Fall In Upstate

Well, it's been awhile since I wrote last--especially considering the fact that I felt like leaves were changing for a solid month here, and then didn't really actually fall off the trees until last week--crazy that the last time I wrote they hadn't even started changing yet! The thought of fall coming before it actually came was far more ominous than happy for me. However, as the weather cooled, I noticed something.

 Breathing in fall air is different than any other season; you take a deep breath of fall air, and it has a freshness to it that somehow reaches the very bottom of your lungs--parts of your lungs that seem not to have even known air could reach them.  Fall smells fresh, feels fresh, and seems to actually refresh every part of you (which is funny...because technically plants are dying ;). From replacing whatever air was in your lungs with that crisp, happy, air-- to being just the temperature to require a jacket, but never being cold enough make you second guess going outside--I've decided fall is magical.

Don't get me wrong, summer will probably always be my favorite. There's nothing I love more than walking outside and having it be just as warm (or warmer) outdoors as it is inside. That being said, I think this year I've really gained a greater appreciation for another season. In fact, here are a few (ha)pictures. Don't get me wrong, none of these pictures do fall here justice. But, without filters or editing, they are as close as I can come, (in addition to the above explanation), to conveying fall's 'wonderfullness'. I've always had fall, growing up in a state with four seasons. But New York has quite a few more trees than Colorado or Utah; I think it's been eye-opening to see what the east coast is like in the fall.


 

These two pictures (above and below this text) were taken at the very beginning of fall. That one tree in red got brighter and brighter every day to where it honestly looked neon. I mentioned it every day for about two weeks to Matthew

And...a few weeks later..

Will you look at that sky?

 

 

 

We went on atLEAST six car rides simply to look at the leaves. These next few are from a rainy day (obviously). But one of my favorite things about fall here is that, for the most part, it is....wait for it....

SUNNY!

Yes, SUNNY!

Not every day, as you'll notice from my pictures, but for the most part, it really was/is.

I've been pleasantly surprised by how much of this past year has been sunny. When we moved here, Matthew mentally prepared me for the worst, not wanting me to be surprised/letdown/depressed by a lack of sunshine; I've been pleasantly surprised in every (yes, EVERY) season by how much sunshine there is here. 

Okay, gorgeous, right?

 

When parking lots are beautiful...

lol.

But, really. Take a moment to take in those reds!

 

 

 

 

 

Anthon and I's first pumpkin patch/picking experience.

(Or...what I think was my first...sorry mom, for not remembering if it wasn't :P

I took more of these epic pictures...but, sadly...due to my phone's memory (per usual) being maxed out, a bunch of them didn't save :(

ummm....and a random Halloween picture.

But check out those leaves!

If you don't yet agree with me about how magical fall is here, one of two things is true:

1. You scrolled way to quickly through these bajillion pictures.

2. You didn't read my beautiful explanation about fall air and lungs.

Okay, nevermind the two, make that three..

3. You don't have a soul.  

 

Okay, not so much on that last one.

 

Moral of the story: I am SO grateful to have experienced other seasons here. Last winter was long (albeit sunny at times) and COLD. But the bright greens of the spring, rich greens of the summer, fun (not-too-often) downpours of rain, and gorgeous falls might just make me a believer yet.

 

Love my husband, love our baby, love my life! 

 

P.S. In case you were wondering....

Month 10  for Anthon brought the word 'ducky', self-directed pick-a-boo, two more teeth (for a total of six), more graham crackers, MANDARIN ORANGES GALORE, standing from a seated position--first using us or other things, and eventually barely using anything to assist him., wanting to feed himself, rather than be fed, kicking nap #3 to the curb, a LOVE of looking out our sliding glass window to see ducks and geese, stopping to touch cars and/or look at his reflection in them as we walk by. Also, his personality exploded. Basically, in one week a switch flipped and he is just the happiest little interactive baby you've ever seen. He was happy before, but its suddenly about times five that; I notice it most when we go shopping and he goes out of his way to interact with people--smiling hugely at them and then turning around to make sure I'm catching it all; it's adorable. 

 

CRAZY that little man turns 12 Months...I.E. A YEAR in less than five days...

 

Whaaaaaaaa???!

I thought I could make a post without flooding you all with pictures of Anthon...
But that is clearly not possible.
So, here are a few of his 10th month.
By a few, I, of course, mean 50...

With our adorable friend from church. I've watched her a few times and enjoy painting her nails while little man sleeps :P

Heeeeeehehe. I love this expression.

Sometimes I do my hair and makeup.
Sometimes, I don't...

