8 months

Peyton turned 8 months old on the 3rd of October. He is really starting to grow up and become more and more independent. He crawls everywhere and pulls himself up on anything he can get his hands on -- chairs, tables, TVs, toys, my legs, the outside of his walker, everything. He jabbers all the time and loves to play with his mom and dad.

We love seeing him learn new things, but, in a way, it is sad that he isn't our little baby boy anymore. Here is a video of him at the beginning of September saying Mama that I never posted on our blog. Now he says it all the time!

He was so excited to wear his jacket. 

Getting brave with only one hand.

Peyton with his twin cousins, Madison and McKenzie (2 weeks old)

He loves to stand up in his crib and yell for Mama until I go get him.

They had zombie day at daycare. I thought it was hilarious!

Munchkin Bunch Ends tomorrow!

Peyton's Munchkin Bunch voting ends tomorrow and he is in SIXTH place. The kids in the top five become spokesbabies for Munchkin. If you could go vote for him today and tomorrow, It would be great! He needs a REALLY big push in the next day two days!

Don't forget that you can vote 5 times per day!!

Thanks everyone!

http://www.facebook.com/MunchkinInc?sk=app_159117397504600

7 months

I never got around to posting Peyton's 7-month update, but it is better late than never! Peyton turned 7-months-old on Sept. 3. He is getting so BIG. He is like a little boy instead of a baby.

We moved to a new house this month, and Peyton loved it. He especially loved to play with the boxes!

Peyton at 7 months:

• He can say Mama and Dada.
• He loves to stick out his toungue, and blow bubbles. 
• He laughs at Dad and Mom, especially when he gets tickled.
• He can pull himself up to a standing position on the couch, ottoman, pretty much anything he can reach.
• He loves to play with his toys. New toys are his favorite.
• He loves the bath. He sits up in the bath now, so he loves to play with the water when it comes out of the faucet.
• He is wearing 9 month clothes.

I love to see him getting bigger and bigger every day.

Vote for Peyton!!

So a few months ago, I was on Facebook and saw a contest from Munchkin, Inc, who makes many different baby items (including the mesh feeder that I LOVE). They were having a contest to find five kids for their "Munchkin Bunch." The Munchkin Bunch will be the stars of their Facebook page with monthly updates on how they are doing and what they are learning. You also get cool free stuff from Munchkin each month. I thought it would be fun so I submitted a few photos and didn't think anything more about it.

Today I got an email from them telling me that Peyton was chosen as one of ten finalists, out of 3500 entrants. I was so shocked!

The ten finalists are now in a contest against each other. You can vote for Peyton on Munchkin's Facebook page. You can give him 5 VOTES EVERY DAY until October 1! I would love your votes! Thanks everyone.

Click here to vote for Peyton!

Six Months

Peyton turned six months on the 3rd of August. I can't believe he is halfway to a year already. It is going so fast.

He has learned so much lately and it is really fun to see when him when he catches onto something.

 At six months, Peyton loves to:
- blow bubbles with his mouth. He will sit for the longest time blowing bubbles
- hold his own bottle. He does so well at it.
- crawl. He can get around soo fast. He army crawls anytime you set him down.
- suck on his own toes. I can't keep socks on the kid. He pulls them off and shoves his feet into his mouth.
- play with dogs. Anywhere we go that there is a dog, he can't stop looking at it.

- laugh. He has the funniest laugh ever.
- take baths. He loves to roll onto his tummy and splash with his hands.
- play with his toys. I usually dump out a huge pile of toys in the morning and he will sort through them until he finds the one he wants.
- Play with his friends at daycare. He gets so excited when he sees them in the mornings.
- He has also started giving hugs and kisses. His kisses are just him sticking his open mouth on your cheek, but it is still so sweet to me.
-eat. He especially loves, apples, bananas, peaches, pears and rice cereal.

He was sleeping through the night, but got a lung infection about a week before he turned six months and started waking up a few times a night.

I'm loving this age.

Check out the cowboy boots. I love them. 

so excited!

Wearing his big boy jammies.

Holding his own bottle.

Eating peaches from his mesh feeder.

Daddy love.

Sleeping in a tiny corner of his crib.

Too tired to keep his head up.

Messy little eater

Last week we tried giving Peyton rice cereal. He loved eating it, but only if he held the spoon. He would cry when I held the spoon. He ate pretty well.

 

 

Later in the week we went to grandma's and she took him out to the playhouse to play in the afternoon. He had such a fun time playing with Grandma.

