Summer photos

Well, I did go ahead and get the photos off the camera to put on the computer.  I had taken more than I realized - so now for your viewing pleasure - Wyatt's summer fun.

Gianna and Theresa (Wyatt's 1st cousins once removed)

Blowing bubbles at Great Aunt Jan's house

Daddy got to go with us to NRH2O one Saturday.  They are hanging out in the wave pool when the waves are off.

The "orange slide" at NRH2O.  Wyatt loves the slides.

It was pretty cool this day, so  I wrapped Wyatt up in the towel when we got out out of the water.

Granny took Wyatt on his first carousel ride at Grapevine Mills mall.

He had fun, but got really dizzy.  I don't know why he looks so solemn in this picture.

This was the only halfway decent photo I got of them once the ride was going.

Wyatt's first baseball game this season.

Go Rangers!

We got to the game early - the turn out was better than it looks in these pictures.

Wyatt was ready to go play with the Rangers.

Playing peek-a-boo

Getting sleepy - but he didn't go to sleep until we got home from the game.

Swimming with Daddy down at the lake.

Driving the boat with Pawpaw

Not a good picture - but Wyatt was so cute carrying his fishing pole (that had no hook or anything on it).

The boat wouldn't start for us the second time we tried to go out - so the only fishing they got to do was off the dock.

At the mall Wyatt, Parker, and another little girl rode on this together.

Wyatt sure liked his motorcycle!

I let Wyatt "help cook".  He played with flour while I cooked dinner on the stove.

He had so much fun I didn't even really mind the huge mess he made.

22 Months

Wyatt is 22 months old now.  He weighs close to 30 pounds (about 28-29 on our scale) and is wearing 24 month and 2T clothing.  I haven't taken many pictures lately, so here is just a short list of some things he has done recently.

ABCs:  Wyatt used to call alphabet letters "Chicka Boom Boom" and numbers he calls "counting."  I just started teaching him the ABC song about a week or two ago, and now when he sees letters he says, "ABCs!" and is very excited about it.  He does this in books, in words on clothing, at the store when he sees signs, and most recently he showed J, our preacher, the ABCs on the bulletin.  He loves for me to sing the ABCs to him - but now he will also try and sing along with me.  He has the ending part ("now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me") down pretty well, and he actually sang a good many of the letters all by himself in the car the other night.

Singing:  Wyatt loves to sing - or more accurately - he loves for me to sing.  He will often request songs.  The most often requested is the "frog song" (5 green and speckled frogs).  Others he requests include the "bear song" (one I learned from my Grandmother and Grandaddy growing up - it has a lot of verses and you need a leader and echo to sing it properly), the "fish song" (another one I learned from my Grandmother - down in the meadow in the itty bitty pool...), the "duck song" (I know two, 5 little ducks and 6 little ducks - both of which I sang at school), the "caterpillar song" (one I recently learned at Legacy about the fuzzy caterpillar that turns into a butterfly - only God can make the butterfly), and Jesus Loves Me (every night before bed we sing  the B-I-B-L-E and Jesus Loves Me). 

Musica:  Wyatt calls music, "musica." I knew Justin often called it by the Spanish word - but didn't realize how often until realizing that is Wyatt's word for music.  He will try and put our phones on the speaker docking station and tell us he wants "musica." 

Headphones: Wyatt loves to put on Daddy's headphones.  One morning Justin was working from home (until time to go to the baby appointment) and Wyatt sat in his lap just listening to the music on the headphones while Justin worked.  It was very sweet.

Bless you:  Wyatt always says "bless you" when I sneeze (he has for a long time now, but I don't think I've written it down here.)

Handsome:  One day after he got a bath at Granny and Grandaddy's house I was combing his hair as he watched in the mirror.  He said, "handsome" as he looked at himself.  That is what I always tell him after I comb his hair (which doesn't happen to often since he goes to bed right after bath time.  Usually only if it looks really bad or Sunday mornings do I get out the comb and wet it down.)

 Show Mama:  After Daddy gets Wyatt dressed he knows that the next thing to do is go "Show Mommy."  Justin always wants to double check that I approve his clothing choice (the time he gets Wyatt dressed the most often is Sunday mornings while I'm doing my makeup).  When I got him dressed this morning he wanted to go, "show Daddy."

