Eight Months!

Oh my gosh, Gus is 8 months old already!  That sounds so close to being a year old - it makes me a little sad!  Gus has had a very big month.  In the past 30 days, he has learned to pull up to standing, gotten his first tooth (last weekend), gotten pretty consistent at waving "hi," and mastered the art of crawling.  Maybe that's why 8 months seems so old, he changed so much this month!

We were hoping that with all these milestones that Gus might start sleeping better at night.  Not happening.  He is still up 3-4 times a night and his napping skills are in a steep decline, but I've decided not to complain about it anymore.  This kid wants to be close to me 100% of the time, including during naps and at night, that's just the way it will be right now.  If that's our biggest struggle, we're still very very lucky people!

The month picture was harder to take today, he just wanted to eat his sticker.

 As Gus' personality continues to come through every day, it's so fun to see how alike he and George are in some ways and how different in others.  First of all, I don't think they look alike at all.  Since Gus was two days old, I honestly don't see any resemblance between the boys and I also don't think either of them look like me or Sean!  But when Gus really starts laughing hard, he sounds just like George.  It always makes me smile.

Saying "hi" to everyone.

 Today he noticed the kitchen for the first time and played with it for about 20 minutes.  He loved it!

How is this my baby?!  He seems so big here!

Does this look familiar?  Click here to see his brother doing the same exact thing.  What is it about emptying a book shelf?

Happy 8 months, sweet blue-eyed Gus!!  Maybe Gus wanting to be carried by me 23.5 hours a day is his way of making sure that I get to really soak in as much baby-ness as possible while he's still little.  This baby makes us smile and his cuddly nature makes me and Sean so happy.

Fall in Colorado

This morning we took advantage of a gorgeous fall day in Colorado to head up to the mountains to see the aspen trees.  It really was beautiful!

We were not the only ones to head for Kenosha Pass!

 We went on a very short "hike," if you can call it that since we really just walked in one direction for about 15 minutes, turned around, and had leftover pizza in the car :)  But the trees were beautiful, the weather was just right, and I'm so glad we went.  Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip.  As I continue to figure out my new camera, you may notice the lighting is odd in some of these.  I was playing with some of the settings and there were shadows and light spots and dark spots, so some pictures look different from others.  Anyway, enjoy!

Collecting some sticks to build a house.

Hello O'Reillys!

See what I mean?  This picture looks so different from the one before it, even though they were in the exact same place.  Oh well, I'll figure it out eventually!

The only brother picture where Gus is smiling... and he's blocking George's face!

It was a great morning to enjoy our beautiful state!

On the Move!

Well, we officially have a crawling baby in the house!  On Monday afternoon, Gus figured it out and put one hand in front of the other and one knee in front of the other and off he went!  He didn't go far that first day, but by yesterday afternoon, he was all over the basement - crawling across the room, pulling himself up to reach into the toy cabinet, and finding as many cords as he could.  

I figure if you look at these pictures by scrolling down really fast, it will be like watching him actually crawl :)

What on earth?!?!  I have to see this thing for myself!

Ooooohhh, a heating register.  This is so cool.

 On a separate note, we pulled this playpen out of storage for George's party last weekend, and George has fallen in love with it all over again and loves to play in there.  He'll even let Gus come in once in a while.

"Are you seeing this, mom?  That doesn't look safe to me."

"Hi brother!"

 Yes, I had to ask George to give him this hug, but it's still cute.

Way to go, Gus, on reaching a big milestone!  We're so proud of you!  If you need me, I'll be hiding all the cords and trying to find our baby gates for the stairs.

Happy Birthday George!

Today our boy is three years old!  What a wonderful, wild, fun, exhausting, hilarious, loving, and amazing three years it's been with George.  Here are a few pictures of his big day:

When George woke up this morning, we made waffles and he got to open a few more family presents.  Here he is opening a new pair of jammies from Nana and Pa...

Driving his trucks on his new "town" rug from Sean and me...

And loving his new Diego gear from Laura...

Doesn't he look just like an animal rescuer?

