11 Months

Oh Buddy--it hurt just type out "11 Months"! How is my sweet BABY boy already 11 Months. I have seriously had to start planning your birthday party just to keep myself from getting all sad...here is a hint...it is zoo-themed! (We are taking you and your sister to the KC Zoo for your birthdays so we are sticking to that theme.) Well, as you can see, you are even cuter than last month! You are also becoming quite the curious George too. You have no issue with just staring at someone to try to figure out what in the world they are up to! I love that!! (You may or may not get....we will call it your "inquisitiveness" from me.) You figured out the drawer under the stove and you love to open it and bang the pans together. You are about to figure out the cabinets which means Mommy and Daddy are probably going to have to do a little child-proofing. You are worth it!

You have taken your first steps!! We are so very proud of you--and so are you!!! You have still only taken a few steps at a time, but OH MAN do you want to be a full time walker! If you aren't walking on your own then you are trying to find something to help you walk....i.e. your sister's upside down "potty" in the above picture, the baby doll stroller, your shopping cart, pushing a chair around the kitchen, etc.

You are a still my heart-melting cuddle bug...or snugglesaurus....whichever you feel is more boyish. (: Your cuddles can turn the worst day into the best....that and your sweet smile are pure magic!!!

See what I mean?? You have 8 teeth and are currently working on your bottom 2 molars. By the morning you may just have 10 teeth because you are the fastest teether!!

You are in need of your very first hair cut. It is short in the front and on the sides but it is getting long in the back...if I don't act soon you will either be sporting a mullet or a rat tail. Although I am sure you can pull it off and make it look cute, I'd rather just get it cut.

You LOVE to feed yourself and you are pretty GREAT at it. You are the best eater! I hope you stay that way because you will eat anything including VEGGIES!!! Mommy is super excited to have another veggie lover in the house--it balances us out! Pretty much if you can get it in your mouth and it doesn't bite back then you will eat it.

You love to hang out with us...you want to be where we are. You like to sit with Daddy and watch Wipe-Out. There is just something funny to all ages about watching somebody bust it!

You have mastered all sippee cups! The ones with straws, ones with and without handles, tip up and drink sippees--you just don't care. You are the EASIEST child. You have also just changed to drinking whole milk! Mommy is very excited to say that we made it all the way to whole milk without you ever getting one single formula bottle! Woot! Woot!

You are such a sweet-natured boy. I have said it before, but I will say it again: You are the perfect mixture of sweet and rough. You are happy and content and laid-back. Your smile and laugh are contagious....like impossible not to do it right along with you type contagious.

Your cousins Ethan and Emma have been over this month. You are learning all types of things! You follow them around or just sit and watch to see what they are up to. Between them and your Sissy, you stay pretty busy!

You are a pool maniac! You love love love the pool! The other day the water was FREEZING because I had just filled up the pool but you didn't care one little bit!

Today you snuck into the pool FULLY DRESSED in your PJs. You just crawl in and out at will. You love to just splash the day away!

You learned this sneaky manuever from your sister. She is always sneaking in the pool too. You also like to drink the pool water...I have to tell myself that you are just building immunities because it is just downright gross!

You love to stand up and try to walk through the water and then bang on the slide. You also climb into the deep part of the water too. No fear.

After you got your PJs wet, I had to take them off of you. You took off before I could get you dressed. You HATE diaper changes and putting clothes on--you are simply too busy for that nonsense. You are almost impossible to dress. It would be either to clothe a spider monkey!

Baby Boy, you have brought more joy to our lives these past 11 months than I can put into words. Your Daddy and I live for your sweet cuddles, adorable smile, and precious laugh!! You are getting so big so fast but it is just so exciting to watch you learn all kinds of new things each day as well! We thank God for you and pray for you daily. We love you more than you will ever know!!~ Mommy, Daddy, and Lilly

Seriously, who could not love you??

Random

Welcome to the most hodgepodge post ever. I will talk about today, continue to the tour of our backyard...aka-redneck land, and discuss other random things that have happened lately. It is late and I can not sleep because we have so much that needs to be done before we leave for vacation (it is a rough life--I know). We used to buy Lilly these little Graduate Cheetos and she always loved them. I don't know why but I stopped buying them thinking she had outgrown them. I think because you can only get them in the baby aisle. Anyway, we were at play group last week and Lilly scarfed down pretty much an entire can. Oh, how children humble you! My child hogged the entire thing for herself instead of sharing with the other BABIES they were intended for...haha.

So directly after play group, we went to Sam's and bought her some of her own. I handed her the FULL can and was doing something else. I looked back maybe 10 minutes later--and this was what was left in the can. I think she missed her Cheetos!

