Colorado Vacation

Last week we had our first family vacation in Aurora, Colorado. I wasn't sure how Dane would do in an airplane or away from home for a week but he was so great the whole time. We stayed with Jacob's great aunt Linda and Uncle Milo. The mountains were so beautiful. When you are in a state with such amazing weather it really makes you question why you live in such a humid state.
We arrived there on Monday and the first thing we did was go up in the mountains to see Milo and Linda's cabin and finished up the night with Casa Bonita. I remember going there as a kid and thinking the place was so cool. It is still pretty neat for a kid but the food is nothing to brag about. I think Jacob really enjoyed the cliff divers and Dane enjoyed the tacos.
Tuesday we hung around the house for most of the day. We did take a couple hours to go to out to Castle Rock and look at the outlet mall but about 45 minutes into it we decided we weren't in much of a shopping mood.
Wednesday we went to the Denver Zoo.
Thursday we spent most of the day in the car driving. Jacob's former team chief from the Army was our wonderful tour guide for the day. We started off the day in Estes Park where we stopped to have a picnic. We then took off for the mountains and Trail Ridge Road then ended up in Grand Lake. The temperature in the mountains is amazing. While on our journey we saw Elk and a Moose.
Friday we attempted to go to Colorado Springs but two deer crossing an 8 lane highway put a damper on those plans. Needless to say one deer didn't make it and neither did the truck that we were in. We ended up relaxing the rest of the day at the house.
Saturday we made another attempt to Colorado Springs and were successful. We went to the Garden of the Gods and Seven Falls. At Seven Falls Jacob walked up 224 stairs to the top of the waterfall with Dane. You could hear Dane screaming with excitement most of the way up. Jacob said he thought it was really cool.
Sunday we went to church and had a bbq with Jacob's extended family.
We had such a great time with family and friends but it feels good to be home in our own bed. Thank you Milo and Linda for having us we really enjoyed it!

A moose that we say somewhere between Estes and Grand Lake.

A big Elk in Estes

Jacob and Dane posing at the Zoo.

Garden of the Gods

Dane at Casa Bonita riding the only mommy approved motorcycle.

Jacob and Dane enjoying their victory over the 224 steps up the waterfall at Seven Falls.

Seven Falls

A family shot with our wonderful tour guide Uncle Milo.

Turning 9 months

Dane is the big 9 months now and he is mobile! Dane started crawling this last week and he is on the go. I managed to get a little snippet of him going after my ipod touch. He is also starting to pull up on the furniture. He is still working on walking anytime someone will help him.

He is also loves all the new food I am giving him these days. If I can cut it up small enough then I am giving it to him. Tacos are his new favorite thing to eat. We took him to a mexican restaurant and I was feeding him some beans, rice, cheese, and taco meat until he looked like he was about to bust. I stopped feeding him and turned around to him feeding himself more.

Now that he can run around the bath tub we have taken him out of the small tub and just let him loose in the large tub. We also got him some more tub toys to play with. I bought him some of the foam letters and he loves the purple X. I wasn't sure if it was just the X or if he really liked purple. I put a few more letters in and it is true his favorite color is purple because he only plays with the purple ones.

behind

Well I have seemed to get a little behind so I will do my best to recap the last several weeks. At 8 weeks Dane managed to have his 4 top front teeth come in all at once. We thought it was his incisor teeth coming in but it wasn't. He started trying to crawl but can't seem to quite figure it out yet. He was way more interested in learning to walk than crawl. He also started eating a few more things like shredded cheese, taco meat, puffs, and cheerios. He also started sitting himself up so we had to lower the crib. It was really sad for me because he looks like he is in prison being that close to the ground. I didn't take many shots of him with his bear this month like I had planned so they didn't come out to well. He managed to get his shirt all wet but cute is cute no matter what!

Tucker, Levi, and Dane hanging out.

Lately

We have had a pretty active summer so far. We are taking full advantage of just about any pool we can get into. Dane loves the water just about as much as I do. He has a new floaty that allows him to kick all over the pool on his own. He does not want me holding him at all, not in the pool or any time for that matter.

Last weekend my friend Desiree came up from Oklahoma and Dane really enjoyed her kids. He loves to see new faces and have more people to interact with. While she was here she bought him the toy Rex from Toy Story and he absolutely loves it. I have about 5 videos of him cracking up. I could have 15 and they still wouldn't get old.

Dane is starting to eat more things. I made him some zucchini and squash which he loved! I also made him some peas which he did not love. His new favorite thing is to chew on pretzel rods. He is teething like crazy. He now has two bottom teeth and just this week we noticed he is getting his incisor tooth on the top left side. I have heard that he should not get that one in until much later but ready or not it is coming.

We don't appear to be getting very far on crawling because Dane is way more interested in walking. We have been practicing both so hopefully in the next few weeks he will master one of them.

Sleep over

Dane had his first sleep over last night at Jacob's parents house. I was so worried about how I would handle leaving him but believe it or not we both did great. I am so glad to have that first experience out of the way :)

Today we went swimming and Dane had a blast. I bought him a floaty that is shaped like a fish with a sun shade on it. Not only is it adorable but he loved it. He would just kick and kick all over the place. Every time he kicked it would propel him across the pool and he would just smile so big. He loves the water just like his momma does. I wish I would have had my camera to capture it on video. I sure hope this memory of mine keeps working since I miss out on so many opportunities to get it on my camera.

Last night as a 7 month old

Well I was slacking a little this month and realized that Dane turns 8 months old tomorrow. I still have not taken his 7 month photos with his bear so I had to do it in his pajamas tonight. Oh well we don't have many pajama pictures.

Seven Months

At seven months old Dane is already trying to be on his own. He no longer wants you to hold him or sit him on your lap. He turns around and around and arches his back to get down. He wants to be on his own doing his own thing. It really breaks my heart because I just want to sit and cuddle with him but he isn't having any of that! If you put him on the floor to play he gets frustrated and grunts and moans because he is mad he can't move. I guess I am just going to have to let him get mad enough that he learns to move on his own. I am sure dreading that day because I am going to have to be on alert every second of the day. He is such a busy body. He has even a shorter attention span than his dad, he goes from toy to toy to toy. He loves to scream and spit / blow bubbles. So far he is still just eating pureed foods. I have tried to give him puffs and other textured foods but he is not at all interested / ready for them. His sleeping is much better these days. He is back to taking pretty decent naps during the day as long as you watch for his sleepy cues and he is back to going to bed at 7. The last 2 weeks I have worked full time and it is so hard to get home at 5:30 and pretty much only have time to feed and bath him before he goes to sleep. Thank goodness I am back to part time now. I miss my baby boy. He also has 1 tooth in and another possibly two more coming in behind it. It is so cute to see him smile.