wrapping up November

Wow, has this month ever flown by! Though the sun's been shining and it has been warm(ish), it's beginning to feel like Christmastime (I did the early AM shopping on Friday and got the Christmas decor out/up that night, even our outside lights - yay for that big job out of the way!)- but we do have one more Thanksgiving celebration with the Hartsocks tonight.

In recent Hartsock news . . .

Braden is learning to use utensils! He mostly likes to bite on them, but we're working on using them "properly."

We got a new carseat for Billy's vehicle - and had lots of fun playing with the box. :)

And Braden got his 2nd salon haircut! We couldn't believe how fast his hair grew between cuts. I took these pics attempting to show his new do. (We think he looks a lot older!)

The shed is here! It actually arrived last week, and we are enjoying the extra space in our garage now that we have extra storage in the shed. Billy and his dad (with a little help from my dad) did a great job building it. It was sort of fun to watch it be "delivered."

With much Thanks

On this cold, grey Thanksgiving, we give thanks for the many blessings in life!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Giggles and green beans

Braden is so funny lately - and has developed a great giggle! We love hearing him laugh, and thought you might too! ;)

When I first viewed this, I thought it was too bad that he has his fingers in his mouth . . . then I realized he's had his fingers in his mouth (or any other object that is handy) because he's cutting more teeth. Yep, all four incisors have poked through, bringing the grand total to 16 chompers! That explains all the chewing/drooling/waking up at night/snot we've been dealing with. :)

Oh - scroll to the bottom and pause the Iowa Fight Song before watching the video :) . . . yes, it is time for some new music, I know.

(And yes, I am making faces at him - he usually laughs when we talk to him in a silly voice or tickle him, or if we are laughing - but I didn't want to record my own voice any more than necessary).

Lately . . .

Lately, I have not done a good job at updating our blog. (Which is so lame for any readers that may be out there, I know. Because I love when the blogs I read get updated frequently. So really, I will try to do better).

Lately, I have neglected to take very many picture of our busy, busy little boy, exploring his world. He is into everything these days . . .

Lately, evenings have been busy for mom and dad too; conferences and meetings for me, and Billy has been spending some of his evenings working on a storage shed for our backyard.

Lately, I'm tired (aren't you too, when the sun goes down at 5:00!?)

But

Lately, it was fun to take Braden to his first Iowa Hawkeye game!

He loved it! The drum corps at half time was a highlight for Braden - check out how he is stomping his foot to the music. I think HE was a highlight for those sitting near us.

. . . all that stompin' wears a fella out - he fell asleep during the 2nd half (he didn't nap very long that afternoon).

And

Lately,

I love watching Braden play in the leaves (although I think by now they're pretty much gone) . . .

. . . and it's fun to see him enjoy that crunchy crackly sound leaves make when you walk through them (I love that sound too!)

Lately

it's amazing to see our little guy growing up right before our eyes . . . doing new things each day.

Like:

• climb onto the couch by himself

• realize that often there is neat stuff on the table/counters and that if he stands on his tippy toes he can sometimes reach those things

• use a remote control to drive his toy plane forward and back

• bring books to anyone who may be willing/able to read to him, and plop in said person's lap to settle in for a story (or 2, 3, 4 . . .)

• call daddy (accidentally?!) using mommy's cell phone that he loves to carry around (one of those neat things that can be found within reach on a table if he's lucky)

• hold up one finger when asked how old he is (with the verbal prompt, "one")

• figure out that if he wiggles enough during a diaper change, daddy will let him run around pants-less

And

lately,

little man has been waking up earlier, which is sort of a bummer, but . . . I get to have breakfast with him:

(which makes me smile, and starts the day off right - check out the cheerio stuck to his oblivious nose)

So, lately, life is good.

Touchdown!

Braden has learned a new "trick" . . . . (finally!). When he hears "touchdown!" he throws both arms above his head. We've been working on this one for a while - but now he loves it (and so does Daddy!). Braden first performed this trick during last week's Iowa game against Indiana. Hopefully he will have lots of opportunities to practice today during the Iowa/Northwestern game too!

Here Grandpa joins in the touchdown fun!

