Would you call this crawling?

Wade has been moving around on the floor a lot lately and I captured this video this morning.

I guess it's crawling, or perhaps "army crawling."  He's not quite up on his hands and knees, though he does sometimes get on his hands and knees and rock back and forth.  Either way, he knew what he wanted (that dog kennel!!) and it definitely motivated him to move from point A to point B.

I think Ryan and I better start baby proofing.  I don't think the outlet covers that we installed are going to be enough for much longer.

It was a Happy First Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is always a little tiring, traveling from one giant meal to another but you can't complain when everyone is happy and healthy.  It's always nice to spend time with family and the food was delicious!

Wade enjoyed lunch at Grandma and Grandpa Lesinger's house in Waterloo.  He took a nap after lunch and then played with lots of fun toys before we headed to the Brueckmanns' in Manchester for dinner.

Time for dinner!  "Yes, I have two Thanksgiving bibs", says Wade.

On Saturday Wade, Annie, and I sat on a blanket outside and watched as Ryan put up the Christmas lights.  It was such a nice, sunny day.  We haven't put up our indoor decorations yet, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity for the outdoor decorations.

Seven Months Old Last Week

Wade turned seven months old last week and has gotten to be quite the expert at sitting up.  Expert might be a slight exaggeration since he still topples over and bops his head periodically.  But sitting up has made life much more fun for everyone!

Sitting up also means that it's fun and easy to play with toys!  So "SEVEN MONTHS" didn't stay spelled out for long. 

We aren't so thrilled with "falling back", the dark evenings, and the cooler weather but this will give us lots of time to practice crawling and to continue playing with Wade's fun toys.
And speaking of fun toys...

...someone got a new camera!  Photo #1 demonstrates how I need to own an external flash (hint, hint)...photo #2 demonstrates no flash and check out the cute close up shot in photo #3...anyway, I still have a lot to learn but I'm excited!

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Wade's first Halloween with his grandparents and Aunt Kristin, who came over for dinner tonight.  Wade visited the house of three neighbors before enjoying his bedtime bottle in front of the firepit.  After he went to bed we continued to greet trick or treaters from the driveway.

What a beautiful night!  It's a shame we all have to go to work tomorrow.

Wade at the Pumpkin Patch

We visited Stuckmeyer's Pumpkin Patch with the Haarmanns this weekend.  Wade was still a little young but we promised him that we'd be back next year!

I missed a 6 month post.  Wade actually turned 6 months old while we were in Denver and then when I took the official picture a couple days later, I had trouble uploading it.  He had a rough go of things the week before his half birthday, with a cold, pink eye, and an ear infection.  As a result, I had my first ever case of pink eye too.  Wade really was a sport through the bad times - he still slept through the night and really never was too fussy.  The worst part was the horrible case of diaper rash that he got as a result of the constant dirty diapers from the antibiotics.  Anyway, he made it through and we discovered some great tips for curing severe diaper rash (so check back if it happens to you.)

We went back to the pediatrician after our trip for his well doctor visit and everything's going great.  He weighed 23 pounds, 7 ounces and measured 29 inches - both greater than 97th percentile still.  The doctor (and I quote) said, "he looks awesome!"

The other news as of late is that Wade is sitting up.  He could do it for a few seconds and then suddenly on Thursday he found balance and started sitting up for longer periods of time.  In this picture, he's holding on to his toy but he can sit up for 20-30 minutes without holding on to anything.

Our Quick Trip to Colorado

Last fall we got bumped on a flight home from Chicago and we had free airline tickets that we had to use by November.  We decided to go to Denver and decided it would be easier to leave Wade at home.  It worked out well because he had been sick (more on that in the next post) plus Ryan and I tend to cram a lot of activities into a short amount of time.
We landed in Denver around 7 am on Friday and pulled into our driveway at 6:55 pm on Sunday, just in time to put Wade into his pj's, read him a story, and tuck him into bed.  In between - we did a lot!
Here's the list:
Friday: US Air Force Academy, cog railway to Pike's Peak, Garden of the Gods, outlet mall, and dinner at the 16th street mall in Denver
Saturday: Coors brewery tour, gold mine tour, panning for gold, dinner in the Denver Aquarium, drinks at a bar (almost walked into a gay bar...not that there's anything wrong with that)
Sunday: Denver Museum of Nature & Science and a mall (we were going to go to the zoo but it started raining)
I hope I remembered everything!

 

It was windy and chilly on Pike's Peak - 18 degrees!  The view was amazing - you could see Kansas and Oklahoma in the distance!

Garden of the Gods, a city park in Colorado Springs

 

We didn't strike gold in Colorado which is why it's back to work this week.

Apple Picking at Eckert's

Today Wade got to experience a great fall activity - apple picking!  The Woods joined us for an afternoon at Eckert's where we picked our own apples, saw pigs race, watched Maddie & Wes go on a ride, and even bumped into our friends, the Seneczyns. 

Wade didn't pick any apples this year and won't get to enjoy the apple pie that I have planned but it was still a fun outing.  It was such a gorgeous fall day - we couldn't have asked for better weather!  Thanks to the Woods for spending the day with us!