Happy Halloween! (11 months old)

Last week I posted Dave's Halloween costume before he was able to wear it. Unfortunately, we were not able to attend the Trunk-or-Treat to show him off in it. He came down with an ear infection on Monday and has been feeling poorly ever since. So, we had a photo session today with him in his outfit.




I think he actually kind of enjoyed his costume!
This was the first time that he was super smiley in almost a week.











Here he is on his favorite toy-the firetruck. Probably the most annoying thing I've ever encountered, but he absolutely loves it! You'll see more of it later.






We did go trick-or-treat at our friends the Lauers (houseparents at White's). We were supposed to get together with them on Tuesday, but couldn't because of Dave's sickness and the freak storm that knocked out the power (and had the guys out of school a half day).






Dave figured out to get on and off of his firetruck on his own. On this occasion, he was a little confused about the correct direction.








And he turned 11 months this week! Holy cow, he'll be a year before I know it. This picture was extremely difficult to get. He has grown increasingly interested in the sign that I use to take the picture. And you'll notice the set I use to make the sign only came with one #1. I had to use an L.




We had to work this weekend and we were both feeling sick (as well as Dave). Definitely made for a junky weekend. Luckily, we had a light cottage so we were able to take frequent breaks (in shifts of course, no students were left unsupervised!). Also, Josh's parents watched Dave on Saturday afternoon so I could take a nap. Awesome! We are all starting to feel better and hope to be fully recovered soon!

On to videos.

I keep catching Dave "reading" his books. But this is the first time I've caught him on tape. This is a very strange activity for him, as he is usually rampaging through the house.
Reading his book.

Dave decided to stand up on his firetruck...with no hands. Fabulous. Standing on firetruck.

And here he is gabbing away on my cell phone. Cell phone conversation with himself.

Weekend Away

This past weekend we were off and headed down to Indy for a night. We've been doing mystery shopping on and off for a long time, and this time we were able to do a hotel. We ended up getting the room for free, as well as dinner and breakfast the next morning. Pretty good deal! I won't reveal our location just in case...wouldn't want to be out all that money!




Dave jamming out with my hairbrush in our room. He sees Josh playing the guitar and always imitates it.




After breakfast at the hotel, we went to visit Brittany, Chad, and Sophie to return their suitcase and hang out. Dave and Sophie are so stinking cute together now that they are both walking! They followed each other around and babbled the whole time.

Then we met our friends Chelsea and Dan and their son Nick for lunch. Dave loved seeing a little baby (well, younger baby...he's about the same size as Dave and he's 6 months!).

Since we were feeling insanely ambitious, we then took Dave to a local apple orchard north of Peru. They have a petting zoo with lots of animals and all kinds of apple related food and drink.




Dave checking out the horse. I think he was a little freaked out. Maybe it was because he was smaller than the horse's head.








More goats...the kid sure loves them! And it looks like the goats love Dave-this one stood up to be petted by him.





After the orchard, we came back and hung out. It was a pretty exhausting weekend off! Sunday we went to church and then hung out with Josh's parents and sister Emilee.

Here's my project after we came home:




Dave is going to be a fireman for Halloween. We bought a black sweatsuit and my mom scored some reflective tape from a guy at work. It was striped with black so I cut it out and made it all yellow.






We're going to a trunk-or-treat thing here at White's on Thursday. Hopefully Dave has fun. And I'll post a picture of him in his outfit-I wanted to get one of it looking pristine before he started tearing the tape off!

Videos:

Dave playing in the cottage

Ping pong ball hysterics

Pumpkin Patch

Last Monday, Josh's mom met us at the local pumpkin patch to show Dave all the cool fall stuff. They had baby goats and lots of donkeys for Dave to check out.





Hanging out with the donkeys.





There was also a little pumpkin patch where you could choose your favorite. Obviously, this was a photo opportunity for us!




Looking for the best one.









So genuinely happy!






This weekend my mom came up to help out/hang out with Dave while we were working. Awesomeness. Meanwhile, Josh's mom had two of his younger cousins overnight. So they decided to head out to the pumpkin patch again. No pictures this time, but my mom took videos. Pumpkin Patch video.





Dave in his adorable outfit that Josh dressed him in. Check out his new boots-$4 at a local consignment shop!







And finally, another video. This one is of him playing on our overturned ottoman.
Ottoman surfing.

More fun at the zoo!

Last Thursday we all headed in to visit Fort Wayne's zoo. Josh and I went last year, but Dave had never been before. Since Dave loves animals so much, we decided we better go visit before it was too cold.



The zoo has a pretty good petting zoo section. Dave was able to roam around with some goats. Here's a video!

At the end he completely lost focus on the goats and stared at a little girl entering the petting zoo. Little ladies man...






Josh, Dave, and Ben doing a drum circle in the African Safari section. Ben was my replacement during maternity leave and now works as a sub houseparent. Dave just loves him!








Giraffes!






Overall, it's a pretty good zoo for a smaller city. Next year we will definitely take him to the Indianapolis Zoo.




Dave playing with his favorite toy: the broom. Notice his Halloween shirt-cute!









Yes, he does have two Halloween shirts. This one says "I love my mummy" and glows in the dark! He's riding a cool toy Josh's parents found at an antique store.






And lastly, a video of Dave playing peekaboo. Please do not judge my pajama pants! I didn't know Josh was recording me too :) Peekaboo!

10 Months Old!

I cannot believe my baby is in the double digits now! In the past couple of weeks he has become very good at waving and clapping as well as his latest skill-dancing. Hilarious, and there is a video at the end for everyone to see!










We went to Dave's pediatrician for his check-up (we're a month behind because of previous scheduling conflicts). He's so tiny! He measured in the 2nd percentile for weight (17.2 pounds) and the 7th for height (27.25 in). And I think he was in the 9th for head size. Anyway, nothing to worry about, he's just been active before most kids and burns all of his calories.

I read something the other day that said kids tend to plateau in growth for a while when they start walking, which definitely goes along with what's happening with Dave. Hopefully we'll see a bigger increase at his year appointment. For now, I've started feeding him again when he wakes up at night to see if that helps.

We went to Evansville to visit last weekend and we timed it well with my mom's birthday on Friday. It was awesome to get everybody together! Unfortunately, my dad was stuck working a bunch of overtime so we didn't get to spend as much time with him and Kyra.




A cute pic of my mom and Dave. He sure does love to be outside!








Also, mom and I scored at an awesome yard sale put on by one of her coworkers. He has three boys and they had outgrown their baby toys so we bought a bunch of stuff. Dave will be spoiled at Christmas!

Hope everyone's having a good start to their week. If you need a pick-me-up, check out Dave's killer dance moves.

And here is a video of him talking to the turtles again. He just loves them! Turtle Talk