Park Play

It's almost December, and the weather is heavenly out.  It has been such a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend!  Josh had 4 days off, we had my brother and family down from L.A. for the holidays, I got all the Christmas decorations up, and there was plenty of time for play with the little monkey.  Today we took him to the park to monkey around.  ;o)  It's so fun having a professional photographer for a husband, because we end up getting so many beautiful photos of our son.  Such wonderful faces, moments, and memories...captured forever!  I just wanted to share a few of these moments and silly faces from today.  Kyle has the most beautiful deep blue eyes, that I swear just talk to you when you look into them.  He has all kinds of silly faces and smiles....he is just a delightful little boy, and we are so blessed he is our son.  Enjoy some photos of our handsome 3 year old from the park today.

Handsome boy!

He's a climber!

Climbing UP the slide...

Swinging on his tummy.

There are those talking eyes.  Love it!!!

So sweet, just melts my heart!

What's the caption on this one?  Haha!

It is winter time, so why not make a sand angel....since there's no snow...  ;o)

Leaving 2009 behind and starting 2010 .... and almost 18 months old!

I know, it has been a LONG time since I've written, so it's time to catch up a little!  I'll try to do the best that I can, but it's been a while, so I might forget things here and there....the last time I wrote was before Thanksgiving!  Here I go...

Kyle got his 11th tooth on November 19th, and his 12th tooth on November 22nd.  So, his teeth were just coming in one after the other there for a while!  He is currently teething...working on another 4 teeth all at the same time.  They are his "cuspid" teeth that are all trying to come in right now.  Then he has his last set of molars and he will be done!  He'll have a full mouth of teeth, amazing!  It seems like he was just born, gosh it goes fast!

Here's a cute picture of Kyle helping Mommy vacuum.  I'm not sure I ever shared this photo, but it's too cute not to post.  :)

Kyle helping Mommy vacuum.  :)  This was in September 2009, and Kyle was 13 months old.

Kyle in his cute winter sweater.  16 months old

Say Cheese....actually, I think he was eating egg.  :)  16 months old

We had Thanksgiving at our good friends Lori and Skip's house (as has been the tradition for the past few years).  My dad celebrated Thanksgiving out in California with his brother this year.  Now that we have Josh's family in AZ, we did a Thanksgiving dinner here at our house as well.  There was lots to be thankful for this last year, including our new nephew Xander!  :)

We had photo shoot in November, Kyle was almost 14 months old.  We used a couple of the photos for our Christmas cards, so many of you might recognize those.  :)  Photos at a park with a lake at 14 months was definitely a challenge.  Kyle wanted to play in the water, and it was 9am and in the shade.  It was chilly!  He did end up muddy and wet by the end of it, and we took him home in a diaper!  Mommy didn't really plan for a change of clothes, oops!  I'll know for next time!  :)  These are only a few of many adorable shots we got of Kyle.

The Buchanan Family (Kyle 14 months old)

It was our first Christmas in AZ this year, and my first Christmas without my family.  We had Christmas here at our house, and I cooked breakfast for my in-laws.  I made my mom's recipe for "jelly pancakes", bacon, eggs, fruit, and bagels.  It was a nice morning of the kids (Kyle and Xander) opening their toys...and us adults enjoying each others company over breakfast.  :)

Our Christmas Tree...isn't it pretty?!!!

Kyle slept in Christmas morning and was a little shy at first...that didn't last but a minute....

Kyle was 17 months old this Christmas

Kyle playing with his new "house" toy.

Opening packages...

More packages....

Kyle's baby cousin Xander.

Kyle taking his new bike for a spin.  :)

Proof that I made breakfast for the family.  :)

Merry Christmas 2009 From the Buchanan Family!

A couple days after Christmas some of Josh's family went to the Desert Museum with Josh's Uncle Lee and his wife, who were visiting from Oregon for the holidays.  Here's a picture of Kyle from that trip.

So, I think that covers Christmas.  In December Josh and I took Kyle up Mt. Lemmon to play in the snow.  Here are a couple photos from that trip.  Isn't he just the cutest!!????  He LOVED the snow!!!!

So, that brings us pretty current.  The only other huge thing that happened, was on January 12, 2010...Kyle pooped in the toilet for the first time.  I think it was kinda a fluke, but hey, it was exciting!!!  He was in the bath tub and by using his body language he let us know that he needed to go poop (he was even pointing at the toilet!).  We put the kid seat on the big toilet, Kyle on the toilet, and there you have it!  We have not done any other potty training since...I really don't think he's fully ready for it.  When he's ready, we will proceed...but he is awfully young and we don't want him to feel pressured.  He will do it in his own time.  :)

We have been shopping at local farmer's markets for the past few months, after watching the film Food, Inc.  We have changed the way we eat and shop!  I highly recommend watching that film, it is an eye opener!!!

Kyle will be 18 months old on the 26th...so only a few more days to go!  I can't believe how fast this last year and a half has flown by!  I have finally started going to the gym every day to work out.  I am determined to get back to my sexy self from a few years ago.  :)  Unfortunately I can't blame all the fat on "baby fat", because I lost all my pregnancy pounds in the first 6 weeks of Kyle's life from nursing him.  So...it's all me....and I am determined to get it off this year before my 30th Birthday!  I am already showing progress, and am very excited for the wonderful year ahead!!  Happy 2010!!!

