Tuesday, July 5, 2011

16 Months Old

I can't believe my baby is already 16 months old! I haven't done an update in way too long and Preston is learning and growing so quickly. At 16 months:
-Preston is such a happy, loving boy



Here he is playing with his rain boots my cousin Cherie gave him. He LOVES these boots and didn't want to take them off.






He doesn't care if he's missing one!



-He loves to talk. His first word besides "dada" was "uh oh".



-He is so smart and mimics things we say. The first time he started mimicking was on Easter (April 24) and he copied me saying "oh, rain." He has just continued expanding his vocabulary since then and now mimics the alphabet.



-His favorite word is "ya" and he answers ya to almost every question. I am happy that he he answers questions in the affirmative although he has recently begun yelling "no" occasionally. He also will slowly nod his head yes or shake his head no and it is so cute!



-Other words: "uh oh" "oh" "bye bye" "night, night" "dada" "mama" (which he just began saying in the last few weeks when he has been saying dada for ages!) "y" (for Super Why, his favorite show) "show" "shoe" "ball" "up" "out". He has just begun saying "more" but whenever you ask if he wants more he'll say "ya".



Watching Super Why



-He loves his bath and if you say "Want to take a bath?" He says "ya!" and runs to the bottom of the stairs. If you don't come with him he gets fussy because he just wants to take a bath!



-He is really good about going to bed. When you say "do you want to go night, night?" he'll say "ya" and nod his head. Our bedtime ritual is a bath, followed by cleaning out his ears (he likes it and will move his head so I can get the other ear), brushing his teeth while he's still wrapped in his towel (my turn and then his turn) and then he brushes while I put on the diaper and lotion him up. We still wrap his swaddlers around him and lay him in ours arms for a bottle. After the bottle he'll lay on our chest and tuck his arms between us. If you say "can I have a kiss?" he will often lift his head and give a quick kiss and lay his head back down.



-He has climbed out of his crib twice! The first time was on memorial day and then once since. He also climbed out of the pack-n-play at the Carter's a week and a half ago.



-He is dangerous! He is always trying to climb up on the chairs or table and loves to sit and rock on the la-z-boy. He likes to run but just isn't good enough at it yet and he usually ends up falling.






Climbing onto his little table






Evidence on his nose of a recent fall



-He has recently really gotten into books. He will often grab a book and bring it over to Aaron or I, throw it at us and then climb up for us to read to him. He is learning about animal sounds but the only one he really gets is the roar for lion. He has been roaring for a long time but is now associating it with animals. Today he saw a cow on Super Why and moo-ed for the first time.



"Read this!"






-He loves music and music always gets his attention. Aaron taught him to conduct (wave his arm) while we were watching conference in April and so he starts waving to every hymn in church. He loves sitting on his dads lap and playing the piano. He also sings a little bit and will mimic the songs of some of his toys.



-He loves when his dad comes home from work and will run to the sliding door and get so excited. He has the biggest grin on his face and usually as soon as Aaron walks in he'll run to the living room, waiting for Aaron to follow and play with him.



Watching daddy watch a video of him



-He is really independent and doesn't care too much if we leave him. He happily goes to his grandparent's and aunts and uncles and doesn't care if we leave him with a babysitter he doesn't know. We left him overnight for the first time on June 18th and he stayed with my family. They said he did great and didn't seem to miss us at all!



"Here Mom"






"I'll take that!"



-He is an active, joyful boy and the love of our lives. We don't even want to imagine life without him. He has brought us so much joy and continues to amaze us every day.

Friday, July 1, 2011

San Francisco

Aaron's company threw a huge company party for all of Northern California on Saturday June 18th. We had such a great time and made a day and night of it by staying the night at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. My family watched Preston for our first night away from him since he was born! Thanks family!
Before the party we walked around Union Square and ate dinner at a little mexican restaurant. Around the corner we found a cupcake shop and had to get some. We went back to the hotel to relax and read before getting ready for the party.
Ready to par-tay


San Francisco City Hall



Waiting in line for the photo booth
We decided to totally live it up and went to a late night movie at the Metronom. We saw Super 8 on the IMAX!


We slept in the next morning and had room service breakfast. It was delicious!


The view from our room on the 16th floor
We had such a great time and can't wait to go back!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Father's Day and 2 New Family Members!

Brad and Don came home from Utah for the summer and arrived with a special father's day present for Dad...A New Puppy!!
He is a pure bred yellow lab and absolutely adorable. We can tell he's gonna be big because of his huge paws.
We also had another exciting thing happen...Brad and Rachel are ENGAGED!!
We are so happy to have Rachel join our family.
And then on Sunday it was Father's Day. We had such a great day celebrating with Aaron, my father and grandfather. I love celebrating Aaron as a father because he is such a great dad and Preston and I are so grateful for him.
Father's Day Dinner
Aaron about to open his gifts
Matt with Caitlin opening his giftsAnd Papa opening his gifts with the help of Tommy and KaydenLyndsey made the best Father's Day cake!!Besides dinner, cake and gifts, we had a great time on the trampoline and with the puppies!
Preston jumping on the trampoline with dad supervising.
Aaron showing Kayden how to jump, and Preston is a natural!


It's always fun to watch Luke and Preston together. They are quite the handful! I can't believe how much one year old's love stairs!


Grandpa with his 2 oldest grandsons, Tommy and Kayden(making a silly face), and the new puppy, Turbo
He was totally asleep in this position. Don't know how that's comfortable...
Grandpa Peirce also has a new puppy, Sarah, and she came to spend the day with us. She is a golden retriever.
Preston loved playing with the puppies.

It was so fun to watch these 2 together. Turbo really attacked little Sarah but she didn't mind.

Happy Father's Day!!!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

River Day

Grandma Carter came to visit and we went to play in the American River, just down the street. Preston absolutely loved playing in the sand and water.

I could just eat him up...




(Don't look too closely at me, you might get blinded by my whiteness!)
We love living by the river!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Aaron's Birthday

We couldn't decide how to celebrate Aaron's 27th Birthday. We kept shooting down all our ideas because Aaron wanted to do something different. He ended up coming up with the idea to eat on the Delta King on the Sacramento River. Great food and a perfect setting. We loved it!
Us with a beautiful view of the river

Us, Wes and Lani, Jim and Dee
Beautiful view of the bridge
Brothers in front of the Delta King
The Whole Group
We LOVE cupcakes so I decided to try out Icing on the Cupcake instead of a traditional birthday cake for Aaron. They look pretty but I was disappointed with the taste so in addition to the 12 I got from Icing on the Cupcake, I had to pick up a few more from our favorite, Esther's Cupcakes.

Aaron blowing out his candles
My handsome husband
Preston kept putting his arms behind his head so Aaron copied :)
Some great presents
Happy Birthday Aaron!!!!