Fun Weekend at Home

On Friday night some friends, Pat and Arica, invited us to go the Tbones game with them and their son Brody, who is three years old. It was Gus's first Tbones game and he did a really good job of behaving. The Tbones are an independent baseball league whose ballpark is just a few miles from our house. It was been a few years since we have gone, since Gus was so tiny last summer. We definitely need to take advantage of their games more, since we live so close.

Here is Brody on the swings in the playground area behind the baseball field.

And Gus too.

Gus was a little afraid to play on the toys, there were so many kids, many too old for the equipment, running around everywhere. Here he is saying, "Mommy why are there so many kids here?!?!"

Saturday morning we decided to pull out Gus's new baby pool. He was very scared so we will have to keep practicing using it this week. It is supposed to be very warm outside.

Saturday night after church we took Gus to Jazz for the first time. He loved it! He would bop to the music and bounce his little head to the live Cajun music. He was adorable, as usual.

Silly seasoning!

He got some beads too. And no, he did not have to flash anyone for them :) Gus chews on everything, as you can see with the beads. His bottom front tooth has started to come in, as well as his other top front one. I feel so bad for the little dude, teething must hurt.

Tonight we have Josh's flag football games. It is the first one of the end of the season tournament so if they win they will have two games tonight. If they win them both, then they have more games next weekend. We may not be in town for them though as Abby Ringus gets married next Saturday and we will be back in Clear Lake for that.

I start summer session tomorrow. I am teaching three 8-week courses, two of Public Speaking and one section of Personal communications. It will be nice to get back to work. I have enjoyed the last two weeks off but have kept very busy catching up with everything I was behind on, spring cleaning, parenting Gus most days (my favorite part of the break!) and then of course Gus's birthday last week. I do have three weeks off again at the end of the summer before the fall semester starts so that will be nice as well.

Gus and His Monkey Chair

Memorial Day Weekend in Iowa

Gus helping mommy pick up the house before we left to go back to Iowa over Memorial Day weekend. Such a good helper :)

At Gus's party at my parents home on Saturday. Thanks you so much mom and dad for letting us host the party at your beautiful home!

His cake, final version.

Baby Parker slept through most of the festivities. He is such a cute little baby. So precious. Yesterday he got his first immunization shots and has been pretty sick since (high temp, screaming constantly, not eating) please keep him (and his very tired and worried mommy, my sister) in your thoughts.

When all thirty people at the party sang him Happy Birthday, Gus just sat there, gushing a huge smile. It was priceless.

Josilin (holding him), Kennedy, in the blue jean skirt, and Shae, in the orange, helped Gus open his presents. Most of his other nieces and nephews there helped as well. Thanks to Brea for writing down all his gifts and who they were from; you were a lifesaver! This gift was a golfing set from mommy's friend from high school, Brandi. We were so happy she could make it to the party!

At first Gus was not a happy baby at Kennedy's birthday party on Sunday afternoon. But after Papa gave him some crackers he was much better. He decided that he likes the Pizza Ranch after all.

Kennedy and her Hannah Montana headphones from her birthday cake. She was so cute when she opened her gifts. She has so much personality!

Gus on his first pontoon ride. He was not sure about it and cried most of the time.

Kate got to see Gus again on Sunday night. We went to a going away party for a friend who is leaving for his third tour. This time to Afghanistan. We will be thinking of him!

Weekend Fun

On Saturday night we went to a party at the Hayes home. Since the sports directors are done with Saturdays (yay!) a party was held to celebrate. Gus had fun on the trampoline!

Gus was so silly! He loves to give hugs and kisses and he had fun chasing/hugging/terrorizing another little boy who was three months older than Gus. By the end of the night, Will, the other boy, would start crying whenever Gus started to crawl toward him. It was funny.

Playing with a flag at Daddy's game on Sunday night. It was the league championship game (regular season). The guys lost, so they got second place. The tournament is the weekend after Memorial Day- good luck daddy!

A very silly face.

Fun on the Farm

Gus not really into feeding the goats.

Andi and Kacy totally into feeding the goats.