 

 Shortly after his 10 month mark..

What walks looked like during this month:
Lots of stopping to touch mailboxes, cars, flowers, and leaves..

 

 Meeting a caterpillar...

Waking up early means breakfast with dad..
Anthon LOVES it :)

Anthon's (and my) first time to an apple orchard

Also, his first hayride. You can tell by how he's sitting that he was a HUGE fan of touching the hay ;)

 

 One of Anthon and Matthew's favorite things to do..

Again, I LOVE warm weather! We sometimes walk outside down our drive waiting for Matthew to get home and greet him as he does :)

He still loves books! Don't let this picture deceive you...he still for the most part is only given board books... haha

Anthon's thing this month was raising up his sippy cup just after I gave it to him and looking at Matthew as if to say, 'cheers, dad! I've got my apple juice and all is right in the world!'

These. Two. Next. Pictures. KILLLLL. Me.

 

 hehe. Our little elf!

Everytime the music starts on his walker, he'll look at me to confirm I'm dancing and join in too. It's adorable.

 

 Still a newspaper fan..

Anthon's first General Conference..

And a walk between sessions with a hat that is definitely getting too small. . .

FHE at a park watching dad kick around the soccer ball..

 

 

Hanging out in the kitchen getting into things :)

It was so weird to find him standing up on his own!

 

 And, of course...We've got to have some bathtime pictures..or...post bathtime, since technically the water is already out...

And...another family walk. . .

Happy baby at the post office. I love his face (shocker) here. He was smiling at everyone in line and then with the postal worker.

 

 Anthon's never happier than when he's watching geese/ducks, be it indoors or outdoors..

 

 

 And...swinging with dad at the park :)

Again, we're doing great!

Thanks for reading/skimming/caring.

Lots of love from ours to yours!

 

 

 

10 Months: Busy?? Us?!! Nooo.....

I feel like these two pictures epitomize what Anthon's last month has been better than any cute/posed picture will. Actually, when I get to explaining more about these pictures, you'll understand why a cute/posed picture wasn't really possible anyways.

 

Picture #1 (From Above)

Getting Anthon dressed has turned into a much longer process. Here's a play-by-play for you.

Let's set the scene:

Just outside of the bathtub, where I'm attempting to put lotion on him before putting on a diaper.

Also, let's have you open this song in another tab and have it playing the background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=20&v=4Diu2N8TGKA 

 

-I lay Anthon on his towel, handing him a toy I hope will keep him occupied long enough for me to get him lotioned up.

-Anthon is occupied for 2 seconds. Which (remarkably), is long enough for me to get his legs, feet, and bottom lotioned.

-Anthon rolls over and stands up, bouncing up and down as he looks into the tub at the toys he just finished enjoying a bath with

-I lay him back down

-I hand Anthon the toy from before again, which he tosses to the side after another brief moment of being entertained

-Oop--I was too late, Anthon may have the toy in hand, but he's already managed to roll over and sit upright.

-Anthon reaches up, wanting me to hand him the wipes container on the back of the toilet.

-I hand it to him

-He's occupied for Another two seconds, during which I manage to lotion the top half of his body

-'Okay, now for the diaper....'

-I lay Anthon on his back and try to quickly open up the diaper (thinking to myself, as I often do-- 'dangit! why did I not do this before I laid him down?!')

-In the time it took me (maybe 1.3 seconds) to unfold and open up the diaper, Anthon has rolled over and is now analyzing an escape route; he's noticed the bathroom door is just slightly ajar. He's leaning his head past me and starts to make a go for the door

-I put him back on his back

-I latch on one of the diaper straps

-Anthon starts to roll over again.

-I give up on that approach--the rest of this diapers going to be attached in motion. Anthon knows that having a diaper on (latched or not) means freedom is near--this is when it's always hardest to keep him still

-I stretch the second diaper strap as he is rolling over, while trying to hold him still enough to make sure it actually latches on right

-It latches.

-As he crawls away, I straighten out the diaper over his butt (it is caty-whompus due to his last roll mid-diapering).

-He pulls open the door towards him and goes through the cute process of figuring out how to get his little self far enough out of the way for the door to open while still actually opening it

-I pick him up, taking him to the other room to finish dressing him

-I set him down on the floor while I grab his clothes.

-He's off. He's grabbed a book and is turning through it's pages.

-Luckily, slipping his head into the headhole is the easy part; no extra limbs or restraining necessary--I stretch the hold big enough and slide it down onto his neck.

