONj54qCIRy6D0-_iXhkiXg4pfVUF21O7Pakl3tCsM6HRUe7nXkhyphenhyphensRRgoIMSTwFevhvFpo5FZVkxOn_bJ4DORrvHi4987QVShxXIo6eNVdS_nDwCqbgqf461/s640/blogger-image--1707856991.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpq4S6FVGpbeRfxEab9EwONj54qCIRy6D0-_iXhkiXg4pfVUF21O7Pakl3tCsM6HRUe7nXkhyphenhyphensRRgoIMSTwFevhvFpo5FZVkxOn_bJ4DORrvHi4987QVShxXIo6eNVdS_nDwCqbgqf461/s640/blogger-image--1707856991.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH-JDytbW751pCMxO3plNRDO9dwp9e46lyp0D4F1gJZJmkZE0_IIBTjjOzKYHdmAIcGhi7alaQiHYg9nFPC4Dokgm7ePhpiDNMqLHFau5rlIKVBjeKmKK8SHkBJJ9QqNz6Ulmt72m_z4rc/s640/blogger-image--612559066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH-JDytbW751pCMxO3plNRDO9dwp9e46lyp0D4F1gJZJmkZE0_IIBTjjOzKYHdmAIcGhi7alaQiHYg9nFPC4Dokgm7ePhpiDNMqLHFau5rlIKVBjeKmKK8SHkBJJ9QqNz6Ulmt72m_z4rc/s640/blogger-image--612559066.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJCVZgGqz5wLEsehYQasNaHbfZxWYen54pTuCkAMKRtqa5aZHBgNDH3zkFRPNt7hsyXECgtZkKsOt_VdO3NLfz_sf3A9ZI6r0biuVhf_g3-Y6W5FFxohS2RflxMzVmgI1IGohWZHb1hLhe/s640/blogger-image--388720919.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJCVZgGqz5wLEsehYQasNaHbfZxWYen54pTuCkAMKRtqa5aZHBgNDH3zkFRPNt7hsyXECgtZkKsOt_VdO3NLfz_sf3A9ZI6r0biuVhf_g3-Y6W5FFxohS2RflxMzVmgI1IGohWZHb1hLhe/s640/blogger-image--388720919.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgok1q7ha1gfLDbopKo1BXOMq9FQzIG9JTdkN71Gahyphenhyphenv2rnp8SAn8LK8NFcn9Hj1OOFW0J7O8YVB_1QYcvVbB1o-VawF6Pw9oq-HMD_wDsNd4DLxdBKUZCnsIyksLvoJXt6iMQA66Frl0J5/s640/blogger-image--1231736909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgok1q7ha1gfLDbopKo1BXOMq9FQzIG9JTdkN71Gahyphenhyphenv2rnp8SAn8LK8NFcn9Hj1OOFW0J7O8YVB_1QYcvVbB1o-VawF6Pw9oq-HMD_wDsNd4DLxdBKUZCnsIyksLvoJXt6iMQA66Frl0J5/s640/blogger-image--1231736909.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILnoupQ3LAH_sgMo4jy-oac2qbnr6s0wU2xV0HZQM1h3ElZn-rIzNxXv0zhHagqIR8TQdh9irGtAJN640UFi8iI0yfjP0OVggmUd9xqlCAJxyhyQQh1ZXIbuaUSbQvDJYj5cMuxPQ0vbN/s640/blogger-image-1114849678.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILnoupQ3LAH_sgMo4jy-oac2qbnr6s0wU2xV0HZQM1h3ElZn-rIzNxXv0zhHagqIR8TQdh9irGtAJN640UFi8iI0yfjP0OVggmUd9xqlCAJxyhyQQh1ZXIbuaUSbQvDJYj5cMuxPQ0vbN/s640/blogger-image-1114849678.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbjJvGqRr-cmOGoE4J-NGWKA8rQvr9BqQH6_k80hN5K8pfyiBA93WSY7_EYiycTZ0Hwcp0ma1FMtsfmzdRJP8xoHOu07UEhXUAYRcaNQJtnYlo16L3ER-AIby1C0tHMPnw_QcvsWqB4Ytr/s640/blogger-image-68420265.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbjJvGqRr-cmOGoE4J-NGWKA8rQvr9BqQH6_k80hN5K8pfyiBA93WSY7_EYiycTZ0Hwcp0ma1FMtsfmzdRJP8xoHOu07UEhXUAYRcaNQJtnYlo16L3ER-AIby1C0tHMPnw_QcvsWqB4Ytr/s640/blogger-image-68420265.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg978vdu3acOZGOnp4omaFAXcu_bNllmJ_ndV6Raa0useMITyigV8XrLARzZJ3nZnLuE9q4NjCwhvKACVaJz9_65TnTUr32InLthXsYfrEd54WCZ3GRWwWZCaxUlyvb_ge4jPOnDVTxaT-J/s640/blogger-image--1181847018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg978vdu3acOZGOnp4omaFAXcu_bNllmJ_ndV6Raa0useMITyigV8XrLARzZJ3nZnLuE9q4NjCwhvKACVaJz9_65TnTUr32InLthXsYfrEd54WCZ3GRWwWZCaxUlyvb_ge4jPOnDVTxaT-J/s640/blogger-image--1181847018.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4chyphenhyphenqMhflzOQrYTTkUhrpX1NVVH1cshigYwW3RneU8hBu_BRilwTgJJzpIuOt1R8rKFjp9HHTJhL9dBMnSl2gBobOFwTit4ZxaRTrM1-xpUR7Ssdh2_iHXSccPfBeb6i0eRwk0EF9Kzht/s640/blogger-image-927620955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4chyphenhyphenqMhflzOQrYTTkUhrpX1NVVH1cshigYwW3RneU8hBu_BRilwTgJJzpIuOt1R8rKFjp9HHTJhL9dBMnSl2gBobOFwTit4ZxaRTrM1-xpUR7Ssdh2_iHXSccPfBeb6i0eRwk0EF9Kzht/s640/blogger-image-927620955.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyKbPx2cHWXW9_S2rDAfx4G6Y2EaB6CMl_WsPaOYdBd9XJCvWN6EV3-bS6JD473qFgRj3w4oD3pyblcNvlnSM5M-zq8OXcxrCyBfM4wekDL9wtO1XmVeR5orpXx8Rkp5KBXhwx_esxKAC/s640/blogger-image--180093330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyKbPx2cHWXW9_S2rDAfx4G6Y2EaB6CMl_WsPaOYdBd9XJCvWN6EV3-bS6JD473qFgRj3w4oD3pyblcNvlnSM5M-zq8OXcxrCyBfM4wekDL9wtO1XmVeR5orpXx8Rkp5KBXhwx_esxKAC/s640/blogger-image--180093330.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs1dXArTX4jncucJ5ty_XwPp9OUSVY1_5VhEFYwtnDtha364EhJxqYhRcq5r9UqQnjYQDw0c1tRvs1uelQBihLt2q3j_eZK0jO5q5x1fbXAisCSljF5mLpM9aSkt-MHxfx8AdG_B4BNSla/s640/blogger-image-1901997617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs1dXArTX4jncucJ5ty_XwPp9OUSVY1_5VhEFYwtnDtha364EhJxqYhRcq5r9UqQnjYQDw0c1tRvs1uelQBihLt2q3j_eZK0jO5q5x1fbXAisCSljF5mLpM9aSkt-MHxfx8AdG_B4BNSla/s640/blogger-image-1901997617.jpg" /></a></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-22060619439610758662012-10-02T18:39:00.001-07:002012-10-02T18:39:56.179-07:00Conversations with a 2 year oldLately we have noticed a BIG jump in Gage's vocabulary. Specifically, he speaks using more complex sentences and ideas. Now the sentences usually go something like..."airplanes fly in the sky" or "watch Super Grover with the chicken, cluck cluck?", but its still fun to have actual conversations. Animals are always referenced by their name AND the sound they make - except for cows, which he will still only reference as "moos". I was commenting to someone at work about how much talking he's doing and how great it is that he can usually tell me what he needs and that I can even reason with him sometimes when he gets upset. Now it doesn't always work, of course, but it helps me stay calm. Anyway, during that conversation I realized that some of the increase is probably a result of ME being able to interpret toddler speak just as much as it is him learning more vocabulary. Who knew I'd be learning a new language too? <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAyoMQZxC-YNoPgxF3nN735VMBioB2JGmGK4UK7KPALCXwHIVuEcbadodZpI-EpaFLNWR_n0Kt7KOz8BwV6QyrdOL5YSiFhzIBj7laouohKYZMnuc2Y3HqK722dxbADa0uYjNYqVSMVz6E/s640/blogger-image--415865952.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAyoMQZxC-YNoPgxF3nN735VMBioB2JGmGK4UK7KPALCXwHIVuEcbadodZpI-EpaFLNWR_n0Kt7KOz8BwV6QyrdOL5YSiFhzIBj7laouohKYZMnuc2Y3HqK722dxbADa0uYjNYqVSMVz6E/s640/blogger-image--415865952.jpg" /></a></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-91789850762557949032012-09-22T21:01:00.001-07:002012-09-22T21:01:04.280-07:00SuperheroesA couple of months ago, I bought Gage a Superman shirt at Walmart. I bought it because I thought it was cool, not really because he was into it. Well since then, he's been totally into superheroes. Now, no matter what superhero it is, they are all called "superman". We try to tell him the right names, Spiderman, Batman, etc., but it doesn't matter, they are all "Superman!". Recently, it's become more Superman-specific. He picked out Spiderman for his Halloween costume, but I think that Superman is definitely his favorite. We have tried to find some shows to TiVo, but they are all borderline too violent. I need to try and find some toddler-friendly Superman videos for him. He loves to tell us how "Superman flies in the sky!" and point to his shirt and show me Superman. I figure this was inevitable, as the mom of a boy - superheroes are part of the drill. It's just been so funny how all of a sudden in the 6 months he has become ALL boy. Dinosaurs, superheroes, football, airplanes, guitars....he's into all of it. So I ordered him a bunch of new PJ sets that showed up today and I covered it all - Superman set, aliens set, guitar set and dinosaur set. His little toddler mind was blown - it was like Christmas in September. He wanted to take his bath and put on pjs at 6p. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEDs2dhPVaAeammJO3tW6iDTr91MG5Pz6ahLYzUj5oyIp8FGJQhHtpY0bdVMJO5LUzwdiHbKnt3Jk_oMhr6H1k3FSMlbhS7q-S-HVRCkeUhcax9OWSxJeQdP4SQ84U-vzgOLyDu6rrOw5i/s640/blogger-image-518785654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEDs2dhPVaAeammJO3tW6iDTr91MG5Pz6ahLYzUj5oyIp8FGJQhHtpY0bdVMJO5LUzwdiHbKnt3Jk_oMhr6H1k3FSMlbhS7q-S-HVRCkeUhcax9OWSxJeQdP4SQ84U-vzgOLyDu6rrOw5i/s640/blogger-image-518785654.jpg" /></a></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-23534151932755858932012-09-11T09:43:00.001-07:002012-09-17T18:13:23.557-07:001 year photo dump...I can't believe I haven't posted in a year. I've decided I need to get back on this. Gage is learning so much each day and I need a way to keep track. For today, I will just unload a years worth of pictures:<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinl9imN2rwbHCO1HaHepKQfwwek_0bTudqw-g6m1A2d73E5DcU7PS-yEwtoBvLINYhSeASEy8GfK-s_GqLC7JaF8TfACbMKFdqjoVty36vEPgOAVmjw_QkayOvNwKZI_A_RsDO3bH2t1qi/s640/blogger-image--1224169518.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinl9imN2rwbHCO1HaHepKQfwwek_0bTudqw-g6m1A2d73E5DcU7PS-yEwtoBvLINYhSeASEy8GfK-s_GqLC7JaF8TfACbMKFdqjoVty36vEPgOAVmjw_QkayOvNwKZI_A_RsDO3bH2t1qi/s640/blogger-image--1224169518.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJUoz7pHdzdy-b5XRoctfyAJOr2DEO_9A9gsrKITJ-2AaXxNtudcgdjmhSG0lC7AmvOnoguW_EqJoWljqWC5dh_-Tf-JLuJVBvjQAuMH0fKu8WBklQ48Sd2OfzBZjFfZYdRhBRZAJ7ECWG/s640/blogger-image--783376791.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJUoz7pHdzdy-b5XRoctfyAJOr2DEO_9A9gsrKITJ-2AaXxNtudcgdjmhSG0lC7AmvOnoguW_EqJoWljqWC5dh_-Tf-JLuJVBvjQAuMH0fKu8WBklQ48Sd2OfzBZjFfZYdRhBRZAJ7ECWG/s640/blogger-image--783376791.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3-HPxPFO1TosGpMUwlLOI5tzi_G4gCiSJAR7hjH8U3kvGaLgxmX7Vhak3eHdIxonO4Xr4YWlFEGUWAJ1tvVUuf90dFJw5XAXI4oKp76_gnaWLd6PZtfqjb_nzYN3KHZ4v2JIYnTTQt1p/s640/blogger-image--1633656187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3-HPxPFO1TosGpMUwlLOI5tzi_G4gCiSJAR7hjH8U3kvGaLgxmX7Vhak3eHdIxonO4Xr4YWlFEGUWAJ1tvVUuf90dFJw5XAXI4oKp76_gnaWLd6PZtfqjb_nzYN3KHZ4v2JIYnTTQt1p/s640/blogger-image--1633656187.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZz2fJ5kJ4mHH36tGZXtHY_gkozVuhKz5hVP7flduSJapH9Y5hoeROGswTmmzmyKu8cY3vTUmxDCOZvZL6WB7uOGjAxVs3sD6JPPPUoRKf_d7bRHzcGrNceADC4kNDQW4SYy1iWO0M7JPR/s640/blogger-image--1542003812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZz2fJ5kJ4mHH36tGZXtHY_gkozVuhKz5hVP7flduSJapH9Y5hoeROGswTmmzmyKu8cY3vTUmxDCOZvZL6WB7uOGjAxVs3sD6JPPPUoRKf_d7bRHzcGrNceADC4kNDQW4SYy1iWO0M7JPR/s640/blogger-image--1542003812.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyCvgF9IHzlnBGyNo0AFivaX2B7HIDBzbnNIUjLM15mA1oa5s0ss0W27HaIo7KpG6q3ddiEa9zTP7rzYEYNWi99jF3ReqANe6Jf7Z5WQDRtyoaljTkFUdEjLRlqRKyP8EVZ0iwqMwEo9sx/s640/blogger-image--1473570063.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyCvgF9IHzlnBGyNo0AFivaX2B7HIDBzbnNIUjLM15mA1oa5s0ss0W27HaIo7KpG6q3ddiEa9zTP7rzYEYNWi99jF3ReqANe6Jf7Z5WQDRtyoaljTkFUdEjLRlqRKyP8EVZ0iwqMwEo9sx/s640/blogger-image--1473570063.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRZWwjIL2IJcGboZAEBvX76SxjxdCWwhbtvGc_10IiHDYLutgxivTiYcVINz3tE48cEK60STIQZ6ASkAKK8QN8q7OF115lpjlrI7shEWIujdp2gWh_eUyd_HA8ruPqkF84L8vgw8-5Ju45/s640/blogger-image--1780015203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRZWwjIL2IJcGboZAEBvX76SxjxdCWwhbtvGc_10IiHDYLutgxivTiYcVINz3tE48cEK60STIQZ6ASkAKK8QN8q7OF115lpjlrI7shEWIujdp2gWh_eUyd_HA8ruPqkF84L8vgw8-5Ju45/s640/blogger-image--1780015203.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVIoz89rUfnMU1YrMUrsGjoFkoE6J8zWEwUfu3ydIAgAfPxR1NHFFIQLuA1xkQGFv-ht6YPH9gTPPh8rLV2mvWVso6DWvlav0hsWIeCr2xjGHXUyAVnpir2XuZc4FHr0Ru7DEcHQB7t_P/s640/blogger-image--1303293223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVIoz89rUfnMU1YrMUrsGjoFkoE6J8zWEwUfu3ydIAgAfPxR1NHFFIQLuA1xkQGFv-ht6YPH9gTPPh8rLV2mvWVso6DWvlav0hsWIeCr2xjGHXUyAVnpir2XuZc4FHr0Ru7DEcHQB7t_P/s640/blogger-image--1303293223.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsnP3O4Oghlm3iC7VwMYlcM-PjPDnVtQ3xOqjn4TOLyIJsIgYBVY8RiDgVDCoOVodk6sVY2vH1KoK4bE7ptsjHy_FQk15iZVqUK4ld5VySMXViqyRz9f4LyVUqGqvRjJfZ_EVLB6-K_nYn/s640/blogger-image--177003603.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsnP3O4Oghlm3iC7VwMYlcM-PjPDnVtQ3xOqjn4TOLyIJsIgYBVY8RiDgVDCoOVodk6sVY2vH1KoK4bE7ptsjHy_FQk15iZVqUK4ld5VySMXViqyRz9f4LyVUqGqvRjJfZ_EVLB6-K_nYn/s640/blogger-image--177003603.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZsf5jDpnQgr15-JJwZ_HJVUhwGuh_5eLejLVj6cHWAYrlunwO6cnQSawzfAYKoznAkevvAmvxw9y26gaN7_QvuuN9gEtX1n5dH7L0k_q1hw2RO64zVqwgBko4Wt2JiqaM8Lcnmm9YhePr/s640/blogger-image--1005024072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZsf5jDpnQgr15-JJwZ_HJVUhwGuh_5eLejLVj6cHWAYrlunwO6cnQSawzfAYKoznAkevvAmvxw9y26gaN7_QvuuN9gEtX1n5dH7L0k_q1hw2RO64zVqwgBko4Wt2JiqaM8Lcnmm9YhePr/s640/blogger-image--1005024072.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXmaXTd9g-Z90ouSJ3hmlGUFOrH9irb1vRWG2PeFb7UgN5sbWo0miN97Dhyq1YO4-qPr_KFf9oM5jPoXkM6YOCIHUKkPmaFPtPtyPLHeNDkAnQV4TLHwKgAEBgrLmVORhStFGG59ibNKHA/s640/blogger-image--609585750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3C4yyIxBxjJS0FCg0QUsy7EMox3DYgSY63dhoBma45Em6Uw9T-iJaP2iRX0Jk_okcEWcw_JGBwVTk8AJDjQBw1g8eCzODZXstqRcQjEw95RH-R_MDlJYTwO2e0KnK-sXidxRB7jqOYNz4/s640/blogger-image-718210929.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUBXS-33OOauFYKccz1Z4vRK_DCyXFEOORjLV0IVN4rHdju3vTchJo2Y58W4WzE8qCOO1SAQk9nDmDK4H89OBlMMsCP49QwHNU9pIUhp_s8bwdffiGnwWTvSwfu4JIXMF-dIjilmhhMO1/s640/blogger-image-1070966441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUBXS-33OOauFYKccz1Z4vRK_DCyXFEOORjLV0IVN4rHdju3vTchJo2Y58W4WzE8qCOO1SAQk9nDmDK4H89OBlMMsCP49QwHNU9pIUhp_s8bwdffiGnwWTvSwfu4JIXMF-dIjilmhhMO1/s640/blogger-image-1070966441.jpg" /></a></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-61758028902811366052011-09-22T20:09:00.000-07:002011-09-22T20:31:13.046-07:00September 22, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrGy1HkUtpsVM2C8Ufqb_N_N_cmRwurrDq8EWbq8gn7dmUQ1vpp3IELROfr20Gyni9tekvASP2heNONdxTJdQLcDjNAGvFYnUO4yGglxEYPXFMhwjIJajOleaj-ruDzo9v63YRo1cFsRl/s1600/9.22.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655388157947746850" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrGy1HkUtpsVM2C8Ufqb_N_N_cmRwurrDq8EWbq8gn7dmUQ1vpp3IELROfr20Gyni9tekvASP2heNONdxTJdQLcDjNAGvFYnUO4yGglxEYPXFMhwjIJajOleaj-ruDzo9v63YRo1cFsRl/s320/9.22.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRsd0LjGRh_Xqn3YVBM6OXIoBO_slwEeCo78BUr1rAJ8ZDslHjGvpKa6Lvocq0hxhp5ANhalxvvbL2tEnkaUfuFw-GvBEGz7bR765sMyrSrGDKZIv1NCUsn9t8lzLOm2ddOQB1Z8WTh7lX/s1600/9.22%25282%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655388152128314322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRsd0LjGRh_Xqn3YVBM6OXIoBO_slwEeCo78BUr1rAJ8ZDslHjGvpKa6Lvocq0hxhp5ANhalxvvbL2tEnkaUfuFw-GvBEGz7bR765sMyrSrGDKZIv1NCUsn9t8lzLOm2ddOQB1Z8WTh7lX/s320/9.22%25282%2529.JPG" /></a> </div><br /><div>Those pictures are of a pretty sick little monkey, although it can be hard to tell. Little man has been running a fever for the last 3 days. The first day was the scariest, all the way to 105 - yesterday it was in the low 100s and today it was mostly fine, just a couple of small spikes. J took him to the doc today and they said that his throat was pretty swollen, but he tested negative for strep. Told us it was viral, the throat is a result of sinus drainage and to come back on Saturday if he's still spiking a fever. Poor little dude. He's pretty cool for the most part, but he has some pretty pitiful moments from time to time. He's so congested and I can tell his throat is hurting him. It's been a LONG week. We're hoping that the fever is gone tomorrow. </div><br /><div>That's really all that's new with the Monkey this week. Just trying to beat the sickness - tough little dude.