Deacon: 2 1/2 Years

It seems like I am way overdue on an update of our little man. Deacon turned 2 1/2 on May 1st. He truly is the light of our lives and brings us so much joy everyday! He continues to be full of energy and happiness and it really is contagious when you are around him. He is talking like crazy and basically says everything! He is talking in sentences and it seems so crazy to have full blown conversations with this child! I love it. He is also at that stage where we have to be careful of what we say because he picks up anything and everything! He is also starting to ask questions...not so much the "why" yet but likes to ask "what that come from". It seems like no answer is really good enough to satisfy him! 

Deacon is still on a good schedule...although I think his nap is starting to push back his bedtime. However, he is good about just playing in his crib until he falls asleep and occasionally calls down to Alan or I to come up to his bedroom. He sleeps with WAY too many toys, which is probably our fault for letting him. Not really sure how it started. I think he used to sleep with 3 little cars and it just keeps getting worse! He loves stuffed animals and has a few "cuddly friends" he likes to sleep with. He has a little giraffe that Nana got him that he is obsessed with and most recently got a minion from "Despicable Me", which he calls his "funny guy" that he really loves. He also got a massive stuffed bear which is about twice his size for Christmas that he named OSO and he completely adores it. Most nights OSO sleeps with him and I have to admit it is pretty cute. 

Deacon has his moments but for the most part he is extremely sweet and loving. He is not super affectionate but sometimes he really does love giving hugs and if you are lucky a kiss. He has the sweetest little voice that melts my heart. He loves to sing and has started singing songs from the shows that he watches. I am quite amazed that he can sing several lines from them. He also has a few of his books memorized and will read them to Alan and I. He has a very tender heart. Lately, if he misbehaves and I tell him I'm sad he will tell me that he will sing me a song to make me happy. He is very aware of peoples feelings and emotions and asks a lot about whether I am happy, sad, frustrated, etc. 

Deacon now has all of his teeth with the exception of his two-year molars. He has had a bit of a rough winter as far as sickness goes. He has had croup 3 times and a couple of ear infections along with several colds. He continues to be a good eater with fruit probably being his most favorite food. I am shocked at how much fruit he can eat in one sitting. He is not potty trained quite yet. I tried a few months back but stopped because he was not getting the poop thing. I can't decide if I will attempt it again before or after the baby comes. 

He is finally starting to play a little by himself and doesn't demand so much attention from us. It has been quite nice and I'm hoping this will make the transition of having a little sister a bit easier. 

He is really into transformers right now...which I can't decide how much I love. Maybe I'm in denial that he's growing up. It seems a little mature for his age! 

He absolutely loves the park. I think it is probably his favorite activity. He loves being outside, riding his bike or scooter, playing with his water table, and digging in the dirt. He has started getting a lot braver at the swimming pool and will wear floaties this year and will jump in the pool and dunk his head. 

He is extremely sweet when talking about his baby sister. He loves pulling up my shirt (in public) and giving my stomach hugs and talking to her. He likes to talk about all the things he is going to do with her when she comes out of my belly button! I hope the transition goes as smoothly as he talks about it but I know it will be quite hard for him. 

He has made great strides with sharing and shows quite a bit of interest in playing with other kids. He is doing really well in nursery and absolutely loves going each week. 

Deacon and I flew to California in June to visit my sister. Deacon had a blast playing with his cousins and I loved spending time with my sister. Deacon was a great little travel buddy and loved going on the airplane except for the crazy puking escapades on our way home. Deacon got car sick on the way to the airport and threw up in my brother-in-laws car just as he was dropping us off. I'm talking puke was everywhere. Then the turbulence was crazy as we were landing in Salt Lake and he threw up again. I tried to catch some in the barf bag but it was pretty tricky. Needless to say, I'm not too excited to fly anywhere again soon!

We absolutely love our sweet boy and are savoring every minute with him before baby girl arrives. I can't wait to see him as a big brother and I know my love for him will grow even more (if that's possible) when I see him with a sibling. 

Deacon: 2 Years

I can't believe I have a 2 year old! I swear this should not be happening! However, this may be my favorite stage yet…well most days! I am loving how communicative Deacon is becoming. I love hearing him say new words and his little voice makes my heart melt. He is putting several words together on a regular basis. He also seems to copy everything we say. I'm the proudest mom in the world! 

