Swiss Days

There's nothing like bringing in the month of September with Swiss Days. Cotton candy, snow cones, hot dogs, and my personal favorite, the sugar coated almonds. It's one of my favorite traditions of the year. This year I went up with Christine and Amy & Bryce (and their kiddos). It was SO busy, to say the least, but it was a great afternoon in Midway!

7 Month Update

Clothing: 6-9 month & some 9-12 month. Started wearing size 4 diapers!

Bedtime: 8:30 pm

Sleeping: Duke's routine has gotten a lot better! He goes down by 8:30pm, usually wakes up around 12 am to eat, and then is out until 6:30 am. He now takes 2 - two hour naps, which is amazing!

Development:
-rolls everywhere
-is trying to crawl, which eventually turns into a roll
-says "mama"
-eats 2 solids meals a day (oatmeal for breakfast & fruit/veggie for dinner)

Likes:
-jumping in his "Johnny Jumper"
-listening to music
-playing the piano
-trying to feed himself food with the spoon
-playing "peek-a-boo" with his blanket
-grabbing mommy's glasses off of her face
-eating, eating, and eating. Is that obvious?
-looking in the mirror
-playing with Bruno (especially grabbing his ears)
-pounding on the laptop keys
-story time with mama
-standing
-when daddy comes home from work, he gets SO excited
-loves hiking in the baby bjorn

Dislikes:
-getting out of the bath
-teething

Duke is seriously the happiest baby. He is smiling/laughing 99% of the time. We are SO lucky to have this little angel in our lives and we love him to pieces!! Happy 7 months Duke!

Cabin Getaway

Here's our little cabin getaway at a glance... 

Thursday: Left to the cabin around 7 pm with my parents. We got up there around 8:30 pm. It was Duke's first time up there, and it was hilarious because he couldn't stop looking at EVERYTHING. It's like I loaded him up on sugar, because he was hyper all night. He normally goes to bed around 8:30, and it was 11pm and he was still laughing and rolling around. I have never seen him so wired. I laid him on my bed, and he was just rolling around, and he literally stopped for 10 seconds and was out cold. It was hilarious. I may or may not have let him sleep in my bed that night. I was missing Chad and just wanted someone to cuddle, plus I didn't want the chance of waking him up if I tried moving him.  

Friday:We went to lunch in Park City and then met my sister, Christine, at the outlets and shopped our hearts out. A day shopping is always a good day. Chad came up after work, around 8 pm. I have never been so anxious to see a car driving up the dirt road. I missed that boy like crazy, even if we only spent one night apart from each other, it's never easy. 

Saturday: I made pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast and it was delicious. Chad and I went on a 1.5 mile hike. I was nervous when we talked to some people and they said they've seen 7 moose, half of them being male with huge antlers. Pretty sure I have never hiked so fast up the hill. Didn't help when we saw a badger earlier that morning, too. Lets just say I'm a worry  wart when it comes to wild animals. 

We met my sister-in-law, Somre, and her 3 girls at the Kamas Rec Center to go swimming. They had a huge blow up toy for adults to play on, it was the most fun I've had at a kiddie pool in a long time! After swimming, we went to a little diner for lunch in Oakley. Our burgers, fries and shakes were amazing! We ate junk food and relaxed the rest of the night at the cabin.

{ps... it won't let me rotate the video. It was actually harder than it looks, plus I have absolutely no upper body strength ;)

Sunday: We got up bright and early and went to Sacrament meeting in Oakley. After church, we each made our own little pizzas for lunch. Duke didn't sleep well any of the nights, and it was finally starting to catch up with him. He was super fussy, but wouldn't go down for a nap. We decided to leave around 3 pm so he could sleep in the car on the way home. It was such a fun weekend with my family!

