Seven Months

I'm pretty sure I was JUST writing Dawson's six month post. My little boy is growing so fast. I wish I could just freeze time for just a little bit longer. I treasure each and every second with him. He is such a sweet and loving little boy. He is still a huge Mama's boy and loves to cuddle with his mom. He also loves to be held still. He is definitely most content when he is being held by his mama.

As much as he likes to be held, he is still on the go. The boy is fast when he crawls and can move. We recently had to put up the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs because he was crawling up the stairs. He continues to pull himself up and practices standing. I am waiting for him to start moving around furniture. I know it will be soon because he just has places he needs to go!

Dawson is still a champion eater. There is not one food yet that he hasn't liked. He literally gobbles it all up. He will cry and get mad when it is gone. His favorite is still bananas I think. He also really likes mangoes and pears. I am excited for him to try more and more foods. Unfortunately, I know that just because he eats anything now, doesn't mean he will later. Ashlyn also would eat anything and now she is the pickiest eater in the world. I just hope he continues to make healthy choices. In eating news for me, I am finally able to eat dairy again after 6 months of not eating it!!! It was a pretty big sacrifiace on my part, but I would do it again in a heartbeat if it means my child being able to get the best nutritiion possible. I have slowly brought dairy back in my diet a little bit at a time. I am now able to eat it pretty much withouth abandon. I can't tell you how good cheese and milk on cereal tastes. I truly missed it!!!!

Dawson is FINALLY becoming a decent sleeper. It literally took almost 6 1/2 months and A LOT of sleep training. I think I have pretty much weaned him from his middle of the night feeding. He goes to bed every night at 8:00 p.m. and wakes up between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. to eat. I feed him and then put him back to bed until 6:00 to 6:30 a.m. I can not explain how good it feels to finally eliminate that night feeding and get some longer stretches of sleep. The only complaint I have is on the two nights I when I have to wake up at 5:00 a.m. for work. He often will wake up to eat at 4:00 or so. So, I'm basically waking up at 4:00 a.m. for the day on the those two days. At least it is only two days and I can make up for it on the other days. But, after getting up at 4:00 and teaching all day, I am more than ready for bed that night!

Dawson's favorite activities include playing with his cousin Ella and his sister. Ashlyn loves making him laugh. She also really enjoys teaching him things like songs. Dawson gets a kick out of watching her. Dawson loves playing with his toys and chews on everything. His favorite is his car racetrack. He is such a boy!

Here are some pictures I took of Dawson yesterday when he turned 7 months old.

Fair Fun

We had an amazing weekend! It was filled with lots of fun. On Friday night, we headed down to Pueblo to go to the drive-in. We saw Smurfs. Ashlyn had really been wanting to see it and she really liked it. We meant to go to the drive-in a lot this summer, but it is such a drive that we only went twice. I'm glad we got to go one last time before summer was over. We thought that we were going to miss the fireworks on Friday night while we are at the drive-in. The game actually went really late, and the fireworks started right when we got home. Ashlyn had fallen asleep in the car and Joey took her out back to watch them. She was kind of out of it. The next day when Joey asked her about them, she had no memory of watching them. It was the perfect summer night.

Joey had to work on Saturday during the day. Ashlyn and Dawson were invited to a birthday party, so that's what we did while Joey was at work. Ashlyn had a blast at the birthday party swimming and eating cake and ice cream. On Saturday night, Joey and I headed up to Denver for the Broncos pre-season game. Joey was given tickets at work for doing such a great job. My Mom watched the kids while we went. It was a perfect night for a game and we had a really good time.

On Sunday, we headed to the State Fair bright and early. We were hoping to beat some of the heat. We weren't too successful at that, but we had a great time. We just love the State Fair. One of our favorite things to do there is look at ll of the decorated cakes. Ashlyn really enjoyed looking at them this year. We were very excited to see that they were having a cake decorating competition right when we got there. We got to walk around and see kids decorate cakes. Ashlyn decided she wants to decorate cakes one day. We had a great time looking at baby animals and Ashlyn got to hold a chick. We also saw pig races which were quite interesting. Ashlyn's other favorite part of the day was a Lego area they had this year. It was full of Legos and areas to build. They had an area for smaller kids. Ashlyn stood there for a long time building with the Legos. I definitely think she may be getting some for her birthday. What a great time we all had. We came home Sunday afternoon and just relaxed. We got out Ashlyn's pool so she could swim a bit. We were all pretty exhausted from such a fun filled weekend. Next weekend, we are heading to the cabin for the last time of the summer. I'm sure it will be another fun filled and exciting weekend!

On Thursday, Joey had the day off from work. He took the kids to a really neat park. It was a Charlotte's Web theme and Ashlyn just loved it.

Playing with "Charlotte"

Climbing the web

This is what Dawson did while Ashlyn played

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE watching Dawson and Ashlyn play and bond with each other. I thought this picture captured that well.

Dawson had a great time playing with his toy at the fair.

Such a happy little guy.

Ashlyn holding a chick. She LOVED it!

Mommy and Ash in the petting zoo

Pirate Ashlyn

Uh oh

Ashlyn really enjoyed her ice cream treat

This shark was built entirely out of Legos. Pretty cool

This Lion is Legos too. How cute is Ashlyn?

