Halloween Night

Our Happy Halloween Boy

Hey, Dougie.

You spent Halloween night with DeeDee and Pappa while your mommy went to the homecoming dance. We had a lot of fun. You practiced your "almost crawl"...you are not yet moving on your hands and knees, but you are so close. You push off with your arms and scoot forward. There is a little knee action, but not quite enough to call it a crawl just yet. You also enjoyed watching the washer go round-and-round and watching Pappa make cookies.

We did not have any Trick or Treaters at our house because we are not on the Halloween route through our neighborhood. We were hoping to get just a few so that you could help us give out candy. You are just not old enough to go Trick or Treating this year. You looked so cute in your "Baby's First" onsie!!

My cute "Baby's First" Onsie

You had a great dinner of baby carrots, baby applesauce, green peas (which you learned to pick up off of your tray even though they kept rolling around on you) and graham crackers. You also had a 4 oz bottle of milk before you went to bed. Before bed, DeeDee and Pappa gave you some baby Orajel and Tylenol. Those two front teeth still are not in. DeeDee went with your mommy to your six-month check-up and I can remember Dr. Taylor saying that those teeth would be through any day...and now, its almost time for your 9 month check-up and they still are not in. You even have a blister on your gum, where one of the teeth is trying to break through. I sure do hope that they come in soon.

I'm so glad you stayed with us tonight, Dougie. We loved having you...it was such a nice way to spend your first Halloween night!!

First Halloween

The happy duck hunter

Hey, Dougie. Today was the Halloween parade at the ELC and you looked so cute dressed up like a duck hunter!! You had camo pants, that were a gift from one of Pammie and Granddaddy's friends down south, and you even had a wooden rifle that your mommy found at a yard sale!!

Here are some pictures of you before you went to school today. I'm sure that you were a big hit with all of the big kids and your teachers.

The serious duck hunter

You weren't impressed with that hat...it came off pretty quickly!!

Too bad you didn't have a duck...since someone wouldn't cooperate with a costume of her own. Pappa tried to talk her into it, but your mommy didn't think that was such a good idea.

Hope you had fun in the Halloween parade, Dougie!!

Finger Foods

First Try--that little Puff isn't where you think it is!!

Dougie, today was a milestone day...you started to feed yourself finger foods!!

After your mommy and Pappa went to work this morning, DeeDee gave you your breakfast. You had cereal and a jar of bananas. DeeDee also gave you some Puffs to eat. When you saw them, you opened your mouth like a little bird and wanted me to put the Puff right in your mouth...but DeeDee had other ideas. Last night at dinner, you were able to get one little piece of broccoli into your mouth all by yourself, so DeeDee knew that you were ready to start eating finger foods without her help.

Instead of putting that Puff in your mouth, DeeDee put it down on your tray and showed it to you. You started pushing that little Puff all over the tray, and once your hand was damp, it stuck to your hand. You tried and tried to get the Puff into your mouth. You worked a long time at it and it finally went into your mouth!! DeeDee clapped for you and told you what a big boy you are. I was so proud of you!!



DeeDee kept giving you Puffs and you kept working to get them to your mouth. By the time you were finished with breakfast, you had eaten about 12 Puffs all by yourself!! You got so good at it that you were able to get the Puffs to your mouth in seconds after DeeDee put them onto your tray. You are a very fast learner!!

Both Mommy and Pappa called before you went down for your nap and they both talked to you and told you how proud they are that you are growing up to be a big boy!!

I can't wait to see what new foods you will discover now that you can feed yourself!!

Love you, Dougie. See you soon!!

8 Months Old!!

Hey, Dougie. You are now 8 months old. You are such a big boy. Pappa and DeeDee love to watch all of the new things you know how to do now.

You love to eat solid food and are getting more comfortable eating things with texture. On Tuesday you ate broccoli and bananas!! Pappa cooked the broccoli really well and you loved it!! We already knew that you loved bananas from a baby food jar, so we tried the real thing and you thought it was wonderful. Oh, and grapes...you tried grapes, too. Even though you were exceedingly tired, you gobbled them right down. Peel me another grape, Mommy!!

You are finally getting your top two teeth. Your mommy saw one of them the other morning. You have been really drooling lately, so I'm sure that both of them will be in soon.

You are quite the observer. You love to look at things. You and Siam, our neighbor's cat, stared at each other for quite a while on Tuesday. And, of course, one of your favorite "shows" is still DeeDee's washer. You sit in your tot wheels and watch the clothes go round and round for the entire wash cycle!!