2 Year Stats:

Height: 34.25 inches - 46th percentile

Weight: 27.78 pounds - 48th percentile

Where do I begin with what Deacon is doing? The real question is what isn't he doing? At least that's what it feels like!

Deacon is the happiest child…he really is! Everything excites him and he loves saying "wow, cool" in the cutest high pitched voice. He loves life and his attitude is contagious! He is super energetic and I really don't know where he gets his energy. He loves to hop like a bunny and I'm really not sure how his legs don't get tired. He typically hops or runs everywhere and it is a rarity to see him walking. 

He is very social. He really acknowledges other kids and calls them all "friends", however he isn't so sure about playing with them yet except for his cousins. He plays really well with them.

He is doing awesome at nursery. We are so proud of him and the progress he has made. He loves going and asks for "toys" all through Sacrament. He still gets super tired on Sunday with the whole no nap thing and a couple Sundays ago fell asleep on his nursery teacher's lap!

 We started a class at the Little Gym. His teacher Mr. Brayden is awesome and I love watching Deacon learn and improve every week. It is right up Deacon's alley because he gets to run, climb, and jump the whole class. 

He is really into emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and police cars. We got him a fire station for his birthday and he loves it. He is great at pretend play and he likes to ring the bell on the station and say there is a fire and take the helicopter and firetruck to the fire to spray it out. Then this is repeated a million times! 

He loves reading books before bed and typically chooses the same ones every night. Alan and I have most his books memorized!

He is still a great napper and sleeper. He typically naps around 3 hours and it is heavenly! 

He is a great eater most of the time. He absolutely loves fruit and his favorite is definitely raspberries. He could eat an entire container in one sitting if we let him. He loves cake! It is by far his favorite dessert. If I make homemade cookies I practically have to twist his arm to eat one but cake is another story. 

Deacon wants our constant attention right now. He pretty much won't play with anything unless we are right by him. He constantly says "hand" then grabs our hand to take us where he wants to go. It's hard to get anything done but I'm trying to remember that it won't last long and I'll miss it. 

He is really obsessed with his stuffed animals. He is always hugging them and putting them up to his face and saying "ooh cute". It's maybe the cutest thing ever!

He is extremely agile and acrobatic. He jumps off of everything and really loves to climb. I definitely foresee sports in his future! 

He has the best memory in the world. I'm talking sometimes it's a little freaky. We can go somewhere one time and then several weeks later he talks about every detail. It's really crazy. 

 He knows his colors really well. He can sort and also point out colors and say what they are. He likes talking about the colors of the clothes he wears. He knows his shapes pretty well…that is pointing them out. He isn't really naming them yet. 

He is starting to count. He will climb up on things and say "2, 5, 10" and then jump. 

He has all his teeth on the bottom…with the exception of his two year molars. His upper canine teeth are about to pop through. I can't wait to have that over with!

He is a big observer and really takes in his surroundings. You can also tell he really pays attention to people's conversations. When Alan and I are talking he always chimes in with what we are saying. 

He is still totally obsessed with t.v. He asks for "shows" all the time although he doesn't always get his way. 

He goes up and down stairs like a champ without holding onto anything. It freaks me out but he does really well. He is definitely a dare devil. 

We absolutely adore this boy and feel so blessed to have him in our family. He's absolutely perfect in every way! Even his cheesy grin!

21 Months

My baby boy turned 21 months today! I can't believe I will have a 2 year old in just 3 short months. That just seems weird! Deacon is learning, growing, and changing every single day. He really amazes me! 

Deacon has done very well adjusting to our new life in Utah. The first day he woke up in our new house he immediately was asking to look out the window for the trains like he did in Pocatello. This made me cry but he hasn't really asked since. He loves seeing the Trax trains occasionally and we took a ride on Trax last weekend and he loved it! 

He is completely obsessed with cars and trucks. We had a family friend give Deacon all his old cars and trucks and Deacon has been in absolute heaven. He loves driving them all over the furniture in our house and it really could entertain him for hours! 

He runs so fast and really amazes me with his motor skills. 

He is talking so much! He is putting 2 words together, sometimes 3. He is a little difficult to understand but Alan and I can always understand what he is saying. I really should make a list of the words he is saying but he says new things every single day. I took him on a bike ride tonight and he was talking about every single thing he saw.

He is obsessed with ice cream cones. Like literally obsessed! He doesn't even really like the ice cream it's just the cone. 

