7 months and counting...

A little behind but be prepared for lots of reading! As you may know on June 13th I turned 7 months. The biggest thing that has changed over the last month is what I can eat. As you've probably read I still have bottles but now eat fruit, veggies, cereal and crackers. I haven't figured out the whole chewing thing yet but I'm getting better and more patient. I sit up by myself, I razz a little and talk a little bit more, work to get a toy out of reach, I can pick up tiny objects with just a couple of fingers and I love to play peek-a-boo. Mom's teaching me patty-cake and I am slowing learning to pivet on my tummy. Not crawling yet but working towards it. Here's me at 7 months:

Flamingos!

I can't give you all the details but we had a secret flamingo mission or adventure last night. We met some good friends who helped us decorate another friend's lawn....yep, with about 200 flamingos. Dad said it helped enhance his property value which I'm not sure about but it did make his lawn look pretty. The flamingos were pretty large for me to help too much, as you can see, but I did have fun playing with my new friend Mason. He's about 2 years older than me but I'm sure he'll do a good job looking out for me in the future.

I was pretty excited hanging out with my friends that I couldn't help bouncing around. Mom said I bounced myself silly as apparently I did it for about 5 minutes and kept giggling the whole time. Here's a quick snap shot with my friend Mason giving you a quick commerical for Cheese Nips...his favorite. Soon I might have more videos of me crawling or walking! We'll see...

Sippy Cups!

Well, since Friday, May 4th Mom and I have been trying all sorts of sippy cups and yummy apple juice. The juice is excellent but I have trouble figuring out how to drink out of those darn cups! Bottles are so much easier!

Finally tonight we had success! Yep, the Nuk cups did the trick and I finally figured out how to get some juice. I still have trouble holding the cup for too long while I'm sitting up and then I seem to get frustrated but once I laid down I did great! Mom says I'm growing up too fast! Oh, Dad & I tried carrots today and they were awesome. Can't wait for the next fruit or veggie. We'll have to see what they surprise me with next...

Duck Tales!

This past week I was introduced to my bath time duck, Moby, that my Uncle Jared & soon-to-be Aunt Ashley gave me for my 3 month birthday. Now that I can sit up on my own Dad & Mom thought I could try it out so above is us getting to know each other.

As you can see we got along great until I found out he actually quacked! And very loudly I might add! I'm pretty sure Kato doesn't appreciate his quack much either since he didn't come out while the duck was in the living room. Now that I think about it he didn't come out at bath time either...I don't think Kato likes Moby. Might have something to do with the fact they are the same size!

Well, we tried out the duck in the tub for the first time on Sat., June 5th and look forward to taking it outside too! Here's me & Moby hanging out in the tub at bath time.

You'll see my favorite bath toy, Hippo, which as you can see I won't let anyone take him away from me and one of my favorite bath time books about 3 little pigs. I must say Moby is pretty cool and I like him better than my infant tub because I can sit up easier. Pretty sweet!

This weekend was great because we didn't do much & we played and hung out all weekend! On Thursday, June 3rd I hung out with Grandpa Allen on his birthday (*& Grandma Judy) and even hung out with the boys on Friday, June 4th at the shop. Grandpa Allen told me all sorts of stories & showed me all around the farm. Then on Sunday, May 6th we went to Mom's friend from work, Kae's son Logan's graduation open house. Mom & Dad said they had amazing food even though they wouldn't let me try any of it. I am up to eating apples, bananas, prunes and peas & about to conquer carrots!

I loved hanging out around home all weekend since it was the first time in a few weeks that we didn't travel. It was so awesome! We played a ton! I am really starting to like interactive toys such as my play table my Uncle Kyle & Aunt Jenni got me. It even has legs on it so as I grow & can stand for longer periods of time I can stand & play with it more.

Here are some fun pictures of me playing with my table and with my flying ball machine with Dad. I didn't realize that if you tip the machine over the balls don't fly upward any more they actually fly at you and hit you in the head. Yep, I got hit more than a few times and you'd think that after the first few times I tipped it over I'd learn my lesson but where is the fun in that! I think Dad enjoyed laughing at me anyways...good times!

I ate Peas!