<br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-67091036332289972302011-09-18T19:24:00.000-07:002011-09-18T19:34:51.499-07:00September 18, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIJdMtPoyAW_Ukf6l7MmI6ui8VrqNOUemBvweoMEkEbCYt03j-9trwdEoKlDfOt7ug1uSAStFkZSokiMQ74wTP1Qd0wImMls3SpmGQXolnlvoxSXZshhoADc672A7P7EegrkUf2-1r2wVk/s1600/lunch.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653891414218918546" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIJdMtPoyAW_Ukf6l7MmI6ui8VrqNOUemBvweoMEkEbCYt03j-9trwdEoKlDfOt7ug1uSAStFkZSokiMQ74wTP1Qd0wImMls3SpmGQXolnlvoxSXZshhoADc672A7P7EegrkUf2-1r2wVk/s320/lunch.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Qbc6D7GfQ5UM5Op-eJSqIIq0WxV5zIwYMwZ7yLfo5nt4n2PC7Qw70m-Ze3fSsv_S2q71M6nqnd23Vk2A5FspmsPqyqEPU6qVcqcwwOVPKFgaOnYiPIlEn50lKwmrK0lU7bqgfUePggVG/s1600/big+smile.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653891412642060674" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Qbc6D7GfQ5UM5Op-eJSqIIq0WxV5zIwYMwZ7yLfo5nt4n2PC7Qw70m-Ze3fSsv_S2q71M6nqnd23Vk2A5FspmsPqyqEPU6qVcqcwwOVPKFgaOnYiPIlEn50lKwmrK0lU7bqgfUePggVG/s320/big+smile.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-M9euvup957XV0U85ZSsotGrVA3RQWlp4hVoQFdm4w0P11OZoajsRh5uODKAz9Y64rDisJW_H7x4tltYP78e6btCiQHbB9ASHVxW-9_adZw6mGKwlf6H2aDZEfVLnEPDnP2aySyjjoFm0/s1600/bedtime2.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653891410093435954" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-M9euvup957XV0U85ZSsotGrVA3RQWlp4hVoQFdm4w0P11OZoajsRh5uODKAz9Y64rDisJW_H7x4tltYP78e6btCiQHbB9ASHVxW-9_adZw6mGKwlf6H2aDZEfVLnEPDnP2aySyjjoFm0/s320/bedtime2.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgajmeEtdD6kc2XnPbwRlwZNJxSvcMvIhZ4pHc-_2zvViK5M1P1pq3ccuD8A7X4n_rmF8suveOFKNd101rgjBdvYtSr7jVKpWNIEhINpsMpF5N8B73AvrLvFFb-mgqzL3skVvfzir4QnIDF/s1600/bedtime.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653891407042861474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgajmeEtdD6kc2XnPbwRlwZNJxSvcMvIhZ4pHc-_2zvViK5M1P1pq3ccuD8A7X4n_rmF8suveOFKNd101rgjBdvYtSr7jVKpWNIEhINpsMpF5N8B73AvrLvFFb-mgqzL3skVvfzir4QnIDF/s320/bedtime.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Here are a few pictures of the kiddo from this weekend. The first one is during a very interesting lunch conversation we were having, the second is a picture of his new BIG smile face at WalMart and the last two are a moving photo session before bedtime. He just walked back and forth in front of me while I took pics. </div><br /><div>Not much new to report during this little post. Little man is a dancing machine, he will bop and shake to any old song - his favorite are the songs J makes up and sings for him. He spent a few hours with me at work on Friday and he had a great time running in and out of everyone's cubicles and charming people. He's eating more and more non-jarred food, which makes things so much easier when we go out to eat. He LOVES him some bananas. The talking is still pretty much nonstop and now he's added a lot of gestures - hands up with a shrug, palm out to prove a point. It cracks me up. We are putting shoes on him more often when we go out and I have to say that he's so cute in his sneakers - he looks so grown up. Daycare is still going well. We've had a little crying when J drops him off, but as soon as he's out the door it's fine. He seems to have a lot of fun there and he's less cranky when he gets home now. I think he's getting used to the schedule. Other than that, we are just crusing along - sleeping through the night, smiling all the time. I'm pretty sure there are some new teeth coming, but nothing just yet. </div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div></div></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-69096818481730225862011-09-01T18:30:00.000-07:002011-09-01T19:00:03.443-07:00September 1, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhR6b9OpVetpMRgHk_zFabzOet3Mh7-_Hrdbi-ir4Mn9xLhbSqmtTeE-cgITdQxRxvJoBjA5QdfvWZHWWysaKJxyAu-2ZUxXfyJ46GeMZlco478HpLRGIFVhcmLm2nxrf852OgRB7SNiyM/s1600/9.1.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 239px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647569204747372498" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhR6b9OpVetpMRgHk_zFabzOet3Mh7-_Hrdbi-ir4Mn9xLhbSqmtTeE-cgITdQxRxvJoBjA5QdfvWZHWWysaKJxyAu-2ZUxXfyJ46GeMZlco478HpLRGIFVhcmLm2nxrf852OgRB7SNiyM/s320/9.1.JPG" /></a>
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<br /><div>This has been a tough week for the Campbell family - and while the kiddo has been a trooper, it's definitely thrown him off his game a little bit. </div>
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<br /><div>A few new developments for Gage this week:</div>
<br /><div>- I found two new TOP molars tonight - that makes 12 teeth total.</div>
<br /><div>- He no longer wants to eat in the highchair, he wants to eat like a big boy on his own.</div>
<br /><div>- He started daycare this week. It's going to be 2 days a week and he did his second day today. </div>
<br /><div>- He has started to basically put himself to bed, coming up to Jason with his binky in his mouth and one of his stuffed animals when he's ready for a nap. </div>
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<br /><div>First things first: daycare! Because of the way the schedule works out, Jason took Gage up there both days to drop him off in the mornings. I packed his lunches the night before and we decided that if I took off to meet them there it may make things harder, so he was the strong one and did the drop offs. There were some hiccups the first morning, but not really with Gage. It was more about some confusion about what kids were supposed to be in what classrooms. According to Jason, Gage was ready to get in the mix as soon as they got there. No tears when he left - little man jumped right in and made new friends. I called to check on him around 11a and the director was blown away at how great he was doing. She said he was laughing and smiling, he had a great time. When I got home I could tell he was REALLY tired and a little fussy, but after his bath it was like a little re-set and he was good. We were nervous that since he would have a little more awareness today that he might cry on Day 2. Nope. Another quick dropoff and he jumped right in again. I decided to leave work early and do the pickup today because I wanted to see him interacting with everyone and see how it was going. When I got there he was throwing balls around with 2 other kiddos and having a great time. I opened the door and when he saw me he gave me a great smile and came running to me. We hung out at the house, he had a snack and a late nap. It was more tough for Jason since he's with him all day, but I was surprised at how comfortable I was. I did call to check on him, but I did not fret about it at all - I just knew he would have a good time. So going forward he'll be at daycare on Wednesday and Thursday. </div>
