Self Feeder

We've got a self-feeder on our hands...and it's a mess!

I told you he's independent these days, including meal time. I also let him try to feed himself things that I honestly know will be a mess, but I think it's good for him to explore...and due to a good bib the clean-up really isn't as bad as it looks! Plus, selfishly when I let him feed himself, it buys me 15 minutes to clean the kitchen and due dishes without having to worry about what he's into...I KNOW what he's into :)



He's even got pudding in his hair below causing it to stick up :)

If nothing else, the pictures are worth the mess!

I should've taken a picture of him tonight when he somehow found a red pen as I was hanging a few shirts in my closet. I caught him drawing on his tummy! Good thing he'd only been at it for maybe 1 whole minute...as soon as I didn't hear him talking for 30 seconds, I started to worry. He is a jabberbox until he's really found something to entertain himself!

18 Weeks

Here is a picture of my growing belly.



...and Mitchell's too :)



I'm 18 weeks along today; almost half way there! I can't believe how fast it's going! It seems much faster than when I was pregnant with Mitchell. Maybe I have less time to dwell on it because things are much busier with Mitchell around :)

Mitchell and I had a wonderful day together today, with Jacob being out of town this weekend. We took advantage of the fall weather and spent some time outdoors. We went to my friend's son's baseball game (Taby's son, Dylan) and Mitchell had lots of fun watching! I brought his little glove and baseball along and he performed his leg raising pitches over and over again, getting MANY laughs from the parents in the crowd. He also pretended to run the bases when the boys were running..oh, I think we've got ourselves a future ballplayer!

He's not a teenager anymore!

Happy 20 months!!!

Grandpa bought Mitchell his first Chiefs shirt, which he wears proudly despite the season outlook :) Mitchell is SO MUCH FUN lately. He is talking up a storm and starting to make little sentences. It's always so entertaining to see what's going to come out of his mouth next! He knows all of his little daycare buddies by name "Bye Bye, Brady" or "Good Morning, Piper." My dad thinks Mitchell acts like a politician as he leaves daycare, waving and giving high fives to all of the old people. :)

He continues to say so many things that make me think 'how did he know that?' He saw a number 8 on his jersey shirt the other day and promptly pointed at it and said "Eight". I questioned whether I heard him right the first time, but he was certain to tell me the same thing many more times. He's also learning his colors, the favorite seeming to be blue. He can pick out a few letters too. He realizes that books have pictures and words, but if I ask him what a word says, he always answers "hi". Apparently every word is a greeting :) Books and balls continue to be his favorite toys! Jacob's Mom (Gran) continues to send Mitchell fun new books, which he loves to read over and over! He memorizes little things about each of them, and can barely sit through the first few pages until we get to part that he remembers. And only he is allowed to turn pages now days, hands off Mommmy!

Our house constantly looks like a hurricane hit it. He's into EVERYTHING! He's so adventurous and curious! He's becoming really good at swimming! We visited the local baby last week a few times and he's crazy for the water slides, demanding absolutely no assistance from me...did I mention he's really independent these days? "I do it!" is a common phrase around here!

In the water, he crawls around using his arms and kicking his legs behind him and even tries to float on his back and kick his legs. He has learned what the word "pretty" means and will often tell me when ladies on magazine covers, etc are pretty. We had a cute lifeguard at the baby pool the other day and Mitchell pointed to her and told me "pretty". Of course the lifeguard heard him and got a kick out of that one. :)

He continues to dress himself in my undergarments at least 3 times per week. I have no idea what the fascination is, but we still get a kick out of it :)

He loves driving our cars. He knows which cars belong to mommy, daddy, grandpa, sherri, etc. As we're driving along, he'll often say "mommy is driving", etc and then demands to drive when I'm done.

Fall is my favorite time of year...beautiful weather, beautiful leaves, pumpkin patches, college football tailgates, etc! I CAN'T wait for Halloween this year, we've already started practicing "Trick or Treat!" The only bad thing about my switch into campus recruiting is that fall is now my busy season at work. Jacob's big Omaha job has a 9/30 year-end, which means he's also swamped this fall. We are struggling to merry up our travel schedules...and THANK GOD my dad and Sherri are always so willing to watch the little guy in a pinch! I also THANK GOD that he is so enjoyable to be around right now, so that they continue to look forward to spending time with him. :) Mitchell is also going to spend some of my busiest October times visiting my mom and David...should be a great arrangement.

So Mitchell and I have a weekend to ourselves...and we're going to do lots of fun things outdoors to enjoy the wonderful fall weather!

The new baby is growing nicely..I feel some fluttering now and then, but not yet enough to confidently say that I can feel him move yet! We have our sonogram appointment rapidly approaching (September 14th). I'm still convinced it's a boy, but we'll see! It's hard to believe the pregancy has almost reached the half way point...it's going so fast! I continue to have very few pregnancy symptoms and have had a really good experience again, so far!!!!

Quite the wind-up

Mitchell has been watching a lot of baseball this summer, including attending another Royal's gave on Friday at the K. Starting Saturday morning, he began lifting one leg while throwing his baseballs like the major league pitchers! We have no idea how he even noticed that because neither of us pointed it out to him, but it is hilarious!!! He is so observant!

Take a look at his wind-up in this short clip :) I'm so sorry that I'm not sure how to rotate it for easier viewing!

Air Show

We took Mitchell to the KC Airshow today. We had a really good time and he loved watching the planes! It was GREAT weather here - 80 degrees and sunny.


Mommy and Mitchell had to get a picture by the powercat plane from Salina.

Daddy and Mitchell played with the propellers.