A funny: one evening this week Billy was watching a football game on TV, and I was feeding Braden supper in the kitchen. The announcer on TV called out "touchdown" and B promptly threw his arms up in the air. Too bad I didn't have my camera close by - it was so cute!

While Braden is learning a lot, he still does not respond to "soooo big" and doesn't like to wave "bye bye" either. He also does not want anything to do with sign language - which I really wish he would learn, so that he could tell us "more," "all done," or "milk." (Confession: sometimes it worries me that he hasn't learned some of these things, but I know that every child learns/shows interest in doing these things at different rates). I guess we'll just keep working at it!

One thing B IS interested in these days is climbing. On anything. He still loves to climb into his toy and book baskets and sit or stand in them. Last week he realized he could climb on top of our ottoman and then tries to stand up (of course I don't have a picture of that, either - I have not done so well taking pictures lately, which is probably why I haven't done so well at updating the blog either). He has made it onto the couch once, but the leather is slippery, so it's a challenge. He still loves the steps, and is so good at them (going up and down) that we don't have to use gates anymore at all times. He has also realized that he is tall enough to reach up and grab things off of our kitchen table and bathroom counter, so we now have to be careful what we leave out - because he will get it if he can see it.

In other news, Billy and his dad (and my dad too, actually) have been busy building a shed (more of a barn?!) for extra storage in our backyard. It is a little bigger than we first planned, but more storage is always a good thing.

Can't wait for it to be done so that we can clear some stuff out of our packed out garage (lawn mower, rakes, lawn furniture, camping gear, etc.) before winter time.

When we went out to Billy's parents' house last weekend to show Grandma H. B's Halloween costume and so that I could see the progress on the shed, we also took a peek at these cuties:

Happy Halloween!

It's hard to believe we're already wrapping up October! It is even harder to believe that Braden is almost 13 months old . . . Here's our little man in his skeleton costume this year . . .

. . . and our little ghost one year ago! (sniff, sniff!) . . . what a difference a year makes! (and yes, don't you love that I have the same fall pillows out! . . . actually, I don't think I ever changed the pillows for the seasons this year at all, now that I think about it).

Some more from Halloween 2009 (well, Kalona's Halloween - always on a Thursday). . . .

Since it was cold and rainy, we opted to stay home and play (in costume, of course) and greet the trick-or-treaters. (Does anyone else think that the way toddlers squat down like this is just so darn cute?!)

But after seeing all the "big" kids come to/leave our house, Braden decided he wanted to go outside too, and kept trying to follow people out the door. So we turned off our light, and headed out to do a little trick-or-treating of our own! We just stepped outside, and found cousins Addie and Aidan arriving at our house . . . so we all visited the neighbors together. (Yes, this is the other 1/2 of our house - looks familiar!?)

We then went to Grandma & Grandpa's, Great Grandma's, and to see cousin Alex (who is too cool/old for trick-or-treating ;), so was handing out candy at their house).

catching up: Billy's birthday, bathtime, and big boy

I finally uploaded Billy's birthday party pictures (and a bunch of others) - so here they are!

We surprised Billy with a party at Old Chicago last Sunday (he knew we were meeting his family for dinner, but was not expecting friends and my family to be there too!).

The big 3-0!

Guests brought him 30 of something - Holly got him 30 cans of Pepsi! Perfect!

Braden loved playing with Grandpa, Aunt Holly, and the balloons!

It's been awhile since we've taken bathtime pics . . . so the other night I grabbed the camera. Braden still LOVES his baths (or showers - sometimes we just plunk him in and turn on the shower and he likes to sit under the spray of water). And yes, we know he has pretty much outgrown his blue tub, but it keeps him in one spot, uses less water, and is always clean (not that our shower/tub isn't, but, you know . . .

I snapped this one to document how long his hair is (again)! We just got it cut a month or so ago, and the back is long already. . . and it is the thickest part (still), so it's even more obvious. I wish the hair on the top of his head would come in/be thick like the back is. ;) AND - check out that belly! It is hilariously huge right after meals (for someone whose weight is in the 20th percentile, this boy can EAT.)

Big Boy!

Braden has figured out how to (for the most part) safely travel down the steps. He sits down on his tush, pulls his legs out in front of him, and scoots down, repeating the process step by step . . .

Not sure what happened here, (he didn't fall), but thought the expression was too funny!