Sweet Christmas Kisses!

Declan shares a smooch with girlfriend Mikayla at the parade. What can we say, the love was in the air!

Can I get fries with that deposit?

You know you're feeding your kid too much fast food when you go thru the drive-up window at the bank and you hear from the back seat "fries! fries! fries!"

But let me tell you, feeding a toddler is next to impossible. Or maybe just feeding my toddler is next to impossible. I used to worry constantly about what he eats but I have decided it is a battle not worth fighting. Tonight Declan had a banana and some pancakes for dinner. I guess it could be worse! He was screaming for cookies but I told him "no cookies for dinner." I don't really know if pancakes were really that much better but at least I didn't give in and give him the cookies! He's growing, he's happy, he's healthy, so I don't pull my hair out so much anymore. :)

20 months

Dear Declan, you are 20 months old today! It is amazing to me that you are almost 2 years old! I was watching you walk with your daddy today and you looked so grown up. Hard to believe it wasn't long ago I was cradling you in my arms. I miss that, but you make up for it with the big hugs you give me when you wake up in the morning. I wrap a soft blanket around you and lift you out of your crib. You sit on my lap in the rocking chair and we read books. You like to read books with Elmo in them but you have other favorites too. Mostly you like to point out things in the books...moon, clocks, chairs, animals, all sorts of things. You continue to amaze us and everyone around you at how fast you learn new words! One word I'm not particulary fond of that you learned is "TV." This is not a word mommy likes to hear. Mommy doesn't want you to watch a lot of tv but every now and again it's ok. You like to watch Little Bill, Elmo's world and your My Gym dvd. You are growing big but I'm not sure how because you hardly eat anything! You, my son are the pickiest eater on the planet! We try to get you to eat new things but you refuse. You do like avacados and that makes me happy because they have lots of nutrients! Hopefully one day you will learn to appreciate all the wonderful foods out there! Now that you have perfected the skill of walking, you are moving right on to running!! Your favorite thing to say when the car comes to a stop is "Run." You know that we are getting out of the car and wherever we are going, you want to run around there! Sometimes, just to let you burn off some energy, we will go to the grocery store and mommy will let you loose! It's a workout for me to keep up with you! :) I think you are definately going to be a runner like your daddy. I know you will look up to him and want to be like him someday. Another thing you like to do is sing! That is something mommy likes to do too. You like to sing in the car and sometimes you want to hear the same songs over and over and over. And that's ok because mommy loves to hear you sing!! You will be my karaoke partner someday ok? Well that is all I have for now. I love you my little ball of energy! You make me so proud everyday and I can't stop staring at your beautiful face. You are truly a wonderful little boy. Hugs and kisses, mommy.

Halloween '08!!

"BEWARE OF CUTE SHARK!!"

Over the river and through the woods...

Ok, so it wasn't exactly thru the woods, but it was off to nana and papa's house for a pre-trick or treating photo op! We met up with Declan's cousins and everyone showed off their costumes. Declan's cousin Kate (just a month younger than him) was Little Red Riding Hood. Perfect with all that cute curly red hair she has!

"Do I look like the big bad wolf to you, sister??"

Ready...Set..Trick or Treat!

This was Declan's first trick or treating experience! We couldn't have asked for better weather! It was cool but not cold. Didn't have to bundle up or wear coats over costumes. We brought the stroller along but he did not want to ride in it. He kept saying "walk! walk!" So we let him walk all by himself...no holding mom or dad's hand either. LOL. He LOVED houses with stairs because he likes climbing them. He would be upset if someone came to him with the candy instead of him getting to climb the stairs to the candy! Silly boy. He caught on to the whole "houses are giving out candy" thing pretty quickly. Soon he was running down the street screaming "candy! candy!" Have we created a monster??? lol. Infact, when we got home, he didn't eat his dinner but he wanted CANDY! So we gave him some milk and sent him to bed. Hey...we never got to eat candy if we didn't eat our dinner first! :P Here are the pics of our little shark out on the hunt for some goodies!

