Independence Day

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great fourth this year. We went to a parade and a carnival, played outside, and watched fireworks on TV. Wait, what? Yep, we watched them from our couch. While not seeing them live was the one disappointment from this year, we decided it was the best option. Dax likely could have stayed up okay, but we thought the fireworks would be scary and a scared, over-tired toddler didn't sound like an experience we wanted. Luckily, the awesome day made up for the evening.

Waiting for the parade to start

Waving at the firetruck

Watching with Daddy

"Push it!" Dax's new favorite phrase when we are out and about

First carousel ride

Holding on tight when it was time to go! I guess we'll have to ride one again soon.

Playing Peek-a-boo! on his playset...

Taking a closer look at a little bug

Loving his trike even though his feet don't reach yet

We hope you had a relaxing, enjoyable, and happy holiday!

Summer Week 3

We are worn out after our third week together! We were busy, busy, busy and had so much fun.

On Monday morning, Dax and I went to walk around Centennial Lakes. It is one of Jake and my favorite places and it was fun to bring Dax. We shared a Jamba Juice smoothie and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Tuesday morning we went back to the library baby story time. Some of Dax's buddies from our Mom and Baby class joined us, which made it even more fun!

Silly boy!

Krista & Alex, Me & Dax, Sarah & Isaac, and Rosalie, Anora & Joe

Then, on Wednesday, we did not have specific plans and just had a low-key day. We spent the morning playing at home. Dax loved coloring, hated playing with shaving cream, used lots of his busy bags and enjoyed being silly (he's showing his muscles in the fourth picture!). In the afternoon we visited Burnsville's Nicollet Commons. Dax was not sure about the water at first, but warmed up eventually and ended the day running as fast as he could back and forth through the pool. Hopefully he will continue to get more comfortable with water so we can have fun and beat the summer heat. We also enjoyed playing outside in our yard once Jake was home from work.

Thursday was our first Musikgarten class. We are attending with all of our Westwood friends from last year's baby boom. We sang songs, danced, and played with scarves and instruments. Then we stayed after and had a picnic lunch so the little ones could play together and we could chat. We are excited to continue through the summer!

David, Dax, Bellamy, and Averi after our picnic lunch.

Finally, on Friday we went to the zoo with Kayla and Jude. Dax loved all of the animals just as much as always, but could not stop saying "Giraffe" so that must have been his favorite this trip!

Husband Material?

I am the luckiest person in the world to have married such a thoughtful, helpful, amazing man. Jake spoils Dax and me in so many ways and I could not be more grateful to be sharing my life, and parenthood, with him. I can only hope that we raise Dax to be just as incredible to his future wife. Recently, I have noticed some qualities that I think she will appreciate...

Dax enjoys cleaning up. He is great at putting his toys away and loves to throw things in the trash (sometimes we need to watch him closely so things we want don't end up there!). As his language develops he also tells us about it and will pick things up, show us, and say, "garbage!" before promptly throwing it away. It is so cute and even cuter because it usually comes out as, "bargage." I couldn't get him to say it in the first video so I added a second of him just talking because it's too cute not to share.

He is also great with money. Auntie Shannon gave him a piggy bank recently that has three sections: share, save, and spend. Very little of his change goes into the spend portion of the bank. I guess he takes after his daddy when it comes to money management ;)

Finally, Dax has recently transitioned to feeding himself. While not a great feat for a man, we are impressed with the skills of our little boy. Occasionally the spoon flips upside down on it's way to his mouth, but he is getting better and better all the time.

Summer continued...

I am so blessed. I love my job.  Bonus - I love a job that allows me three months with my little man who I love even more. Dax and I are making the most of this time for sure. We are only a week and a half in and there is already so much to share!

Yay summer!

Dax got a new playset from some of our neighbors who have outgrown it. He was so sweet the first time he saw it; walking around saying, "Wow!", "Ooh!", and "Slide!" It is going to get a lot of love over the next few years.

We were also lucky to have some family time on Father's Day.

Giggling with Auntie Shannon

Hanging with Great-Grandma Dee

Snuggling with Great-Grandpa Jim

Playing with Grandpa Phil

On Monday we checked out a brand new playground near our house. Dax climbed up the stairs and went down the slide over and over (and over!) again. He also enjoyed the swings and frog and ducky riders.

Tuesday we visited our local library for baby and toddler storytime. We sang songs, read stories, and Dax enjoyed free play time with all the other tots there. We hope to make this a weekly outing!

And today we joined my friend Sara and Dax's friend David for another trip to the zoo. We went in to pet the goats for the first time and it was great. Dax was excited to see the goats, but wasn't too sure about touching them and got startled if they came close. He tried to touch them a couple of times when they weren't looking, but pulled his hand away before actually making contact. Silly, shy boy.

Whew! We are in for an exciting summer with this start!

500 days of...

...Dax! Our little boy is 500 days old. I can honestly and easily say that the past 500 days have made my life infinitely happier, so much sillier, slightly more tiring, and insanely more meaningful. I can't wait to enjoy thousands more days with my sweet little boy.

...Summer! Okay, I only wish I had 500 days of summer. But Dax and I have plans to enjoy every minute of what we do have together and I think we made a pretty good start:

Saturday morning we went to the Burnsville Performing Arts Center for the Rhythm and Words festival. Specifically, the Okee Dokee Brothers concert. They won the Grammy this year for best children's album and we really enjoyed their show!

Dax enjoying his first concert

Dax also met his newest buddy, Jude. Kayla and Casey welcomed their sweet little guy a couple weeks ago and we are so excited to have our boys grow up together. Dax wasn't too sure about Jude yet, but I know that they will be running around together soon.

And, of course, we have already spent lots of time playing. The video shows Dax playing with one of his "busy bags" that I created inspired by Pinterest. It is Memory game cards and a wipes container. While it looks boring, he LOVES it and will often pull it off the shelf to play with.

One of Dax's favorite things - walking outside!

The cards Dax put into his container in the video in case you can't understand him

Summer!

Life is good. :)