Halloween Festivities

For Halloween being my favorite holiday, this year I wasn't the best at picture taking! We had a lot of fun participating in different activities but I guess I got so caught up in the moments, that I forgot to whip out the camera! I'm shooting myself in the foot now.  Our church had a Halloween party that Justin helped be in charge over. He made homemade root beer for the chili cook off. I actually won a prize for "The Most Unique Chili" whatever that means. :) I did a basic yummy chili and I am not sure exactly what to take from the sound of that prize. :) But the judges did tell me they loved my chili. So I guess that's a good thing. There was dinner and different rooms of the church had activities for the kids to participate in. There was a fishing pond to get little prizes while the kids throw a fishing line over a sheet. The youth were telling spooky stories, there was donuts on a string, a little spook alley, and of course the big finale the Trunk-Or-Treat. We were combined with another ward so there was LOTS of people and lots of trunks! I dressed up as a football player, Justin was the referee, and Zayden was our little football. It is cold in Illinois so I was thrilled to find such a warm costume for him! He loved it and Mommy was happy and not worried about him getting cold.  With all the hustle and the bustle of getting the party set up and I had to run around and pick up a few families so they could attend, we didn't get any pictures of our family! So I think  we'll have to get all dressed up again for a quick picture. Thank goodness they weren't high maintenance costumes.  We had a great time at the party and Zayden did go around with Daddy to collect candy in his bucket. He sort of got the hang of it. He doesn't say trick-or-treat but he does say hi and wave at you. (He tends to wave and smile more at pretty girls than he will guys) That's my boy! Mr. Casanova. 

So here we are on Halloween. We got together with a few families to go trick-or-treating around a housing complex. It was about 40 degrees on Halloween so we were all bundled up! 

 His costume was so warm! It was that soft minky material on the outside then it felt like a sleeping bag on the inside. Footie covers, hand covers and a hood! It was perfect!

 So we had a few mishaps during the trick or treating. Zayden got a little too excited and ran into an old lady's house before we could grab him. When she opened the door, he ran right in! I was so embarrassed! It happened one other time to a friend's house but we know them really well so it didn't seem as bad!

 Zayden also has learned to knock on doors. If one of us goes to the bathroom and shuts the door, he'll run up to the door and knock until we open it up for him. He loves knocking on the doors. Usually it was Mommy's job to get the candy and Zayden!

 He also gets very side tracked. Because of that, Justin had to carry Zayden on his shoulders so he wouldn't wander off and find a stick to sit down and play with. Zayden loves to laugh and be on Justin's shoulders. So whenever he's getting a little difficult to handle, up he goes. He's getting heavier to hold in my arms now! Shoulders are a great spot!

Oh, Zayden is now 15 months old! Running, talking, throwing, giving hugs and high fives! Every mom says that every stage is the best stage. Well, I have agreed with that every step of the way. The first 9 months had their own challenges with adapting to a baby in the house and giving up everything for that baby. When Zayden hit that 9 month mark, he started giving back which has made it more rewarding. Every month he gives a bit more! Smiles, hugs, giggles, longer sleeping periods, more interaction with us or other people. He's really at such a fun stage right now. 

We took away the bottle finally last week. At first it was rough, he wouldn't drink milk from his sippy cup and we couldn't get him to drink milk anymore. Well that bridge is crossed and he's back to his old self drinking LOTS of milk.  Our next challenge will be to take away the pacifier!  It's a love/hate relationship with that pacifier. It helps and he won't sleep without it but then I hate the scramble to find a spare if he's lost it. So before the newest arrival comes, that pacifier will be gone from his world! 

Some Stats:

Weight: 21 lbs 13.5 oz (13th percentile)

Height: 30.7 inches long (33rd Percentile) 

He's doing really well health wise. He's a bit of a picky eater but we're working around that. He's an AVID reader! Oh my goodness. He is constantly bringing me book after book throughout the day for him to crawl up in my lap and I will read it to him. His favorites are Five Little Pumpkins, all the Busy Baby books that have words or shapes or pictures, and his tractor books. He LOVES tractors. He'll point to one and say "Trac" he can find a tractor anywhere. If he's not playing with a tractor, he's playing with cars and anything with wheels. Balls are another favorite toy. Any kind, if you show up with a ball, instant heaven. He also is a stuffed animal baby! He loves soft things and loves to snuggle stuffed animals, bears are his favorite. He knows the difference! We've tried to trick him! 

He's getting the hang of eating with a spoon...kind of. Mostly he gets it everywhere else, gets tired of missing his mouth then sticks his hands in the food and starts shoving it in his mouth!  This was cream of wheat. 

The other big news, WE'RE HAVING A GIRL! I am due March 20th and we just had the ultrasound to let us know she's healthy, strong, and FEMALE! Oh boy...Just as I was getting used to having boys in the house. Zayden is still clueless but we are THRILLED! Everything looks good and now we get to start collecting pink cutesy things. I am pretty excited about that. Back into baby mode instead of toddler. More posts for that to come with updated pictures. I am almost 21 weeks and doing great. I haven't really started gaining weight yet. I lost about 10 lbs and I only gained one back last month. So I need to kick it up a notch but so far so good! 

