Apple Picking

One of the things that I love about CNY is all of their "U-Pick" farms.  Today we went apple picking with our friends.  It feels good to support the local farmers and to eat fruit straight from the source!

I hope to make this a yearly tradition!

I forgot this one...

Find Kayden!

Deagan sat out all of his stuffed animals on the couch because he wanted me to read stories to him and them. Kayden woke up from a nap right as we were finishing setting up the animals, and I thought it was be kind of cute to put him in the middle of them all.  It reminded me of a "where's waldo?" kind of setting, but it also kind of reminded me of the movie E.T.  Either way, it was cute.

To preface:

Yes they are still in their pj's/or just diaper; it was a slow kind of morning.  We all have those right?

Yes, Deagan is still in diapers.  We are working on that one, but is a SLOW process.  Everyone keeps telling me he will be potty trained when he is ready.  I sure hope he is ready soon!

Yes, that is the same Kayden that was born almost 6 MONTHS AGO, and NO I did not tell him to grow so fast over night! :)

He looks so much like Deagan when Deagan was this age.  Everyone says they are clones of each other.

Where's Kayden? (This is the picture that kind of reminded me of E.T.)

All of this picture taking business got Deagan in the mood to take pictures too! He asked me if I would take pictures of his whales, their tales, their eyes, etc.  It was really cute:)

"Look what I can do!" Sitting up all by himself! He still takes a tumble now and then, but for the most part he is pretty solid!

What a great smile don't you think!

"Give him space." A phrase that we use E.V.E.R.Y. day; multiple times.

"I wasn't doing anything."

Playing with his toes

(Greg took the rest of these pictures, and it shows:) He is much better at using the camera than I am.

That would be so crazy

It is funny how when Greg and I go to bed there are just 2 of us there, but "magically" when we wake up we have 4 people! Crazy how that works:)

Deagan woke up first, and Greg being the nice guy that he is got up with him and went down stairs while I caught a few more z's and while Kayden slept a little longer too.  Kayden woke up soon afterwards, and Deagan heard me talking to him and he ran upstairs to see us.  Deagan jumped up on the bed and in a really excited voice he said, "Mom, let's have another baby who has a head and ears!" Then kind of under his breath he said, "That would be so crazy." It was one of those moments where you had to be there, but it was so funny. I told him that if we had another baby right now I probably would go crazy!

He comes up with the funniest things all the time.  There is never a dull moment when Deagan is around!

Fun at the Zoo

The Rosmond Gifford Zoo of Syracuse is in a pretty sketchy part of town, but it is a lovely little place to visit.  We have gone many many times since we moved here, and I am sure we will go many more times before we move. It is a small zoo, but it suits us just fine.

They have been doing a lot of animal demonstrations this summer, and we had the chance to pet an elephant! A once in a life time event! Ok so maybe it isn't that amazing, but it was pretty cool to me!

We went with some friends a couple of weeks ago, and here are their kids and Deagan.  Aren't those kids adorable!?

Pointing at the bears

Close encounter with the elephant!

This is from today: These are South Asia Elephants and the South Asia center from Syracuse University was sponsoring an event at the zoo today that involved the elephants. We went to support this event because Greg received a FULL RIDE FELLOWSHIP from this center! Talk about a wonderful blessing!  Needless to say, we are very indebted to them and will do whatever we can to show our appreciation. 

Deagan petting the elephant.  It is not a very good picture, but it was hard to get close because there were so many people crowding to pet the elephant.

We love our zoo!

5 months and down 4 lbs

Here is an update on our two boys:

Kayden is 5 months old today! Crazy how fast he is growing!  Here are some new things he does:

-Sticks his tongue out and blows raspberries with his tongue
-"Talks" a lot more. Some of his "words" or sounds almost sound like words at times.  When he gets fussy it even sounds like he says "mumma mumma." I don't think it is intentional, but it is still cute.
-He is very strong. He loves to stand and jump on your lap when you are holding him.  His head and back are super strong as well. Whenever I put him in his Bumboo seat he arches his back as if he is trying to get out, and he has almost done it a few times.  That thing was suppose to last a lot longer!

-He is almost sitting all the way up on his own. He puts his hands out in front of him on the ground and can stay there for a few minutes before he gets too excited and falls to either side or on his face. 

-He likes rice cereal a lot more now.  He actually seems excited when you put it in his mouth and is able to swallow most of it, even though most of his meal ends up on his face or shirt.

-He loves to "play" with toys.  Anything you put in front of him he is mesmerized by and tries to put it in his mouth.  I take him to the Y day care while I work out, and he loves to play in their exersausers.  I have decided I really need to get one.  

-He loves Deagan and loves to watch him play and he loves it when Deagan shows interest in him.  

-He is a momma's boy big time.  

-He takes 3 naps/day consistently. His morning nap is usually pretty short, he will normally take a long afternoon nap, and then takes a short evening nap.  It seems to work out well.

-He sleeps really well at night still.  I definitely love that!

-He likes to have a blanket up by his face when he gets grumpy and tired.  This usually works really well when he is in his car seat and needs to take a nap.  

-He seems to be teething lately.  He rubs his ears a lot, and we had those checked out and he doesn't have an ear infection.  Teething is not my favorite thing.

-He rolls over really well now, but is still not a real fan of tummy time. 

We sure love our little Kayden!

Deagan:

We took him to the Dr. this morning because we thought he had ringworm on his leg (which he does) but we found out he has lost 4 lbs in the past 8 months! Not good! The nurse seemed pretty concerned about it, but the Dr. said he wasn't too worried since he seemed to be a very healthy kid.  He asked us a bunch of questions about his social skills, and felt there was no need to really to be concerned, but I still am.  He was already a small guy to begin with, but he is almost 3 and he does not need to be losing ANY weight. 

It makes me realize I need to be much more conscience about what he eats. For example, I am going to give him everything full fat.  We have a lot of light/fat free/healthy stuff in our house, but he doesn't need that stuff.  He goes in for his 3 yr check up in October, and my goal is to fatten him up a bit before then.

He is an extremely picky eater, so that also concerns me.  He would rather eat than play pretty much all the time.  I have decided I need to be a little more creative at meal time in order to make it a little more fun.  Any ideas on how to do that?

He is a very good little boy though, and I am blessed to be his mom!

We love our little guys!

Prayers Do Get Answered!

The ward that we are in is small, and we have been praying that new members would move in.  Our prayers have been answered because 3 to 4 new families will be or have already moved in!

There is a couple who are almost exactly our age and the husband is going to school at SU like Greg, and they have an 18 month old son (the same age Deagan was when we moved in.) It was like we were MEANT to be friends.  We love them already, and are so glad they are here!

But I know that all these families were prompted to move to this area because we needed them so much in the ward, and I really needed (and wanted) a friend in our same situation.  My prayers have been answered:)