Father's Day

Little behind on my posts :) The annual Springspree celebration was on Father's Day weekend this year, so we went to the park and looked at the booths and saw an amazing bike show. I never knew I liked that kind of thing, but it was pretty neat! We walked over to the lake to cool off and let Preston walk in the water. We also got a picture of Brandon and Preston in the same spot that my dad was holding me 38 years ago on Father's Day. Very enjoyable day spent with my 2 favorite boys ♥

Preston is 18 months old today!!

My little pumpkin is 18 months old today! He is such an energetic boy and is always on the move.  We are so happy to have this little sweetie in our lives.

He recently took his 3rd airplane ride - we flew to Iowa for 2 weeks to visit family. He was the center of attention the entire time! Whenever my cousins came over, they would immediately whisk him away. They were like mother hens playing with him and feeding him. They did a great job and it gave me some much enjoyed free time and he was eating up all the attention. Someone asked me if he was walking yet because he was always being carried around - LOL!! While we were there, we celebrated my Grandma's 89th birthday and had 35 people at the house for Easter dinner! There was an egg hunt outside and Preston got his own Easter basket which was almost as big as he is! We went down to the Mississippi River so Preston could touch the water. We went back later that night so we could see the bridge lit up. It changes colors several times every minute and is really pretty. A big storm moved in during our last weekend and the tornado sirens went off. That was pretty scary! Luckily all we got was rain and strong winds. Other than that one storm, the weather was beautiful and we had a great visit.

Rides at the Penny Arcade

Our town has a fun penny arcade on the west side. It has a mix of super old games and brand new ones. Some of the games are still only a nickel. My dad used to take me there when I would come up and visit him for the weekend. We'd race each other in the horse derby and challenge each other on our favorite pinball machine. Some of the games are in buildings and some are outside by the river. We decided to take Preston there to ride some of the kiddie rides - he wasn't too sure of most of them, but he didn't seem scared. His favorites were the space shuttle and the firetruck. We had a blast and plan to go back when the weather is warmer. They had a TON of rides - here's pictures of a few of the ones he rode:

Electric Safari at the Zoo

We took Preston to the zoo for the first time right after Christmas. They decorate the zoo with animated animals displays and lots and lots of lights. It's beautiful to see and we usually go every year. It was so much different to go as a family of 3. I was more excited about his reaction and loved watching him take it all in. For the first 30 minutes, he just stared at everything and didn't make a noise - very unlike him!! It was a wonderful night and not too cold which made the experience even better.

Preston got to ride his first carousel. He wasn't too sure of it at first, but I think he enjoyed it. This was our first time on it too - it went fast!! His favorites were seeing the giraffes and the stinky, loud hippos. We all had a good time and I can't wait to take him back to see all the other animals.

Christmas 2011

We all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas. It was pretty low key this year - not a lot of gifts or stress and lots of time spent with family eating way too much food. Santa was very good to Preston though. He had fun opening gifts and ripping the paper into confetti sized pieces. His favorite present was a plush rocking horse. He figured out quickly that if you press the ear, the horse makes galloping noises.

He's started doing a lot of new things lately. He does a 'happy dance' after he takes a bite of food. I didn't teach him that, but it's really cute! He's also learning how to dance. Right now, it's just a foot stomp, but he's got rhythm. Out of the blue, he started twirling around in circles. He spins really fast and will get dizzy and fall down. He knows where his nose is and instead of pointing to it, he'll inhale and exhale quickly. If you ask him to do 'muscles', he'll squeeze his hands and flex his arms - and he has a muscleman face to go with it. He's such a ham! And he just started saying 'hi'. It's usually when he sees one of our kitties. He'll wave and give a high pitched 'hi'!!

Happy New Year!

Feeties!!!

I love baby feet. I mean I really LOOOOVVVEEE baby feet! The little pudgy, rectangle, tiny, soft feet. And don't get me started on the little toes that look like corn niblits. I take his socks off all the time just to play with them, kiss them, squeeze them. I'll probably have to stop doing that when he becomes a teenager - lol!

Preston's first airplane ride!

Preston got to go on his first airplane ride earlier this month. My mama, Preston and I flew back to Iowa to visit family for a week. All of our family live in the same area and nobody has met Preston in person. He did pretty good on the flight. He cried some, but mostly wasn't too happy about having to sit on our laps. If he could have run around inside the plane, I think he would have been fine. We left Colorado in a blizzard and left Iowa in a snowstorm - we know how to pick our travel dates! We flew into Chicago and drove 3 1/2 hours to Iowa. It was nice to see a part of the country that I've never been to. We had a great visit and it was so nice to be around family. The week went by way too fast.

Both of my parents grew up in the same city so there's a lot of memories there. We took Preston to the cemetery where his 2 great-grandpas are buried, drove by his great-grandma's house (she died in 1999 and is buried in Pennsylvania), played at the park and fed the ducks and went to the Mississippi River to watch the barges go through the locks.

I thought this billboard outside of Chicago was pretty funny and very clever:

Halloween Penguin

Preston dressed up as a penguin for Halloween this year. I bought it it September and hoped he would be walking by Halloween so he could waddle in his costume - which he did!! He wore it all day as we drove around to visit Daddy and Grandma at work and then at night when we went trick-or-treating at the neighbor's houses. He was a good sport and didn't seem to mind wearing it - he wasn't too keen about the hat though, but it stayed on most of the time.