I truly am blessed with a beautiful son and wonderful husband! 

November being the month to be grateful, I am very blessed to have a great family and great support from extended family. Babies are the death of my body but it's worth it. I love being a momma to this little man and future little girl.

Halloween AND Christmas Pumpkins!

Zayden and I had so much fun today playing with friends, visiting the pumpkin patch, and picking out our Christmas Pumpkin! 

One of my good friends who moved away over the summer came back to visit with her son today! So we had a big play date with our boys so we could catch up and have a girl's day!  Zayden was in a GREAT mood all morning. He has been teething and got all 4 molars in at once this week so he's been a little more irritable than normal. We also took away the bottle cold turkey this week. So it's been a week full of adjustments.  But here's my happy smiley, 15 month little man!

Marie's son Owen, Megan's son Jacob, and Morgan's son Zayden! The 3 M's! We love to hang out together! Our boys don't mind either! Owen is 2, then Zayden at 15 months, then Jacob at 8 months. It's been fun  having all ages and we all ask each other for advice! 

We found our Christmas Pumpkin! For those of you who have never heard of  a Christmas pumpkin, there is a book written that has such a cute story. Grandma has sent Zayden a copy so we will start a new family tradition for Christmas! Zayden was thrilled to hold that pumpkin. Although I don't know if he actually knew what it was for... :) Most things for holidays at this age are for me to enjoy!  The Christmas Pumpkin

 Zayden is getting so big! He's looking more and more like a little boy instead of a baby!

 So charming!  The many faces of Zayden!

I realized I didn't take any pictures of my friends or myself today! Zayden is the apple of my eye! He usually dominates the camera screen!  Look forward to Halloween pictures! Tomorrow night is the big party where we all get to dressed up! My favorite time of the year! 

Pumpkin Patch

Fall is the best season of the year! I love the smells, the feelings, the leaves, the desserts, the ciders, and of course the pumpkin patches and orchards! Justin is gone for the weekend on a scouting adventure so after hearing a General Conference talk on spending meaningful time with your family members. I decided that Zayden and I were going to an orchard in between General Conference sessions! I asked my neighbors if they wanted to go with us since they enjoy it also and they had some spare time! So we all drove over to Curtis Orchards so I could stock up on my fresh honeycrisp apples and spend some meaningful time with my son. 

It's about 50 degrees today and windy so Zayden wasn't really thrilled with being a bit chilly but he had fun! He thinks pumpkins are giant balls meant to be picked up and thrown. Well, he got a surprise when he couldn't pick up the pumpkin. This frustrated him because at home, we have a giant blow up beach ball that he throws around the house all the time. So size doesn't mean it's heavy. So the pumpkins were a surprise to him. But that doesn't mean he wasn't going to try every time to pick it up! 

Before we left, the weather at our house wasn't very windy and was a bit warmer. So that's why he's not wearing anything warmer! 

He is determined to be the heavy weight lifter for the babies!

So many pumpkins, so hard to choose which one to attack! 

 Brandi and Dave searching for the perfect pumpkin! So many different styles to look for. Short fat ones, tall skinny ones, warty ones, smooth ones, green ones, veiny ones...so hard to choose!

The vines tangled up Zayden's feet so he spent quite a bit of time on the ground on his bottom. So when Dave offered his hand to help him, Zayden was more than happy to take it! 

 After an hour of searching, we found a pumpkin that was Zayden's size. However, it was heavier than it looked and it made Zayden fall over when he picked it up. 

So Brandi was there to pick him up!  ( I was snapping pictures like crazy!)  

The first big smile of the afternoon! He loves to play with Dave! 

 The Pipers and Zayden!

We found a pumpkin that we could pose Zayden on but he thought it was a slide. We would sit him on it and he would slide off and laugh so hard. Then he would try and climb back on it and do it again. We couldn't get him to sit still long enough to take a good picture!

So the moral of all these blog posts is, when Justin leaves, I don't know what to do with myself and find a lot of time to blog! 3 posts in 24 hours! Amazing! But today was a success! Now to finish listening to General Conference and then make cheese potato soup with garlic bread.  Then tonight is Girl's Night with some friends! GREAT day! 

Bath Time Hide and Seek!

After bath time giggles! Zayden loves to play hide and seek with the towel! He laughs hysterically! Too bad he gets a little camera shy. :)

August - October Picture Dump!

I have been terrible at blogging for the past 2 months! Zayden turned one and that was it! Well, for my excuse, August was completely filled with traveling! September...well no excuse there. It's just my fault. :) So here's the last few months in a nutshell. I will have to do another post soon with more pictures. 30 pictures on this post is already pushing the limit. So look forward to more info and more pictures! 

Zayden turned one! One week after his birthday, he started walking! Our family was supposed to go to Nauvoo to see some friends in the pageant. Well, Zayden contracted Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease and was contagious so he had to be quarantined for 5 days. Those days overlapped our trip. However, since we had been planning that trip for months, we decided that I would go by myself and Justin would stay home with Zayden and play doctor. When I got back from that two day trip, Zayden was so excited to see me that he walked to me when I walked in the front door! Those were his first consecutive steps. He's been running ever since! :) 

A little picture of what happens to our home on a daily basis. We keep a gate up around the piano and dvds so Zayden doesn't pull them all off the shelves. Well he outsmarted that gate one day... So we had to secure it to the wall. 

