8 Months... and a couple of weeks...

Derek is growing so fast! He's so curious and adventurous. A couple of days before his 8 month mark, he was standing by the couch, holding on and watching the Gummy Bear Song. I was sitting behind him. When it was finished, he turned around slowly, stood without holding on to anything for a second or two and then tried to take a step toward me! I was right there so I reached out and caught him as he fell forward. He really wants to start walking. He's an expert crawler now and can disappear within a few seconds. He'd rather hold some hands and walk around. We walk around our house for hours. My back hurts. He can pull himself up to standing with no trouble at all now and LOVES to turn off the TV, DVR, VCR, and Wii. I don't know why he gets such a kick out of it. I try not to react at all.

He loves balloons. He also loves to roll and chase his bouncy ball around.

He hates bananas. Every time we give him bananas, he gags. He even threw up once. Maybe we'll try again next month.

He has two teeth now, both bottom middle teeth.

He babbles a lot. He's a very vocal little boy. It's really cute.

He plays peek-a-boo and even initiates play.

He's outgrown his whale bathtub and takes baths in the "big people" tub. He loves to splash around and play. There was a minor slip where he went under the water all the way for the first time and now he's a little timid about moving around. I'm going to have to get him a little seat and some more anti-slip stickies. I'm looking for some whimsical ducks like Sheldon has.

Burned by 30 Rock

Kenneth: "I feel as useless as a mom's college degree."

Haha. What a good line. Hopefully not completely true. I hope that, maybe, someday I'll go back to school so I'll have two useless degrees.

I love you, 30 Rock.

My other favorite part was the Chinese version of "Dealbreaker" written by "Lesbian Yellow Sourfruit."

Good stuff, that 30 Rock.

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Okay, so I'm a week late in writing this post. That does not mean that Tyler is loved any less than infinitely. I'm sorry, Tyler, for not publicly wishing you well on your special day. Better late than never? HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LOVE!!!!!

Tyler turned 28 last Tuesday. We celebrated with the Prestgard's the Sunday before his birthday and with Dan, Choka, Zayaa, Danny, and Ariunaa on Tuesday. Then, on Friday, Shanda, Christof, and Kensington treated us with dinner at Red Robin. So he had two birthday cakes and three birthday dinners! Thanks to everybody for making last week a great birthday-week!

We were supposed to be in CA for his birthday but had to cancel our trip. Tyler had the week off though so Derek and I were spoiled and got to spend all day every day with him! It was awesome. He's such a kind, caring, and generous husband and father. We love him so much. I can't imagine my life without him.

I hope he enjoyed being home as much as we enjoyed having him around. Everything is so much easier when he's here. He's so patient. He works so hard. Derek loves playing with him. And I think he's a gem of a man. I'm so lucky to have him as my partner.

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

We Love You!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Well, Happy Halloween! We had a fun week full of Halloweeny activities. Wednesday we carved pumpkins with Dan, Choka, Zayaa, Danny, and Ariunaa. I carved our pumpkin to match the monster/dinosaur on the outfit Derek was wearing that night. I thought he was pretty cute - Derek and the monster.

Then on Friday, Derek and I went with Kensington, Shanda, Christof, Ashley, and Tyler's mom to American Fork High for a quick round of Trick-or-Treat. Derek wasn't too impressed but he scored a couple pieces of candy for me. I wish I would have taken a picture of Derek and Kensington together. I was having a hard time holding everything.

After Trick-or-Treating at Tyler's Alma Mater, we took Derek to his first Jazz game. We went with our neighbor, Karl, and Tyler's brother, Eric. Derek was not impressed with the basketball game either. He whipped his head around every time anybody clapped or yelled. He and I spent most of the game outside by the concession stands. It was fun because he was still in his costume and most people, when they walked by, would stare, smile, coo, and such, at him. You can see us in the hallway if you click here. They took our picture for one of those websites where you can buy memorabilia with your picture on it. We went in and watched maybe the last ten minutes of the game. Jazz won. Woohoo!

Outside the Energy Solutions Arena

On Halloween, we went Trick-or-Treating at the University Mall with Dan, Choka, Zayaa, Danny, and Ariunaa. Here they are:

I love it. How cute are they? Ariunaa was especially cute carrying her little candy collecting bag around. She's a good little Trick-or-Treater. Danny was the cutest Spiderman. And of course, Zayaa was beautiful as a butterfly.

And here's one of our little family.

We also got his picture professionally taken. I couldn't resist. I think babies in costumes are just adorable. Here are a few of them:









Anyways, Happy Halloween. I love you all.

Katie Wilson, I thought of you when we were taking these pictures. I think of you every time I see a baby in an outfit with ears. Hope to talk to you soon! Miss you!

7 Months

My Derek is 7 months old today. I had just figured out how I could take a shower, get ready, do laundry, etc. and then Derek started crawling. Now I am back at the not knowing what to do stage. We'll figure it out though. I need to baby-proof. I also need an exer-saucer. It would make things a lot easier. At least then I would be able to take a shower without a baby crawling to the edge of the tub, looking up, and screaming at me until I get out.

Derek cut his first tooth! I don't know if you can really see it in this small picture, but it's there, on the bottom.
He eats some solid food now. I'm still not pushing the whole thing that much.

He crawls. I already posted a video. I was too excited to wait until the month mark to post it. He's pretty fast. I think he's chompin at the bit to start walking. He loves to walk around with the help of the furniture, mom, dad, or any other willing person with some fingers to hold on to. He hasn't quite mastered the side stepping action yet that is required for furniture walking.

He still loves the gummy bear song. That is what he's looking and smiling at in the picture above. It was the only way we could get him to sit still and smile. It's his favorite song. The Rainbow Song from the Muppet Movie is still his favorite lullaby.

He went to the doctor last week to get some eye drops. He caught pink-eye from one of his cousins. He was really good through the whole thing and is all better now.

He babbles and growls. He mostly does canonical babbling but has recently started dabbling in variegated babbling. I can't be sure if it's arbitrary or communicative, but when he cries, he looks at me and says, "Mama." I'd like to believe he knows what it means but that's probably wishful thinking.

How cute is his little face? What a doll!!

We love our little Peanut.

Wish

It is simple. I wish that Stephenie Meyer would finish "Midnight Sun".

My Baby is Crawling!

What? I know, right?