-Book still in hands, I steal away one hand to put through one arm hole. He's always really helpful with this part and puts his arm right through the hole.

-Attention lost. Onto the next activity.

-Anthon crawls over to a bin of toys and pulls out a few, while looking up at me with a huge grin on his face

-I shake my head at his insane cuteness amidst making mom work so hard and take a deep breath

-Anthon gets tired of toys and makes his way to the trash can to try to pull it over

-I pick him up, grab his blanket (which often helps him stay in one place for longer) and sit him down just long enough to pull his other arm through the remaining arm hole

-With an extra second or two, I pull his onesie down over his tummy

-This is another one of those "FREE AT LAST!" Moments. I think it must feel as if he's fully clothed at this point....

 

He's actually not.

 

-Anthon sticks his head into his blanket and his head into the air, giving me JUST enough time to snap one of those tricky buttons on the bottom of his onesie. He was only there for a second, but I moved quick, so I managed to get one.

-Anthon crawls away

-I crawl after him, bending over trying to button his remaining two buttons

-I realize the first buttons aren't lined up correctly

-I unbutton them as he crawls

-Anthon sits up and looks at me, after which he pushes on my legs and arm to stand himself up and lean on me

-YES. I have access. I keep him upright as long as I can and manage to button two of his little bum buttons

-Two out of three? I'll take it. (You learn quickly after a few of these experiences that third buttons are really not the most important things in the world)

-Anthon has located his pacifier on the floor across the room.

-He sits back down and sets off crawling, determined.

-He gets to his bink, sits up, takes a deep breath, and looks at me, feeling accomplished as he smiles and fumbles to turn the bink around in his hand and insert it into his mouth.

-Okay. Just his pants left. This is usually the easy part

-I crawl over to Anthon, sit cross-legged, and set him on his bottom in my lap.

-I scrunch up his pant legs and put his feet into the holes

-Again, he's really good at this part and straightens out his legs for me

-He then leans to the right over my right thigh and places his hands on the ground, ready to crawl again

-I pull his pants up over his little bottom

-And breath a sigh of relief.

-Done.

 

Anyone who thinks being a mom isn't time consuming or a full-time job has never dressed my ten-month old.

 

If I could post emoticons, I would insert a smiley face laughing so hard it's crying here.

 

Picture #2 (from Above)

Walks go like this for us these days. Visual stimulators aren't quite cutting it these days. So, we got on walks and veer off paths and roads, letting Anthon feel poles, trees, cars, leaves, and really...anything else that strikes his fancy.

 

Tell you one thing, homeboy's going to have one heck of an immune system by the time he turns one.

 

Having a mover for a baby helps you learn to not take a few things for granted:

1. UNblurry pictures (almost never happen anymore)

2. Pictures where Anthon ISNT right up in the lens of whatever you've got, be it a camera or phone

3. Pictures with your babies full face in it. (You've got to hold the phone/camera away; as you'll note from the pictures above, I haven't mastered 'no-look' picture taking)

4. Caring about lighting. haha. Lighting? Yeah...if the picture isn't blurry and you can see Anthon's full face clearly...it's pretty much a winner.

 

Milestones

-FOUR teeth! His top two side teeth came through!

-Pulling himself up to a standing position

-Crawling (He's converted over to big-kid crawls, rather than his army crawl that he loved so much. Granted, he still does that sometimes)

-Waving bye!

-SAYING bye!

-Turning pages in books

-Playing chase with us!

 

Likes:

-all things food: especially graham crackers, mango, and the same Gerber snacky things, CHEERIOS

-Having his back drawn on after he's in his crib but before he goes to bed

-Watching Shasta

-Being with people

-Playing with dad (or mom, but especially dad)

-Being with mom after naptimes/waking up (these are the times he's stillest I cherish them! I let him keep his blanket with him for a little bit and he'll just sit on my lap as I talk to him and/or stroke his little head :)

 

Dislikes:

-being alone

 

Oh, by the way....

Anthon doesn't do well with

-Dairy

-Soy

-Eggs

ha... So I haven't really been eating those either. Eggs were a recent discovery. He does okay with those if I eat them, but he gets a rash if he eats them.

Poor little man :(

 

Needless to say, life with little man is a ball of fun. He's lively, smiley, and is just so much fun. Life is busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Part-way through the dressing process.. 

 

Stripes on stripes are an 'in' thing now...right? ;P

 

 Graduating to the 'car(t)seat)

 

Our little trouble-maker

As pictured before...some extra layers beginning to grace the body of our little man on walks..

When dad wakes up late and Anthon wakes up early... :) 

We are happy.

