August Updates - Busy summer part 2

Just a recap of the last month since some of the posts have been out of order.  This wraps up our busy busy July and August.  It's been record breaking hot and dry in Houston this summer with no end in sight. 

1. Trip to Blue Mountain Beach, FL
2. Playing in the fountains
3. Off Roading
4. Trip to Napa, CA
5. Cason's big announcement
6. Playing at Wonderwild
7. First Haircut
8. Weekend Morning
9. First sneakers
10. 15/16 months updates

15 month stats and 16 month milestones

I'm very behind on all the things Cason is saying and doing these days.  I need to get these written down before I forget and regret it later.

15 Month Stats (he was about 15.5 months at his appt)

Weight: 26lb, 2oz

Height: 33inches (90th percentile)

What's he doing at 16 months?

• Walking, or running everywhere
• Crawls up and down the stairs, trying to learn to walk up them
• Can reach all the lever handles on the doors... meaning he can escape if the deadbolts aren't locked
• Can go down the slide by himself
• Can climb on and off his ride on toys
• Still loves his bed and his bedtime giraffe (we had to buy a couple of extra for travel)
• Saying lots of words, the ones I can think of are
• Shoes - "Shoos"
• Fishies - "Shishes" (in reference to Goldfish crackers)
• Dog
• Cracker - "Crack"
• Grapes - "Gops"
• Hi! - if we give him our cell phones or anything that resembles a phone, he puts it to his ear and says "Hi!"
• Bye
• "Ooooo", "Mmmmm", "Wow", "Whoa".  The cutest is when I put down one of his favorite foods and he says "Mmmm".
• "Ma", "Mama", "Da", "Dada"-- on occasion.  Dada more than Mama that's for sure.
• Dance - "Dunce"
• Understands everything we say:
• Go find your shoes
• Where's your milk, ball, giraffe, etc?
• Let's go upstairs (he RUNS to the stairs)
• Time to go Night Night (also RUNS to the stairs)
• Lets eat Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner (runs to his high chair and starts grabbing at the tray)
• Want to feed your brother/Admiral? (runs to the food container, waits for us to scoop the food, runs to the door and opens it... I think he mainly just likes opening the door)
• Dunk it (takes whatever toy and dunks it in the basketball goal)
• Where's your ears, eyes, belly button, nose, mouth, feet, etc.  He'll point at them all except mouth, in which he just opens and closes his mouth a bunch of times.   He can also identify all these things on other people.
• Cason, Dance -- starts bouncing and moving his arms
• Bounce, Bounce/Jump Jump -- he bends his knees, bouncing up and down, tries to jump then sort of falls on his bottom and laughs his head off. 
• Give Mommy/Daddy a Kiss/Hug -- the favorite part of my day, oh, I love his hugs and kisses, especially the unprompted ones.
• His favorite things:
• Eggs
• Corn
• Grapes
• Tomatoes
• Being Outside
• Pulling all of his toys out of the cabinet
• Opening and closing doors, especially the ones to the pantry and our closets that have light switches in the door jams.  He likes to close himself in our closets where it gets really dark, then he just opens the door back up.
• Bath Time and Bed Time
• His stuffed giraffe
• Stairs
• Daddy, Grandpa and Granpoo -- he loves the men in his life.  I know he loves us girls too, but the men, oh, they have a special place.

I'm sure I'm forgetting things... Ryan will probably have more to add to this list, but at least I finally have it written down so I can look back on it later.  I love this little guy.

First Sneakers

Since Cason is pretty much always running, we decided he needed some shoes with a rubber sole.  After not finding much we liked at Target, we broke down and just got the cute Puma's I'd been coveting online.  Ryan wears Puma's, I couldn't resist.

Cason loves them!  If I say "go get your shoes" he'll always come back with these over any other pair.

Typical Weekend Morning

Cason trying to steal Mommy's drink

Playing with blocks

First Haircut

After much disagreement, Ryan finally consented to let me cut Cason's hair.  I mean, really, we were starting to get quite the mullet, at least on one side.  It was time.

Before

Yay, almost done!

Need a little water

All done, look how grown up!

And a little fun before it dried.

Look at all that hair!!

Our big boy with his big boy haircut.

He did really well, the worst part was getting his hair to actually cut.  It was such fine baby hair that it just slipped through the clippers.  We can definitely tell that the texture is different but there is still a little wave.