Hugs:  Wyatt likes to give hugs and will request to "Hug baby" when he sees baby Molly (our friends' newest daughter).  He also hugs and kisses pictures of things (both books and actual photos).  We have a large canvas print from our wedding that is in our bedroom leaning up against the wall right now.  Wyatt loves to go give Daddy hugs and kisses on this picture.  Mama gets them too - but not as often as Daddy.

Go see friends:  Wyatt talks about people he likes and requests to see them when they aren't around.  Recently these people have included Uncle Will, Uncle Bret, Aunt Staci, Grandmother (my Grandmother - we went and visited them recently), Cordi, Pemberly, Reese, Brady, Ms. Shelby, Christine, and frequent requests to "Go to Parker's house."  He does love hanging out with friends!  He also wants to "Go to Granny's house" and "Go to Pawpaw's house."  I don't know how he picks which name to go with the house - but that is how he words his requests usually.

Zoo:  Wyatt has been requesting to "go see baby monkey" and " see baby giraffe" so we will hopefully be making a trip to the zoo to purchase our zoo pass for the year.  We haven't ever gotten one before, but I think he will really enjoy it this year.  Even better is that he has some friends who already have zoo passes, and one who is going to get a zoo pass soon too.  It is always double the fun with friends!

Pray:  Wyatt loves to pray.  We used to model prayers for him, then we would have him repeat after us, and now he can pray on his own.  A typical Wyatt prayer goes something like this, "Dear God thank you day (thank you for today), for Mama, for Daddy, for puppies, for friends.  Amen."  He now throws in various things to be thankful for that we haven't modeled previously.  When Staci and Will were over for dinner he said thank you for Staci when I put him down for bed that evening.  Last night he said thank you for books.  This was new, and especially funny because we went to the library yesterday and he picked out a book to check out, and then got to check out all Mama's books with the self scanner (they had a stool at each of them so the kids could reach - such a great idea!)  He thanks God for food during meal time.  A couple of weeks ago during church services he noticed that someone was praying, sat still, folded his hands, and started praying very quietly.   He was done quick - I don't remember what he prayed for that time - but it was so neat that he figured out that it was time to pray and he wanted to join in.  Now for him to learn that when other people are praying out loud you just pray along silently.

Okay, that is more than enough words for the second post in a row.  Maybe I'll get around to taking some photos for the next post (or at least posting pictures that we took and are just sitting on the cameras).

Cute things I don't want to forget

I was telling my Mom a story about Wyatt last night and she said - you need to write these things down.  I thought that was a good idea.

So here are some funny/cute things that have happened lately:

• Wyatt repeats everything!  This leads to some funny stuff being said.  I don't say anything bad, but sometimes he repeats things that just don't sound right coming from a 20 month old.
• Says, "Bless you" to me when I sneeze.  So sweet.
• Wants "kissies" when something hurts.  Particularly funny when he wants me to kiss his mouth (teething pain - I can't really kiss where that hurts) and his booty (diaper rash).
• Says, "Excuse me Major" sometimes when walking past the dog.
• Tried to feed his toys.  Yesterday he tried to feed his stuffed elephant some carrots (he would hold them up to the trunk and say, "Eat!"  He also tried to give his plastic whale his bottle.
• Gave himself timeout twice the other day.  The first time he had done something rude (smacked me or something).  I made him apologize and told him we don't do that.  He said, "Timeout?"  I told him if he wanted timeout to go ahead.  I sat in the living room while he went into his room and closed the door, then came back and minute or two later with a sheepish look.  I asked him if he was ready to be nice.  He smiled and said "Be nice" and went to playing.  He also gave himself timeout for being fussy.  I had asked him, "Do you need timeout" or "Do you need to go to your room?" because he was just fussing for no reason.  He said yes, and took himself to timeout.  Again, coming back a minute or two later ready to be happy.  So funny!
• Wyatt loves to visit the neighbors.  Actually, the only reason I have time to do this right now is because he is over at Ron and Gerri's house (our retired next door neighbors).  We were out in the backyard and they were out.  He went over to say hi, and I excused myself to go sit down on our porch (I'm not feeling great today).  Ron took Wyatt over in their yard to see Gerri, and after awhile he came and told me Wyatt was wanting to go inside.  So, I'm here and Wyatt is over there for a while.  We have the best neighbors!  
• More about the neighbors - when we come home from somewhere Wyatt will often start waving at someone's house and want to go say hi to them.  He knows the names of our next door neighbors and the across the street neighbor lady.  He will also want to go say hi to anyone he sees outside, whether we know them or not.
• Hunter got out Tuesday night - and Wednesday morning Wyatt and I went on a walk around the neighborhood looking for him.  I would say, "Hunter" every so often.  Wyatt copied me and would call out, "Hunter" and then "areyou?" which means "where are you."  He came up with the "where are you" part on his own.  All I did was call Hunter's name.
• Wyatt loves the pool.   I had a girls night last week while Justin and some of the other guys took the kids over to the "K's" house where they have a pool.  They got to swim and grill.  Through a suggestion of another dad Justin started letting Wyatt jump in the pool and go under the water, instead of catching him.  Wyatt would either grab onto Justin and pull himself up, or Justin would get him right away if he wasn't coming up by himself.  Wyatt apparently loved it!  He also got the jump off the diving board (Daddy caught him in that situation).  He would even jump and stick his legs out in the sitting position to jump in so he splashed more.  Almost like a cannonball! 
• We were all sitting around watching the Olympics after Justin's birthday dinner at my parent's house Tuesday.  Our friends have been staying with my folks for awhile, so they were there.  Wyatt loves to play with their two girls.  He was especially funny when he said "Run P," but she didn't realize what was going on and he tackled her (side swiped her from a sitting position down to the ground).  "P" is about to be in fourth grade I believe.  Wyatt frequently will say "Run" and someone's name and then go running at them.  He really liked running into P.  She also thought it was funny - so it worked out.
• We went to eat lunch with Justin and his group from work for his birthday.  While we were eating Wyatt snuck down from his chair before I realized it and started running around the room saying "Run away!"  He thought it was hilarious.  Thankfully there weren't very many people in that back room we were in.  I quickly grabbed him - but he sure did want to "run away" some more.
• He has been doing this for a long time, but I'm not sure I wrote it down anywhere.  When taking baths Wyatt likes to lay his head down touching the side of it to the edge of the water and say "Night-Night" then spring back up grinning.  He also likes to "swim" in the tub - sometimes after the water is all out - by laying on his belly and kind of splashing around.  He will tell me he is "swimming" when he does this.
• Wyatt will say, "I love you" whenever we tell him we love him.  Also did that with grandparents recently.  So sweet!

I'm sure there is more, but that is all I can think of for now.  I wrote this in two settings - and Wyatt is now up from his nap, so I'll end this here.  We sure do love our little cutie!

Exciting News

Well, it has been a long time since I wrote a post for the blog.  I have a good reason though - we are expecting baby #2.  I haven't been feeling well lately - and I use Wyatt's nap time as my nap time, so no blog posts.  Hopefully I will start feeling better soon.  I'm almost 9 weeks along now; the due date is around March 8.

We are very excited to be using Christy Martin as our midwife this time.  She is the midwife who ended up being there for Wyatt's birth (because my midwife was out of town) and I liked her a lot.  My first appointment is at the end of August.  I can't wait to hear that little heartbeat!

Summer Fun

Playing in the dog crate.

We are treating our house with DE (for the fleas the dogs brought in) and Wyatt sure had fun helping me spread it all around the living room before I vacuumed.

Love that face!

Making a mess is so much fun!

On the boat for Father's Day.

Wyatt likes to "jump" off the side of the boat to Daddy.

Happy Father's Day to Daddy and Pawpaw!

Wyatt loves "swimming"

We had a fun weekend trip to the lake to celebrate Father's Day.  We went tubing on Saturday (my first time ever).  It was funny - I rode first and had a great time.  Then Justin rode and first thing that happened was he broke one of the handles.  He finished his ride and David (my father-in-law) took his turn.  He managed to break the other handle.  They were creative and figured out a way to use a rope and the old grip cushions so I rode again using the new "handle."  Then Justin took another turn.  While he was riding the entire tube cover broke off - so we were done tubing for the weekend!   Now I know why they joke about Justin breaking things.

Parker and Wyatt enjoying some apples and peanut butter as a snack before we got in the water.

Wyatt loves "swimming."  I have an NRH2O pass so we go to the water park with my friend Christine and her little boy Parker once or twice a week.  At first Wyatt was pretty timid, but now he loves it!  We play in the various kid areas and he loves to do the water slides.  Sometimes he amuses himself by "jumping" in the water (he just falls down on his rear).  He thinks it is hilarious!  He also likes to splash and loves the slides. 

