I Go Potty Toilet!?!?

Oh, where to start with this update? It has been too long I know, but the dust is still settling around here and finding the time for blog updates when you don't have hours to kill isn't as easy as it would seem. Or the admin has been lazy. (probably the latter). 

Seven seems to be growing so much faster these days. He is officially potty trained day and night and we are very excited about this. Haley worked very hard and dealt with many disgusting accidents to achieve this so at least 2/3 of the praise should go to her. 

Seven is very much a boy these days. Not that he wasn't ever before but he is becoming more and more boy as the days go on. Sure he has his "crying for no reason" moments, but very few kids can have a volleyball thrown at their heads from across the room and think that it is hilarious. He does have problems saying vowels now and we are trying to find the source of that (totally kidding). He can count to 12 on his own, but if you ask him to he skips 3 and 4. We know he can count just fine though because on his own he doesn't skip 3 and 4. 

Halloween was last night and it was very stunning to see how kids are born with an understanding that one day out of the year we go beg for candy. To quote Jerry S. 

"Everyone that we know is just giving out candy?...I gotta be a part of this. I'll do anything that they want!... I can wear that"

Seven grabbed his pumpkin bucket and ran out the door like a pro. It did help that we went to Pynch's, Pynch's and Aunt Jules' house, but how do they learn these things so fast? He hates hoods and we told him that he had to keep his on to get candy. I don't think he took it off all night. 

Seven also has many friends now. Last night we met up with one of his best friends Liam and his sister Lisel (also a good friend). They screeched and ate popcorn under a table at church for a good 30 minutes. Mind you a lot of the popcorn was off the floor after they dumped it there. He also has begun grouping people that belong together very well. He saw Steve Pynch the other day at church and promptly asked "where's Robin?" He does this with most couples we see on a regular basis now even Nana and Papa. He doesn't have a favorite in most cases (except Monica) but when he sees one he immediately looks for the other. He looks forward to most weeks playing with Logan, Karis (Gary and Sarah Schmidt's daughter), Liam and Lisel. He also loves to play with Andrew Kirschenmann whenever he gets a chance (tomorrow yay).

 There are new picture pages up on both the boys' blogs and soon to be some pictures of their costumes as well.

Late 2nd Birthday Party

Seven "waited" to have his birthday party when Daddy was finally home. He had a blast and thanks everyone for coming over to play and celebrating with him. We have posted a new Gallery of photos in the picture section for all to enjoy.

New Site Poll

We are trying to get some feedback on what you want to see here. Please take the poll on the right hand side of the page.

Wanna go Ride Bikes!

Well it has been a little while since we have seen some photo updates around here hasn't it? Seven is growing up faster than ever it seems and it is fun when doing these updates to see how much he has changed in just a few weeks time. Seven is living it up at Nana and Papa's house and loves to play outside whenever he gets the chance. When he's not outside he likes to watch "Cars Movie" as often as he is allowed. He also likes to eat raspberries which he calls "strawberries" by the fist full and then mommy gets to find out later just how many he had. As you can see from this picture Papa has begun taking Seven with him on bike rides sometimes and Seven has been known to talk Papa into rides even when Papa thinks he is too tired.

A new picture page has been added. You will notice that it is the same on both of the boy's blogs and that is because the editor was lazy this time around and didn't want to make two pages and sort the pictures.

Something Fun

Here is something fun I cooked up in my free time. This is a not so clear version of the picture an if you want to download the whole 8mb file I will put a link below. You can zoom in and see all the different pictures that make up this Mosaic. I think it turned out pretty good. All the pictures are of Seven and Michael. More are of Seven due to the fact that we have much more pictures of him at this time. I threw in a few others for contrast and better definition in the faces. See if you can find those ones.

Here is the link. Right click and download if you want to put it on your computer (ctrl click for macs). You can also view it in a web page if you just click on it, but that takes a long time to display and you lose some of the ability to zoom in that you can with most photo viewers.

Right Click Here and Save (ctrl click for mac)

What to say... What to say

Well I just got off the video chat with the little man and one thing has been re-confirmed. He sure likes Cars. I had to get a pillow so I thought I would get one that would actually be used again and decided to get a Cars pillow case. Well, I sit on my bed when I talk with Seven. He saw a tiny glimpse of Mator's teeth and went crazy asking Mommy to open the computer so that he could have it. After much convincing and trying to explain to his young mind that the pillow is actually over 2500 miles away he still is convinced he should be able to open the screen and have the pillow. He sure is growing up fast, but I have been informed that he is also trying to revert back to some old ways because of the constant new baby contact.He tries to swing in the baby swing and also use the pacifier again. Oh well as long as he doesn't try to stay in diapers forever he should be fine. He sometimes likes to talk to Daddy on the phone, but when he is done he is done quickly, but tonight he just kept going on and on so we switched to the computer where it is more entertaining for me to watch him talking. He loves having a little brother and we are very happy for that. There are new picture pages added to both the boy's blogs. Enjoy!

