"DaDa"

Aunt Amy also discovered that Anderson has his first tooth popping through. yea!!

214 Days!

7 months old today and ever changing...Anderson said his first word on November 4th, "DaDa" of course. I thought I could get it to be MaMa, from day one I said it in his ear every day several times, any time I picked him up, any time I rocked him, fed him, constantly saying it, but no. None the less I love hearing those words from him, "dadadadaganadada" love it!

He has begun to eat a bit more baby food than before, he prefers table food though. He had his first pancake this Saturday on the 15th.
He has figured out he has a tongue and is constantly sticking it out and grabbing it, just trying to figure out what exactly it is there for.
When he is hungry in the middle of the night he will scooch over to me and tap the back of my head (like a dog scratching at the door when it has to potty) to let me know I need to flip over. :)
He is scooting all over the place and will get up on his knees and hands longer now.
He sits up in the bath like a big boy.
Still no teeth, which I'm perfectly fine with.
He will snatch a toquito right from your hands if you are not careful.
He brings his hands together and holds them lifting them up and down together.
Is getting better and better at using his sippy cup and tilting it back.
Starting sucking from a straw last week.
He is doing really well just being with daddy so I can leave for a few hours if needed.
Spitting on purpose to get attention.
Loves to be thrown into the air.
We and by we I mean Ken, let him cry in his crib for 15-20 minutes until he fell asleep...this was a big deal for me, because I would have never done it if I was here, but I am glad that it did work.
Tries to get out of the car seat as soon as he is being buckled in.
When you go to sit him down he keeps his knees bent and his feet high, clinging on to you so that you won't put him down, very cute.

The photos below are his first pancake morning, the last pic I asked him to say "ahhh" and he did... not really, it's just that tongue thing again, always out.

Calwell Zoo

This was too funny. Anderson kept reaching for the birds when they would land on the birdseed stick that Nana was holding so we finally just gave Anderson the stick and let him do it himself.
As soon as we walked in to this place the birds were just flying all around, I was screaming of course. Pop came walking towards us with about five birdseed sticks in his hands and he was covered with birds, I didn't have the camera on me to get that picture but it was pretty cute. After getting used to the birds being all around each one of the kids eventually took their own stick to feed them. At first they were a bit scared.

Balancing like Flamingos...I should have put Landon up there with them, that boy has been balancing and hoping on one foot for a few months now, very impressive! Alli's favorite animal is the flamingo.

These guys are so big! Landon and I suck around for a bit to watch these, at first we were just looking at their butts :) but they started to walk around after awhile and we got a nice close look at them.

Anderson did so well. Not very fussy at all. This was such a nice day to go to the zoo. Last time we went was July or August, it was way too hot...oh i just remembered Landon was in my tummy then :) Well, then this would be his first trip to the zoo, where is my baby book?

Landon's favorite animal is the giraffe, he says that they are his friends. He loved just laying there looking at them.

Cali Trip Part II

Finally uploaded photos from my ps....we visited the Jelly Belly factory. This was fun. We got to go on a tour upstairs and look down at the makings of it all. Downstairs in the candy story they had a counter with every flavor jelly belly they had made and you could taste as many as you wanted. After the tour we all got free jelly bellys and then we went to the store which was full of all kinds of candy. Ken had made different mixtures, PB & J, hot fudge sundays, I wanted a ton of Watermellon and Buttered Popcorn, Landon wanted sour worms and Alli went straight for the nasty flavors....ear wax, boogers, skunk, pencil shavings and vomit, yes vomit. She wanted to trick everyone she saw by telling them it was a yummy flavor.

On another day we went to Downtown Sac. Some things down there were places to eat, big candy stores with barrels full of candy, homemade taffy shops, horse carriage rides...one of the places we went was the Railroad Museum, this one in Sacramento is the largest in the country. We really enjoyed going through all of the different trains, the mail train, dinner train, sleeper train...the museum had restored trains and most of them then kids could get on and discover all the parts and where the coal was placed and all. We then took a train ride through downtown. One of the photos is the Sacramento State Capitol, where the govenator works :)

A couple pics of the kids on our way home, this is in Dallas, the kids were tired but still in good moods, just another meal and a 31/2 hour drive and we would be back in our own beds! One of the best feelings ever, isn't it? :)

Nature Hike

Ken has been really into taking the kids on adventures lately. On Saturdays he makes us all beignets and then we take off to somewhere that is fun and new. The things he plans for them are very inexpensive or free. They love it! They know that Saturdays are our family day. Last Saturday Alli and I had a birthday party and then I had to work for the next six hours after that. Even being without the "Mama" didn't stop him from taking ALL 3 of the kids out and about with him. I'm proud of you honey, thank you for being such a great daddy!

We headed to Blanchard on this day...Ken and the kids ended up hiking over 3 miles! I didn't do quite that because the baby got hungry...saved by the bell I guess :) I can't remember the name of the park we were at but Ken may. They also had a small indoor museum as well. Some things they had were hands on others were just to look at, if you can get past the old musty smell it was pretty cool discovery place. (all I could think about while we were in there was the smell though) :)

Saturday Portrait Sessions

I wanted to make a quick note to let everyone who attended my party Saturday that your session proofs are uploading now. After hours of developing and editing Saturday night, Sunday afternoon I came home to a hard drive that had crashed...do not worry, your photos are safe :) After calling a tech late at night we were able to recover everything but it did put me behind. I am hoping that everyone's sessions will be posted no later than 6am Wednesday morning. Please forgive me. An extra day has been added on to the allotted time given for orders. Thank you for your understanding and each of you will receive an email with your password just as soon as your session is ready to be viewed.

~Michelle