Taedon has had a lot to say lately.  It's like he woke up one morning and realized he had a voice and now babbles nonstop!  He loves to tell stories about who knows what and is very animated with his hands while he talks.  He really enjoyed Thanksgiving since we hosted about 15 people.  He talked to everyone all day long!  As you can see, he was still a bit wired after everyone left that evening so he decided to check out the black Friday ads to see if there was anything he should venture out to purchase.  We ended up purchasing a new refrigerator so I appreciated his research!

The day after Thanksgiving we still had the baby gates to the dining room down (he is not allowed in that room because he tends to play in the dog's water bowl and rearrange my china cabinet) and after me searching for him for quite awhile, I finally found him here.  He had found the perfect privacy place to do his business!  He of course had to explain to me why he was hiding there.  I'm assuming his explanation was good and that he wanted me to go away but feel free to interpret for yourself.

Here he is telling me about his nap and why he loves to spend time in his crib.  I am hoping that he doesn't figure out how to escape anytime soon.

We took our first overnight trip away from Taedon a few weeks ago to attend the annual Army Navy game in Philadelphia.  We had a great time and they won!  Thankfully the weather cooperated and it was a very nice day.

We hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!  We stayed in and handed out candy this year since it is our first time to actually get trick or treaters and Taedon is still a bit young to go out himself.  Plus it was cold outside still from the hurricane.  Having grown up without neighbors (me) and then living in apartments for the past ten years or so (both of us) it was fun to actually get to hand candy out and see the cute costumes.

For the evening, we ordered pizza, carved our pumpkin finally and handed out candy.  Taedon dressed up as a pirate and Niko was his parrot and they helped us hand out the candy.  Taedon kept trying to give the kids whatever was in his hand at the time they showed up.  One time he had the lighter for the candle (it looked like he was trying to light them on fire or something) and another he had a cup and confused a poor little kid by holding the cup out until the hesitant little boy, dressed up as a cop, finally stuck his hand in the cup with a look of what will happen if I do this on his face.  I reassured him nothing would happen and that Taedon was just confused on what he was supposed to be doing.

During the day he got to wear his skeleton shirt that glows in the dark.

The costumes!  Niko, you are always such a good sport with my ideas.  It was hard to get both to stand still and actually look in my direction.  This was the best one we got.

This picture more accurately reflects how they both felt about their outfits.

Niko has done this enough now that he knows the drill.  If you just sit still and look at the camera so she can get her picture, she will let you take it off quicker.

Dontae hard at work creating our "ghost" pumpkin.

The end result.  He did a great job!  Here is our pumpkin family from the pumpkin patch. We each picked out one to represent each of us.  I forgot to get one for Niko.  Ooops, sorry dog!

Keeping busy while we wait for trick or treaters to show up.

We had to shut down candy operations once Taedon went to bed around 8 p.m. so we ended up with a lot of candy leftover.  Guess I will have a nice stash to eat after baby comes in January.  That is if it doesn't get eaten before then by other people!

Pumpkin patch!  We went to this local farm I found to let him pick out his pumpkin this year and he loved it.  We fed animals, rode a hay rack ride and were able to walk in the sea of pumpkins to pick out just the right ones.  We enjoyed it so much we have decided to go there every year from now on.

He was not scared at all to stick his hand through the fence, full of food and let them eat it.

Ducks!

Again, zero fear!

"Dad, this one looks good!"

"...or maybe this one?"

"Excuse me sir, which pumpkin do you suggest?  I can't decide."

It's not the best picture but the man running the hay ride could not figure out my camera so here is our family photo from the day.  Better than nothing I say!

Hold on!  Here we go!  He enjoyed it for the most part.  He kept picking hay from the bales and throwing it.

Once we carve the pumpkins (or probably just going to carve the largest one) I will post pictures of it with him in his costume.

...Continued from my last post, here is the Kansas portion of our whirlwind trip.

