9 Months

Woo-hoo! This boy is growing too fast.  At 9 months...

• He loves to stand up against...a couch, a chair, my leg, anything he possibly can!
• He can point to noses (mine or his), and mouths, and has started to point at things in general, too fun.
•  His top two teeth came in!  Yowser, those ones had to hurt, and they were teasing to come in for a while now but they are finally here!
• D loves to play peek-a-boo.  I'll sit him on my lap facing me and he after I say 'peek-a-boo', he takes my hands and places them on his cheekies, like he wants in there too. It is PRECIOUS.
• He's sleeping in his own room at last.  I prolonged this one unecessarily partially because we had company or he'd get sick, etc, but I honestly didn't mind. It was fun to have our little buddy around!  Corey and I are happy to have reclaimed our room for ourselves though and I bet Dawson is happy to have his own space too.
• He had his first cold and his stuffy little nose and cough just broke our hearts!
• He started using the sign for "more."   He's not doing it all the time but when he does it's his own style and just so cute.  
• He can climb the stairs.  We keep him gated away from them for now, but the other day I let him at them just out of curiosity and ta-da!  Up he went on the first try. So, now I know, and will likely keep him off of them til I can teach him to go down.  Yikes!
• He scoots backwards.  He's a speed demon going forwards, and now he scoots himself in reverse too. Fun to watch for sure.
• This boy loves loves to take off his socks, particularly his left one.  Most days, after I put him in the car, by the time we get to the store he is missing his sock.  The left one.  I think there's a small pile of them off to the side of his car seat, ha!

Thanksgiving 2015

More fall fun!  It's November and that means Thanksgiving, and the annual turkey dinner with the boys at school. They always get so excited for me to come, but then gobble up their food and rush out to recess.  Too funny.

This year we headed out of town since the boys had a whole week off from school.  We went from chilly New Mexico to still warm Arizona for some food, family and fun.  We visited with Corey's parents, but on the way in to town we were able to hang out with my awesome sister for the afternoon!  She and her kids were so much fun.  We found a unique park to play at, threw in some pop sickles and a little trip to Bass Pro shop and the kids were happy happy.  It was great having a little catch up time with her.

We found some fun things to do for the rest of the trip.  FlipSide was a great place to spend an afternoon.  The boys played laser tag, bumper cars, bowling, and arcade games to their heart's content.  The adults played too (Grandpa even came!) and had a blast.  We will definitely come back here again. 

Beckett had fond memories of swimming in the neighborhood pool (in the summer) on our last visit, and was determined to relive that memory on this trip.  We tried to explain to him that it was much colder and in no way pushed the matter, but being Beckett, changing his mind was not a likely option, and when Grandpa Reitz jumped on the bandwagon too, it was a definite go.  So, off we went to the pool...Beckett and Grandpa suited up and the rest of us there to watch and wonder.  Beckett started to doubt his awesome idea the second he dipped his toe in the pool, but Grandpa bravely forged onward and set the example.  Beckett did get in, after coaxed by Grandpa to take a 'ride' on his back.  In and under he went, and then right back out.  Brrrr.  He didn't want to swim after all.  Grandpa was awesome though and took the opportunity to swim a few laps before easing out of the frigid waters!

 

The Phoenix Zoo was a fun afternoon excursion.  The boys really liked the monkey area and posing with the various desert animal statues.  Ok, we may have all gotten in on the fun, but really, who can pass up an animal (real or not) that lets you sit atop its back while you snap a few pictures? Even at our zoo at home, I hear "mom, take a picture" every time we pass the tigers, seals and iguana (all statues).  Good times.

Thanksgiving dinner (unfortunately not pictured) was delish and being Dawson's first Turkey Day, we had fun feeding him all the new foods.  He loved the rolls.  The older boys absolutely LOVED the pumpkin pie, eating as much as Grandma would let them.  What a fun AZ Thanksgiving!

October 2015

October is always loaded with awesomeness around here.  It's the best time of year in Albuquerque, hands down.  We have the weather, the balloons, fun things here in the community, and then there's Halloween.  Having a new little man around made it even more fun this year!

My parents came for a visit in early October (but just missed the Balloon Fiesta, darn!) and we had a fantastic long weekend with them.  While they were here we hit the Pumpkin Patch, always a fave for my boys.  Without fail, every year, the activity they spend the most time at is the duck racing pumps.  They get soaked every year too.  Something about water, racing and rubber duckies just sucks them in.  Then there's the corn pit, which I always figure is for the very little kids, but no.  My boys love a good dive in.  Dawson and I got up close and personal with a curious Llama and everyone came home with some hand picked pumpkins.  Good times!  Grandma and Grandpa were lots of fun to have around and we were glad to be able to have some fall fun with them around.

Balloon Fiesta this year did not disappoint.  We had a fantastic time with the kids at an early morning ascension.  The weather was perfect and the balloons were spectacular, as always.  A new favorite for us this year was the astronaut.  There were some fun activities for the boys and some cool NASA exhibits.  We even ran into a couple of our law enforcement friends helping out down at the park.  We love our Balloon Fiesta.  It's the absolute coolest thing all year and the balloons just never ever get old.

For Halloween this year we stepped it up a notch and all of us dressed up together.  It was so much fun!  I always say we should do it and then it never happens, but somehow we pulled it together this year.  Pokemon was our theme, and it was a riot.  Having ridiculously red hair for a night was fun too!  We had Ash, Misty, Pikachu, Charizard, and even a little Chimchar in our little group.  The boys were able to get some great mileage out of their costumes this year, wearing them to the ward Trunk or Treat, a Fall Festival and Storybook Character Parade at school, and then Trick-or-Treating on Halloween!  They had so much fun and really got into character running around as Pokemon. I was totally on board with their costumes after I realized that they'd be cute fuzzy animal-ish creatures with hats, tails and smiles.  Yay!  One year of all of them being cute and snuggly critters all together!  I don't think they were on to my ulterior motives, ha!

Halloween night was great too.  The Kings came over for chili and cornbread then we all went trick-or-treating.  We left the house unmanned while we were out, so didn't get a ton of trick-or-treaters, but I just hate missing out on the fun!  The boys came home with WAY too much candy, which is more for me too I guess so no complaints here.  Dawson did great too and was cozy and warm in his little monkey suit.  All three of the boys wore the monkey costume their first year, which I just love(although this year it had a slight modification with the fiery tail).  I remember how adorable they each were.  They grow up too fast. (sigh)

To top off our amazing fall, I did the traditional 'baby in the pumpkin.' I guess it's a sort of Reitz baby right of passage now.  Every one of them has been put into a pumpkin for some torturous pictures.  But, I have to say, Dawson did the best...or maybe it's not so traumatic now that I've finally got it down.  Poor Asher who had to pave the way for the others!  Anyway, the boys and I had lots of fun taking the pictures and playing with our little pumpkin boy.  He didn't mind a bit and just wanted to touch and feel (and eventually taste) it.  What a sweet boy!  Love how these turned out.

Happy lovely, wonderful fall!