Some kind of miliary helicopter (if you can't tell, I'm cluless about these things)



Right before the exciting, LOUD F-16 exhibition, Mitchell fell asleep. He jumped a few times when he heard the earth shattering fly bys, but he never did open his eyes! How is this even fair? I tried tip-toeing into the room next to his the other morning to iron a shirt before he woke and as soon as I reached the top of the stairs, he woke up and said "Mama????"!

In other news.....we're painting! Jacob and I spent last night and tonight post-Mitchell hours paining our entryway and up the stairs. I'm not a huge fan of the color, but am convinced it's going to grow on me! Almost our entire house is pained in shades of brown now, so I wanted something a little different. I decided to try 'wheat', which I pictured being just a little yellower than the traditional khaki, but this specific wheat shade is a bit more yellow than I'd hoped. I'll post a picture when we finish. Hopefully it'll only take one more night!


All in all, we had a very productive, fun weekend! Jacob is out of town next weekend for a wedding, so Mitchell and I are going to have to find ways to entertain ourselves :) In fact, Jacob leaves Wednesday and returns next Thursday. Long trip :(

Showing?

I wouldn't necessarily consider myself to be "showing" yet. What a funny term?! However, for the very first time yesterday a complete stranger made a comment to me about being pregnant. Good thing she was right!

Jacob comes home tonight from Omaha, I'll have to have him take a picture. I'm pretty good at taking pictures of Mitchell...but he's not so good at taking them of me :)

Kisses and Pillows

Just a few quick stories about Mitchell...sorry no pictures this time!

Lately, when Mitchell stubs a toe or mashes a finger, he will run over to Jacob and I and quickly demand that we "Kiss It"! Ha! Not only does it instantly heal his wound, but it also makes Jacob and I smile :)

The sound that I used to 'call' our cat is a kissy noise. I have no idea why...or why she responds to it, but she does! The other day, Mitchell and I were reading a book and we were going through what noises animals make as we happened upon them. He knows most all of them now! When I asked him what noise a cat makes, he responded with the kissy noise. I literally laughed out loud. Man, he really is listening when I don't think he is!

Tonight, Mitchell and I were playing on my bed. He was laying his head on my pillow pretending to sleep and then going over to Jacob's pillow doing the same. He stared at both pillows for a minute and then pointed to my pillow and said "mommy's pillow", then pointed to Jacob's pillow and said "Daddy's pillow". Then he patted his chest and questioningly asked "Mitchell's pillow?" followed by his cute little shoulder shrug. Ahhh.... He seemed pleased when I told him that his pillow was in his bed upstairs, eventhough he doesn't have a pillow. He'll figure that part out someday :)

Each day's stories and smiles far outweigh the struggles! He is growing up so fast!

Disney with Grandma & Grandpa Bays

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of Grandma & Grandpa Bays's trip to DisneyWorld with Mitchell. They agreed it was HOT, HOT, but fun! :)

Here they are on the carousel, Mitchell is a big fan of the horses.

Watching yet another parade - there are constant parades in the Magic Kingdom!

On a train ride....right before he fell asleep for an afternoon nap. You can see it in his eyes, can't you? :)

We are very glad that Grandma and Grandpa got to travel down to Orlando and spend some time with the little guy! He REALLY enjoyed it and it allowed Jacob time to attend a bachelor party that he was really looking forward to. Perfect for all involved!

We're home!!!

This face just about sums up Mitchell's thoughts of our trip! We had a GREAT time visiting all of the parks, eventhough it was HOT!



Below we're in front of the "Tree of Life" at the Animal Kingdom. Our favorite part about the Animal Kingdom was the safari ride with lots of exotic animals!

Mitchell absolutely LOVED the characters! One morning when he woke up, the very first words out of his mouth were "Hug Mickey Mouse". While typically he loved to hug them or give them high fives, he seems a little more interested in Pluto's whiskers in the below picture.

We stayed for the fireworks at the end of the evening and Mitchell was so exhausted that he fell asleep while on Jacob's shoulders! Isn't that precious? He looks like a little angel...and he did act like an angel for MOST ALL of the trip! He made things VERY easy on us! Thanks, Mitchell!



We also had our OB check-up on Monday. The baby & I are both doing great! I'm in my 15th week. The baby's heartbeat was 150 bpm, again same as Mitchell at this point. I've gained 9 pounds so far...a little more than I'd like, but the doctor seemed to think it was just fine. I think some of that has to be due to the 10 day vacation to cotton candy land! Our next appointment is scheduled for September 14th - when we'll have our sonogram and hopefully find out if this little one is a boy or a girl! I'm still convinced it's a boy, but we'll know in a month!

My mom and David sent me their Orlando pictures, so I'll post some of my favorites in the days to come.

Magical Orlando :)

We are having a BLAST in the "House of the Mouse"! We knew Mitchell would be a little young for the experience, and really decided to come mainly because I already have a work conference here anyway, but honestly enjoying it MUCH MUCH more than we thought he would! And, we're LOVING enjoying the new, exciting things with him!



He LOVES the characters...knows just about everyone by name now. The very first thing he said this morning when he woke was "Pluto? Donald Duck?" He constantly talks about giving them high fives or hugs. It's adorable.

There are MANY more rides that he can ride on than we thought there would be! Literally, there are probably 30 rides at the Magic Kingdom that are kid friendly, including the above tea cups.



We are all big fans of the spectomagic "lighted" parade at 9pm and the fireworks at 10pm. He constantly asks for the "wakka-works", translation = "fireworks". He oohs and ahhs and asks for "more, more, more" as soon as they end!



This is how he ends most every evening, sleeping soundly in his stroller.

Jacob flew back to KC today, and my mom and David are here through Sunday to watch the little guy and continue his Disney journey!