I had such a fun weekend I can't wait to tell you all about it. On Thursday night I stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Prestegard's for a fun visit. Grandma even fed me rice cereal. It was soo good Grandma couldn't get it to me fast enough - I was hungry! Then we played, giggled and got lots of hugs. What a way to start off my weekend!

On Friday Mom and I hung out and even ran a few errands. I was a big boy and sat up in the shopping cart at the grocery store! It was so much fun looking around outside the world of my car seat. I've practiced a couple of times before but always had to hold Mom's hand to stay up right but this time I didn't need any help at all. We had to go shopping because I started eating baby food. We picked out all sorts of flavors because I'm not sure what I'll like yet. This past week I got up to eating cereal twice a day and on Sunday, May 30th, I ate baby food with my cereal for the first time! Dad picked out peas as he says we farm that some times so we need to support our crops. I'm not sure what peas look like but I wasn't too sure I liked the taste at first. I think Mom and Dad got pretty scared when I started to make lots of faces and even acted like I was going to yack them back up. Actually, that part might have made Dad laugh, a lot. I didn't though and as long as they mixed them in with my cereal I did great. Today I eat them no problem. Dad & Mom keep saying they were so proud of me. You'll notice I'm sitting up like a big boy in a high chair at Bubba Gump's. We had a nice dinner and I got to watch all the people going by. So much to see.

Oh yeah, I went to the Twin Cities for our first family trip this past weekend. We went shopping, even got a few fun outfits and a pair of sandals to practice walking, and stayed in my first hotel! I really wanted to go swimming at the hotel, as I even brought my swim trunks, but after I ate dinner I was too tired to do much of anything so maybe next time. Since I have done so well sitting up Dad & Mom left my car seat in the Buick and I got to seat up front in the stroller. It was so fun looking around and watching everyone....I would get so excited I would talk & giggle randomly. I can't believe I'm big enough to sit up front already. It will make for summer walks to be way more fun.

While we were in the Cities we also met our good friends Brad & Wendy Weber and my new friend & future Alpha Gamma Rho pledge brother, Ethan. It was the first time I've got to meet Ethan and we had a lot of fun. He is pretty cool guy. When we were at the zoo my favorite place was the Aquarium because I could touch the glass and I even tried to touch the rays with Mom but they were down too deep. Mom says they are really soft and some day I may get to scuba with Dad & Mom and see them in real life like they have. I got to see a trainer scuba while she was cleaning the dolphin tank and my favorite "animal" I got the most excited for was the Sea Dragons. I'll show a picture of Dad and I checking them out. We did all the indoor trails but of course Mom kept putting sun screen on me. It was annoying! Oh, well it was fun walking around and hanging out as a family. We took a family photo and Mom even got a picture of Wendy and I playing. We were being silly with my hat. I couldn't help but laugh a lot. I must have been pretty loud because at one point Brad even thought what he was hearing was an animal noise but Dad said, no that's just Hayden!

After the zoo was over we went home and I slept the whole way! I was one tired boy. I must mention that Mom's good friend Jennie came over on Saturday and I got to meet her for the first time. We had planned 4 or 5 previous trips but old man winter didn't allow us to meet until now. As you can tell in the picture Mom caught me by surprise. I had a lot of fun hanging out with her and can't wait to see her again.

Besides our family trip the other big event this past weekend was Kato's 5th birthday on Friday, May 28th! Can you believe Kato is already 5. My big brother is OLD! Mom & Dad can't believe that on July 5th they will have had Kato for 5 years. We got a special treat for Kato, "Dog Pizza"....I didn't try it, peas were enough for me, but Kato seemed like he liked it a lot. He ate 1 piece in almost 1 bite! Happy Birthday big brother Kato!!!

It was such a fun weekend it's hard to believe it is already Tuesday. I can't wait for our next long weekend; July 4th! This weekend I think I may stay home and relax as a guy can only take so much excitement. Dad & Mom did mention something about swimming with a duck though...those two always come up with some weird stuff. I can barely keep up. I'll keep you posted after I found out more about this "duck" thing. Hope you all enjoyed Memorial Weekend and remembered or supported our troops in some way. God bless all of them. XOXO

Love, Hayden