We luckily were home for my mom's birthday and she requested red velvet cake with cream cheese icing (yum!) so of course that is what she got.  I was told it was delicious (since I can't have any right now) and I'm sure you can tell by Taedon's face, licking his first beater did not disappoint.

He kept coming back into the kitchen signing for more.  It is strange he liked it so much because he refused the piece of cake I gave him later on.  Guess he loves just icing and not cake. (He isn't big into sweets)

He really wanted to grab the candles.

He really enjoyed the fact that the Tupperware cabinet did not have child proof locks on it.  I found him sitting in the kitchen, very quiet, just like this several times.  On occasion he even put everything away when he was done.  I was impressed.





We took Taedon to the zoo while we were there.  His favorite things to see were the chickens and the penguins.  I think he is still a bit young to completely enjoy it and seemed to do better with the animals that were close to him or in water.

Feeding the fish.  He could have stayed and done this all day long if we had let him.

"Mom, that pig is HUGE!"

Talking with the chickens.  He, again, could have done this all day if we had let him.

It's hard to see but there is a baby in the picture to the left.

Penguins!

One day while I was in the shower, he apparently decided to pack some reading material for the trip home. He was very proud of himself.

He mastered blowing bubbles in the bath while we were gone.

What a busy few weeks we have had.  Taedon and I had planned to go home to KS for about a week to visit my family since I won't be allowed to travel during the holidays this year.  Unexpectedly, we ended up spending the week prior in Austin helping out my sister with her daughter due to an illness at her babysitters house.  So in all, we were gone for 16 days with many travel hours on delayed (how do you keep a toddler quiet and still for an hour on your lap on a plane while they figure out what the light means, twice!), cancelled (what do you do with a toddler in DFW for ten hours?) and all around not enjoyable flights (things were stolen out of my luggage by dishonest employees).  Taedon was fantastic on the plane, it was American Airlines that gave me the heartburn!  Needless to say, we are not friends at the moment.

We did have a good time while gone, though, which is the most important part.  Taedon can now say "baby", pizza "zaza" and can tell you where his foot is.  I swear he grew up and changed so much throughout our travels.  I was so proud of how well behaved it he was and got several compliments on each flight which helped me relax a bit.  I had wondered how it would go with him and me being pregnant also.

I am still catching up on sleep since Taedon is still adjusting to being back home in his own room but we are hopeful that he remembers very soon how much he used to like his room.  It's been good practice for baby I guess.  Who by the way will be coming into the world on January 24th around 7:30 a.m. unless he decides to make an appearance earlier.

Now onto the fun memories we made!

On the first leg from home to Austin we luckily had our own row of seats to ourselves.  So Taedon enjoyed his version of first class.

Helping Rylan with her toys.

He loved "helping" her in her bouncer.  I had to keep a close eye on him because he tended to help a little too much.

PJ time before bed one of the nights.

 


We went to a fall carnival that Saturday.  Taedon played this game and had to roll a seven or eleven to win a prize and did it on his first roll.  He of course just wanted to keep the big dice as his prize.

Eating the delicious food.  It was soooo good!!

We spent some time on Sunday hanging out with my friend Eva.  She took us downtown and toured around a bit and of course, had more good food!

Here Taedon is chasing birds on the lawn in front of the capital building.  He now can say bird as well and always looks up into the sky and points when we go outside.

He spent a good few minutes trying to remove this ball from the post.

We attempted a photo shoot with both kids and the pumpkins.  Lets just say there is a reason photographers charge what they do.

We had a very warm day which was nice so that he could get out into the yard and run around.  Here is trouble times two.

"Here Rylan, play with this one!"

He can now say eye when we points to it.

TO BE CONTINUED...

 (with the Kansas portion of our trip)

In the past few weeks Taedon has learned his where eyes, ears, nose, hair and mouth are.  He points to everything except when you ask where his nose is, he sticks his finger up there and won't remove it so we usually ask that one last.  When you ask where his mouth is he says "ahhhh" and opens it.  He can also point out his hands on occasion.