He loves to pray and asks to pray before every meal without fail. He will fold his arms and say "pray". He even does it in restaurants and insists that we pray. He says "men" (amen) when the prayer is over. 

He has started going through a lovely hitting phase. He likes to hit us when he is mad or doesn't get what he wants. He also really loves the words "no" and "move". This is definitely not my favorite!

He LOVES TV! His favorite thing to say is "please show" and he thinks he always gets to watch one because he's asking nicely. It is hard to say no when he asks in his sweet little voice. 

He enjoys singing songs with us such as "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes", "Tiny Turtle", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "The Hello Song", and the hot dog song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He knows the actions and some of the words to these songs. 

He has become quite the climber. This is one motor skill that I feel like took him a bit (which I was glad) but he now can climb on everything. We have a really tall bed and he just figured out how to climb on it and loves to jump on it. He loves climbing at the park.

He loves jumping on anything, especially in his crib and the couch. 

He loves riding his trike. He has gotten really good at it and gets going really fast.

He loves imitating a gorilla and opens his mouth and pounds on his chest. It is hilarious!

He has started doing this thing where he loves to "tip toe" as he calls it along curbs. I think he may have learned it from one of his shows. 

He's obsessed with toys and asks for them when we go into any store. Shopping has become a joke and I really can't take him shopping because he freaks out. The one exception is grocery shopping. He does ok with that. 

He loves to help make smoothies and loves to pull a chair up to the counter when I'm cooking to see what I'm doing. 

He is starting to count. He can count to ten with help from us. 

He finally got his bottom molars just about two weeks ago. It was really the worst experience for him and us. He was so miserable and I have discovered he gets some sort of stomach thing when he gets teeth. With both bottom molars he was throwing up. It was really a bad couple of weeks.

He figured out how to do somersaults by himself and is pretty good at them. He calls them "saults". 

He has been an amazing napper since we moved to Utah. He usually goes down between 1:00-1:30 and sleeps till 4:00 or 5:00. It really has been heavenly! He goes to bed between 8:30-9:00 and sleeps till 7:00. 

He still takes his binky at nap time and night. He calls it his "p". I took it from him about a week ago and then I was worried it was affecting his sleep so I caved and gave it back! I felt like a bad mom but I'm ok to wait a bit to get rid of it. 

He has become quite dramatic about getting his teeth brushed, diaper changed, and hair washed. I'm talking screaming bloody murder. I'm hoping this passes soon!

He is still a great eater for the most part. His favorite foods are any fruit but loves raspberries, strawberries, and mandarins. He loves bread, smoothies, chocolate milk (which he calls "milk choc"), cereal, and yogurt. 

He loves looking out the window at our new house and especially loves watching for the mailman and garbage truck. 

He got a new stuffed animal dog named "blue" that he sleeps with and really loves him. 

He started nursery when we moved to Utah and he is doing fairly well. He has a difficult time transitioning from playing with toys to snack time, which usually ends in tears and they come get us. 

He is still trying to figure out the whole sharing/taking turns thing but he is starting to get the hang of it. 

He has loved spending time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. 

We sure love this little boy and I have had the best summer with him. We love getting out every day and have had so much fun doing new things in Utah! Some of our favorite activities are swimming, Discovery Gateway, the zoo, Liberty Park, and the lake at Daybreak. We are soaking up the sun as much as we can!

St. George

Now that our life is finally settling down I feel like it's time to get back to blogging! Hopefully I can catch up! Back in May we decided to take a little family vay-cay to St. George. It was such a hectic time with packing, moving, and Alan graduating but I'm glad we took the time to go. It was a much needed break! I love taking trips just the 3 of us!

We spent lots of time at the park and I think this was when Deacon became obsessed with digging! He is such a boy! This picture was taken the day he turned 18 months.

We went to Swig more than I should admit! Nothing is better than the dirty diet coke. 

We had so much fun getting together with one of my college besties, Skye, and her cute family. Deacon and Grahm had a blast and I wish we lived closer because they would be the best of buds.

We went hiking one day. Deacon was less than thrilled to be carried in a backpack, but he was cooperative for a short while. I let Alan do must of the carrying after I carried Deacon for about 5 minutes and thought my back was broken. Those backpacks are killer!

Deacon practically jumped in the pool when we got there!

Deacon loved the pretend fish and his favorite thing to do at the pool is fill up cups. 

Deacon was pretty upset that I wanted him to wear a hat. The hat was taken off shortly after this picture was taken and no hat has touched his head since. I'm learning to pick my battles!