I am loving my husband and loving our little man!

 

Lake George, Kellie, and Mis Padre

Well, folks, my last few walks have been a little longer. You know what that means--the leaves have started falling and it officially takes me twice as long to walk anywhere, what with leaf-crunching detours and all...

I'll admit, as much as I like the Fall, the it much more foreboding in New York, knowing that it is a stepping stone toward winter.

That being said, we still have some eighty degree days this week, so we're just going to pretend it isn't actually that time yet.

Okay, that's a lie...there's no pretending. Our morning walks already involve both socks and light jackets for Anthon. I can't quite pretend that away, sadly. That being said, there is still something magical about the brisk air as fall approaches.

Seeing as Anthon's ten month birthday is tomorrow...I'll save those updates for an Anthon post, and use this post for catching up on some of our summer fun. Namely, some Lake George trips and my Dad and Kellie's visit

Lake George

Okay, so I've always been a beach lover and a heat FEEN. In highschool, naps on our tramp in the blazing sun were my favorite. It wasn't unheard of for me to use a blanket either, regardless of how hot it already was. Humidity or no humidity, I love the heat. Accordingly, I have love New York in the Summer. I don't mind humidity at all--in fact, I kind of like it. Which is weird, I know. But I digress.

Matthew and I took a trip to Lake George a few weeks before my Dad and Kellie got here, and then I went again with them when we did. It's a gorgeous lake with a few beaches, paragliders, shops, some restaurants... just fun! I loved it. Matthew liked it because if we're close to a beach, it's another selling point on warming me up to the idea of staying here for the long hall.. haha.

Some pictures from our first trip..

 

I don't think it would matter how upright any stroller was, I think Anthon would find a way to sit straighter, and more far forward than it. haha. He was on the edge of his seat the whole time and loving it.

That husband of mine sure makes our stroller look good ;)

Okay, this picture (and these next few) were from after it hit nap time. You can see it on our poor little man's face :(

I think it was mostly just because he was tuckered out, but Anthon was really scared of the waves and wasn't a fan of the water either :(

 

I think this is the first crying picture I've posted. It just breaks my heart to see him cry. Just looking at that crying one seriously hurts my heart!

 

Yes, that is one tired baby. And, Parenting 201...If you put sunscreen on the back of your child's hands... it's going to get in his/her eyes when they start rubbing them. SO sad!

 

Trip #2 (A few weeks later)

 

My dad hanging out with little man.. hehe, you've got to love that cheeser grin in the bright sunlight.

 

 

Oh my gosh. I LoVE his little face in this picture. Anthon loves bottles.

 

Shady...but you get the picture.

Pun intended.

Sometimes it's still a little weird to me that I have a child. Like, it was such a foreign thought to realize that a) Kellie is an aunt, b) She is pushing around a stroller with a baby in it, and c) oh wait, that's MY baby! haha..That might not make sense how I typed it...but you get the idea. Sometimes it's still weird.

 

 

Sometimes Anthon takes his own pictures. Other times, I take them.

 

It was such a fun day. As you can see in the last two pictures by Anthon's outfit and stickiness, it was a little warmer than our first trip.We also stopped for some snow cones. OH, and, as an extra day-maker, the girl who worked there was Russian! Words can't really express how happy it makes me when I randomly meet Russians and get to talk to them...

She was adorable and such a sweetheart.

 

And...onto some pictures from

My Dad and Kellie's Visit...

As I'm looking through these, I'm realizing I don't have that many from their trip... but it was SO fun to have them here. They spent a few days in New York City and then were here for (I think...) four days. We didn't realize they were staying so long and loved every second.

 

Breakfast with Grandpa.

I thought my dad was just eating a tortilla and I was amazed at how much Anthon liked it. Come to find, it was coated with peanut butter. haha, that made a lot more sense.

Just hanging out

 We went out for burgers and fries. Matthew's dad's nickname for Anthon is Tator Tot, so we snagged a picture for him :)

 

We had a pool day (or...more like 40 minutes, since it started to pour rain :) But it was sure fine while it lasted

When neither of you have done your makeup and its smudged from the night before, sometimes you decide it's better to be looking at the cute baby rather than to include your face in the pictures...

I swear, he was very secure.

Also, he's graduated to a bigger pair of swim trunks :P hahaha. That being said, they really weren't as tight as they look here. 

 

And...some backseat fun with Aunt Kellie..

 

It is truly sad that summer is coming to an end. But, that being said, we still have lots of walks and time outside before it gets to be too cold. For that, I am eternally thankful!