Happy Halloween

Being that our little man responds to 'Potatoes' as much as he does Xander or Alexander, determining his Halloween costume was easy!

Using panty hose, socks, and a real potato sack, he became: Potatoes!
Completing his farm family is his beautiful boarder collie and the Potato harvestors.


On Saturday, we enjoyed a Fall Festival at Uptown Station with Leaha and Jesse, before putting Potatoes to bed.  Then Daniel stayed back with the crew and I returned to Uptown Station for an outdoor showing of Hocus Pocus.


Daddy harvesting the Potatoes

 

As is becoming tradition, the Martin pumpkin was carved during the Georgia Florida game.  Daniel had the fun idea of giving Potatoes the marker and then cutting whatever design he created.  Unfortunately, he was interested solely in chewing on the marker.  Maybe next year!


He did enjoy exploring the carved pumpkin, though.
 


As a duo, Daniel and I created a pretty cool owl pumpkin.

I think he liked his Potatoes!

At work on Thursday, my team dressed up as storybook characters.  I chose to be Pippi Longstockings before even thinking how the costume could translate to a farmer.  The team really showed up with amazing costumes, and the kids loved it.  Our team even had two kids wear costumes that have never done so before.  ABA victories!

Milestones:
Potatoes absolutely refuses to wear any type of hat.  I have begun using my ABA knowledge to do systematic desensitization to increase his comfort with this.  Basically, he only gets yogurt bites (his favorite food item) while working on wearing a hat.  Though he hasn't grasped the concept 100%, and is still resisting the hat, Zoey absolutely gets it, and will gladly let me put the hat on her while eating a yogurt bite, an then tilting it off when she finishes the treat.  Such a smart girl!

Potatoes is beginning to use sign language!  He uses the signs for drink and more interchangeably for pretty much anything food related, but he definitely has begun to use his hands to ask for things!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

After a week dealing with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease with Daniel out of town, I was so happy to have hubby home and baby healthy (well, mostly- now fighting a fall cold).

Daniel had a great time on the road with Bryan and Adam.  They drove up to watch the Capitals play and check off a sports bucket list item- seeing Ovechkin score a goal, get an assist, and punch a guy in the face directly in front of their front row seats.  Their seats included VIP access to free food and drinks.  They had a blast, but the fun didn't stop there.  They continued the trip with a VA Tech game that included high scores and good times with a VA Tech victory.

Though it was really difficult caring for a sick baby by myself (one who hates to be stuck in the house and our only outings being the ER and then the pediatrician), I am actually glad Daniel was not around to catch the uncomfortable rash that covered our little man from head to toe.  I guess my years of working with kids helped me to gain immunity.

A week at home sick resulted in our first ever baby TV watching.  At least it included snuggles!

 On Sunday morning, with Potatoes feeling nearly 100% we dressed in our fall best and headed to the pumpkin patch.  I am so glad his rash healed enough for pictures!

I love my little family so very much!

On Sunday afternoon, I got to have a mama free adventure!  Daniel hung out with Zoey and Xander while Leaha and I took advantage of a parasailing package I won at ECAC's 5k.

Both Daniel and Jesse have gone parasailing before and opted out, so Destin Watersports offered us the photo package in lieu of the third passenger which was included in the voucher.

Rocking our One Run t-shirts as we gear up to soar

About to board!

So excited!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous

We saw so many dolphins as we took the boat out

I was expecting something of a thrill ride, and was shocked by the contrasting serene and calm nature of parasailing.  It was amazingly quiet up in the sky; simply peaceful.  The water was so clear, we could see the bottom.  We saw a huge number of dolphins, including a small baby.  We thoguht we saw a sea turtle, but as we neared, it turned out to be a jellyfish...slightly less exciting.   It was a remarkable experience.

A little dip before going back in the boat

Alexander was so excited to be back at school, he jumped into Ms. Lisa's arms and immediately began playing and laughing.  

The good news is, this boy loves going to school!

It is nice to have our whole crew back home and healthy.  Now we are gearing up for Halloween with a homemade costume that I really hope Xander will keep on!

Ten Months Old

Happy Ten Months, Potatoes!

Oh this silly boy is growing fast and furiously.

He is a bundle of energy and curiosity.  He loves to explore and climb and get into anything and everything.

He has four words now.  His first word came in a tantrum- guess he had the motivation to say what he meant...

I was trying to put a screen protector on the new phone Daniel surprised me with, so I was ignoring little man.  He commando crawled across the room, screaming, put one hand on each of my knees, pulled him self up and yelled, "mama!!!"

He has since added 'dada,' 'ah-dah' (dog), and 'uh-oh' to his repertoire.  'Uh-oh' is definitely his favorite, while throwing things on the floor.  Little stink!

He is now crawling on hands and knees, and walking while holding onto anything available, often with just one hand for support.

We no longer get the sweet double eye rub to signal that Xander needs sleep.  Instead, he gets crazy active and boisterous right before crashing.  He is all go, go, go!

He is weaning himself off of nursing.  He wants to be independent!  He will only take a bottle on his own and doesn't want any help unless he is very tired.  He also wants finger foods over purees, but still eats pretty much anything we offer him.

He still wakes up once in the night to eat, usually between 4am and 5am.  His naps are irregular because if we are out and about, he will not sleep.  When home, he still takes three naps, two long (1-2 hours) and one short (30-45 min).

One of his favorite places to explore- under the table

This used to be Zoey's hiding place...not anymore!

Looking like his Uncle Ryan as a baby

He had school picture day last week

Not interested 

Baby Grandpa

Since his school pictures did not turn out as cute as I had hoped, we planned to go to the pumpkin patch yesterday for fall photos.  Unfortunately, our rough and tumble little guy got so many scratches and bruises throughout the weekend, we opted to wait on photos.  He's a mess!

We have something cool going on at our house right now- Leaha and Jesse have moved into the detached back studio for a few months to save up for a down payment.  While here, they are helping with Xander.  Leaha takes him to school during the week, plays with him or feeds him while I cook dinner, and they babysit once in a while.

We took advantage of their babysitting offer to head to Mobile, AL this weekend to see Nick Swardson (from Grandma's Boy and pretty much every Adam Sandler movie).  We had so much fun!

All dressed up for a night in Mobile

Dinner before the show

Enjoying a blackberry brew- delicious!

Theater!

The show was great- the opener was every bit as funny as Nick Swardson was.

We have also been going to trivia at one of our favorite local spots, Props, each week.  I don't get to stay for the whole thing, as Xander can't make it to the end, but we always have a good time, and our team actually won last week!

Trivia fun

Even Zoey gets to play trivia with us

Sometimes he loses his shirt at trivia

Last weekend the whole crew headed to Atlanta so Daniel could play cards and we could all reconnect with some of our favorite people.  Thanks to Hurricane Matthew, it turned into an opportunity to see two of our closest friends, Chris and Josh.  Daniel gets to see these guys very rarely, so we were super excited!

Checking out Ponce City Market

I also got to see my college girls

Hudson and Xander

It was so good to see Rachel and Weston!  

I also got to see Petty right before heading out of town, but didn't catch any pictures with Rachel or Petty.  Just means I'll have to go back to Atlanta soon!

Weston and my sweet babies!

 The weather was beautiful while we were there.  We did a lot of walking and just being outside.

We are loving the cooler temperatures!