Look how big I am!

I can sit up all by myself!

 

 He had his 4-month appointment this morning. He weighs 16.3 lbs and is 27 inches tall. That's the 95th percentile for height and 93rd for weight. I think he is going to be our little linebacker, but Shawn is thinking more along the lines of tight end.

My not so little 4-month-old

Peyton at 4 months:

Grabbing his shirt because it is the only thing close that he can hold onto.

•  He loves to grab things. Anything he can grab, he will put in his mouth.

• Anytime we lay him on his back, he automatically rolls to his stomach. He likes to be able to look around and see what is going on. 
• His cry is getting louder.
• He seems to be growing every day. I look at him and think each day that he is bigger than the day before. 
• When he gets tired, he rubs his eyes. When he drinks his bottle before he goes to bed every night, he has to keep his hand and arm over his eyes.
• He can sit for a little while on his own. He isn't sitting straight up, but he is sitting on his own. 
• He laughed for the first time last Saturday. His cousin Harrison was playing football with him and he started giggling. Shawn and I looked at each other to see if we both heard it, and then he did it a few times after that. 
• Most of the time, he will smile and laugh (just a loud squeal) when anyone looks at him.
• He finds looking in the mirror hilarious.

  

  Saying... Mom just get me out of this chair.

Happy Easter!

Family Pictures

When my mom was here, she took some family photos of us. Here is one:

The rest are on Facebook and I will try to post more here later.

Peyton's crib and his room

When Shawn and I found out that we were going to have a baby, my dad started building him a crib. He had it done in a few weeks, and we got it from them about a week and a half ago when they came out to visit. We love it and Peyton sleeps SOO well in it.

Since this was the last part of his room that needed to be done I thought I would put up pictures of the crib and of his finished room.

The Bubba and Baxter quilt Grandma made for him.

Peyton's name that I painted.

On his shelf I have his cowboy boots and a picture of Shawn in his cowboy boots.

His hat-rack that I painted.

Hi!

Peyton at two months old

Peyton at two months:

• He loves to smile, especially first thing in the morning.
• He will talk to you. If we talk to him, he will make noises in response.
• He is sleeping in his crib and usually sleeps about 5-6 hours in a stretch at night. (Although he slept 8 hours last night!!)
• He loves to go outside. Going in the stroller is a fun part of our day.
• He weighs 13.2 pounds (weighed when he went to the ER last week).
• He is starting to realize that he can control his hands and feet. He sucks on his hand all the time. Sometimes he almost gets his entire fist in his mouth. He will also try to touch the edge of his tray on his swing with his toes when he swings.

Peyton's first Owie

Ok... so the story of the emergency room visit.

When we were walking into my Grandpa's funeral, I was holding Peyton. I tripped and fell. I landed on my knees before I put my hands out to catch myself. Peyton fell and landed on his blanket and rolled off and hit his head on the cement. He got a pretty nasty scrape on his forehead and a few small scrapes on the back of his head. I got some pretty nasty scrapes on my knees, but better on me than on him.

He seemed pretty normal through the funeral, but just to make sure everything was ok, we took him into the emergency room. The doctor said that he sees things like it all the time. I thought the most interesting thing was that he said what he sees most often is babies strapped in their carseats in the cart at the grocery store who get knocked out and end up landing face-first on the ground. Pretty scary.

I am just glad it wasn't any worse than it was and that Peyton ended up being ok.

Grandpa Bryce

On Monday morning while my parents and brother were here visiting, my dad got a call that his dad passed away earlier that morning. Grandpa Bryce lived in Mink Creek, Idaho until just a few months ago when he moved into Heritage Home in Preston, Idaho. He was honestly one of the most special people I ever knew. I have so many memories from my life of him and Grandma Carlene that have really shaped the person I am today.

Grandpa had a way of making every grandkid feel like they were his favorite. I can't even explain all of the influences that he had on me in my life. Probably one of the most important was his example of faith. He had one of the strongest testimonies of anyone I ever knew. He shared his testimony with his family a few years ago and having a copy of it is one of my biggest treasures. I know that he has been reunited with my grandma after 8 long years apart, and that their reunion had to be amazing.

I hope that I can continue the legacy that they have left and teach my kids the lessons that they taught my dad and me. We will all miss you Grandpa and will look forward to our own reunion with you.

Stephanie, Annie and Jacob

Logan playing with Grandpa Bryce's tractors.