We had dinner at the Pizza Factory with Skye and her fam.

 St. George has an awesome splash pad/wading pool park and Deacon had tons of fun!

 One of our good family friends, Tommy, met us there as well and brought his darling little girl Avery! Deacon and her were instant friends and he has never taken a liking to another little girl like this! It was probably the funniest/cutest thing ever! His first kiss...

We had such a fun time and love when we get to spend time together as a family. It seems like good, quality time can be hard to come by with how crazy life gets! Deacon was such a great little traveler as well! Until next time St. George...

Deacon: 18 Months

  My baby is growing too fast! I wish I could freeze time. I am loving the phase Deacon is in but I know I always say that! He really is such a good, sweet little boy. I feel like he gets easier the older he gets. Sure, he throws tantrums and there are difficult days but for the most part he is pretty easy going and I understand what he wants and needs. 

I don't even know where to begin with what he is doing right now because he is doing so much. I'm sure I am biased because I'm his mom but I think he is such a smart little boy. He has so much spunk and personality and I keep wondering what our future kids will be like because I feel like he radiates so much personality. 

Deacon is absolutely obsessed with trains, cars, trucks, and buses....basically anything that goes! We live right next to the train tracks and Deacon is in absolute heaven! He has 2 favorite spots in our house to watch the trains. One is in our bedroom where he stands on a little foot stool to look out the window and the other is out the window in our living room where he pushes a chair to the window to look out. Our blinds are always up and if you walked by our house you would most likely see Deacon in the window. The second Deacon hears a train he yells "train" or "choo choo" and runs to the window. He loves for us to hold him up to the window so he can get a better view! He loves being outside and watching all the trucks and cars go by which he says "tru" for truck and "vroom vroom" for cars. He does the sign for bus but can't quite say the word. He will keep saying these words over and over until we acknowledge what he saw. 

He loves going to the park. He loves going down the slides. He can walk up the stairs by himself without holding onto the rail. He loves running across the bridge a million times. He loves playing with the wood chips. 

He has the cutest cheesy grin that he does and has the funniest little chuckle that goes along with it. 

He loves to hold our hands wherever he goes and he is pretty particular about how he holds hands. It is the sweetest thing ever!

He has gotten quite attached to his blankets and his stuffed dinosaur. He loves to snuggle up to them and puts his blankets by his face and gives his dinosaur hugs. In the morning he calls my name when he wakes up and when I go into his room he is standing up and has his blanket in one arm and his dino in the other just waiting to get out. It is the best way to start the day. 

He loves to sing 2 different songs that he learned at the library: "shake your silly's out" and "bread and butter". He does the actions perfectly. 

{stretching his silly's out, doing a kick, and folding his arms to pray}

He understands nearly everything it seems and we are surprised everyday at how much he knows. He is starting to get a grasp on colors and shapes. 

He loves riding his trike and playing in the rocks outside. 

He has become quite the climber and loves climbing on our furniture and jumping off. 

He folds his arms for prayers and says amen when we are done. 

He has matured so much in the last few months and suddenly has started to behave so much better at church. He can make it through nearly all of Sacrament and doesn't try to escape. Don't get me wrong it is quite hectic trying to entertain him but he seems to get the concept of church. He loves getting the bread and water. 

He is getting his top 2 molars. He went through a pretty terrible week or two of napping and I'm pretty sure that's when the molars started coming through. I was so worried he was giving up his naps but he is doing fine again. 

He is trying so hard to talk. He repeats what we say and gives most words a good attempt. Here is a list of some of the words he is saying consistently:

 park, slide, tru (truck), ball, amen, cheese, nana, papa, hi, outside, bike, stairs, go, vroom (car), mama, dada, train, blue, Costco, bread, aust (Austin), croc (crocodile), pa (pirates), min (minnie), Kiwi Loco (our favorite yogurt shop)

He has started combining words and signs to make 2 word phrases.

He loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates and always talks about the Crocodile on the show. He does the actions of what the Croc does and it is hysterical. 

He loves squirrels. We frequent the cemetery by our house so we can feed them peanuts. 

He is pretty predictable and follows a really good routine. I think both him and I need this! He is a great sleeper and a great eater. 

He doesn't take milk before bed but has really become a milk lover during the day. He has started to ask for it quite frequently. 

Deacon is not quiet at all and is the biggest entertainer of all time. He loves attention and has become quite the little show-off when people come to our house. 