<br /><div>Ok - the highchair thing: the last few days Gage has been crazy fussy in the highchair. I know he's hungry, but after a few bites he'll throw a fit and not take any more bites. I know he gets to sit in his own chair for lunch at daycare and I usually don't have a hard time feeding him if he's wandering around on his own, so tonight I took him out and sat him in one of the dining room chairs. He sat back, totally relaxed and ate the rest of his dinner - such a big boy. We'll need to get something to help secure him in those chairs - they don't have a solid back OR arms - but I think we are moving out of the highchair. He likes to be independent and sit on his own, and he likes to feed himself when it's possible - finger foods, etc. I need to start letting him work with the spoon himself as well, but I'm not ready for him to be that grown up!!</div>
<br /><div>The "putting himself to bed" thing is actually pretty funny. Jason called me a couple of times last week and was like - uh, the kid is coming to me and basically telling me when he's ready for nap. He'll go put his binky in his mouth and then either bring his singing cow or singing elephant to him and that's the cue. He gives you the big blinking doe eyes and all you gotta do is take him into his room. It's been pretty similar at night as well - he was even getting to where he wanted J to put him to bed for the night, which was new. Such a cute little dude. </div>
<br /><div>Molars? Self explanatory. </div>
<br /><div>It's been a big week in the life of Gage. I'm looking forward to the 3 day weekend so we can spend a little extra time together. We're going to find us something fun to do this weekend!</div>
<br />Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-9773848605686179882011-08-23T19:26:00.001-07:002011-08-23T19:39:50.192-07:00August 23, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDN393FcsPMhsp80extZHf9hffHLs0sjbdwYj5XqMrk5Ni_xp3U6opPtzHs-s4RCAc6tCbGWs7AV49DN1AkynG6hA_FCFVt1tSeopZtO_9atJg07tMC27qd1npk4WZCFal4ubmulh3ghOI/s1600/doctor8.23%25283%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644243526573443314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDN393FcsPMhsp80extZHf9hffHLs0sjbdwYj5XqMrk5Ni_xp3U6opPtzHs-s4RCAc6tCbGWs7AV49DN1AkynG6hA_FCFVt1tSeopZtO_9atJg07tMC27qd1npk4WZCFal4ubmulh3ghOI/s320/doctor8.23%25283%2529.JPG" /></a>
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<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2_WkROg0OKU5ao1klnNtJKzWaDFlMYz6VseC2MPUZxrpgl1c9KvY_Hlxzi-DDz6Au1xDaOhTaeWfIqIMEQqTMeHdMJ0fxIA7TsD6Lpcqiep8SZR01xhr0eu0qOrYDRv_ZnRywsFpvEyrI/s1600/doctor8.23%25282%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644243526803859010" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2_WkROg0OKU5ao1klnNtJKzWaDFlMYz6VseC2MPUZxrpgl1c9KvY_Hlxzi-DDz6Au1xDaOhTaeWfIqIMEQqTMeHdMJ0fxIA7TsD6Lpcqiep8SZR01xhr0eu0qOrYDRv_ZnRywsFpvEyrI/s320/doctor8.23%25282%2529.JPG" /></a>
<br />Here are a couple of pictures of the kiddo and I at the doctor's office. The first one is J's favorite and the 2nd is my favorite, so you get a double dose today. The doctor's office has been really busy, so it's actually 1 month past his birthday, but it's all good. The visit itself went great, his measurements are: 32 inches long (95th percentile), 24.5 lbs (70th percentile) and his head circumference was 19.5 inches (93rd percentile). His development milestones are all great and doctor said he's healthy as a horse. I was expecting a blood draw, since I knew it was their policy to do a blood panel at 1 year, but their lab was closed. So now we have to go back for that, which sucks. He had 4 shots and the first thing I asked was how do you give a MOBILE kid shots? It was so much easier when he was a little meatloaf that just laid there. It wasn't terrible - more traumatizing for me, I'm sure. The minute I picked him up he stopped crying and I gave him a cookie, which of course made it all better. </div>
<br /><div>When they do his blood panel, they are also going to test the severity of this egg allergy we've noticed recently. The doctor doesn't think it's a huge issue since it's only shown up as a mild breakout, but he just wants to be safe. In the meantime, no eggs for the monkey. </div>
<br /><div>He's been awesome the last few days, sleeping in, being super adorable and eating like a champ. We have one more week until he starts parttime daycare - I need to get some supplies this weekend to get ready for that. I need to think about what to pack for his lunches, get an extra box of diapers and wipes. I think he's going to have a lot of fun there, but I have to say that I am NOT looking forward to it. </div>
<br />Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-31209605729277841912011-08-21T11:55:00.001-07:002011-08-21T12:21:26.907-07:00August 21, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDGm4DAoGVwFaw5qq1oEx5srjdmuWeWx-wq_Wp6gBWlcTyNSzkonvjhUfkRA0kKNUQpu2N4AGQAfHpNdHe3p6Z4NDiT0bdaBbtiNL8062qmMcYI0kaUJx1VJGsAYY4AE_mVPKywW5GBWs/s1600/8.21.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643385133549682802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDGm4DAoGVwFaw5qq1oEx5srjdmuWeWx-wq_Wp6gBWlcTyNSzkonvjhUfkRA0kKNUQpu2N4AGQAfHpNdHe3p6Z4NDiT0bdaBbtiNL8062qmMcYI0kaUJx1VJGsAYY4AE_mVPKywW5GBWs/s320/8.21.JPG" /></a>
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<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbESnO9VXqldwWg8hi1VnZIRtqxXy9dtqbeKTZT3NzloJw8UX67jViR4JsUO9QxUsRJ2LmQEFFC8-bvbT8kxdBJQiZ160T_MsFGJkdDUCB8mJNGYnOnb8pmuZjr1Rb6GsC23Bcc_MFe7y6/s1600/8.21%25282%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643385130089856178" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbESnO9VXqldwWg8hi1VnZIRtqxXy9dtqbeKTZT3NzloJw8UX67jViR4JsUO9QxUsRJ2LmQEFFC8-bvbT8kxdBJQiZ160T_MsFGJkdDUCB8mJNGYnOnb8pmuZjr1Rb6GsC23Bcc_MFe7y6/s320/8.21%25282%2529.JPG" /></a> I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I wrote a blog post. In my defense, it's been a very hectic 2 weeks. I've been working on a ridiculously crazy project at work, the kiddo has been sick and so we all lost a little sleep the last couple of weeks. </div>
<br /><div>Here are a couple of pictures we've taken - there are some others, but he looks pretty pitiful in those. He came down with a pretty nasty cold last week and between the snot, losing sleep, and feeling crappy, he was not a happy camper. Most of the snot is gone and he's definitely feeling a lot better. He was still a little whiny and clingy this week, but it's getting better. I think he's gone through a little growth spurt and we've upped his calories a little, which seem to really be helping. He's sleeping through the night again and we can tell the rest has done him good. </div>
<br /><div>He's been cracking us up lately with his dancing and his facial expressions. He's the funniest little dude, alays hamming it up and putting on little shows for us. He and I have a lot of fun on our little weekend outings together. He likes to entertain wherever he goes, so we make a lot of friends at the grocery store, restaurants, etc. All three of us have tried to get in the habit of doing something all together on the weekends - usually it's hitting up Elevation Burger on Sunday nights. Kids eat free! Gage likes their grilled cheese and J and I love their burgers, so it's a win win. </div>
<br /><div>J and I signed him up for a couple of days of daycare starting on 8/31. He'll be going on Wednesdays and Thursdays to a nice day school we really like. His 1 year check up is next week, so I'll have to get all of his records together and then he'll be ready to go. Neither of us is ready for it, but we know he'll have fun and enjoy it.
