Explosion of words!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We made the long trip to Duluth to surprise everyone for Christmas Eve. It was a great visit. I haven't been back for a Christmas is 5 years so it was good to be home. We also got a chance to spend some time with Ryan's family which was great. The word got out that Adam had been very good this year because he was pretty spoiled will all sorts of toys, books, puzzles, and clothes. Unfortunately, Adam also got another ear infection and was pretty run down with a cough and high fever. He is just now getting back to his old self. Adam has also started talking up a storm. It is still mostly babble but you can actually pick out a few words here and there. Here is a list of some of his favorite words. Notice how mama and dada are not on the list. He can say them but never actually uses them.

AAAUP = up

blaablaablaa = banana

kees = kiss

bye = goodbye

hi-eee = hello

apoo = apple

papa = Grandpa/Papa

pips = please

tatd = cat

bubble = bubbles

book = book

ada = Adam

bebe = baby

a dun = all done

be poo = big poop

jaff = giraffe

papi = dog

color = crayons

brrrrr (with arm in the air) = elephant

hos =horse

duck = duck

no = I don't want to

I am probably missing a few words. I has been a lot of fun getting him to say all sorts of new things. Here are pictures from our Christmas visit to Duluth. Have a great New Year!

Adam dressed and ready for Santa

Opening presents at Granny and Papa's

Christmas Eve dinner

Christmas day at Dale and Patti's

Katie teaching Adam some new tricks

All tired out from the busy holiday!

Deck the halls!

Things are starting to slow down a little now. I am done with school until after the holidays so that is nice. I finally had time to catch up on laundry, and really clean the house. The new job is going well. I am still asking a lot of questions, but it is getting easier every day.

We have had some unpleasant weather here as of late. There is lots of snow on the ground for Adam to play in, but unfortunately it has been way too cold.

With a little extra time on my hands, have gotten to spend more time with my boys. We finally decorated our tree last weekend. Adam was such a big helper as can been seen with the pictures and video below.

Everyone have a very safe and very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Quick update

Here is just a quick little post to show you all some of the new tricks that Adam is up to. I will post more later when I am finally done with homework!

Happy Belated

Happy belated Thanksgiving, and happy belated birthday to my brother (my old 30 year old brother). We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Joel and Erika's again this year. It has kind of become our little tradition now. My parents made it up for the weekend to get their Adam fix in and to babysit for us as Ryan and I both had to work last weekend.

These past couple weeks has been about keeping my head above water. I started my new job last week, the school work keeps coming in, and Adam is running everywhere and getting into everything. I still must admit he is the best part of my day. No matter how stressful work and school are he can always get me to smile. Tonight I was feeling very run down from the week, so I was being lazy, sitting around watching TV and Adam just toddled on up to me (without even a book), sat on my lap and nuzzled in. The stress of my week was gone right there. I must also give credit where credit is due. Ryan has been, as always, super dad and super husband, taking care of Adam while I am at class or doing homework. He also spoils me by cooking and cleaning.

Anyway, today we actually got a fair amount of snow here in Fargo. When I got home from work I was very excited to get Adam all bundled up in his new boots and snow pants and see what he thought of the snow. He wasn't quite sure about it at first. He was a little unsteady in his boots and he couldn't walk very well with all of the extra bulk. We got him outside and he had a big smile, he then took about 5 steps and then face planted it right into the snow. Of course he couldn't get back onto his feet very well, and I sure the cold of the snow shocked him so down come the tears. We did get him to cheer up for just enough time to get a picture an a short video, but his time playing in the snow did not last very long.

Stop! You must not hop on pop!

I got to spend the whole day on Saturday just me and my little man. I haven't had a chance to have some quality just mom and Adam time in long time. It was a fun day. What did we do you might ask. Well, when Adam wasn't eating, pooping, or napping, he was chasing after me with the book Hop on Pop, insisting that I read it to him. I must have read that book 50 times over the weekend. He did throw in a new book here and there, but he always came back to that book. Adam got very good at chasing me down, grabbing my legs (as if to tackle me), and then climbing on my lap. He then grabs my hand and forces the book into it, and then opens if for me. It is actually pretty cute, but after the 10th round of Hop on Pop my whole world becomes one big rhyme. Now here are some pictures of Adam's attack. Always bringing me the same book back!

Where oh where did mommy hide my book?

Mommy read this one!

I will take her down at the knees.

This is my favorite part.

Tonight we braved some chilly weather and went downtown for the holiday lights parade. Adam really enjoyed it. He got really excited when he saw the drums and the horses. He was a trooper in the cool weather, of course the all the running around he was doing helped too. The parade was pretty fun, but we didn't make it to the end. It got a little to cold for me.

Adam stayed cozy warm in the sweater that Great Grandma Iona made for him.

Adam had lots of fun running around making lots of new friends.

The historic Fargo Theater all lit up.

Happy Belated Birthday Grandpa Fried

Happy birthday to Warren! Actually his birthday was on Sunday. Because of technical difficulties it took awhile to get the video on this post to work. Anyway, Adam had a big play date on Saturday with Raleigh at dinoland in the mall. They didn't really play together, but it was fun to watch them both run around. We went to Bismarck on Saturday night to surprise Grandpa Fried for his birthday. We went swimming on Sunday. Adam had a great time in the pool and I think that Grandma and Grandpa had a great time playing as well. Here are a couple new videos for you all. The files got compressed so the picture quality is not where I would like it, but it was the only way to get them to work. Hope you enjoy!