Kyle's 9th Tooth Is Here!

Here's a picture of our silly boy playing first thing in the morning yesterday.  He makes me laugh!!!  These are his play construction goggles, obviously a little big for him.  LOL

Kyle is 15 months old, will be 16 months in another week or so.  His 9th tooth came in yesterday...another molar.  Ouch!  I was wondering why he was so cranky for a couple days, and he didn't poop for 3 days (he has been going every day, so 3 days is a long time).  Anyway, the tooth broke thru, and I'm glad we are past that one.  :)  It is on his bottom left side...not his very back molar, but the next one forward I think.  It's hard to get any amount of time to look in his mouth with all his wiggling around.  It's the tooth that matches the other molar (his 8th tooth) that came in a couple weeks ago, just on the other side of his mouth.

Josh took Kyle to the Little Gym today for his parent/child class.  I stayed home and took a nice long soak in a hot bubble bath.  Ahhhhhhhh.  It was nice to have an hour of peace and quiet in the house.  It's been a while!  Josh said they practiced somersaults on the "cheese mat", and doing a flip around the high bar.

Josh has been working two nights a week as a delivery guy for Black Jack Pizza.  So, on top of working all day, he spends two nights a week working as well.  Yuck!  Times are tough, so we are doing what we can.  It's hard on all of us.  Josh is exhausted from working so much, I am exhausted from taking care of Kyle 24/7 with no breaks, and Kyle is missing Daddy and family time.  But, I know we'll get through this, and in the end be stronger for having the experience.

We took Kyle to the park today so he could run around and burn off some of his energy.  That kid is quick these days!  Pretty much running!  Then we took him out this evening for our daily walk around the neighborhood in his blue car.  He LOVES this blue car...we definitely got our money's worth out of it!!!  So here's a cute picture of Kyle and Josh on our walk today.  I think Kyle is so cute with his hood on his head from his sweatshirt.  :)  (It was a little chilly out this evening, about 67 degrees-ish.)

Kyle has been expanding his vocabulary every day.  He says "ock" for clock, he is saying ma, ma and da, da a little more these days.  He is starting to give kisses a little more, which is cute.  He understands more words every day, even though he can't say them.  Today on our walk I asked him where the cactus was, and he pointed to a cactus.  :)  Smart kiddo!  He pointed to clouds in the sky when asked where the clouds were, and he still enjoys collecting rocks wherever he can find them.  He says "ock" for rock...so depending on the context, "ock" can either be rock or clock.  He points at trucks, and he says "uck".  Basically he is learning words with the first letter omitted.  The doctor said this is very common for kids his age when learning to talk.

 That's about all for now.  I'm still getting articles in my email about vaccinations in general, as well as the swine flu vaccine...so keep checking out the articles that are posted on the left menu bar.  :)

Till next time.....

Pumpkins At The Zoo

"Don't worry, I got it!"

Kyle and I went to the zoo today with our friends Michelle (mom) and son James, and Amanda (mom) and daughter Maggie.  We all met each other during swim classes at Sunshine Swim School, and became friends.  (I don't recommend classes there, by the way.)  There were pumpkins everywhere at the zoo, and lots of cute Halloween decorations!  We had fun taking a few pictures of the kids.  (If you click on the photos, you can view a larger image.)  I hope you enjoy them!

Here are all of us!

 

LOL, this is what you get when you put together a 12 month old, 13 month old, and 15 month old and try to take a picture.... no one looking at the camera, and one unhappy baby!

Kyle crawling through a fake log.

Peek a boo James and Kyle!

Maggie and Kyle

We had a fun visit today at the zoo, and the kids had a fun time playing together.  They all play so nice with each other, and us ladies have a nice time socializing together and sharing mommy ideas and stories!

Tray of Snacks

I tried something new with Kyle this morning, and it worked out fabulous!  I got this idea from The Baby Book, by Dr. Sears.  I took an ice cube tray and put different snacks in the little trays.  This morning I put grapes, pears, peas, corn, cheerios, and graham crackers.  I put it on Kyle's little picnic table in the living room, where he could "graze" and play.  He actually sat at his table and ate all of it but a few peas and corn.  He played a little in-between eating.  (Yesterday I set peas out in the morning and he ate them all up, so I guess he just wasn't in the veggie mood this morning.  lol)  He knew to keep the tray on the table and sit in his seat.  Very cute!  We are moving up in the baby world...watch out!

 

 

When he was winding down for his nap time, he let me know he was ready to sit in his high chair and have a little breakfast.  He didn't eat too much more, but that's okay.  :)  He then had a cup of goat milk, and went down for his nap.  Hurray!

I think we've finally gotten the morning routine down, and I have a much happier baby...that isn't throwing food all over the place!  Happy Mommy!!

A Day In The Desert

Yesterday we took a family trip to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  We had a nice day together.   Kyle got to run around, play in dirt, collect rocks, and watch the mountain lion on the prowl!  We got some really nice photos of Kyle today, so I thought I would share a few.  He is such a happy baby, so getting shots of him smiling is never a problem, as you will see!  :)  Enjoy the photos!

 

 

 

And the mountain lion, of course....