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<br />Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-32937249518257311052011-08-08T18:28:00.001-07:002011-08-08T18:48:03.161-07:00August 8, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiefRPzXcfEMtKv4t-6lJiJeGjt1xRvAK3qiv0vvNIQGlHDDKNryqS36qaOoR4DWG7Wg8k3eiwM2tviBKD7YeruFQ9H9KQ84ra4O4cVGaDvSFNGR5J2LXxYjUhpdAwN_35AFvb-MCcfnTww/s1600/eyes.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638662022044184834" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiefRPzXcfEMtKv4t-6lJiJeGjt1xRvAK3qiv0vvNIQGlHDDKNryqS36qaOoR4DWG7Wg8k3eiwM2tviBKD7YeruFQ9H9KQ84ra4O4cVGaDvSFNGR5J2LXxYjUhpdAwN_35AFvb-MCcfnTww/s320/eyes.jpg" /></a> There has been a lot going on with Gage over the last couple of weeks. I've been trying to keep track so I could write one big blog post - here's hoping I hit everything.
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<br />- He got two molars this week...at the same time. I've known for about 2 weeks that teeth were coming. Between the intermittent crankiness, ear tugging and low grade fever, it was just inevitable. I checked his gums every night and then boom, overnight - 2 lowers!
<br />- Walking is pretty much his chosen mode of transportation these days and he's pretty damn good at it. He's even starting to run away from us a little. Tonight I as walking down the hall to get him and he started squealing and motoring the other way. He was cracking himself up.
<br />- He's also doing a lot of DANCING these days. It is SO damn funny (and cute). All of a sudden he's dancing and swaying to all of his musical toys and even if we sing to him (just any little melody), he'll sway and shimmy. It cracks both of us up.
<br />- Talking is still pretty steady, but over the last week we've noticed that he'll mimic us more often. If I say something, he'll jabber back mimicing my tone and inflection. So even though there aren't real words, it sounds just like whatever we said. He's definitely trying to communicate with us, so we just talk back to him. He has started to talk to people on the phone - if J puts me on speaker and I talk to him, he'll respond to me with jabber. It's a fun little addition to my day.
<br />- We have fully transitioned to both whole milk (no more formula, yay!) and sippy cups. I packed all of the bottles up last weekend. He's been doing milk during the day for a month now, but I would still give him bottles of formula if he woke up in the middle of the night - because it worked to get him back to sleep. Over the last week that changed because he 1) started sleeping through the night more often 2) I just bit the bullet and didn't take a bottle in there when he did wake up. So he has had a couple of wake up sessions - usually just one a night between 3-5a and I will just go in there and rock him for a minute and he'll go back to sleep. I've also gotten better about waiting until he's really awake/upset before running in there. There have been times when I thought he was really going to go nuts and I waited a minute and he went right back to sleep. He and I are getting it down, finally.
<br />- He's also eating more table food. It's getting to where J and I can't eat in front of him unless we are ok with giving him food off of our plates. There are some meals I make that are a little too spicy for him, so we are still doing some jarred food, but he's eating more and more from our plates and from what I cook. We took him out to eat with us last weekend and I ordered him an applesauce side, then fed him some of my chicken and potato as well. He loved it.
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<br />A friend of mine that came to his birthday party warned me to look out because the personality would start getting bigger and bigger from that point on and she was right. It was like he started walking, turned 1 and now he's his own little person almost overnight. J and I are always commenting on how he looks like a little boy now, where did our little baby go? I will say that he's so much fun though. He goes out with us a lot - the grocery store, restaurants, people visits - and he's just great company. We all tumble around the house together and act silly, he has us laughing all of the time. We've decided that he's just the best kid ever.
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<br />Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-47958872105473326612011-07-31T20:51:00.000-07:002011-07-31T21:12:53.336-07:00July 31, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsB4aOHoE65K9kYqd5qUhnEtVcT9fpKXujCvkiDBc5VQILmsMXDCJTXcOJLlKBANkzP0fOEtsjom7nDwtfVqD2n9b_gz6u5pCVG389Uh5ZDWZrGm6lf8A6Kzh7SVXqeL6jJz6i96Od6p0/s1600/7.31.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635730963518098418" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsB4aOHoE65K9kYqd5qUhnEtVcT9fpKXujCvkiDBc5VQILmsMXDCJTXcOJLlKBANkzP0fOEtsjom7nDwtfVqD2n9b_gz6u5pCVG389Uh5ZDWZrGm6lf8A6Kzh7SVXqeL6jJz6i96Od6p0/s320/7.31.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfNAkKnzIJjdgzYjODwChokcA-dhiB5N_FYxh1Xds_knwkOFwttB0-Oq7pjcxAb-BkSHoArC2XAWd7LSUlFvMvAUMtvzQouGLe9fcb1KYkg7mkJca4TI3AquC82LB0u9zetEaPsAZcGy1/s1600/7.30.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 239px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635730949079507842" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfNAkKnzIJjdgzYjODwChokcA-dhiB5N_FYxh1Xds_knwkOFwttB0-Oq7pjcxAb-BkSHoArC2XAWd7LSUlFvMvAUMtvzQouGLe9fcb1KYkg7mkJca4TI3AquC82LB0u9zetEaPsAZcGy1/s320/7.30.JPG" /></a><br />Well the epic birthday celebration has come and gone. For those that have asked, no I am not stopping the blogs. The intent was a whole year, starting from 1/1, so there are 5 more months to go to finish up that year. Now I can't promise I'll do it every day, but I'll do my best to keep it updated. The first picture is a picture of little man playing with one of his new toys, please note the tongue stuck out as he is working very hard at his new workbench. The second picture is another one we took last night in the middle of his 2 hour fight over going to bed. I posted a really pitiful one on FB last night, this one shows that he was smiling a little bit, but he was exhausted. After the full day of festivities, it took us about 2 hours to get him to bed - 2 hours of screaming, kicking and being ticked off! Poor kiddo, he just had so much fun he didn't want it to end. He was EXHAUSTED though. He went all day with only a 30 minute nap - I have no idea how he did that. </div><br /><div>The party was awesome and the kiddo had a great time. He was showing off his awesome walking skills and chatting up anyone that would chat back. I bought a sprinkler/crazy hose type thing for the kiddos to play in out back and Gage had a lot of fun in it. He stood there and just let the water hit him in the face for a few minutes - it was cracking us up. He got to tear up his monkey cake (that I made!) and got chocolate all over himself and me! He and I opened up his presents (mostly me) and little man cleaned up. I think we need to invest in V-Tech, that's for sure. </div><br /><div>Thanks to everyone that came to the party and had fun with us. The kiddo is officially into his 2nd year. He celebrated that by throwing some pretty impressive tantrums today. I think he may have some teeth coming in - there was a lot of ear tugging during the fits today. At least I hope that he has some teeth coming in - because those fits were ridiculous and it will be easier to make them less in my mind if there was actual pain involved. Poor kiddo, it's tough to be a little boy. <br /><br /></div><br /><div></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-19085570943632334392011-07-27T18:18:00.000-07:002011-07-27T18:49:23.345-07:00July 27, 2011 - Happy 1st Birthday!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcaQwhHGGGs_tX6d_GDXKN2o58HZa4RW_4byOmRzFCy-By9OwBcPTCJs9PVQMPVtWhMS0O2HXBWW9JwRQDSM2C1gZA82__V02bsQUFp353ijJuAuZD9vgaWpoXKXC-QSQkZnywEB0Bducg/s1600/%257Bb5746641-0070-44b7-a23e-828d35e0c9d8%257D_4.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 229px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634206844579462978" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcaQwhHGGGs_tX6d_GDXKN2o58HZa4RW_4byOmRzFCy-By9OwBcPTCJs9PVQMPVtWhMS0O2HXBWW9JwRQDSM2C1gZA82__V02bsQUFp353ijJuAuZD9vgaWpoXKXC-QSQkZnywEB0Bducg/s320/%257Bb5746641-0070-44b7-a23e-828d35e0c9d8%257D_4.jpg" /></a><br />WOO HOO! It's the Monkey's birthday! I can't believe it's been a year since that precious little baby came into this world. I also can't believe he was ever as small as he is in that picture. I'm secretly happy that he's getting better at this walking thing so that maybe I won't have to carry him around so much. Although he still walks up and wants me to pick him up, so I'm probably fooling myself. J sang Happy Birthday to him when he woke up this morning and I sang it to him when I got home. He got a gift in the mail today, so we went ahead and opened that up and he got a super cute shirt, some jeans and a train from his great aunt and uncle. <br />He's getting really great at walking, it's turning into his preferred mode of transport - although when he wants to go somewhere fast, he'll still drop to a crawl. He has this toy that is pretty big and his current "thing" is to walk around with it and then randomly throw it on the ground. I'll be surprised if it still works tomorrow. It's really loud when he does it, but man it cracks J and I up. He'll just raise it up as high as he possibly can and then toss it down while he's walking around - did I mention we have concrete floors? <br />Happy Birthday to you, my little Monkey! You are the funniest little dude and I love you so much.Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-47188960540005015012011-07-24T18:59:00.001-07:002011-07-24T19:15:01.344-07:00July 24, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhbCPX6m44vP_hVWJ8_inugF2fRow1WKxj12XmD3x5DFHQc91A_16NAN3avTNjM7jYsgR4vjTZ2zgkaoH2DThtWpvL2cKrafwNKbGTnFCjSVd-bsSPDAkBdS5m8MTihB9xd7AIj_bZccF7/s1600/7.24%25282%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633104006637514178" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhbCPX6m44vP_hVWJ8_inugF2fRow1WKxj12XmD3x5DFHQc91A_16NAN3avTNjM7jYsgR4vjTZ2zgkaoH2DThtWpvL2cKrafwNKbGTnFCjSVd-bsSPDAkBdS5m8MTihB9xd7AIj_bZccF7/s320/7.24%25282%2529.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcpwKnJlNuVoRiiNygNyQtX_W0BXZvXGmGOCAJpvFGNtqvi31Hh7_b3LSAFXz1Xag1HEkxc2bKj_dKVIkhwfDFUcYSfV5d-nCdulVekn5l2cYnmFHF0sScvJuauhV6GCe595L9lu6kV0X5/s1600/7.24.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633104000352093778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcpwKnJlNuVoRiiNygNyQtX_W0BXZvXGmGOCAJpvFGNtqvi31Hh7_b3LSAFXz1Xag1HEkxc2bKj_dKVIkhwfDFUcYSfV5d-nCdulVekn5l2cYnmFHF0sScvJuauhV6GCe595L9lu6kV0X5/s320/7.24.JPG" /></a><br />The first picture is just a little fun with the kiddo. The second one is an example of how excited he gets to see himself in the phone (or mirror). It totally makes his day. </div><br /><div>The weekend was a bit of a whirlwind. Monkey and I went to Gymboree, where he showed off his new walking skills by pushing the airlog without my help, and then later that evening we went to Southlake to take his 1 year pictures, stopped for dinner at our favorite burger place and then got him in bed around 9p. Did I mention he slept until 9:30a Saturday morning? He did get up for a bottle around 6a, but that's a whole hour later than usual. He took a good nap between Gymboree and the pictures and he was in a great mood, despite us being outside for them. Today was a little more laid back - he slept until 9a and then after playing for a while we all went to the grocery store, took a nap and then Monkey helped me make dinner. We had all dinner and just hung out this evening. Jason and I got his birthday present while we were out and I'm glad that's done. </div><br /><div>Got a lot done this weekend, got another big weekend coming up. </div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-62654258139000751072011-07-21T18:27:00.000-07:002011-07-21T18:39:59.419-07:00July 21, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8szt14ws4PZD0zMaW6Bgza9eV9UPjC8bhXyKke0wWeXd3X3_VtSI9bn-_-etLZuODvtiv1_RiroXi9uiWnvM76upZFWMfU-8nYtc93a9W65xW2jxL5Zd9zV9gSml1EJp2kxWsupmzJEL4/s1600/7.21%25283%2529.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631982626178582642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8szt14ws4PZD0zMaW6Bgza9eV9UPjC8bhXyKke0wWeXd3X3_VtSI9bn-_-etLZuODvtiv1_RiroXi9uiWnvM76upZFWMfU-8nYtc93a9W65xW2jxL5Zd9zV9gSml1EJp2kxWsupmzJEL4/s320/7.21%25283%2529.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div>Someone took a few steps today! J texted me and told me he had taken a couple of steps early in the day. He and I were hanging out in his room after his bath and I got a 3-4 steps out of him. The funniest part is that I knew he wanted to walk to me. I had his binky in my mouth (facing outward) because I was cleaning up his room before bedtime. I looked up and he was standing about 3 feet away from me, staring me down with a smile on his face. He has this look on his face like, "I AM going to walk over there and get that binky!" I stopped what I was doing and called him over and he took 3-4 steps to me! It was pretty awesome. He got the binky AND some kisses. We'll see if he keeps practicing over the next few days. It would be awesome if he was really toddling around before his birthday party.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-21453274913598431132011-07-19T19:20:00.000-07:002011-07-19T19:45:58.993-07:00July 19, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgRjxsBDuiKKXKxZBGumcjBgQwsn98K5kKwZEz9HmaZdC_1_1x4ygtyhIoQxxv2KxYhHwA6XvlGSl4U9KYdvOlnBsYILl6Ka2da3i4T-Pzwhbj1w3PHUqdT7QY5l_f01YBsZhIfw8rgpP7/s1600/7.19.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631253915278071634" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgRjxsBDuiKKXKxZBGumcjBgQwsn98K5kKwZEz9HmaZdC_1_1x4ygtyhIoQxxv2KxYhHwA6XvlGSl4U9KYdvOlnBsYILl6Ka2da3i4T-Pzwhbj1w3PHUqdT7QY5l_f01YBsZhIfw8rgpP7/s320/7.19.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div>This is almost the only way I can get a picture of the kiddo's face these days. If I turn the camera around so that he can see his face, he's all about it - otherwise, he's too busy to smile at the camera.</div><br /><div>I'm pretty sure that he's getting in his last two top incisors. I can see the white and they are taking FOREVER to break through. He's pretty much fine during the day, but they give him some trouble at night. After those, I think there is just one more bottom set before there's nothing but molars left. Eek. I'm a little scared of the molars. </div><br /><div>Still not fully walking, I'm certain he decide to do it the day AFTER his birthday. Oh well, the way he's been tearing it up lately, we should probably do what we can to DISCOURAGE him from getting more mobile. He was in a good mood tonight when I got home. He had a little dinner, took his bath and then went to bed pretty early. He hasn't been sleeping great - back to 2 wake-ups a night. We have been weaning him off of the formula and getting him into whole milk. He doesn't notice a big difference other than it's cold. He's been eating more and more table food, sharing from our plates and drinking from our cups. He's just getting so big. Everyday it seems like he looks different, getting bigger and more grown up. </div><br /><div>This weekend we are going out to Bob Jones Nature Preserve to take 1 year photos of the Monkey. We are all going this time I think, so hopefully we'll get a couple of pics of all of us. There are not a lot of pictures of all 3 of us, so I'm excited. </div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-32168474043654510052011-07-18T18:26:00.000-07:002011-07-18T18:26:24.129-07:00July 18, 2011 - The Monkey in Action<iframe height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sL79IDG71Pc?fs=1" frameborder="0" width="425" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-87550934927888694972011-07-16T19:19:00.000-07:002011-07-16T19:57:15.461-07:00July 16, 2011 and a recap of our trip<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3jaj741HgT8g4RwzEYpMXRcOAPyXrc4E7IcYimKxUslJzqCC9PSwZp6s7FmGqkjanbJTsWyqpQiTameSuvhhDd7FWEYrSgJoLIYD-EBW69lTHPxtl-m4421AIhnktcp_NqtRizs8V0Z0/s1600/orange4.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630144299488834658" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3jaj741HgT8g4RwzEYpMXRcOAPyXrc4E7IcYimKxUslJzqCC9PSwZp6s7FmGqkjanbJTsWyqpQiTameSuvhhDd7FWEYrSgJoLIYD-EBW69lTHPxtl-m4421AIhnktcp_NqtRizs8V0Z0/s320/orange4.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56OjwInbWU15KY4X0cHzt-BgYAj04V65HX3DsHgF-HPu1mgywGu7xD609TcpHXNxK55TuUYZK0v11bkqI_xFbNTjjt_eStXm_VJTvEmf1n9qppLZF9AgKHxhkeEMTaKJcp53OkrpjYWEx/s1600/orange2.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630144300683427570" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56OjwInbWU15KY4X0cHzt-BgYAj04V65HX3DsHgF-HPu1mgywGu7xD609TcpHXNxK55TuUYZK0v11bkqI_xFbNTjjt_eStXm_VJTvEmf1n9qppLZF9AgKHxhkeEMTaKJcp53OkrpjYWEx/s320/orange2.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMx8p6PdX9iApmPPxPTUcrjguFE10PazppzCdeXQC_IbAjCg_ycdoowx6ZT6ObdnHUyFV0FkZq1m3Bn_V6tFF6Y7FfLYYuNx2wntJOv3hUuNYVingMli4IPCZw8gX3hV_IgTakqIR3jo8s/s1600/orange.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630144296661763730" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMx8p6PdX9iApmPPxPTUcrjguFE10PazppzCdeXQC_IbAjCg_ycdoowx6ZT6ObdnHUyFV0FkZq1m3Bn_V6tFF6Y7FfLYYuNx2wntJOv3hUuNYVingMli4IPCZw8gX3hV_IgTakqIR3jo8s/s320/orange.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiInHQ33StajaxlrVgr8cxsy4dJIg2sLxalezpun-vibnpbhT5SaFC6Qj17wbE_nG42ucv_DbMnSoUU13ZPWT8hleV0gVq6pZVmzG3EjYk9VvtelOa6Qx81I6IpDH2_aQEcHEJpgeWpXL4Z/s1600/7.16.