More Camping Trips

Now that I finally have a little bit of time to update the blog here are our last 2 camping trips. The first of these 2 camping trips was to Yankton with Evan's family. It was so nice to kick back and relax that I kind of forgot about taking pictures so these 2 pictures will have to do. I've put in a request from the other cameras there, but have not gotten them so this is what everyone gets to see.

Our other camping trip was to Roy Lake (for those who don't know and care it is in northern South Dakota...almost to the North Dakota border). We chose Roy Lake for the 3 of us to go and celebrate our 5th Wedding Anniversary. (Crazy that 5 years has gone by, huh?) Daddy would have been okay with leaving Denver at home, but Mommy couldn't leave him just yet! We stayed at Roy Lake Resort where we rented a cabin that had a kitchen where we could make our meals and it was just 15 ft from the lake. We also picked Roy Lake because there is supposed to be good fishing and Evan wanted to do some "good fishing". Unfortunately, 2 weeks before we went they had a big storm and a lot of fish washed up on shore and the fishing hasn't been good since, so needless to say Evan caught NOTHING. This was a disappointment, but we enjoyed the time away as a family where we could all sit back and relax and not have to be constantly running (like we do when we're home...but by the middle of September it WILL be better). Here are some pictures of our time at Roy Lake.

Daddy and Denver fishing off our personal dock!

Denver loved spending so much time outside. He pushed his little walker toy all over the deck and had lots of fun. It was during this trip he started figuring out how to crawl. Also, during this trip Denver thought he needed to break Mommy and Daddy back into being new parents. The first night he was up twice and the second night he was up most of the night wanting to play!

Our 9 Month Old Squirt!

Denver continues to be our little squirt! He weighed in at 17 lbs. 5 oz. and measured 27.5 inches long for his 9 month check up. That puts him in the 10% for weight and the 25% for height. Once again Daddy had to be reassured that Denver's Mommy and Daddy are little so he's going to be to and it doesn't mean that he's not getting enough to eat. He's doing just fine. Towards the end of our check up they looked through our "Ages and Stages" (a questionnaire that I have to fill out about different things that Denver is or isn't doing...this used to be called the "Denver Assessment" but the name has changed). Then our practitioner said "Well if it makes you feel any better about his size, he scores 100% in smartness!". I was able to mark yes for every question it asked. Denver is starting to crawl. He does a funny crawl though...he puts one knee down like he's supposed to and keeps the other one up and uses his foot. Evan thinks he does this to be able to keep his options open. If he wants to go back to a sitting position he can easily where as if he had both knees down he might be on his tummy with no energy to get himself back up to a sitting position; although he can do this if he wants to. Denver also took his first STEPS (all by himself) last Sunday. I set him down on his 2 little feet to throw some stuff in the diaper bag and off he went 3 steps all by himself. He obviously didn't realize my hands weren't there and he won't do this again. That's okay though a little fear is good and it's nice that he's not TOO mobile yet. Our time is coming though as he continues to push his little "walker" around and is cruising pretty fast with it. He went up and down the sidewalk with it the other evening. Denver likes to show off to the neighbors. His new thing is to scream all the time and it's driving us crazy. Evan complained to me today about how vocal he is and I looked at him and said "Could you expect anything else? I think we were pretty vocal and we still are!". Here are some pictures of Denver to "mark" his "9 Months". I attempted to get some in a "nice" outfit, but haven't succeeded. He's too interested in his environment and doesn't want to sit and pose for me anymore. Not quite sure how I got him to cooperate for these pictures.

As most of you know Denver is a grandson to a dairy farmer. Grandpa Rodney and Grandma Verni got Denver 2 "Got Milk" onesies at Christmas time and the bigger one fits now. The "milk moustache" is yogurt, which Denver loves to eat!

We've been on 2 camping trips since my last post, but we've been so busy I haven't had time to post them; 1 trip was to Yankton with Grandma Kim and Grandpa David (and family) and the other we just got home from today which was to Roy Lake for our 5th wedding anniversary. I hope to get them posted, but for now this is what you get. It's been a busy 2 weeks and we have 2 more weeks (or so) of craziness and then I THINK it will slow down. Posts that will be coming after all our running around will include our camping trips, cousin Jordan and Ann's wedding, and a trip to the Black Hills with the Schmeichel family so stay tuned! :)

Promised Video

Here's the video of Denver walking with his little "walker" that I promised everyone a while back. He's so proud of himself walking around! I'm also thinking we might not skip the crawling afterall. He has started getting up on all 4 and rocking back and forth. Last night he attempted to moved forward about 2 hand movements, but he was by his highchair and of course had to hit his head on it so then he was done!

"Uh-oh"

Denver has learned a new word. I bet you can't guess what it is!? Oh, that's right, I probably gave it away by the title of this blog! :) Here's a video of him saying "Uh-oh" a couple of times. He was playing with his syringe (There's not needle on it, I promise! It's the syringe we use for giving him his Prevacid. He likes to help us give it to him and then to play with it after he's taken his medicine) and dropped it and said "uh-oh", so I quickly ran to grab the video camera and got lucky enough to get it on video.

Getting Around

We're doing really good with updates lately, huh? We couldn't wait to share this video of Denver with everyone until I had more stuff to blog about so here is another blog with one of Denver's latest tricks.

Denver also stands by himself for about 5 seconds or so (I haven't actually counted how long, but that's a realistic guess); before we know it we're going to have to be running after this boy!

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!