18 Months

18 months already? It's hard to believe that last summer Calvin was just learning to sit up and beginning to eat solid foods. He would sit quietly, play with his favorite toys, and smile at everything in sight. That was then. This is now. 

Currently our Calvin is screaming as he runs up and down the halls pushing a toy vacuum cleaner. Jakob is passed out on the living room rug as I frantically attempt to crank out this blog post before Cal turns 19 months old. Life is busy. Cal is crazy. I think that about sums it up! 

The rest of the post is mostly for my records and Cal's future memory book. If anyone has had great luck with printing out blog pages to make some sort of scrapbook, please let me know.

Cal's 18 mo. stats:

Weight- 24 lbs 12 oz (30th percentile)

Length- 33" (75th percentile)

Favorite foods:
Grilled cheese, yogurt, peaches, bananas, grapes, raisins, frozen peas, carrots (only if there's humus or dip), scrambled eggs, hot dogs, croutons (a random favorite), ice cubes & Popsicles. Besides the occasional hot dog or turkey well hidden in mac and cheese, Calvin is mostly a vegetarian. He has been offered every delicious grilled meat summer has to offer and respectively declines- every time. Stinker. I will also take suggestions on help with a picky eater. I feel like I make the same 3 things for him every day lately.

Naps:
Calvin takes one decent nap (usually around 2 hours) in the afternoon and goes to bed at 7:30 each night after a solid routine of bath-blankets-milk-books-prayers-bed. And don't you dare do it out of order. He is currently going to bed without a fuss (finally!!) and typically wakes up around 7 each morning. Sleep is something I am definitely not taking for granted these days.

Ramblings:
I have now lost track of the words Calvin knows. Favorite words come and go but I thought I would list a few of my personal favorites that I have been hearing a lot of lately.
"oooooo noooo"
"oooooo man!"
"oooooo geeeez" - see a theme brewing here?
"ducks"
"dots" (airplanes)
"See ya!"
"beep beep" (cars)
"nadesh" - we have no idea what this one means but he has been using it frequently and is very adamant that something is or is not "nadesh"

That's about it! We are attempting to make the most of this lovely fall summer day before getting back to reality (ie: work) tomorrow. Incredibly thankful for some much needed time together these past few weeks! 

Nadesh.

Trunkeyville

Since we are now well into our trip here in Minnesota, I figured I better finish posting our photos from our trip to New York earlier this month. 

As per usual, 99.9% of the photos I took during our day trip to Trunkeyville (a beautiful little spot along the Allegheny River) were of Calvin. Thankfully, my sister-in-law Rebecca took tons of beautiful photos of the whole family during our day with Jakob's family. Rebecca's photos from our day can be found here.. along with a great post about Jakob, his brother, and cousins recreating a photo from their past here.

(Calvin's favorite summer treat- ice!)

The girls spent the afternoon showering each other with gifts and good conversation. We celebrated one new Mama, one new bride, and a bride to be! At the same time, while the majority of the boys spent their day canoeing down the river, Jakob & Cal went for a hike and spent some quality father/son time together. (This alternative seemed much more enjoyable than an afternoon spent restraining Cal in a canoe.) Aren't they cute?

Jakob took the following photos on their nature walk together..

Cal loved running around with his cousins. Check out these future golfers..

And even if his golfing career doesn't quite pan out, he will still make one cute caddy.

 Hope you are having a nice week!!

May, June & July (instagram style)

Let's catch up, shall we?

This crazy summer is getting the best of me. Quiet evenings at home with nothing better to do but blog and catch up on old TV shows is a thing of the past. To make up for it, I thought I would catch up a bit with a few random photos from our summer thus far.

1. Cal's showing off his tummy at his 18 month pediatrician appointment

2. Birthday tiramisu

3. Love that cheesy grin

4. Enjoying the beautiful lakeside view during the Autism Walk

5. My boy and I

6. Smelling each and every flower at the Como Zoo

7. Celebrating the 4th of July

8. Roadtripping

9. Cheers! at Maifest

10. Our big boy walking his best friend

11. Father's Day ice cream party

12. Playing in the sprinklers with Tils

13. Strolling with cousin Sawyer and cousin Miles

14. Summer strawberry cupcakes

15. Acting goofy in the tub

Water Wars

It all started with Sawyer and Calvin quietly playing in their kiddie pool with a few child friendly water toys.. and a squirt gun or two.. or three.. or eight. I think you can see what's coming next. We couldn't just sit back and watch the boys have all the fun.

After a 30 minute battle, the soaked troops stopped to pose for a photo. And that's where the fun starts for me. 

Can you just look at my two boys for a second??There are no words. I crack up every time I see the photo!! Everyone else has their game face on while Jakob looks like an absolute goon and Calvin looks like he's two seconds away from squirting himself in the face.

(Yep, just like that.)

And our attempt at a action shot of our little family wasn't exactly a total success either..

But I do have a few sweet ones of Calzone having a great time with his squirt gun.

And an adorable one of Cal and his dad playing with a tiny toad.

Oh how I love these two. And secretly (just between you, me, and the internet), the nerdy squirt gun photo of the guys makes me love them more.

Midway Park

Last week, during our visit to New York, we spent an afternoon at Midway Park. Midway Park is a carnival-esque mini theme park for young kids. Now I have to be honest, the park was a little "small town". And I say "small town" with love as an all day pass at Midway was ten dollars, there were absolutely no waiting lines for the rides, and kids as small as Calvin were allowed to ride on a tilt-a-whirl as long as they were with an adult. Makes me want to move to the country! 

(No surprise here, my wild child would only stay seated on the carousel for half of a song.) 

 

Even with a little unexpected rain, a fun time was had by all.

In fact, the rain may have been Calvin's favorite part of the day as it introduced him to his newest love- puddle jumping.

He has been searching for puddles ever since. Good luck kid, it looks like another dry 90 degree week is coming your way! 

The Fourth

Vacation hangover. It happens every time. After six days of relaxation and fun the real world is feeling pretty blah today. I have decided to perk myself up by reliving our 4th of July weekend. Due to the massive amount of photos taken, this may very well turn into a four post saga.

On the actual holiday, we kicked the day off with a parade. 

Sure, every other "float" was a local firetruck but Cal didn't seem to mind. Loud noises, candy, and a little chaos- the kid was in his element.

And by a little candy, I'm talking handfuls and handfuls of candy.

The majority of the parade was spent prying candy out of Cal's death grip and chasing him up and down the street as he attempted to join the parade. The boy never stops.

We enjoyed the afternoon poolside as Cal and cousin Sawyer splashed and tackled each other in the backyard. 

Before the sun went down, (I couldn't bear the thought of keeping Cal up until 11pm to enjoy the actual fireworks) we enjoyed some awesome moderately cool fireworks in the backyard.

And ended the day with a few sparklers. Although I could not get a single photo of our boy smiling (typical), I promise you he had the time of his life!

Hope your fourth was fun!!