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630144292796508754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiInHQ33StajaxlrVgr8cxsy4dJIg2sLxalezpun-vibnpbhT5SaFC6Qj17wbE_nG42ucv_DbMnSoUU13ZPWT8hleV0gVq6pZVmzG3EjYk9VvtelOa6Qx81I6IpDH2_aQEcHEJpgeWpXL4Z/s320/7.16.JPG" /></a><br />Well we managed a 6 hour road trip, sleeping away from home for a 3 nights and then another 6 hour drive back and we are all alive. The kiddo actually did pretty well on the way down there and I think that stopping in Houston for a few hours helped a lot. The drive back was a little more iffy, but it wasn't terrible. He was REALLY happy to be out of the car and back at his own house, though - we all were. He slept great the first night out of town, but the 2nd and 3rd nights were tough. He ended up sleeping in bed with me, which he NEVER does. Even when we've tried to have him snuggle and nap with us, he won't do it. He's always preferred to sleep in his own bed, by himself. I was pretty tired, but I got some naps, so it wasn't too bad. Truthfully he did much better than we expected and got right back on schedule when we got home. </div><br /><div>He had a BLAST while he was there. The night we got there, he was so happy to be out of the car and in a new place that he was just cracking us up. There was a lot of yelling, laughing, waving his hands and playing with his toys. We stayed with J's aunt and uncle and Gage spent a lot of time talking to them, throwing their stuff around and having fun in their living room. He hung out with both of them outside, looking at squirrels and sitting on the swing. He really enjoyed spending time with them. We spent the majority of our first full day there at J's cousin's house - Gage went crazy playing on their floors. He took a good nap while we had lunch, but other than that, he partied his butt off. They have 2 boys who are 13 and 8 and Gage really liked them. They would get down on the floor with them and he would touch their faces and try to kiss them. He liked watching them play with their friends too - the big boy rough housing was very interesting to him. We spent the second day at J's aunt and uncle's house (with a quick visit to another of his aunt and uncle's) and Gage not only had fun, but took an insanely awesome nap during a thunderstorm. Afterward we were all hanging out on the back patio and he wanted to get into their yard so bad, but the mosquitos were coming out, so we headed back inside. Overall Gage really enjoyed visiting new people and crawling around in new places. He was a complete charmer, handing out the smiles and chatting everyone up. He was really cute and behaved so well. The sleeping wasn't great, but it worked out fine. </div><br /><div>The first picture is Gage with his great uncle, the second is with J, the third picture is him hanging out with his favorite thing in their house - the air purifier, and the last picture is from today. He has really gotten into his image lately, so if I turn the camera on it and set it up so he can see himself, he loves it. He's also super into the mirror lately, he gets so excited and happy when he sees himself. We thought for SURE he would walk while he was in Orange, but it still hasn't happened. He will take one step and then he drops to the floor. He will do full squats to the floor without needing any support and he'll walk with just one hand on something, but he will NOT take an unsupported step. We'll see if it happens before his birthday. The chatter is hilarious now - it is clear that he truly is attempting to communicate with us, but we still don't know what it is he's saying. His new thing is to wave his hand in the air when he's talking to you, he really tries to illustrate his point with hand gestures. He's just go go go these days. If he's awake, he's crawling, standing, playing, yelling, talking or spinning. We have a lot of fun just watching him most of the time. </div><br /><div>Just 11 days until that little monkey turns 1.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div></div></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-52041290688413141482011-07-11T18:28:00.000-07:002011-07-11T18:38:47.349-07:00July 11, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-BVgsp4HzAFaM_HSRdBeafQ9sZ_ZNOXTti1YNhSgaPjWR6_sSR5eG16dlmv90XW4AffrfhzBsSFlfGGOx5SKHp6oKwKPghSqr6_Wo9KhFpju7slRLPZGVhAiih-Cu1VODn3sC-Wtyg-t/s1600/7.11.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628272572843284434" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-BVgsp4HzAFaM_HSRdBeafQ9sZ_ZNOXTti1YNhSgaPjWR6_sSR5eG16dlmv90XW4AffrfhzBsSFlfGGOx5SKHp6oKwKPghSqr6_Wo9KhFpju7slRLPZGVhAiih-Cu1VODn3sC-Wtyg-t/s320/7.11.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmZ40Ru3ODcgU1wd-vQZAVXkTqrV3PGJwnhdeyDSNpih6ip9-JLG4Tqp6_L2NNLsW7ctOQiff-gADQLt3rsNqgMvDyIoaCVcZTHTrzrpOUgH_sk0rRCNg0t2NOGNw4MBYhH9voEoigFCDb/s1600/7.11%25282%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628272566926683042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmZ40Ru3ODcgU1wd-vQZAVXkTqrV3PGJwnhdeyDSNpih6ip9-JLG4Tqp6_L2NNLsW7ctOQiff-gADQLt3rsNqgMvDyIoaCVcZTHTrzrpOUgH_sk0rRCNg0t2NOGNw4MBYhH9voEoigFCDb/s320/7.11%25282%2529.JPG" /></a><br />Cute cute Monkey! We had a fun day today. The three of us got up and had breakfast at the Circle Grill. The kiddo shared some of my eggs and pancakes while acting silly for the crowd. Once we came home, Gage helped me clean up the kitchen and dining room while J took the car for an oil change and cleaning. After his lunch we played a little more and then I put him down for a nap. I was able to get the living room cleaned and laundry done while he slept, which was nice. The Monkey tries to help, but I definitely move a little faster when he's napping. When he got up. he and I had a lot of fun playing in the living room. He was examining my hands and giggling when they would "come alive" and get him with the claw. He is talking, talking, talking these days - it's pretty much nonstop. He'll get some excited about something, anything, and he'll screech really loud while getting red in the face and balling up his fists. It cracks us up. </div><br /><div>Tomorrow we are hitting the road for a 6 hour road trip - a stop in Houston to hang out with family there - and then we cruise on to Orangefield to stay for a few days. We are a little nervous about the kiddo in the car for that long, but we're determined to be strong. I think it will be fun. I won't be blogging much for the next few days, but I'll post pictures on Facebook when I can. I'll put up a full report when we get back this weekend.<br /><br /><br /><div></div></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-75905736968470306912011-07-09T18:27:00.001-07:002011-07-09T18:49:44.984-07:00July 9, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR4wLQs9i6hjvZ860jTSveshY-T63siIc2atapkXJv7gtdxvCfNPVWbdOk6IWTTZBd2lxXHg24tAovf6vGtK0W-ZFWSSIZT2raJa_XmwmnA4svN9UxmKCmWQAezwcRImMahZ-eEF8unzhf/s1600/7.9.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627529568360625778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR4wLQs9i6hjvZ860jTSveshY-T63siIc2atapkXJv7gtdxvCfNPVWbdOk6IWTTZBd2lxXHg24tAovf6vGtK0W-ZFWSSIZT2raJa_XmwmnA4svN9UxmKCmWQAezwcRImMahZ-eEF8unzhf/s320/7.9.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVrNHqhmhuE1R3v47A8DMHcidb8sjIROJuEwi8kro9qZM4LjewRx-IH7jLaV4ksaLtj9-qD9Cma9txW_frHQF9s9g8BExK449GSlFBldx2jsh5hFXmSIQnZCZgcDk9taLwtBfXtzbpvOpc/s1600/7.9%25283%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627529564481653234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVrNHqhmhuE1R3v47A8DMHcidb8sjIROJuEwi8kro9qZM4LjewRx-IH7jLaV4ksaLtj9-qD9Cma9txW_frHQF9s9g8BExK449GSlFBldx2jsh5hFXmSIQnZCZgcDk9taLwtBfXtzbpvOpc/s320/7.9%25283%2529.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAIHgZIIFFaX0ntoqlX-bkPp5GuFt92IssSuI4kYpf7ahwWFM_ZacA1BoqVa8u-6-JRXbkDdI7F2rU0ZrhKAcxlap-cuZ8U6JGs76ALXqMh1b2Gv1oAXhtiemtVWeAx8sUVkfNMFRzBUcP/s1600/7.9%25282%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627529560502819730" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAIHgZIIFFaX0ntoqlX-bkPp5GuFt92IssSuI4kYpf7ahwWFM_ZacA1BoqVa8u-6-JRXbkDdI7F2rU0ZrhKAcxlap-cuZ8U6JGs76ALXqMh1b2Gv1oAXhtiemtVWeAx8sUVkfNMFRzBUcP/s320/7.9%25282%2529.JPG" /></a> Today was a busy busy day for the kiddo and I . This morning we hit the lake around 10a for a little walk/run and we had a blast. He was chatting and playing with his guitar while I did all of the hard work. It was quite a bit cooler, so that was a nice break from our evening outings. When we got home I had to jump in the shower and then get him cleaned up so we could head to Gymboree. I was a little nervous, because at this point he had been up for four hours with no nap in sight. </div><br /><div>Turns out I had nothing to worry about, he was a WILD man in Gymboree today. Today HE was the loud kid, yelling and squealing, cracking everyone up. We had to work on our sharing today, Gage wanted to play with anything that was in someone else's hands. He had a lot of fun on all of the obstacle courses, he even ventured into one of the tunnels, which he usually avoids. As expected, he completely crashed on the way home. Of course as soon as I got home and got him into his room, he was up and ready to party again. </div><br /><div>A couple of hours later he and I drove up north to a birthday party for my friend's 2 kids. He slept the whole 45 minute drive, thank goodness - so when we got there he was up and ready to go again. He had a lot of fun at the party, playing with everyone and chatting them up. Funny story: They have really nice grass out in their yard, so we were in the backyard and I put him down to crawl around and play. Well it didn't occur to me that Gage has never really sat on grass before and he was kind of blown away by it. He kept lifting his legs up off of the ground and instead of just crawling forward, he would pat it with his hand. We were all cracking up and I felt a little embarrassed that my baby was so unfamiliar. Truth is, our yard is not bare skin friendly, so he's never really rolled around outside on the ground. Man it was funny. </div><br /><div>Tomorrow we need to hit up the grocery store and run a few errands before our big roadtrip on Tuesday.