Andi pumping water.

I'm thirsty... wonder how far I can reach my hand in here before I touch water??

Gus sitting at his desk.

Gus sitting in the sun on the floor of the single room school house, one of the few places he could really crawl around.

Kacy teaching Gus where we live.

Gus holding a calf.

Gus's favorite animal was the cow. He was kind of afraid to reach out to touch the other animals, but the cow he liked.

Kacy sitting on a tractor wheel.

Gus patiently waiting while his cousins rode the horses.

Standing all by himself!

Plowing the... um... field?

Kacy and Andi (and Trish and Steve too of course!) came to Kansas City for the weekend to see us, go to a baby shower and visit with their old friends here in town. On Saturday morning Trish and I took the kids to Deana Rose Farm in Kansas City and they loved it! Gus didn't really understand much of what was going on, but he loved seeing the outdoors, animals and all the other little kids there. Kacy and Andi enjoyed all of it! It was a great activity because it is free and totally kid and family friendly. I would suggest anyone with children visit it when they are in Kansas City. The only people I would suggest not visit it are maybe people that live on a farm, because everything reminded there me of growing up in rural Iowa and spending time on the farms of childhood friends!

A Special Message For Nama Paulette

Sick Again

Gus is sick. Last night he had a pretty consistent fever of 102-3, even with medicine. It was a long night for mommy and daddy; we even tried to have him sleep with us for a few hours. He is not wanting to eat or drink and has had diarrhea. I called the Dr. this morning, and of course they are saying it is not a reaction to his immunization shots yesterday, they told me he probably picked up a virus while he was there, and that I should just keep giving him Tylenol around the clock and offering him fluids. I don't know what to think, from researching online, it sounds like it could be a reaction. We are keeping a very close eye on him. His temp is still about 101, even with medicine, which I hate. He just doesn't seem like himself, very whiney and shakey. We will keep you posted.

Doctor Today

Update: We just got back from the doctor for Gus's one year appointment. He weighed 22.2 lbs (yes he has lost weight!), was 30 in. in length and his head was 18 1/4 in. He is in the 50 percentile of babies for all three categories- Just Perfect! He had three shots, got the okay to go off of formula and on to whole milk, and can swith the CHILDRENS Tylenol- NOT infants!!!!! He is such a big boy now! The doc thought it was interesting that his top tooth in coming in before the bottom, but not concerned. All in all, we have a happy, healthy, normal baby boy. I thank God every day for that. What a blessing he has been over this past year!

Now if only daddy would stop bothering mommy about having another!!!! Geeze, give me a little break! It is funny though now that Gus is one, people say to you, "So when will you have more?" Ugh!

Gus Takes the Cake!

He's Officially One!

Nama and Papa D sent some balloons tied to a frog for Gus, which was so thoughtful. Here is Gus clapping when he first saw them. As the evening wore down though, Gus was timid, scared and eventually all out frightened to death of them. It was hilarious, but he really was scared. I guess I can't bring them back to Iowa for his party as I don't think he would like to have them a few feet from him, locked in a small tight space for a 5 hour drive.

I made him a little cupcake with just a bit of frosting on it so as to avoid a huge mess, but...

Not messy enough so we had to give him a cupcake with more frosting. Muuuuch better!

I like this one because you can see his cute little snaggle tooth.

Buster and Gus's occasional sitter/former student of mine/friend and neighbor (Shannan) and another friend/neighbor, Jeremy, got Gus a fun present to get him ready for baseball this summer! It was so nice of them to stop over last night and think of Gus on his special day. I didn't get a picture of hit, but Gus crawled right over to Jeremy and sat on his lap- he loves Jeremy. But I can't forget Shannan. When he sees her outside he always puts his arms toward her and wants her to hold him; and she helped teach him one of his first words: dog. Well, it actually sounds more like "dawwwww?" whenever he sees one of the dogs who live on the block.

Gus playing with his cool t-ball set from them!

Happy Birthday Little Man. I hope you had a fun time. Mommy and Daddy love you so much and can't believe you are one year old already.