Yes I'm still here although a bit more aged

Holy moly, where has the time gone?? I have been delaying a post for sooo long because I have wanted to put up some pictures. Well, I decided the post can no longer wait for pictures.

Jayden will be 9 months old in a few days (ok, more like almost 2 weeks but it just blows my mind that he's almost to the toddler stage...) and he is changing so much every day. He laughs all the time. If he isn't laughing, he's giving me big grins. He makes all sorts of sounds that are constantly making us laugh. He growls, blows bubbles, says "mama," "dada," "bababababa," and "nana."  He has FOUR teeth. Two on the top that just came in over the past week and two on the bottom which have been in for a few weeks already. I'm pretty sure he is cutting more teeth because he's been extra fussy during the night.

He is sitting up and loves to stand up with our assistance. He loves to reeeeeach as far forward as possible to grab something and it almost makes us think he will make it to his hands and knees but then he either falls on his face (which usually doesn't phase him) or he just pulls himself back to a sitting position.

I've heard lately that the longer it takes for a baby to crawl, the smarter they will be. And I'm inclined to believe that. Jayden will look and look and look at something and take it all in before he reaches for something so it seems that his brain is working overtime to process everything around him and he just hasn't felt the need to actually go anywhere. So no crawling yet for our little baby.

Jayden is also taking his time getting into the world of solids. We have tried everything but the kid just isn't interested. And that's ok. There's no rush and I know he'll eat solid foods when he's ready. I'm just glad that he's still breastfeeding so we don't have to worry about his nourishment. He's getting all the nutrition he needs from breast milk so that puts my mind at ease.

And on that note, it's amazing how seamless breastfeeding is these days. Like it's no big deal. I think back to the early days and remember how badly I wanted to give up because it was so hard. And I remember reading how it would get better and I chose to believe what I read and now I'm reaping the benefits! I'm also glad that Jayden has never taken a bottle. For the first go around, it has been nice to do it this way. I'm not saying that I'll do it the exact same way the next time around but I really like the way it's going now. It's somewhat empowering to make your own parenting choices and know that you are doing the best you can for your child even if it's hard. And I'm glad I didn't give up.

Jayden loves to drink water from a cup though. And he really likes to be fed water from a straw. It's so cute. We even bought him his own cup with a straw. He chews more on the straw than actually drinking from it but every once in awhile he'll suck in a little water. It always surprises him and he will make a funny face.

In other news....

It snowed this week. So spring still has not sprung. Boo. I am soooo over cold and snow and ice and gray clouds that don't hold thunder and lightning.

I joined a softball team. No, I don't play softball, or rather, I never played before I joined this team. But I'm learning and thankfully, the team is not competitive. It's an all girls team and although most of the other women are, or once were, athletes (other than me), none of them have played softball in a long time so it's all in good fun. And it's nice to be a part of a team and doing something I've never done before. Even if it is a little embarrassing after dropping the 4th or 5th ball that comes my way...

DJ is in his slow season at work and it's been GREAT. He goes to work usually around 8, but sometimes not till 10. And he gets off usually around 4 but sometimes 2! And this week, we actually got to play hooky for half of a day. Since there are no dentists in Laramie that take our insurance, we had to find a dentist in Cheyenne (about 45 miles from Laramie). We each had a consultation on Wednesday and by the time we drove there, had the appointments and drove back, it would have been time to leave work pretty much, so we just made a day of it. We even went to dinner at Outback after running a few errands after our appointments. Yum, they have such good steak. So needless to say, I'm loving having my husband back after a long football season.

We've taken a couple trips since our jaunt over to DC. We went to Rapid City for a couple of weeks at the end of April and beginning of May. And we're headed back there next week for Memorial Day weekend. We went down to Fort Collins last weekend with the intention of hanging out in the green, spring-filled park but as luck would have it, the sun never showed its sunny face, so we ended up just shopping around all day. It was still fun.

And that's the news for now. I'm not going to promise pictures anymore. Because obviously those are empty promises... But I do have a ton of pictures that I just need to take the time to download and then upload. So one day...