Walking & First Haircut

My baby boy is now officially a toddler. His walking skills have been steadily improving in the last week, and he is pretty much a full-time walker now. It has been so nice to be able to play outside with the kids and go to the park without worrying about him crawling around on the ground. I'm sure it was as exciting with Teagan, but I can't get over how cute it is to see him toddling all around. He seems so proud of himself!

I haven't had Teagan or Asher's pictures taken since Teagan turned 3 and Asher turned 1, so we finally have that scheduled for next week. I had trimmed Asher's hair up a bit, but I figured it was time for his first official haircut before we have pictures taken. I took him to the Kids Salon and he got a haircut while sitting on my lap. He was not too impressed with the process. He cried and squirmed, but she was still able to do a pretty good job. Teagan didn't get her first haircut until she was close to 3 years old, so her first haircut was somewhat of a different occasion.

1st Birthday!

I can't believe our baby boy just turned 1 year old! He is such a smiley, happy, easy going little boy. He loves to play with Teagan and I often hear him squealing with delight. When he hears music, he drops everything to dance! Right around his first birthday he started to get a lot more confident with taking steps. He will now take 5 or 6 stops at a time. He has been walking with push toys for several months now and has really been enjoying a new dump truck push toy and ride on that we gave him for his birthday. I am still following a pretty strict grain free, dairy free, and many other things- free diet with Asher. It was a challenge to find a birthday cake that I felt comfortable giving him, but we were able to do one made with white beans and coconut flour. He really seemed to enjoy his first cake.



Seven months after we first started dealing with Asher's eczema, we still haven't been able to figure out what is triggering it. After seeing a chiropractor, a homeopath, our family doctor, a pediatrician, and a dermatologist, the only thing that has ever helped clear it up was the prescription steroid cream. I am not comfortable using that on a regular basis, so we are still looking for other options. An allergy to cat dander did show up on his allergy testing though, so the cat has now been permanently banished to the backyard.

I guess it's about time for us to take down the last of Asher's First Birthday Party decorations! We had a fun party with our family and Paul grilled rack of lamb to celebrate the occasion.

4TH of July

We continued our 4th of July tradition this year by attending the Plano parade with Beth, her kiddos, and my Dad and Marsha. It was quite hot, but we survived. Teagan seemed to like the clowns. Asher acted rather un-impressed. I guess he could take it or leave it. After the parade we all went for brunch at the Pancake House. At least that was air-conditioned!

3 Years Old!

Teagan's 3rd birthday didn't go exactly as planned, but we still had a good time. On her birthday she decided that she wanted to go to the zoo. We had a lot of fun seeing some of the new exhibits at the Dallas Zoo and having a picnic lunch. Teagan really enjoyed seeing the elephants and watching a giraffe eat right next to us. After we left the zoo, we went to Duncanville to visit family, including my Aunt Pam who was visiting from Indiana. As soon as we made it back home, Teagan helped decorate her own birthday cake. We had plans to do a family birthday party over the weekend and Teagan had a bunny cake picked out that she wanted to make for her party. Unfortunately she got sick the day before her party and we had to postpone it. We pushed the party back another week and celebrated her 3rd birthday and cousin Audrey's 5th birthday. Paul was out of town on his Montana fishing trip so we took some pictures to email him. Teagan has been enjoying all her new presents. Some of the things she got were playdoh, fingerpaints, wood paper dolls, a balance bike, a backpack, a toy shopping cart, and a dress for her to wear with one that matches for her doll.

Arboretum

We are having really nice spring weather, so we headed out to the Arboretum with friends for Dallas Blooms. They currently have castles set up with themes from different fairy tales. The kids really enjoyed checking out all the castles and of course just running around and playing. I of course enjoyed all the tulips, my favorite flower! I always leave thinking about how I need a gardener! It's one thing to hire a landscaper to do all the planting, but I need someone to maintain it.

Perfect Playmate

Asher seem to be the perfect playmate for Teagan! Her favorite thing to play is "cooking" in her toy kitchen with all her pretend food. And since Asher's favorite thing is to put things in his month, he "eats" up everything she serves him!

1st Haircut

At 33 months old, Teagan finally had her first haircut! We had talked about it on and off for awhile, but her hair was getting kind of stringy at the ends, and she had been asking to have it cut. Of course she only wanted Tracy, who cuts my hair, to do it. I guess she didn't want to miss out on the salon experience. She did a great job holding relatively still while Tracy just trimmed up the ends. She still has her cute little curls, but now her hair is all even on the ends.

Christmas with the Kiddos

I think Christmas is one of the most fun times of the year with young kids. There are so many fun and festive activities and events to attend. During the last few weeks up until Christmas, Teagan asked daily, "Is it Christmas time yet?" She had a favorite page of toys in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog, and made a Christmas wish list by cutting pictures out and gluing them to some paper. She was pretty excited on Christmas day to find by the Christmas tree the double stroller from her list. Asher was pretty happy with any toy he could get his hands on, especially if it was something he could chew on!

We were lucky to have nice not too cold, but cold enough to feel like Christmas, weather for our annual outing to Santa's Village in Richardson. We didn't spend much time going into the little houses, but mostly just let Teagan run around with her friends. We spent Christmas eve with Paul's side of the family, Christmas morning at home, and then Christmas afternoon with my side of the family. It was pretty busy and Asher did not appreciate all the drive time back and forth from Duncanville!

Asher is such a smiley baby and Teagan seems to be really enjoying how interactive he is now. She loves to give him a big pile of toys and one of his favorite things is to watch her jump. He really giggles when she is jumping. When he wakes up for a nap, Teagan likes to climb up on the bed next to him and say, "Hi little guy. Did you wake up from your nap?" On New Years Eve I was telling a friend how Asher wasn't that interested in sitting independently, and then on New Years Day he was sitting well by himself. He's just growing and changing so fast!

Teagan's big interest right now is watching baby care videos on YouTube. She watches videos about changing, feeding, burping, and calming babies. Then she re-enacts them practically word for word with her dolls. She is constantly stealing Asher's cloth diapers and spends a lot of time diapering all her dolls and stuffed animals. She's going to be one heck of a babysitter one day!