Friday, January 25, 2013

Christmas 2012

Christmas this year was definitely one to remember. We had so much fun with all of our families and it was Tayen's very first Christmas! We were so excited to celebrate the holidays with our little guy. It was as special as we hoped it would be.
 
Our first fun get together was a Christmas party at Grandma and Grandp O'Connor's house.
 
 Mom and Tay
 Grandpa and Carter
 Excited to party!
 Grandma frying up the shrimp! We always have the most amazing food at our Christmas parties.
 Dad and Tay
Santa hat!
 Aaron and Britney rockin' their Christmas colors. I love this picture of these two.
 We also got to open a few presents at the party! The little boys got to open theirs from Grandma and Grandpa O'Connor. They all got fun jammies! We decided we had to get a picture and this is how it turned out. I took about three pictures and this was the best one ha ha.
We draw names in our family, so we all opened our gifts from each other.
 Tayen loved his presents from everyone!
All the other boys loved theirs too!
 
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Christmas Eve rolled around and we were so excited!! We headed to Blackfoot to Grandma and Grandpa Miles' house and almost immediately got into our pj's!
 Tayen in his "My First Christmas" jammies
 Before Tayen's bedtime, Grandpa read us "The Night Before Christmas."
 
Christmas morning!!! Ready to see what Santa brought!
He pretty much got spoiled by everyone. Thanks everyone for all the fun gifts for Tayen!
 Che's Uncle even made this amazing rocking horse for Tayen. It's sooo beautiful! Thank you so much! Even though his feet can't touch yet, he loves it! Tayen also loved watching the dogs through the window. Christmas Day was so fun and relaxing. We vegged out, watched movies, and just enjoyed the day. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Miles for a fun Christmas!
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Later that evening, we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa O'Connor's house. The kids sure had fun playing together and they got to open a few more presents!
 
 Carter and Tayen
Opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa
 After presents we played Guesstures! It was quite entertaining.

 


 
Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!
 
 

Saturday, December 15, 2012

What's Up, Tayen?

I can't believe my litte boy is going to be 9 months next week!! That means he will be a year old in only 3 short months! People said that they grow up fast and boy were they right. I feel like I just gave birth to him and he's already getting so big!
 
 
Tayen has been sitting up on his own for the last couple months, but is now on the move!! In the last few weeks, Tayen has gotten from one side of the room to the other by rolling and now he is officially on all fours. Dec 9th was the day we witnessed the crawler. I still can't believe he's crawling! Tayen can also stand up with the support of something or someone. He can't pull himself up yet, but I believe that will be the next milestone. Soon enough he'll be walking! He already is a totally different baby, especially because he knows he can get around now. He's more curious, active, more excited. I've got my hands full now!!
 
 
 
Tayen is finally cutting teeth. Not that I ever wished for it ha ha. He is getting his first bottom tooth and he's not too happy about it. He can be pretty grumpy and sad, but for the most part he does pretty good. The last few weeks, Tayen has woken up 2-3 times in the night. I'm used to it now, but man was I addicted to him sleeping through the night ha ha! Even though he's teething, he still manages to be a happy boy, but he still has his moments. Oh and he has been completely without a binky since 7 months. He hates it!
 
It was so weird when I first started giving my little boy actual food. He's not supposed to be that old! I know I've said it a thousand times but it just seems so unreal. It took forever for me to even get pregnant so for him to be almost 9 months kills me! Tayen loves rice cereal and oatmeal. He can eat almost 9 tablespoons in a sitting and it doesn't even need to be mixed with fruit or anything. He loves it the way it is mixed with formula. Oatmeal is his definite favorite though. When it comes to baby food, he also loves pears, sweet potatoes, and chicken noodle. His favorite snack is Gerber Puffs, which he goes through so fast. He loves those things! He has Parents Choice Gentle in between regular meals and also loves sitting in his highchair.
 
 
When it comes to talking as a baby, obviously there's not much. Gibberish is probably the best way to describe it actually. But, here and there Tayen throws out "Da da da" when he's happy, and "Ma ma ma" when he's sad ha ha. Go figure. He makes some pretty cute noises and has the sweetest little laugh. I love making him laugh; it makes me laugh right along with him. Tayen truly is a "wirey" kid as his Grandma O'Connor puts it. He is much more mellow right now though with him cutting teeth. But man he is a wild one ha ha!
 
