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!