Halloween

This was the BEST Halloween of my entire life. Trick or Treating and dressing up as a kid is awesome. But taking your little kid trick or treating- that takes the cake. Vander had no clue what was going on the entire time, but he LOVED being in his costume. I thought as soon as we stuck his monster cap on that he would rip it right off. Instead he would smile and get excited. He LOVED running around in his costume. He would get excited and start walking super fast and fall, but it was so cute. The little waddle he had when he was in his costume also made it hilarious.
We let him walk up to every house on his own and he wasn't scared a bit. He was able to make it to about 15 houses before he was noticablly getting tired.
He was a HAPPY boy and that made it the best night ever. Hopefully he is JUST as good next year when he is two and we have his 7 month old baby sister in tow. :)
Here are some photos of our fun evening....

 Grinning from ear to ear the second we put his costume on.

Happiest little Monster on the block

 

 Hanging out with Auntie Jessica

 Almost ready to go!!

 Dad and his favorite little Monster

 All the kiddos (minus Reese). Vander was so curious as to why all his cousins were in funny costumes- He would only stare at them and not the camera.

 Grammy and Monster Vander

 Here we go!!

 His first trick or treating house.

 Getting his candy- He wouldn't reach for it- He would just stare at it.

 This holiday was very perplexing to him. He would just stare at everything

Having so much fun with Daddy.

The little mans loot. He did pretty well for only a few houses.

10 and 11 Months... A little delayed :)

I have done a TERRIBLE job of updating our blog over the past month. So much has happened and yet its the one month that I struggled to take any pictures and post any updates. I will try to do a brief overfew of the past month and then post the few pictures that I have taken.

Vander turns 11 months this week, INSANE. I need to start planning his 1st birthday party which is just around the corner!

-Vander took his first real steps (more than 3 in a row) on October 6th when he was about 10.5 months.

-Now that he is just shy of 11 months he is using walking as his main form of transportation, but he still crawls here and there. He is getting to the point where he gets excited and starts to walk really fast and then EATS it.

-Vanders 1st 2 teeth (top 2) just broke through about 2 weeks ago. Now his bottom 2 are in the works

-He jibber jabbers constantly and looks at you as if you should know exactly what hes saying

-He LOVES water and just chugs it- He has also started on Whole Milk which he loves as well

-His favorite foods right now are anything with Syrup- Pancakes, Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal, Waffles... etc but the kid will eat ANYTHING put in front of him (with the exception of MOST fruits)

-He points at EVERYTHING. He is constantly pointing at random things everywhere

-He loves his train table more than any toy in this entire house. He could spend hours in the loft on that thing.

-He is obsessed with his daddy. He follows Joel everywhere in the house.

-He loves to dance and starts dancing everytime he hears music

-He enjoys just sitting and watching other people. At the playplace he would sometimes rather sit and just watch the kids play then actually play

-As always, he is constantly smiling and laughing- truly one of the happiest babies I have ever seen

 At the Pumpkin Patch and festival - Train ride with Daddy

 He was SO excited. All smiles and wouldn't let go of the steering wheel

 Just pointing... at.... corn

 Loving life on Joels shoulders. Best Buddies.

 Auntie Jess and Van Man

 Pointing to the goats

 He wasn't thrilled with being set on the hay... Couldn't get a smile to save our lives

 He was VERY excited about his Pizza

 Yes- He made this mess all by himself.. How he got pizza on his forehead I have not a clue

 Struggling with our new 8am church time... Its nap time by the end of Sacrament Meeting

Calming his teething blues with a good ol Oreo!

 One of many videos of his first steps. :)

 Vanders first time on Daddy's new toy. His excitement is about equivalent to mine....

Week in Lake Powell

This past week we had the chance to go to Lake Powell for an entire week on my parents houseboat. It was SO wonderful to be away from work and the everyday hussle and bussle of life.

Vander was a champ the entire time! Slept like a champ and happy as a clam. He had a blast playing with his cousins, swimming. playing in the sand and riding in the ski boat.

He was very spoiled by his grandma the entire trip and learned to come to your legs when he wants to be picked up (thanks A LOT grandma for teaching him this ;) ). Such an amazing trip. I can't wait til next year!