Today was a crazy day. Lilly woke up early and crying this morning. She also had a fever. Crap. (That is what I thought when this was happening.) So, I called and made another stupid pediatrician appointment...our third one this month....awesome. Anyway, the doctor said she still had fluid in her ears but it wasn't infected. That could cause some issues first thing in the morning. Also, she is cutting her two year molars. Ugh--it takes her at least two months to cut a tooth through. Worst. Teether. Ever! So we had a little bit of a rough morning. She would be happily playing and then all of the sudden something would happen (i.e. Bubby touched her, a fall, deciding she wanted a drink, etc.) to just ruin her life temporarily.

Then, in the afternoon, her day was completely destroyed by the above cut. I have no idea what happened...it is a mystery that is driving me crazy. She was just playing in front of the couch-can't explain it. Anyway, the cut is short but it is pretty deep so I decided to get her shoes on and take her to Daddy just to make sure it wasn't serious. (This is probably the point where I should mention that I actually was afraid he was going to say she needed stitches...I didn't think so but I needed a second opinion. I am no good in a crisis. [I did just laugh at myself for calling this a crisis--I spent too much time with my dramatic daughter today. Haha.]) Before we could get out the door, we had a surprise visit from Poppy Mike! He took one look at her knee, laughed, and said, "She is fine. That is just a scrape. Put Neosporin and a Band-Aid on it." Easy for a father of boys! So that is what we did. However, Miss Priss still cried every few seconds so we ended up just getting in the car and driving around until Matt got off work.

The day took a lot out of us so I didn't feel like cooking. We went to Taco Bell--we can eat really cheaply at TB. Reid had some Cinnamon twists. Funniest thing ever! He was covered from head to toe in Cinnamon Sugar. By the time I got him cleaned off with wipes, he had been thoroughly exfoliated!! Ha!

We got this play tree house off CraigsList a couple of weeks ago. Lilly likes to slide down the ramp to get in it. It took her a few days to figure out that was how she was supposed to get in. Before that, she was just climbing through the window.

Lilly loves to open and shut the shutters. (Is that what they are called?)

Last Friday was Friday Night Out at our church. Matt and I went and ate dinner, walked around Target (somehow we end up at Target every FNO...we can't figure out how but it just keeps happening), and then we went and got a Sno Cone. We decided to get a picture of us while we were there. It was a process! It is hard to do a self-portrait with a foot height difference...

This was the best we could do so we asked another Sno Cone enthusiast to take our picture. Matt said...and I quote, "Could you please take a picture of us? Eating Sno Cones is a monumental occasion for us!" I can't lie--I detected a hint of sarcasm.

The happy couple. I am SO THANKFUL for FNO at our church!!! It really helps since both sets of grandparents live out of town!!

BubbyLoo! I just love this handsome thing. He was in a great mood today--he would just crack up any time I looked in his direction.

Her hair is getting so long and curly! I am afraid to cut it because I am afraid it will lose that curl!! I am continually amazed at how blessed we are with these two precious babies!

I wanted to get a cute picture of her hair...my trick used to be to strap her down in her carseat to get a good picture because she couldn't run away. Unfortunately, she caught on...this was the best I could do.

This is ALMOST the precious site...almost because it just isn't as precious as....

this little smiling happy face!! That is enough randomness for one night. On to doing dishes and accomplishing enough where my mind will shut down and allow me to go to sleep!

Back Yard Fun Part 1

Well, we have been spending lots of time in our backyard. I am going to have to separate it into several posts because our backyard looks like a big redneck daycare with the swing set, playhouse, tree house, blow up pools, and other backyard toys. So, this post is on Lilly's Cozy Coupe Car...BUT FIRST I need to tell a story first! The other day, Lilly was having her breakfast outside. She would get set up somewhere and Reid would come and try to take some of her food. Then she would move somewhere else and Tank would try to get her food. After moving at least four time, she took her breakfast and her milk and got into Tank's kennel--where she shut the door and finally got to eat her meal in peace! Haha.

Lilly LOVES her Cozy Coupe car. Her Uncle Greg and Aunt CiCi got it for her for her first birthday (don't tell Reid but I think he is getting one too--that is her "first birthday" gift). However, she only knows how to drive it in reverse....she just goes backwards all over the yard. This girl is always entertaining!!

Driving away from Bubby...

Chasing after Sissy with his bedhead and all....

Almost there....

She can open the door but she really likes to get out Dukes of Hazard style!

Reid's turn!!

Lilly LOVES to push Reid around...whether it be in the Cozy Car or in the stroller. Look at him steering the wheel already!

