Eight Months Old

I can't believe our baby is 8 months old already. The time has just flown by and I know that these next 4 months will fly too and then I'll have a 1 year old! That's just crazy to think about. When we went shopping in Albertville the beginning of the month we looked at some clothes for Denver for next summer and I could've started bawling because of the size of the clothes and how big that means he'll be next summer! I don't have much for 8 month pictures. Denver is more interested in his surroundings than smiling and laughing at his Mom and Dad. He was more interested in the rocks (as I set up my backdrop so that he's sitting on the rocks and my backdrop is hanging from the deck).

Denver is talking more and more every day. He says "ma ma ma ma ma", "da da da", "uck" (if you tell him "ucky" he will say uck over and over again), and of course other little syllables. I don't know the he necessarily understands that "ma ma" and "da da" are Mom and Dad. Although, I was told he was looking around at the lake for me one night saying "ma ma ma ma ma" so who knows.

Here are some pictures from bath time last night. He likes to scoot himself up to the drain and pull the drain out. We always tell him no and stop him, but last night I let him pull it out and when the water was gone it was time to get out!

He's still our little thumb sucker.

He is still not crawling but walks himself out onto his hands so far that he's feet are basically in the position to crawl, he just won't put his knees down on the ground. Denver continues to love to walk around and he has a little push/walker toy that he will stand and hang onto and push around. It's pretty cute. I hope to get a video of this soon. He still has some fear though and doesn't like to take a step unless he feels my hands around his tummy so he knows if he starts to fall I'll catch him before he falls to the floor.

Denver's First Camping Trip

Denver had his first camping trip this past weekend. We went to Lake Vermillion camping with the Waltner family from Saturday until Monday. Overall Denver had a really good time. He enjoyed being outside so much. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate the whole time and it rained (down poured and high wind) soon after we got to the lake on Saturday and there were several other showers later as well. Denver's stroller got soaked as the storm came a little too fast and was bigger than expected so we didn't have time to get it inside, but it dried out by the next day. While we were camping Denver must have thought it would be fun to share his teething experience with the rest of the family as another tooth popped through the skin on Sunday. Once again this has caused him to be pretty clingy, but overall he's been a good kid throughout this process.

Denver had many stroller rides to keep him occupied and to put him to sleep as he didn't have many naps because he didn't want to miss out in any of the action.

Denver also had many "walks". Thank goodness there were plenty of people there especially Grandpa and Grandma to walk around with Denver so Mommy and Daddy could take a break.

If you look careful you can see his tooth on the bottom left. The other one had just started poking through on the bottom right when this picture was taken.

A family picture!

This chair was perfect for Denver to stand a play and for us to not have to worry about him falling down.

Daddy is always feeding Denver something new whether it's something he's supposed to have or not!

I had to include this picture because those of you who knows Evan well, know that he throws out food before it's even bad. Well, here he is eating sausage at about 11p.m. that was left over (still laying on the grill) from breakfast!

Denver had his first boat ride this weekend as well. He's not a big fan of his life jacket, but I think he liked the ride in the boat. Denver had pretty big eyes as we drove around the lake and he looked all around. Daddy gave Denver his first "dip" from the boat. He doesn't like "dips" quite as much as his Aunt Emily yet (as you can see on the following video 4 pictures down from here), but I'm sure he will some day!

Daddy and Mommy also got to enjoy some time on the boat and behind it! The next 2 pictures are of Evan skiing and the 3rd one is of me flying off the tube and into the water. It was great to be able to get back on the tube this year!

We also took Denver swimming for a little bit. He of course loved it and thought it was great splashing around in the water. He's a video of Denver and Daddy "motoring" around the water.

Daddy and Denver laying on the tube after being on the boat and playing in the water.

City Park and Pool

We are making use out of the city parks and pool this year. Every Monday we are at Kenny Anderson park watching Evan play Church league softball. The first half of the season they played in B league on Tuesday, but after only losing 2 games they got bumped out to A league and switched to Monday nights. Unfortunately, A league has lead to a lot less wins than the first half, but it's still fun for Evan to play and for all of us to socialize. Here's a picture of Denver at Daddy's softball game last week. Denver loves to be outside so he really enjoys going to Daddy's games, but it gets pretty late and he's tired and crabby by the end of the night!

Tonight we took Denver to an outside pool for the first time. We went to Kuehnn park pool. Of course Denver thought it was great! There is a frog that sprays water out kind of like on his frog pool at home and he wanted to be by that and grab the water which was freezing cold, but it didn't phase him. Denver also went under water for the first time. This was a complete accident. He was standing by Daddy and the next thing I know Evan's pulling him out. Denver didn't even cry! He just coughed for a while and fussed a little but didn't really mind. He loves splashing around in the pool.

Denver may not look as much like his mom as his dad, but he has many of mom's personalities! Here he is sitting in a high chair at a restaurant, but if you look closely you can see he's sitting in it backwards! No matter where you put him to sit (high chair, stroller, shopping cart, etc.), he will always change his position to an "awkward" position. For those of you who don't see me enough or have never noticed...very rare do I sit with both feet on the floor and most people think how I sit is uncomfortable, but to me it's not and I guess it isn't to Denver either.

