Baby food

 It's that exciting time of introducing baby food.  We started the rice cereal at about 4 1/2 months because he was acting interested in food.  He loved it for a few day and then he really started to get constipated and we had many days and nights of a screaming baby. One of those nights was also with a babysitter (we are really burning through those girls fast with this guy).  Since I have never dealt with this before, it took me a little while to figure out what the problem was but once I did then we stopped the baby food for awhile.  I was hoping the baby food would help him sleep better through the night but it just made it way worse. He did however love the spoon! 

And don't mind the pink bib…didn't realize I had only kept a couple and they were both pink! We have since bought new boy ones.  Maybe it is the pink bib but when I look at these pictures I am reminded of how similar Addy and him are.  Pretty crazy.

Pumpkin Carving

So we had a small crew over to carve pumpkins for FHE.  Addy and I had already carved one down in Utah but we'd left it behind and I love to have at least one lit by the door on Halloween night, so that meant we needed to carve another.  Since I also have a little independent child, she of course didn't want to share the pumpkin so Dad helped cut out her own creation and I did the other one by myself! Hmmm, thinking back maybe I am the one who is hard to work with.

She was pretty proud of that pumpkin!

but it still wasn't good enough so she ended up cutting another design on the back all by herself.

It can be a little exhausting working with a 5 year old!

She was even more delighted with this side of the pumpkin.

After 5 attempts at a family picture, this was the best that we got!

Harlans freaky pumpkin.

Our amazing pumpkins all ready for Halloween night!

A win win

This is how Addy earns a little money.  Mitch pays her a quarter for every 7 minutes she rubs his feet. 

Little Mom

Sometimes I think she makes him cry just so she can try to make him happy again. 

It brings her great happiness when she gets to pretend to be the mom.

Birthday Time

Oh you've had a birthday shout Horray!

It was a pretty low-key birthday since he'd just started his new job a few weeks before and couldn't take any time off.  We did however still have cake and presents!

Finding his presents that Addy had hid.

Making sure I didn't spend too much!

This was me saying, "please at least act excited about your presents"
and he did!

The requested cake was and angel food cake with cool whip snickers frosting. Apparently his mom used to make it when they were younger. I also made a cute little birthday banner for the top but didn't get a good picture of that.

Hairdresser

Oh the joys of having an older sister!  

He gets to have what little hair he has, brushed and curled.

It started out so nice.

 Then she pulled out the curling iron (it is fake) and that was enough.

 And I could just hear him saying, "really mom, I have had enough!"

Legs and Feet

And the casts are off a week early!  The doctor was so pleased with how much he had progressed that he didn't put another set on. Happy day at our house, although the skin on his legs and feet is super sensitive so really he hasn't been too happy about the new change.  Also he's lost a lot of muscle strength in his legs so they are pretty skinny.  

We do have to go into another doctor to get fitted for some special shoes. For now it is just nice to see his little legs and feet again! 

Winter clothes already

All bundled up and it is only September!

Someone wasn't too happy about it and I couldn't blame him.
Either was I.
Not ready for the cold.

Rockin the bow tie

 He is just one handsome dude!

Love that little grin!

Sundays are just exhausting around here!

Building Muscles

 It really didn't take long for this little man to adjust to his casts.  In fact I think that he enjoys having them on.  He loves to pick up his legs and then smack them down on the floor because it makes a loud thump.  He will also click his ankles together because that makes a great noise as well.  Just think of the muscle strength he is developing in his abs every time he lifts his legs in the air!  There are a couple of drawbacks, 1- they are impossible to keep clean…blowouts are the worst just ask the poor babysitter who had to try and clean the last one up! 2- they snag on fabric and make it a little more difficult to carry him around, which really isn't that big of a deal I just have to be careful with what I wear. Mostly it is just trying to keep him and the casts clean that is a pain.

At least I still look cute no matter what!

Yellowstone

To celebrate several family birthdays, we decided to head up to Yellowstone.  We always say we should go there more often since we aren't that far away but for some reason it just always gets passed over. Addy turned five and this is the first time she has ever been.  We headed up on Friday and spent the night in West and had fun swimming with cousins and then headed into the park on Saturday.  To bad we chose a weekend with horribly cold and rainy weather. It was still fun to drive around looking for animals and the kids loved playing in the backseat. We just didn't get out and walk around as much as I would've liked.

Not long after we entered the park we came across a herd of elk.  I wasn't quick on getting to the camera which is a bummer because one of the bulls was huge. Oh well.

We did get out at Norris to see and smell all the hot springs.

Shortly after our stop, we drove passed this random buffalo.  We easily could've reached out the window to pet it.

see the baby eagle in the nest

I believe this was Tower Falls.  This is what happens when I get four months behind in my posting, I forget too many of the details. I do remember that this little lady was super grumpy and cold.

We finally got a smile after aunt trish bribed her with a treat.

Taking a lunch break in the rain before heading to see Old Faithful. The kids loved dragging sticks and making a path around the picnic area.  I think they were finally bored from being in the car all day so the cold and rain didn't bother them as much.

We had the best timing with Old Faithful. Seriously we walked up and within minutes it erupted.  Which was a blessing because we had some pretty cold kids who would not have enjoyed waiting much longer than that. It wasn't quite as impressive with all the cloud coverage. It sort of just blended into the background.

After a whole day of adventure these two crashed while waiting for everyone at the visitor center!

Hopefully we will make it back up next spring when it is warmer and to see all the baby animals!