Seven Meeting His New Brother

Here are some pictures of Seven meeting his new brother Michael. Michael's blog can be found at the link to the right or on the main page there is a link as well. Seven is pretty excited to have a permanent playmate. The problem is that he thinks that he should be able to to things that he can already do. He wants to pick him up and carry him around. One thing that he hasn't learned is that when he is done playing with him he can't just throw him down like one of his toys. But according to Mommy he loves his new little brother very much which is better than him being upset because he gets less attention. The second picture here Seven is pretending to be asleep. He liked to do this before but he likes to pretend he is sleeping with Michael.

Seven Likes to Jump

Seven has been jumping on the ground a lot, but this it is funny to see him try on the trampoline

More Seven Pictures

Our little baby isn't so little anymore and it seems that he has reached a tipping point in his aging and gets more and more grown up faster each day. This is good as he is expected to be able to move out of the house in a couple of weeks to make room for his little brother. We figure in 14-21 days that he should be able to do most things on his own. He should be able to use his cute cheesy grin to beg some food off of helpless Nana's and Papa's. Seven is learning new words all the time and constantly "surprising" us with the ones that he has learned all by himself. Some are better than others, but for the most part he is just learning more names of the things around him. Like School Bus, Truck, Tractor, Mator, McQueen, Doc ... etc. You might note the automobile theme. That has not changed and in fact has been only getting more and more dramatic. There should be a new picture page up soon on the right so enjoy the new pictures once they are available.

Anything With Wheels

So while I'm gone Seven is learning to do things for Mommy to help out in the last weeks of her pregnancy. I laugh every time I play this video.

CARS!

If one word could sum up what I have learned about my son since I have been home it would be just that... CARS! Maybe it is just the fact that he says it every morning, and goes to sleep saying it too. This is our only experience spending so much time with a young little boy so we aren't entirely sure if it is out of the ordinary for such an obsession or not. Today he woke up and said "I love cars". Then he just wouldn't stop. The normal jabbering in the morning is littered with "cars" this and "cars" that. Then he picked up the Cars movie cover, ran to the tv, tapped on the screen, looked at me and said "cars". I would like to make clear that he doesn't get to watch the movie very often due to fear he gets addicted to it, but to an outsider you would think it was on a loop in our house playing constantly and in his crib when he went to sleep. We are considering counseling, but have been told to wait until he is 2 to start the weekly sessions.

More pictures of Seven at Grandma's and with cars have been added to the picture links on the right

Zoolander

This week we took Seven to the zoo for the first time. It was a typical Oregon spring day, but with little to no rain just overcast. Seven enjoyed himself (even though he almost passed out tired). The big animals weren't as big of a hit with him because they are so far away and he would rather play with a rock or a stick near the cage then play the "find the animal out there" game. He did enjoy the smaller faster animals and the fish. The goat he didn't like too much or at least didn't want to pet it. Here is a video and we have added a picture page on the right with more shots of our day.
Please don't tap the glass... guess we need to work on the reading
Haley loved this exhibit!

Why Did Daddy Really Have to Come Home?

He did not inherit his grace from Daddy

Redneck Seven?

All the rednecks that read this blog please don't be offened. Oh wait... You probably don't have a computer do you? Who am I talking to? Anyway, here are some pictures of Seven in costume as a Redneck baby. He has discovered the "out of doors" and apparently loves it very much. Don't get me wrong he still likes computers and electronics, but likes the outdoors too. They make computer geeks like that these days. In case you didn't know the days of pocket protectors and thick "broken in the middle" glasses with tape holding them together are almost over. A whole new breed of tech-savvy people are being raised and here is one of them. Can't you just imagine him fixing your computer? Much less scary than the cave dwellers of yester-year if you ask me.

Check on the links to the right for more "redneck" pictures of the Sevster

So Seven talks to Daddy on the phone sometimes. It sounds funny on my end, but watching the video of him and how he talks so animated was even funnier. Can you tell who he watches talk on the phone?

Getting Some Content and Pictures Added

As you can see on the right hand side more has been added to Seven's little space on the interweb. There is a new picture page on the right hand side of the web page and has several photos from Daddy's graduation and some in between from the last update which was quite awhile ago.

Finally a 7 Update!

Well it sure has been awhile since there has been an update to Seven's end of this site. I guess circumstances have kept the updates to a dead halt. But we have some good pictures to show, and want to be able to add more and more comments and stories about Seven as he grows up. He seems to be doing that quicker and quicker every day.

Seven made the trip to see Daddy's graduation. We had a fun time as a family spending the 3 day weekend relaxing and just catching up an much time lost together. There are many things in this world that you can become immune to and saying goodbye is for sure not one of them. Pictures have taken on a new meaning to our family so we have chosen some of the ones that mean the most to us. Hope you enjoy them. Feel free to leave any comments here as they will now actually work.

More to come more often