...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.