A Little Bit of Random

Long time, no blog.  Sorry! 

Miss Lilah is walking!!  Not all the time, but she's pretty darn stable.  Brian definitely walked like a drunken monkey for awhile.  But not his baby sister.  She waited until she was good and ready and she's very well balanced. 

School starts soon.  Brian will be in PM preschool, which is causing a huge schedule adjustment for the kids and I, but I am hopeful that it will work out.  Brian's teacher was very clear that he would do better in the afternoon class, so I am trusting her.  It's going to mean we can still sleep in (yay!), I will work different hours, I will (hopefully) get in a couple of walks a day, and Lilah and I will have some quality mommy and baby time at the park and/or zoo.  I am sure there will be other positives as we figure it all out and most importantly, Brian will get what he needs in the classroom while Lilah spends time with me. 

We have been trying to soak up what's left of summer.  Which basically means we have been doing the same things we've done all summer.  Pool.  Zoo.  Park.  Ah, I love it!

Here are some random pictures from the past couple of months.

Fourth of July...
And yes, he chose the hat.  On his own.

Stuffing spaghetti in her mouth on her actual birthday.

Diving board day at swim lessons.  Brian was not a fan.

We are actually riding in Annie behind Thomas...just in case you couldn't tell!

Ick to the Return of Cold Weather

Brian and I really enjoyed ourselves that last few days. It was 70+ degrees here. We went to the park. We walked every day. We played in the dirt out back. (Well, Brian did, I did not.) It was fun.

Well we were fooled again! It's 40 something today. Ick!

I love this shot...

Look Matt, a plane! Oh wait, Matt's not here...

I am pretty sure he thought he was planting something...

A Drunken Monkey

Jen called me out on my lack of blogs recently. Thanks, Jen!

Truth is, I have been busy. Preschool starts up after Labor Day and so does CCD which means my computer time is limited to reading and responding to email and working on the new St. Pat's website.

However, I realized I had better get blogging so everyone can be entertained by all of Brian's new antics :) What's he been up to? Really, what HASN'T he been up to. He's walking all over now. He's making the funniest face. I have yet to capture it on camera, but it's a funny one.

He's eating more. Not a lot, but more. He likes strawberry and mixed berry applesauce! He loves vanilla wafers, gold fish and cucumbers. He still won't touch meat.

He walks to the bathroom when it's bath time. Sometimes we have to ask him if he's ready to take a bath, and then he goes. Sometimes, he just goes on his own. He feeds us bites of whatever he is eating. Sometimes after he has "softened" it for us. Yum!

He loves to dance. We got him a baby MP3 player. The same one I bought for our niece, Renie. He loves it just like she did.

We're back at the Bantas now, so he's thoroughly enjoying the attention of the high schoolers. I think he misses Max, but we will see him tomorrow, so that will make it better. He LOVES waving goodbye to Daddy in the morning out the window. When we get up in time. We've slept in the last two mornings. Speaking of sleeping-it's going better too. Some nights he sleeps 12 hours! Heaven on earth!!

Pre-season football has begun. He still likes football. He would sit and watch it when he was younger totally entranced. He still does.

The walking is the best part though. Shawn calls him his "little drunken monkey." And that's pretty much what he looks like as he toddles around. Our little drunken monkey.

Walk This Way

I finally figured out how to post a video on here. It turns out you just have to try ;) I thought you might enjoy seeing the walking. This was hard to get because he kept walking AWAY from the camera. So it's not great, but it will do. Notice how he stops to check out the score of the Bengals game before making his second escape attempt. I think he's babbling about Chad Ochocinco kicking extra points! What in the world?!

Raising a Monkey

Brian decided there might be something to this walking thing today. I think we counted 2o steps at most, but we are definitely on the verge. He is doing quite well with obstacles and even changing direction! For some reason he also decided to become a little climber today as well. All I can say is, HELP ME!!!

I just love his face in the shots where he is looking at the camera. "What? Me? I didn't do anything!"

First Father's Day, First Steps

Yep, you read right! Brian took his first steps tonight :) I noticed that he was standing up for longer periods of time when I set him down a couple of times this evening. We're talking 5 or 6 seconds at a time. So, I called Shawn over to watch and told him I thought Brian was on the verge. I was right! He took about a step and half. The best part was that we both got to see it together!

Later the Banta kids came over to show us their new puppy, Schavo and Brian took a couple more steps for them. They were very excited to see his "second steps," and we were very excited to see the new puppy!

Now, he is no way "walking," but I think he'll be there soon enough. And the first Birthday is just around the corner too!

Brian explored another first this weekend as well. He took his first swim in a big pool. We went out to Shawn's Aunt Bibber's (and Uncle Bill's) for the first swim. Brian was a little apprehensive, but I think he enjoyed himself in the end. He was especially thrown off by Shawn going under water. It really got him upset at first.

Happy as can be in his swim gear. Note that this is BEFORE he was actually in the pool!

While we were there, Brian really enjoyed playing with his cousin Mari, and her fiance Kenny. Mari was terrified of babies before Brian was born! Look at her now :)

We ended this First Father's Day with our typical nighttime routine. With the bath dance. We've gotten in the habit of letting Brian stand by the edge of the tub while we fill it with water. He likes to throw all of his toys in and watch the tub fill. He gets really excited. We're talking bouncing up and down and loud shrieking and shouting. Most nights we strip him down while he stands there, and we end up laughing as we watch his cute tush bounce up and down in excitement. Tonight was no exception.

Don't you love my strategic leg placement?