You get so excited when Pappa gets home from work. You follow him around in your tot wheels and squeal with laughter. We love to hear you giggle!! You know that it is time for fun with Pappa. He gets down on the floor with you and plays and you pull his hair and climb all over him.


You love playing with the cores from rolls of paper towels, water jugs and oatmeal boxes...for some reason, these things are much more interesting than toys. You also love pulling the drawers out of the coffee table...soon you will be filling them with your treasures.

Aunt Sherri, I LOVE this table!!

Pappa and DeeDee are in LA this weekend. Your Granddaddy Dewaine and Grandmommy Molly are visiting you. You are also going to get to see Uncle Jamie and Aunt Rebecca. We will miss you, but I know that you will have fun with all of your company.

You would have loved to see the spider web that Pappa and DeeDee saw yesterday morning...it was really cool the way the sunlight was hitting it...and the spider was HUGE!!


See you on Tuesday, Dougie.

Busy Times

Pappa and DeeDee at Alberta Falls

Hey, Dougie. Its been almost 3 weeks since I've made an entry on our blog. I have been thinking about you, but was not able to get to the computer to update until now.

Pappa and DeeDee have been on vacation. We went out to Colorado to see your Aunt Katie and Uncle Michael and then spent a couple of days in Rocky Mountain National Park. We stayed at the YMCA of the Rockies, which is ajacent to the park. We can hike into the park from our lodge, which we love to do. Of course, the park is so big and there are so many things to see that we always drive in at least once a day, as well.

We saw lots of wildlife this year. The Elk rut occurs in September, so we always see lots of Elk. This year we also saw ducks, wild turkeys, deer, lots of different kinds of birds and 3 bears!! We saw the bears the first time when we were walking along one of the YMCA trails, getting ready to cross over into the park. We saw them again after we entered the park. They were traveling parallel to the trail foraging for food in the stream and meadows. We didn't get too close to them because they can be very dangerous. The Elk, however, were not at all shy about getting close to the people...as you can see by this photo...that is the mirror or our car in the picture!!

When we first got to the park, it was quite warm. However, on our last day there, a front came in and the temperature dropped very quickly. We hiked up above Alberta Falls and got back to the parking lot just in time for a little rain. By the time we had a snack and had hiked around Bear Lake, the temperature had fallen about 20 degrees and rain was falling very hard.

Snow for our ride back to Denver!!

By the next morning, we had snow!! Colorada did not disappoint us...we always get a bit of snow on our early fall trips to Colorado.

We were so glad to see you when we got back home. You and your mommy stayed with us this weekend and you and Pappa really enjoyed hanging out together. You do all of the "boy" things...you especially like playing ball with Pappa. You could push that ball back and forth for hours without getting tired of the game. You have also enjoyed watching DeeDee's washer...your mommy took a video of you. The video is over a minute and a half long and you did not even move...you were so interested in watching the clothes spin around.

We are so glad to see you again, Dougie!! We missed you so much.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Finger Lickin' Good!!

If you only knew how much your mommy HATES carrots!!

A Night with DeeDee and Pappa

Hey, Dougie. You and your mommy spent the night with DeeDee and Pappa last night. Pappa and I had a great time with you before you went to bed while your mommy was at her school meeting.

When we ate dinner, you ate applesauce. It wasn't any of that baby stuff, it was regular Publix applesauce and you LOVED it!! You reminded me a lot of your Aunt Katie...the only food she liked before she was 1 year-old was applesauce. She ate it every day and she wanted to feed herself. Unfortunately, when she was finished, she would always wash her hair with the leftover applesauce. Needless to say, it didn't take DeeDee very long to figure out that Aunt Katie could only feed herself at dinnertime...I would take her directly to the bath tub as soon as dinner was over. You wanted to help feed yourself last night, but since I did not plan to give you a bath, Pappa and I decided that we would feed you instead.

When you got up this morning, your mommy put you in one of your new fall outfits. It looks so cute on you!! As soon as you were ready for school, you wanted to play. You sat up and played with your favorite musical toy and the new ball that Pammie sent you. You also had a very good time showing us how good you are at sitting up these days. You have finally learned that bracing yourself with your hands when you are leaning forward prevents a face-plant...you only had one of those this morning.

It was sad to say good-bye to you when you left for school. Pappa and DeeDee are going to LA later today, so we will not be able to see you this weekend. Thankfully Pammie and Granddaddy are coming to visit for your daddy's birthday, so you will have another set of grandparents to love while we are gone.

Love you, Dougie. See you next week.