Wonderwild

I go through waves of being a Groupon/Living Social Addict.  I recently bought a deal to the new Wonderwild that opened in the Woodlands so that Cason could play for 1/2 price.   We invited our friend McCarthy and his mommy Kristin to come play with us Friday morning.  Cason had a blast and I know he'd have even much more fun if he were a little older.

Playing on the big inflatable obstacle course.

Then we explored... we weren't quite ready for the big slides but it didn't stop Cason from doing a little dance.

And trying to crawl UP the slide...

He climbed on this little radio flyer and scooted around

  

And finally found a slide his size.

  

And we wrapped it up with some playtime in the toy pit.

Cason’s Big Announcement

Yes, that’s right, I’m pregnant.  Due Feb 13.  We’ll see if Baby #2 decides to come as early as Big Brother.

I’m going to save these two pictures for later in life, I’m sure some good jokes will be had with them.

But really, Cason is super excited…he totally understands what’s about to happen and all.  :)

I’ve added a few posts from the past couple of months.  For the most part I’ve had a similar pregnancy, though maybe not AS bad as last time.  I’ve been a different kind of sick, less throwing up, more nausea, same extreme exhaustion the first 12 weeks.  I feel like its ending sooner though, starting to feel good most days now so hopefully I won’t still be puking at 20 weeks.  I’ve not gained any weight as of my appt at 13 weeks (actually lost 2 lbs at my 9 week appt and had not lost or gained any at my 13 week.)  I’m able to eat more now and am showing just a bit in the evenings. 

Napa 2011

We rounded out our summer of travel with a kid-free trip to Napa, CA with Brandon and Suzie, Scott and Amy, and Ben (minus Katie who had a work conflict, missed you!).  I’d been dreaming of this trip since probably our Honeymoon.  I did not expect to be pregnant while I was there but I still had a fabulous time!

We arrived late on Wednesday night and met up with the rest of the crew in San Francisco where we stayed the night.  Thursday morning we headed north to Napa, making a pit stop at the Muirwoods.

Then we arrived in Napa and settled into our amazing house before heading out to a few wineries. 

Merryvale

Del Dotto Cave Tour

We also made a stop at Cosentino then picked up dinner at Mustards and took it home to eat on our amazing patio

We started day 2 in style for our Limo Tour.

Stag’s Leap, winner of the Red’s competition at the famous 1976 Judgment of Paris

Lunch at V. Sattui

Duckhorn Vineyards was one of our favorites, mainly for the feel… it was a beautiful building and we had a nice big table to enjoy our time.

We also saw the awesemeness (I know it’s not a word) of Wine Away when a glass of red spilled on someone’s clothes.

Then on to Chateau Montelena, winner of the Whites at the Judgment of Paris and stage of the movie Bottle Shock. 

And ending the day at Elizabeth Spencer, definitely at the top of the list for both the wines and the atmosphere.  We will definitely go back here on a future trip!

That night we cooked out at home and enjoyed a major feast thanks to chef Ben. I could get used to eating with these views

Day 3 was more of the same but a little more laid back.  Ben started the boys off with a morning cocktail and then we made the 1/4 mile drive down from our house to Robert Biale for our first stop of the day.

Biale was also at the top of our list.  Very laid back, good wine (they make Zins which are one of our favs).  We decided to join this wine club so I’m excited to have it delivered to my door once I can drink again!  Our tasting guide was awesome, sat with us on the back porch, told us the history and then stole my camera and took some awesome pictures for us!

Next stop was Cakebread, which is know for having more white wines (most Napa wineries are mostly red).  We were underwhelmed by the wine and the atmosphere.  It was the only place we went that not one of us bought something.

Next up was Peju. 

And finally Turnbull before we headed home to enjoy our backyard in the sunlight!

The boys had been dying to play some bocce ball so a tournament ensued.  In the end, Brandon won after some very close and exciting matches :)

Ryan’s *almost* (but not) touching throw!

Amy and Suz got in on the action too and lookie-there, Amy got a toucher!

This is the life!

That night, we got all dolled up to head to dinner at Brix.  I used the timer on the camera to get a group shot

Then Ben took the camera and obviously something was funny!

The boys

The girls

Sure wouldn’t complain if this was my backyard.

Delicious Dinner at Brix.

We left early the next morning to head to the airport and get home to our baby.  It was  fantastic vacation with awesome friends.  Looking forward to the next time!