New Furniture!

So, after months of consideration, Chris and I decided to spend some of our savings on a new furniture set. This is from Costco, and we LOVE it! It is so comfortable, and is really good quality. I've already taken a super comfortable nap on the couch. We decided on leather because it's easy to clean, and if you select a good set and are careful, it should last many, many years. Thanks, Costco!

 

 

Peter and birthday cake

Peter and I celebrated his birthday with Grandpa and Grandma Stucki on Skype. Sadly, Daddy could not be there, as he was on a scouting trip over Peter's birthday. So, I'm a little embarrassed at how giggly I am in this video. Oh well. I promise I'm not on medication, though some excuse might have been nice. :)

Family Reunion

We recently were able to attend the first annual Layton family reunion. With 5 kids 2 and under, it was quite the experience! I think all the kids shall have lots of fun together once they get a little older and begin to learn to interact more.

I got to go early and have some fun time with the girls, kids, and Nana and Papa. It was such fun for me to get to know my sisters-in-law better. I can't wait for future reunions!

It was fun for Peter to get to meet his cousins and aunts and uncles. Although a little shy and standoffish, by the end of the week, he warmed up considerably. Here are some pictures documenting some of the events:

 

All 5 grandkids at once. This is at the Des Moines zoo. It was fun, but I think Peter will enjoy zoos a little more when he's a little older. I thin it was a lot of fun for the older grandkids especially.

 

Oddly, they have a dinosaur exhibit at the zoo. I wasn't aware that zoos had dinosaur exhibits. The dinosaurs even moved a bit.

 

The lovely and sweet Cali Layton with little Ariana and Peter. Ariana is a little over 1 month older than Peter. I know they'll be great friends. Ariana is a little sweetheart! She started to walk at the family reunion, and it was so fun to see her toddling around.

 

A rare view of the three oldest children holding hands. This is Meadow, Reuben, and little Cozy. So sweet!

 

Peter didn't really know what to make of the animals in the petting zoo.

 

A crazy coi pond. I couldn't believe all the fish in there!

 

Some fun at a mall play area. I wish we had places as nice as this in Germantown. All the grandkids had lots of fun.

 

 

 

 

 

The youngest 4 grandkids all in grocery carts at Costco. Gotta love those huge carts.

 

And finally the Iowa State Fair. You've never been to a fair until you've been to this one. Pretty amazing! They had a really fun little place for all the kids to practice farming. Peter was a little too young for all of this, but he had fun riding on Daddy's shoulders and wearing his hat.

 

The older kids got to ride in fun little tractor cars. This is Lauren and Jason's sweet little family.

 

 

Cozanne won a first place blue ribbon for her awesome dollhouse that she submitted for the fair. It was pretty awesome! Congratulations, Nana! Ray also won a first place blue ribbon for a carving of Moses with a walking stick. I'm so sad I didn't get a picture of this, nor did I even get to see it! I've heard it was quite impressive though. Hopefully I'll get to see a picture soon. Congrats, Papa!

 

Peter smiling at his aunt Lauren. He and his auntie got along famously.

So sad I didn't get pictures of Jordan, Anna, Papa, or me. Oh well. We'll try again next year!

Happy Birthday Peter!

 

One year?! Where did the time go? What a good year it's been. Chris and I have been blessed with such a sweet, mellow, curious, smart little boy. We are so happy to have him in our family and can't wait to see him continue to grow. We love you, Peter!

 

One of his birthday presents. A little too advanced for him at this stage, but hopefully he'll pick up on it in a little while.

 

Peter's first experience in a bubble bath. He loved it.

 

 

Peter loves time with his daddy. And Daddy loves time with Peter, especially when he gets to play with Peter's new birthday toys at the same time! :)

 

Peter has been talking and talking more and more all the time. He says so many things, it's hard to keep track. Although he is still fond of babbling and jabbering nonsensical sounds. He does it constantly when we're at home and he's happy.

One of Peter's favorite things to do is to read books. I just love this about him, as one of Chris's and my favorite things to do together is read books together. I can't wait for the time when I can introduce him to Harry Potter.

This past month, Peter has started to walk just holding on with one hand, though tentatively. He's still pretty nervous about this whole bipedal thing. Perhaps he'll be walking by 13 months, but I'm not holding my breath for it!

Peter is slowly getting used to eating our food, but he still has a hard time with vegetables. He prefers them in puree form. But thankfully he isn't allergic to peanut butter, because it's so much easier than cooking something for him or pureeing something for him. I'm liking this new stage of eating.

I have a video of Peter demolishing his birthday cupcake that I'll try to post soon. It's kind of funny, and it was amusing to see that he didn't like to have chocolate cake and frosting all over his hands. He's not quite as fastidious with not being sticky as his mother is, but it's there.

11 months

 

11 month old Peter is still chubby and happy. This month brought two more teeth (finally!) totalling four. He also started to talk. By the end of the month, he was saying ball (first word other than mama and dada), teeth, Ewww!, mama, dada, hello (for some reason, he bypassed "hi"), bath, up (his first fully formed word), and two more I can't remember at this time. :( Should have blogged sooner!

 

Behold the device that Chris placed under Peter's feet to stop him from pounding his heels on the chair. We have a VERY particular neighbor who is not used to the poor sound insulation in these apartments. She has come up on numerous occasions and asked us to please stop making so much noise. One time, Chris dropped a pot once. Another time, Peter threw his toys on the floor. And another time, I was walking too loudly as I was trying to quickly bring groceries in from the car because Peter was occupied in his exersaucer play thing. The most recent time, Peter was pounding his heels on his chair. sigh. Poor kid does it all the time because he's happy, but I guess that is off limits. There have been more visits, but I can't remember what they were for. We also have to deal with noise from our neighbors upstairs, but I haven't complained yet. I sorta figure that's part of living in old apartment.

 

I love this picture! Mostly because it shows how amazingly chubby and rolley polley he is! But also because it reminds me of all the times that Peter likes to run away from me after I clean him up from particularly messy diapers. This particular event led to him peeing on the floor because I got the camera instead of making him sit still for a diaper. I guess that's what I get.

 

Our family's first trip to the National Mall. Peter actually wore his hat long enough for me to take this picture, but only just that long. His head is so big that I can't bring the straps together to velcro. So the hat comes off instead.

 

Tribute to Julia Child. There's a Kitchen Aid in there, and I had to wonder if she ever used a Kitchen Aid mixer... Anyway, this is the only picture we managed to take during our trip, for whatever reason. Too much to see to think about pictures, I guess. Peter was remarkably patient throughout the whole thing. He very much enjoys looking at his surroundings, especially when they're new to him.

 

Peter is busy cruising around on furniture these days, but he hasn't wanted to take any steps independent of both hands on furniture. Someday...