Picnic at the Park

As of late, Chad and I have been on this saving kick. Like BIG time. We are pinching pennies more than we ever have before. Not because we necessarily "need" to, but more because we sat down and looked at our finances and decided it's time to put on our big boy pants and be better and saving (we even started investments and retirement accounts!) We have turned it into a game, how long can we go without spending any money. For instance... I haven't gone grocery shopping in about 4 weeks, believe it or not. Well besides my quick stop to Winco for the necessities (milk, eggs and flour), and I was one of those people who paid all in change (a whopping $8.26). For some reason, I feel like I'm not spending any money if I pay in change. Is anyone else like that? Although my fridge may be completely running on empty, and we have been using all the canned goods that get shoved to the back of the pantry, we are loving our new lifestyle on a budget. 

One way we have been cutting back on money is by not eating out. We would eat out so much (+ my Swig runs were adding up way too fast). Today was one of those days were I couldn't shove down another PB&J sandwich for dinner and just was craving to eat out. So, we used a deal on Chad's credit card (get a free burger at In'N'Out if you pay with the card) and decided to splurge on dinner. We picnicked at Nielsen's Grove park and enjoyed our night together. Duke was loving the ducks, it melted our hearts, almost as much as the sun melted our skin. We didn't last long in the 90 degree weather, but it was the thought that counts and it was a perfect night out with my fam. Oh, how I love my boys!

{ps.. look how long my hair is getting! The last time my hair was this long was in the 4th grade, until my sister "trimmed" it to my chin.}

a boy & his dog

These two are my best little sidekicks I could ask for. They definitely keep me on my toes. Duke starts bouncing and gets a huge grin on his face whenever Bruno walks in the room. Bruno is SO cute with Duke, too. He will just come lay next to Duke and let him pull, scratch and tug on his ears and face. Their little relationship is to die for, and I am so happy that Duke will grow up with Bruno. 

Happy 6 Months, Baby Duke!

He loves his daddy so much. It's the cutest thing! He always shakes and squeals when he gets home from work. I love my boys!

Clothing: 6-9 months, size 4 diapers

Bedtime: It used to be 8:30 pm until the 4th of July weekend. Since we kept him out late for 3 days in a row, it completely threw off his schedule and it's been tricky trying to get him on it again. Lately, he has been going to bed around 10:30pm.

Sleeping: I'm not going to lie, this has been a touchy subject lately. Duke has been waking up about 3 times a night, which has been rough! (except he slept all through the night last night, I almost cried I was so happy!) It's like going back to the newborn stage, and it's throwing me for a loop. We finally moved him into his own room, which has been so nice. He loves his crib and loves to sleep on his side/stomach. He still takes about 3-4 naps, each 45 minutes long.

Development:
-can sit up on his own!
-loves babbling, and saying "bababa" and "mamama"
-started baby food and oatmeal
-rolls across the room
-grabs anything and everything and puts it in his mouth
-responds to his name

Likes:
-to roll across the room (rolls to air vent and electrical outlets, time to baby proof!)
-loves to play under the couch (he looks like our little mechanic)
-loves to sit up and play with his toys
-books, especially the sparkly ones
-to chew on everything
-loves nursery rhymes, especially patty cake
-loves pounding on the piano keys
-loves anything electronic (phones, iPad, laptop...although we don't let him play with them ;)
-loves his vitamin D supplement I give him everyday. He seriously shakes with excitement when he sees it
-sucking anything cold
-likes oatmeal, carrots, squash, prunes

Dislikes:
-teething, teething, teething. This week has been especially hard. Poor baby is in so much pain and it breaks my heart. Hopefully his first tooth will break soon. Although he is miserable, he still manages to be happy. How did we get so lucky?!
-dislikes peas

New This Month
-first time eating solids
-roll across the room
-sit up on his own
-first solid poop (TMI?)
-won $50 gift card to Petco from a photo contest at Mckell/Packer Dental (photo of Duke and Bruno on the bed)
-Duke got a new cousin this last week, baby Mary (Ryan & Christine's new addition), was born on 7/22

Statistics:
He has his 6 month appointment in a couple weeks, so I'll update it then. I'm guessing he is around 20 pounds.

 

 Playing with his friend, Harvey

 Cuddles with Grandma Weitzeil