 Before we left on our big trip in August, Daddy came home from somewhere and opened the front door not realizing that Zayden had his entire body weight leaning on the door. There was a wooden shape sorter box right in front of Zayden between him and the door. Well when that door opened, Zayden crashed face first into the corner of that wooden box. He screamed bloody murder and I was a mess! There was lots of blood! So after a visit to our neighbor's house who is a ER nurse we decided that he didn't need stitches, just a band aid and lots of love and tylenol. So he had this huge gash a week before my brother's wedding where we knew he would have lots of pictures taken of him...He still has a scar today! 

August 

My brother Marshall got married!  We drove from Illinois to Denver, Colorado. 16 hours, broken up into two days. We were able to stay overnight at some friend's home in Omaha, NE then keep going on our journey. Here's some pictures from the wedding! Keep in mind, this was prime nap time for Zayden and he was not too happy about not being in his pack and play asleep! So not too many happy faces from him.

 My little stud walking! He loved my bouquet. One of the few things that made him smile. 

 Ignore all the background people, focus on the darling little boy in a 3 piece suit!

 These shoes were hot! But extremely hard to walk in. However, next night on the town with my hubby on date night, they are going back on! Nothing like wearing sexy heels to boost your confidence! 

 Marshall and his beautiful bride Miranda! They are great together! It's a relief that Marshall found someone  that loves him as much as we do!

 In between the wedding and dinner, Justin, Zayden, me, and my parents went to the Denver Aquarium! It was awesome! Zayden had a great time and so did we! Highly recommend it if you are in the area!

 All of us watching the sea lions. They were so fun and Zayden giggled watching them. 

 Zayden and my Grampa looking at a huge turtle. Zayden loved being able to walk on his own and touch the glass. 

 There was a little peep hole into an aquarium and you could feel like you were scuba diving without the gear and without getting wet. So fun!

 Zayden and Daddy enjoying their time together!

 Grampa and Zayden touching the sting rays! One of Zayden's favorite spots is on shoulders! Grampa made his day!

I think we caught the in between smiles with Zayden. He was having fun though! 

 Add a ball into the picture and you've made life 50x better!

After the wedding, Justin had to come back to Illinois for school to start. However, my parents were driving back to San Antonio so Zayden and I were hitch hikers! We tagged along for another two weeks of vacation. Back down to San Antonio where we had the reception for Marshall. My brother Marty came down for this and it was great to see him again! After the reception and more time with family. My mom, Zayden and I flew to Phoenix to pick up my Gramma to drive to California for a cousin's wedding. So picked up my Gramma, drove 9 hours to LA. Spent a few days in LA then drove back to Phoenix. Then I flew home and Mom flew back to San Antonio. It was a LONG vacation. Full of eating out and spending time in the cars! Zayden was a trooper though. He has been all of the United States in his little life. I have more pictures of this segment but I'll add those to another post. 

September

When Zayden and I got back from our trip, I was tired of people asking me if he was a girl because of his curls! So he got his first hair cut at 13 months. He had beautiful curls when they dried right, but once he took a nap and slept on them funny, he looked like a little baby einstein. He had wild hair! So he has my color and my curls when it gets long enough!

As long as we kept him occupied with a brush or something he did great! Justin's Aunt Julie gave him his first hair cut with scissors. No clippers. He did great and looked like such a handsome little boy when he was all done! 

 Here's my two favorite men! Matching Illini colors checking the mail.

One of his first times on a slide. Wasn't too sure about letting go so Daddy had to run to the bottom and give his legs a tug to get him to come down. Then he enjoyed it! 

Well it's started getting cold out here. We haven't bought him a winter coat yet but we realized we had a little fleece suit and stuck that on him! He loved it and stayed toasty warm!  

 Weekly tradition to do a bonfire in the backyard with the neighbors. We found a place we can get free firewood and we just have to cut the wood. Justin doesn't mind. My macho man. 

Zayden loves the fall. All the falling crunchy leaves and cold faces. Ever since he was little, he loved having his face in the cold.  That hasn't changed! 

Our neighbors have little shitzhu's and Zayden loves to run over and give them hugs and try to love on them. Sometimes they don't mind...other times he has to chase them. Either way he thinks it's great. And Lexus is always there to make sure they know he's her boy! 

Zayden and his watermelon. Look at his shirt, this isn't the first piece he had of the night. He loves watermelon and won't stop eating it unless you pull it away from him yourself. He decided that lounging in camping chairs is great. Add a slice of watermelon, that makes it spectacular! 

Well that's it for tonight. I think that's a bit of an overload. I have much more to say though! Justin and I are loving being parents to this little man. We're also happy to announce that we are expecting another little on in March.  We find out if it's a boy or girl at the end of this month. Zayden still has no idea of the concept, but he'll understand soon enough. Look for more from the Maughansters!