Declan, daddy and our friend Hunter. She is dressed as a cute little monkey!

Da Stash!

Not bad for a first time trick or treater! Declan, mommy and daddy will be sure to keep your candy hidden in a safe place! Like...our tummies!! Just kidding. ;)

Week off from work+ nice weather=lots of pics!

100% Pure Cuteness!

Declan LOVES the swing!

Hello Cutie! Come here often?

Love that smile!

Declan always has this moment of hesitation at the top of the slide, like a "should I really do this?" look.

My lil' Pumpkin...

Last Year...
This Year...

I can do it myself...

Declan is becoming very independant these days. He doesn't like me to brush his hair, he wants to do it himself. "Hold it! Hold it!" he says as he grabs the hairbrush from my hand. That's his new thing..."Hold it"...for anything he wants to hold....which is just about everything. :) Can't you see what a fine job he did on his hair? I think he was going for the "bed head" look. I tell ya...the kid is talented! lol!

HULK!

Declan and I were in Blockbuster yesterday. While I was looking at dvd's, Declan saw a life sized cutout of The Hulk. He walked right up to it and said "Hulk!" I was in disbelief. "What did you say?" I asked my little genius. "Hulk!" he said again. "Yes, that's the Hulk! But how do you know that???" I asked him. After we left the store, I called my husband to see if he taught him who the Hulk was and he said that he showed Declan a picture in a magazine of a baby wearing a Hulk costume about a month ago. Declan would point to the picture and David would say "hulk." What's amazing to me is, for one thing...Declan remembered a month later! Also, the picture was just of a baby wearing a hulk costume! Very different from the Hulk cutout he saw at the video store! Yet he was still able to identify him as The Hulk. Declan you continue to amaze us!! But you can't get smarter than us til you get a little older though ok??? So slow down!!! :)

numbers & words

Declan counts to ten for the first time!

Kissy kissy

Shark in the Park!

This weekend we had our mom's meetup Halloween party. There were so many cute little monkeys, bugs, and fairy tale characters! Mommy dressed up too! I went as a surfer with a big bite taken out of my surfboard...by this cute little shark of course!

an unlikely pair...

... Yes, a shark and a butterfly are spending time together! Who would have thought?? Here is Mikayla and Declan just hanging out at the Halloween party.

Goldi and the Shark Encounter

After escaping the three bears, you would think Goldlilocks would have learned her lesson.

"Watch out Elmo!"

"There's a shark behind you!"

Daddy & Shark

The shark has had enough

"Please, no more pictures! Can't a shark just be left alone for once?"

Snow Day!

Winter arrived this morning! Well, hopefully it was just a sneak peak at winter and not the real thing! We still want to enjoy fall! We woke up to about 4 inches of the fluffy white stuff. It looked more like December than October! Declan wanted to go outside, and despite the fact that I didn't have any gloves for him, the first thing he did was plant his bare hands into the snow! I was suprised he didn't even flinch so I touched the snow myself and it wasn't cold! It was the strangest thing! It was PERFECT snow. LOL! Anyway, Declan enjoyed himself and quickly learned to say "snow." However, he called the falling snowflakes "bubbles." Guess we're gonna have to work on that one! :)





Merry Christmas! er...I mean, Happy Halloween!

This is the way we brush our teeth!

Declan now has 14 teeth! And he is learning to brush them on his own. Before, I would do it for him but now he grabs the brush from me and does it himself. What a big boy!

Walk This Way!

"I would like to thank Mommy and Daddy and Nana and Papa for helping me learn to walk and being so patient with me while I was taking my time! Thank you for never giving up on me! And special thanks to Mikayla Fairchild for the sweet kiss! How many other boys can say they got their first kiss at age 18 months? Not many I bet! And thanks to my cousin Kate who also makes an appearance in this video...thank you Kate for not walking before me! Na-na-na-na-na-na! I will forever tease you about this!" :)

Peace, love and walking!