Apparently he was done with Lilly pushing him and tried to escape on the go. These two are really starting to interact with each other and it is so sweet! (For the most part...they have their moments. (c:)

1st Steps/Gentry Safari

Okay...this wasn't a planned announcement on this post BUT Reid took his FIRST STEPS tonight!!!! The past couple of days he has taken one step and fallen but tonight he took multiple steps. He walked to Daddy and then later he walked to Mommy. He was SO PROUD of himself and we made such a big deal about it that Lilly had to walk back and forth between Matt and I too. (We made a huge deal for her too...haha.)

Back to the originally planned post. Yesterday we had the best trip to the Gentry Wild Wilderness Safari!! BEST TRIP. I should warn that there are a bajillion pictures in this post but they are ones that you can just scan through so it isn't as long as it looks! This particular place has a drive-through safari and then a petting zoo/feeding area. First, we did the drive-through safari part..... I should note that there are signs everywhere telling you to keep your windows up at all times. We didn't obey....Reid loved hanging out the window looking at the animals. (We did roll up our windows any time we came upon bigger animals.)

They had these crazy flamingo like birds.

These deer were literally like 2 feet from our car! One actually came up and stuck it's head in our window.

Lilly was flipping out! She was so excited!!

Okay, this is an Ostrich...you will have to read the next caption to see what Lilly calls it.

This is a peacock....or as Lilly calls it, "a cockpea". She calls the Ostriches "big cockpeas". Haha. We laughed all day over this. From now on, that is what I will call them as well.

These buffalo were HUGE!

Lilly just kept saying "WOWWW!!"

I should mention that I was just using my regular camera lens...no fancy zoom used in any of these photos! These animals are just roaming around and can (and most do) come right up to your car.

Look at the antlers on that bad boy!

Lilly helping Daddy drive through the safari. She would get mad at him when he actually had to steer the car. Haha. Grandparents don't freak out...we only go maybe 5 mph through the safari.

I actually touched this GORGEOUS animal. Actually she touched me as I was feeding her a piece of bread. You aren't supposed to feed the animals in this part but you can feed the zebras in the feeding area so I bent the rule a little bit. All of the sudden we heard this animal cry....

and this baby zebra popped up out of the grass. We had no idea it was there beforehand. SO AWESOME!! Nowhere else around here can you have this type of experience!!!!!

This camel looking into our car. Hilarious! We did not feed the camels because last time I was there I did and it kicked my car--hard enough to leave a small dent!!

Reid got his turn at driving too!

I don't know what it is about this picture that just makes me laugh.

LOVED this shaggy faced cow-looking thing.

Napping camel right beside the car.

We drove by the tigers right as they were having lunch! (As you can see they are in cages.) Lilly roared as loud as she could every time we saw a tiger. By the end of the tigers, Reid started roaring too. We made some really good memories!!

Can you find the alligator?

Rhino

Lilly kept trying to give the animals some sweet tea. We didn't let her. I am glad she is STARTING to understand the sharing concept though.

Prairie Dogs

This warthog (?) was sitting right at the end of the safari.

This snake was HUGE. I was going to hold it by myself but I chickened out at the end...I said, "just stay in the picture and don't let go!" Matt called me a snake wrangler for the rest of the day. (c:

Oh, I forgot to mention that MoMo came to town and she went with us along with Jackson, Ethan, and Emma. Lilly touched the snake with one finger and was done!

Sitting on the lion statue.

Sucker break.

They have a baby barn there. There were baby monkeys, tigers, and lions. This monkey was eating yogurt. Haha.

Sweet little lion cubs.......

that you got to pet!!!!

I also got to play with and pet baby tigers. Which is cool but not as cool as......

being BIT BY A TIGER!! That is right folks--I got bit by a tiger! This little guy bit my hand (I'm fine--didn't even hurt) and I said, "I just got bit by a tiger" and the trainer said, "No--you just got attacked and bit by a tiger!!" Haha. So there you have it! I even have a mark!

Lilly screams "MOOOOOOO" every time she sees a cow--even more now that we have been to the zoo--like in all her animal books when she sees a cow, she screams "MOOOOO".

The baby camels. She wanted to feed them bread, but she would drop it and cry every time they went to get it from her.

So we compromised with this.

Another cockpea!!! Hehehehe.

Onto the petting zoo! There were goats,

pigs,

what I refer to as "the Elvis chicken",

and the coolest thing ever...kangaroos!!! We had so much fun and created so many memories that I will cherish forever! If you are in the area, I totally recommend going--but make sure you go on a cool day so the animals are out and about!

After the safari, we went to lunch...can you guess what Lilly ate???

spaghetti!

Ethan shared his coke with Reid. Reid went after it!!

Then, to end the night we went swimming at my sister's. Busy, wonderful, GREAT day!