19 months

Well the big guy is 19 months old.  While we were on vacation he kept talking more and more.  He can now say "Grandaddy" and it is pretty close to the real word.  He is now putting two words together more frequently, and sometimes even three or more.  He loves to copy almost anything we say, and is always surprising me with new words he has picked up and is able to use independently as well.  He can label "rocking horse" and "dolphin" just to name a couple. (Any words in quotes in this post are things that he says.)

Wyatt is really loves to read and be read to - as was seen in a couple of the vacation photos.  He loves to sit and look at books while in the car, and at home.  He also loves to go get a book and then ask me to "read" it - usually in the "rocking chair".  Looking at books during church services is even more problematic now because he knows all kinds of things and loves to talk about what he sees in the pictures.  This past Sunday we were visiting the Kemp congregation (down close to the lake) and I had to take him to go sit in the nursery during the sermon, because all he wanted to do was talk.  At least back there I was the only one he disturbed with his constant chatter. 

Wyatt loves "animals".  Naming animals, looking at pictures of animals, and making animal noises are all fun.  (Seeing live animals is great too - but other than his "puppies" that doesn't happen too often).  We were at a friend's birthday party last week and they had a basket full of animal masks.  Wyatt loved the "animals" and wanted to try them all on, one after the other.  He wore the monkey one the longest.  He is our "monkey man."  He picked up that phrase when he was wearing some monkey covered pajamas and Justin called him a monkey man.  Now he loves to call himself a monkey man any time.

Wyatt's biggest loves are still "balloons", "baseball", and balls.  He now says "upball" for football and attempts to say "basketball" and even "soccer ball" though the last one is not very clear.  He is also getting more and more into cars and trains now to go along with his love for tractors.  Wyatt also loves to "tickle" and give hugs and kisses to lots of people - including his little friends.  It is so fun to see him starting to interact more with other little kids.

It is getting harder and harder to keep Wyatt away from sweets - because if there is food around he wants to mooch off someone.  He even got to share a little bit of cookie with Daddy the other night when we had some friends over for dinner.  He also requests things that he wants to eat sometimes.  I think the first thing he asked for when we were back from vacation was a smoothie ("moothie").  I guess he somehow knew I couldn't make one on vacation - because he never asked for one then.  I make us smoothies with spinach, frozen fruit, banana, milk, yogurt, and sometimes a splash of orange juice if I have it.  They are delicious and pretty healthy.

Wyatt is starting to throw little fits when he doesn't get what he wants.  Thankfully he recovers quickly and is easily distracted right now.  Sometimes he even pretend cries.  He hides his head (usually while lying face down on the floor) and makes some kind of crying noise - it is quite amusing.  Overall though he seems to have an easy personality like his Daddy -  so that is nice!

Wyatt got two new teeth while we were on vacation.  Then this weekend I noticed two more poking through - but this time they are molars.  Now he is up to 9 teeth!

He loves to make this silly/sad face with his lip sticking out!  He has a hard time not smiling while he makes that face.

Red River, New Mexico

We just got back from our vacation to Red River, New Mexico.  Justin's company has some cabins there and we took my parents (Wyatt's Granny and Grandaddy) with us for the fun.

We didn't "do" a whole lot.  A little hiking, rented an off-road golf cart for a half-day trip, a lot of reading and relaxing.  We also went to Taos one day.  Taos Pueblo, a place where Native Americans have lived from before all the white people came, was kind of neat.  A few people still live there with no running water and no electricity.  Some are artists and sell their work to the tourists.  Dad got a really neat piece (a bear) that was made out of clay and then the colored part was from horsehair.  It looks like some kind of stone.  They charged extra for cameras at the Pueblo,  so I got a couple of post-cards and didn't take any pictures.  In the town of Taos there were some neat shops we looked at.  If we had money we didn't know what to do with we all agreed we would have dropped a few thousand in the rocks and minerals store.  They had some beautiful amethyst geodes there that would have made beautiful home decor.