Denver continues to work on his first tooth. It never went back under his gums, but it's still not all the way out. He has also gotten better at feeding himself. Denver loves the Gerber puffs and has gotten quite good at getting them in his mouth; although they get stuck to his fingers at times too. He still doesn't crawl as he's more interested in walking around while hanging onto your hands. He gets quite upset when you tell him you're done walking with him for a while. Although Denver doesn't crawl he does scoot himself backwards when he tips over because he lost his balance when reaching for something a little to far away. I feel like there is more to tell, but I can't think of what else he's been up to so that's it for now. This weekend we're going to the lake with the Waltner family so next week there will be pictures from Denver's first camping trip! We can't wait to go!

And the "Firsts" keep on happening...

The different "firsts" for Denver continue to happen. Here's the latest news.

Denver went to his first Minnesota Twins game. Unfortunately this was not the best experience for any of us. We went with Evan's family to celebrate Denver's Grandpa David's 50th birthday (Happy Birthday Grandpa David!). Denver didn't get the nap he needed before the game and therefore was tired soon after the game started and started to complain. Denver is not willing to miss out on ANYTHING and so he was tired, but couldn't sleep. I finally took him out and we walked around the stadium for a while and then he finally went to sleep and I got to go back in to watch the game for awhile and then he woke up after an inning or so. He was happy for awhile again, but then became tired and crabby (as that nap wasn't long enough and bedtime was quickly approaching). Daddy took him out for a bit and then they came back and we just had to do lots of distracting and put up with some crying....so some other Twins fans also had to put up with some crying. I'm sure they weren't impressed, but oh well. We made Denver a "Circle me Bert" sign, but due to Denver's crabbiness the sign was not actually held up that much so he never got circled.

Here is Denver getting ready to go to his first Twins game!

Daddy and Denver at the game.

Here's Denver's sign. If you can't read it, it says:

"CIRCLE ME BERT CUTEST TWINS FAN HERE GUARANTEED"A family picture after the game. (Oh also, a bit a news Evan got glasses as you can see in the pictures...he only wears them to watch TV and sporting events though)
Denver also got to go to Albertville for the first time. For those of you who don't know I love going to Albertville, MN where they have a wonderful outlet mall. Evan and I have gone there every time we go to the cities for the past 3 years or so and we also find such good deals and have such a good time. Denver did very well with the shopping and he would be allowed to come along with us again anytime, but I'm not sure sure the same goes with going to a Twins game. Sorry Denver.

Sunday night when we got home from our weekend trip we put Denver in the tub for his evening bath and some how (we won't mention any names) he got left alone!! When Daddy came back to the bathroom Denver greeted him like the following video.

Denver is also working on his first tooth! Monday night I was making him laugh when all of a sudden I saw a white spot on his gum and made him let me look and sure enough there was a tooth that had just started to cut through. Believe it or not Denver's been a pretty happy boy so far. He's maybe been sleeping more or been a little more snuggly, but other than that I can't say he's really complained! He makes us proud!

We don't have any pictures of Denver's tooth, but here are a couple other pictures I thought you might enjoy.

Denver standing by the chair in his new "preppy outfit" from Albertville. He's ready to go golfing! "Daddy, are you ready to take me?!"

Here is Denver in an outfit Evan and I got Denver in Albertville last August. It's a little big yet, but we had to try it on to make sure we didn't miss our window of opportunity to wear it. It should be perfect this fall like I had planned! (Boy am I ever happy this kid wears the same size clothes as his age as it makes things a lot easier to figure out what to buy for when!)

Happy 4th of July!

Happy (belated) 4th of July to everyone. We had a wonderful, relaxing 4th. We got some stuff done around the house, watched Denver play in his pool, and hung out with some friends in the evening. Here are some pictures and a video of Denver in his pool from our day.

We hooked up the "sprayer" part of Denver's pool for the first time. He thought it was great fun!

Here you can see Denver attempting to even drink water from the spraying water! Sorry it's a little long, but it's too cute I couldn't shorten it anymore.

After Denver was done playing in his pool he tried out his "new" bike trailer. I bought this bike trailer on a rummage sale. I was so impressed with my bargain until we had problems because we were missing pieces! We are now waiting to here from Scheels that the most important piece (the piece that connects the trailer to the bike) is in for us to go pick up so we can finally use it.

Here's Denver in his 4th of July outfit. I bought this before he was born...almost a year ago and thought that this would be his outfit for the holiday...boy did I impress myself that I restrained from buying him something else to wear.

Here's Mommy and Denver watching the fireworks at our friends house.

More Fun in the Frog

Denver played in his frog pool again the other day. I think he's finally worn all 4 pairs of his swimming trunks now! I thought they'd get a little more use, but unfortunately we have been too busy.

Denver loves to play in the water, but he also loves to DRINK water. It never fails, he's always grabbing for your water glass or slowly leaning down to the water (like the following pictures) to take a drink.

Denver likes to lay in the tub and in his pool and kick and splash around.