At school this morning, George got to wear a birthday crown and we brought cookies on a stick as his special treat for his class.  This is George and his buddy Luke:

I've seen other blogs where the mom writes a letter to their kid on a special day and I always love reading them, so I thought I'd try that out.  I wrote him one the night before he turned one and put it in his baby book and I always tear up when I read it.  I'm not promising any tears with this one :)

Dear George,
Happy birthday!  Three years ago today, you became a part of our family and we are grateful for that every single day.  It is so amazing to me how much you have changed in one year.  Looking back, at this time last year you were still barely talking and now it's rare that you are ever quiet!  It is so funny to remember how much signing you did as your brain figured out how to speak out loud since you are now probably the loudest kid I know!  Some of your favorite things to talk about are cars, trucks, singing songs (more like yelling songs), asking tons of questions, giving funny names to people, asking to hear stories about a little boy named Georgie, asking to hear about all the fun things you've done at the end of the day, and about all kinds of animals.

I think your two favorite things to do are playing outside and reading books.  You could play outside all day long if we'd let you - no matter the temperature.  You love to dig in the dirt, play baseball or soccer, run through the sprinkler, help daddy and Bumpa with yard work, ride your scooter or big wheel, and go on long walks.  Your favorite books to read are usually non-fiction books about trucks or cars, but lately you've opened it up to fiction stories, especially ones that are about things that you relate to like starting preschool or having a new baby brother.

You are such a smart kid and very brave.  Your memory is so impressive and surprising at times, we can't believe some of the things you remember from so long ago!  You can count to 16, then it becomes "eleven-teen," you know all your colors (except tricky ones like gold or silver), you know the words to lots of songs, you are completely potty-trained during the day (hooray!!) and you are excellent at problem-solving and the art of negotiation (both of these come in handy when it's bedtime and you realize you're hungry from not eating any of your dinner).

You are an outgoing and friendly kid most of the time.  You enjoy meeting new people and are rarely shy.  Sharing toys and taking turns are still very hard for you a lot of the time and I'm really hoping that preschool and getting older will help with both.  I've read three books on managing "tough" kids but we still struggle with the sharing and grabbing.  Maybe this is the year...

Some of your favorite things right now include:  Forget You (song), Go, Diego, Go (TV show), I Love Trucks (book), Cars & Toy Story 3 (movies), mac & cheese (breakfast, lunch, & dinner), helping make dinners, going to the library, dancing, jumping, running, playing play-doh, and playing on mommy & daddy's cell phones.

We are so very very lucky to have you, George!  You make us laugh with your silly games and sayings, your hugs and snuggles make us feel so loved, and your growing brain makes us so proud knowing that you are learning new things every day!  Thank you for making me a mommy!!  I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Love, Mommy

George's Birthday Party

Today we celebrated George's upcoming third birthday.  We decided last month to have the party at Platt Park right by our house since the weather in September is always so great.  Well, this year the weather was a little nerve-wracking and it poured rain for about a half hour before his party was set to start.  I was sitting in the car with all the decorations I had worked so hard on and knew that George was so looking forward to the party - I was so sad thinking we might have to call it off.  Luckily, at about 3:01, it stopped raining, the sun came out and it was a lovely afternoon until 5:00 when our party was over and it started raining again. 

We had a great time today and I have a bunch of pictures to share.  The theme was construction trucks since George still loves them so much.  Here are the cupcakes that George and I made this morning...

Here's the birthday boy sporting his excavator shirt and having a great time!

We had so many great friends show up to celebrate with our boy.  Here are Katy, Mac, JoEllen, and Timothy...

Cousin Ryan giving a great smile...

Rhonda and Shane soaking up some Gus cuddles...

I had a lot of fun making the decorations for the party.  I made a couple banners (my new very small business venture) and this George one I'll hang in his room...

Favors... the signs didn't stay up so well.  I'll have to re-think that one :)  I made little favor bags using the same fabric as the banners.

Here's George with his cupcake, waiting patiently while everyone sings "Happy Birthday."

I forgot to tell him to make a wish!

What a cute kid we have!

His cupcake was gone in about 45 seconds.

Here are a few of his buddies enjoying a yummy treat...

Luke used some Cheez-Its to make his cupcake even tastier...

Here's Timothy and Mac getting some use out of the playpen we brought!

George got so many fantastic gifts today, he seriously loved every single one!  My parents even got him this cool bike.  In case you haven't seen one like this, it doesn't have pedals so he learns to just push around with his feet and balance, then the transition to a real bike is easier and shouldn't require training wheels :)

When we got home, George wanted to play with everything... and so did Gus.  I think we can almost say that Gus is officially crawling.  He can get wherever he wants pretty much, although he doesn't exactly crawl on all fours to get there.

Luke was so patient and helpful with George as they built this cool truck together.

We had such a wonderful day today.  We are so lucky that George has so many friends and family members that love him and think he's a good kid.  I know George had a blast today!