Dawson and Daddy. I was trying to get a picture of their matching camo cargo shorts, but you really can't see them.

Ashlyn creating with Legos

She was very focused.

So many possibilities.

Mountain Fun

Ashlyn had a great first week at school. She came home everyday in such a great mood. She has made lots of friends and already adores her teacher. One of her friends that she went to her old school with goes there too. She was very excited to see her in her class. I am really liking the Montessori method so far. It really teaches kids to be responsible for themselves. They must finish an activity and put it away before starting something new. Joey and I were noticing after the first day Ashlyn was picking up after herself without being asked. I can't wait to see what else she learns this year.

We spent another weekend at the cabin As usual we had an absolute blast! Katy agreed to watch Dawson for a little bit on Saturday, and we took a ride on the Prowler up Tincup Pass. I had never been before and it was just beautiful. Ashlyn really liked it too. We are planning on going up there Labor Day weekend for what will probably be our last time for the summer. We will sure miss it this winter!

I am in the process of training for my first half marathon with my sister. I am so unbelievably excited about it. The race is October 8th. Last week, I faced my first running injury. As I log more miles, I become more susceptible to injury. Being injured is the worst. I have a training regimen that I have to keep up with and I can't while I'm in pain. I did feel good enough to run while up at the cabin. There is nothing like running 3 miles at 10,000 feet. It's challenging but very exhilarating! I pray that I continue to heal quickly so I can still do my half marathon that I'm so looking forward to.

Ashly has really been practicing riding her bike. Joey takes her outside every night so they can do "lessons". She has so much fun. She's only ridden her bike a handful of times, but she is already getting so good at it. I bought her a very cheap bike at a garage sale to see how she liked it. After seeing how much she enjoys her bike, Joey and I decided we are going to let her pick out her own bike very soon.

Dawson has a new favorite pastime- his jumperoo. He just loves that thing! He will jump in it for 45 minutes straight. Ashlyn never cared for it, so we are getting quite a kick out of watching Dawson just go crazy in it. His other favorite thing to do is pull himself up on furniture. He is just growing up so fast!

Here we are at the Continental Divide.


This is what it looks like at timber line. It is just gorgeous up there.

Ashlyn had fun exploring a bit.

We start them very young in Broncos Country.

Getting a bike lesson

She looks so big.

Riding all by herself

Here was Dawson jumping before bed. It was hard to get a picture to show how much he likes it.

How did my sweet boy get so big so fast???

He looks very shocked in this picture.

Smiling away

New School Year, Wonderboy and Misc.

This past week has been incredibly busy around our house. I have done such a good job blogging every week, but I'm afraid going back to work has messed with that a bit. I'm going to try my best to still blog once a week and I really hope I am able to.

The biggest change around our house is that it is back to school/work for both Ashlyn and myself. Ashlyn started preschool today. She was very excited to go. I walked her to her room, and she just took off. She kissed me goodbye, but didn't cling on or get upset. She said she had a great day at school. She came home in a great mood. She will go to preschool three days a week. I am very exctied for her and her new adventure.

I went back to work last week. Thursday and Friday were teacher work days. The first day of school was today. Since I am part time, I taught a half day today. I will also teach Thursday and Friday. It has been a very big adjustment for me and the kids. I miss them both so much. I really miss Dawson and hate to leave him. Ashlyn doesn't need me as much anymore, but Dawson does. I have learned how much prep work working requires for me. We all have to be out of the house by 6:30 a.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, so I like to get as much ready as I can the night before. Its like a madhouse around here to get everyone dressed, fed, and ready in the mornings. I hope it becomes more routine and gets easier. I like my class and know a good majority of the students since I taught a lot of them last year when they were in 3rd grade. I have four students that were in my class last year. I was a little concerned about being rusty since I haven't taught since December, but it came back to me quickly. I am really hoping to have an easier class this year. Only time will tell how the jobshare will work for me.

I also wanted to write about what Dawson is doing this week. He is our Wonderboy!!! My kids are such overachievers when it comes to developmental milestones! Dawson is now pulling himself up on furniture!!!! I just can't believe he is doing this at only 6 months old. He loves to stand . Yesterday, I discovered he can pull himself up on furniture. He has become so mobile. He now will crawl laps around our living room floor. I guess he has places to go! Tonight, he started to crawl up the stairs. We need to get our gate up stat. We just didn't realize we would be needing it quite so soon! I predict he could be walking early. Nothing is going to slow my Wonderboy down.

Here are some pictures from the last week.

Dawson and Ella having fun with the laundry basket

They are too cute together.

They love playing together.

My smiley boy.

I pulled out a toy that used to be Ashlyn's the other day. Both babies just loved getting to stand and play. (Excuse Dawson's hair, he got a visit from the hair fairy the night before.)

Here is Dawson sitting in front of the chair.

Here he is mid-action

Ta da! He is standing.

Here is my beautiful princess on the first day of her new preschool.

She enjoyed modeling for the camera.

Doesn't she look so big in this picture? Is she starting kindergarten or preschool????

Showing off her backpack

She just loves her little backpack.