17 months

Today, our little guy is 17 months old!  It just seems unreal, how fast this time has gone.  I don't have much in the way of stats, since his next check-up isn't until next month.  However, he does have a pretty bad case of diaper rash, so we happened to be at the doctor's office last night.  On the way to the scale I guessed 28 lbs and sure enough, he weighed 28.4 lbs!  That's only up 1 full pound in 7 weeks.  But, he's quite a bit more active these days, so I'm not surprised. 

He's keeping us busy at home.  He's really starting to talk a lot more.  My favorite is the way he says, "milk".  I appreciate his ability to let us know when he's thirsty, however do not mention anything about his milk, unless you're prepared to give it to him.  We've noticed that we have to spell things out already because otherwise he gets mad if we can't deliver it to him. 

Last weekend we were away for one of my best friend's weddings, and grandma Judy kept him.  She told me he was walking down the hallways, knocking on the doors, saying "knock, knock".  He's very smart and I'm enjoying the new ways of communication.  The wedding we went to was my friend Sarah, who married Patrick Altenhofen.  It was a stunningly, beautiful ceremony and reception.  I was so honored to be part of the wedding and I'm so excited for them to spend their life together as one.  They are great friends of ours as a couple and just wonderful people to be around.  Patrick's family was fun getting to know and it's fun for me to have common roots with him; both our grandparents are from the same part of Kansas.  In fact, the groomsman I walked down with used to work with my cousin! 

Together at the Rehearsal Dinner:

Sarah and her bridesmaids at the beautiful Rehearsal dinner:

Sarah and Patrick Altenhofen!:

Sarah and her bridemaids taking fun pictures:

Two weekends ago I took Jack to visit my cousin Jennifer and her boys, Patrick and Emery.  Emery and Jack are 8 weeks apart and it was so fun to see them interact, now that they're both walking and talking.  They sat across from each others at mealtime and just "babytalked" the whole time.  They'd shake their heads at each other and mimic movements.  They spent time enjoying their favorite TV programs together and sharing emery's toys.  We had a blast taking them to the zoo, the farmer's market, shopping for "mom time", and playing in the fountains.  We're looking forward to the Atchison's visit this weekend for some baseball!

Jenn and me with the boys (paying attention to something else) at the zoo:

Fountain fun:

Bathtime for the boys:

Hanging out in diapers, watching the Backyardigans:

Some of Jack's current favorites:  Dora the Explorer (still- in fact we were in Payless yesterday and he only wanted to try on the pink Dora tennis shoes, instead of the Buzz Lightyear for boys), PB&J sandwiches, building blocks, kicking a soccer ball (or just kicking anything on the ground), going outside or "bye-bye", playing with our phones (he picks them up and says, "how" which we think is hello), walking around in mommy and daddy's shoes, wrestling with daddy, and storytime with mommy before bed. 

The last 17 months have flown by.  We're blessed with an intelligent, smiley little toddler and we can't wait to see what's in store for us next!