Declan.

This video contains brief nudity. If you have small children in the room, please cover their eyes. Or just give them a cookie...that will distract them. Thank you.

First Kiss...

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!

Gotta have this...

I must get this shirt for Declan! It's PERFECT! :)

Hippo!

Another day... another handful of words that Declan has learned to say! He learned "Santa," "stars", "pumpkin," "hippo," (pronounced Heepo) and "money." Let's just hope he doesn't ask Santa for a hippo for Christmas!! Cause ya know Santa would have to bring him one! :)

What Declan's been up to...

Playing with the bubbles is the best part of storytime at the library!

Riding the carousel with mommy and daddy at the Utah State Fair!

Declan and his cousins with daddy and papa after they finished a marathon!

He may be sweaty, but he's still my daddy and he makes me so proud!!

Other stuff!...

Declan is officially a walker. No more crawling for him! He walks everywhere. Just a few weeks ago, he wouldn't take one step without holding my hand, now he doesn't want my hand at all! My little boy is so independant! That will take some getting use to for me! Declan is also learning new words everyday. He suprises us all the time with the things he can say. Daddy bought him a basketball. He calls it his "backetball". I will have to post video soon of all the fun words he can say! If I could ever get time to make the video! Anyway, above are some pictures from the past couple weeks. We went to the state fair, storytime at the library and just this past weekend we watched daddy run his 13th marathon and papa run his second!! Congratulations daddy and papa!

Bullies

It was bound to happen someday, I just wasn't prepared for it to be this soon! My baby was bullied!! By a big mean bully boy! Actually, the boy was probably about 3 years old...old enough to know better! We were at the library for storytime and the bully just walked right up to Declan and pushed him down. And Declan had done nothing to provoke this attack! This 3 year old was just a mean kid! I was in shock. I told that little boy to keep his hands to himself and that there was no reason to have pushed my son. A few minutes later he came back and pushed him down again! I was furious. I've never wanted to punch a 3 year old in the nose so bad in my life! I don't know where his mother was (or I would have punched her in the nose) but I will definately keep an eye out for her if she brings her bully of a son back to storytime next week! In the meantime, I'm going to see if 18 month olds can enroll in Karate!! :)

You AMAZE me!

My sweet, beautiful, bright Declan. Do you know how smart you are? You will be 18 months old this week and already you know how to say about 30 words! Teaching you is very easy because you are eager to learn. And mommy found out tonight that your memory is incredible! A few weeks ago we visited our friends that live nearby and they introduced us to their dog "Cocoa." You picked up on the word immediately and called the dog by name. Well, just tonight, we went back to our friends' house (for the first time in about a month) and as soon as you saw the dog you shouted "Cocoa!" How you remember his name is beyond me!! I could barely remember the puppy's name! But you mr. smarty pants are a genius. Your aunt Lindsey says you must have a photographic memory! You amaze us every day Declan! We can't wait to see what you do next! Keep learning and growing! Love, mommy.

Daddy's home!

For the past two weeks, Declan and I have been on our own! Daddy had to go to Hawaii for air force reserves. We did lots of things to keep ourselves busy though! We went to the Treehouse musuem, went to Peach Days in Brigham City and watched a parade and rode a few rides. We went to several farmers markets to get some goodies and we hung out with friends from our mom's group! Plus we spent lots of time at nana and papa's house! Everyday Declan would point to daddy's clothes in the closet and say "dada". I know he missed him. When daddy got home, Declan welcomed him with a big smile and a few steps!!! Yep, Declan learned to walk while daddy was away. We're glad you're home daddy! Now it's your turn for diaper duty!!!! :)

Seeing is believing!!!

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it either! But here it is...the moment we've all been waiting for....drum roll please....