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-31677800521435915552011-07-06T19:28:00.000-07:002011-07-06T19:41:06.042-07:00July 6, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimqrmrmURiFM3fz_fF_VdCJNHtoEYejh68lWv3va67-3Q91QmwquRfpfzTT7Ud7KsD2PzVDzPtwsO9_PmBTPF_uafzevAOID4K6E-dbOWMoTtdp2xIFFdRyctILzEyASIeoBYhZ-1ysfbN/s1600/7.6%25282%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626431752002659602" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimqrmrmURiFM3fz_fF_VdCJNHtoEYejh68lWv3va67-3Q91QmwquRfpfzTT7Ud7KsD2PzVDzPtwsO9_PmBTPF_uafzevAOID4K6E-dbOWMoTtdp2xIFFdRyctILzEyASIeoBYhZ-1ysfbN/s320/7.6%25282%2529.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div>See what happens when you let your kid's hair air dry and the A/C is turned up full blast. That little whisp dried completely standing up - hilarious. This morning I overslept so the kiddo actually got up while I was still home and...he said "Mama"! It was so strange - all of a sudden he just had full ability to crank out the "m" sounds. J said he was saying it most of the morning, like he was practicing. When I got home I got a few more of them - it was pretty awesome. J said he was great today - he's actually been on quite a run of good moods and acting awesome. </div><br /><div>When I got home he and I met our running friends at the lake. The group is getting pretty big and he loves the attention. He got a little upset when I first put him in the stroller today, so I gave him a cookie and he calmed right down. That's right, I'm THAT mother. He was cool the rest of the time, even chatting with us while we were out there. </div><br /><div>We got back to the house and shared some dinner. He had some of his normal dinner and a little bit of my chicken. He's starting to get to where he doesn't want HIS food or HIS drink...he wants YOUR food and YOUR drink. I guess it's a fair trade since we like to eat his cookies. He and I laughed a lot and had some fun. Same went for bath time, he and I were cracking up, splashing and having a good old time. We played in his room and a little bit in the living room before bed time. He was in a great mood, laughing, smiling and partying like a wild man. We had a whole lot of fun tonight. </div><br /><div>We have a birthday party this weekend and then next week is our planned road trip. He's been pretty impatient in the car lately, so we're a little nervous about it - but oh well. We're just going to take the plunge!</div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482691102719597316.post-11795382982678097982011-07-03T18:44:00.001-07:002011-07-03T19:07:18.298-07:00July 3, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBkhHD-Beord9IiVxjDitfKmLpuld7mFHjvkoSPY-xurug0qyFPC-T7qZWPG_YQci9mfOoFT7Aa4UhfeTWU30O4sPZjAlgOAr_jXH9HG_iH8hyJV6WNBwiH-5Eqk6TxP94DemyyNd8ciVz/s1600/7.3.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625307580673695522" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBkhHD-Beord9IiVxjDitfKmLpuld7mFHjvkoSPY-xurug0qyFPC-T7qZWPG_YQci9mfOoFT7Aa4UhfeTWU30O4sPZjAlgOAr_jXH9HG_iH8hyJV6WNBwiH-5Eqk6TxP94DemyyNd8ciVz/s320/7.3.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-grKr_Ox67rYcAW3lA3Wgb-WyTw8kr0T-Qw1lrQzBzE4QBFSaIFf6VeZvr5JSkCtB_TBJO8cxH2kpMyy4s-1jtd7BA7QNfzpVBODUhZspSu_ZaxxL8xe25gB_1lkK67E56RlxxHg1fPaS/s1600/7.3%25284%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625307574857392210" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-grKr_Ox67rYcAW3lA3Wgb-WyTw8kr0T-Qw1lrQzBzE4QBFSaIFf6VeZvr5JSkCtB_TBJO8cxH2kpMyy4s-1jtd7BA7QNfzpVBODUhZspSu_ZaxxL8xe25gB_1lkK67E56RlxxHg1fPaS/s320/7.3%25284%2529.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrxkaMg5HfaahID-KkeVY-FT6I6GoUkH7j0Iddv1QGiP4kE08TDdH25LGr_179OVRraYBmuNHjsoOEnBw51-_aCkd20TVzxZzp3KF4eovm0TpkXjSZdel6Y-e_bmeDBGKsTvFlj1Q-cBKP/s1600/7.3%25283%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625307567987047874" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrxkaMg5HfaahID-KkeVY-FT6I6GoUkH7j0Iddv1QGiP4kE08TDdH25LGr_179OVRraYBmuNHjsoOEnBw51-_aCkd20TVzxZzp3KF4eovm0TpkXjSZdel6Y-e_bmeDBGKsTvFlj1Q-cBKP/s320/7.3%25283%2529.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1foAmpKXSyNVnUgoaq1GN9WHXKf2kNHeusVaQ95gPvopMe4RUEJsseVlgV07nzxzM7WViOXu7asrukzZ0Daxz4S1toL3HsVVLT98ljE_9HdUsbZEnomxQooXVytjPhl-ecEV_H0bId4SQ/s1600/7.3%25282%2529.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625307563428281090" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1foAmpKXSyNVnUgoaq1GN9WHXKf2kNHeusVaQ95gPvopMe4RUEJsseVlgV07nzxzM7WViOXu7asrukzZ0Daxz4S1toL3HsVVLT98ljE_9HdUsbZEnomxQooXVytjPhl-ecEV_H0bId4SQ/s320/7.3%25282%2529.JPG" /></a><br />I haven't blogged in a week, I know. I even missed doing a post for little man's 11th month. It's just been one of those weeks. Between working late, overnight guests and just life in general, I haven't been able to get on the computer at night. I have taken some pictures though, so I posted a few of those on this post - there are also a couple I uploaded straight to Facebook.</div><br /><br /><br /><div>So we are less than 30 days from G's 1st birthday! I can not believe it has almost been a year. The last week or so he's gotten REALLY good at standing on his own. He walks really well just barely holding on to one of our hands, but he's still a little too nervous to step on his own. He'll do a little half step between the couch and the coffee table, but when we try to get him to go further, he drops down to crawl. Used to, he wouldn't walk if we held his hands - but now he does really great. I can really see the difference in his Gymboree class - since moving up to the bigger class, he's stepping out and doing more after seeing those kids walking and getting wild. We have a walker that we've put him in for months just as a place to "put" him when we were working in the kitchen, etc. He's been able to touch the ground with his feet for a while, but he wouldn't walk in it - he would fuss until we pushed him or he could only go backwards. Today I put him in it so I could clean and he followed me all around this house. I don't know if he'll walk before his 1st birthday, but we're expecting it any day now. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>The chatter has also been turned up for a week or two now. It's a constant stream of "aaabbaaadaaaagaaaa" and he LOVES to have screaming contests - he usually wins. He'll look at us and scream "aaaaahhhhh" and we are supposed to scream it back - the same tone and length. He can do this for a long time - which is why he wins. He's been saying "dadadadada" for a while, but never really with purpose. Tonight...he was standing at the gate in his doorway and J stopped by on his way down the hall to kiss him and say hello...and when he got up and kept walking toward the kitchen, Gage fussed a little and then yelled "Da-Da!"...and then after a few seconds he yelled it again, "Da-da!". OMG. It was awesome. J came back and I'm like, "did you hear that?!" Of course it was absolutely the ticket - J grabbed him up and took him to the kitchen with him. So we're calling that official: Da-Da is his first word, and he said it right before his first birthday. It was pretty exciting - I'm still working on Mama, but there's not a lot of "mamamama" coming out of his mouth - M sounds may take a minute for him. It's so much fun to listen to him talking while he plays and while he rides in the car with us. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>We had fun at Gymboree yesterday, a couple more of his friends from his other class moved up, so we got to see some more familiar faces. He's starting to get more into the social aspect of the class, spending time trying to talk to the other kids and give them kisses. That's right, I have the kissy kid. It's so cute though, he's just such a little lover. He and I have been doing our walk/runs out at the lake and he really enjoys that as well. We've been meeting up with a lot of my friends out there and he likes to hand out the smiles and chat with us while we run. He and I have some great conversations out at the lake. I think next time we go up there I'm going to bring some bread so we can feed the birds at Sunset Bay. We saw them all hanging out there yesterday morning and Gage was really excited, but they can get a little cranky if you don't have any food, so I didn't want to get in there and mix it up. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>It's been a fun week. We are all going to visit some friends and their new baby tomorrow and then it's back to work for me. We have fun stuff this month, birthday parties, photo sessions, etc. The summer is just flying by.<br /><br /></div></div></div>Tara Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15458578316517254775noreply@blogger.com0