Tay loves stuffed animals and anything soft. He gets really excited when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on and loves watching Disney Jr. When it comes to toys, Tayen's favorite toy right now is the bucket that my mom gave him during Halloween. Imagine that! He loves to hit it with a measuring cup and roll it around the floor. He loves playing in his exersaucer and crawling everywhere. Tayen likes to take his socks off and suck on them as well as spit...a lot. He loves his stuffed lion, "Larry." He gets a kick out of it's tail. It's got a little fluff on the end and he will play with it and laugh.
 
 
I'm so happy that Tayen loves his family. Even though he's almost 9 months old, he recognizes all of his aunts, uncles, and cousins and loves all of them. He loves his Grandma and Grandpa O'Connor and Grandma and Grandpa Miles. They babysit him a lot, play with him, and spoil his little heart out. He loves them so much and loves when he gets to come over and play. He loves playing and interacting with his cousins. They are all so cute to watch together. I forgot to mention that he also has many nicknames ha ha. His cousin Brycen started calling him "Toe," and oddly enough that nickname stuck ha ha. A lot of my family will call him Toe in addition to Tay (which is the other popular nickname), Monkey, Tator Tot, Tay Tay, and Tiddly Wink ha ha. I'm so thankful for the amazing family members Tayen has in his life. We can't wait for Uncle Adam to Skype Tayen on Christmas! We sure love and miss him!
 
Tayen has been the biggest blessing in our lives and we are the proudest parents in the world. We feel so lucky and blessed to have such a sweet boy and are so excited for this holiday season as a family. Tayen's first Christmas will be a special time and we just found out that Dad doesn't have to work on Christmas Eve!! Yay! We are so excited to spend Christmas all together. We love you sweet Tay!

 
 Happy Holidays!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Halloween 2012

 This year was so special for Halloween because it was Tayen's very first!! Halloween is a big deal at my house because we absolutely love it!! Next to Christmas, Halloween rocks our socks! A couple weekends ago, Alli and I celebrated our 28th birthday and had a girls weekend in Ogden. It was so much fun! I sadly don't have many pictures from it but we did get some amazingly cute pictures of our kiddos in their costumes! Brycen was a farmer, Boston a chicken, Carter a cow, and Tayen the "prize-winning" pumpkin (according to Alli ha ha). It's so funny how it worked out. This was unplanned completely! I loved how their costumes just all went together. It was so fun and quite entertaining taking these Halloween pictures. We had so much fun shopping, eating, and partying in Ogden. Thanks for a fun weekend guys!

 
Tayen's first Halloween
 
 
 Halloween day was quite a long one. We planned on visiting a lot of family, so we had to plan accordingly. We were so excited to show off our little pumpkin. I found this costume at Carter's when I was in Ogden one weekend. I'm a classic Halloween costume kind of girl so I HAD to have this pumpkin costume. Turns out, it truly was perfect for Tayen. He looked so cute in it and it was so convenient! Underneath was just a long black shirt and tight pants. All I had to do was unzip and remove the actual pumpkin if he got too hot.
First stop for Halloween was Blackfoot. We Trick-or-Treated to all the family houses there and also stopped for lunch at Wingers. It was so much fun! We really enjoyed seeing everyone's faces when they saw Tayen. We gave Tayen a bucket to hold and he had such a firm grip on that thing! He didn't want to let it go, it was so cute.
 
Looking at Grandma Miles' dogs 
 Tayen and Grandma Miles
 He even got a couple new toys from Grandma Miles! Grandma O'Connor also gave him the green bucket filled with loads of goodies inlcuding a Halloween book and pumpkin light. Tayen used the bucket that night for Halloween and we even brought his light...which he loves.


 Tayen and Great Grandma Hernandez
 We also went to visit Grandpa Miles at work in the shop
 Tayen and Great Grandma Miles
 
After Blackfoot, we headed back to Idaho Falls and relaxed for an hour or so. Then we took our pumpkin and were off to see more family!
 Tayen with Great Grandma and Grandpa Murri
Tayen and Grandma O'Connor
We went to Grandma and Grandpa O'Connor's house for chili and cornbread and it was so good!! We relaxed and enjoyed our Halloween night. Cousin Boston was also there and him and Tayen had a lot of fun playing together.
Tayen and Grandpa O'Connor
 
 Dad and Tayen
 Mom and Tayen

 We had such a fun day. It was an exciting first Halloween for Tayen, and he even filled the bottom of his bucket with some awesome candy!! Thanks to everyone who made it so fun!
 
Happy Halloween!