He has become a bit "bossy" as I like to say. He is very particular about how he wants things done and even tells me how to play with him through words and actions. He is such a crack up!

He has become quite the little traveler the last couple of months with our busy schedule. It seems like we have been gone every weekend. He does great in the car as long as he can watch a show. 

He did awesome while we went to Hawaii, especially with it being practically the first time we have ever left him. 

He is a little jokester and loves to tickle us and tease us. 

We love this boy to pieces and can't imagine life without him. I can't believe how much joy he brings into our home. I want a million more kids just like him...ok not really but he is so much fun to have around!

Boise Trip

A couple of weeks ago, we headed to Boise for a little getaway. Alan was presenting at a pharmacy conference and also had a job interview. Deacon and I decided to tag along and I'm so glad we did! It honestly was such a fun trip. We really haven't taken any trips just the 3 of us and we had the best time. I am so in love with my little family. Yes, we were just in Boise but for some reason everything about the trip was perfect. I am so grateful for the opportunity we have in this life to have families. There is nothing better and I love spending time with Alan and Deacon. 

We headed straight to P.F. Chang's when we got into town and quickly learned it was not a good idea to bring Deacon there...should have stuck with Chipotle! However, Deacon loved the huge horse outside of the restaurant. 

We were a little nervous about having a one room hotel. We were not sure how Deacon would go to sleep with us in the same room but he did amazing! We did some furniture rearranging so his pack-and-play was hidden behind the t.v. console and he didn't put up a fight. The only tricky part was keeping the lights off and being quiet from 8:00 p.m. until we went to sleep. So what did we do? We watched Downton Abbey on the iPad, sharing the headphones...pretty awesome!

If you know Deacon, you know he is obsessed with phones so he spent the majority of time in the room playing with the phone! He was in heaven!

We went to an indoor play gym one day. Deacon had an absolute blast and if I'm being honest, so did I! 

Maybe the best part of the trip was the swimming pool. The last time we went swimming Deacon was pretty little so we weren't sure if he would like it or not. He LOVED it! And how cute is he in his swimsuit...seriously the  cutest thing ever!

He had a blast splashing in the water and loved hearing his voice echo in the room. We swam every night and Deacon could not get enough. I can't wait to do swim lessons with him this summer. 

We fed the ducks one night. 

These two have the sweetest bond. 

The weather was gorgeous and we spent an afternoon at the park flying airplanes. 

It was the most perfect little vacay and it makes me want to do this more often. Heres to hoping for more family trips in the future!

Mom's 60th Birthday!

On February 16th my mom turned 60! In January she had a double knee replacement, which is a huge recovery. We wanted to plan something special for her birthday and thought a party would also help to cheer her up! The party preparations started a few months prior to her birthday. My sister flew in from California and we came down from Poky. It was a hard secret to keep! I picked Shannon up from the airport late and she slept at Alan's parent's house with us that night. Bright and early the next morning Shannon and I picked up bagels then headed to my parent's house to surprise my mom. She had a wedding to go to that morning so she was up and doing her physical therapy exercises before she had to get ready. We came into the front door and headed to her bedroom. 

My mom is going to kill me for posting this but this picture is priceless! We walked in the room and my sister said, "I heard you wanted breakfast at 7:00!" It's safe to say she had no clue and was in shock!

We played it off like we came into town to hang out while she recovered. Basically the whole weekend was full of lies because we still had some party planning to do. We lied to her one night and said that we were going to the mall but really we went to my brother's house to decorate for the party. The day of the party was a crazy snowy day. We made up some lie as to why we were going to Brent's house that night. She didn't make things easy and really fought us going out in the snow. 

However, it was worth it because she was totally surprised when she arrived at Brent's house and all her kids, grandkids, siblings, and dad were there!

We kept the decor pretty low key but it turned out cute!

We served some delicious desserts thanks to my sisters amazing baking skills!

Brent was thrilled that we had so many glittery decorations at his house!

Shannon and I couldn't have pulled it off without Angela and Anya! Everyone helped out so much!

 My mom with her siblings and dad

 The whole fam minus Cam, Weston, and Holden. The only bummer about the party was that they couldn't be there. 

 It was such a fun weekend celebrating my mom and the amazing person she is! I also got to go to lunch and shopping with just my mom and sister, which hasn't happened in I don't know how long. Made me wish we could do it more often!

Happy Birthday Mom! We love you!