Another major thing we didn't photograph were all the motorcycles.  The Saturday we arrived (Memorial Day weekend) there was a motorcycle rally in Red River.  It took 20 minutes just to drive down the one main street in the town to get to the grocery store because of all the bikes.  I have never seen so many Harley's or so much leather before.  We even worshiped with a bunch of bikers Sunday morning.  What a special experience!  The Saturday we left they had a classic car show.  I didn't take any pictures there either - but we did enjoy looking around for a few minutes before we hit the road to Amarillo.

Sunday morning in Amarillo we went to the church where our old preacher is now at (well, we placed membership the week before he announced he was leaving - but we overalapped a little bit).  We even ran into some friends from our young married class there in Amarillo.  It is a small world sometimes.  After church and lunch we headed for home, only to be stopped on I-40.  People were getting out and walking around trying to see what was going on.  We had seen smoke in the distance, so we guessed that the fire reached or got close to the road and they wouldn't let anyone pass.  Justin got on his phone and found us a different route after awhile, so at least we didn't have to just sit there who knows how long.  We drove through the grass to do a U-turn and went around a different way.  We ended up adding an hour to our drive time, but we did make it home safe and sound.  It was a great vacation, and it is also great to be home and back to normal life again.

On our hike up to a beautiful lake.  (My parents)

Wyatt loves riding in the backpack!  Daddy really got a workout carrying him up the mountain.

Here are all of us at the top.  The lake was beautiful, and it was very cold up there.  Wyatt got really cold even with all his layers, hat, and mittens.

This was a river we had to cross in order to get to the top.  Justin took off his shoes and socks and just waded because it was difficult to balance with Wyatt on his back.  He even helped my parents make it across.

Justin trying to feel his feet again after that freezing cold water.  You can't see it in the picture, but just to his left a little bit is a big pile of snow.

Beautiful view from the top

Wyatt with his grandparents enjoying the view.

Deer we spotted off the dirt road on our way back to the cabin from the hike.  We saw several deer while we were there.

A very common sight during the week.  Wyatt enjoyed having people read to him (and it was really cold in the cabin sometimes - thus all the bundling up)

Mommy reading to Wyatt.

Local park (one of three different ones he played at while we were there).

The first two nights he took a shower with Daddy and screamed the whole time.  Then we gave him his baths in the kitchen sink - which was a success.

That boy loves his Daddy, and the backpack!

Loving the playgrounds here in NM.

Doesn't he look cool in his shades!  We got him new ones (that actually have all the UV protection - I don't know if the ones he is wearing in the picture have any) for his souvenir.  He loves his glasses!

With Granny and Grandaddy down by the river behind the cabin (well, behind and down a very steep hill).

Throwing rocks with Grandaddy - his new favorite past time.

He loves his Granny!

We rented this off-road golf cart for a trip to Goose Lake.  It sure was fun.  Great views, old stuff to look at (old mines and old log houses), and lots of bouncing.

Checking out an old mine.

Here we are at Goose Lake.

An old log cabin on the way to Goose Lake.

The view of Goose Lake.  Gorgeous!  I hiked around the whole thing which was kind of fun (an adventure not to fall in at one point when I was walking on slippery snow).

We went to Taos one day.  Found this great play area behind a toy store.  Totally free play area and children's classes.  Wish we had someplace like this here.

Still at the play area.  We left shortly after this picture when he fell and hit his head.  It was way past nap time anyway.

Rio Grande Gorge - It was spectacular.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  We drove across this bridge, stopped and took pictures at the rest stop and then drove back.  We didn't try walking on the bridge (although there was a sidewalk and overlook places for pedestrians).  I was close enough for my comfort from right here.

Other view of the gorge.

Wyatt is quite the little reader!

Daddy put Wyatt on his tummy to swing all by himself and he loved it!  He also laughed every time his feet drug on the ground.

These little flower shaped seats spin around and around.  Very unique and fun for Wyatt and Daddy.

Throwing rocks in the river with Grandaddy.

This (and the above pics) were at a little park in Red Ricer that had a nature trail that crossed back and forth over this little river.  This was probably our favorite spot of the whole trip.  Fun, peaceful, and beautiful.

Grandaddy came up with a new game.  He would "ribbit" the little frog and then throw it "attack frog."  Wyatt thought it was hilarious and it scared him both at the same time.  I guess he must enjoy being scared a little bit since he was always ready for more attack frog.

All of us in front of the cabin.

In front of the property.  You can see the cabin and the rental van in the background..

And just another pic of the cutie (when we were back home).