His latest thing is to get into the high chair by himself and yell "eeeaaattt" when he is hungry.  The other night he even got his silverware from the drawer before crawling in.  It is cute and frustrating at the same time because if I don't feed him, he starts to cry.  

He loves playing peek a boo and hiding behind the shower curtain. He also loves to carry books around the house.  Occasionally he will open one and "read" it but only for a quick second.  He's into stacking things and often will put his toys away without being asked.  Let's hope that one keeps up!

He has two favorite things to do throughout the day.  One is to pull random things around the house in his wagon.  Sometimes toys, sometimes random things he finds from the table, counter, etc.  It's fun to see what he collects.  His other favorite thing to do is puzzles.  He will carry them around and work on them, dump them out and start all over again.

His favorite word is ball and points one out everywhere we go.  It makes it hard to go to Target because the big red globes outside of the doors are mistaken for a ball and he must touch at least one on our way in and out of the store.  He can also spot the ball bin in the toy aisle a mile away and always wants to play with at least one.  He never wants to buy any (thank goodness) but just play with it for a minute.  Usually throwing it and I have to chase it down.

My pregnancy is moving right along.  We got confirmation that it is another boy a few weeks ago at the 20 week ultrasound.  He checked out perfectly and is right on track.  I have been fortunate the past few weeks that my blood sugar has been fine which has made things a bit easier.  I would love to maintain it like it is but not sure that will happen as I get further along.  I feel like I go to the doctor about every week for something which is tiring but necessary I guess.

We went to the park right outside of our neighborhood when the weather was nice and it is amazing how much more Taedon was able to do from the last time we went.  He is such a dare devil sometimes.

Mom, I've got this.  Watch!

Almost there...

I did it!!!!!

Our watchdog stood guard while we played.  

We went to Norfolk for the Labor Day weekend.  Tons of good food, good company and Taedon of course had a great time playing with Audrey.

Taking Audrey for a walk on what was apparently shirtless Saturday.  

The boys and their mini me's at the beach.  

Checking out the sand.  It doesn't look like it but they both loved it.  Especially Audrey.  It was her first time and she couldn't get enough of it.  I think they were washing sand off of her for days.

He probably would have stayed all day but it started to rain and we were hungry so we left to go get some lunch.

The ride home was a quiet one.  Both kids were knocked out most of the way home.  Success!

Enjoying an end of summer Popsicle.

So, to catch up on the month of July.  We didn't do much since I wasn't feeling well at all.  Taedon changes daily of course.  It is fun now because he sort of understands things when I say them to him.  I can ask him to pic something up and bring it to me and he will.  Or I ask him to go find something and most of the time he will.  He still calls Niko "Auti" but he more or less yells it with happiness.  AAAUUUUUTTTTIIIII!!!!!!!  If he is upset I can ask him "where is Niko?" and he will calm down and go find him.  He truly loves his dog.  He now has his first set of molars on top and bottom so eating is a lot easier and a lot less work for me to cut things up.

Checking out Balitmore's Inner Harbor from the top of the World Trade Center.  It was beautiful!

Another view.

Family photo

We did get outside for some water table fun.  He loves his table.

We have some new babies that live in the woods out back.  They don't come around often but are fun to look at when they do.  We also have had a fox show up, a ground hog or something is living under our next door neighbors deck and our snake is apparently still around since it shed it's skin right outside our garage.  Yuck!!!

We took a weekend trip to Ocean City, MD in mid July for a baptism and spent the day prior having fun on the boardwalk and the beach.  Now Taedon has been in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The road trip started out well.

Then got even better.  He was a good sport and does well in the car.  Towards the end he got a bit antsy but we played peek a boo with his bear and he lasted the last part.

At the ocean with the boardwalk in the background.

First time walking into the water.  He wasn't quite sure what to think.

My boys

Ready for bed after a long day of fun.

Back at home...he has figured out what the step stool is used for.  

Self portrait

Playing football with daddy.  Now all Dontae has to say is "read, set?" and Taedon will go find the football.

Enjoying some Beenie Weenie's for lunch.  He LOVES them!