Last night was hot dish night, which we have concluded is Adam's favorite meal!

I just paid $1.89 a gallon for gas!

Yeah for cheaper gas! Anyway, I had a very quiet weekend this past weekend. My hunters were up in Minot. Ryan was hunting for deer and Adam was hunting for trouble. From what I heard he kept Sonya pretty busy on Saturday. Since I was all alone I kept myself busy shopping with Rikki. We shopped all day Saturday and then went and watched the Bison volleyball team stomp all over Oakland. The boys made it back safely and everyone got to tag a deer. They got 9 total for the weekend. Before they left town Adam got to spend some time with great grandma Iona. Here are some pictures and video of Adam reading with grandma.

Happy Day After Halloween!

We have had some fun Halloween times these last couple nights. Thursday night we went over to a friends for supper and pumpkin carving. Halloween night we went trick or treating with Adam over to see his new cousin Greyson, and tonight we went to Josh and Shyla's annual pumpkin carving and costume party. Adam got spoiled with a couple of later nights and good candy. He also got to sport a variety of costumes.

Adam trying out his new side burn look in the bathtub.

Here is our little lion getting ready to do some trick or treating.

New baby Greyson sporting his scary costume.

A little baby Risky Business!

Family picture all in costume.

Congratulations Matt and Tara

Welcome Greyson Matthew Reimer! Born at 6:45 this morning, weighing in at a whopping 6 lb 2 oz 19 inches long. Mother and Baby are doing wonderful. Tara is Ryan's cousin, for those who don't know, and her older daughter Bergen was the flower girl in our wedding. In a few years Adam and this little guy will have a lot of fun running around together.

Here is the new little guy!

Ryan juggling Adam and new big sister Bergen.

We spent this last weekend in Duluth. It was a nice relaxing weekend. My Aunt Margaret had a soup and pie night. The pea soup was amazing, and Ryan beat out everyone in the poker game! Uncle Dave sent us off today with a big breakfast this morning. Adam had a lot of fun running around exploring Granny and Papa's house and playing in the leaves in the yard.

Fun fall days.

Well, Adam's bruises have healed and the whole biting thing did get resolved. Apparently, there was a little girl at the daycare who thought she was just giving kisses, but instead was biting the little boys.

Anyway, we have had a lot of visitors the past couple weekends. Grandma and Grandpa Fried were here last weekend and Grandma and Grandpa Childs were her this weekend. Adam got ignored the whole time and was not spoiled at all. Poor little guy. I actually have no pictures from either of these weekends. I am really slacking.

Today we decided that before the weather got to cold we would take Adam to the park and let him run around and explore. It is probably one of the few nice fall days we have left before (dare I say it) winter. I also thought I could make up for the lack of picture taking by posting a new video of our fun time at the park.

If you think this is bad, you should see the other kid...

Ryan picked our little man up from daycare today and saw a bruise on his cheek. Turns out some other kid bit him at daycare. Then, I found the bite mark on his shoulder when I was giving him a bath. Needless to say, I am not very happy that this has happened. Ryan did mention it to the head daycare lady as he was leaving, but if I see any other marks on him it is not going to be pretty. It is kind of hard to see, but on his cheek there is a purple, almost circle, where the kid bit him. Adam is still all smiles. He would never bite another kid, his is much more of a lover than a fighter. :)

On a much cuter note, Adam has found that the DVD player is his new favorite toy. If I am attempting to watch a movie in my bedroom, he thinks that he is being very helpful when he can hand me the DVD. I do try to discourage him from doing this, but I think taking all these pictures may have sent him mixed messages.

Let see what this button does.

Wow, it opened up a magic door. Oops, mom's watching. I better do something cute so she doesn't suspect I am up to something.

She's still watching. Maybe she won't notice me checking out what's in this door.

Here Mom, I found this for you!

To all of our faithful viewers...

I must appologize. I really try to update the blog at least once a week for you all, but I must plead no time due to work, school, and being mommy. I promise to do better in the future. Our little man has been battling two more ear infections this week. He has been a little more restless at night and for the first time in a very long time we have actually had to get up with him. The medicine is kicking in and it has gotten much better. I was NDSU homecoming this past weekend. We all went to the parade (except Ryan) and then Rikki and I snuck into the game as students and got a chance watch the Bison win over Southern Illinois. It was a great game. To make up for the lack of posting, I have a bunch of pictures and a new video for you all. Enjoy!

Feels like fall!

It is really starting to feel like fall, my absolute favorite season. The Halloween candy is starting to come out, the Bison football season is in full swing, and Starbucks has their pumpkin spice latte back. Today Adam and I got to do a fun fall activity, apple picking. We joined Rikki, Joel and Meeks at Orchard Glen in South Fargo for a fun morning of fresh air, climbing trees, and of course picking apples. This is actually a fairly popular thing to do, so all of the low apples had already been picked over so you really had to get up in the tree to get the good ones up top. On a side note, Adam is getting much better at walking. He still needs a little encouragement to get going, but he can take a good five step before losing balance. Watch out everyone he is almost on the run!

Rikki in a tree.

Meeks in a tree.

Joel attempting to get the biggest apple.

You can kind of seem me in the tree throwing apples down at Meeks.

Even Adam got a little tree climbing in.

Riding along with uncle Joel!

The whole apple picking crew!

A very nice lady showed us this swing, Adam was a little small for it but he still had fun.