 His first experience painting. It was an absolute mess, but he had a blast. Thank you Tarah!

 We got more on his hands and the table than we did on the actual wind-catcher

 Swimming with Daddy

 This isn't actually at Lake Powell- Its a few days prior at Canyon Lake, but it seemed to fit nicely in this post :)

 His first experience in a lake- This also is Canyon Lake

 Night time bathtime in the sink.

 Sleeping like a rock after a long day in the sun.

 Just floating at Powell

 Vander favorite place to play in the houseboat. By the ice maker. :)

 Swimming in the clear water of beautiful Navajo Canyon

 Most of the clan

 Sporting daddy's $3 glasses from Walmart.

 A constant theme- Nap on daddy on the way home from swimming somewhere.

 Bop Bop let Vander drive the boat. All he wanted to do was push the buttons and play with the throttle.

Swimming as a family

9 Months....

The past 9 months have just FLOWN by. I cannot believe I have a 9 month old! Over the past month Vander has grown up so much. He definately has his very own very strong personality. He started crawling just over a week ago and he is already getting quite fast. He is such a happy and sweet little boy and he makes our home such a happy place! We have never felt so incredibly blessed in our lives. Joel and I look at eachother daily and just say "He is the most AMAZING boy in the world". I can only hope that Vander knows how much we love an adore ever second we get with him.

With that said, in light of Vanders 9 month "birthday" tomorrow... heres what he's up to these days.....

-Crawling ALL over the place- Loves to explore EVERYTHING

-He can pull himself up on things- ANYthing

-He can stand by himself for a couple of minutes without falling with a toy in his hand

-He loves to jump in his crib for a few minutes before we go and get him

-He is sleeping like a CHAMP- Solid from 7:30pm to about 8am

-He adores his train table- although he doesn't play with the trains, he just destroys the set and sucks on all the pieces

-He loves watching the dogs wrestle and play with eachother

-He steals the dogs toys and loves when they try to get them back

-He loves pens, straws and spoons

-He loves to play on the piano- more accurately, pound on the piano

-He loves anything water related- swimming, baths, lake trips

-He has just begun giving a cute scowl/glare at random times to random people

-He is yet to refuse any kind of food- The kid will eat ANYTHING put in front of him

-He can say Dada, Mama and I think he can almost say "Dog". (As a cute note, he thinks Mama is Dada and Dada is Mama)

-He giggles and laughs at just about anything- He is practically always smiling

To watch him learn and grow has just made me the most proud mommy in the world. The littlest things he learns are just so exciting to me and Joel. Vander is so loved and we are SO grateful for every day we have with him.

On a quick side note- Vander just found out this past month that he is going to have a baby brother/sister come March 2012. For those without facebook, you may have missed the annoucement. We are SO excited to add another to our family and for Vander to have a sibling close in age. Stay tuned for a much anticipated gender announcement :)

Now here are some pictures of Vander taken over the past month. I've done a terrible job blogging and need to do better!!

 This photo is curtesy of Auntie Jessica- I love this smile ;)

Doing his favorite thing in the world... destroying his train table

 Eating his first Oreo cookie on the boat

 The aftermath of his first Oreo Cookie :)

 Enjoying the ride with Mama

 Chillin with Dada

 First tube ride with Broolyn and Daddy- He was a champ! Fearless!

 Enjoying the breeze

 Dave and Busters with Bop Bop

 He loves holding himself up on his crib and jumping- He looks like hes in jail in this pic

 Hanging out on his train table

 My little stud muffin ;)

 Hanging out on his ottoman of toys.

 Vanders annoucement :)

His new big boy carseat! He was getting a WEE bit too big for his infant carseat

Standing

Lately Vander has been doing a really good job standing and keeping decent balance when you hold his hands. My sister Tarah let me borrow her little standing play center and it has been amazing to see how much better his balance is getting just over 2 days of use! He LOVES this thing and he is getting pretty darn good at holding himself up on it without falling over.
Will this child skip crawling all together? Guess we'll see!!! Heres my big boy in action!