Preston's 1st Birthday Party

Preston celebrated his first birthday with friends and family. We had the party at our house and almost everyone that was invited showed up. It was so fun to share the special day with so many people. Several of Preston's little friends came and it was so neat to watch them all interact. They played very nicely together! I made monkey cupcakes and had a blast decorating the house.



Preston wasn't too thrilled with eating his cupcake. We all sang 'Happy Birthday' and had blow-outs which scared him. He wasn't too sure of getting his hands dirty and digging into the cupcake. I helped him out and assured him it was ok. He ate the whole thing and made a big mess just like he was supposed to.


He has recently learned how to blow kisses and when I ask him where his nose is, he grabs his ear. Guess we need to work on that ;) He loves to give kisses and hugs. He can be crying and if you ask him for a kiss, he'll stop crying, give you a kiss and then resume crying. It's quite cute! He climbed our stairs all the way to the top by himself for the first time yesterday. He's getting to be such a big boy! I have so much fun playing with him and I sometimes just stop to look at him and to take it all in that he's MINE! What a blessing :)

Preston is 1!

12 month picture. This was the best shot I could get - he was tired and hated the hat.

Birthday bath with Mohawk!

Preston turned 1 yesterday! Daddy took the day off so we enjoy the day as a family. We celebrated by taking him to the dr. for his on year check-up complete with shots (sorry buddy!). He got his first flu shot and several others. He's always done really good with shots so hopefully he doesn't have a reaction to any of these. It's been a wonderful first year and we're so blessed to have this little guy in our lives.

He's now walking really well and it's so fun to see him waddle around. He has now figured out how to crawl up the stairs, but hasn't figured out how to get down. He gets up a few steps, looks back and panics. He finally started clapping! I've tried teaching him how to do it for months and he would flap both arms, but couldn't clap them together. He just started doing it out of the blue about a week ago. He points at everything and says 'ssssssss'. Not sure what that means, but it's cute :) He loves to point at airplanes in the sky and kitties. He still only says 'mama', 'dada' and 'uh-oh' but mama is his favorite thing to say ♥ He tried pumpkin for the first time on his birthday and liked it and we're switching him from formula to whole milk. He noticed a difference so we're going to slowly wean him off the formula by mixing the two for a week or so. He drank that just fine.

His big birthday party is tomorrow so I'll post pictures from that soon.

Happy 1st Birthday to our
lil' pumpkin!

Crispy Green Beans

The crispy green bean appetizer at PF Changs is probably my all-time favorite food. We never go there without ordering it. They're crispy and salty and battered with a very light coating and served with a creamy spicy dipping sauce *DROOL* I don't feel so bad eating these because it's almost like eating a side of veggies - if it weren't for the crispy fried part :)

Preston was eyeing mama's beans. I let him smell one, but he'll have to wait a few years until I share my coveted green beans.

Preston is 9 months old!

My baby is turning into such a fun little boy. He has a very sweet, but curious personality and is always on the move. He's sooo close to being able to walk on his own. He can stand holding on with one hand and today I caught him standing next to the bathtub and he was leaning against it, not holding on with either hand. He can also now stand up in his crib. I love watching him figure things out - he loves to open and shut doors/drawers, flush the toilet, rip apart Kleenex or napkins, throw things into the bathtub and his favorite thing to do is play with electrical cords. He will go straight for a cord over any toy. Fans, lamps, computer, vacuum - he loves them all. I always have to watch him so he doesn't get hurt.

He now has 6 teeth - 4 on top and 2 on the bottom. He's tried more new foods and has liked everything so far. He's now had applesauce, avocado, bananas, carrots, green beans, peaches, pears, peas, squash (butternut) and sweet potatoes. He's been eating brown rice cereal and oatmeal for a few months and I just introduced plain yogurt and tofu. I have so much fun making new combinations. He loves oatmeal/yogurt/peaches - it's like baby peach cobbler :) I'm going to try adding spices next and then we'll move onto all the other fruits and veggies. I like to do them in alphabetical order so next up will be apricots. He now sits in a big boy highchair to eat and loves to bang on the tray while waiting for his food.

My dad just flew in from Phoenix for a visit. He hasn't seen Preston since he was 5 weeks old. He was only here for a few days, but we were able to go to the park and play on the swings and do some other 'Grandpa' things. I was able to get the 2 grandpa's together and get a picture of them with Preston. That will be a special memory for all of them (notice how similar their shirts are - that wasn't even planned!).


Preston had his 9 month check-up on Wednesday and he's doing great. Growing, happy and healthy.

First Father's Day...and peas!

We enjoyed a relaxing, fun first Father's Day. We met up with my inlaws for a Sunday brunch and then back to the family house for some playtime with the cousins. Then, we got to come home, take a nap and go out to dinner and do some shopping. That's my idea of a pretty perfect day. Preston was SO tired by the time we got home, but mama had to get some pictures of him and his Papa. Pictures are not optional, especially on holidays :)



He also tried homemade peas for the first time and LOVED them! They were bright green and so pretty - very different from the watery, olive colored jarred peas. I'm still enjoying making all of his food. He's a very good eater! *Notice the appropriate "I Love Daddy" jammies he's wearing*